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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Labour minister visits Autoland |03 December 2012

Labour minister visits Autoland

Minister Alexander and her delegation during the visit at Autoland

Minister Alexander, principal secretary Veronique Bresson and other high officials from the ministry were welcomed by the managing director of Victoria Computer Services (VCS) group Gilbert Lebon, general manager Anthony Payet, manager Stephan Houareau and finance and human resource manager Liselle Fock-Tave.

The tour started in the show room where the ministerial delegation had a glimpse of the new cars for sale on display. Autoland is the importer for BMW, Chevrolet, Peugeot, Honda and Great Wall brands of cars in Seychelles and they are responsible for sales and after-care.

The ministerial delegation then went to the spare parts department where the company’s manager informed the delegation that they will be moving to a new building adjacent to the existing one.
 
The delegation also visited the new building which is more spacious and customer friendly.

In the workshop, Minister Alexander and her delegation saw the mechanics at work and among them were two Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) students who are on attachment there. According to the company, the students are doing well and are very dedicated in what they do.

The company’s representative said they are happy with the performance of the SIT students who join the company after their studies.

The issue of availability of skills to meet local demand and the need for the SIT to modernise in order to keep up with the current trend in the automotive world were also raised.

The ministerial delegation also interacted with workers and learned about their working conditions, which on the whole for Autoland the employees are quite satisfied.

The company said with regard to staff welfare they will soon have a new canteen in place.

Autoland has a workforce of 100% Seychellois.  The employees have attended several local and overseas training provided by Honda, BMW, Chevrolet, Peugeot and Great Wall Motors. The company also gave its assurance that it will continue to invest in its staff, ensuring they are up to date with latest technologies and they can provide a high level of after-care service to customers.

VCS group managing director Lebon also said that for the first time in Seychelles, Autoland will soon be launching the hire purchase system.

At the end of the visit, Minister Alexander said the purpose of her visits to work places is to enhance partnership as her ministry wants to work closely with the private sector for their own benefit and the benefit of the employees.

“When there is good employer-employee relationship, this improves productivity,” said Minister Alexander, who availed of the opportunity to inform the company that her ministry has an open door policy and is willing to help with whatever queries it might have, and this applies to all workplaces.

Autoland management thanked Minister Alexander and her team for visiting them and expressed its gratitude towards the support it has received from the ministry in the past and added that it is looking forward to the continued collaboration.

Autoland was formed in April 2012 after acquiring the premises and assets of MEC (Peugeot) at Providence. This major investment was necessary in order to support the six brands of vehicles represented by the VCS group and to centralise the automobile division in one location.

Today, Autoland is one of the largest automotive after-care centres in Seychelles.  The centre’s employees are fully qualified in providing the proper after-care service for all the brands represented by the VCS group automobile division.

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