With one in five of Malta’s population being an expat, the country has become a veritable melting pot of cultures. Historically the Island has welcomed people from all corners of the world and foreigners have long come to our shores to seek a better future for themselves and their families.

Due to the global movement of people has now increased rapidly due to significant geo-political shifts, volatile economies as well as restrictions to personal liberties and poor handling of health care during the pandemic.  These reasons are only a few that are making more and more people consider moving to other countries where they can find better prospects and lifestyles than in their country of origin.

This influx of foreign workers into Malta is helping the country fill lacunae in many industries that keep the economy going. Their contribution is valuable to the local fabric in more ways than one. A country can only gain from having a population rich in diversity, in cultures, religions and traditions, helping to sow a mindset that allows different life perspectives, histories and experiences.

Cultural integration does not happen automatically and places of work need to not only be aware and acknowledge the many interactions at play when different people from various countries come together. They also need to proactively put conditions in place that enable acceptance and integration.

At AX Construction, a staggering 246 from 281 employees are non-Maltese with the majority hailing from India, Serbia, Pakistan, Albania, Turkey and Morocco. To successfully manage such a diverse workforce, in addition to ensuring an organisational culture that’s inclusive and that draws on the strength of this diversity, AX Construction has strengthened its people strategy through a number of measures. Brandon Lee Magri, Construction HR Manager explains how.

Healthy communication practices

“For starters we enjoy an open-door policy,” explains Brandon. “This enables good communication across the board, but it especially encourages healthy interactions with management, so that any issues are nipped in the bud and people feel their feedback and opinion is valued. Which they are.”

“Open door measures also go a long way towards getting to know your team as individuals, what drives them and what motivates them.” This becomes more important when the people on your team hold different values and perspectives. It helps you challenge your assumptions and not take things for granted.”

Part of the communication flow at AX Construction also involves getting feedback in project post-mortem exercises that enables management to understand what was a success and what went wrong so that the team can always improve on the already high benchmarks set at the company.

“It is also crucial to imbue in each individual on the team the same professional standards and values that the Group is renowned for,” continued Mr Magri. “This ensures everybody on the team is well placed to perform as best as they can, leaving nobody out.”

Language barriers are a reality, even when English is widely spoken, as misunderstandings are not rare between a multi-cultural team. “We are blessed with loyal employees who have been with us for years,” continued Mr Magri. “These employees act as mentors to new ones on board who, despite the differences, learn the ropes from those already on the job, and who know what works and the best practices to instil in a very clear way. This in itself makes up for the challenge of language barriers.  Of course, we encourage employees to learn English, organise English courses from time to time, and along the years, there are some that have even leart Maltese on their own steam. When people are motivated, the language barriers melt rapidly.”

Religious diversity

AX Construction is fully supportive of religious feasts and events. Management understands employees who ask for vacation leave during Ramadan or the Orthodox Christmas and that they may need to leave the site to pray. “Indeed, this has an impact on our operations but we do our best to accommodate requests that enable people to live their cultures in our country.”

Building a team

Team building becomes of greater importance when the team is multi-cultural. “Getting to know each other away from the office is important for us as this is when most significant social interactions happen,” continued Mr Magri. “For this reason, we regularly organise team building activities that help us bond and learn how best to acknowledge each other’s strengths when working together.”

People development

At AX Construction, an employee reward system doesn’t just take into consideration a financial reward, but eyes a sustainable exercise of training and career development. “Some employees could only do steel fixing when they started. Now, they have learnt other skills like stone and brick laying, or restoration techniques. This ensures employees are able to progress in their careers at AX Construction.”

The result is a loyal employee base, some of whom have been with the company for years.

“Awarding our employees is an important policy at AX Construction that helps employees feel acknowledged and appreciated. But even more important is the investment in our people. Couple these with making people feel empowered and giving them room for growth, and you have a winning formula for people retention and becoming an employer of choice.”

There’s a popular quote I like that says: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” And as I reflect on almost 25 years of working with AX Hotels, I can safely say that the entire journey has been much more than a job to me. It’s been an integral part of my life that has allowed me to form lifelong friendships and has given me a sense of purpose and direction in my career.

My journey with AX Hotels began as a summer job back in 1996, when I was just 18. I joined the Suncrest Hotel as part of their Front Office team. Back then, my German language knowledge was a much sought-after skill due to hotel’s dependence on the German market.

I truly loved my first summer job at the Suncrest, working within a much-loved hotel right on Qawra’s busy seafront and having the opportunity to meet and greet hundreds of happy tourists visiting Malta. In fact, I loved that job so much that, as that summer came to an end, I took the decision to officially pursue a career in the tourism industry and enrolled in a further education course in tourism studies. Without ever planning it to be, the Suncrest was the beginning of my career in tourism.

Not only did AX Hotels provide me with a steady job throughout my studies, but they even offered to sponsor my education. It was a huge honour and a gesture which I am still grateful for to this day. During this time, I was also given the opportunity to work in all the different departments around the Suncrest to gain as much experience as possible. I worked in food and beverage, banqueting, cashiering, front office, and even housekeeping. All in all, this was a unique first-hand foundation course in what it takes to work in a first-class hotel, and I still carry those lessons with me today.

After a brief stint working in other areas of the local tourism sector, I re-joined the Suncrest as a Sales & Marketing executive a couple years after graduating. I received such a warm welcome back from the entire team, that it felt like a true homecoming, and I knew this was where I truly belonged.

I took every opportunity I could to learn from my superiors over the next few years. Each lesson equipped me with greater knowledge, skills, and experience to take on more levels of responsibility within the hotel. Eventually, I was thrilled to be offered the chance to set up and lead the Events department.

My responsibilities continued to grow and evolve as the resort rebranded as the AX Seashells Resort. The resort also expanded to include several new facilities, including the Tal-Kaptan restaurant, the Cheeky Monkey Gastropub, the Luzzu restaurant, among others. As such, I headed up a growing team under the Events department and helped establish new processes and procedures to increase the hotel’s revenue and business. I also completed several more training programmes to take my career to the next level, eventually taking the decision to enrol in a Master’s Degree in Hospitality Management. Here again, the management team and my colleagues were super supportive and continued to provide me with the guidance and room to flourish and become a proud Events Sales Manager.

There’s perhaps no better indicator of how well a company treats its people than when times get tough. During the pandemic, despite travel restrictions cutting off most of the hotel’s revenue for months on end, management continued to support all of us at AX Seashells. With events and functions at an all-time low, I was entrusted to take over the Front Office department where I had the opportunity to actively help the hotel and my colleagues pull through this challenging period.

And despite the industry-wide setbacks at this time, my colleagues and I had great confidence that the AX Hotels spirit would ensure we would emerge stronger. This was confirmed when we heard the surprise announcement that Mr Xuereb and the Group were going to embark on a major and complete makeover of the Seashells hotel. This was a huge boost to the morale of the entire team and was proof that AX Hotels was continuing to move ahead with vision.

As any hospitality professional will tell you, it’s not every day that you get the opportunity to form part of the launch of a new hotel opening. So, I truly consider myself lucky to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I also secretly hoped that this new hotel project would offer yet another opportunity for change in my career. And not before long, my wish was answered when I was asked to set up and lead the Guest Relations Department, a department which is integral to the overall success of the hotel. It’s a responsibility that I cherish and take extremely seriously.

From my first summer job through to the new challenges ahead, my career at AX Hotels has given me the rare opportunity to belong to something big, to be part of an established and respected company, and to form lifelong friendships that I treasure. It’s hugely inspiring and rewarding to work for a hotel that continues to push forward in order to remain relevant on every front. On top of the upcoming redevelopment of AX Seashells, I’ve particularly enjoyed being part of the Sustainable Tourism Committee with a vision of leading the Group to future sustainable practices.

I couldn’t recommend working with AX Hotels enough. Whether you’re just joining our family or have been part of the team for a while, I believe that here you’ll have a job for life with countless opportunities to improve your skills, learn more about the industry, and take on new challenges, just as I have.

All you need on this journey is a few time-tested qualities which I’d like to recommend:

1. Communicate with your management and teams effectively and don’t be afraid to reach out for guidance.
2. Always be kind and generous to your colleagues and never underestimate the power of teamwork.
3. Remain determined despite any challenges that may come your way and know that management are there to support you.
4. Seize any opportunity you get to further your education and improve your skills in what you love to do.

And above all else, I would recommend taking pride in yourself and your job. I believe this is the single most quality that will guide you forward and give you the greatest satisfaction in your career.

Written by Michael Warrington, CEO-AX Group

AX Group is known for its construction and restoration work, its top-quality hotels in Sliema, Qawra and Valletta, and its advanced age facilities and services. Operating all these are the Group’s 1000+ employees, many of whom have been with the company for years.

Central to the Group’s employment strategy is AX Careers, an online portal serving as an in-house recruitment agency, which Group CEO Michael Warrington credits for the increasing calibre of candidates.

“AX Careers provides potential applicants with a clear idea of what we are offering and why, and projects the image of the Group effectively as it acts as a kind of shop window on our core values,” he says. Handling employment intermediation in-house allows the Group to screen candidates more rigorously, with basic checks being conducted before any CV is passed on to management. “We have had people applying to jobs, previously, who maybe should not be applying for those jobs. Typically, recruitment agencies do not go into the nitty-gritty of a candidate’s profile, but by doing so ourselves, we avoid problems later on,” he says, adding that social media profiles and Google search results can say a lot about people.

AX Careers also features a resource centre where key people within the organisation provide clear details on a wide range of topics. “People can see who is involved, they can interpret our integrity and core values.” “These are things that potential candidates typically look for, but rarely find. We wanted to raise the bar for recruitment because once you’ve raised the bar, people applying will need to be confident that they can fit into that organisation.” Mr Warrington says this creates a win for both sides. “It’s a win for those candidates that have potential, and it’s a win for us because the people we employ are a better fit.”

Ensuring a good fit with the organisation’s ethos is important, with around 700 of the AX Group’s employees being foreign, many from countries outside the EU. The organisation ensures that such Third Country National (TCN) candidates are a good fit by partnering with agencies in source markets like Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. These agencies sometimes have a bad rep on account of unethical recruitment fees charged to applicants, which can be hefty. AX Group avoids these issues by vetting each agency it works with. Mr Warrington says that “before we accept to work with any intermediary, we would have done our homework on that company”.

They go further by making the intermediary recruitment agency sign an agreement with AX prohibiting them from charging commissions to candidates. “If you don’t manage those situations, problems come into play once you have employed them, as many people enter into debt to pay that commission.” “Then,” he continues, “once they are here, a lot of their pay would be spent on repaying that loan, forcing them to live on or close to the poverty line.”. “That makes for stressed and anxious workers. Our team is very much on the alert to avoid these situations,” he says.

Turning to the challenge of integrating such a large multicultural contingent of employees, Mr Warrington points to the in-house academy set up by the Group. Noting that the Group has been employing non-Maltese for well over 30 years, Mr Warrington says that embracing multiculturalism brings a lot of opportunities, new skills, and different perspectives. The organisation does its best to create a safe and healthy working environment, with sensitivity to things like colour and religion. It pays particular attention to avoid giving offence, by not serving pork for instance. It also has a strict ban on the religious discussion in the workplace, while allowing all employees the freedom to practice their religion freely. “It’s about respecting each others’ ideals and beliefs,” he says. “We set up our academy specifically to help recruits with things like language, but through the training, we also instil our values and principles so that they may approach the job better.”

The Group spends hundreds of thousands of euros on training, but Mr Warrington explains that none of it is wasted. “If our employees are satisfied, they will be happier and as an organisation, we can reap the benefits of the feelings of accomplishment our workers feel.”

He sums up the Group’s approach: “If you help people succeed, they will be loyal to you.”The Group’s objective is to be an employer of choice, and Mr Warrington states with confidence that for many people, AX Group is an employer of choice.

Meanwhile, asked whether the Group intends to launch AX Careers as a standalone business, building on its in-house success, he says there are no such plans for the time being. The Group sees AX Careers as a service helping its growth.

“The Group is built on three pillars,” he explains. “Our assets, our finances, and our people. It is useless having any of those without the others. Assets need to be managed by trustworthy, skilled individuals, and we do our best to invest in our people as we do in our assets – by building up their value for the long-term.”

My name is Simbarashe Mapfumo. I am 27 years old and I come from Zimbabwe. I arrived in Malta in December 2018 after living in Cape Town for five years, where I also worked in hospitality.

I fled my beloved Zimbabwe due to the unstable political situation. I miss my country and my family deeply, but unfortunately going back is not an option. I settled in South Africa and when my work permit expired, I came to Malta. I now eagerly await my clearance for asylum from the Refugee Commission.

I actually studied computer engineering but I fell in love with the hospitality industry from the time of my very first job in a restaurant. Since then, I never looked back! Something about giving a great service and making a customer happy is very rewarding for me. I have worked in restaurants, cafes and hotels doing different service jobs, from waitressing to being a front desk agent. In all instances, knowing I am the reason for making customers happy at the moment, is most satisfying.

I’m always asked the same question: ‘Why Malta? So far away from home and without a family network to support me?’ Well, from my extensive research, Malta seemed to be a homely place with a strong sense of community, where people are friendly and English widely spoken.

And indeed, not only have I not been disappointed, but Malta has also surpassed all my expectations in every way imaginable! Malta has become my home away from home. The Maltese society has redefined my notion of family. I have found true friends, supportive colleagues and warm neighbours. I have since changed the way I view the world while still nurturing my sense of self-identity. And my hope for humanity has been revitalised through the numerous positive experiences I have had since my arrival.

I have been fortunate enough to be employed as a front desk agent at AX The Palace since January 2019. Fortunate because I have been given the chance to be the best I can be, by playing with the best the local industry has to offer, surrounded by a winning team determined to deliver service excellence with creativity, determination and integrity.

Being part of AX Hotels has exposed me to unlimited possibilities for my career growth. Professional mentoring and guidance from management has brought out my best skills and capabilities. Ongoing training has helped me bring out my talents and I’m mastering the mindset required for giving a service expected from a five-star hotel.

My aspiration is now to eventually hold a management position within my field of expertise. I would then pass on the leadership values I have learnt and put them to good use, ultimately always to the service of guests and customers.

I’m currently being trained as a night manager. This is a big step for me, and one which I’m really excited about. It is an opportunity I am extremely grateful for and I’m eager to prove myself worthy of this responsibility. Once again, I know it will be one step towards my long-term goals and I look forward to any opportunity for exposure in other areas of hospitality in this five-star establishment.

I love my job and my workplace and every day I go to work safely in the knowledge that I am accepted, in an ambience of diversity and mutual respect of different cultures.