Expatriates still walking over Seychellois at EPHELIA resort while Corvina and Employment Ministry enjoy the sunshine
Covid or no Covid, some foreign executives in our country just don’t a give a hoot for the need to employ or promote Seychellois staff.
These two at the Constance Ephelia Hotel come on top of our list –GM Stephane Duchenne, a racist who doesn’t like working with locals, and Hiru Daryanani, Assistant GM, aka the Bully and Expatriate Recruiter.
The following 39 top management (!!!) posts at the Ephelia are all filled by Expatriates: General Manager –Assistant GM –Executive Manager –Chief Engineer –Food and Beverage Director -Chef + 2 Assistant Chef –Financial Controller –Assistant Financial Controller –Food and Beverage Manager + 2 Assistant Managers –Fitness Centre Manager + Assistant –Bar Manager + 2 Assistant -Chief Somellier –Team Resort Manager –Purchasing Manager –Store Manager + Assistant –Reception Manager + 2 Assistants T–Profiling Manager –3 Restaurant Managers –Laundry Manager + Assistant –Recruitment Manager –Health and Safety Manager –Housing Keeping Assistant Manager –IT Assistant Manager -HVAC Manager –Maintenance Coordinator –Chief Steward. This newspaper have been alerted by staff who have left the hotel recently after many years of service, that things are getting worst. “The treatment of Seychellois workers is appalling at the Ephelia. “We are just frustrated by what is going on at the Resort and in particular with the behavior of the GM, which has forced us to come to you”, they told us.In our Issue No. 35 dated 19th November 2019 –we published an article on the front page to highlight the problems at Ephelia at the time with the title:
Ephelia Resort walking all over Seychellois for almost ten long years. On the 10th December 2019 in Issue No. 37 we published a follow-up article. The GM ran to the Ministry of Employment to conduct damage control and he successfully achieved his objectives by appeasing the Minister and the PS. Where’s Corvina and Adam, Savy and Weeling?
Where are CORVINA and people like Guy Adam, Glenny Savy and Jean Weeling who are closely associated with the Ephelia Resort for them to try and establish the reason behind the concentration of expatriates in the top management of the hotel? It seems that they are backing (fully) the ill-treatment of Seselwa. The Ephelia is the largest resort in Seychelles employing 700 workers with a quota of 50% expatriates (350) currently employed. With the Coronavirus it was expected that they would be sending some foreign workers home and priority will be given to Seselwa workers. We can keep on dreaming. Where are the Employment & Tourism Ministries?
Nothing is changing in the hotel industry in Seychelles when it comes to the localization of management positions. We have provided above a list of key posts at the Ephelia Resorts Hotel -39 in all that are being occupied by expatriate workers even with a so-called localization programme in place. This is a bad joke from both the Hotel Owners and The Ministry of Employment. This situation is also being encouraged by the Ministry of Tourism due to their inaction and collusion with the foreign ownership of the establishment and Corvina.
