There is a social welfare organization that has rescued child prostitutes and provided shelter for abused, disadvantaged women for 38 years. It joined the "Multi-Employment Promotion Program (MEPP)" of the Ministry of Labor and transitioned to the "Empowering Employment Program (EEP)" three years later, resulting in a fourfold increase in the project staff. The organization develops new business steadily by the "standardized" approach, which has been applied for 10 years.
This is Hualien Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan of the Taiwan Christian Mennonite Church. Ms. Zhu Yu-gui, the CEO of the organization, said, "We passed the Talent Quality-management System, TTQS, evaluation in 2015 as the beginning of business management." TTQS is a human resource management tool that the government introduced to organizations. It links organizational strategy and talent training needs, design, implementation, review, and results, ultimately reflecting the results on the ROI (Return on Investment).
To pass the evaluation, Ms. Zhu discussed with consultant Mr. Wu Wen-long and Ms. Lin Yu-ting for more than two years. She first assessed the organization's staffing shortages and then introduced suitable training to cover the needs. The most significant achievement that she concluded was developing a standardized operating model with nearly 30 forms, which helped break through the internal "language barrier."

Create SOP by Form Sheets to Upskill Women's Career Skills
She expressed that Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan had started the "Single Parent Family Service Network Project" before introducing the related programs from the Ministry of Labor. One of the services is to match disadvantaged women with friendly shops for employment opportunities. "However, we found the failure rate is very high, even though both sides have the will." After a review, we realized that the main reason shops dismiss those women is that they barely know the basic working skills of the service industry.
The employment network of women training at Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan provides supporting services such as matching suitable courses and job information, etc. However, the women who look for jobs lack the workplace language, people skills, and reaction to customers' suggestions. To help those women get started quickly, the organization invites professional teachers or senior women who were unemployed and are now professionals to teach them classes. They also break down the service operation steps and establish SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and emergency handling principles to facilitate their review at any time to ensure consistency in everyone's operations.
Those changes bring good results. The conflicts and non-adapted complaints decrease a lot. The organization further applies the SOP model to patchwork skills, allowing the women to follow the schedule and learn hard skills like sewing and tailoring. Four of them have even obtained certifications. Furthermore, for women who are interested in starting their own business, Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan further invites individual coaching to give individual counseling, including essential business operation skills, from sourcing materials to budgeting. This allows them to establish micro-enterprises and collaborate online to market and secure orders. They can also serve as instructors, acting as a "seed team" that will branch out.

Link with External Organizations to Expand Employment Field
The Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan has been proactively applying the "Multi-Employment Promotion Program (MEPP)" since 2019 and obtained the 3-year economic type of the program to allocate 4 project staffs. It involves multiple business strategies, implemented step by step. Firstly, it established the Good Bakery Workshop for the bakery and then operated a vegetarian restaurant, which was invited by the College of Humanities, Communication, and Social Sciences of Tzu Chi University.
The cooperative period of the Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan and Tzu Chi University is two years. Considering the nature of social assistance and a stable environment for the project staff, the organization offers friendly workplace conditions, including flexible working hours, job adjustments, and job redesign. It also offers salaries which above the average on the market to encourage the staff to develop their professional caregiving skills and prepare for the transition. Furthermore, those who obtain the Life Counselor Professional Certification will receive additional benefits.

Ms. Zhu said, "All of the staff accepted the challenges to improve themselves with the policy. While they were obtaining the Life Counselor Professional Certificate, their salaries were upgraded as well." After the program, the 3 project staffs will keep the work in the Resettlement Department.
Actually, during the collaboration period, the organization was planning its own restaurant project. "Since Food Safety cannot bear any risk, we would spend more time on the fundamentals of opening a restaurant." At the same time, it applied for the subsidiary program of the government and invited lecturers to teach and make an SOP to train the staff's culinary ability.

The Form Sheet communication model works again. She expressed that from handling the culinary material, developing the menu, flavor adjustment, and standardly serving the dishes. All the processes used figures and form sheets to discuss with the professional teachers until a consistent standard was reached. "From zero to the market, we spent about three to six months to develop each product."
She cites water dumpling as an example. They chose two homely flavors for testing, with instructors who provided recipes and guidance to the women staff of the program.
"From the first batch of the prototypes, we had colleagues from different departments perform blind tastings based on various criteria, such as saltiness, softness, fat content, meat-vegetable ratio, and size. After dozens of eliminations, the final recipe was determined. Till today, the repurchase rate for our dumplings is approximately 70%." From then on, each edible product has been standardized according to this form to ensure consistent quality.

Replicate the SOP Model to Attract More Cooperation Opportunities
In 2023, Ms. Zhu Yu-gui applied the "2-Year Empowering Employment Program (EEP)," which expanded the staff to 16. On one side, she expanded the patchwork business as an "Amish Quilts Impression Store" and first hired middle-aged women, who made up three-fourths of the entire staff. On the other hand, to diversify the service types and create more job opportunities for women, the organization launched "Cornerstone Creative Cuisine."
Since the standardized processes have been established, replicating the previous experimental results is straightforward. However, the business model requires constant adjustments through learning by doing. For example, to address employees' need to prioritize family, we changed the meal service from three meals a day to brunch and dinner. Considering the proximity of Mennonite Hospital, the organization's primary customer base shifted from casual passersby to Mennonite Hospital staff, their families, and patients. "This shift has led to greater stakeholder support, increased product visibility, and a steady stream of orders, dining, and revenue. Consequently, job stability has resulted in decreased employee turnover."

The kindness cycle spreads like a ripple. Ms. Zhu cites Liwu Culture Co., Ltd., a design company in Taichung, as an example. It has promoted public welfare for years by purchasing rice from remote townships such as Ruisui, Yuli, and Fuli and providing it to disadvantaged groups. For example, she said, "The young girls placed by Good Shepherd have benefited for seven years." In 2023, Liwu Company further expressed its willingness to collaborate on public welfare initiatives. Liwu designed the outfit of 200 gift boxes; the Good Bakery Workshop provided the contents, targeting the corporate gift market and creating a new revenue source.

The first cross-industry collaboration has become the fundamental model of Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan's new development business. Afterward, it collaborated with Teacher Zeng Pei-ti of Hualien's Madman Hand-Sewn Leather Goods and baking instructor Ms. Chien of "Chien's Magic Cake" to launch a Christmas Gift Box. The gift box included mugs printed with the artwork by the disadvantaged children of the Good Bakery Workshop, leather coasters, and snacks, which resonated deeply with people. "Compared to the same period last year, the revenue and expenditure of the Empowering Employment Program increased 79%."

Beneficiaries Become Helpers, and the Seed Team Expands the Cycle of Kindness
Since choosing to study social work at university, Ms. Zhu Yu-gui has devoted herself to social assistance for over 30 years. She and her husband, Pastor Zheng Yu-zhang, have continually been learning management knowledge. Because she believes "walking to be independent is the right way of healthy development." She reminds the women receiving assistance, "Education can change your situation more effectively than assistance." She encouraged them not only to bring their children to the after-school tutoring at the Good Bakery Workshop but also to continue learning as an example. She mentioned that 2 project staffs with junior high school diplomas had earned their senior high school diplomas through self-study. "It's very difficult to get that diploma," she said.

As the CEO for over fourteen years, Ms. Zhu Yu-gui is confident that implementing the standard operating procedures of Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan can effectively shorten the learning curve while developing a new business to a stable level. The main success criterion is cultivating seed teams that have the ability and can thrive in new fields, which is the organization's biggest challenge.
Fortunately, Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan has helped a total of 75 disadvantaged women find jobs and start their businesses. In the future, it will prioritize developing the staff who can stay in their positions and upgrade their professional skills. "Let the disadvantaged women who asked for help become the core talents in Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan" is the sustainable goal that maintains the organization's core values and fulfills its mission.
Official Website of Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan
 

 

▲By addressing skill shortages, providing training, and establishing a set of SOPs, Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan enhances the staff's professional skills and product quality.

▲From pastry baking, patchwork, and culinary skills, women of Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan have been trained in various skills and expanded their career options.

▲Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan has assisted 75 women in finding jobs, starting businesses, and becoming the core talents of the organization for the past five years.

▲The delicate hand-made bag from the staff of Mennonite Good Shepherd.

▲Ms. Zhu Yu-gui, the CEO of Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan: " We ask the project staff to collaborate and learn together in order to align with our culture and prepare for becoming permanent staff in the future, rather than relying on government programs.

Case Story: Multi-Employment Promotion and Empowering Employment Program
Interviewee: The Mennonite Good Shepherd Taiwan

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Please attribute this article to“Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor.”