Autumn

2014 Autumn

Putting people first If it’s important to HR, it’s in HR Magazine.

4

Deloitte slams HR for underperforming Are under-skilled HR teams just getting by?

18

Cover Story With data breaches at an all-time high, how can HR become cyber crimebusters?

24 Millennial magnet

HR crimebusters HR gets tough on cybercrime

Top tips to help HR attract the next generation of talent

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publisher’s note

In the news It’s been a rough ride for HR! While Deloitte slammed the industry for lacking the skills needed to meet the challenges of today’s global business environment, the Society for Human Resource Management’s leaders say there are too many entering the field who are not qualified to do the job. Is HR in need of an overhaul to better adapt and survive in today’s competitive marketplace? We find out. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as we report on several new initiatives aimed at nurturing tomorrow’s talent—Starbucks and the Marriott Foundation, to name but a couple. Onwards and upwards.

Cover story In this issue’s cover story, we delve into the criminal underworld of cyber threats to find out why data breach incidents are at an all-time high. We get some expert advice from some of Hong Kong’s leading organisations on how and why HR should be tightening their online security. The good news is you don’t need to be a superhero to be a cybercrime buster!

other stuff With up to three generations working under one roof, how can HR keep everyone happy? We provide some top tips on how to achieve a highly engaged workforce as well as harness the potential of the ‘millennial’ generation. We explain why HR should be screening candidates to ensure you hire the best and we take a trip to Ocean Park to discover how squeezing oranges can enhance leadership and teamwork. Juicy stuff!

Enjoy...

Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine

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The views, conclusions, findings and opinions published in this magazine belong to those expressing such, and do not necessarily represent those of the Publisher, Editor-in-Chief or editorial staff.

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CONTENTS 2014 Autumn

HR NEWS 04 14 16 17

HR News HR Moves HR Events HR in Numbers

COVER STORY 18

HR crimebusters

HR FEATURES 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 39 40 42 43

Can HR solve the world’s toughest problems?

Millennial magnet—8 steps to attract and retain the latest generation Squeezing oranges to enhance leadership & teamwork Harmonising HR—Why HR should kiss goodbye to spreadsheets Do you know the true cost of a bad hire?

Why your HR organisation should be screening candidates Employee Self-Service (ESS) Employee engagement, what’s the big idea?

Top workplace diversity obstacles Counteroffers—a blessing or curse?

WDP breaks down barriers to the board Bolstering talent back on the brain Give & Gain Day—Celebrating the power of employee volunteering

6

30

8

39

18

HR Training 44

How MTR mastered mobile learning

HR Community 46 52

HR Conference: Managing diverse workforces SSO Malaysia 2014

HR LEGAL

43

54

Protecting Confidential Information from Employee Breaches

HR BookS 56

46 22

52

Asia Pacific Employment Law Guide 2014, Lead to Succeed, Working at a Distance: A Global Business Model for Virtual Team Collaboration

HR Classifieds 57

Comprehensive listing of HR service partners

HR news

Deloitte slams HR for ‘under performing’ Developing leaders at all levels. A staggering 86% of business leaders rate leadership as urgent or important, however, only 13% say they do an excellent job in developing global leaders.

Corporate learning redefined. More than two-thirds (70%) of executives see new learning methods, such as free online and mobile learning platforms, as urgent or important, yet only 6% say they have mastered the content and technology capabilities needed to make online learning accessible and compelling for their employees.

HR departments have been exposed as lacking the skills needed to meet the challenges of today’s global business environment by the world’s largest professional services firm Deloitte. According to the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s (DTTL) Global Human Capital Trends 2014 survey of over 2,500 business and HR leaders, less than 10% of respondents have confidence that their teams have the skills needed to meet the challenge of today’s global environment and consistently deliver innovative programmes that drive business impact.

Alarmingly, more than one-third (34%) of HR leaders believe that their HR and talent programmes are just getting by or even under performing. The survey points to the suggestion that failure to adjust to a 21st-century workforce is jeopardising global business growth in terms of evolving to deal with disruptions in labour markets, changing workforce demographics, shifts in technology and the changing nature of work itself.

Jeff Schwartz, Global Human Capital Leader for Marketing, Eminence, and Brand, DTTL commented, “The challenge facing the majority of global organisations is that they are not prepared to deal with the major trends that are reshaping today’s workforce. Given the radical shifts we are seeing in demographics and technology, applying existing methods to new and emerging human capital trends will not be enough to get the job done. The 21st -century organisation is global, highly connected and demanding. Organisations, and specifically HR leaders, need to better adapt if they want to attract and develop the right talent in today’s competitive marketplace.”

The research also suggests that companies are not ready to address the striking shift in

4 | HR Magazine

employee expectations, resulting in potential retention and leadership crises. Despite recognising the need to take action on critical issues including leadership development (86%), retention and engagement (79%), and reskilling the HR function (77%), many respondents expressed reservations about their teams’ ability to do so. And these are not the only areas that HR is falling short on as these alarming statistics reveal: The overwhelmed employee. Information overload and the always-connected 24/7 work environment are overwhelming workers, undermining productivity and contributing to low employee engagement. More than one-third (34%) of business leaders rate this issue among their top five priorities, and less than one in ten believe they are dealing with it effectively.

Reinventing talent acquisition. More than half (54%) of organisations indicate that their social media practices are weak when it comes to sourcing and advertising positions and fully utilising analytics for recruitment and staffing.

Engaging the 21st-century employee.

Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, yet 58% of executives indicate that their companies are not ready to attract and retain Millennials and report they have weak capabilities when it comes to providing programmes for younger, older, and multi-generation workforces.

Shifting from diversity to inclusion.

Nearly all organisations promote diversity, but most fail to realise the business benefits of a diverse workforce, with one-third (34%) of companies saying they are unprepared in this area, while a mere 20% claim to be fully prepared.

Delivering on Big Data. Big Data is increasingly enabling HR departments to make informed talent decisions, predict employee performance and conduct advanced workforce planning.

However, only 7% of organisations today believe they have the capability to use data analytically.

Racing to the cloud. Two-thirds of business leaders believe that HR technologies are urgent and important and yet 56% report no definitive plans for their HR systems.

HR not a true profession, says SHRM The Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) former and current presidents feel there are too many entering the HR field who are not qualified to do the jobs for which they are employed. As one of the largest human resources companies in the world, SHRM is considered by many to be ‘the voice’ of HR and is discussing the future of the industry as a legitimate profession.

The Society is hoping to make changes to the structure of HR and its policies and put the HR profession on par with other models, such as the American Bar Association, American Medical Association, the accounting profession and the engineering field.

HR news

Business schools fail to produce job-ready grads Despite efforts to modernise MBA programmes, business schools continue to do a poor job preparing students to enter the workplace, largely because they do not adequately measure the skills and behaviours that prove most useful for evaluating talent and predicting success.

Hult International Business School recently released its The Future of Business Education & the Needs of Employers report. Hult Labs, the school’s internal think tank, interviewed 90 C-suite executives from global Fortune 500 companies to discuss their perspectives on traditional MBA programmes and whether MBA programmes equip graduates with the requisite practical skills to make a meaningful impact for their employers.

Hult President Stephen Hodges explained, “Despite employer needs for more graduates with better skills and abilities, business

schools are clearly still behind the curve in producing these graduates. While much has been written about the need for business education to modernise in the face of 21st-century change, not much actual change has occurred. Some programmes have introduced new course topics and a renewed emphasis on practical skills, but a fundamental rethinking of how student abilities are measured and meaningfully improved during an MBA needs to occur for business schools to stay relevant.”

For the leaders of Hult International Business School, the report affirms the drastic need for an overhaul of the traditional MBA curriculum. As a result, Hult will introduce its own completely reimagined MBA experience in September 2014.

Business school shortcomings (according to interviewees): •

•

•

•

Business schools make their learning experience too structured, which prevents them from developing students who are able to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.

Business schools continue to overemphasise theory, and should instead concentrate on providing real-world experiences.

Business schools don’t emphasise ten critical skills and abilities—self-awareness, integrity, cross-cultural competency, team skills, critical thinking, communication, comfort with ambiguity and uncertainty, creativity, execution and sales.

Business schools don’t measure student progress or ability on these skills accurately or rigorously enough.

Hot jobs for graduates The technology, manufacturing and healthcare sectors are more promising in terms of job opportunities for business school graduates, according to the findings of the Graduate Management Admission Council’s latest annual Global Management Education Graduate Survey.

Traditional industries such as finance, accounting, products & services and consulting are not as likely to grant graduates an early job offer, according to the survey of 3,049 business school graduates at 111 universities across the globe. The manufacturing and healthcare sectors may be the undiscovered beaches of the business school job market, with 74% of students searching in these sectors reporting at least one offer, the greatest success rate of any industry.

The survey also suggests that technology could be a flourishing field in terms of employment opportunities for job-seeking graduates, with 61% receiving job offers, accounting for 15% of all students with early offers. In 2010, only 9% of students with early offers were in the technology industry, indicating the growth of the sector in recent years.

Consulting, on the other hand, only accounted for 21% of job offers, on par with findings from the 2010 survey, indicating that opportunities

have remained stagnant within the industry.

Interestingly, this is the most popular field for career-switchers, as 27% of all career-changing graduates with job offers were in consulting.

Government and non-profit jobs also remain a steady sector for business graduates, with 62% of those seeking jobs in this area receiving early offers, a figure that has not changed over the past five years.

Gregg Schoenfeld, GMAC survey research director, stated, “This snapshot of the early job market for business school graduates demonstrates that graduate business degrees are useful in a wide variety of careers. While

demand remains strong among traditional industries, business school graduates shouldn’t overlook alternative sectors, which are actively seeking MBA and other business school talent.”

Although salaries vary widely by industry, job level and work location, the median increase in salary of those with job offers was 80% over their pre-degree salary. This figure is up from the 73% increase reported by business school graduates with early job offers in 2013, indicating that employers in all sectors recognise they need the business skills and acumen that graduates bring—a reassuring statistic for those on the job hunt.

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HR news

Singapore beats Hong Kong as most liveable city Hong Kong only ranked at 71 in Mercer 2014 Quality of Living Survey, the global survey of 223 cities worldwide designed to help multinational companies and other employers compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.

Singapore, on the other hand, ranked 25 globally and is the only Asian city to make it into the top 30, which continues to be dominated by Europe. Vienna claimed the top spot as the city with the world’s best quality of living, followed by Zurich, Auckland and Munich. Singapore was also ranked as the city with the best quality of living in Asia, followed by the four Japanese cities of Tokyo (43), Kobe (47), Yokohama (49), and Osaka (57).

Commenting on the findings, Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher, Mercer said, “Asia has a bigger range of quality-of-living standard amongst its cities than any other region. For many cities, such as those in South Korea, the quality of living is continually improving. But for others, such as some in China, issues like pervasive poor air pollution are eroding their quality of living.”

The annual survey also takes into account issues such as infrastructure, crime levels and political environments, which can be detrimental to the daily lives of expatriate employees, their families and local residents. Parakatil added, “To ensure that expatriate compensation packages reflect the local environment appropriately, employers need a clear picture of the quality of living in the cities where they operate.”

Top 5 cities by region—Asia (excluding Australia and New Zealand) Regional Rank 2014 1 2 3 4 5

Global Rank 2014 25 43 47 49 57

Mercer Quality of Living Survey 2014

China returnees at all-time high The total cumulative number of Chinese nationals returning to China to fill senior executive positions reached 800,000 in the last five years, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This figure has almost tripled since 30 years ago. In 2012 272,900 people arrived back in China.

The search in returnees has pushed employeers to establish new controls on expatriate packages in an effort to keep total compensation costs in check. For years now, high-flying foreign-born Chinese and newly-returning Chinese nationals have been eligible for expatriate compensation packages when negotiating for senior executive positions in China. In addition, currency inflation, strong talent demand and other factors push salaries for top talent in China ever upward.

6 | HR Magazine

Alan Yuan, Principal at CTPartners, Shanghai explained, “It is no longer uncommon for returnees coming home from the US or Europe to be awarded an expatriate package with allowances for living, education, tax equalisation and other relocation expenses for the first two years, and to have their compensation localised thereafter.”

He continued, “In other cases, companies offer returnees a so-called ‘local plus’ package instead of the more lucrative expat package. With the rising numbers of regional headquarters that have been moving to mainland China from Hong Kong and Singapore however, many returnees from these two cities have instead had to secure jobs by accepting localised packages from day one when relocating to Shanghai or Beijing.”

City Singapore Tokyo Kobe Yokohama Osaka

Country Singapore Japan Japan Japan Japan

HR news

Hong Kong HR feels the property price squeeze Hong Kong remains the most expensive location in the world to rent a high-end three-bedroom apartment, despite rents for high-end property falling in the city for the second consecutive year—a fact that HR is cautiously taking take into account when offering relocation packages for overseas talent.

Rents for an unfurnished three-bedroom apartment in a sought-after area of Hong Kong average USD 11,440 per month— down 1% on last year’s average and 3.6% on the previous year—according to ECA International. With a high population density and a consistently limited supply

of property, average rents in the territory have long been significantly more expensive than other high-profile cities and are now more than 50% higher than Asia’s next most expensive location, Tokyo.

Lee Quane, Regional Director, Asia, ECA International said, “In contrast to the large 15% increases seen a couple of years ago, rental prices in Hong Kong for properties popular with expatriates saw little movement during 2013. Many employers remain cautious about costs when markets are still so uncertain and have been gradually reducing the housing budgets they provide their mobile staff in Hong Kong.”

Supply, however, is not an issue, as Quane explained, “Government restrictions on the sales market, similar to those in mainland China, have increased the numbers of rental properties available—easing supply in a location where limited space already puts plenty of upward pressure on rents.”

Within Asia, Hong Kong is followed by Tokyo, which ranks 6th globally, then Singapore (7th), Shanghai (9th) and Seoul (13th). To assist companies in formulating their accommodation policy and deciding what level of housing allowance to provide to international employees, ECA International publishes annual Accommodation Reports for more than 180 locations.

Global top 20 most expensive locations—for high-end three-bedroom rental apartments

Location

Global rank 2014

Global rank 2013

Hong Kong

1

1

Moscow

2

4

Caracas

3

2

New York

4

3

London

5

6

Tokyo

6

5

Singapore

7

8

Bogotá

8

7

Shanghai

9

11

Lagos

10

9

Rio de Janeiro

11

10

Zurich

12

15

Cost comparison of three-bedroom apartments: Hong Kong vs. major world cities Hong Kong Moscow New York US$ per month

London

12000

14000

Tokyo Frankfurt 0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

Source: ECA International’s Accommodation Survey 2013/14

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HR news

Starbucks funds degrees for US employees

Marriott funds hospitality drive in China Over USD 6 million has been pumped into the Marriot China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI) by The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriot Foundation to help develop hospitality training in China.

The CHEI is in the process of selecting 10 to 12 pilot schools across China and hopes to further expand its staff training to reach over 20,000 students within the next five years.

The Initiative has already seen significant success since its inception in 2013 with faculty

internships, hotel field trips, research grants and hospitality curricula, much of which has been developed in conjunction with the San Diego State University.

CHEI’s summer faculty internship programme, which began in July 2014, saw more than 30 teachers from schools across China placed into various hotel departments to gain real-world career experience. A further three teachers will travel later this year to hospitality schools in the United States as CHEI fellows.

Starbucks is rolling out a new programme that offers to partially fund degree courses for its employees in the United States. Working in partnership with Arizona State University, the programme will be offered to an estimated 135,000 employees within the company who work at least 20 hours a week. Employees taking part in the programme, however, are under no obligation to stay with the organisation once their degree is complete.

The company is said to be phasing out its current programme, which offers up to USD 1,000 reimbursement per year with certain education programmes, in favour of this new and more substantial offering. Whilst it is unclear how many employees will be eligible for the programme or how much it will cost the company, the coffee chain is currently in negotiations with the university and further announcements will be made shortly.

Multinationals don’t plan for pandemics Half of multinationals have no plan in place for dealing with a pandemic, according to an ECA International survey on pandemics, conducted in response to the current Ebola outbreak, which has raised the issue of international HR’s role in crisis planning.

if possible, and/or their family in the event of a pandemic. Only a very small number of companies would increase hardship allowances (4%) or provide a new exceptional allowance (5%) in these circumstances.

Of the 189 multinational companies which took part from across the globe between 30 July and 6 August 2014, an alarming 50% have no policy in place, while the two most common measures in place among organisations that do have a policy are the provision of a safe working environment (83%) and a business continuity plan should people no longer be able to travel to work (78%).

Lee Quane, Regional Director, Asia, ECA International commented, “That half of the companies we surveyed have no policy in place is rather surprising. With cross-border travelling increasing, there is a potential for transmission around the world, multinational organisations have a responsibility to be prepared for such events and every good business continuity plan should have measures in place to deal with this kind of risk.”

Three quarters of companies with a policy said they would return any expatriate staff,

Quane explained that in a pandemic situation, there will be issues specific to

8 | HR Magazine

expatriates. He said, “Global mobility teams need to ensure that these are also addressed within any crisis policy so that everyone is prepared and responsibilities clear.

Considerations include how to deal with the expatriate’s family, knowing who to contact and how to reach people far from HQ as well as defining how much more care, if any, is reasonable to give to expatriates than to locally-employed staff.”

ECA recommends that IHR engage with the business continuity team to ensure there is a plan and that it takes expatriates into consideration; monitor government warnings and feedback from people on the ground; and work with a specialist provider to help with policy or advise on case-by-case scenarios.

HR news

British Safety Council launches Honour awards The British Safety Council has launched its prestigious 2014 Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour awards, designed to recognise and celebrate exemplary management of health, safety and environmental risks by businesses around the world.

Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour are highly prestigious accolades that recognise the huge commitment and effort of the winning organisations and their employees in achieving and sustaining the highest standards of health, safety and environmental practice. Sensible and proportionate health, safety and environmental

management is of great social and economic value: it protects people and the environment and is good for business.”

The closing date for applications is 12 September 2014 and the results will be announced on 10 October 2014.

The two awards are open to organisations from all countries and business sectors that have achieved the maximum five stars in the British Safety Council’s independent Five Star audits for Health & Safety and Environmental Management between August 2013 and July 2014.

Organisations must be able to demonstrate that they have a proven track record and a culture of best practice for excellence in these key areas at all levels throughout the business.

Commenting on the awards, Alex Botha, Chief Executive, British Safety Council said, “The

Employee benefits— Where did all the money go?

A staggering 70% of global of regional benefit managers at multinational companies have limited or no access to timely financial information related to current employee benefit spending, according to Towers Watson’s 2014 Current and Emerging Global Benefit Themes research.

The research also shows that two-thirds of multinationals are still at the early stages of developing their global benefit strategy and management approach, suggesting they are either just getting started or narrowly focusing on a single global benefit management area.

Steven Yu, Asia Pacific Director, International Consulting Group, Towers Watson said, “It is striking that global and regional benefit managers at many multinationals— sometimes spending hundreds of millions of dollars on employee benefits annually—do not have this vital information. Nowhere else within their businesses would such a lack of management information be acceptable”.

The research does, however, confirm that more advanced multinationals continue to be focused on the management of financial risk, the optimisation of benefit spend and the effective

handling of M&A transactions. They are, however, shifting their focus from defined benefit pensions to a more balanced view across a broader range of benefits, in particular, defined contribution retirement plans and health care.

Yu added, “Review and refinement of the global benefit organisation and its processes, programmes and strategies lead to better outcomes for organisations and their employees. Multinationals that focus on answering the most business-relevant questions are typically the companies that achieve the greatest value from their employee benefit programmes and investment.”

Samsung under fire over workers’ rights Samsung has been exposed for abusing the rights of its employees, with a report by the workers’ rights watchdog organisation China Labour Watch revealing that children under the age of 16 were found to be working in a Samsung facility in Dongguan, China. Further studies conducted in Korea found that more than 200 former Samsung workers suffer from grave illnesses, allegedly linked to working in Samsung factories.

These discoveries have prompted American NGO Green America to petition Samsung to put an end to worker abuse. The petition—already with over 20,000 signatures—calls for Samsung to be held accountable for its criminal actions and to ensure that no more workers are mistreated or endangered while making Samsung’s products.

This adds to the long list of organisations and activists calling for responsibly-made electronics such as Green America’s ‘Bad Apple’ petition, addressing the IT giant Apple, calling on the company to ‘end’ smartphone sweatshops by addressing worker health and safety risks.

Samsung reported USD 9.56 billion in profits in the third quarter of 2013 so the question remains, can Samsung afford to make these changes to its business model or will it continue to break international and Chinese labour laws in order to sustain its growth?

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HR news

Flying drones monitor safety at work

Aon supports Asia Global Service Day

New US startup Skycatch is revolutionising the way organisations approach health and safety in the workplace with the launch of its army of semi autonomous drones used to accurately survey and monitor locations such as mining and construction sites.

Launching from a remote landing station that functions as a data relay and charging station for the camera-equipped quad-rotor vehicles—the drone system flies over a mining site to capture high quality video of a planned blast. The video is streamed to mine personnel who watch it in slow motion to check that all their explosive charges have detonated successfully.

Aside from the maintenance of drones and deployment of the landing stations, there is no human interaction involved in the work of the drones, making them ideal for investigating dangerous environments and ensuring the safety and well-being of employees. Skycatch has also observed that clients are using the drones to take pictures that could have been easily taken by a human; it being simply more efficient to send a drone, leaving employees able to focus on other tasks.

Christian Sanz, CEO, Skycatch hopes that this technology will soon extend to other workplaces to facilitate staff safety, “Rather than operating costly and high maintenance drones themselves, more and more businesses are turning to Skycatch to help them gather aerial data. From shipping to construction, the ability to capture an entire site in one picture and monitor through the course of the day can mean a better understanding of how it works, optimising the movement of shipping crates and overseeing the construction of massive building projects.”

In the US, however, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently been investigating various corporate uses of drone technology, deeming the use of model aircraft by farmers for surveying their fields to be unlawful and is still determining the legality of New York City realtors using drones to document properties. Currently, the FAA has remained largely hands off regarding the recreational use of drones, however it has strictly curtailed their use for commercial purposes. With it yet to react to Skycatch’s ‘data business’, time will tell if drones like this become an every day part of business.

10 | HR Magazine

Aon employees in over 40 countries volunteered their time to support over 170 charities as part of the Asia Global Service Day in mid-June. The company joined the worldwide initiative to provide vaccinations for children in Mali.

Colleagues across Asia worked with charities to organise various community activities such as tree planting and street cleaning in addition to cooking and

distributing meals to the underprivileged.

In partnership with the Red Cross, Aon employees were encouraged to share their Global Service Day experiences via social media including Twitter, Instagram and Aon’s internal Yammer network using the hashtag #EmpowerResults. The organisation donated USD 1 for every post made to help with the provision of measles and rubella vaccinations for an estimated 10,000 children in Mali.

New Women Corporate Directors councils advance better governance The Women Corporate Directors Global Institute in New York has launched its WCD Thought Leadership Council (TLC) to advance better corporate governance practices. The Council, chaired this year by executive compensation board advisors Pearl Meyer & Partners, called on compensation committees to ensure that pay is tied to their company’s specific business, human capital and cultural objectives.

women CEOs and directors of family companies, research with search firms and behavioural experts to identify the challenges and specific skills needed for such companies and director introductions for businesses seeking outside directors.

An estimated 80% of companies globally are family-owned, but only about one-third of them survive into the second generation, indicating the need for guidance in terms of how to tackle issues, and how to best work through these to create sustainable and dynamic organisations.

To achieve this, the TLC warned that it depends, in part, on committees being brave enough to exercise the courage to make difficult and potentially unpopular decisions that are right for the business. Susan Stautberg, CEO, Co-Founder and Global Co-Chair, WCD echoed this theme stating, “Great companies promote inclusion, candor, courage, and cohesion in the boardroom…

[They] need to rejuvenate their boards to maintain their vibrancy and effectiveness.”

Henrietta Holsman Fore, Global Co-Chair, WCD, CEO and Chair, Holsman International, and Director, Exxon added, “Family companies are undergoing a real transformation when it comes to their corporate governance. There is a genuine desire to implement governance best practice, but also to learn how to balance this against the wishes of the family stakeholders, who may represent multiple generations.”

In addition, the Institute has also launched the WCD Family Business Council, designed to bring stronger governance and create long-term value in family-owned businesses, which make up more than a third of Fortune 500. The Council will offer programmes for

This summer, WCD will also partner with Spencer Stuart, Groysberg, and Bell for a global board director survey and as part of the study, will explore particular differences and similarities between publicly-owned company boards and family-owned/private company boards.

HR news

School places determine future of Hong Kong banking The availability of school places is not normally the first point that arises around the negotiating table when hiring overseas bankers. This has, however, become the number one reason—above pollution—that foreign bankers choose not to relocate to Hong Kong, as brought up at the recent eFinancial Careers roundtable discussion.

The 2008 financial crisis saw an end to lucrative expatriate benefits packages that included ‘debentures’ or down payments to secure places

for the children of overseas workers. With Bloomberg predicting a shortfall of 4,203 places for primary-level students in Hong Kong in 2016 – 2017, expats planning on moving to the city are having their plans cut short by their children’s education.

As a result, many banks in Hong Kong are opting to hire locals or offer longer transfer periods of six to nine months for their foreign hires, to give them the time to secure a school place for their children.

For many foreign hires choosing between Hong Kong and Singapore the choice is not coming down to salary, quality of life or tax, but the availability of school places.

Places in Singapore’s prohibitively expensive and exclusive international schools may be in high demand but when compared to Hong Kong’s acute lack of places, it is increasingly becoming the deciding factor in the choice between the two locations.

Diversity & Inclusion—Driving Competitive Advantage Over the past few years, Community Business’s Diversity & Inclusion in Asia Conference has become the primary forum for discussion on diversity & inclusion issues as they relate to Asia—with an established reputation for bringing together the most inspirational and informed speakers on the subject and pushing the boundaries of discussion.

In its sixth year, the theme for the 2014 conference is Diversity & Inclusion— Driving Competitive Advantage. This will look beyond workplace issues to the marketplace—sharing stories of how

diversity and inclusion enables companies to win customers and clients, develop new products and services, unleash creativity and innovation, tap into new markets and, ultimately, increase revenue.

Join the Conference to hear from opinion leaders and experts, participate in discussions and debates, take advantage of best practice and training and return to your organisations armed with a stronger business case, compelling anecdotes and stories and plenty of ideas of how your company can leverage diversity to drive competitive advantage in Asia.

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HR news

Japanese women held back by gender inequality Nearly two-thirds of women (63%) recently interviewed in Japan say they quit their last job because they were not satisfied with their career perspective, while 49% left because they felt they were being held back.

This, according to Heidrick & Struggles’ latest gender diversity study entitled A More Diverse Workplace: Increasing Women’s Power in Japan.

The study took into account the responses of more than 200 female and 44 male executives on the current status of female executives in Japan and the obstacles they face, and recommended ways for companies in Japan to leverage these highly competent leadership resources. The results reveal three distinctive factors that hamper the advancement of women in Japan:

Family obligations The majority of women (80%) said they find it hard to maintain a balance between family life and the professional requirements of top management positions because they feel that they should put their family and their partner’s career first as opposed to striving for leadership roles. Only around 30% of women in Japan return to the workforce after having children, while in the US and Europe, 50 – 60% of women return to work.

Gender perspective There is a discrepancy between men and women’s perspectives on work-related issues Only 51% of male respondents feel that maintaining a balance between family life and the professional requirements of top management positions is an obstacle to women. This suggests that men may be misunderstanding women’s needs and circumstances, either as counterparts at work or as partners at home, which may prevent women from gaining the support they need to actualise their potential and move into more senior positions.

Corporate culture According to the study, while companies hire women on the executive track, managers— who are mostly male—lack the knowledge of how to manage and develop female workers, resulting in a lack of challenge and career progression. An ingrained culture of face time and lack of performance-based evaluation

12 | HR Magazine

systems mean both men and women work long hours, increasing the burden on women at home.

Commenting on the findings, Steve Mullinjer, Regional Leader, Heidrick & Struggles, Asia Pacific added, “Workplace inequality is a deep-rooted issue in Japanese culture. Although Japan’s female participation rate in the workplace is relatively high compared with other Asian nations at 68%, Japan is near the bottom amongst key regional competitors when it comes to moving women up to the board and C-suite level. Women make up only 2% of Japanese boards, compared with 9% in Hong Kong and 7% in Singapore.”

Aya Iinuma, Partner-in-Charge, Heidrick & Struggles’ Japan office suggested that organisations, NGOs, male counterparts in the workplace, husbands and women themselves need to recognise their shared responsibility. She explained, “Many pioneering enterprises are launching initiatives to get their gender agenda on track. However, this is more than just an action plan—it is also a mindset transformation exercise that our society needs to address.”

SAP Labs India launches Autism at Work recruitment initiative SAP Labs India has announced a recruitment drive as part of its global ‘Autism at Work’ initiative, which focuses on individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The announcement is in line with SAP’s aim to fill 1% of its workforce with people affected

by ASD by 2020. Currently, five individuals with autism work at SAP Labs India and an additional are to be would be hired by the end of 2014, while around 60 ASD colleagues will join SAP locations in the US, Canada, Ireland, Germany and Brazil.

Other initiatives around autism include Project Prayas, for which SAP Labs India’s has developed learning apps, a cloud curriculum and learning centres for autistic children, in partnership with the Autism Society of India and the Spastics Society of India.

Bhuvaneswar Naik, Head of HR, SAP India commented, “Innovation stems from a diverse and inclusive work environment which we pride ourselves for at SAP Labs India. Through our Autism at Work initiative, we aim to leverage on the unique talent of the disabled and provide them with meaningful employment.”

HR MOVES

HR Moves Zurich appoints Thomas J. White as Group Head of Human Resources Zurich Insurance Group has appointed Thomas J. White to the position of Group Head of Human Resources.

Currently CEO and Representative Officer for Zurich in Japan, White will be responsible for leading the global HR function and will be based in Zurich.

White has worked at Zurich’s wholly-owned subsidiary Farmers Group, Inc. as President, CEO as Farmers New World Life. He was previously President and CEO of AIA Thailand, and Senior Regional Life Division Executive responsible for Vietnam and Indonesia. He was also an active member of the wider business community in Thailand, having served as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand and in a number of other non-governmental and charitable organisations. In March 2011 he was named CEO and Representative Officer for Zurich in Japan.

Aon Hewitt appoints new leaders in Greater China and Southeast Asia Aon Hewitt has appointed Jeremy Andrulis as Chief Executive Officer, Southeast Asia, for Aon Hewitt Consulting. Currently leading the organisation’s Performance, Rewards & Talent and Retirement Practices as Managing Director in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Andrulis brings to the role over 17 years’ experience as a management and human resources consultant in North America and Asia.

Succeeding Andrulis is Sushant Upadhyay, who also has 17 years of experience, and will be responsible for client relationships with large- and mid-market Foreign Invested Enterprises in Greater China. He will continue in this role while taking on the added responsibility of Managing Director for Aon Hewitt Consulting in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Stewart Fotheringham, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific, Aon Hewitt commented, “These changes are a reflection of careful planning and allow minimum disruption to continue our strategy to strengthen Aon Hewitt’s position as the pre-eminent human resources consulting firm in the region. These are exciting times and I am confident that our thoughtful planning and forward thinking have enabled us to select the right successors to spearhead our future growth and success and ensure seamless client service and delivery.”

14 | HR Magazine

HR MOVES

Jeffrey Tang appointed Managing Director of Towers Watson Hong Kong Towers Watson has appointed Jeffrey Tang as Managing Director of its Hong Kong office. He will have overall responsibility for Towers Watson’s business in Hong Kong and build on its market-leading position to deliver people, financial and risk solutions to clients. Tang also joins the company’s Asia Pacific Leadership Team, to which he brings extensive global and regional experience, having provided consultancy to US, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific clients.

Bob Charles, Managing Director, Towers Watson, Asia Pacific said, “As we look to Towers Watson’s future in Hong Kong, we are very pleased to be able to tap Jeff’s experience and leadership. Jeff’s energy and track record in delivering the successful transformation of our Talent and Rewards business in Hong Kong are qualities that will lead our business to new levels going forward. This year, we celebrate 40 years of partnership with our Hong Kong clients and we are confident Jeff, along with our team, will continue to enhance that proud tradition.”

Hotel giant Accor appoints new VP Dirk-Jan Rijks Hotel operator Accor has appointed Dirk-Jan Rjiks as new Vice President to spearhead the Human Resources Development function of more than 300 hotels and resorts globally. Based in Singapore, Rjiks is responsible for supporting and developing an optimal guest experience strategy and enhancing satisfaction through HR programmes.

Rjiks brings a wealth of HR experience to the role and has previously worked as Vice President of Human Resources for Sofitel Asia Pacific with Accor Hospitality and Chief Human Resources & Administration Officer with Qatar National Hotels Company (QNHC) in Doha.

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HR Events

HR Events September 01/09/2014 – 04/09/2014 17th Annual Asian Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Organised by

IQPC

Location: MAX Atria, Singapore Expo, Singapore Tel: (65) 6722 9388 | Email: enquiry@iqpc.com.sg Website: www.ssomalaysia.com

08/09/2014 – 09/09/2014 Talent Asia Congress 2014 Organised by

IBN International

Location: Istana Hotel,, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Alfred Chooi | Tel: (852) 9206 5800

10/09/2014 Award for Excellence in Training and Development 2014 Award Presentation Dinner Organised by

HKMA

Location: JW Marriott Ballroom, Level 3, JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong Tel: 2774 8519 | Email: ellisyeung@hkma.org.hk Website: www.hkma.org.hk/training-award

20/09/2014 – 01/10/2014 Benefits Forum & Expo Organised by

SourceMedia Conferences & Events

Location: Benefits Forum & Expo, Boca Raton, Florida Tel: (212) 803 6091 Email: Paul.Himberger@sourcemedia.com Website: ebn.benefitnews.com/conferences/benefitsforum/

24/09/2014 Mercer at the British Chamber of Hong Kong Organised by

Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited

Location: Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited 26/F and 27/F, Central Plaza, 18 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3114 6339 | Email: amy.lai@mercer.com Website: www.mercer.com

05/10/2014 – 08/10/2014 HR Southwest Conference

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Organised by

Location: 3rd Global HR Excellence Conference, Singapore Tel: (214) 631 7476 | Email: attendees@hrsouthwest.com Website: www.hrsouthwest.com

13/10/2014 – 15/10/2014 3rd Global HR Excellence Conference Organised by

marcus evans

Location: 3rd Global HR Excellence Conference, Singapore Tel: (603) 2723 6745 | Email: CindyC@marcusevanskl.com Website: hrexcellenceme-lse.marcusevans.com

27/10/2014 – 28/10/2014 Transformational Leadership And Change Management Organised by

Salvo Global

Location: (to be confirmed) Hong Kong Tel: (65) 6297 8545 | Email: marketing@salvoglobal.com Website: salvoglobal.com/events/transformational-leadershipchange-management/

November 11/11/2014 – 12/11/2014 Diversity & Inclusion in Asia 2014 Conference Organised by

Community Business

Location: Regal Airport – Hong Kong, 9 Cheong Tat Road, Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2201 1832 | Email: Wendy.Sin@communitybusiness.org Website: programme.communitybusiness.org/diasiaconf2014/

February 15/02/2015 – 17/02/2015 World HRD Congress Organised by

World HRD Congress

07/10/2014 – 08/10/2014

Location: Taj Lands End Band Strand, Bandra (West), Mumbai, 400 050 India Tel: (91) 22 2661 1394 | Email: secretariat@worldcsrcongress.com Website: www.worldhrdcongress.com/Media%202015.html

34th HKIHRM Annual Conference & Exhibition

17/02/2015 – 18/02/2015

October Organised by

HKIHRM

Location: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2837 3817 | Email: project@hkihrm.org Website: www.hkihrm.org/index.php/what-s-new/97what-s-news-2

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The World CSR Day Organised by

World CSR Congress

Location: Taj Lands End Band Strand, Bandra (West), Mumbai, 400 050 India Tel: (91) 22 2661 6613 | Email: secretariat@worldcsrcongress.com Website: www.worldhrdcongress.com/Media%202015.html

HR IN NUMBERS

HR in Numbers

34%

552 million

Percentage of HR leaders that believe that their HR and talent programmes are just ‘getting by’ or even ‘under performing’.

Number of identities that were exposed worldwide in 2013, revealed by a data breach report of over 157 countries.

Source: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s (DTTL) Global Human Capital Trends 2014

Source: Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report

800,000

70%

Total cumulative number of Chinese nationals returning to China to fill senior executive positions in the last five years.

Percentage of students entering Harvard Business School this year that are women (up from just 25% in the class of 1985).

Source: Towers Watson’s 2014 Current and Emerging Global Benefit Themes research

Source: The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

4,203 82%

1/5

The shortfall of school places for primary-level students in Hong Kong in 2016 - 2017, hindering foreign talent from accepting banking positions in Hong Kong.

Fraction of employees that say they plan to switch jobs this year or next year.

Source: Bloomberg

Percentage of executives that agree that a strategic approach to managing diversity can help access a rich talent pool.

Source: Study carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by SuccessFactors

Source: Forbes

20,000

56%

Number of signatures collected in American NGO Green America’s petition to call for Samsung to put an end to worker abuse and be held accountable for its criminal actions in China to ensure that no more workers are mistreated or endangered.

Percentage of London Financial services (FS) CEOs planning to take on extra staff in the coming year (2014 - 2015).

Source: American NGO Green America

Source: PwC report, Remoulding your workforce for a new marketplace

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HR crimebusters:

fighting cyberthreats

Stolen identities, computer hackers and cyber-espionage may sound more like the ingredients of a Hollywood action movie than things you are likely to encounter in your daily HR routine, however, new statistics suggest otherwise. Evidence from the 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) by security solutions provider Verizon and figures released by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team (HKCERT) Coordination Centre reveal that data breaches within companies across the globe are at an all-time high. HR needs to be mindful that now more than ever before sensitive information could be falling into the wrong hands and putting their organisation at risk.

This is worrying news for HR. That said, whilst cybercrime is becoming a harsh reality for any business operating in a

18 | HR Magazine

modern integrated society, the good news is that you don’t not need to be a superhero to fight it.

In this issue’s cover story, HR Magazine delves into the underworld of online crime to explain key risks, what the cyber security crisis means to organisations in the region and offer practical advice on how HR can protect their organisation and employees from falling prey to it.

Virtual reality There is no doubt about it; the number of data breach incidents is firmly on the rise. The HKCERT recorded close to 1,600 incidents of security threats in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of 2013 alone—a 52% increase from the 2012 figure. The DBIR from Verizon reports a total of 1,300 confirmed data breaches up until

April this year—the highest number of cases over the entire 10-year range of the study.

The DBIR also confirmed more than 63,000 security incidents across 50 organisations spanning the globe, ranging from unsuccessful attempts to penetrate a firewall, to successful facility break ins, to petty cyber vandalism.

The Report reveals that 92% of all security incidents over a ten-year period can be traced to nine basic offensive mediums that vary from industry to industry. These patterns are: crimeware (various malware aimed at gaining control of systems); physical theft/ loss of hardware or user credentials; web app attacks; phishing; point-of-sale intrusions and payment card skimmers; denial of service attacks aimed at simply bringing down a website; insider/privilege misuse and miscellaneous errors such as simply sending an email to the wrong person.

COVER STORY

Top three cybercrimes Although nine patterns of cybercrime have been identified, the following three are the most prevalent and require the urgent attention of HR and IT departments.

1.

Lost or stolen user credentials such as usernames and passwords continues to be the number one way to gain access to information, accounting for two thirds of all breaches reported in the DBIR. The Report also shows that, while external attacks still outweigh insider attacks, insider attacks are up—especially with regard to stolen intellectual property.

The Report points out that 85% of insider and privilege-abuse attacks used the internal corporate network, and 22% took advantage of physical access.

2.

Second to this is malware infection, where a system is infected with software that gives the hacker control over the computer. This issue was brought to light with the HKCERT’s recent discovery that over 2,500 machines across Hong Kong were infected with the ZeroAccess botnet, a programme (viruses reproduce autonomously, botnets generally reproduce manually) which allows the hacker to secretly take over a group of computers and use the machines for a number of illegal purposes. This worrying trend is also being witnessed across the globe and only seems to be worsening.

The increasing trust that organisations have been putting in their web platforms has led to a sharp increase in the number of attacks targeting these applications.

3.

Finally, one of the oldest hacking tricks has recently come back into style, phishing—wherein the attacker, pretending to be a trustworthy entity in electronic communication with the targeted entity, is given access to secure systems and information.

Numerous other intrusion methods that are being employed by cyber criminals. So who exactly are the criminal masterminds behind these attacks and what are their motives?

Culprits The DBIR indicates that most attacks are orchestrated by external actors, as opposed to employees and partners—good news for HR at least. Financially motivated criminal gangs are still the dominant type of perpetrator in external attacks, although espionage increasingly appears in the data set. In fact, cyber-espionage represents a more-than-three-fold increase compared with the 2013 report, with 511 incidents recorded.

China still leads as the source of the most cyberespionage activity—ahead of other regions of the world including Eastern Europe—and these attacks were found to be the most complex and diverse, generally using what are known as ‘zero day’ hacks that target previously unknown vulnerabilities in a system. These attacks are normally rare and almost impossible to defend against without pre-emptively predicting and closing unseen holes in security. It is because of this, many organisations are turning to reformed hackers in order to protect their data

Motives According to the DBIR, the majority of the breaches have been aimed at financial information as attackers are mainly going for payment and bank data that could be used to steal money from accounts held by clients or the organisation. The motivation in this case is simple—financial gain.

The second most popular target for data breaches is valuable information such as medical records, corporate secrets or classified government documents. The motives here can be varied but generally can be placed in one of two categories: actions by those who wish to expose illegal or immoral actions by an organisation or government and competition, or rival companies or political factions. Some companies have seen the increasing prevalence and relative efficiency of corporate cyber-espionage as an opportunity and have been turning to hackers to obtain the corporate secrets or even customer records of competitors to gain an edge in business. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the rise in espionage attacks is reflected in the growth in theft of secrets

The HKCERT recorded close to 1,600 incidents of security threats in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of 2013 alone—a 52% increase from the 2012 figure.

and internal data. Even governments have joined the ring when it comes to cybercrime. In Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia, the first shots were fired online 20 weeks before any ground invasion, in the form of DDoS attacks targeting Georgian servers. These attacks were followed by the cybervandalism of several high profile Georgian websites that had their content replaced by images comparing the then Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to Adolf Hitler. Another cyber attack spanning 2009 and 2010 brought Iran’s nuclear programme to a standstill. A virus took control of the centrifuge controls in facilities across the country and proceeded to destroy the machines responsible for refining nuclear material. The virus also took control of a number of workstations and speakers, causing them to play AC/DC’s song ‘Thunderstruck’ from their 1990 album ‘The Razors Edge’—it is interesting to note that this song as well as many other like it are banned in Iran. While no one can confirm the source of these attacks it is generally assumed that they could not have been completed without the aid of a government.

Impact Wade Baker, principal author of the Data Breach Investigations Report, pointed out that the costs of a data breach could be enormous not only in terms of the remediation costs and potential fines but also the damage to an organisation’s reputation and loss of customer confidence, which could impact its success for years. He also pointed out that in many cases, incidents of data breach can go undetected for long periods of time, if not forever. Many organisations are also unwilling to report breaches in their security fearing exposure or investor backlash.

He added, “Organisations need to realise no one is immune from a data breach. Compounding this issue is the fact that it is taking longer to identify compromises within an organisation— often weeks or months—while penetrating an organisation can take minutes or hours.”

This warning is echoed by Leung Siu-Cheong, Senior Consultant of HKCERT, who commented, “Cyber security activities are becoming camouflaged, if not invisible.

Owners of compromised computers are unaware that their computers are being used to attack others on the Internet.” He explained that in order to get a clearer picture of the scene in Hong Kong, HKCERT is working with global security researchers to collect data to proactively identify these ‘invisible bot machines’, or compromised computers.

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COVER STORY

Solutions Fear not—all is not lost. Whilst it seems that no organisation is immune to a data breach, there are strategic measures that HR can take to enable a more focused and effective approach to fighting cybercrime in order to help reduce the risk of such threats.

Seven ways to tackle cybercrime: 1.

2.

Baker offered some reassurance, “After analysing 10 years of data, we realise most organisations cannot keep up with cybercrime—and the bad guys are winning. But by applying big data analytics to security risk management, we can begin to bend the curve and combat cybercrime more effectively and strategically.”

Many companies never recover from a major data breach so it is imperative that they take action now to prevent this from occurring. Here is some advice for HR on how this can be done:

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Be vigilant. Organisations often only find out about security breaches when they get a call from the police or a customer. Log files and change management systems can give you early warning.

Make your people your first line of defense. Teach staff about the importance of security, a very popular method of cyber infiltration is by obtaining the credentials of a single, low level member of staff, infecting their computer and using it as a staging platform to attack the organisation.

Ensuring that your staff use secure passwords (length over complexity) is the greatest line of defense that your organisation has. An 8-character random string of letters number and symbols takes roughly five hours to brute force. A memorable nine-character-long password takes far longer to compromise. ‘We are the knights who say NI!’ is an infinitely more secure password than ‘$3s05(8*’.

Keep data on a ‘need to know’ basis.

Limit access to the systems staff need to do their jobs and make sure that you have processes in place to revoke access when people change role or leave.

Patch promptly. Attackers often gain access using the simplest attack methods, ones that you could guard against simply with a well-configured IT environment and an up-to-date antivirus.

Encrypt sensitive data. If data is then lost or stolen, it is much harder for a criminal to use. Well-encrypted data is a hacker’s worst nightmare. It is normally virtually impossible to decrypt data. It costs a great deal of money and time.

High-level encryption can be obtained for free on open-source licence.

Use two-factor authentication. This won’t reduce the risk of passwords being stolen, but it can limit the damage that can be done with a single lost or stolen credential.

Don’t forget physical security. Not all data thefts happen online. Criminals will tamper with computers or payment terminals or steal boxes of printouts. There is literally nothing you can do to prevent someone with physical access to a computer from accessing any data stored within.

Source: Verizon

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Back up and encrypt Leung also pointed out this year’s emerging security threats such as ransomware, where a hacker gains access to data in order to extort the original owners of the data. In today’s world of cybercrime, the hijacking of system servers to launch powerful attacks and hacking of cloud user accounts to steal data for financial gains are expected. He explained that another key aspect to data security is encryption; the majority of attacks that resulted in a breach but no information being leaked were saved by encryption.

Keeping files encrypted can ensure that even if the file is taken, the data within may remain secure.

Analysing the cyber security scene in Hong Kong, Leung offered some additional advice to companies on how to reduce the risk of falling prey to such attacks. He said, “Organisations, especially SMEs, and the public should pay more efforts to protect sensitive data. On top of regularly backing up the data and keeping it at a safe offline location to minimise risks of ransomware, they should use strong encryption to protect data while transferring files through untrusted channels.”

COVER STORY

Handle with care The issue of handling sensitive data also puts the spotlight on the employees within an organisation. A recent experiment carried out by the US Department of Homeland Security placed USB drives, loaded with ‘malware’, on the pavement and parking lots of government offices. Alarmingly, they found that over 60% of the collected drives were plugged into office computers, and were able to deploy their payload. Had this been an actual attack, just one drive plugged into the right computer would have resulted in countless computers becoming vulnerable and terrifying amounts of data being exposed. The key lesson here is that organisations must remember is that every employee is responsible for the security of the entire company.

Leung added that, with the growing trends of mobile payments and ‘Bring Your Own Device’ in the workplace, mobile attacks may become more mature and sophisticated. He advised, “The public must also implement proper security measures on their mobile devices, and use strong passwords and two-step authentication in Internet services. In addition, they should be wary of unsolicited software or hyperlinks.”

Every cloud has a silver lining. With data breaches increasing by a whopping 62% and over 552 million identities being exposed worldwide in 2013, according to Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report, the demand for cyber security professionals is currently so high that, in the US alone, there are currently an estimated 300,000 cyber security jobs left vacant.

Surprisingly, Symantec estimates that 20% of these positions could be filled by individuals without a four-year college degree. To help address this global workforce gap the pilot scheme Symantec Cyber Career Connection has just been launched. The scheme will initially be rolled out in New York City, Baltimore and the San Francisco Bay Area in August 2014 and utilises a cyber security

curriculum developed in partnership with nonprofits Year Up, NPower and LifeJourney.

The training incorporates a virtual mentorship programme designed to immerse students into the industry, after which they will be placed in cyber security internships for further learning. Stephanie Cuskley, CEO, NPower commented, “Our New York City programme will prepare these talented young adults to obtain industry-recognised CompTIA Network+, Security+ and Ethical Hacker certifications.”

For HR professionals it seems the message is clear—wise up, fight back, and don’t let the ‘bad guys’ win.

Organisations must remember that every employee is responsible for the security of the entire company. | 21

HR Features

Can HR solve the world’s toughest problems?

With climate change, youth unemployment and the increasing disparity between the rich and poor topping the list of social issues affecting organisations across the globe, the relationship between a company, its staff and the community has never been so important.

But how can organisations make their people feel engaged and happy inside and outside the workplace whilst also working towards their business goals?

To get some answers, HR Magazine caught up with Lynda Gratton during the promotional tour of her new book The Key: How Corporations Succeed by Solving the World’s Toughest Problems. A Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and Advisor on Human Capital to the Government of Singapore, Gratton offered her insight into what organisations, and HR specifically, could be doing to bolster the emotional and intellectual capital of its employees whilst supporting the wider community.

A positive emotional cycle According to Gratton, one of the key challenges for HR today is encouraging employees to be emotionally resilient and have the power to create a happy life both inside and outside of work. A large part of this, she explained, is ensuring that people have a healthy relationship between home and work, which is often referred to as the ‘work/ life’ balance. Gratton prefers to call this the ‘emotional cycle’ in which the relationship between home and work can either build emotional capital or reduce it depending on the energy that is fuelling it.

She explained, “If home is negative and a reducing cycle, then you leave home feeling guilty and tired and you leave work feeling

22 | HR Magazine

angry and frustrated. If it’s working positively, then you leave home feeling authentic and good about yourself and you leave work feeling that you have something to give home and how you make that work is a really important.”

Gratton believes that the key to creating a positive emotional cycle is to look at how people work and what they do in order to explore ways to enhance staff engagement, productivity and enable a positive relationship between the home and the office.

introduced this concept into the organisation, productivity actually reduced as employees were unclear as to how to use work technology at home. Meanwhile, communications between teams began to break down due to a lack of face-to-face contact. It was only after employees learnt how to use the technology and follow the rules of flexible working that the company began to see productivity and staff engagement levels increase and time staff turnover decline.

Striking a balance

On the flip side, Gratton pointed out Yahoo as an example, whereby the newly appointed CEO, perhaps in an attempt to make an impactful statement, scrapped the policy of flexible working bringing employees from their homes back into the office. She added, “Whatever policy an organisation introduces, it cannot be a free for all, but equally it must be fair and transparent and companies that make these processes transparent tend to have higher productivity.”

One solution, she suggests, is flexible working whereby staff are given the opportunity to manage their own time and find their own work/life balance. Whilst such a policy can be tricky for organisations to implement, especially in cultures such as Hong Kong

It is up to HR to frame the context of how things are done so they play an important role in setting an example of how people work within an organisation.

The world beyond work

where employees are often required to work additional hours behind their desks, Gratton pointed out that flexible working can be done. However, in order for it to work to the advantage of both employee and employer alike, companies must have clear regulations in place for employees to follow.

Gratton believes that another key to tackling social issues is to give employees autonomy and meaningful work in relation to the external environment. One way that an organisation can build connections with the community is to allow its people to engage in work within the world beyond the workplace. She explained that one company that is championing this is the John Lewis Partnership, in which 91,000 of its permanent staff are also partners who own 42 John Lewis shops across the UK and share in the benefits and profits of the business.

She used the example of British Telecommunications (BT), which has been experimenting with flexible working for more than a decade. When the company first

The Partnership’s vision encourages employees to be a ‘force for good’ in the community by offering their time to support local, regional and national initiatives that help to build

HR Features

more vibrant, economically sustainable communities.

She explained, “Such initiatives not only build emotional resilience and make people feel more ‘human’, they also enhance the relationship between employees and the organisations they work for leading to higher levels of staff engagement and satisfaction.” Gratton pointed out, however, that such anchoring in the community can only be achieved with senior management buy-in and giving employees the time and freedom to work beyond the office walls.

Setting boundaries With mobile devices and evolving technologies becoming ever more prevalent in our daily working lives, it can become increasing difficult for employees to switch off and draw a healthy line between work and leisure. Gratton admits that many corporations have not been too successful in striking this balance, although she cites Indian-based IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as one that has attempted to tackle this issue by simplifying communications and asking its HR function to inform staff of new practices and ideas via a central blog rather than mass emailing.

Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited (HKBN) is another organisation that is helping employees to set healthy boundaries between work and leisure time. The company has a corporate policy of no non-urgent emails during weekends or vacation leave as part of its LIFE-work Priority programme aimed at allowing its staff, or rather Talents, to switch off outside of working hours. Firmly standing by its belief that personal health and family come before work, the company has also implemented a policy whereby one Friday per month is designated as ‘Early-off Friday’ where Talents must leave the office at 4pm, as well as half-day leave on the eve of festive holidays in order to allow more time to spend with friends and family on special occasions.

Gratton concluded, “It is up to HR to frame the context of how things are done so they play an important role in setting an example of how people work within an organisation. HR essentially has the power to help staff strike a healthy work/ life balance, which remains a big problem in many of today’s workplaces. HR holds the key, therefore, to tackling some of the biggest issues facing today’s workforces.”

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HR Features

8 steps to attract and retain the latest generation Millennials are the latest generation to enter the workplace. Following Gen X, Millennials—or Gen Y—were born between the years 1980 and 2000. They have the dubious honour of being regarded as the laziest and most self-entitled generation so far—but is this really the case? With Millennials set to occupy half the workforce in the next few years, the question is—how do we harness the potential of this generation? HR Magazine tracked down some top tips from HR blogger Ayesha Usman, CEO, TalentTracked on how to tempt top young talent.

1. Give plenty of feedback The millennial generation is accustomed to a culture of instant response. Instead of annual or bi-annual performance reviews, Millennials respond better to smaller, monthly or even weekly review sessions.

Millennials also value a strong ethos of staff training and benefit greatly from regular coaching and mentoring sessions.

2. Remain flexible A PWC survey found that Millennials generally value learning opportunities and flexible work hours over cash incentives.

Millennials have grown up through the economic collapse and as a result, tend to be more effective at managing finances and so may wish for a more varied pay package.

Many from this age group are opting for more funds to be allocated towards their retirement, while some wish for more personal time at the expense of their take home pay. Offering Millennials flexible hours and options in where and how they work can be vital to maintaining their engagement and retention in the workforce.

3. Focus on development Millennials have little faith in job security and will—on average—change jobs 10 times in a career. As such they tend to be unwilling to work extra hours for the promise of overtime pay or corporate advancement. Rather, they are generally motivated by clear development oriented tasks with clear goals and learning objectives. Ensuring that Millennials are challenged by—and can see the positive effects of—their work can help to realise the potential of this generation of workers.

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4. Remain technologically relevant Millennials bring plenty of skill with electronics to the workplace. Having grown up with technology as a central part of their life, Millennials know the myriad of benefits that have stemmed from the technological advances made in recent years. They can sometimes feel alienated by a workplace that is technologically stagnant or if the staff knowledge of technology is lacking. Using technology effectively and ensuring that all staff are aware of, and can use all the technology available in the workplace, are vital to any organisation, more so to those hoping to develop and retain their millennial talent.

5. Out with the old, in with the new Modernising a workplace is not just about up skilling staff and purchasing shiny new electronics. Newer workers are questioning things that have been workplace gospel for decades. Millennials and even some of Gen X have been eschewing traditional business attire in favour of a more comfortable, functional and casual wardrobe. Millennials’ lack of traditional formality extends to interactions with workplace authority.

Millennials’ respect can be hard to earn, however once earned it makes for fiercely motivated and dedicated workers. Millennials are entering the workplace full of ideas and demanding to make their mark. Providing a forum where these ideas can be heard in a non-disruptive manner is a great way to give Millennials the reinforcement they need to stay engaged in the workforce.

HR Features

6. Foster a community driven workplace culture Millennials have grown up with a very teambased mentality as a result of the ‘everyone wins’ culture. They tend to excel at working in groups and are generally of the belief that a task can be completed more effectively through teamwork than the ‘lone wolf’ attitude of the older generations. Furthermore, Millennials tend to be less argumentative than their older co-workers, opting instead to seek a quick solution to any interpersonal problems.

They are however very poor at dealing with confrontational situations; to address contentious issues with Millennials, frame the discussion as advice or coaching and avoid placing blame.

7. Think global Where previous generations held a cultural identity that was linked to their geography, Millennials have instead formed their cultural identity around the technology and networking they use. This has resulted in a global culture with social ties to every corner of the world. Millennials tend to think about a broader scope than just their country or office. Providing opportunities to work internationally or even just liaise with overseas contacts can be a great incentive to millennial workers and a great way to keep their interest engaged.

8. Remember that not all Millennials…

Just like every group of people on the planet, there are always members who do not follow the group trend at all. Millennials are—in this regard—the same. One key thing to remember about Millennials is that their motivations are more varied than those of previous generations. Where the baby boomers wanted financial security and a family life, Gen X wanted job security and to ascend the corporate ladder, Millennials’ motivations can vary from learning or a specific job title, to global travel and a four day work week.

One cannot expect to motivate Millennials by simply offering career advancement as in some cases this may be something they wish to avoid. Understanding the individual employee has always been important but with this latest headstrong generation it is more important than ever.

Millennial magnet

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HR Features

Squeezing oranges to enhance leadership & teamwork Swire Resources Limited, MTR Corporation Limited and Tai Hing Group executives get on their bikes, alongside frontline staff, to pedal for power in new corporate training programme launched by Ocean Park.

“Every corporation is like a bicycle—it only functions well when every part is doing its job.” This was the message from Alex Wong, Education Manager, Ocean Park Corporation at the inaugural Pedal for Power teambuilding programme on 27 June 2014 held at the Park. The event is one of a new range of interactive corporate training programmes now being offered by Ocean Park that focuses on strengthening team engagement and encouraging staff to use effective leadership skills.

Squeezing oranges Three teams—each comprising a mix of management, senior executives and frontline staff—from Swire Resources, the MTR Corporation and Tai Hing Group were tasked with building a bicycle from parts scattered around the Park. Once assembled, they then had to use pedal power to generate electricity which powered a fruit juicer. The winner was the first team to successfully fill a jug with freshly squeezed OJ. Aside from the fun, the programme also highlighted the importance of strong leadership skills and communication within different parts of the team, as well as helping promote Corporate Social Responsibility and environmentally-friendly practices.

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HR Features

Problem solving We spoke to the teams to ask for their thoughts on what making orange juice taught them about the need for strong leadership skills. Paul Poe, Training Manager at Tai Hing Group, winners of the competition, noted that ‘Allocating people roles based on their skills’ was one of the most important aspects of the competition as well as ‘having the faster members of the group run around the park collecting pieces, while the more practical minded individuals tried to assemble the bike’. The participants all stressed the vital importance of effective communication between team members. Leona Tse, Training Manager, Swire Resources Limited explained the challenges their team faced during the afternoon, and how they each used their individual strengths to come together as part of a team to find solutions to their problems. She noted, “We saw real engagement from all levels within the organisation. Our team today is made up of managers from the office and also frontline staff, so coordination between team members was essential in completing the task.”

Teamwork During the debriefing, participants also spoke of overcoming their challenges by working together, and of the necessity of having a flexible strategy.

Poe commented, “One of the most difficult aspects of today’s challenge was that although

we had been briefed on the task, and had devised a plan, we found that some of the difficulties we encountered were completely different than we had imagined. So it took strong leadership to align the team and work together in changing direction so we could achieve our goal.”

Nothing impossible Asked how the experience could be applied to the workplace, Tse enthusiastically replied, “Today’s programme has taught us that nothing is impossible. We face many challenges and uncertainties everyday, and as we have discovered today—it’s important to show determination and have the right attitude to achieve our goals. The team at Ocean Park has been very smart—making good use of their own environment to enhance our leadership skills and strengthen communication among our team, as well as highlighting environmental issues.”

Back at work

The teamwork and leadership skills gained through the experience should be a great asset when returning to normal work. Poe said, “At work [the experience] will help improve communication between the different roles.” When asked whether Tai Hing Group would return for further training at Ocean Park in the future, Poe replied that they certainly were planning on doing so.

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HR FEATURES

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Harmonising HR— Why HR should kiss goodbye to spreadsheets Love them or hate them, Excel spreadsheets have been the number one way to manage data within HR departments from the word go, from tracking employee hours and managing headcount to budgeting and forecasting.

Whilst there is no doubt that, to a certain point, spreadsheets are good enough to meet basic needs and have immediate practical value for HR, when it comes to the collaboration of data spread across various departments within an organisation, and even in some cases across the world, they no longer measure up.

HR software can cut administration duties down to a minimum, saving HR professionals hours every day.

— Hermann Lam

Product Manager, FlexSystem

HR Magazine caught up with Hermann Lam, Product Manager, and Yoyo Yiu, Manager of Sales and Marketing at FlexSystem, to find out why spreadsheets are becoming a thing of the past and what the future holds for data management—LedgerBase.

Out with the old, in with the new With multiple employees based in various locations each using their own versions of Excel spreadsheets to represent and maintain data, tracking and analysing data from multiple sources can be an overwhelming and frustrating task for HR professionals in today’s workplace. Not only does it require time from HR to interpret and collate the data from various locations, which they could otherwise be spending on valueadded activities, it also allows for human error and inaccuracies, which can have significant repercussions when making big decisions based on spreadsheet analysis.

Perhaps the greatest fallback, however, is the inability to share data among employees on a universal level—something that is increasingly important in companies looking to expand on a regional and global scale. Lam explained, “Everyone has their own way of entering and organising data in a spreadsheet so each employee will do it a little bit differently, using various formulas and tabs. When it comes to sharing the data, therefore, this can overcomplicate the process and make it very difficult for employees other than the creator to understand and utilise the information within the document. This can have a knock-on effect when it comes to generating reports from data

28 | HR Magazine

HR Features

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presented in spreadsheets and can take hours or even days to complete.”

of all data—large and small, in diverse forms, and on multiple platforms.

Healing HR’s headache

Yiu expounded, “LedgerBase allows the end user to go beyond spreadsheets and basic reports and move to a fast, engaging, and visual way of presenting data. In essence, it really is a one-size-fits-all solution as it allows different people in different locations to consolidate information within one central platform, which can be assessed and understood quickly.” She explained that the basic implementation of LedgerBase can help to empower employees to focus on core planning and analysis rather than struggling with the manual manipulation of large amounts of data which is both tedious and prone to error.

According to Lam, in order to save HR time, money and the unnecessary headache of untangling the confusion created by multiple spreadsheets, more and more organisations are turning to HR software to collaborate data and make the process of sharing data more seamless.

He said, “HR software can cut administration duties down to a minimum, saving HR professionals hours every day and allowing them to focus more on tasks that bring value to the business, such as recruitment, training and performance management. This also saves organisations significant money in the long run.”

In answer to the demand for a more streamlined method of sharing and managing data, FlexSystem has recently created LedgerBase, an agile end-user application specifically designed to eradicate the problems that traditional Excel spreadsheets present. The application supports complex calculation on critical data with high flexibility, allowing HR practitioners to gather and quickly make sense

M

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is that it offers organisations the self service approach whereby they do not have to rely on IT because it is highly flexible and is not limited to one framework.”

Easy reporting

Self service approach

Lui went on to say that the application could also allow users to generate reports with flexibility and ease without having to manipulate data.

Information can be dragged and dropped by means of building blocks in different dimensions giving employees the ability to analyse data of all shapes and sizes, combine multiple sources and present data cohesively. Lam pointed out that this is particularly useful for HR professionals managing payroll and projects, whereby they are presented with data from hundreds of different contracts, which might otherwise be overwhelming.

Yiu stated that the application can support different user groups within an organisation such as staff cost analysis, departmental/ project cost allocation, budget and forecast, commission calculator irrespective of whether they are in retail, banking, property, construction, manufacturing, trading or indeed in other sectors.

She added, “One of the key benefits of LedgerBase

The overriding advantage of such software, however, is that it provides HR departments with the ability to reduce the time and stress it takes to manage people and data, thus saving them unnecessary headaches and freeing them to leverage their core competency and enhance their HR operations.

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HR Features

Do you know the true cost of a bad hire?

By Matthew Glasner, Managing Director, South Asia Pacific, First Advantage

With the increase in employee attrition in the job markets across Asia Pacific, recruiters are spending long hours browsing and filtering the most suitable candidates from thousands of CVs available across different platforms. Hiring a candidate is not an easy task. It involves a meticulous understanding of the profile and the Key Result Area for the job, and then working on a plan that will help them understand a prospective candidate better. Most of the work in hiring activities involves creating a set of performance criteria to assess who is apt for a role.

The entire process of hiring may appear to be easy, but in reality the costs for a recruiter are high. With the upsurge of different sources of information, it becomes extremely tedious for recruiters to scan through the information available for candidates in different social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It is not just the investment of money but also the time that human resources professionals spend on searching for the right candidate. According to Recruiter.com, the true cost comes out at a staggering USD 830,000, based on someone earning USD 70,000 and whose employment is terminated after two and a half years . The costs associated with the recruitment of a candidate includes advertising, recruitment agency fees, scrutiny of application, multiple rounds of interviews, travel and accommodation, training and orientation. The extent of expenditure on a bad hire depends of the following: • • •

The higher the position, the higher the hiring cost Cost of training The longer the unsuitable employee is associated with the organisation, the greater the cost

Hiring the wrong person—it happens to most organisations According to a survey carried out by Recruit Plus in Singapore, it was found that 99% of survey respondents feel that their organisation is employing a certain percentage of bad

30 | HR Magazine

hires, from 10% to a whopping 50%. Of 4,000 respondents, only 64% of the survey respondents intend to improve their bad hires through training while 11% will live with it.

The balance of 25% is non-committal. From the numbers mentioned above, it is evident that almost every company suffers from some degree of damage due to bad hires.

they do so? When hiring, recruiters should remember these simple tips: • •

• A bad hire often causes significant loss in business, which can also tarnish the image of a company. The costs that are difficult to quantify are the reduction in consumer confidence towards the company, loss of business, and cost of disruption of the business and mistakes and failures of the candidates.

One of the major losses is reduced employee morale as when an employee is terminated the entire team can be in disarray.

Reasons for a bad hire There are various reasons that lead to a bad hire. Some common factors are: • • • • •

Uncertainty of the requirements for a particular position Urgency to fill the vacancy Insufficient talent intelligence Inefficient research done on the candidate Lack of reference checks

How to minimise bad hires As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. The incurring of loss of manpower, finance and business is enough motivation for organisations to avoid bad hires. So how can

•

Understand what skills a position demands Look for the intangible qualities like leadership qualities, a team player and good interpersonal skills Converse well with the candidates. This helps in understanding the candidate and also gives an opportunity to the recruiter to communicate to them exactly what is expected Make optimal use of social networking sites and available resources for background screening

Background screening is equally important for employees. With globalisation, companies are looking to the growing markets of the Asia-Pacific region to expand their businesses.

Talents from developing and under-developed countries also endeavour to explore greener pastures that would allow them to lead a better life both financially and socially. This has resulted in tough competition as there are often many candidates available for the same position. The desire to get a good job in a top multinational company with an excellent remuneration package is so high that one may not be deterred from forging his/her CV. Background screening helps in weeding out individuals with forged credentials who may otherwise take the jobs of qualified applicants. This helps in widening the scope of opportunities for deserving candidates.

HR Features

The benefits of conducting background screening Background verification also helps in providing employees with a safe working environment.

While conducting background screenings, companies also carry out criminal and financial checks. This enables the recruiters to be aware of any recorded criminal offences, including violent and theft offences, committed by prospective candidates in the past. Based on the First Advantage Q1 2014 Asia Pacific Background Screening Report, criminal history and financial-related discrepancies can pose greater legal, compliance, reputational and security risks than other types of discrepancies. A criminal and financial background verification not only helps to provide a safe working environment, but also protects a company from reputational damage, potential risk to workplace safety or confidential data that could result from negative hiring.

To protect the company, an effective background screening programme is an essential part of any employer’s hiring strategy. Conducting a screening programme requires compliance with the various—and often changing—regulatory environment of each country and local region, something which many employers may be uncomfortable doing.

In order to ensure a reliable and compliant screening programme, companies can leverage from an alliance with a background screening partner experienced in the dynamic regulatory environment. The right provider should be up-to-date on the latest legislation governing the background screening process, helping to ensure the company continually hires the right talent while checking their credentials in a safe and legally compliant manner.

A company’s success completely depends on its employees. Hence, it is crucial for every company to have a talented team. A bad team has always been a catalyst to a company’s failure. Sustaining the talent pool and providing the employees with a safe work environment is of utmost importance for every company.

Hiring suitable candidates is a time-consuming process, and one should chalk out a proper hiring plan and execute it patiently to be successful in hiring the right talent.

Matthew Glasner is the Managing Director of South Asia Pacific for First Advantage, the largest provider of employment background screening services in the Asia-Pacific region. First Advantage conducts more than 23 million background checks annually, offering comprehensive screening solutions and industry best practices for coverage, legal regulations and processes. For more information, visit www.fadvasia.com.

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HR FEATURES

Why your HR organisation should be screening candidates It’s an age-old tactic—writing a CV to bring out the better parts of one’s experience while trying to hide the worst—but when do these embellishments become lies? More importantly, how can your organisation identify those lies to ensure the quality of the talent you are hiring?

According to the First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific, Q1 2014, drawn from 300,000 employment background verifications and reference checks conducted between January and March 2014, close to 20% of CVs they received from Asia-Pacific employees contained some form of background discrepancy.

More than half (54.6%) of the discrepencies in the Asia-Pacific region are related to employment, followed by education at 18.9%.

What to screen?

Why screen?

The cost of effectively screening candidates is generally far less than the potential cost of the ramifications for failing to do so. Studies conducted in Australia found that 12% of all candidates were found to have major discrepancies in their CVs, with a higher number of candidates found to have alerts on criminal and employment checks as compared to the other countries.

Aside from the numerous compliance, legal, financial and physical risks that an under-qualified employee can engender—a study by the Aberdeen Group has shown that companies who perform screening as a standard hiring practice usually see a decrease in turnover, a higher first-year retention and a decrease in the time to fill the position. Not only that, they also tend to see a higher quality of candidate applying.

How to screen?

Screening, with all its benefits, can be a hard policy to implement and standardise. Hong Kong—being an international community— sees candidates from every corner of the globe.

With each country having separate privacy and compliance legislation, it can sometimes be hard to obtain the data one requires for the screening process. Thus, it is important to establish good working relationships with the business and education entities from which you attract candidates. Getting a compete background check can be instrumental in the prevention of the hiring of the wrong employee.

For example, one candidate indicated that they left their previous job for personal reasons, however after leasing with the company in question it was found that they were asked to leave due to poor performance.

32 | HR Magazine

The parameters used for screening are important and must be specific to the position being filled.

Create a standard list of parameters for each position, which must be checked for every candidate. Keep documentation for each check on file. Employers in the Asia-Pacific region found that conducting six or more checks makes your screening process 11 times more successful at detecting discrepancies than only conducting two. Over a quarter of employers (26%) in APAC are now doing this. Because of this, to ensure the quality of the candidates they are attracting, many companies are enlisting the help of two or three separate background checking organisations for individuals applying for certain roles.

Where can we screen?

With the job market becoming increasingly competitive and specialised, the importance of screening job candidates is more important than it has ever been. Increasing globalisation has meant that organisations have access to unprecedented levels and varieties of talent.

However, your organisation can run into tricky situations when hiring from countries or institutions that you have not worked with before. Different laws, cultures, corporate practices and educational standards can mean that you may have to decide between taking the risk of hiring a candidate who has not been screened using your company’s standard screening practices or rejecting talent simply for where they come to you from. This is where First Advantage and other professional background verification companies take the stage. They can use local knowledge and contacts to confirm the veracity of your candidate’s information.

17% of the employees in APAC have a background discrepancy

DO YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR EMPLOYEE?

According to Recruiter.com, the true cost of a bad hire comes out at a staggering USD830,000, based on someone earning USD70,000 per annum and whose employment is terminated after 2.5 years. This includes recruitment agency fee, compensation, training, the cost of disruption to the workplace and the mistakes, failures and lost business opportunities.

First Advantage has 4500+ employees in 25 offices around the world.

Based on

13.6%

18.9%

Increase in employment discrepancies represents close to 50% of all discrepancies in APAC

of discrepancies in APAC is related to education of employees

1 million

checks a year, the following segments have the highest discrepancy rates

Manufacturing

Energy

Financial Services

SINGAPORE

AUSTRALIA

HONG KONG

What can employers do to ensure you make the right hire?

Contact First Advantage today.

866.400.3238 | weichong.chin@fadv.com | fadvasia.com

INFORMATION YOU NEED. PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST.

HR Features

Smaller HR Workload + More Employee Satisfaction + More Flexibility = Employee Self-Service (ESS) HRM expert, COL, firmly assures that this formula is TRUE.

Operational efficiency and employee services are no doubt one of the many key aspects that HR professionals must be continuously improving. One way HR managers respond to this challenge is by deploying web-based solutions, also widely known as Employee Self-Service (ESS). Adopting e-applications is a smart way of transitioning from HR-service to self-service, which can also help enhance satisfaction and engagement.

An ESS portal allows all workplace stakeholders to input required data, such as leave, attendance, claim, performance, payslip, etc. directly on the web, and such personal details can be viewed and updated according to approval settings. While some may think that their organisations have already got an ESS well in place, they may not be aware that the rapid development of technology has already evolved ESS further.

To keep pace with the technology trends, flexibility, efficiency and convenience have become strategic priorities in ESS. COL, an IT veteran with over 40 years of history and over 20 years of experience in Human Resources Management Services (HRMS), has well observed the increasingly prevalent trend in ESS to help in developing their own ESS platform.

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Standalone e-applications improve HR efficiency and achieve green office practice COL ESS portal streamlines HR service delivery and automates approval workflows via a web browser and mobile app for employees of all levels. Conducting a range of transactions via computers that were previously managed by HR staff on paper forms, such as leave application, attendance, performance appraisal and training course requisition, COL ESS promises a paperless working environment with less clerical effort.

For instance, with e-Leave in place, the leave application process now creates zero paper and the processing time has been shortened by more than 50% where subordinates, superiors and HR can apply, approve, update and check leaves and records all on the web directly.

HR Features Intuitive and easy-to-use interface doubles employee participation COL ESS is a self-explanatory and user-friendly tool that can be used by employees with little or no training or assistance from the HR department.

The self-service architecture can even be reflected in the automated password retrieval tool, which involves no HR manpower for resolving password-related issues.

Mobile ESS applications facilitate seamless access at all times Supported by smartphones and tablet devices, COL mobile ESS apps create an easy-to-navigate environment for employees of all levels 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of where they are located. Mobile leave and employee directory apps are perfect examples. Employees can use the mobile apps to submit leave requests and review leave history. Instant access to leave records by employees also ensures data accuracy as any mistakes in leave record can be pinpointed and corrected right away, which is very important for accurate payroll calculations.

Managers can review requests and approve or deny them through mobile apps. They can even use the apps to view approval history and better master leave arrangements anytime, anywhere.

The mobile ESS apps boast an employee directory for users to have personnel data at their fingertips. By navigating up and down the organisation chart, users can search for employees, view their details with the calling, texting and emailing functions to mobilise human resources no matter when.

HR services take a back seat to employee engagement and satisfaction Employee engagement is indeed one of the biggest reasons to invite an ESS platform into one’s arena. The COL ESS platform has been encouraging employees’ direct interaction between employees and human resources data to enquire, review and act upon transactions in the workplace, enabling more effective communications across the organisation and enhancing the quality of the review process with a high level of transparency. ESS involves more employee participation, encourages feedback opportunities and strengthens collaboration.

Daily HR processes and administrative workloads can instead take a back seat.

For years, HR managers have tried to play a more strategic role in corporate operations but have been hung up by administrative and compliance work. With ESS streamlining much of the tedious processes, the HR team is now free to focus on issues of strategic importance for the company.

Developed with a user-friendly interface, the platform enables users to know where they are up to in the overall process.

Online status tracking and workflow approval overview are available, and Gantt charts and calendars can be easily generated to view applications, approval and subordinate plans.

The future of ESS As concluded from different findings over the years, it is almost beyond question that well-developed employee self-service helps cut costs and produce huge gains for HR. We can foresee that ESS is making headway towards more diversified HR functions to maximise the effectiveness of Human Resources Management and environmental initiatives. The success of ESS hinges on more than technological advancements but a huge cultural shift of HRM. To a large extent, nurturing a self-service culture for more employee engagement is a positive and proactive motive to design our HRMS future.

For more information, please visit www.col.com.hk or call COL’snsultation hotline: (852) 2118 3999.

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HR Features

Employee engagement, what’s the big idea?

Seven steps to facilitate shared leadership 1.

Nobody washes a rental car. People will go the extra mile only if they feel they have ownership. It’s much the same in the workplace.

2.

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— Michael C. Mankins, HBR Blog Network

5.

Employee engagement in the workplace is a continuous struggle and, while communication is key, it is not solely the responsibility of the team leader. Maria Shapiro, a lecturer at Simmons College and author of HBR Guide to Leading Teams explained, “You can’t be the only one holding everyone accountable because you can’t possibly observe everything that’s going on.”

Often in today’s workplaces, too much pressure is put on team leaders to be the sole communicator. Communication should, in fact, be everyone’s responsibility. Trust and relationships between workers need to be built and communication needs to be open.

Everyone in the team needs to understand that there is a shared leadership responsibility.

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6.

7.

Set expectations early—the team needs to decide together goals and objectives, the division of work and labour and how people will be held accountable if deadlines are missed.

Create opportunities for regular check-ins—it is better to start out with more structure and relax this later, than to be relaxed at the start and then try to introduce structure.

Ask general questions—get the team to reflect on their work first and then offer your opinions later.

Work your way up to structured reviews—you need to learn about individual performances but this should have a build up. Team members should be encouraged to discuss things that they appreciate about others first and then lead into something that they could do differently.

Keep performance issues out in the open—contrary to the popular belief that team leaders should praise in public and criticise in private, Rodger Schwarz, an organisational psychologist and the author of Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams, thinks this is not necessarily possible in group feedback sessions. He believes everything should be shared openly in the group, and you need to use the group to ‘prompt change’.

Foster team relationships—conflicts within a team are inevitable but you can coach people on handling difficult conversations and building trust through open conversations.

Debrief every project—here you can focus on what worked well and what could be improved for future projects.

DaVita, which provides dialysis treatments for kidney patients, is now a great example of a successful company that has a highly engaged workforce. Fifteen years ago it was failing as a company—until it hired CEO Kent Thiry, who turned the company around. He talked about the company as a village, in which he is the mayor. He involved employees in changing the culture of the company and he recognised employees that went above and beyond their job role. In the last fifteen years their turnaround has been astonishing, with revenues increasing from USD 1.4 billion to USD 11.8 billion, patient results improving and employee turnover decreasing. DaVita proves that employee engagement is not only necessary, but vital to its success.

3 simple ways to

increase employee engagement 1.

2.

3.

Talk about your company’s effect rather than just its monetary outcomes. Employees are more motivated by their company’s impact on the world than they are by its financial profits.

Reward inspirational leadership.

Employee engagement is linked to leaders’ ability to inspire people and, in rewarding this, leaders will feel more committed, inspired and productive.

Foster employee activism. Employees who are actively engaged are more willing to go the extra mile in the workplace.

The C-suite may sometimes view staff engagement as rather ‘soft’ and difficult to quantify, but often it is the missing link in improving companies’ productivity, human capital and ultimately business success.

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HR Features

Top workplace diversity obstacles Three in ten executives consider the balance of flexibility and centralised control to be the most challenging internal barrier to managing diversity, as found by a study carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored

by SuccessFactors. Asia Pacific was found to be the most challenging region for generational concerns—organisations with a long history of centralised control find accommodating flexibility particularly difficult.

The global survey, conducted at the end of last year, surveyed 228 executives, with 29% of respondents representing Asia Pacific, who are responsible for designing and developing their organisation’s HR strategy.

Key findings of the survey include: •

•

•

•

•

The majority (82%) of executives agree that a strategic approach to managing diversity can help access a rich talent pool.

The integration of the millennial generation employees in the workforce is viewed as a significant diversity challenge.

80% believe strategic changes are needed to accommodate younger employees in the workforce.

Offering learning and career-development opportunities is a key strategy for managing a diverse workforce.

Almost half (47%) are supporting policy initiatives such as mentoring in order to engage diverse talent.

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The top global markets that present the most difficult challenges for managing a diverse workforce include: Generational issues Asia Pacific (29%), North America (23%), Africa (15%), Western Europe (14%) Cultural/religious issues Middle East (51%), Asia Pacific (20%), Africa (14%) Language issues Asia Pacific (43%), Africa (17%), Latin America (12%) Gender issues Middle East (46%), Asia Pacific (18%), Africa (13%) Education and training issues Africa (45%), Asia Pacific (18%), North America (12%), Latin America (10%) Business growth depends on attracting and retaining a workforce with globally diverse values and demographics. With diversity increasingly seen as a strategic business advantage, HR executives agree that companies must embrace multicultural and multigenerational needs to meet ongoing recruitment and retention goals.

The EIU surveyed 228 HR executives around the globe to learn about the challenges of an

increasingly diverse workforce, Millennials and their strategies for making the most of these rapid industry changes. The findings were compiled in a new study, Values-based diversity: The challenges and strengths of many.

HR executives are investing in a variety of strategies to provide employees with an engaging work experience, including mentoring new and high-potential employees (47%); exposing high-potential employees to diverse business situations (45%); and providing flexible working arrangements (43%). Key to successful implementation of these strategies is the technology to enable them. Solutions include a global system of workforce data to provide a single system of record, cloud delivery options to innovate quickly and collaboration tools help companies manage their diverse workforce. The top tools are: core HR / HRiS systems (35%); eLearning (31%); videoconferencing (25%); cloud-based collaboration tools (21%); and enterprise social networks (20%).

Anka Wittenberg, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, SAP commented, ”We all know that the business landscape will look dramatically different in coming decades. By embracing people’s differences, we can not only make SAP a better place to work, but spark our innovation, better serve our customers, and gain competitive advantage. In addition, we can support broader societal change.”

HR Features

Counteroffers—a blessing or curse?

More than one in five employees say they plan to switch jobs this year or next year, according to a recently published survey undertaken

by Forbes. As a way to hold on to staff, an increasing number of companies are becoming more willing to propose counteroffers, some even offering up to 25% pay raises. This trend is fuelled by today’s candidate-driven market as the war for talent heightens, especially for senior executives.

With such emphasis on talent shortage, companies are more likely to throw out rash solutions, focusing only on how much talent they can retain and losing sight of how regular occurrence of counteroffers can actually tarnish one’s employer brand. If employers regularly propose counteroffers, employees will start to view the company as a place where one’s voice can only be heard if there is a job offer in hand; a reputation no company wants to uphold.

If money is the only concern, accepting a counteroffer enables employees to maintain seniority and stay in the company. For the company this is a blessing as they can retain a valuable member who has developed essential skill sets needed for the job. Without the need to engage in another round of recruitment for the position, followed by a training and adaptation period, the company will have saved a significant amount of time and energy along with other resources. In addition, this offers an excellent opportunity for the company to re-evaluate various aspects with which the employee was unsatisfied. The company can then work to enhance various communication channels so as to be more aware of employee needs and ultimately improve their overall experience within the company.

Money isn’t everything For some senior executives, money is not so much the issue as dysfunctional management, unchallenging work or even debilitating career growth. While the current employer might be more attuned to acknowledge how undervalued the employee felt, counteroffers for senior executives mostly just entail a salary raise, a title promotion or a different reporting structure, all of which is insufficient, in the long-run, to appease initial ambitions of leaving the company.

Moreover, this manoeuvring can reflect negatively on the employee’s work ethics such as loyalty and trustworthiness. By accepting the counteroffer, employees are actually destroying valuable relationships with both the current and supposedly-future employer along with current colleagues. Throughout the recruitment process, the potential new employer will have invested invaluable time and energy, so by informing them of the acceptance of a counteroffer, the employee is essentially violating the trust and faith placed in them and it is unlikely that the company will consider them again in the future. At the same time, the current employer will ultimately feel betrayed and anxious; uncertain about the employee’s future loyalty.

to avoid losing top talent, companies should take a proactive stance and recognise what their employees value so as to provide a positive employee experience and lower job dissatisfaction and turnover rates.

Protect with policies Employers typically have a 48-hour window to decide whether to present a counteroffer, but only 14% of companies have official counteroffer policies for preparing and evaluating offers, this according to Bloomberg BNA. Of such, only 4% of such policies are documented. In order to prevent employees from using counteroffers as bargaining chips for a career boost, companies should first establish a set of policies that articulates the various types of employees that they seek to retain, followed by identifying the high performers who possess those particular critical skills. In addition to developing guidelines that include short- and long-term salary and benefits increases, companies should also determine who should present the counteroffers and provide descriptions of individuals or positions that are eligible for counteroffer proposals. With these concrete guidelines, companies will be able to identify who to keep and who to let go.

Solution to staff attrition Bloomberg Businessweek quoted a study that found more than 50% of employees who accept counteroffers leave the organisation eventually within six months, and National Business Employment Weekly found that nearly 80% of people who accept counteroffers are gone within the year. Even as counteroffers continue to grow in popularity, companies should be aware of how it is not a sustainable long-term solution to staff attrition. In order

A Deloitte study conducted from 2009 to 2012 on talent management showed that, overall, 44% of employees ready to resign would stay for additional bonuses and financial incentives, 42% would like a promotion or other job advancement and 41% would remain for a raise in base salary.

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HR Features

WDP breaks down Board barriers As the third instalment of the Women’s Directorship Programme (WDP) kicks off after its successful debut year, HR Magazine explores the issue of gender diversity in the workplace and what exactly it is that inspired the programme.

Bupa (Asia) Ltd, who took part in February and March earlier this year. Already a member of the internal Bupa Asia Board since 2008, Ann was keen to develop her own career in terms of increasing her representation on other boards for external companies and gaining insight into other sectors.

Despite comprising over 45% of the global workforce, women currently represent less than 10% of board level positions internationally, indicating that when it comes to getting female talent on the C-suite, organisations are clearly falling short somewhere. So where are companies going wrong—and what are the barriers to achieving a gender-balanced board?

While some argue that directors are not looking widely enough at the pool of female talent available, but rather turning to what is often referred to as the ‘old boys network’, others maintain that women themselves are more accountable for their lack of presence at the top. While it has been suggested that a lack of confidence among women is preventing them from making themselves visible enough to be acknowledged, the idea that women must choose between their career and their family life often emerges as a barrier to the board.

Whatever the reason, however, one thing is for sure and that is that action is being taken to tackle this much-discussed issue in order to achieve gender equilibrium in the boardroom.

I think women often don’t realise the value of perspective they bring to the board.

—

Ann Coughlan, Managing Director, Bupa (Asia) Ltd

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Ann Coughlan, Managing Director, Bupa (Asia) Ltd

Moving in the right direction

She explained, “The WDP offered me a fantastic setting to gain new insights and understand the different dynamics that impact on the outcome of a board’s decision. Throughout the programme I was given the opportunity to interact with industry leaders from different sectors around the globe. This enabled me to gain different perspectives from sectors other than healthcare, which allowed me the think about customer experience through a different lens, whether it be the financial services sector, retail industry or even tourism.”

One such initiative was born from the collaboration between executive search firm Harvey Nash and The University of Hong Kong, HKU Business School, which joined forces to launch the very first international board preparedness programme in Hong Kong in early 2013. Now entering its third instalment, the WDP was designed exclusively for women to create an answer to the worldwide business community’s call to tackle the existing gender imbalance in boardrooms.

Her perspective has changed to the extent where she now looks for different skills when recruiting new members than she did prior to the programme. She stated, “The WDP encouraged me to take a different approach to the board and look at it from a more strategic and forward-thinking point of view. I consider where we want to be in five years’ time and therefore seek the skills that match this objective, rather than simply replacing the skills we already have.”

Consisting of six modules, taught over two three-day sessions (October 9 - 11 and November 13 - 15, 2014) the programme aims to address current and contemporary issues enabling women to be more effective at managing boards, and increasing the supply of board-ready women executives across the industries. Through a series of case studies and thought leadership delivered by guest speakers, the programme offers participants a fresh perspective on how behaviour in the boardroom differs from behaviour in the rest of one’s corporate life.

Since taking part in the WDP Ann confesses that she now sees the value she can bring to it—a barrier, which she suspects often holds women back. She said, “I think women often don’t realise the value of perspective they bring to the board and may question how their role can play into a certain industry. They may question themselves more and therefore be more hesitant to get involved at this level than their male counterparts.” Ann, however, believes that this is beginning to change and whereas in the past boards were predominantly male-orientated, women are beginning to step up and be seen, an objective that the WDP is helping to achieve.

This insight has proven to be particularly poignant for Ann Coughlan, Managing Director,

HR Features

which, combined with the support of management at her organisation, allowed her to mentor junior staff and share her learnings with her colleagues.

Integration is key Loh suggested that, while organisations need to support their female employees to allow them to maximise their professional abilities and progress in the career journeys, women themselves need to make an active decision to step up and seize opportunities to develop and grow. For Loh personally, this has meant integrating her professional life with her family life.

Julienne Loh, General Manager, MasterCard Singapore

Support from above In addition to the support of initiatives such as the WDP, Ann pointed out the importance of gaining encouragement from peers and superiors and exploring conversations that open up opportunities to expand and grow. This is something that is echoed by Julienne Loh, General Manager, MasterCard Singapore, who was actually put forward by managament to enrol on the WDP as part of her professional development. She explained, “I am fortunate enough to work for an organisation that believes that a gender mix on the board is the root of innovative thinking and one that ‘walks the talk’ when it comes to achieving this.”

For Loh, taking part in the programme enabled her to open up her mind to the importance of the board and the crucial role members play over and above their day-to-day jobs. It also allowed her to connect to a network of professionals from which she could gain in-depth knowledge

She explained, “It’s not so much about striking a work/life balance, it’s more about achieving work/life integration and women need to make a choice to do this. Maternity leave allows women to have a family and excel in their roles—the support is there, but for women what it boils down to is making a choice and allowing time to develop themselves over and above their existing roles and responsibilities. They need to make the decision to step up and get out of their comfort zone in order to get where they want to be.”

It certainly seems that when it comes to achieving gender equilibrium in the boardroom, things are moving in the right direction as initiatives such as the WDP strive to increase the visibility of women and provide them with encouragement to put themselves forward. As Kirti Lad, Director of the Board Practice, Harvey Nash Executive Search, Asia Pacific concluded, “Through the Women’s Directorship Programme we are committed to unlocking the talent pipeline and empowering female leaders to gain the confidence and skills needed to secure board positions.”

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HR FEATURES

Bolstering talent back on the brain

London Financial services (FS) CEOs have hiring back on their minds with more than half (56%) planning to take on extra staff in the coming year, according to the PwC report, Remoulding your workforce for a new marketplace.

CEOs are looking to increase their headcount by at least 5%. The insurance industry is especially bullish with 40% planning to expand their workforce by more than 5%— compared to around 30% among banks and asset managers.

Jon Terry, Global Financial Services HR Consulting Leader, PwC said “The optimistic outlook rises as the recovery in developed markets picks up pace and confidence with the FS sector increases. However, the kind of talent FS organisations need, where they recruit them from and how they manage them are going to be different from the last surge in recruitment and growth.”

With FS organisations strengthening their customer profiling and engagement, industry leaders plan to bring in people from diverse backgrounds, including people from internet and social media companies or specialist analytics consultancies. The report highlights game designers as of interest to FS employers, specifically with companies planning to improve digital appeal and interactivity.

More than 60% of FS CEOs see cyber-attacks as a threat to growth. Terry explained, “It’s essential to bring in people with intelligence backgrounds or even ex-hackers to get ahead of these threats. It’s critical to ensure that cyber security is everyone’s business, rather than just IT—with implications for training and appraisal.”

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Aligning with government

With continual scrutiny from governments, including additional regulations, more than 40% of FS CEOs believe their relationship with government has deteriorated over the past five years—notably more than customers and clients (18%).

Terry explained, “Having the right people in place to manage government relations is critical, especially when trying to encourage a culture of integrity and being transparent around risks. We’re going to see more people brought in from the public service and NGOs as community and government relations become as important as investor relations.”

changes. Others may find it difficult to respond to talent trends and challenges and amend HR strategies accordingly.

Terry concluded, “FS organisations need to start communicating their brand more widely – including to people from government, industry and technology companies. HR has to be at the forefront of these changes—judging what skillset will be needed, developing new ways to engage and motivate people and supervising the transition to real-time performance monitoring and response.”

Other findings include: •

Millennials on the move—PwC research shows that hardly 10% of FS Millennials are planning to stay in their current role for the long term.

Organisations will need to refine and customise traditional one-size-fits-all employee engagement models around the needs of individual employees.

•

Flexibility wanted—Increased urbanisation in growth markets, notably India and China, have not only created infrastructure demands, but also heightened focus on work life balance. Employees are expecting greater flexibility in how and where work is carried out.

•

Sophisticated automation— Computerised priorities will shift to devising solutions for more complex needs such as pensions and mortgages.

Automation has also reached high value areas like trading, credit analysis and insurance underwriting.

According to the report, re-engaging with society and reputation building among FS organisations continues to be key focus areas.

Most industry leaders (70%) recognise the need to satisfy societal needs while balancing the interests of all stakeholders.

Terry continued, “FS organisations are re-thinking their core values and objectives, taking into consideration their customers and the larger commerce community when expanding their business model going forward.”

Slow to respond

Nearly 60% of FS CEOs see the limited availability of skills as impeding growth, yet barely a quarter of respondents have initiated changes to their talent strategy and only 35% believe HR is prepared to make necessary changes.

The report suggests FS organisations are restricted by the sheer scale of required

HR Features

Give & Gain Day—employee volunteering powerhouse

To encourage more companies to champion the talent, skill and energy found in business and the role it can play in helping communities prosper through employee volunteering, Community Business, has been promoting Give & Gain Day in Hong Kong since 2009. Give & Gain Day is a global movement celebrating the power and potential of employee volunteering by mobilising companies to get their employees out volunteering on one day (16 May every year). Since 2008, over 82,000 people in 35 countries around the world have taken part.

This year in Hong Kong, 264 employee volunteers from 37 companies joined the Give & Gain Day. They participated in 25 projects working with over 15 charities and helping to change lives of over 7,100 individuals, all on one day, here and there in Hong Kong.

Sprouts Concepts Helping people with disabilities & enhancing their inclusion in society Sprouts Concepts, a business consultancy for franchise licensing and angel business, has joined Give & Gain Day for the second year. This year, their employee volunteers provided several training sessions to the Wah Ji Hong Yip members with disabilities on working skills in the Food & Beverage (F&B) industry.

On the Give & Gain Day, the trained members worked as waiters in a restaurant while four of Sprouts Concepts’ employees assisted them as volunteers. “We believe after our training sessions and placement opportunity, the members of Wah Ji Hong Yip would be better prepared to work in the F&B industry, paving their ways to active participation in society,” shared Sprouts Concepts.

American Express Reducing food waste and relieving poverty Employees from American Express (AmEx) travelled to a kitchen run by Food Angel in Chai Wan in the afternoon on 16 May. They were divided into small groups to help prepare fresh food items, e.g. chopping vegetables, peeling the skin off the hairy gourd, etc. and packing hot meal boxes with rice/noodles, vegetables and meat.

AmEx made use of the Give & Gain Day to kick off its series of volunteering programmes on three consecutive Fridays in May, through which they prepared more than 2,000 nutritious meal boxes for the communities in need in Hong Kong. AmEx shared “Through participating in the meal box packing activity, we hope to serve the community by reducing food waste, alleviating hunger and relieving poverty in the local community.”

Crown Worldwide Building team spirit while serving the community Crown Worldwide, a participating company of Give & Gain Day for the last six years, strategically focuses its employee volunteering mainly on four areas—community, environment, market

place and workplace. They volunteered to pack rice in the warehouse of People’s Food Bank on Give & Gain Day this year. Crown Worldwide commented, “We encourage our employees to provide voluntary service whether within office hours or personal time. [Through employee volunteering,] the relationship of our employees is getting closer and they developed a spirit of bonding that exerts in their daily work.”

Why does it matter to you?

If your company already offers volunteering, you may consider the following: • Giving employees who haven’t volunteered before the chance to try it out in a fun, group activity on Give & Gain Day, or • Link Give & Gain Day activities to ongoing community investment partnerships—use as a flagship event to celebrate support for community volunteering.

If your company doesn’t have a strong culture of employee volunteering, you may want to: • Use Give & Gain Day to try out employee volunteering for the first time, and • Use Give & Gain Day to show that your company invests in the community, and as a catalyst for future volunteering.

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HR training

How MTR mastered mobile learning Morris Cheung, Human Resources Director, MTR Corporation

The increase in sales of mobile devices, rapid growth in the mobile share of web traffic, and growing adoption of mobile devices in the workplace, has led to the evolution of ‘A Mobile World’. In 2014, for the first time, the total number of subscriptions globally will exceed the world population.

This growing trend has led more and more organisations to incorporate mobile technology into their learning and development strategies to such a degree that in the HKIHRM Training Needs Survey 2013, more than a third (32.4%) of participating companies intended to increase their e-training budget compared to last year. One organisation that has already mastered mobile learning is MTR Corporation which, through its initiatives, cultivates a continuous learning environment to demonstrate one of its mission to inspire, engage and develop its staff, whilst upholding the corporate Vision, Mission, Values (VMV).

Flexible learning Carrying an average of 5.2 million passengers every weekday has not only led to major local and international expansion, but also an increasingly mobile workforce. This, coupled with a generational shift in its employee demographic, led MTR to develop innovative ways to engage the younger generation who are more digitally connected and work with a different mindset and expectations.

Riding on the technology of smartphone advancement, the company’s mobile learning enables employees to learn with flexibility and convenience, aligning to its staff motto, ‘just enough, just in time, just for me’.

How it works: the 4Es The blended learning programme follows a 4 Es (Elevate, Enlighten, Engage and Expand) implementation framework.

The first step is ‘Elevate’. Each blended learning programme solicits management

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electronic and physical training resources are provided to staff.

The third step is ‘Engage’. As a new training reinforcement initiative, mobile resources are provided to facilitate continuous and self-learning. Some motivational schemes are designed to encourage better utilisation of the training resources.

The last step is ‘Expand’. To allow more convenient access and to further promote a mobile learning culture, a special platform— the Mobile Learning Hub—is created to centralise and introduce more mobile resources.

support to endorse the programme to elevate staff learning by forming a working group.

The senior management also demonstrates support through taking part in the video production and contributing their insights in the newsletter.

Training on the go

The second step is ‘Enlighten’. MTR provides a wide range of training resources to add variety and cater to the different learning styles and needs of staff. Both

A combination of training activities, including traditional seminars, workshops and business-management classes, comprise Executive Continuous Learning Programme (ECLP), which provides leaders/managers

HR training Adi Lau, Deputy Director-Operating, MTR said, “In the information age, mobile learning is indispensable to an effective implementation of staff learning and development programmes and sustaining the momentum for staff of different generations. The mobile learning platform provided frontline staff a handy way to obtain timely and useful service tips anytime, anywhere.”

Continuous development

MTR M-Learning Hub centralise different mobile learning resources to provide one stop access. Staff can kick off learning on the go with a platform to keep abreast of the latest business best practices and economic developments. To fit with its executives’ preferred learning mode, a mobile webpage is created to facilitate the review of training events and provide a recap of previous sessions and offer supplementary learning materials.

This allows employees to initiate learning on the go­— anywhere and anytime—despite their busy work schedules.

The shared experience

MTR Corporation’s commitment to developing their staff and striving for service excellence has received a number of recognitions from local and global professional organisations in recent years. This includes the Gold Prize of Award for Excellence in Training by the Hong Kong Management Association, BEST Award (ranked 2nd worldwide, 1st in Asia) by the American Society for Training & Development, the Asian Human Capital Award—Special Commendation Prize by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower, and the China’s Best Corporate University Award (ranked 3rd) by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Despite already receiving recognition for its mobile learning deployment through winning the ‘Mobile/e-Learning Category of Best Practice Awards 2013’ by Best Practice Management (Hong Kong), MTR recognises that the process of learning is never over.

Mobile learning plays a vital role in enhancing the training effectiveness within the organisation, which can be seen from the four-level post-course evaluation measurement in different programmes and high satisfactory result in adopting a blended learning approach. In order to facilitate the continual development of its staff, however, the organisation is developing a new mobile platform—M-Learning Hub— to further promote mobile learning and to make it more convenient for its staff members to access and obtain mobile training resources. The Hub works by centralising all existing products and adding more new features such as Language Learning platform, e-Books and video channels.

Morris Cheung, Human Resources Director, MTR explained, “With the expansion in business and ever-increasing customers expectations, MTR faces the pressing need to uplift the staff competencies and capabilities, through accelerating the development of staff, to achieve operational and organisational excellence.”

Daniel Shim, General Manager—Human Resources (China/International & Development) added, “MTR is proud to share and transplant the best practices from Hong Kong, to the mainland and overseas operations to develop our staff.”

Recognising that the sharing of knowledge and experience is a fundamental element of learning, the company has introduced a corporate-wide initiative—‘Learning Organisation’—that provides staff with access to wide range of training interventions, including both physical and electronic training activities. These include seminars, benchmarking visits as well as electronic resources such as learning website and internet sharing platform. More mobile resources are also introduced such as m-version material, mobile learning portal—containing short video clips covering management topics like leadership, people management and personal effectiveness.

Connecting people Academy of Excellence Service’, a customer service initiative, provides a series of tailored service training events and products. A dedicated mobile application ‘ESpedia’, which stands for ‘Excellent Service Encyclopaedia’, is established to provide news updates, service tips and success stories to frontline staff as a training reinforcement tool. Some interactive app features such as polling, story sharing and a ‘like’ function are built in to engage staff and make the application more fun to use.

Daniel Shim, General Manager – Human Resources (China/International & Development) (left) and Chester Tsang, Senior Manager—Management Training and Development (right) are committed to facilitating sustainable staff development through blended learning as the T&D Strategy

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HR community

Managing diverse workforces The workforce of the 21st Century presents more challenges for HR than ever before when it comes to creating an environment that fosters diversity and inclusion among its people. Knowing how to cater to the needs of up to three generations of employees from multiple cultural backgrounds, whilst attracting and developing the very best talent available, is no mean feat for any organisation.

What can companies do to meet the expectations of a multicultural, multigenerational workforce and how can they implement this at every level within the organisation? This was the question put to the guest speakers at the latest HR Magazine conference in which more than 250 HR practitioners gathered together to gain insights, advice and success stories from organisations than are striving to better manage and train up today’s increasingly diverse workforces.

Leveraging employer brand, mobile recruitment strategies and Gen-Y initiatives to foster D&I Eric Yee Head of Talent Solutions for HK, Macau and Taiwan, LinkedIn

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People don’t join LinkedIn simply to find a job. Many registered LinkedIn users have ‘passive’ accounts. Yee explained, “People may be happy in their current role but willing to consider another role if it better fits their own vision.” By joining the LinkedIn network, users are able to project their professional identity into cyberspace—their own professional portrait—to network with companies, colleagues and clients, alike. He continued, “Getting a job is only around the 8th most popular reason for people joining, coming behind keeping up-to-date with professional networks, gaining knowledge, joining groups, self-improvement and sharing information. Increasingly we see Gen Y, to whom mobile recruitment technology is second nature, leveraging the employer brand and they’re joining the site younger and earlier.” A strong brand is synonymous with a good company and Gen Y is more focused on finding an employer of choice, rather than

remuneration. “To survive, the employer brand must be even stronger,” Yee encouraged.

Employers need to get their brands out there, or face getting left behind. He surmised, “The cost per hire is halved for companies with strong branding. Google doesn’t pay top salaries. Google doesn’t have to.”

The key to making mobile recruitment work for you is making it easier to facilitate contact with the right people. He advised companies to create a LinkedIn company page and design it with its desired audience in mind: students, interns, entry level, etc. He added, “Your company profile should be concise, maximum 50 – 100 words about you and what you do.” He also suggested a career page for prospective candidates, with videos and testimonials. The power of this approach is that it is accessible to all: large multi-national companies, SMEs and jobseekers—whether passive or active.

HR community

Diversity and inclusion advice from Hotel ICON Francis Lau Director of Human Capital, Hotel ICON

After thanking LinkedIn for helping his organisation to find the best talent, Lau shared insight into the recruitment and training strategies that Hotel ICON has adopted in order to meet the needs of its Gen Y workforce.

The hotel, which prides itself on being ‘unlike any other’, aims to project the spirit of Hong Kong and celebrate the diversity of talent within the local community. By nurturing the skills of around 150 students from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University each year, the hotel aims to create a new generation of passionate hoteliers within an innovative, caring and supportive learning environment.

“Character is key,” explained Lau, “We hire attitude but train skills, therefore when it comes to recruiting new talent, it is crucial to question whether the candidate sitting in front of us possesses the same characteristics as the organisation and will make a good fit.” As well as assessing the individual, the characteristics

of Gen Y are also taken into consideration and the hotel aims to cater to the needs of a young workforce, which not only seeks a fun workplace with a good work/life balance, but one that allows them to meet the high expectations they set for themselves in terms of their ongoing professional development.

The use of modern technology is also a fundamental element in meeting the needs of Gen Y, who like to be surrounded by technology. Lau pointed out the importance of adapting to these desires in order to attract and retain the best people. “Gen Y know what they want and they like to be informed and have the opportunity to integrate technology into their professional lives. We use technology to make the process of training fun.” This entails using a Facebook community to connect all staff in the hotel, incorporating mobile learning by inviting students to use their mobile devices to participate in group activities and deliver presentations in an interactive way.

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HR community

Recruiting diverse workforces by strengthening your ‘Integrity Firewall’ Kannan Chettiar Regional Director, First Advantage

Chettiar talked about the difficulties that one can face when hiring overseas staff.

Many countries have differing rules and regulations regarding how these checks may be carried out; the prevailing business etiquettes and practices may also be different. Many companies, rather than meet the challenges of vetting international

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candidates, have instead opted to simply hire from their own country.

This obviously stifles the diversity of the organisation and hampers the talent available. This raises the question of how to effectively screen candidates from countries in which your organisation has no presence. First Advantage hopes to answer this question and, with its global presence and size, is in a great place to do so.

Chettiar shared, “First Advantage uses a variety of very wide reaching checks.”

With the consent of the candidate, their finances, criminal and educational records are checked and their employment history is confirmed. Chettiar indicated that discrepancies in people’s CVs regarding their previous salary, title, and reason for leaving are some of the most common lies people use hoping for a better starting salary and position. He said, “We found one candidate who indicated on their CV that they had left their previous position for family reasons. After contacting their employer it was found he was dismissed for low performance.” First Advantage apparently also discovers a number of candidates with previous criminal convictions for everything from drug trafficking to embezzlement. That in mind, First Advantage provides insurance in the event that a candidate vetted by them is discovered to have represented themselves dishonestly.

Nurturing a diverse workforce, maintaining an inclusion environment & managing diverse work practices Brian Ho Executive Director, Human Resources, Ocean Park Corporation

Since Ocean Park officially opened its doors in 1977, the business has gone from strength to strength and the past decade has seen a record-breaking number of visitors to the park year-on-year. Ho explained that the rise in popularity, along with several large hotel and water park development projects, has created more job opportunities and along with this, a

HR community greater need to accommodate a diverse workforce of employees. He explained that the broad range of job roles and responsibilities at the park has not only resulted in a variety of staff contracts, be it full-time, part-term, short-term or seasonal, but also a range of tight policies and practises to accommodate a multicultural and multigenerational workforce. He added “For a company to do well in establishing a diverse and inclusive working environment it must have proper procedures, programmes and practise in place to encourage this at all levels within the organisation.”

Whether employees are cleaning, performing, operating food and drink outlets, organising events or selling merchandise in the park, the company has adopted a flexible situational staffing model, which allows people to work together in different shifts within the same environment. The park has implemented several diversity and inclusion programmes, which enable fair treatment among staff members as well as give them the opportunity to voice their ideas and concerns. In addition, it offers a Selective Placement Trainee Programme, whereby around a dozen disabled staff are recruited each year from NGOs on a nine-month assignment, after which they are assessed and offered more permanent contracts with the park if suitable. The company has also implemented a strict code of conduct, which includes policies aimed at promoting equal opportunities and abides by anti-discrimination laws in Hong Kong. Ho pointed out, however, that the park does not operate on a quota system and always hires on ability, rather than favouring those with disabilities. In addition, the company recruits ethnic minorities as well as those who have been convicted of criminal offences and have undergone rehabilitation, subject to background checks and screening.

Inculcating diversity & inclusion through management and leadership programmes Johan G van Vuuren Director, People & Culture (AP) Dimension Data Asia Pacific approach. Van Vuuren explained to the audience how, through their management and leadership programmes—some of their staff travel between their different operations across the world to receive training and development—this helps staff to develop diverse thinking styles and opinions. They also employ a single core of trainers who work with all of Dimension Data’s locations globally. This helps to create a ‘common fabric’ across the organisation and to show their leaders the benefits of diversity.

Dimension Data is one of the leading global providers of ICT solutions, deploying Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and cloud services in over 58 countries. Van Vuuren talked about their management and leadership programmes. For operations in foreign countries, they focus on hiring local talent so as to foster a community atmosphere in their workplaces. However, for senior management leadership and specialist roles they have a more globalised

Diversity is important to Dimension Data’s operations as it is central to their philosophy of providing outcomes rather than just simply technolog y. Diversity gives their operations a wider range of skills and viewpoints; this allows them to adapt to a wider variety of situations and react to developments more effectively. Diversity helps clients as it means that Dimension Data has a better understanding of the needs and culture of their clients, allowing them to tailor better fitting solutions to their clients needs. Van Vuuren said that one of the most important tasks of organisations today is to, “Harness diversity rather than see it as an obstacle.” It would seem that Dimension Data is one organisation that has harnessed diversity effectively.

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HR community Fashioning Gen Y to better fit a diverse workforce— economics@UEA Dr Matthew Aldrich

Lecturer in Economics and Employability Officer, School of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of East Anglia (UEA)

As a university ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide and catering to the needs of 15,000 students, the University of East Anglia prides itself on providing a happy learning environment as well as high quality course content and resources. With 50% of students on the Economics course coming from international locations, the university works hard to prepare students for what to expect in the workplace on a multicultural basis. Not only that, it aims to meet the high expectations of a Gen Y audience which, Aldrich explained, “Expects everything to be interesting.” He went on to explain, “We’ve increasingly seen that students have their own demands on the course content as well as high expectations for their own achievements. They expect feedback and expect to walk straight into a managerial job and immediately have some kind of responsibility in that work.”

As a university, UEA is responsive to the needs and expectations of the students and aims to explore a variety of teaching pedagogy and allowing students to find their own passion

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within the discipline. At the same time, however, the university is adamant not to ‘drip feed’ information to students and instead teaches students how to learn for themselves.

In terms of career development, the institution allows students to explore and develop soft skills needed to secure employment and develop in their careers. It also offers careers coaching to help students discover their passion and chosen career path, regular talks from alumni students and employers about how they found their path, as well as training on how to write effective CVs and network through social media such as LinkedIn. Aldrich explained that internships have proven to be a successful method to integrate students into a firm and allow them to experience what it is like to work for an organisation and assess whether it matches with their own values.

He also stressed the importance of providing feedback to candidates who have come to expect it from the recruitment process. He finished by offering the advice, “Don’t be scared of giving students responsibility, they will always step up to the challenge. It provides them with an opportunity to learn and grow.”

HR community

Diversity and inclusion advice from Ernst & Young Anne-Marie Balfe Director, Talent Leader, Financial Services How do you make the case for diversity and inclusiveness to businesses, to the point where you can actually begin to affect change? Balfe believes that gender bias and diversity issues have increased in prominence over the last five years but, at a time when businesses are faced with a crisis of talent shortage, many in Hong Kong are slow to respond.

In its most recent report, Hang Seng reported that the representation of women on boards has stalled at 9% over the last nine years. Balfe opined, “Women make

up 65% of all law graduates, and yet only 14% go on to become partners of law firms.

At a time when businesses are dealing with difficulty in recruiting and retaining talent, they are missing out on 50% of the population by limiting their talent pool.”

The solution is better board governance and risk awareness, and a change in attitude that is long overdue. Balfe continued, “This is necessary because it’s imperative to the success of the business. This is not simply a ‘nice-to-do’ gesture. It is easier to effect change from the top-down than from the bottom-up, but even then, it doesn’t happen overnight. This is an area in which China is making huge progress.”

Businesses should examine their own data and understand their own organisation.

It is important that they are aware of any unconscious bias that might exist.

Balfe offered, “Check your promotional representation. Dig in and examine what percentage of your workforce are female, and what percentage of them hold senior positions.” Businesses should also check that performance reviews are conducted equally, and that panel interviews use as diverse a panel as possible.

Within a gender-imbalanced corporate environment, however, it is the men that are most needed to effect the change. Balfe insisted, “Get men on board! Corporate competition is healthy and vital to sustained business growth. Ensure that all training packages incorporate diversity awareness so that participants can become the champions of change.”

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HR Bible | 51

HR community

SSO Malaysia 2014 This year’s Shared Services and Outsourcing Malaysia Summit brought together industry professionals to share from a wealth of expertise and experience. Key themes throughout the summit included: maintaining a competitive edge through innovative talent management, implementing value added services and sustainable cost-cutting strategies.

Michael Warren, Vice President, MDeC opened the Summit with an engaging speech on getting to grips with the ever-evolving machine of Shared Services & Outsourcing (SSO). He explained, “When it comes to SSO, Malaysia is the right place at the right time. Last year saw a 57% hike in job creation with over 7,300 new positions bringing the cumulative figure to 65,800. Malaysia now ranks in the top three countries globally in terms of global sourcing of services.”

Acknowledging that it is not possible to be good at everything—and therefore it is essential to focus on the core business elements and outsource the rest—he emphasised the need for the overall business model, including HR, to embrace SSO in order to grow.

Due to the industry having little exposure, finding and attracting the right talent is its next big challenge and therefore it is under pressure to increase awareness. Warren stressed the importance of utilising local government employment initiatives in order to improve awareness and bridge the talent gap.

Untapped talent Another key point raised was the need for more organisations to be involved in the Industry Academic Collaboration (IAC).

Warren noted, “Improving relations with target universities not only increases industry exposure but also strategically positions the business to attract new talent.” There are multiple university schemes eagerly looking to engage with industry. Moreover, academics are incentivised to improve academia-industry affiliations. Developing these connections has huge implications on the business, from access to the latest research results to innovative new methodologies along with access to a pool of untapped talent.

52 | HR Magazine

Big talent, small budget Throughout the Summit it was evident that there is demand for the right talent, at the right price, right now. Professionals will agree that to get the best fit you either have to buy, borrow or grow your own talent. This means maximising the effects of a limited budget through active engagement. The premise for this is found in a strong brand identity. Employer branding can provide a huge competitive edge for the business and is often overlooked. It is vital to capitalise on the influence branding has on attracting potential talent. Businesses seeking to leverage the value of a strong identity will need to pay attention to three main factors, which research reveals to be the most important to candidates: • • •

Competitive salary/benefits Job security Pleasant work atmosphere

Forward thinking A recent trend among HR professionals is the concept of treating your employees like customers. This gives jobseekers a sense that they are customers so, even if they do not ‘buy’ anything this time, they might do so in the future. This notion indicates that HR is thinking ahead and developing a relationship with valuable employees thus making sure that if they aren’t recruited now, they could still be hired down the line. The amount invested in planning for the future makes the difference between a good organisation and a great one.

Cross-generational expectations An interesting panel conversation ventured on a three-way discussion revolving around the theme of talent. It was noted that candidates want to know they will be respected by an organisation. They want meaningful responsibilities, to be treated fairly and to be challenged. The panel explained, “It is essential for HR to give clear career progression opportunities. Some expectations never change and are the same for every generation. Listen to your employees, not everyone wants to be forced to fit in. Don’t make judgements based on appearance. Greet

your employees in the morning—basic manners go a long way.” The panel emphasised that too many managers negate the basics, expecting much in return for nothing.

Boleh!

“Respect your efforts, respect yourself.

Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.” —Clint Eastwood Jill Jamieson, Kuala Lumpur Associate, VCI Change shared on metrics and discipline, uncovering how a large global organisation reduced processing lead time from 96 hours to 24 hours. She explored the value of self-discipline, expounding, “The foundation for productivity is found in self-discipline.

Research reveals that those in society with self-discipline achieve far more than those with a lackadaisical attitude. Discipline used to be a dirty word but while measurement is the first step leading to control and thus to improvement, it can also be a critical factor in providing employees with a sense of purpose.”

Jamieson revealed how a disciplined culture of goal setting and measurement results in SSO staff increasing their ‘improvement ideas’ to an average of 1.1 per person per month—a world benchmark, and cutting processing lead time by 75%, with errors being reduced to an outstanding 0.02%.

A critical question was put out to the audience: how do you increase the level of self-discipline among employees? After discussion, Jamieson explained, “First, the rules should always be agreed. Ensure goals and expectations are settled from the offset.

Second, feedback is imperative. Adults grow from regular and continuous feedback.

Be open and transparent with employees.

Lastly, measure input and contribution to the business. Employees need to know what value they bring to the organisation.” She stated that this is the first step to a sustainable cost-cutting strategy. The old Malaysian saying ‘Boleh’ is quite apt, its meaning: ‘we can do things’. Jamieson affirmed that having a can-do attitude cultivates motivation, which ultimately adds to the building blocks of self-discipline.

HR community

Finding the right balance How do you preserve your greatest resource?

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has reduced attrition and attracted talent through international language training and staff rotation, John Kidd, Chief Global Shared Service Centre, United Nations Development Programme shared, “Understanding the employee’s perspective is the starting point to promoting a healthy work-life balance. Make an effort to make the job more interesting and aim to motivate the workforce to be more productive.” He highlighted the benefits of utilising social platforms to encourage employee productivity.

Kidd heralded the incorporation of flexi-hours—exposing the fallacy of the perception that they compromise costs. He explained that a good approach to building commitment is to collaboratively develop the vision, values and mission. He commented, “Create an environment where staff feel safe to raise issues and share their knowledge.”

He believes that your career should be a noble mission and gave the following three steps as the cornerstone to achieving this; give variety, give scope and give international exposure.

Kidd’s efforts have resulted in a team that has been internationally recognised for its speed, efficiency and responsiveness.

As the market moves towards SSO and offshore delivery becomes more widely accepted, businesses need to pre-empt the need for alternative locations for service and business delivery. Additionally, with the scarcity of skill sets in certain markets, the need to embrace SSO has never been greater.

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HR LEGAL

Protecting Confidential Information

By Julia Gorham and Jessica Smith, DLA Piper Hong Kong

Protecting valuable assets such as trade secrets, confidential and proprietary information, intellectual property, customer/client/supplier/ employee data (together here referred to as ‘Confidential Information’) is crucial to the success of any business. The recent case of Dextra China Limited v Lam Wing Kit HCA 38/2010 is a useful reminder of the importance of keeping different forms of Confidential Information safe and ensuring that the business is adequately protected. The case highlights the dangers of overly ambitious employees that use their position and access to Confidential Information to further their own (or a third party’s) business interests.

Dextra China Limited (Dextra) is a distributor and manufacturer of sonic tubes used within the construction process. The manufacturing process of these sonic tubes is highly Confidential Information and in fact amounts to a trade secret. Lam Wing Kit (Lam) was employed by Dextra as their General Manager and was responsible for overseeing Dextra’s operations in the PRC. In September 2009, Dextra suspected that Lam was taking steps to establish an independent business in the PRC intended to compete directly with Dextra’s sonic tube business.

Dextra found evidence that Lam had been exploiting his business knowledge and access to Confidential Information and resources. Lam had also induced/arranged for the resignation and/or dismissal of 15 staff, some of whom had been long-standing Dextra employees. In October 2009, Lam was summarily dismissed for breach of the implied duties of good faith, trust and confidence and the express duties contained in his employment contract regarding his fiduciary duty to Dextra and the obligation not to misuse Confidential Information.

54 | HR Magazine

Dextra applied to the Hong Kong Courts for, and was successful in being granted: 1.

an injunction to prevent Lam from acting in further breach of the express and implied duties in his employment contract and to prevent him from making further use of Dextra’s Confidential Information;

2.

an Order that Lam deliver up the Confidential Information that he had misappropriated; and

3.

HKD 5.1 million in damages for loss of profits during the period he was employed by Dextra but actually acting in competition with it.

Lam denied all of the claims and issued his own claim for wrongful termination. Given the overwhelming amount of evidence against Lam, the Court found that Lam had not been wrongfully terminated. The Court also found that Lam had acted in breach of both the express and implied terms of his employment contract (employees in Hong Kong are subject to an implied duty not to misuse Confidential Information during their employment, as part of their implied duty of good faith and fidelity).

Practical tips for employees Not all employers may be as fortunate as Dextra in being able to so clearly prove wrongful conduct and the consequences of failing to detect misappropriation could be fatal to a business in a competitive market. While savvy companies will usually have robust measures to protect their business assets, in addition there are some practical (and often simple) steps that employers can take to minimise the risks of misuse of Confidential Information.

HR LEGAL

from Employee Breaches Employment contracts and Policies/Procedures •

•

•

Employment contracts and related Confidential Information Policies should contain comprehensive provisions relating to: acceptable standards of employee behaviour, company expectations around the protection of business assets, continuing obligations after termination of employment and the return of company assets/ Confidential Information. Documents should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they keep pace with business and technological developments which could lead to misuse (such as misuse of social media, phone apps, chat groups etc).

Updated and enhanced provisions should also be applied if an employee’s seniority or access to Confidential Information materially increases.

Remember when hiring new staff, there are no substantive common law duties owed by a prospective employee to a prospective employer. Confidential Information about your business provided to prospective employees should be limited and, if disclosure is unavoidable, consider asking them to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Policies should include the security measures (IT, behavioural and other) that the employer requires to keep Confidential Information secure and the actions that can and cannot be taken by employees.

For example, consider the use of firewalls, restrictions on use of personal electronic devices/email accounts, encryption, need-to-know access/recorded distribution

lists as well as robust surveillance and monitoring tools (where appropriate).

•

Policies should state the penalties for non-compliance/misuse and must be actively monitored and enforced.

Breaches should be investigated consistently as failure to act on breaches will reduce an employer’s ability to prove the confidential nature of their assets and rely on policies to take action against employees for misuse.

link any enhanced termination payments to compliance with the employer’s Confidential Information policies.

•

Be alert to disenchanted or disgruntled employees, it is much more likely to be these employees that act contrary to the employer’s best interests. Managers should be alert to employees behaviour or frequent external meetings out of keeping with their role and clients or customers leaving the business etc.

Monitoring, surveillance and review

Investigations

•

Check current monitoring and surveillance practices for adequacy and use technological developments to alert suspicious activity. Provide a clear procedure for reporting any potential misuse to senior management and risk/ control functions.

•

•

Schedule regular training to reinforce company policies. This should include consequences for non-compliance, including linking non-compliance to disciplinary procedures up to and including summary dismissal for the most serious breaches. The consequences for non-compliance by departing employees should also be addressed.

Where a breach is suspected, work with HR, Legal, Compliance or Risk teams to investigate the issue and in particular to analyse the nature and severity of the Confidential Information at risk. Check if any breach requires a self-reporting obligation to a data privacy regulator (particularly in light of the increased sanctions under the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Amendment Ordinance which came into force in April 2013) or other regulator (for example banking data may be covered by banking secrecy provisions or require financial regulator disclosures). Also check what steps need to be taken to rectify a breach, for example, if confidential data has been leaked it may need to be recalled and apologies made.

•

Consider carefully how Confidential Information will be protected when employees leave the business. During notice periods restrict access to Confidential Information, increase monitoring of computer activity/print logs to ensure that Confidential Information is not being sent outside of the business. Where possible,

•

If breaches of Confidential Information have been identified, consider asking the employee for assurances that they have deleted the data taken and that they have not taken anything additional to that uncovered. For serious data breaches also consider the need to get access to personal devices/accounts to confirm the data has been deleted.

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HR book review

Asia Pacific Employment Law Guide 2014

By Herbert Smith Freehills This guide is a comprehensive go-to resource for HR managers, providing up-to-date information on key employment laws and principles broken down into 21 jurisdictions across APAC. The latest guide also includes advice on relevant employment laws in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and New Zealand—and the extended coverage reflects the success of previous guides in the series. Bullet point layouts make the employment laws across the jurisdictions more accessible and easier to navigate.

Lead to Succeed

By Chris Roebuck “To deliver real success, people must be inspired to be their best.”

Lead to Succeed promises to deliver success and provides fundamentals for leaders to transform their own and other people’s performances. Professor Chris Roebuck introduces the Mach 2 Performance Programme, which aims to increase people’s performance and engagement in the workplace. The programme assists leaders in creating responsive, efficient, customer-focused and risk-optimised organisations, that focus on inspiring their employees, pleasing their customers and stakeholders, enriching their society and delivering real success.

Mach 2 leadership has been proven in the real world with quantifiable results—based on both Roebuck’s personal experiences and other leadership success stories around the world. His ideas have impacted numerous organisations including the Red Cross in Myanmar, US investment banks, government organisations in China and the British National Health Service.

Working at a Distance: A Global Business Model for Virtual Team Collaboration

By Cassandra J. Smith Working at a Distance provides powerful insight into the correlation between virtual teams and their manager’s active participation when conducting virtual projects. Smith explores the untold truth of managers needing to reflect on their instruction and implementation first before setting to task an online project. The book delves into the manager’s assumptions and expectations of a project and how to set realistic targets and properly plan to help effectively roll out projects and achieve key goals.

The author explores key aspects and requirements vital to the success of any virtual project— with a focus on the team members themselves. Smith’s Virtual Team Global Business Model draws attention to the assumptions and communication strategies used in face-to-face communication. Smith then tosses these traditional models out of the window and introduces a completely new outlook into communication and project management that is imperative to successful virtual projects.

56 | HR Magazine

HR classifieds

Index Business Process Outsourcing Education and Corporate Training Employee Wellbeing and Insurance HR Consulting HR Technology Solutions Leadership Development Legal / Employment Law / Tax

| 57 | 57 - 58 | 58 | 59 | 59 | 59 - 60 | 60

Management Consulting MICE Venues/Event Organisers Pest Control and Environmental Services Recruitment / Executive Search Relocation and Logistics Service Apartments and Hotels Staff Benefits

| 60 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 62 | 62 - 64 | 64

Business Process Outsourcing Dynamic Resources has been established since 1997 with direct offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Vancouver. We provide Outsourcing Services in Employment, Payroll & Fringe Benefits Administration; Project Recruitment & Mapping; Executive Coaching; Business Entity (Representative Office, WOFE) & HR Management System Establishment in the PRC.

Dynamic Resources Asia Limited 904, Tower B, 14 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hong Kong

KCS, a leading independent corporate services company, has joined TMF Group - one of the world’s leading providers of high-value business services to organisations operating and investing globally.

KCS Hong Kong Limited 8th Floor, Gloucester Tower, The Landmark, 15 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

KCS clients now have access to a network of over 5,000 qualified professionals in more than 100 offices spanning EMEA, Asia Pacific and the Americas offering them the opportunity to significantly extend their global footprint.

Like KCS, TMF Group specialises in corporate accounting, corporate secretarial, payroll solutions, trust and wealth advisory services – as well as other specialised financial and administrative services that assist clients to optimally and efficiently operate their business in different geographical locations.

Tricor is a member of The Bank of East Asia Group. Tricor Business Services offers efficient, effective and professional advisory and outsourced support services to our clients. We deliver seamless solutions to address issues in Accounting & Financial Reporting; Cash, Fund and Payment Administration; Human Resources and Payroll Administration; Business Advisory; Trade Services; and Systems Solutions to ensure the adoption of best practices in your business.

Tel: (852) 2135 8038 kcliu@dynamic-resource.com www.dynamic-resource.com

Tel: (852) 3589 8899 Fax: (852) 3589 8555 info@kcs.com www.tmf-group.com/KCS

Tricor Services Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2980 1888 Fax: (852) 2861 0285 info@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

Education and Corporate Training

Are you confident with your voice in the workplace? Do you know how others actually hear you? Your voice defines you professionally. It is critical to all business communications and the foundation of executive presence. Our executive voice coaching modules and clinics coach key talent in practical techniques to harness the power of their voice. Using recording studio technology to reinforce learning, our programmes give executives vital tools to speak with confidence and authority.

All Voice Talent is Asia’s premier voice coaching and voiceover organization supplying voice coaches to Bloomberg, Standard Chartered, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Weber Shandwick, amongst others.

Tailor-made business training, testing and benchmarking solutions throughout Hong Kong, Macau and China. Corporate and individual programmes.

Excel’s renowned courses are tailored to the job nature, level and needs of the students. Our targeted, interactive approach in facilitation has allowed us to build an unrivalled reputation in the corporate training field. Clients include: the Airport Authority, American Express, Bausch and Lomb, Credit Agricole, KCRC, the Hong Kong Government, Swire Travel and United Airlines.

All Voice Talent 18/F, Wheelock House, 20 Pedder Street Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2517 0866 Fax: (852) 2911 4732 info@allvoicetalent.com www.allvoicetalent.com

Excel Education Limited Unit 101, Fourseas Building, 208 - 212 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2736 6339 Fax: (852) 2736 6369 info@excelhk.com www.excelhk.com

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HR classifieds HKU SPACE is a leading local provider in the field of lifelong education.

The School has provided a wide range of executive programmes to meet the growing lifelong learning demands for managers and business executives.

The School also provides tailored in-house corporate training programmes in finance or business related disciplines for global corporations.

HKU SPACE College of Business and Finance 34/F United Centre, 95 Queensway, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2867 8467 edseries@hkuspace.hku.hk www.hkuspace.hku.hk

The Vocational Language Programme Office aims at offering quality vocational English, Chinese and Putonghua training for working adults to meet their language needs at work. We have run various courses for public organisations and private corporations before, such as HKSAR Water Supplies Department, Hospital Authority and Pizza Hut Hong Kong Management Limited.

With the support from the Language Fund, the QF-recognised Vocational English Enhancement Programme is on offer for enhancing the practical English skills of the Hong Kong workforce. Individual corporations can enjoy great flexibility by having the VEEP courses operated at their training venues and preferred schedule. On completion of the course, learners can receive 60% of the course fee reimbursement and obtain certificates issued by the Vocational Training Council and LCCI.

Vocational Language Programme Office, Vocational Training Council Room 437, 4/F, Academic Block, 30 Shing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2595 8119 vlpo-veep@vtc.edu.hk www.vtc.edu.hk/vlpo

employee wellbeing and insurance

58 | HR Magazine

Aetna International is committed to helping create a stronger, healthier global community by delivering comprehensive health benefits and health management solutions worldwide. Aetna International's expatriate business is one of the industry's largest and most prominent US-based international health benefits providers, supporting more than 500,000 members worldwide. The organisation’s expatriate offerings include medical, dental, vision, life, disability and emergency assistance. Aetna International’s health management business collaborates with health care systems, government entities and plan sponsors around the world to design and build locally-applied health management solutions to improve health, quality and cost outcomes.

Aetna International Room 401-3, 4/F, DCH Commercial Centre, 25 Westlands Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Adventist Hospital is one of the leaders in medical services, providing organisations with comprehensive health assessment packages to choose from. The hospital works closely with HR and Benefits specialists to design tailor-made programmes to satisfy your staff’s unique requirements.

The checkups not only assess staff’s health status and identify the risk factors, it also provide preventive programmes to help clients fine-tune their lifestyles for healthy living. All the services are supported by experienced professional staff using advanced equipment in modern facilities.

Hong Kong Adventist Hospital 40 Stubbs Road, Hong Kong

Matilda International Hospital offers newly developed facilities and stateof-the-art equipment for a comprehensive health assessment service and is committed to providing the best care and personal attention for both corporate and individual clients. Matilda Medical Centre has extended services to Central and Tsim Sha Tsui and provides full primary and preventative healthcare services. The combined expertise of the hospital and medical centres results in an entire suite of result-orientated health and wellness services to address specific medical and budgeting needs. The provision of inpatient services and advance surgical suites ensures seemless follow through care and access to a wide range of experienced specialist facilities and advanced treatment options.

Matilda International Hospital 41 Mount Kellett Road, The Peak, Hong Kong

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers is a leading international health insurance brokerage specialising in providing comprehensive coverage options to individuals, families, and companies throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Working with over 100,000 clients in 150 countries, Pacific Prime can deliver advice in more than 15 major languages. With offices strategically located in Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Pacific Prime is able to provide immediate advice and assistance to policyholders located around the world. Pacific Prime works with over 60 of the world’s leading health insurance providers, giving customers unprecedented access to the best medical insurance products currently on the market.

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers Ltd. Unit 1 - 11, 35/F, One Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong

With a mission of providing and promoting primary and preventive eyecare to the public, PolyVision offers a pioneering eye healthcare plan fitting different staff benefit schemes, and provides eye care seminars and packages to help monitor and maintain the eye health of staff through companies.

PolyVision Eyecare Centres Room 4406 - 4410, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queens Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Their eye examination is one of the most comprehensive in Hong Kong. It covers: Case History, Vision & Refractive Status, Binocular Vision, Color Vision Screening, Intra-ocular Pressure, Ocular Health, Fundus Photography, Diagnosis & Treatment.

Tel: (852) 3589 0531 Fax: (852) 2861 0123 info@polyvision.com.hk www.polyvision.com.hk

Tel: (852) 2860 8081 Fax: (852) 2147 9960 Mobile: (852) 5165 2467 asiapacsales@aetna.com www.aetnainternational.com

Tel: (852) 3651-8835 Fax: (852) 3651-8840 www.hkah.org.hk

Contact person: Sireen Cheng Tel: (852) 2849 0389 www.matilda.org

Tel: (852) 3589 0531 Fax: (852) 2915 7770 info@pacificprime.com marketing@pacificprime.com www.pacificprime.com

HR classifieds HR CONSULTING Based in Hong Kong and with overseas partners, we operate internationally.

HRA provide human resource consultancy & recruitment support to construction, engineering, manufacturing and the oil & gas sectors.

Our human resource consultancy services encompass the full range of HR functions including training, HR audits and outsourced HR support.

HRA Associates (HK) Limited 701, 7/F, Tower 2, Silvercord, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2735 9961 Fax: (852) 2735 9967 group@hrahk.com www.hrahk.com

HR Technology Solutions COL, an IT services subsidiary of Wharf T&T, is a leading IT services company in Hong Kong with over 40 years of experiences. COL offers a full range of IT infrastructure, application development and implementation services including Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

COL Limited Unit 825 - 876, 8/F, KITEC, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong

With domain expertise in business applications, we deliver the best practice Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions ranging from full-featured HRMS, web-based employee self-service portal to outsourcing services for MNCs, enterprises and SMEs. ‘Doc:brary’ Document Management System is another key application in our HCM product portfolio to securely manage HR related documents including employees P-file, appraisal records, training materials, etc.

Tel: (852) 2118 3999 Fax: (852) 2112 0121 colmarketing@col.com.hk www.col.com.hk

COL is a Cisco Gold partner, an EMC Velocity Partner, a Juniper Networks Elite Partner, a Microsoft Certified Partner, an Oracle Gold Partner, a VMware Partner and CMMI Level 3 assessed.

FlexSystem is a recognised leader in enterprise management software industry in the Greater China region. Over the past 26 years, FlexSystem has been delivering high quality application software and services to maximise the client’s operational efficiency in the accounting, order processing, payroll and human resources, manufacturing, workflow and business management.

FlexSystem Limited Block A, 4/F., Eastern Sea Industrial Building, 29-39 Kwai Cheong Road, Kwai Chung, N.T, H.K

With its strong global network of regional offices and partners, FlexSystem serves thousands of customers in more than 36 countries, half of them are listed on 30 global stock exchanges, and 1 in 10 with presence on the Forbes 2000 list. Now and future, FlexSystem continues to keen on technology development and create a complete platform of new generation enterprise resources management solutions.

Tel: (852) 3529 4123 Fax: (852) 3007 1424 infodl@flexsystem.com www.flex.hk

Lumesse is the only global company making talent management solutions work locally. We help customers around the world to implement successful local talent management initiatives that identify, nurture and develop the right people, in the right place, at the right time. Our multi-cultural background and presence means we understand how to deliver talent solutions that work the way our customers work, as individuals and as teams, because no two people, organisations or cultures are the same. We regard differences as strengths, not as obstacles.

Lumesse Unit 1905, World Trade Centre, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2815 3456 Fax: (852) 2890 0399 hkinfo@lumesse.com www.lumesse.com

Leadership Development The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) is a top-ranked, global provider of executive education that unlocks individual and organisational potential through its exclusive focus on leadership development and research. Ranked among the world’s top providers of executive education by BusinessWeek and No. 3 in the 2010 Financial Times executive education survey, CCL serves corporate, government and non-governmental clients through an array of programmes, products and other services. CCL-APAC’s headquarters are based in Singapore.

Other global locations include Brussels, Moscow and three campuses in the United States.

CCL® 89 Science Park Drive #03-07/08, The Rutherford Lobby B, Singapore 118261

With 98 years of experience, Dale Carnegie® Training is a world leader in performance-based training. With offices over 80 countries worldwide and courses in 27 languages, we produce measurable business result by improving the performance of employees with emphasis on:

Dale Carnegie® Training Suite 1701, 17/F East Exchange Tower, 38 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

• Team member engagement • Sales effectiveness • Process improvement • Leadership development • Presentation effectiveness • Customer services

Tel: (852) 2845 0218 Fax: (852) 2583 9629 info@dale-carnegie.com.hk www.dale-carnegie.com.hk

Over 425 corporations of Fortune 500 continue choosing us to be their partner.

Calling all HR managers & directors: • Are you looking for structured programmes to develop your staff?

• Sponsor or part sponsor your staff to achieve MBA, Masters, Bachelor, Diploma or Certificate courses • The spend is value for money • The return is measurable & tangible • Choose from 31 courses from nine UK Universities (Bradford, Sunderland, Wales, Birmingham etc.)

• 16 years in HK *All courses are registered

Tel: (65) 6854 6000 Fax: (65) 6854 6001 cclasia@ccl.org www.ccl.org/apac

RDI Management Learning Ltd. 7th Floor, South China Building, 1 - 3 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2992 0133 Fax: (852) 2992 0918 info@rdihongkong.com www.rdihongkong.com

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HR classifieds alphaeight specialises in behavioural-science research and people development.

We utilise research to create individual and team development solutions— focused on business objectives—for leaders, managers and frontline workers.

It’s all about research and evidence: solutions, built upon scientifically proven research on how the human mind works, are practical and easy to adopt and utilise exclusive tools and techniques developed by our research institute. It’s all about you: solutions tailored to your people’s specific needs and your business objectives—give you the results you want. It’s all about impact: measure changes before, during and after development.

Legal / Employment / Law / Tax

the alphaeight institute 1906, 19/F, Miramar Tower, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Mrs Stephanie Herd Tel: (852) 2302 0283 Fax: (852) 2302 0006 stephanie.herd@alphaeight.com www.alphaeight.com

Excel Global Consulting is a leading business consultancy specialising in the enhancement of business performance through a unique approach to people management. Our goal is to deliver you the knowledge and resources to improve business productivity by creating better employee engagement within your organisation using customised human capital management solutions. With our support you’ll gain a committed, more innovative and highly motivated workforce primed to lead your business towards greater efficiency and productivity. With Excel Global your employees will gain greater job satisfaction in a solution-oriented work environment where engagement is productive, innovative and geared to better business performance.

Excel Global Company Information Level 8, Two Exchange Square, 2 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong

WTS is a tax and business consulting firm providing assistance in the strategic planning and management process of intercompany assignments’ cost and compliance.

wts consulting (Hong Kong) Limited Unit 1004, 10/F, Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

Our Global Expatriate Service specialists advise on expatriate issues relating to corporate tax, personal tax, social security matters and process consulting across Asia. Our expertise therefore enables us to identify assignment related risks at an early stage and optimise tax and social security payments for companies and their employees while keeping the administrative burden to a minimum.

In conjuction with our international network, we can assist you in almost 100 locations worldwide.

Tel: (852) 2846 1888 Fax: (852) 2297 2289 info@excelglobal.com www.excelglobal.com

Tel: (852) 2528 1229 Fax: (852) 2541 1411 claus.schuermann@wts.com.hk www.wts.com.hk

Management Consulting

60 | HR Magazine

The Hong Kong Management Association was established in 1960, The Hong Kong Management Association is a non-profit-making organisation which aims at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of management in Hong Kong and the region. With a commitment to nurturing human capital, every year, the Association offers over 2,000 certificates, diplomas as well as degree programmes, jointly organised with prestigious overseas universities, for more than 50,000 business executives. It is now one of the largest providers of management training and education in the region.

Hong Kong Management Association 14th Floor, Fairmont House, 8 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong

Ipsos’ Employee Relationship Management practice specialises in employer brand and employee engagement research programmes, as well as linking employee and customer metrics, assessing corporate values, auditing internal communications and evaluating HR management policies and practices. With offices in 84 countries, Ipsos has the resources to conduct research wherever in the world its clients do business.

Ipsos Hong Kong 22/F, Leighton Centre, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Reallyenglish works with major international publishers (Cambridge University Press, Pearson Longman, McGraw-Hill) to create cost-effective and flexible world-class courseware that is tailored to local needs. We provide educational, fun and interactive online courses which are easy to use and hold learners’ interest. By controlling every aspect of the service, including hosting, support, coaching and reporting, we guarantee that over 80% of students will complete their course. All our energy is devoted on two service objectives—getting students to finish and showing managers and educators the results.

reallyenglish.com (Hong Kong) 51/F, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tricor Consulting Ltd. is a member of Tricor Group & BEA Group. Our services include human resources advisory on policies, practices, reward, PMS and human capital (maximise talent investment through assessments, development centres, training and development); Strategic Management (perform strategic analysis, formulate strategies and execution management); Organisation Structuring (design structure to align with business directions); Change Management (build commitment and overcome resistance for organisation change); IT Consulting and HRIS (maximise IT investment to create business value); Business Process (reengineer and manage business processes to achieve business results) and Business Turnaround (reduce costs and enhance revenues through an integrated approach).

Tricor Consulting Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2526 6516 / 2774 8500 Fax: (852) 2365 1000 hkma@hkma.org.hk www.hkma.org.hk

Tel: (852) 2881 5388 employee.research@ipsos.com www.ipsoshk.com

Tel: (852) 3602 3090 Fax: (852) 3602 3111 Mobile: (852) 5165 2467 asia@reallyenglish.com www.reallyenglish.com

Tel: (852) 2980 1308 Fax: (852) 2262 7896 john.kf.ng@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

HR classifieds MICE Venues / event organisers

AsiaWorld-Expo is Hong Kong’s leading exhibitions, conventions, concerts and events venue, yet it is also an ideal venue for annual dinners, world-class conferences, cocktail receptions, media luncheons and sumptuous banquets.

With Hong Kong’s largest indoor convention and hospitality hall, AsiaWorldSummit which seats up to 5,000 persons, together with a full range of meeting and conference facilities, award-winning chefs and attentive hospitality staff, AsiaWorld-Expo is definitely your choice for an unforgettable event.

AsiaWorld-Expo Management Limited AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong, China

Cliftons provides premium, purpose-built, training and event facilities and solutions, ensuring our clients’ programmes are delivered seamlessly and successfully around the globe. Over the past 14 years, Cliftons has grown to provide clients with the largest network of dedicated computer and seminar training facilities across the Asia-Pacific region. Encompassing over 150 state-ofthe-art training and meeting rooms within 10 CBD locations in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, this footprint of proprietary venues is supplemented by a global affiliates network that allows clients to manage all of their training needs around the world with a single point of contact.

Cliftons Training Facility Level 5, Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, HK

Tel: (852) 3606 8888 Fax: (852) 3606 8889 fnb@asiaworld-expo.com www.asiaworld-expo.com

Tel: (852) 2159 9999 enquiries@cliftons.com www.cliftons.com

Pest and control and environmental services BioCycle is the first pest management company in Hong Kong to have acquired both the ISO 14001 and the ISO 9001 System Certifications. BioCycle was set up in 1991 to provide safe and environmentally friendly Pest Control, Termite Consulting, Sentricon Colony Elimination System for termite colony and Sanitation Services, and operates under European management.

BioCycle (Hong Kong) Limited Unit A G/F & 11/F, Lok Kui Industrial Building, 6-8 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

We are the exclusive user of our group’s insecticide, BioKill, which has been approved by the AFCD of HK Government not to carry the poison label.

Tel: (852) 3575 2575 Fax: (852) 3575 2570 info@biocycle.com.hk www.biocycle.com.hk

Only the professional carpet cleaning and pest-control services of Truly Care, Hong Kong’s specialists in occupational, industrial, environmental and domestic hygiene can give you a clean, safe and bug-free office and home. Don’t put your staff’s health at risk! For a free, no-obligation, inspection and quotation, please call us now on 2458 8378

Truly Care (HK) Ltd. Room 1522, Nan Fung Centre, 264 - 298 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan, N.T., Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2458 8378 Fax: (852) 2458 8487 info@trulycare.com.hk www.trulycare.com.hk

Recruitment / executive search Established in 1997, ConnectedGroup is a privately-owned enterprise and has developed from a pure executive search business into a full spectrum human capital consulting firm. With offices in Asia and the Middle East we are well placed to service two of the fastest growing regions in the world and our consultative and client driven approach has positioned us as a partner of choice for companies across a diverse range of functions and industries. We work to values of candid, creative and connected and our employees are constantly measured against these behaviours to deliver the highest levels of service quality.

ConnectedGroup 19/F, Silver Fortune Plaza, 1 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

Silenus is certainly your partner of choice who specialises in recruiting talents in the Consumer and Retail sectors in Hong Kong. We provide customised solutions to meet your specific recruitment needs. Leveraging on our deep understanding of your manpower and business needs, coupled with an extensive candidate pool, we can help you recruit the right candidate who is able to drive your business to new heights. Our dedicated professional recruitment consultants possess superb recruitment skills. They can see the competency, personality, career aspirations and interests of candidates objectively and accurately, thus enhancing the efficiency and value of the recruitment process.

Silenus (Hong Kong) Limited 8/F, World Wide House, 19 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tricor Executive Resources, the former search and selection practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, has over the last 25 years built an unrivalled reputation for integrity and professionalism. Through focused research and intense sourcing, we recruit management and top-level executives for positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the region.

Tricor Executive Resources Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong

We also offer related HR services such as Human Resources Consulting; Compensation and Benefit Planning; Human Resources Outsourcing; Performance Management System; Transition Talent Management; Talent Assessment Centre; and Training & Development.

Contact person: Adam Edwards Tel: (852) 3972 5888 Fax: (852) 3972 5897 adam.edwards@connectedgroup.com www.connectedgroup.com

Tel: (852) 2185 6300 Fax: (852) 2185 6303 info@silenus.com.hk www.silenus.com.hk

Tel: (852) 2980 1166 Fax: (852) 2869 4410 fiona.yung@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

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HR classifieds Relocation and Logistics Asian Tigers, has provided international relocation and moving service to the Hong Kong market for more than 40 years. We move people internationally, regionally, and even within Hong Kong itself. Our experienced, multilingual staff enables Asian Tigers to deliver low-stress relocation services. Perhaps you are responsible for coordinating your office move and would like to know more about ‘low down-time’ office relocations. Whatever your needs, wherever you are headed, Asian Tigers can help facilitate and streamline your relocation. Give us a call and find out how we can assist you.

Asian Tigers Mobility 17/F, 3 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Crown Relocations, a worldwide leader of global mobility, domestic and international transportation of household goods, and departure and destination services, has over 180 offices in more than 50 countries. From preview trip and immigration assistance to home and school searches, orientation tours, intercultural training, partner career programme, and ongoing assignment support, Crown offers the best relocation solutions to corporate clients and transferees across the world.

Crown Relocations 9 - 11Yuen On Street, Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories

Thinking Relocation? Think Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a leading Relocation Services Company, providing a comprehensive range of the highest quality services to individual and corporate clients, including: immigration/visa, home/school search, language/cultural training, tenancy management/expense management and local, office, domestic and International moving services. Established in Hong Kong in 1980, Santa Fe has continuously expanded operations throughout the world. Today, Santa Fe Relocation Services is part of the Santa Fe Group and offers a single-source solution for organisations looking to transfer their employees globally. The Santa Fe Group currently operates in 52 countries with 122 offices worldwide.

Santa Fe Relocation Services 18/F, CC Wu Building, 302 - 08 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2528 1384 Fax: (852) 2529 7443 info@asiantigers-hongkong.com www.asiantigers-mobility.com

Tel: (852) 2636 8388 hongkong@crownrelo.com www.crownrelo.com

Tel: (852) 2574 6204 Fax: (852) 25751907 sales@santaferelo.com www.santaferelo.com.hk

serviced apartments and hotels

62 | HR Magazine

City Loft Serviced Studio, bucking the trend of expensive staff housing.

Companies looking for staff housing can breathe a big sigh of relief with City Loft Serviced Studio’s value-for-money monthly rentals of only HKD 7 – 15K per month. Whether your overseas trainees or project team need one month or one year, City Loft’s flexible rentals are perfect for teams arriving and departing Hong Kong throughout the year. Once your staff arrives at the airport, leave it with us to help them move into their small comfortable flats that are never more than 3 - 5 minutes from an MTR station on Hong Kong Island.

City Loft Serviced Studio Unit 801, 8/f Cheung’s Building, No. 1-3 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Four Seasons Place, the epitome of luxury and elegance, Four Seasons Place creates a relaxed and homely living environment amidst the surrounding opulence. With 519 serviced suites designed by internationally renowned designers, guests can choose from a range of stylish accommodations from studios and 1/2/3-bedroom suites to penthouses that open up to spectacular views of Victoria Harbour. It also features a rooftop heated pool & jacuzzi, sky lounge, gymnasium, sauna and multi-purpose function room to meet business and recreational needs. Heralding a comfortable, hassle-free living experience, all guests are pampered with personalised hotel services from VIP airport pickup to 24-hour multi-lingual concierge services.

Four Seasons Place 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong

Ovolo, is a Hong Kong hospitality company that provides guests with modern city accommodation with award-winning interiors, focused customer care and all-inclusive service packages. Founded in 2002, the company now own and operate four hotels and two serviced apartment properties in Hong Kong and an international hotel in Melbourne, Australia.

Ovolo Group Limited 3 Artbuthnot Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2881 7979 Fax: (852) 3196 8628 info@cityloft.com.hk www.cityloft.com.hk

Tel: (852) 3196 8228 Fax: (852) 3196 8628 enquiries@fsphk.com www.fsphk.com

Tel: (852) 2165 1000 Fax: (852) 2790 5490 info@ovologroup.com www.ovologroup.com

HR classifieds GARDENEast is prestigiously located at the heart of Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, boasting 216 luxurious units in 28 storeys.

Each of our luxurious units is subtly unique. The four room types: studio, studio deluxe, deluxe 1-bedroom, and executive suite, with their sizes ranging from 395 to 672 square feet, are comfortably-appointed with an all-encompassing range of fittings and furnishings. The landscaped gardens offer a relaxing lifestyle, peace and tranquility of green living and a diverse choice of dining and entertainment is right on your doorstep.

at the ICC megalopolis

GARDENEast Serviced Apartments 222, Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3973 3388 Fax: (852) 2861 3020 enquiry@gardeneast.com.hk www.gardeneast.com.hk

The HarbourView Place is part of the Kowloon Station development, located at a key harbour crossing point. Located atop the MTR and Airport Express Link at Kowloon Station. The junction of major rail lines, three minutes to Central, 20 minutes to the Airport, a mere 30 minutes to Shenzhen and 60 minutes to Guangzhou. It is a place for the best view of Hong Kong and Kowloon and is an icon property at Harbour Gateway. Located next to International Commerce Centre, the fourth tallest building in the world, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong and W Hong Kong, guests can enjoy a premium luxury living with the large shopping mall Elements and Hong Kong’s highest indoor observation deck Sky100.

The HarbourView Place 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Vega Suites, is the first stylish suite hotel in Kowloon East. Located atop the MTR Tseung Kwan O Station, Island East and Kowloon East only three MTR stations away. The integrated complex becomes a new landmark creating a comfortable, relaxing and home-like living space for guests. The all-encompassing landmark development comprises two international hotels & the luxury residence The Wings. Situated directly above the trendy PopCorn mall and connected to one million square feet of shopping, dining, leisure and entertainment. There is a lustrous selection of units ranging from studio, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom to 3-bedroom with flexible terms.

Vega Suites 3 Tong Tak Street, Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong

Computershare Plan Managers is the globe’s leading provider in provision of Employee Share Incentive Plan management services. Our tailored approach ideally places us to meet the demands of administering your employee share plans. As a leader in equity compensation services for more than 35 years, we service over 3,000 plans with nearly 3.5 million employee participants worldwide. We have successfully built a leading position in the Employee Share Plan Management Industry in Hong Kong and China, with a solid local presence and unrivalled investment in technology. Our integrated Share Plan Management offering includes: Employee Communication/Education, Data Management, HK Trustee Services, Regulatory Reporting and a full suite of Brokerage Services.

Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services Limited Hopewell Centre, 46/F, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

As the most comprehensive and strategically focused employee benefits specialist, Mybenefits provides international companies with a one-stop solution to achieving employee benefit objectives and has quickly become the preferred partner of Human Resource professionals in Asia.

Mybenefits 14/F, Grand Millennium Plaza, 181 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong

100% proven track record at helping companies: reduce employee benefit costs, reduce HR workload, increase employee satisfaction.

Contact person: Pauline Williams Tel: (852) 2891 8915 info@welcometoalliance.com www.welcometoalliance.com

Nespresso, the worldwide pioneer and market leader in highest-quality premium portioned coffee, introduces consumers to the world’s finest Grand Cru coffees to be enjoyed in the comfort of their own homes and savoured outside the home, in locations such as gourmet restaurants, upscale hotels, luxury outlets and offices. Nespresso is driven by core competencies that enable it to create highest quality Grand Cru coffees, long lasting consumer relationships, and sustainable business success. Nespresso focuses on its unique trilogy, the unmatched combination of exceptional coffee, smart and stylish coffee machines and personalised customer service. Together, these three elements deliver moments of pure indulgence—the Nespresso Ultimate Coffee Experiences.

Nespresso Division of Nestle Hong Kong Ltd. 7/F, Manhattan Place, 23 Wang Tai Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong

Red Packet is the market leading gift experience provider and offers a range of corporate gift experiences tailored for corporate reward & recognition programmes. Red Packet offers a unique range of experiences across gastronomy, sport, entertainment and discovery, and are ideal for employee recognition rewards or for a wider customer loyalty campaigns.

Red Packet 15/F, Shun Feng International, 182 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 3718 8000 Fax: (852) 3718 8008 enquiries@harbourviewplace.com www.harbourviewplace.com

Tel: (852) 3963 7888 Fax: (852) 3963 7889 enquiries@vegasuites.com.hk www.vegasuites.com.hk

Staff Benefits

Tel: (852) 3757 3542 planmanagers@computershare.com.hk www.computershare.com

Tel: 800 905 486 Fax: 800 968 822 club.asia@nespresso.com www.nespresso-pro.com

Tel: (852) 3168 0228 Fax: (852) 3568 5252 corporate@redpacket.hk www.redpacket.hk

64 | HR Magazine

Conferences

Put your feet up HR

Proven methods of saving time & effort Leveraging HRIS to reduce costs Reducing workforce stress Streamlining work processes What & when to outsource Global Business Services Quantifying savings Shared services

16 October 2014 Register today: hrmagazine.com.hk/conference-registration or call (852) 2736 6339 and speak to Sumi or Sydnie free entry to HR Magazine subscribers