HRM Asia Magazine November/December 2021 Issue by HRM Asia

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NOVEMBERDECEMBER 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS 2021 COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE

HR IN 2022: Shifting the power back to employees

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EDITOR’S NOTE Dear HRM Magazine Asia readers, SENIOR JOURNALIST

Shawn Liew GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Adrian Taylor adrian.taylor@mac.com SALES DIRECTOR

Luke Kasprzak SENIOR ACCOUNTS MANAGER

Edwin Lim MARKETING DIRECTOR

Yee Ling Chua MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PUBLISHER

Joanna Bush

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HRM Asia Pte Ltd 109 North Bridge Road, #05-21 Singapore, 179097 Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg ©HRM Asia Pte Ltd, 2021. All rights reserved. Republication permitted only with the approval of the Publisher.

ith 2022 firmly on the horizon, many of you would have begun to formulate your HR roadmap and business strategies for the year ahead. Is organisational design and change management at the top of your priority list, and how are you planning to improve your organisation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) strategy in managing an increasingly diverse workforce? As 2021’s largely default remote work model gradually transitions to hybrid working arrangements, how can you ensure employees’ safe return to the office, while ensuring those who continue to work from home stay connected and motivated? Will the Great Resignation make its impact felt in the Asia-Pacific region, and what can organisations do to better attract and retain talent, at a time when people are looking to wrestle back control of their lives? In addressing these issues and more, HR leaders will do well to recognise that placing their people first will go a long way in ensuring organisational success in 2022. The single greatest challenge for HR in 2022, suggested Amer Iqbal, APAC Head of Digital Transformation, Facebook, will be to manage the shift of power back to the people. Managed well, this can present an opportunity for organisation to create a people-centric workforce experience that reinforces organisational purpose and culture, said Jason Averbook, CEO and CoFounder of Leapgen. In other words, employees need to be heard in 2022. Gone are the days when monetary compensation is sufficient to keep employees happy. HR leaders need

to regularly communicate with employees, understand their needs and concerns, and build strategies around feedback from employees. In this issue, we are also celebrating the best and brightest HR and HR technology solution providers in Asia Pacific with the HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards 2021. This year, 20 unique winners were recognised across 16 diverse categories for their commitment and innovations, which have empowered organisations to navigate the constantly changing world for work. Check out the full list of the winners in our special Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 Commemorative Guide. While 2021 has been a challenging year for many, HR leaders can look forward with a sense of optimism that 2022 will accelerate recovery and bring about reinvention for their organisations, particularly with the right partners. Here at HRM Asia, we will strive to remain your trusted source of information and marketing-leading content for HR across Asia, and we wish you a very successful 2022 ahead. We also invite you to join us at HR Tech Festival Asia 2022, which is taking place from May 10-13. Asia’s largest and favourite award-winning HR Tech event is back with a week-long festival of HR, featuring seven colocated events, a lineup of some of the most recognised global and regional HR thought leaders, and some of the most innovative HR tech brands in the market today. HR Tech Festival Asia 2022 is not to be missed, and we look forward to seeing you in Singapore next May!

SHAWN LIEW, Senior Journalist, HRM Asia

CONTACT US: Read something you like? Or something you don’t? Perhaps there’s some insight we haven’t considered? Have your say on HRM Asia’s news, features, and contributions by emailing: info@hrmasia.com.sg

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

Shawn Liew

Senior Journalist shawn.liew@hrmasia.com.sg

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CONTENTS

NOVEMBERDECEMBER 2021

ON THE COVER

HR IN 2022: SHIFTING THE POWER BACK TO EMPLOYEES

HRM Asia Magazine spoke with thought leaders such as Amer Iqbal, APAC Head of Digital Transformation, Facebook; and Jason Averbook, CEO and Co-Founder of Leapgen, who highlighted why creating a people-centric workforce experience that reinforces organisational purpose and culture will be a key HR objective in 2022.

AWA R D S G U I D E 2021

2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS 2021 COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE

2021

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

HRM ASIA.COM

Now into its seventh edition, The HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 recognises the best and brightest HR and HR technology solution provider in Asia Pacific.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

F E AT U R E S EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE 10REDEFINING FOR A HYBRID WORKFORCE Rob Squires, VP for Sales, Asia Pacific and Japan, Ceridian, highlights how organisations can attract and retain the best talent in the wake of the Great Resignation.

RE-CALIBRATING THE NEW WORLD OF 12 WORK: HOW DATA-DRIVEN HR WILL POWER ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION Henry Liew, Principal Data Scientist, Global Innovation Hub, BIPO, explains why people analytics, combined with technology, can ensure that data-infused insights is used to implement strategies that support and empower teams.

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THE WAY FOR CHANGE 14 PAVING IN A HYBRID WORK

An engagement culture is directly tied to a company’s ability to clearly communicate and articulate their values, vision, and mission to their employees, says Charles Ferguson, General Manager, Asia Pacific, Globalization Partners.

WORK-STUDY DEGREE OFFERS A 16 SIT’S WIN-WIN PATHWAY FOR INSPIRE-TECH

The Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) Work-Study Degree (WSDeg) has allowed companies such as Inspire-Tech to gain fresh perspectives and real-life work contributions from their apprentices.

18 HR 2022: MISSION FIRST, PEOPLE ALWAYS

Jason Averbook, CEO and Co-Founder of Leapgen, explains why creating a people-centred workforce experience that reinforces organisational purpose and culture will be a key mission for HR in 2022.

IS DEI THE SILVER BULLET TO DRIVE 20 BETTER BUSINESS OUTCOMES AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?

Sophie Guerin, Head of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, APAC, Johnson & Johnson, details how DE&I can empower employees and serve as a tool to drive better business outcomes.

KEYS TO INNOVATING LIKE APPLE, 22 5CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, AND GOOGLE

Dr C J Meadows, Director, The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center at SP Jain School of Global Management, shares tips on how organisational innovation can be improved.

23 THE WHOLE NEW WORLD OF WORK

Jeanne Achille, Founder and CEO of The Devon Group, describes emerging trends that HR needs to consider when planning for a successful 2022 and beyond.

EVOLVING ROLE OF THE CHRO IN THE 24 THE FUTURE ORGANISATION HRM Asia’s recently concluded CHRO Online Series brought together some of Asia’s most prominent and experienced HR leaders to discuss the most critical initiatives and issue impacting CHROs today.

REGULARS 04 06 26

ASIA NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS TWO CENTS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

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NEWS ASIA

SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE TO PROGRESSIVELY RAISE RETIREMENT AND RE-EMPLOYMENT AGES FROM JULY 2022, the retirement age in Singapore will be raised to from 62 to 63 and the re-employment age from 67 to 68. By 2030, the retirement age is set to be raised to 65 and the re-employment age to be increased to 70. Under this framework, employers cannot terminate an employee on grounds of age before the statutory retirement age. “Workers have the assurance of continued employment up till the statutory re-employment age if they are able and wish to do so,” said Tan See Leng, Singapore’s Manpower Minister.

JAPAN

JAPANESE WORKERS HAPPY WITH JOB CHANGE A RECENTLY RELEASED SURVEY conducted by Japan’s

INDONESIA

INDONESIA PRIORITISES WORKPLACE SAFETY AND WORKER’S HEALTH BUDI GUNADI SADIKIN, Indonesia’s Health Minister, has called for more attention to be paid to the safety of workers in the workplace, particularly their health. He said, “The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of the importance of occupational health and safety to protect workers from the potential dangers of occupational diseases and other health problems, including infectious diseases or diseases that are currently endemic.”

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Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry found that 53.4% of respondents said they are satisfied with their new jobs, while 11.4% said they are not. About 10,000 people who had changed jobs from around 17,000 offices with five or more employees responded to the survey. They were people who switched jobs between October 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020. The gap between the satisfied and dissatisfied stood at 42.0 percentage points, which is slightly lower than the 43.0 percentage-point difference in the previous survey conducted in 2015.

PHILIPPINES

MSMES IN THE PHILIPPINES TOLD TO ENSURE PAYMENT OF 13TH MONTH PAY THROUGH THE SMALL BUSINESS CORPORATION, businesses in the Philippines can apply for loans to pay for their employees’ 13th month bonus, which is mandated by law to be provided. The loan programme can cover up to 40 employees per establishment and the loanable amount is at PHP12,000 (US$240) per current employee. Earlier, the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) had issued guidelines stating that the 13th month pay should be proportionate to the number of days the employees reported for work after work was suspended due to the pandemic.

TAIWAN

TAIWAN EMPLOYEES AMONG THOSE IN ASIA WHO WORK LONGEST HOURS

MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA STEPS UP PROTECTION FOR SELF-EMPLOYED AND GIG WORKERS

WORKERS IN TAIWAN WORKED more hours than those in other countries in the world last year except for three other countries. According to Huang Wei-Chen, an official with Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour’s Department of Labour Standards and Equal Employment, said Taiwan’s average number of working hours appears to be high because the hours worked by parttime workers are included in the calculation. In terms of the highest average number of hours worked in 2020, Singapore ranked number one with an average of 2,288 hours logged by its workers.

THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT will be subsidising 80% of the insurance cost under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) for gig workers and the self-employed from 2022 onwards. Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Awang Hashim, said, “The government has agreed to subsidise up to 80% of the RM238 (US$57) insurance cost for gig workers under the scheme. This means that those under the scheme will only have to pay the remainder with some only having to pay about RM20 (US$4.47).”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

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N E W S I N T E R N AT I O N A L

BELGIUM

REMOTE WORK REIMPOSED IN BELGIUM SINCE THE MIDDLE OF LAST MONTH, employees in Belgium have been mandated to work from home for four days a week. The move by the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo comes as daily COVID-19 cases soared in the country, with Belgium registering one of the highest per-capita case rates in Western Europe. The remote work mandate will run until December 12, when it may be lowered to three days a week, depending on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

GLOBAL

BUSINESS TRAVEL SPEND SET FOR RECOVERY IN 2024 GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL SPEND is expected to surge in 2022 and fully recover by the end of 2024, a survey by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has predicted. GBTA’s annual study of business travel spending and growth covering 73 countries and 44 industries, found that after a sharp 53.8% decline in spending to US$661 billion in 2020, global expenditures are expected to rebound by 14% in 2021 to US$754 billion.

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

GLOBAL

APPLE TO INTRODUCE HYBRID WORK MODEL AS PART OF A HYBRID WORK PILOT, all Apple employees will

need to begin returning to their offices starting February 1, 2022. Initially, employees will be required to work for one or two days in the office, before, beginning in March, employees will have to come to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, while being allowed to work from home on Wednesdays and Fridays. However, employees deem to hold important positions and roles may not be considered for the hybrid work pilot and will be asked to come to the office four or five days a week.

US SEES RECORD NUMBER OF RESIGNATIONS IN SEPTEMBER MORE THAN 4.4 MILLION WORKERS in the US quit

their jobs voluntarily in September, the highest recorded number in two decades, according to the US Labour Department. Of these, nearly a million workers quit their jobs in the leisure and hospitality sectors, reflecting a steep competition for workers. There were 10.4 million job openings in the United States as the end of September, with roughly 75 unemployed workers for every 100 job openings.

AMAZON PAYS FINE FOR FAILURE TO SHARE COVID-19 DATA AMAZON HAS REACHED A US$500,000 legal settlement in California, where the tech giant was alleged to have failed to adequately inform warehouse workers about COVID-19 cases in the workplace. This is the first application of California’s “right to know” rules that require employers to keep staff notified of any potential COVID-19 exposures at their work sites, to tell them about pandemic-related protections, benefits, disinfection, and safety plans, and to report cases to local health agencies. Amazon has denied any wrongdoing, saying the law did not require it to share total number of cases with employees, although it has since started to do so.

EMPLOYERS IN UK URGED NOT TO ASK ABOUT SALARY HISTORY ASKING JOBSEEKERS about their previous salaries is contributing to the gender pay gap in the UK, says the Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights. Jemima Olchawski, the Fawcett Society’s chief executive, told the BBC, “We’re calling on employers to make a simple change and stop asking potential employees about salary history. Evidence shows that this will help stamp out pay inequality, not only for women but for people of colour, and people with disabilities.”

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COVER STORY

HR PRIORITIES IN 2022

HR IN2022: SHIFTING THE POWER BACK TO EMPLOYEES B Y S H AW N L I E W

or tech aficionados, Apple’s 1984 MacIntosh commercial remains one of the most iconic ads of all time. It may also turn out to be a key reference point for HR leaders in 2022, suggested Amer Iqbal, APAC Head of Digital Transformation, Facebook. Speaking with HRM Asia Magazine, he described, “A woman runs into a crowded theatre, the sea of expressionless faces illuminated with the dim flicker of an authoritarian figure filling their minds with propaganda. The woman throws a sledgehammer, shattering the screen and setting the masses free.” “We’ve always been drawn to tales of individuals taking the power back. While the 80s’ revolution was apparently about selling beige, box-shaped computers, 40 years later we find ourselves fighting for a more noble cause: breaking down the walls between work and life and ushering in a re-emergence of self.” Describing the last 18 months as providing “false starts and failed reopenings”, Iqbal is optimistic that 2022 will shape up to be a time of rebirth and reinvention for many organisations, although it will not come without challenges. “The single greatest challenge, and equally the greatest opportunity for organisations, will be the shift of power

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back to the people,” he predicted. While reverting to what used to work before the pandemic struck may seem like an appealing and easy option, Iqbal sees going down that route as a missed opportunity for organisations to take what they have learnt from the pandemic to rethink how to improve processes and practices. “How can we put a positive lens on the doom and gloom we have heard so much about?”, he asked. With the Great Resignation for instance, people are leaving their jobs to find purpose and autonomy. Organisations need to ask themselves if they are the ones who can offer it. Where mental health is concerned, Iqbal asked, “If managers acted more like mentors, would people still feel the need to check their personality at the door?” With a significant portion of the workforce likely to work remotely as part of a hybrid setup in 2022, he also believes that more organisations will tap into the advantages of lean, just-in-time skills from

remote freelance and gig workers. “Ultimately, those organisations who can successfully serve the needs of their people and unlock the full potential of the individual will sail into 2022 riding high,” Iqbal concluded. Amid all the change that a world of work constantly in a state of motion has brought, one common thread: People, Power, Performance, has grown stronger, said Don Weinstein, Corporate Vice President of Global Product and Technology, ADP. He added, “To support and empower their people, employers are rooting their decision-making in data and leveraging those insights to better their employees’

“The single greatest challenge, and equally the greatest opportunity for organisations, will be the shift of power back to the people.” AMER IQBAL, APAC HEAD OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, FACEBOOK

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needs and what drives their productivity.” According to the ADP Research Institute’s new People at Work: A Global Workforce View study, employers are now looking for new opportunities to increase employee visibility and better understand the needs of a dispersed workforce as they explore on-site, fully remote, or hybrid workplace models. To accelerate performance, ADP recommends that employers focus on their employees’ individual strengths and provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills or embark on a new career trajectory with more opportunities for growth. The theme of placing people first was also continued by Jason Averbook, CEO and Co-Founder of CEO, who believes that HR leaders have a key mission in 2022 – creating a people-centric workforce experience that reinforces organisational purpose and culture. “A thriving workforce is a required ingredient of a thriving business,” he emphasised. “Connect your people strategies to organisational purpose.

Obsess over their experience, their care and wellbeing, their mental health and ability to thrive. Put their needs first; make them feel safe, cared for, and connected to your mission; help them find joy at work. They can and will rise to the occasion, but only if people leaders set the tone.” (Read more on page 18). With change set to be a buzzword for the workforce in 2022 as uncertainly continues to linger because of the pandemic (or endemic), HR and people leaders will also need to manage and

ensure a productive workforce, no matter where employees may be working from. While work from home (WFH) was the default for many organisations in 2021, this will gradually transition to a work from anywhere (WFA) model in 2022, suggested Dickson Tang, Keynote Speaker and Author on Creative Human Capital. “WFA will be at the top of the HR agenda in 2022,” he predicted. “It has been proven that the workforce can still deliver results while working from home during the pandemic. Since WFH is workable, it is natural that employees will be advocating for WFA.” Tang also recommended HR leaders to consider three factors when preparing for the implementation of WFA, beginning with making WFA a talent management initiative. “The war for talent is global,” he explained. “Highly skilled employees, especially the younger generation, are excited by the concept of traveling around the world, while staying employed full-time. In this case, WFA is a talent management initiative, not just a mode of working arrangement.” HR leaders then need to discuss with their management on how they may begin to implement their WFA initiatives. “Brainstorm and ask, how might you improve your HR and WFA policies, so that HR can help you unlock your team’s creativity and productivity?” Once policies for WFA have been shaped, HR leaders can then work with operational and technical teams to address infrastructure issues, Tang continued. “This includes ensuring public Wi-Fi security, setting up asynchronous and synchronous communication channels to let employees get work done easily. Embrace WFA, because that’s the way to go for 2022,” he concluded.

“It has been proven that the workforce can still deliver results while working from home during the pandemic. Since work from home is workable, it is natural that employees will be advocating for work from anywhere.” ” DICKSON TANG, KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND AUTHOR ON CREATIVE HUMAN CAPITAL

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

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F E AT U R E

CERIDIAN

Redefining employee experience for a hybrid workforce

BY SHAWN LIEW

hile many employees may have felt compelled to hold onto their jobs during the pandemic because of surging unemployment, the gradual recovery of the global economy is presenting organisations with a different challenge. Rob Squires, VP for Sales, Asia Pacific and Japan, Ceridian, told HRM Magazine Asia, “As organisations plan their return to work, they are finding that many of their employees may be tempted to look for new roles, leading to what is now called the Great Resignation.” In the APAC region, two-thirds (67%) of employees aged 18-34, and more than half (54%) off all workers, are considering or actively looking for new roles, revealed an upcoming Ceridian survey. Driving this development are two groups of employees – those who are suffering digital burnout because of prolonged work-from-home arrangements, and those who want more control of their time instead of spending it on commuting or long hours at the office. Clearly, the power dynamic has shifted towards employees, as Squires explained, “They know what they want, and they are willing to move on if these needs are not met. Organisations need to be focused on employee value to retain their top staff and attract candidates from companies who are not engaging their employees.”

Attracting and retaining best talent begins with EX Where once it may have been just a workplace perk, employee experience (EX) is now tied to the resilience and growth of business and is critical to the attraction and retention strategy of organisations. “Organisations need to invest time, energy, and budget in creating experiences that employees across roles, work modes, locations, or tenure, can engage with,” said Squires.

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“[Employees] know what they want, and they are willing to move on if these needs are not met. ”

ROB SQUIRES, VP FOR SALES, ASIA PACIFIC AND JAPAN, CERIDIAN

To manage a hybrid workforce, he recommended that organisations leverage technology to create a work environment that meets people where they are, driving greater harmonisation between work and life. For instance, companies with a global presence need to stay on top of regional compliance issues that apply to employees working out of different locations. This will help mitigate risk, especially in payroll, said Squires. “Adapting a global payroll strategy and using a single solution can minimise risk, streamline operations, manage costs, and achieve greater global visibility, while ensuring employees are paid correctly and on time.” Employees also expect pay, labour scheduling, hiring, job searching, learning, and onboarding to be available on-demand, while business leaders continue to seek ways to communicate and connect transparently with an increasingly diverse workforce. To help improve workplace communication, Ceridian recently launched Dayforce Hub, which offers a personalised interface that gives employees access to tools and resources to help them manage their work lives better and gives leaders an opportunity to communicate updates through one centralised location. Together, this delivers an experience that drives engagement and alignment with organisation culture.

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Employees seek flexible workplace policies According to the Ceridian survey, 27% of organisations in APAC are currently working in a hybrid model, while 34% are working remotely. Over the long-term, however, a more permanent move to hybrid work is expected, with 71% of organisations planning to hire remote employees. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, working arrangements have drastically changed, and will likely continue to do so. With this lingering uncertainty in place, 38% of employees ranked flexible work policies as their most valued employee perk and non-cash benefit. “Flexible work policies afford more freedom to employees, such as reduced commute times, personal times for themselves, and more options for where they can live,” Squires explained. “These things contribute to the overall satisfaction of the employee with work/life balance.” He was also quick to highlight the change in employee expectations that comes with a hybrid workforce. “Employees expect betterdesigned experiences and how these are delivered. Leaders will need to adjust their style and put a renewed focus on inclusivity, and make sure that employees who continue to work remotely stay informed and included.”

On-demand payroll gaining traction As hybrid work continues to change the way people work, Ceridian’s survey has also revealed an under-the-radar development that may soon be thrust firmly into the spotlight. While 13% of employees in APAC currently have access to their earned wages on an on-demand basis – rather than having to wait for the traditional payday - over half of workers (53%) have indicated a preference to have this option made available to them. “On-demand pay is identified as bring highly valued by employees, although few employers are currently making this available,” said Squires. In the current state, pay cycles do not always line up with expenses. This means that employees faced with a financial emergency or unexpected between pay periods experience a cash flow crunch. “The increasing preference for ondemand pay demonstrates an appetite for greater flexibility over one’s personal finances, providing an alternative to highinterest credit cards and payday lending,” Squires concluded.

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BIPO

Re-calibrating the New World of Work: How Data-Driven HR will Power Organisational Transformation

he use of big data and data analytics in today’s global business landscape is on the rise. A report by Singapore’s Economic Development Board showed that the data analytics industry is central to the country’s economy, contributing at least S$1 billion annually. At the heart of every business organisation today are its people and talents. With remote and hybrid work arrangements now the new norm, the push to convert data analytics to people analytics is escalating. Data analytics is used not only by large enterprises and MNCs in predicting global trends and consumer preferences but also by SMEs and HR teams in compensation and benefits, managing attrition and retention, pulse surveys, and employee engagement. As a global HR and payroll service provider, BIPO continues to innovate in areas like business intelligence (BI), data, and people analytics as part of its awardwinning cloud-based HR Management System (HRMS). Henry Liew, BIPO’s Principal Data Scientist, who spearheads the company’s Global Innovation Hub in Singapore, indicated that businesses today need to combine the art of HR with the science of data analytics to deliver results aligned with business operations and goals. Liew shared, “The common misconception surrounding data, analytics, and BI tools generally stem from a lack of understanding, giving users the impression that with limited features and functions, results are generally complicated and difficult to interpret. These may be true with legacy BI tools. However, a lot has since evolved. In addition to providing real-time data that enable businesses to analyse longterm trends, BI tools now offer customised reports, and are highly sought after as a business enabler to solve short-term problems.” While the concept of big data and the use of analytics is not new, there is an impetus for businesses to convert data analytics to people analytics – a trend

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“With remote and hybrid work arrangements here to stay, people analytics combined with technology ensure that data-infused insights is used to implement strategies that support and empower teams. ” HENRY LIEW, PRINCIPAL DATA SCIENTIST, GLOBAL INNOVATION HUB, BIPO

brought about by the current pandemic. Real-time information is needed to respond to the volatile business environment and implement better workforce planning and manpower strategies. Drawing on his experience working with enterprises and SMEs, Liew shared that today’s business leaders are more inclined to use people analytics to support the decision-making process, with judgment based on actionable insights to deliver results aligned with business objectives. Liew has noticed growing interest from businesses keen to analyse data such as cost of living, comparing increasingly attractive locations to place high-potential employees as part of succession planning and the anticipated uptick in the global business economy. People analytics and BI, when integrated with HRMS and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms can have a significantly positive impact on compensation and benefits, performance evaluation, attrition, retention, and employee engagement. As an example, where attrition is constantly high, data should be analysed over 12 months to determine key motivators (push/pull factors, for example) and identify other possible underlying issues such as leadership change or disengaged employees. Supporting data could indicate that a pay rise and promotions may not adequately address

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the problem. Instead, a mid to longer-term strategy could include coaching, mentoring, and succession planning to ensure sustainable teams. Liew concluded, “With remote and hybrid work arrangements here to stay, people analytics combined with technology ensure that data-infused insights is used to implement strategies that support and empower teams. Performance appraisal, salary increase, benefits tagged to SMART goals that are analysed collectively as part of the current business situation will support informed decision making and better overall management.”

About BIPO Established in 2004 and headquartered in Singapore for Asia-Pacific, BIPO is a leading one-stop, global HR service provider offering payroll and HR management solutions. They are a specialised hybrid HR solutions provider, bringing the best of both worlds – a cloud-based HR technology platform and a comprehensive suite of outsourced HR, payroll, and Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) services to manage global workforces. Trusted by over 2,800 clients, their global infrastructure in more than 100 countries and regions helps businesses expand compliantly across the globe. BIPO believes in empowering businesses through technology and innovation, to revolutionise the Future of Work.

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G L O B A L I Z AT I O N PA R T N E R S

Paving the way for change in a hybrid workplace

BY CLAIRE LEE

n many ways, the global work-fromhome (WFH) experiment has been a success. With large swathes of employees having worked remotely for almost two years, companies have thrived in pushing out solutions and managing operations without working out of an office, as they continue to adjust to a new way of working. A survey by the world’s leading Employer of Record (EOR) Globalization Partners revealed that 63% of companies will make remote work a permanent fixture following the pandemic, while some 12% said that remote work was already a permanent fixture and will stay that way. Conducted in June 2021, the survey spoke to 1,250 employees from 15 countries worldwide, who were employed in companies with over 250 people employed globally. Charles Ferguson, General Manager, Asia Pacific, Globalization Partners, told HRM Magazine Asia, “When the pandemic really gripped, I think all of the companies out there did a remarkable job of pivoting on a dime, really quickly, to enable at least a loose framework for some type of remote access for their workers.”

Fostering culture in a virtual office Working remotely however, has heralded some need changes for many companies with Culture frequently falling victim. In the same Globalization Partners survey, more employees (32%) reported feeling less connected to their colleagues than before, while only 28% felt more connected due to remote working. “With the remote work environment, it’s not really about natural culture per se, it’s more about engagement culture,” said Ferguson. “An engagement culture is directly tied to your ability as a company to clearly communicate and articulate your values, your vision, and your mission to your employees.” Simply put, overcommunication is crucial in a virtual work environment

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“An engagement culture is directly tied to your ability as a company to clearly communicate and articulate your values, your vision, and your mission to your employees.” CHARLES FERGUSON, GENERAL MANAGER, ASIA PACIFIC, GLOBALIZATION PARTNERS

to foster a desirable culture. “You have to continually find ways and means by which to engage and communicate with employees’’, Ferguson explained. “Management, however, will have to tread carefully between engaging and making sure people have what they need, versus overstepping the line and becoming a micromanager”. “An important outcome of adhering to such practices will be the nurturing of trust between employers and employees. When that happens, culture can be built upon the foundation of trust,” said Ferguson. “To that end, the need for strong communication between both companies and their workers has made the relationship between employer and employee more like a partnership, and less hierarchical.” Ferguson advised organisations to be open to tweaking their current culture to a more relevant one suited to a digital or hybrid workforce. “A good culture is a culture that embraces change and is open to evolving,” he pointed out. To foster a virtual workplace culture,

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workers will also have to be provided with the appropriate tools, such as the right WFH setup. “This environment that we’re operating in right now has a high degree of ability to democratise experiences, so long as you have access to the technology”, Ferguson said, noting that diversity and inclusion have the potential to be more prevalent in a digital work environment.

Overhauling traditional practices and mindsets Since COVID-19 hit, Ferguson has observed a change in the needs of his clients. While Globalization Partners used to help the bulk of its customers perform market expansion services — which include the likes of testing a market through a slow expansion of its local worker count — now 30% of service demand stems from onboarding talent locally. Some businesses are now no longer interested in the market itself, rather, they are looking at a global supply of talent. “They’re not interested in the market at all, they just want the talent, and they want to hire that talent, so they can snag it before we lose it,” explained Ferguson. “The traditional method of finding the talent and relocating them to the mothership no longer works due to the pandemic.” If organisations are changing their hiring strategies to adapt to the pandemic, it follows suit that some practices in a remote work environment should also be fine-tuned. “Management will need to understand that work performance should not be tied to a worker’s physical presence in the office”, said Ferguson. With hybrid work emerging as an increasingly popular option, leadership must now take their learnings and adapt. “There will be a lot of bias and assumptions from people, around workers who go to the office, and workers who do not”, he explained. “Managers, leaders, and HR professionals alike are certainly going to have to identify new ways to deal with that.”

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F E AT U R E

SIT

SIT’s Work-Study Degree offers a win-win pathway for Inspire-Tech

BY CHARLES CHAU

he Work-Study Degree (WSDeg) is part of a suite of WorkStudy Programmes offered by Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) in Singapore, including the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). Since SIT’s launch of its WSDeg pathway, it has been receiving rave reviews from participating companies. One company that has benefited from the WSDeg pathway offered by SIT is Inspire-Tech Pte Ltd, which has gained fresh perspectives and real-life work contributions from their apprentices. Ting Teck Wei, Operations Director of Inspire-Tech, said, “SIT’s WSDeg apprentices are able to adapt and react quickly to new work situations, especially in a VUCA environment. For example, apprentices were able to quickly switch from working on an internal project to manage urgent external work from clients. They were also able to research for and help implement a company-wide data-protection project, which involved many departments such as marketing, finance, HR, and IT.”

Mutual learning The WSDeg pathway also creates a mutually beneficial scenario where apprentices bring what they have learnt in school back to the company, helping the company plug the gaps with the necessary knowhow. On the other hand, the students benefit from the apprenticeship pathway by honing the relevant skill sets that will not only help them in their current jobs, but for their future as well. Moreover, when the company has a pool of apprentices who are at different development stages, the senior apprentices, especially those in their third year, can provide guidance to the junior ones. This will help the junior apprentices navigate their apprenticeship journey better. Ting added, “Through the SIT’s WSDeg pathway, junior staff have been provided with opportunities to take on mentorship roles that would have normally been undertaken by managerial staff.”

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TING TECK WEI, Operations Director of Inspire-Tech, a Singapore-based company that has benefitted from the Work-Study Degree pathway offered by the Singapore Institute of Technology.

SIT WSDeg apprentices are a cut above the rest Ting also finds SIT WSDeg apprentices to be resilient and highly adaptable. They have good time management and problemsolving skills and can handle stress well. He attributes these traits to SIT’s trimester academic model, which may be intense but manageable. “You don’t often see such grit and adaptability, especially in interns. Having such crucial transferable skills will help WSDeg graduates increase their employability,” Ting said.

WSDeg is a good pathway to build talent pipeline One of the most unique aspects of the WSDeg pathway is its practical-oriented, hands-on, and applied-learning approach. This approach enables third-year apprentices, after going through up to two four-month apprenticeship cycles, to be capable of handling work of a similar level as full-time employees of the company. Since 2017, the company has been taking in apprentices under SIT’s

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WSDeg pathway. “The WSDeg pathway is an important way for us to build the company’s talent pipeline,” said Ting, who sees the pathway as one that establishes long-term relationships with apprentices. By their second year, apprentices would have discussed the job role they would like to take up for their eight to 12-month credit-bearing work attachment with their mentors, as well as what their final-year industry-based capstone project would cover. This enables the partnering company to tap into SIT’s resources to jointly work on relevant projects, while allowing the apprentice to get a head start on gaining real-world experience, benefiting both parties. “This is a unique value proposition that other apprenticeship programmes seldom offer,” shared Ting. “At the end, even if the apprentices do not opt to work with Inspire-Tech after they graduate, we make it a point to proactively keep in touch with them. In fact, we encourage graduates to try out roles with other companies to learn other skills,” Ting said. He believes that the deep bond developed during the threeyear WSDeg apprenticeship will facilitate continued mutual learning long after the apprenticeship ends. “We will continue to invest in this relationship so that it will help to contribute to our future talent-acquisition strategy,” said Ting, who highlighted how today’s young workers are keen to try different roles and work in different environments, especially before they reach age 30. “I recommend other companies to take part in SIT’s WSDeg pathway. Take in more than one apprentice, preferably over different years so that the seniors and juniors can interact and exchange notes.” In turn, apprentices can provide updated information to their companies on changes, developments and trends on the academia front. “This mutually beneficial win-win interaction is what we appreciate most out of the WSDeg pathway,” Ting concluded.

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F E AT U R E

J A S O N AV E R B O O K

HR 2022: Mission First, People Always

he function of Human Resources has one mission in 2022; to create a peoplecentred workforce experience that reinforces organisational purpose and culture. This is how you make people thrive, be effective, happy, and committed. A thriving workforce is a required ingredient of a thriving business. Tuning into what shapes and supports the whole person is an important exercise in driving engagement and overall wellbeing. It is time to abandon the notion that work and life are separate, that we somehow act, feel, and function one way at work and operate or feel differently in our lives outside of work. The ideal employer is a proactive protector and positive supporter of the lives of its workforce; it is the employer’s responsibility to care for people. Period. Any organisation who did not believe this pre-pandemic is feeling the current talent crisis the most. People are hurting; in the midst of the pandemic, Gallup reported 7 out of 10 people globally were suffering or struggling. We made some progress in 2021, but parts of the world are still recording their highest COVID case counts yet. We have taken huge steps backwards when it comes to eradicating global poverty. Some of the world’s richest and most profitable companies are experiencing the highest levels of attrition because their people do not want to stay there. Those profits came at the expense of people. People leaders who are having a hard time getting buy-in, approval or funding on programmes, technologies, or solutions that can help people thrive in your workforce likely still have not made the case that the #1 customer of your function and your business is your people. Here in the United States, our military uses an expression: “Mission First, People Always.” It is a mindset, leadership, and training approach for combat readiness. The

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“The function of Human Resources has one mission in 2022; to create a people-centred workforce experience that reinforces organisational purpose and culture. ”

military knows a soldier will spend most of his or her career preparing for combat and very little time, if any at all, actually engaged in combat. Leadership is obsessed with maintaining the cohesion and care of its units so that people can perform optimally, both in wartime and in peacetime. The global talent crisis is not a result of the pandemic; a number of compounding factors in multiple overlapping crises simply pushed humanity to the breaking point. The global talent crisis is a human outcry. People will separate from what no longer serves them, realising life is too short to struggle unnecessarily, to live in fear, to endure toxic culture or indifferent leadership, or to forsake happiness. Organisations feeling the impact of the current talent crisis the most will rush to

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hire more people as fast as possible. This is the wrong solution. Rushing to replace unhappy people does nothing to address core problems. The solution is just what I said above: make people the #1 customer of the HR function and your business. People are the ultimate differentiator for business, so this should not be hard to do. When you use this principle as your guiding star, you will begin to identify and address foundational issues preventing you from delivering a people-first culture of connection, one where people can thrive, feel like they belong, and want to stay. Mission First, People Always. Connect your people strategies to organisational purpose. Obsess over their experience, their care and wellbeing, their mental health and ability to thrive. Put their needs first; make them feel safe, cared for, and connected to your mission; help them find joy at work. They can and will rise to the occasion, but only if people leaders set the tone.

About the Author JASON AVERBOOK is CEO and Co-Founder, Leapgen

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F E AT U R E

SOPHIE GUERIN

Is DEI the silver bullet

to drive better business outcomes and employee engagement?

iversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is not a new concept. It became a buzzword in the workplace more than 60 years ago, at a time when companies were committing to reducing barriers for women, minorities and the elderly joining the workforce. While it may sound simple to execute, for DEI to work successfully and meet everchanging employee needs, businesses need to fully embrace and integrate DEI as part of their culture. The return on investment can be realised throughout the business – from improved retention to a significantly more innovative workforce.

The roots of my DEI journey My calling has been to give people a fair shot in the workplace. This was even before I fully understood the power of DEI. Early in my career, I met a rural agricultural entrepreneur in China. She had been very successful growing and selling oranges in her local community, but was looking to expand her sales market. I soon learnt that she had a young son whom she has not seen for seven years as she felt obligated to focus on growing her family’s business. To her, knowing that her work would provide better future prospects for her son through paid education was what drove her to be successful and relentless in her work. The conversation made me realise that economic equity, particularly for minority communities, had a significant ripple effect across broader society. It reminded me that marginalised communities often have limited opportunities to tap on for better economic equity for themselves and those around them. It emphasised the immense amount of hard work, dedication, and tenacity that individuals draw upon to uplift themselves and others. It spurred me to find a way to help people gain access to greater opportunities and tackle barriers which hinder economic

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equity for minority and marginalised communities.

Keeping employees empowered through DEI at J&J At J&J, incorporating a culture of DEI starts in our Credo where we showcase our commitment to creating an environment that is inclusive. DEI at J&J means You Belong. We foster a sense of belonging to unleash brilliance in our people. We do this most effectively through our Employee Resources Groups (ERGs). As an integral part of the new-hire onboarding process, the ERGs have been a platform for open, honest discussions for the past 46 years. Through face-to-face and virtual meetings, our ERGs focus on shared identities and affinities. They serve as a network to connect minorities such as Asians, women and the disabled with other like-minded colleagues keen to support their causes. These ERGs directly support greater education and employee engagement, driving better outcomes on behalf of our people, our marketplace and our communities. Our 12 global ERGs have successfully impacted policies and benefits that our employees are passionate about. These topics range from mental health issues and parental leave policies, to enabling girls in STEM – important benefits and support that underpin our employees’ engagement and well-being. Over the last two years, we have engaged 21,000 colleagues through our ERGs and have created an inclusive environment that empowers our employees to share their unique perspectives and learn from one another.

helping employees and companies thrive – companies with diverse teams are 45% more likely to improve market share and 70% more likely to capture a new market. Incorporating DEI in the workplace can also increase productivity, creativity, and cultural awareness that in turn bring out the best in employees – increasing retention rates and enabling them to reach their full potential.

How can leaders integrate DEI seamlessly? As employee needs continue to change rapidly against the backdrop of COVID-19, it is vital that we, as leaders, embrace authenticity to ask the right questions (no matter how difficult they may be) and allow employees to bring honesty to the table, without fear of judgement. It is also essential to keep the momentum alive. Integrating a culture of DEI is an ongoing practice that needs the support of everyone in the workplace. Set benchmarks for the team and continually measure progress through surveys and informal catch ups with teams and managers alike. The fruits of DEI labour can indeed be sweet – retaining talent by ensuring employees feel heard and seen, while driving better business outcomes because of a more diverse and creative workforce.

DEI as a tool to drive better business outcomes I used to think DEI was a very niche HR conversation, but now I recognise the critical role it plays in driving sustainable economic growth for businesses. It’s not just me that sees the value DEI brings in

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About the Author SOPHIE GUERIN is Head of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, APAC, Johnson & Johnson.

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F E AT U R E

DR C J MEADOWS

5 keys to innovating like

Apple, Cirque du Soleil, and Google KEY #1: OPEN UP! Do your leaders look beyond your industry for inspiration? Do you hire people from other industries or (better yet) multiindustry people? Cirque du Soleil (CDS) revived a dying industry (circus) by taking ideas from ballet, cabaret, opera, pop-music concerts, street performance, and live theatre. By understanding deeply what customers want and receive elsewhere, CDS integrated the best bits into a USD $1.5 billion company -- the world’s largest contemporary circus, with up to USD$1 billion in annual revenues. Collecting diverse ideas and talent then became the launchpad for new ventures in TV, videos, digital media, fitness, corporate events, and gaming, with partners like Disney, Reebok, and Bell Media. Should you be looking further afield for inspiration - and talent?

KEY #2: OPEN IN! Are your leaders looking deeply at what customers really need and want -- not just what you are giving them? Are you looking deeply at what employees really need and want -- not just how well they fit into an org-chart box? Google won out over Yahoo! by introducing a search engine that more deeply finds what people are looking for -- with search modelled after academic citation rankings, not library cataloguing. Design Thinking (DT) is a successful field because designers dig deeply into what users are really trying to accomplish. Instead of tweaking today’s tool, they open up to radically different ways of achieving the same goal -- and produce winning products, services, and employee experiences thereby. In fact, one simple way to enhance customer satisfaction is to enhance employee satisfaction. They are highly correlated. Are you using DT to enhance both?

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KEY #3: COLLECT IDEAS, PEOPLE, SKILLS, EXPERIENCES, AND TECHNOLOGIES BROADLY. Have you created such a collection? Have you made it easy (and worth-their-while!) for employees to use it and contribute? Do you reach into other companies’ collections? Six months before launching the iPhone, Steve Jobs was using a prototype and realised it would get scratched by keys and coins in users’ pockets. He called Corning’s CEO, and they revived and commercialized a strong windshield glass that was researched but not released in the 1960s. Since it was already partially developed, they could speed past the usual 2-year development schedule. Gorilla Glass enabled part of iPhone’s “magic” and is now designed into more than 6 billion devices by over 45 major brands. The point is not to plan for synchronicity. The point is to prepare for it. As Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favours the prepared mind.” It also favours prepared companies.

KEY #4: SENSE THE REAL PROBLEM (NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS). Are your employees trapped and rule-bound in an office or free to explore how to serve customers better? No one does Design Thinking successfully while trapped in an office. You have to be there where people live and work, sharing their experiences, sensing problems and opportunities. When IDEO went to people’s homes to observe how they handled money, they generated an insight that enabled Bank of America (BOA) to help people save USD$3.1 billion. They noticed things people did not reveal to BOA in earlier in-office focus groups.

KEY #5: ENCOURAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES TO ASK DEEP QUESTIONS AND MAKE RADICAL, HIGH-VALUE FUSIONS, EVEN IF SOME FAIL. What do shark skins have to do with submarines and swimwear? Apparently,

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everything. Millions of dollars were spent trying to make nuclear submarine hulls smoother for energy-efficiency and speed. Then someone asked how the fastest “fish” in the ocean -- the shark -- is so fast and yet so rough. It is covered in little teeth (denticles) that catch the water and create a slipstream effect. Immediately, research turned 180 degrees towards making rougher surfaces. Speedo caught ahold of the idea and made sharkskin-like swimwear. The year they were introduced, 98% of Olympic medals were won by swimmers wearing Speedo Fastskin. The suits were immediately banned as an “unfair advantage” but are still available to consumers. Have you crafted a culture that embraces deep questioning and radical innovating? Chance really does favour the prepared mind -- and creative corporate cultures that use these keys to unlock new value with radical innovation.

About the Author DR C J MEADOWS is Director, The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center at SP Jain School of Global Management. For more behindthe-scenes stories of these and other companies, as well as loads of innovation tips and tools, read her newly released book Famous Business Fusions: Ideas that Revolutionised Industries and its introductory “living book” (multimedia material + community) Famous Fusions: Behind the Scenes Intro to Companies, Inventions, and Innovators.

F E AT U R E

JEANNE ACHILLE

The Whole New World of Work

f 2020 was the year the world stood frozen in place, 2021 was the year of great learning for HR professionals and leadership teams. The shift from working in offices to working from home and corresponding shifts in the availability of childcare and in-person schooling gave employees ample time to reflect on what was most important to them. As a result, employers are now playing catch up to ensure employee engagement and a better employee experience. This seminal time in the history of work has numerous unique outcomes. Among those trends and technologies now here to stay are profound process changes to talent acquisition, talent management and even the backbone of why we work: payroll. Here are some of the emerging trends that HR needs to consider when planning for a successful 2022 and beyond:

Digital readiness reduces business disruptions: While unbeknownst to them at the time, those organisations that had achieved a degree of digital readiness were better prepared for the impact of the global pandemic. Apart from jobs that cannot be executed remotely because of physical proximity requirements – such as healthcare, retail, or restaurants – many businesses experienced less significant interruptions having already invested in collaboration and conferencing tools. Additionally, companies could provide access to critical applications, databases and conversational chatbots via a single knowledge source have been able to support employees no matter where or what hours they worked. Employees have come to expect this consumergrade experience at work and expect it to continue and grow.

The demographics dilemma: Timing is everything and exacerbating the impact

of COVID-19 is a growing labour shortage. According to research by Emsi, there was an exodus of three million baby boomers in 2020. In September 2020 alone, 865,000 women dropped out of the U.S. workforce – four times the number of men did. Recordlow participation in the workforce is so dramatic that it has been coined the “Great Resignation.” The U.S. has experienced the lowest birth rate in its history. Other countries including Sweden, Hungary, Japan, and South Korea have declining birth rates. All these stark numbers are making it harder to attract, recruit and hire qualified talent. In an effort to speed timeto-hire some organisations are replacing the CV with assessment testing to predict potential instead of relying on professional credentials. Others have relaxed background checking requirements.

The on-demand economy: Perhaps the epitome of epoch-making change has been the rapid evolution of earned wage access. HR professionals – and their counterparts in finance – will find 2022 to be the year of “EWA” (Earned Wage Access) whereby employees can have timely access to wages for the work they have done instead of waiting for a set pay date. By alleviating the

uncertainties created by financial stress, employers can help retain valuable talent, reduce absenteeism, and even decrease workplace accidents. Employees can address day-to-day financial obligations without waiting for a monthly pay date; plus, pay can be issued directly on cards versus traditional pay slips. 2022 will be a year of rebuilding, revising, and reimaging. Few organisations were prescient enough to prepare for what transpired in the last two years; however, smart employers are rapidly embracing the technologies and process changes that will enable them to thrive through what lies ahead. Building organisational resilience – especially in a newly hybrid work environment – necessitates evolving policies and adapting processes. One thing is for certain: the employee experience is at the center of these decisions since what has not changed is the importance of qualified talent.

About the Author Founder and CEO of The Devon Group, Jeanne Achille has helped launch thousands of HR tech products and companies including sourcing, recruiting, onboarding, HRMS/payroll, relocation, talent management, succession planning and coaching solutions. Chair of the Virtual HR Tech Conference, she also chairs Women in HR Tech Summit in the U.S. and Singapore. Follow her on Twitter and connect on LinkedIn.

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F E AT U R E

CHRO ROUNDUP

The evolving role of the CHRO in the future organisation

s CHROs continue to develop business and people strategies that will allow them to achieve organisational success in 2022 and beyond, HRM Asia’s recently concluded CHRO Online Series brought together some of Asia’s most prominent and experienced HR leaders to discuss the most critical initiatives and issues impacting CHROs today. The role of HR is becoming more important because CHROs need to deal not just with technology, but also with human emotion, or the human side of things that might not have been that much of a focus in the past, said Sandra Kokasih, Human Capital Managing Director, Sinar Mas Land. Speaking at CHRO Indonesia, she highlighted three pressing tasks for HR leaders in a climate of change: rethinking whether an organisation is filled with workers with the right skills; restrategising human capital by identifying where to source and hire such employees; and reconstructing mindsets that will pave change in the way people do things. It is also crucial to adopt a mindset of smart risk-taking, said Pambudi Sunarsihanto, HR Director, Bluebird Group Indonesia. Sometimes, this means stepping away from measures like key performance indicators to key development indicators, which he describes as what an employee will develop for a company in the future, be it “the development of the product, people, culture, or leadership”. As economies reopen, HR and business leaders are also prioritising the safety of their employees as they return to traditional workplaces. One challenge that needs to be addressed, said Teguh Purwanto, President Director, PT Alere Health (Abbott), is to provide a safer environment so every employee can go back to the office with peace of mind. Another issue that companies will

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have to grapple with is the presence of hybrid work, a likely practice in the future workforce, suggested Guo Yujing, APAC Client Partner Lead, Facebook. She shared Facebook’s efforts to differentiate remote work from work-from-home, including tweaking employees’ insurance coverage plan as they move to work in another country with a higher cost of living. As technology disruption accelerates, employees will require new skills, and there will be a lot of focus on digital to keep up with the place of all the changes and opportunities that many companies are going to try and take advantage of, said John Antos, Vice President Strategy, Global Payroll & Asia Pacific, ADP. To that end, he pointed out three emerging roles in HR: technical roles that transform and digitise HR processes, specialist roles filled by power users who drive forward, design, and onboard operations; and cross-functional roles for leaders who are going to glean insights from the data and analytics that come from the technology and drive transformation of an organisation. As businesses go digital, it is crucial to take a “whole-person approach” when

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designing solutions for the workforce, said Jason Averbook, Co-Founder and CEO, Leapgen. Utilising a design-thinking concept, HR leaders should know who their audience are and design solutions with empathy, he added. Averbook also spoke at CHRO Malaysia, where he described how the pandemic has forever changed the “now of work, and how CHROs are in a unique position to reshape what the HR function looks like. To do that, CHROs must first understand that successful digital transformation in HR starts with the “mindset and vision”, followed by the “persons/audience” involved and their “journeys” before finally deciding on a “technology solution” In Malaysia, 33% of companies are looking to increase their headcount, while 66% of professionals are expected to seek new employment next year, meaning CHROs will need to focus more on talent retention than talent acquisition, said ADP’s Antos. Drawing on findings by the ADP Research Institute, he also highlighted how the need for digitalisation has permeated entire organisations with the focus

F E AT U R E being shifted from digital productivity and remote working skills to technical skills like data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital marketing, and software development. Today’s CHROs are faced with the unprecedented challenge of managing four generations of workers – each with their expectations of what work should look like, observed Chella Pitchai, AVP & Head, Talent, Learning and Organisational Transformation, Biocon Biologics. Koljit Singh, Senior Manager (HRM Excellence & IR) of BASF Petronas Chemicals, added that cultivating a sense of belonging, providing opportunities for internal mobility and flexibility at work would be good ways to deal with that challenge, especially when it involves Gen Z workers. As leaders, CHROs need to shift from a positional authority to one of moral authority, said Fong Tuan Chen, Chief People Officer, Berjaya Corporate Berhad. What this means is that CHROs must champion the concept of the often-used phrase “people first”, and not just pay lip service to it, he explained.

Agreeing, Nadiah Tan Abdullah, CHRO, SP Setia, added that leaders need to practise self-discipline and, be resilient and empathetic when managing staff remotely during the pandemic. She added that the CHROs of the future need to have a “renaissance” mindset – being a versatile person with a broad range of skill sets to deal with employee experience, emotional and mental-well-being issues. Vaccination remains the most effective way to control the spread of COVID-19, with workplace adjustments being the second-most effective measure, said Dr Mohan Ravuru, Director, Medical and Scientific Affairs, APAC, Abbott. He proposed a “Swiss cheese model” of defence against COVID-19, where multiple layers of protection, including testing and vaccination, act in unison to block the spread of the virus. Rounding off a successful CHRO Online Series 2021 was CHRO Singapore, where Peter Hadley, President, ADP Asia-Pacific, discussed how sentiment towards work and the expectations of the workforce and workplace continue to evolve. He also shared his views on Asia’s

CHRO ROUNDUP

business outlook and what to expect through endemic conditions in 2022. Participants also heard from Pip Lyons, Senior People Scientist, Culture Amp, who provided key insights into how organisations can retain their best talent during the ‘Great Resignation’. To reduce attrition and retain talent, she asked organisations to consider a few issues, including if they have the data and insights to make critical decisions about the new world of work. APAC organisations are making progress in almost all areas focused on People Strategy. However, there is room for growth when looking at wellbeing practices, said Billy Elliott, Regional Director APAC, Top Employers Institute, and Ammara Naeem, Head of Client Success, Top Employers Institute. HR leaders in APAC have a unique opportunity to achieve rapid and positive change in this area, they highlighted, before going on to provide examples of how leading organisations worldwide are becoming bolder in their experiments to drive and support a more holistic approach to wellbeing.

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TWO CENTS

Retaining talent begins with understanding what employees really want As unemployment surged during the pandemic, many employees who were looking to leave their jobs put those plans on hold, mindful of the challenge of finding new employment in a world besieged by uncertainty. With the global economy continuing to embark on a gradual, if sometimes stuttering road to recovery, these same employees are now reconsidering leaving their current employers, and they are joined by a group of their peers who might not have previously contemplated leaving their current job roles. In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, an upcoming survey by Ceridian showed that 67% of employees aged 18-34, and 54% of all workers, are considering or actively looking for new roles. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, meanwhile, indicated that 49% of Singapore’s workforce considered leaving their employers this year. What then, are the motivating factors behind this potentially disruptive wave of the ‘Great Resignation?’ With many organisations implementing remote work during the pandemic, this working arrangement has not come without its pitfalls, including burnout. For some employees, working from home has equated to longer working hours, a seemingly endless number of virtual meetings, and the need to take up more duties because of layoffs within the organisation. Contrarily, there is a group of employees who have thrived in a remote work setting, and are highly resistant to return to the office, even as more organisations are planning for their employees’ return to the traditional workplace, with or without their consensus. If compelled to give up remote work completely, these employees, it would appear, will rather choose to leave the organisation. Traditionally, one of the most effective ways to retain employees is through compensation and benefits, or paying a salary package that is fair and commensurate with each employee’s contribution to the organisation. The pandemic, however, has realigned people’s priorities and made them reconsider what really matters in their lives. While compensation and benefits are still important in both attracting and retaining talent (pandemic or not, people still need to put food on the table, and to be compensated fairly for their work), it is no longer the overriding factor that will determine if employees stay with their employers. With 2022 likely to usher in the rise of the hybrid workforce, organisations need to exercise flexibility in letting employees

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021

BY SHAWN LIEW

have a say in whether they return to the office or continue to work remotely, and to ensure employees are treated fairly, regardless of their choice. As the expectations, needs, and preferences of an increasingly diverse workforce continue to change constantly, the onus is on organisations to create new employee experiences that will allow HR and business leaders to really understand what employees want or are feeling. Instead of ineffectual annual surveys, continuous learning and listening should be implemented, and action taken on feedback from employees. HR and business leaders should constantly recognise employees’ contributions through regular and constructive feedback, and play a role in developing employees, both on a professional and personal level. As employees continue to be impacted by the pandemic in one way or another, mental and emotional wellbeing will also be a priority in 2022. Organisations can consider implementing a culture of rest that draws a clear line of distinction between work and leisure time. Are your employees feeling exhausted and fatigued because they have too much to do, have few resources to do so, and have little control over their environment? Have layoffs that were made during the pandemic been adequately replaced, or are employees continuing to take on multiple roles, without receiving the recognition and support they deserve? Having said that, it would be too simplistic to suggest that the problem of a rising number of employees who are resigning from their positions, can be solved by hiring a replacement. After all, does the ‘Great Resignation’ not suggest many available candidates to choose from? Finding a new candidate to replace a departing employee, without addressing the fundamental reasons causing the resignation to happen in the first place, is counterproductive to long-term organisational success, and will only serve to create a vicious cycle. Instead, organisations need to focus on their existing people and talent, and in the process, potentially transform the ‘Great Resignation’ to the ‘Great Attraction’. By rethinking and improving employee experience, company culture, employee engagement, and employee value, organisations can not only retain their best employees, but also attract external talent looking for new challenges and motivations in their careers.

2021

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COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

MIS offers a range of courses in 9 main disciplines: Marketing, Sales, Business Management, Communications, Personal Effectiveness, Human Capital Management, Event Management, Leadership and Service Excellence

2021

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Save Up to 87.5% on Your Global Expansion

THANK YOU FOR VOTING FOR US! We are honoured to be recognised as the leaders in HR. Thank you for choosing us. Elements Global Services is a global tech firm, focused on software that is built to go beyond country borders and simplify a company’s ability to Expand their Business, Onboard Employees, Manage Compliance and Pay Globally. We offer 100% direct Employer of Record services in over 160 countries, powered by proprietary HR technology that simplifies everything from payroll, benefits and human capital management to HR outsourcing, local compliance and visa & mobility. Let us walk with you to help you exceed expectations and achieve long-term success.

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

RECOGNISING THE REGION’S BEST HR SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2021

2021

Now into its seventh edition, the HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards continues to be recognised as the leading platform to honour the best and brightest HR and HR technology solution providers in Asia Pacific. This year, 20 worthy and unique winners were recognised across 16 diverse categories for their commitment and innovations, which have empowered organisations to navigate the constantly changing world of work. The winners for each category were decided by HRM Asia readers (70% weightage) via online voting and a panel of independent expert judges (30%). Votes were cast over a two-week period and they were supplemented by the expert assessments from the judges who studied the contenders’

case studies, research, and their own experiences. As organisations continue to look for the best partners to help them successfully navigate the challenges and embrace the opportunities presented as the way we work continue to evolve, the companies receiving their recognition at the HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 are indeed worthy winners. HRM Asia congratulates all the winners in their unwavering commitment in providing world-class solutions to help the HR industry in the region transition to a successful future.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Honour roll and index Winners

Pages

Award

Elements Global Services

Best HR Tech – Outsourcing Solution (Gold Winner)

Elabram HR Solutions

Best HR Tech – Outsourcing Solution (Silver Winner)

BIPO Service

36-37

Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System (Gold Winner)

Elements Global Services

36-37

Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System (Silver Winner)

QuickHR

36-37

Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System (Bronze Winner)

Ceridian

40-41

Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution (Gold Winner)

Elements Global Services

40-41

Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution (Silver Winner)

BIPO Service

40-41

Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution (Bronze Winner)

BIPO Service

42-43

Best HR Tech - Time & Attendance Management System (Gold Winner)

QuickHR

42-43

Best HR Tech - Time & Attendance Management System (Silver Winner)

Elabram HR Solutions

42-43

Best HR Tech - Time & Attendance Management System (Bronze Winner)

Ceridian

44-45

Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution (Gold Winner)

Elements Global Services

44-45

Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution (Silver Winner)

QuickHR

44-45

Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution (Silver Winner)

imc information multimedia communication

Best HR Tech – Learning Management System (Gold Winner)

GRC Solutions

Best HR Tech – Learning Management System (Silver Winner)

Elements Global Services

Best HR Tech – HR Data & Analytics Solution (Gold Winner)

NTUC LearningHub

52-53

Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider (Gold Winner)

SP PACE Academy

52-53

Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider (Gold Winner)

Organisational Development Concepts

52-53

Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider (Silver Winner)

ODE Consulting

52-53

Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider (Bronze Winner)

Marketing Institute of Singapore

56-57

Best Corporate – Training Provider (Gold Winner)

NTUC LearningHub

56-57

Best Corporate – Training Provider (Silver Winner)

Organisational Development Concepts

56-57

Best Corporate – Training Provider (Bronze Winner)

Marketing Institute of Singapore Academy

59-59

Best Corporate – Leadership Development Provider (Gold Winner)

ODE Consulting

59-59

Best Corporate – Leadership Development Provider (Silver Winner)

Organisational Development Concepts

59-59

Best Corporate – Leadership Development Provider (Bronze Winner)

Globalization Partners

62-63

Best Employer of Record (EOR) Service Provider (Gold Winner)

CXC

62-63

Best Employer of Record (EOR) Service Provider (Silver Winner)

Resource Solutions

Best Recruitment - Outsourcing Solution (Gold Winner)

Elabram HR Solutions

Best Recruitment - Outsourcing Solution (Silver Winner)

Elabram HR Solutions

Best Recruitment - Engineering/IT Positions (Gold Winner)

Oasia Residence - Far East Hospitality

68-69

Best Serviced Apartment - By Property (Gold Winner)

Regency House - Far East Hospitality

68-69

Best Serviced Apartment - By Property (Silver Winner)

ST Residences Novena - ST Hospitality

68-69

Best Serviced Apartment - By Property (Bronze Winner)

Elements Global Services

Best Mobility & Relocation Solution (Gold Winner)

Resource Solutions

Best Recruitment Firm - Client Experience (Gold Winner)

Elabram HR Solutions

Best Recruitment Firm - Client Experience (Silver Winner)

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2021

Leading the way in inclusive hiring Part of the Robert Walters Group, Resource Solutions is a leading provider of Workforce and Advisory Solutions with 25 years’ experience helping organisations secure talent to refine, realign and redefine their workforce of tomorrow.

Diverse Hiring Advisory In early 2020, we began curating a highly detailed auditing framework and research-based methodology, blending academic research and best-in-class studies from over 100 sources, enabling us to offer our clients one of the most advanced Diversity audits available. Delivered by Diverse Hiring Practitioners, our Inclusivity Audit provides organisations with an end-to-end deepdata dive audit, analysing 157 datapoints, across 12 stage of the recruitment process, through seven candidate impact lenses. The audit provides organisations with over 44 actionable recommendations for meaningful change. Recommendations are aligned to both strands of diversity and each stage of the recruitment process, providing organisations with a powerful and immediate ‘to do’ list to re-engineer their recruitment process to activate bestpractice inclusive hiring.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – Outsourcing Solution

he world is facing a pivotal moment where globalisation and talent access is the driving force to business success, and HR technology is the solution for greater productivity, innovation, and agility, said Rick Hammell, CEO of Elements Global Services. He added, “We are cementing a strong position to help shape strategies and HR efficiencies while supporting organisations’ global aspirations. A modern workforce requires a workforce management solution that can support diverse operations, like remote employees or global teams, with ease. Therefore, we built our Administrative Services Outsourcing solution on an outcome-based model to be cost-effective, without compromising the quality of our clients’ payroll delivery and HR services.” Commenting on Elements Global Services winning the gold award for Best HR Tech – Outsourcing Solution, Hammell highlighted how businesses today need locally and globally optimised HR functions, which guarantee both compliance and accuracy while supporting key business strategies. Many organisations, he said, are turning to business process outsourcing companies with deep experience, and who can facilitate some or all local legal and HR requirements. For instance, Elements Business Process Outsourcing solution navigates local laws and regulations to ensure operational compliance for all HR processes to position businesses everywhere for success. The company’s outsourcing solutions also combine insights and expertise with Elements global network and proprietary HR tech in over 160 countries worldwide. This allows Elements to become their clients’ one direct partner and allows clients to free up their capacity from these complex tasks to do what they do best — focus on their business goals and growth. Hammell concluded, “We are honoured to be recognised as the Gold standard of Best HR Tech - Outsourcing Solution by our clients and panel of judges, as well as readers of HRM Asia. We would like to express our heartfelt thank you to everyone for their vote of confidence. This is a testament of our services and solutions, and we are grateful for the recognition. As the leaders of the industry, we will continue to create the best client experience with our service excellence and innovative solutions. Awarded the Silver Award in the category is Elabram, which boosts over 20 years of experience and dedication in the HR solutions market. Accepting the award, Mikel Yaw, Managing Director of Elabram Group, described the company as one of the fastest growing HR solutions and services provider in South-East Asia. Elabram, he added, will continue to focus on people, processes, and technology, while adopting a global and local mindset to help businesses fulfil their HR needs. Yaw said, “On behalf of the Elabram Team, I would like to express my gratitude to the HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards and voters, as well as to my clients, colleagues, and everyone who has supported us from day one.” Highlighting Elabram’s continued commitment to providing end-

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Elements Global Services is a global tech firm, focused on software that is built to go beyond country borders and simplify a company’s ability to expand their business, onboard employees, manage compliance and pay globally. Headquartered in Chicago, Elements offers customers 100% direct Employer of Record services in over 160 countries, powered by proprietary HR technology that simplifies everything from payroll, benefits and human capital management to HR outsourcing, local compliance, as well as visa and mobility.

SILVER WINNER

Elabram Group was incorporated in 1999 and aims to become the best HR Solutions Provider in Asia Pacific by providing innovative HR solutions and workforce management systems. Elabram builds networks of clients from prominent technology companies and experts from diverse professional backgrounds.

to-end HR outsourcing services, he continued, “We assist clients in finding the right talents, recruiting, and managing the employees for them. We also ensure that the procedure is carried out properly with local policies and company needs. This approach has worked well for our clients, and has allowed them to focus on their core business, as well as their business strategy.”

2021

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System

ith organisations having to manage more data and information as the digital transformation continues to gain pace, a reliable and efficient HR Information System is required to allow HR to better manage and engage employees. The HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 looks to recognise the best HR Information System providers who have proved themselves worthy of the accolade through their cutting-edge solutions. Receiving the Gold Award for the Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System category this year is BIPO, a leading one-stop, global HR service provider offering payroll and HR management solutions. Karen Lee, BIPO’s Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Oceania, shared, “Winning the gold award for Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System, has been especially meaningful. Our teams have worked incredibly hard, working behind the scenes to amplify our product innovation efforts, and create positive employee experiences for our clients and their teams”. Consistently recognised for its innovative, cloud-native HR and payroll solutions, BIPO’s track record spans over 17 years with 23 offices worldwide. The company has worked with enterprises, SMEs, and start-ups across the region to facilitate HR digital adoption in the workplace. BIPO has also continued to scale up its research and development efforts, working closely with, and engaging the HR and business communities to deliver multi-country HR and payroll solutions that support remote and hybrid work arrangements. The BIPO HRMS system, for instance, can be flexibly integrated with various attendance machines to extract attendance data. All the necessary information can then be processed to calculate payroll. Employees can view electronic payslips while dynamic reports in Excel and PDF formats can be generated for strategic analysis. BIPIO is also strongly competent in handling tax declaration and salary payout with the help of the system to provide one-stop payroll services to clients. The company’s philosophy, Lee explained, is to empower businesses through its agile technology platform and innovative solutions. “We aim to help companies achieve their business objectives by offering a streamlined HR and payroll user experience that improves efficiencies and productivity.” She also advised businesses to put in place a “digital-first, cloudnative strategy” to meet the changing needs and demands of today’s economic landscape. “Ensuring business sustainability starts with building a resilient workforce, and empowering teams with the right technology and tools to support their growth,” Lee concluded. Receiving the Silver Award in the category is Elements Global Services, who are offering solutions that offer intelligent and capable support to HR departments and professionals, providing the tools and resources they need to minimise admin and translate traditional complexities with seamless processes. Arun Dhaka, Vice President of Business Development, APAC, Elements Global Services, said, “As many as 25% of companies struggle

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Established in 2004 and headquartered in Singapore for AsiaPacific, BIPO is a leading one-stop, global HR service provider offering payroll and HR management solutions. BIPO is a specialised hybrid HR solutions provider, bringing the best of both worlds – a cloud-based HR technology platform and a comprehensive suite of outsourced HR, payroll, and Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) services to manage clients’ global workforce. Trusted by over 2,800 clients, BIPO’s global infrastructure in more than 100 countries and regions helps businesses expand compliantly across the globe. At BIPO, their passion for technology and innovation empowers businesses to revolutionise the Future of Work, ensuring increased efficiency and convenience.

SILVER WINNER

2021

BRONZE WINNER

In early 2013, Enable Business took on the revolutionary idea of replacing traditional server-based Human Resource Management (HRM) Software with HRM in the cloud. QuickHR was developed to make this idea a reality. Dealing with HR issues can be a struggle. Since their inception, QuickHR has been committing their time, equity, and solutions to help their clients navigate the ever-evolving technological landscape by covering all aspects of human asset management, workforce management, and human capital development. As a testament to their effectiveness, QuickHR’s end-to-end solutions have already empowered over 2,387 companies and 95,480 users worldwide.

with payroll processing, a further 21% find local payroll requirements challenging and more than one in every five companies regularly face compliance and data issues. “This is why we built a cloud-based Human Resource Information System that allows our clients to pay employees worldwide by eliminating manual processes from global payroll. Our integrated platform supports our clients through employee onboarding, benefit management and payroll by streamlining reporting through a simple and effective dashboard.” Employees can also do expense reporting with ease and manage their benefit choices, ranging from medical, dental, vision, life, to short- and long-term disability benefits for themselves, dependents, and beneficiaries. Dhaka added, “We are honoured to be awarded silver in recognition of our payroll solution. We would like to thank our clients, the judges, and readers of HRM Asia for their recognition. We are committed to helping businesses expand their footprints globally with our innovation digital solutions.” The Bronze Award for Best HR Tech – Human Resource Information System was won by QuickHR, which provides HRM solutions in the cloud.

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

100% Direct EOR to Simplify Global Expansion in Over 160 Countries One provider, One solution. Avoid complicated contracts with additional third-party providers

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Connect with us

inquiries@elementsgs.com elements-peo

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

ElementsGS

2021

Direct The direct EOR model eliminates outsourcing, because Elements owns and

Direct EOR

manages local entities worldwide to provide your global employees with one HR partner.

Indirect The indirect EOR model includes multiple third-parties in your target country to provide local entities and payroll service.

Thank you for voting for us! We are honoured to be recognised as the leaders in HR. Thank you for your vote of confidence and having us on your global expansion journey. We will continue to create the best client experience with our service excellence and innovative solutions. Let us walk with you to help you exceed expectations and achieve long-term success.

Singapore ∙ Hong Kong ∙ Manila ∙ New Delhi ∙ Seoul ∙ Shanghai ∙ Sydney ∙ Tokyo Chicago ∙ Washington DC ∙ San Francisco ∙ Sao Paulo ∙ San José Barcelona ∙ London ∙ Riyadh ∙ Dubai ∙ Johannesburg READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution

egardless of where or how they are working, employees still need to be paid, and organisations must comply with increasingly complex regulations as they manage a remote and global workforce. Ceridian, after completing the acquisition of Ascender and Excelity, has been able to expand their reach and provide complete payroll and human capital management solutions to organisations across a complex and diverse region. “As one team, we now serve 1,500 customers and 2.5 million employees across 30 countries in APJ region,” revealed Rob Squires, VP and Head of Sales, Asia and Japan, Ceridian, as he received the Gold Award for Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution. “At a time where question marks hang over the future of work, we remain unwavering in our commitment to deliver solutions and services that drive quantifiable value and create meaningful experiences for our customers and their people.” At a time where the way we work, where we work, and when we work have changed, Squires believes that having a human capital management (HCM) strategy is tablestakes to thrive and survive. He elaborated, “With the workforce becoming more borderless and skills-oriented with decisions backed by data intelligence, organisations must focus on creating an employee experience that drives value and empowers their people to take control – both in work and life.” With the brand promise of “Makes Work Life Better”, Ceridian offers Dayforce, the award-winning cloud HCM platform that provides payroll, human resources, benefits, workforce management, and talent management functionality in a single solution to help organisations simplify complex HR processes and operations. Whether remote or hybrid, full-time, part-time, or gig workers, Ceridian’s intelligent approach to HCM equips customers to lean into change and create value in a fluid, always-on workplace, said Squires. He continued, “I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the voters and the judging panel at HRM Asia for awarding Ceridian as the Gold Winner for Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution at this year’s HRM Reader’s Choice Awards. We are honoured to receive this recognition for the third consecutive year in the payroll space. Not to mention for the first time as one Ceridian, Ascender, and Excelity team.” “On behalf of our entire team at Ceridian, I want to thank everyone again for this award. We look forward to continuing to help our customers in the Asia Pacific and Japan region reach their full potential in work and in life, today and in the years to come.” There are numerous challenges that organisations face when undertaking international expansion, including payroll and regulation. This is further amplified by globalisation and the rise of remote work, which increased the need for centralised global payroll solutions, said Rick Hammell, CEO, Elements Global Services. Speaking as Elements Global Services received the silver award for Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution, Hammell added, “Payroll and expense management are essential boxes that every business must tick. Employees want their salaries paid on time, expense allowances and expenditures correctly allocated, and any errors rapidly resolved. Even so, 25% of companies struggle with standardised payroll processing,

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Ceridian. Intelligence at work. Ceridian is a global human capital management software company. Dayforce, their flagship cloud HCM platform, provides human resources, payroll, benefits, workforce management, and talent management functionality to more than 5,000 customers across the globe. Today, Ceridian is the most comprehensive HCM and payroll solution in Asia Pacific Japan, bolstered by the recent acquisitions of Australia-based Ascender and RITEQ, and Singapore-based Excelity. Their platform is used to optimise management of the entire employee lifecycle, including attracting, engaging, paying, deploying, and developing people. Ceridian has solutions for organisations of all sizes. Visit Ceridian.com or follow them @ Ceridian.

SILVER WINNER

2021

BRONZE WINNER

according to an EY Global Payroll Survey.” Elements cloud-based Human Resource Information System (HRIS) addresses that challenge with a one-click payroll approval system. It allows for immediate and accurate processing of global payroll, as well as instant amends to individual payroll and payments using a single, unified portal. Hammell continued, “Our clients want simplicity, a low barrier to entry, transparency, absolute compliance, rigorous governance, streamlined processes, instant access, intelligent functionality, and ongoing support. These essential qualities define how we developed and continuously improved our platform and our commitment to ensuring that the platform consistently delivers what our clients require. “We would like to dedicate this award to all our staff who worked tirelessly behind the scenes of our innovative platform, delivering service excellence and the best customer experience to our clients worldwide. “ The Bronze Award for Best HR Tech – Payroll Solution was presented to BIPO.

At ODC, we empower the beating heart of any organisation - its people. Since 2010, ODC has established itself as a premiere training and leadership hub for learners who want to remain ultra-competitive skills-wise, while also being equipped with industry-leading maturity to handle the next great challenges of our generation. With a regional footprint of learnership in 14 different Asia-Pacific countries, we offer a comprehensive suite of courses and facilities that can help organisations bring the best out of their talent.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – Time & Attendance Management System

IPO has won the Gold Award for Best HR Tech – Time & Attendance Management System, a fitting tribute to their continued efforts to help organisations rethink their management of time and attendance in a new world of work. Consistently at the forefront as an industry leader in the HR tech space, BIPO is recognised for its innovative, cloud-native HR and Payroll solutions. With a track record spanning over 17 years across 23 global offices, the company has worked with enterprises, SMEs, and start-ups to facilitate HR digital adoption in the workplace. With the changing global economic landscape, BIPO has continued to scale up its research and development efforts, working closely with the HR and business communities across the region to deliver multicountry HR and payroll offerings that support remote and hybrid work arrangements. Albert Liew, BIPO’s Managing Director, Singapore, and Indochina shared that the introduction of the BIPO Safe Entry solution, which integrates with BIPO’s HR Management System (HRMS), payroll and time and attendance modules, is a “game-changer”, especially for the food & beverage and service industries, where frequently changing shift patterns are a challenge. As part of BIPO’s Attendance Automation Service under its award-winning HRMS, BIPO Safe Entry is a contactless clock-in and door access control system that incorporates facial recognition and contactless temperature scan. BIPO Safe Entry integrates with BIPO’s cloud and mobile-based HRMS platform, offering businesses a convenient, one-stop solution that simplifies manual HR processes. From personnel, payroll, time attendance, leave management to claims, each application is easily customised to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of Industry 4.0. On BIPO’s Gold Award for Best HR Tech – Time & Attendance Management, he shared, “This award is particularly significant as it addresses the needs of the business community and solves a critical pain point that many organisations face.” “At BIPO, we hope to empower businesses through our agile technology platform and innovative solutions. Our goal is to help businesses achieve their objectives by increasing efficiency through a streamlined user experience.” Liew concluded by sharing that as businesses embrace the new normal in the post-pandemic world, putting in place a “digital-first, cloud-native” strategy supports business transformation, ensuring sustainability and a resilient, future-proof workforce. While the pandemic has brought about disruption, uncertainty, and volatility, technology has played a pivotal role to address the challenges that shape the new normal as businesses forge ahead in the post COVID-19 era, said Suki Bajaj, Managing Director of QuickHR, the recipient of the Silver Award for Best HR Tech - Time & Attendance Management System. He continued, “Through years of research and testing, QuickHR is proud to have developed a unique Time and Attendance Management

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

BRONZE WINNER

Solution that allows 100% remote management of employees. With geo-location technology, facial recognition, integration with biometrics and timesheet features that track overtime, punctuality and absence rate, workforce management is made easy. These

2021

SILVER WINNER

timesheet features can be further integrated with our payroll module, which users can leverage on to automate their HR processes.” Dedicating the award to his team and clients whose feedback has helped QuickHR make targeted improvements to their products, Suki said, “It’s a matter of great pride to see our company growing and achieving more than what we have ever thought of. Thank you to the QuickHR team who have worked against all the odds to make what seemed impossible, possible and raise QuickHR to be a shining example amongst the leading Time & Attendance Management Systems providers in Singapore.” Winning the Bronze Award for Best HR Tech - Time & Attendance Management System, is Elabram, a provider of HR solutions and workforce management systems.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution

n an increasingly digital world, cloud-based solutions are helping organisations automate many HR processes, freeing up time to concentrate on implementing business strategies and engaging with employees. The Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution category looks to recognise cloud-based solutions providers who have come up with cutting-edge innovations to change and drive the industry forward. Picking up the coveted Gold Award is Times Software, which offers a range of integrated products, including Times Pay/HR software and Web-based solutions that streamline payroll and HR processes to provide a more cost-effective and total solution. Times Software is also a pre-approved Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) vendor in Singapore. Charles Liaw, Managing Director, Times Software, said, “In today’s fast moving technological landscape, HR departments are required to react quickly to implement new technologies to maximise productivity and efficiency when it comes to Human Resource management. Our product solutions help HR achieves this.” Specifically, TIMES Software provides functionality through a full suite of payroll and HR solutions, which enables companies to automate labour-intensive processes. These include TIMES Payroll Software with ePayslip & eIRAS, TIMES Employee, TIMES Appraisal, TIMES Leave, TIMES Timesheet, and TIMES Claims. In terms of software features, Times Software offers the following: • Personnel Management: Store and maintain personal, employment, salary, deductions, earnings, and other historical information. • Payroll Management: Generate up-to-date CPF, IR8A and IR8S, IR21, Appendix 8A/8B information in standard form layout, e-filing of CPF return, Income Tax for IR8A/IR8S, Appendix 8A, Bank & NSP submission. • Leave Management: Web-based leave management system that automates every step of the employee leave management process, including flexible leave policy configuration and leave report. • Benefits and Claims Management: Web-based benefits and claims management system that automates every step of the employee benefits and claims management process, including flexible reimbursement policy configuration and report. • Performance Appraisal Management: A built-in online selfappraisal form can link to different job categories and can be routed to managers for approval and scoring. Appraisal results can then be moderated by HR and integrated with staff increment and bonus factor to provide a comprehensive report. Receiving the Gold Award for Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution on behalf of Times Software, Liaw said, “We are very honoured to receive this prestigious award and I would like to say a very big Thank You to our supportive customers who have voted for us. I would also like to say a big thanks to my staff for all their hard work and contributions to the company. As we have always promised, we will continue to excel in improving our products to meet our customers’ satisfaction.”

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Established in 1998, TIMES SOFTWARE is a leading provider of cloud-enabled Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and payroll solutions. They specialise in the development, consultation, marketing and support of the award-winning TIMES Payroll, TIMES HRIS and a full suite of cloud enabled HRIS applications. TIME SOFTWARE’s applications are equipped with data analytics and flexible interfaces that can cater for any business requirements. They also provide payroll outsourcing, HR outsourcing and e-portal services. TIME SOFTWARE’s mission is to drive innovation and productivity by providing excellent software solutions and services to help companies achieve higher productivity in their payroll and Human Capital Management functions. With this singular goal, the company turned into an industry leader within its first 2 years of operation and today their award-winning solutions are used by more than 12,000 companies across the region.

To meet the increasingly complex challenge of global expansion, Elements Global Services launched two cloud-based, proprietary SaaS HR platforms in 2020. These platforms provided a globally accessible cloud-based, AI-powered platform designed to eliminate manual processes from global payroll processing with a one-click approval system. These solutions also helped Elements Global Services clinch the joint Silver Award for Best HR Tech – Cloud Solution. Arun Dhaka, Vice President of Business Development, APAC, Elements Global Services, said, “Our clients can create customised workflows that are defined according to their hierarchies and unique

2021

SILVER WINNER

requirements, thereby managing change approvals, processes, and expenses from one central space. This significantly simplifies their admin, reduces errors, improves payroll processes and provides meticulous record keeping.” This cloud-based, intuitive SaaS solution also provides the business intelligence required to grow and manage business globally. Powered by a network of trained legal and HR experts, Elements clients have access to practical information and templates related to hiring, employee contracts, work hours, leave and benefits, tax and payroll, termination, severance, entity management and more for over 160 countries. Dhaka added, “We are honoured to clinch Silver for the Best HR Tech - Cloud Solution award. We will continue to focus on the advancement of our technology platform and products that have earned Elements a global reputation for simplifying business expansion and helping businesses enter new markets quickly and compliantly.” Also clinching the Silver Award in the category is QuickHR, which began with the simple goal of building a Human Resource Management System (HRMS) that could eliminate the problems that plague traditional HR platforms. “As an early player in the HR cloud

SILVER WINNER

market, we designed QuickHR to be robust and effective, yet simple,” said Suki Bajaj, Managing Director, QuickHR. QuickHR frees HR professionals from tedious administrative tasks to focus on what they do best - develop people to build better organisations. Moreover, unlike traditional server-based systems, QuickHR’s cloud HRMS does not come with high upfront and maintenance costs, nor a lengthy onboarding process, said Bajaj. He continued, “From the first step, we help our customers onboard easily by being a pre-approved IMDA Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) vendor. Safeguarding our customers’ data is crucial and we are proud to announce we are one of only two cloud HR solution providers in Singapore that have achieved both the ISO 9001:2015 and MTCS SS584:2015 certification.” “It’s a matter of great pride to see our company growing and achieving more than what we have ever thought of. Thank you to the QuickHR team who have worked against all odds to make what seemed impossible, possible, and raise QuickHR to be a shining example amongst the leading HR tech cloud solutions providers in Singapore.” READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

GOLD AWARD for

BEST HR TECH CLOUD SOLUTION

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2021

Do you face these challenges in training your workforce?

58%

report that attending courses can be disruptive to day-to-day operations reveal that employees are too busy with work to attend training

of employers

In general, a large portion of employers are dissatisfied with current learning and development programmes. The top three reasons for the subpar ratings of the training include: 45% of employers say that current companyoffered training is either fair, bad or very bad

40% Boring/conventional approach towards training 26% The range of topics covered by training programmes are limited 22% Quality of training resources is poor

These are Insights from NTUC LearningHub’s Workforce Learning in Workplace Transformation 2021 Report Read the full report at https://www.ntuclearninghub.com/workforce-learning-2021

Introducing the one-stop training mobile solution for your organisation The LHUB Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) offers enterprise solutions that enable companies to build a culture of lifelong learning. In addition to curated bitesized courses, your organisation can leverage LXP’s learning management system to customise, assign and deliver training to build the skills of your employees.

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competencies

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Speak to Corporate Sales Account Managers today! Find out more at https://www.ntuclearninghub.com/lxp/enterprise READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – Learning Management System

igital learning has been essential to redefining organisation capabilities, especially in the endemic and post-endemic era. With upskilling and reskilling gaining more importance than ever, learning and development initiatives must embrace the right technology to help drive scale and transform at speed. In recognition of the role that the company has continues to play in helping organisations redefine the way that learning is designed and implemented, imc has, for the second consecutive year, won the Gold Award for Best HR Tech – Learning Management System. imc focuses on supporting organisations where learning is key to the business performance and viability, beyond a feel-good measure and a nice-to-have. Their learning management system (LMS), imc Learning Suite, can be easily adapted to any learning scenario and smoothly integrated into any ecosystem. As one of the most comprehensive learning platforms, the features include: • Integrated LMS & LXP based on user-centric design • AI-supported learning paths • API management and 3rd party integrations • Blended and social learning experience Ivana Lee, imc’s Managing Director, Asia, explained. “The highperformance LMS provides your company with optimal support for all challenges. You may need an LMS for your remote workforce, optimise your hybrid onboarding strategy or strive to boost your learners’ engagement with gamification elements. We are available to answer those needs.” imc has more than 20 years of experience, 320 employees spread out across 12 international locations, and over 1,200 customers worldwide, running from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to state and national government departments, to multinational groups. The Asia regional headquarters was established in Singapore in 2016 to support companies and public institutions in the planning and implementing digital training solutions. Reiterating imc’s commitment to the Asian region and expressing her delight at receiving the Gold Award for Best HR Tech – Learning Management System, Lee added, “Especially in Asia, it is so important to be known for high-quality solutions. With our German technology and the ability to translate our knowledge to the needs of the Asian market, I am very proud of our team, strategic partners, and the work we have done to serve our customers. We will continue to strengthen our presence here.” Picking up the Silver Award for Best HR Tech - Learning Management System is GRC Solutions, who is now offering the Salt Learning Management System. Developed to support GRC’s award winning compliance training services, Salt Learning is a new premium eLearning technology that combines adaptive, responsive, and multilingual design tools with deep data analytics and reporting to offer an unparalleled eLearning opportunity. On accepting the award, GRC CEO Julian Fenwick thanked his team for their innovative and thorough approach to developing the Salt

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Located at 12 offices around the world with 300 employees, imc has been working with organisations across the private and public sectors for over 23 years to redefine the way that learning is designed and implemented through a combination of technology systems and tools, as well as content and strategy.

SILVER WINNER

GRC Solutions is a one-stop solution, regional focused provider for eLearning development, training and consultancy, and platform and integration services. They adopt a holistic and innovative approach to design, develop and deliver effective learning solutions to help global companies improve competency and skills.

technology, which combines intelligent content creation tools with easy LMS integration. Fenwick said, “Salt opens the door for faster and more agile elearning creation and deployment, while maintaining a high level of engaging design and the reporting necessary for compliance.” Customers can quickly and easily create their own eLearning or tap into the library of existing courses. What sets Salt apart, he added, are premium content libraries developed by industry experts, which GRC Solutions will continue to build with partnerships - all backed by the Salt Learning technology. Fenwick concluded, “This is not just about creating beautiful eLearning, it’s about responding to the rapid changes in the workplace and keeping staff informed and up to date, whilst improving their speed to competence and cognitive engagement.”

Driving Business Performance with imc Learning Suite

2021

The benefits:

Improve your organisation’s performance with our Learning Management System, imc Learning Suite.It’s a cutting edge, functionality rich and highly customisable for various purposes Contact us at infoasia@im-c.com or by phone at +65 - 6513 3358..

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_ Greater employee engagement _ Increased capacity _ Effective onboarding _ Growth of the bottom line

imc Asia is the Gold Winner of Best HR Tech - Learning Management System 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best HR Tech – HR Data & Analytics Solution

ith more organisations managing a global workforce, technology is playing an increasingly important role in managing key business functions. For Elements Global Services, which “bakes technology into everything” they do, technology allows them to offer customers the simplest and fastest experience, while Elements ensures that their data is fully protected and secured. This, said Arun Dhaka, Vice President of Business Development, APAC, Elements Global Services, allows customers to focus on their core business, instead of facing potential distractions that suboptimal HR execution can cause. He added, “Over the years, we continue to invest heavily in our workforce and constantly improve our technology to provide our customers with the simplest and fastest solutions possible. This is why we continue to improve and upgrade our proprietary SaaS HR platform, which was built to simplify global expansion and provide Human Capital Management (HCM) insights for businesses.” In recognition of this dedication, Elements Global Services has been awarded the Gold Award in the Best HR Tech – HR Data & Analytics Solution category. The company’s platform simplifies global payroll by allowing

clients to preview and approve payroll, review each country’s grossto-net pay information, manage self-service capabilities, and meet global reporting requirements with multilingual capabilities. This also provides employees on-demand access to previous payslips, with a built-in corporate directory giving employees the ability to view, search, and contact colleagues listed in the directory. This highly intuitive tool includes functionality for things like clickto-call and click-to-email communication tools, and expenses can be easily automated through a proprietary expense reporting system. Creating and submitting expenses is effortless for employees, while the approval process is straightforward for managers. Arun said, “When a customer works with Elements Global Services, they have a dedicated partner who knows and understands their business, and who can respond in real-time to ensure that their company can continue expanding globally.” “A heartfelt thank you to everyone who casted their vote of confidence for us to clinch Gold for Best HR Tech - HR Data & Analytics Solutions. We dedicate this award to our Elements team who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that our services and solutions are constantly at the forefront of the industry.”

GOLD WINNER

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider

n recognition of their continued commitment and ability in providing a strong platform for employers and employees in Singapore to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in an ever-changing environment, SP Pace Academy has been jointly presented with the Gold Award for Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider. To align with industry needs and requirements, SP PACE Academy continuously look towards collaboration with key industry leaders to ensure relevancy of skillsets for employees. Wong Jian Chang, Director, PACE Academy, highlighted, “An example of such collaboration is with Bosch Rexroth, which will see the first of its kind in the region through the Bosch Rexroth Regional Training Centre (BRRTC) being established in Singapore’s Jurong Innovation District.” “This will play a crucial role in enabling manufacturing companies in Singapore to meet the latest technological training needs. Along with Bosch Rexroth, SP PACE Academy co – design and co – deliver the certification course, that is, Industry Specialist AHK i4.0 and bitesized programmes on advanced manufacturing to support SMEs and non-SMEs in their transformation journey towards i4.0.” Additionally, as part of the larger national Smart Estates-Talent Development Programme, SP PACE Academy collaborated with CapitaLand, where a roadmap was developed towards emerging job roles in Smart Estates. This allows industry professionals to transform and equip themselves with the necessary skills and knowledge that will better prepare them for the changes in the real estate Industry, while at the same time allowing them the opportunity to explore the application of various technologies that can be implemented in their workplace. “This further signifies our intention towards providing relevant skillsets for employees and employers alike to strive and embrace innovation,” said Wong. He added, “These collaborations highlight the dedication of SP PACE Academy in ensuring that the content of our courses is a best fit and relevant to meet the demand in the ever evolving and challenging work environment, especially as we are witnessing the acceleration of digitalisation in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.” “We recognise that the needs and requirements of companies are different. At SP PACE Academy, we are your one-stop solution in providing customised training and developing holistic training roadmaps in a bid to increase the productivity and allow your employees to acquire the most updated relevant skills and knowledge.” Also winning the Gold Award for Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider is NTUC LearningHub (LHUB), which affirms their mission to provide high quality and future-proof learning and development (L&D) solutions for Singapore’s workforce. Jeremy Ong, CEO of NTUC LHUB, said, “Readers’ Choice Awards represents the region’s best HR partners. It is a great honour to take home the Gold Award under the ‘Learning & Development Provider’ category, and we are extremely humbled by the trust our clients have

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Singapore Polytechnic (SP) has been training and developing the local workforce since 1954. SP Professional & Adult Continuing Education (PACE) Academy provides the focal point for Continuing Education and Training (CET) as SP continues to provide new and effective pathways for learners of all ages to develop their skills and knowledge to be employable in an everchanging workplace. PACE Academy courses are relevant to the industry by aligning to Singapore’s Skill Frameworks (SFw) and Industry Transformation Maps (ITM). The courses are also designed with the adult learner in mind by applying the appropriate andragogy and committing the best training resources.

in NTUC LHUB as their partner in lifelong learning. We will remain steadfast, as we continue to complement companies by providing the best Learning & Development (L&D) solutions for their business. Our clients can be reassured that we are here to power up their business, by focusing on transforming human capital.” He also revealed “exciting initiatives” NTUC LHUB has in the pipeline to help both workers and companies innovate and seize new opportunities as we take on the path of recovery. Through strategic L&D planning and implementation, NTUC LHUB will work closely with companies to reassess the skills of the workforce and help to plug the gaps to propel the business forward. “Engaging in future planning will also ensure our clients are building up people and business competencies to remain resilient for 2022 and beyond,” Ong said, while also highlighting how the future of learning is continuing to evolve. To remain at the forefront of L&D, NTUC LHUB has launched

2021

GOLD WINNER

SILVER WINNER

ODC is a Singapore-based, regional focused corporate training provider providing turnkey solutions to global companies to design, develop and deliver localised workshops across 14 different cities in Asia Pacific. In Singapore, ODC is also an Approved Training Organisation offering management and leadership courses for their corporate clients. ODC was also recognised by fast growing firms in the info-comm sector for its work in supporting talent development in the region.

BRONZE WINNER NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since their corporatisation in 2004, they have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Cloud, Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker Training. To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 25,000 organisations and achieved over 2.6 million training places across more than 500 courses with a pool of over 900 certified trainers.

the LHUB Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) app that will revolutionalise the way the Singapore workforce learns to foster resilience and employability, said Ong. He added, “An initiative by the National Trade Union Congress, LXP is powered by NTUC LHUB to help habitualise lifelong learning through microlearning and bite-sized courses. Companies can leverage LXP Enterprise to develop and implement L&D solutions for employees through a customisable learning management system.” “As a recipient of this Readers’ Choice award, we are reminded of the positive social impact NTUC LHUB has contributed to the Singapore society. With the trust given to us, we are committed to continue helping workers and companies upskill, upgrade and uplift.” For Organisational Development Concept (ODC), recipient of the Silver Award for Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider, an enduring belief of the power of people to do great things when they work together seamlessly continues to drive the company forward.

Since 1996, ODE Consulting has been delivering award-winning, cutting-edge, bespoke solutions to future-proof businesses and leaders and deliver return on learning. As an Approved Training Organisation in Singapore since 2008, ODE offers a funded Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) strategic leadership roadmap.

Anthony Ho, Founder, Managing Director, and General Manager, said, “This pandemic has been challenging for many, usurped norms, and disrupted businesses. More importantly, it has disrupted lives, relationships, and distanced people. We were no different.” In adapting every part of the company to tune into the new normal, ODC’s team of consultants, trainers and developers tirelessly transitioned their training online, adopted new ways of virtual coaching, and sought novel ways to inspire, encourage, uplift, and challenge their learners across 14 different APAC countries. Ho continued, “But perhaps the greatest lesson wasn’t what we taught, but the lesson that we were taught. That people are the essence of everything. That when you take people out of the equation, everything crumbles to a halt.” “This award recognises our humble efforts to push our learners that one extra step; that one extra mile, so that they emerge stronger towards the challenges today and beyond. Because we’ll always be there, empowering the heartbeat of the organisations that we serve to Build Connections, and Bridge Perspectives.” The Bronze Award for Best Corporate – Learning & Development Provider has been awarded to ODE Consulting. READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2021

The Marketing Institute of Singapore Academy (MISA) plays a leading role in providing training and development solutions to professionals and corporations in Southeast Asia.

We are committed to nurturing and developing leaders of the future through our extensive range of leadership courses.

*Register for our Executive Development Services (EDS) courses from now till 30th November 2021 to get a $100 off discount voucher. For course enquiries, call us at (+65) 6327 7580 or e-mail to seminars@misa.com.sg. For more info, visit www.misa.com.sg/courses. © 2021 Marketing Institute of Singapore Academy. All rights reserved. 229 Mountbatten Rd, #03-02 Mountbatten Square, Singapore 398007.

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Corporate – Training Provider

or the past 40 years, the Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS) has provided its clients with quality executive development courses across the region. Since its founding in 1973, the institute has nurtured over 50,000 sales and marketing practitioners. These efforts have been rewarded with the Gold Award for Best Corporate – Training Provider, the seventh year in a row that MIS has won in this category. Roger Wang, President of MIS, said, “I would like to thank the judges, organising committee and readers who have selected MIS as the gold award recipient once again. The fact that MIS is standing at the forefront and reaching this milestone is also due to the trust and support from both our new and long-time clients alike.” “This award is also a recognition of all the hard work and commitment that the trainers have put into the programmes. The staff have also worked closely with the trainers to ensure that the team is able to adapt quickly to changing restrictions and provide trainees with the best educational experience.” MIS’ dedication to education and integrity, Wang explained, means that their services and solutions are designed to deliver excellent results. MIS’ Executive Development Services, for example, remains the preferred training partner of many organisations, offering over 180 public training programmes in nine specialised fields, from business and marketing to personal effectiveness. The comprehensive range of courses allows clients to customise bespoke solutions most suited to their requirements. Wang added, “Training the future workforce and designing educational programmes in accordance with dynamic industry needs is our top priority, and MIS is excited to offer more upcoming programmes designed to meet the needs of the new learning space aligned with specialties needed for today’s business landscape.” MIS also remains an advocate of lifelong learning through partnerships with government agencies such as Workforce Singapore (WSG), SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and e2i to support and nurture the local workforce. “MIS will continue to serve as a bridge that connects members to the largest guild of sales and marketing professionals as a member of the Asia Marketing Federation (AMF) - a multinational association set up to promote and strengthen the Asia marketing fraternity in the region. Through these networks and events, the institute aims to provide solutions and industry insights that will equip trainees with relevant skillsets so that they may develop to their full potential,” Wang said. For NTUC LearningHub (LHUB), the education and training provider remains committed to their goal of staying future-ready and relevant in their training content and delivery to boost the resilience of Singapore’s workforce. Jeremy Ong, CEO, NTUC LHUB, explained, “To achieve this, we will continue to develop high-quality training solutions with our worldclass content providers to help our business leaders build up their workforce competencies. Laying a strong foundation in employees’ skillsets, such as adaptive, technological, and technical skills, is

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

The Marketing Institute of Singapore provides corporate and industry trainings and continues to collaborate and participate in marketing events both in Singapore and in the region as the representative body to the 17-member Asia Marketing Federation (AMF). For over 40 years, MIS has lived up to the vision and mission of creating and connecting over 50,000 sales and marketing professionals. MIS Executive Development Services (EDS) remains the preferred training partner of many organisations with a comprehensive list of courses in the fields of: Business Management, Communications, Event Management, Human Capital Management, Leadership, Marketing, Sales, Service Excellence and Personal Effectiveness.

BRONZE WINNER

2021

SILVER WINNER

NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since their corporatisation in 2004, they have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Cloud, Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker Training. To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 25,000 organisations and achieved over 2.6 million training places across more than 500 courses with a pool of over 900 certified trainers.

critical to helping workers achieve their career trajectories and future-proof their employability.” Expressing his delight at receiving the Silver Award for Best Corporate – Training Provider, Ong added, “This win is significant as it represents the recognition of NTUC LHUB as one of Singapore’s leading training providers.” “As we progress into an endemic future, we will continue to work closely with businesses to empower their workforce as we accelerate into a transformed workplace, and the new world economy.” The Bronze Award for Best Corporate – Training Provider was picked up by Organisational Development Concepts (ODC), a Singapore-based, regional focused corporate training provider.

Introducing the one-stop training mobile solution for your organisation The LHUB Learning eXperience Platform (LXP) offers enterprise solutions to build a culture of lifelong learning. With LXP’s learning management system, your organisation can customise and deliver training to enhance the skills of your employees.

LXP Enterprise Upskill. Upgrade. Uplift.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Corporate – Leadership Development Provider

s organisations look to develop leaders who can help transform their business, finding the right partner is imperative as leadership continues to be redefined in a transformed workplace. For more than 40 years, the Marketing Institute of Singapore Academy (MISA) has played a leading role in providing training, learning, and development solutions to professionals and corporations in Singapore and around the world. This dedication has now been rewarded with the Gold Award for Best Corporate – Leadership Development Provider, an honour MISA wishes to share with clients and voters who have recognised and placed their trust in MISA’s commitment to creating business leaders who can lead the way in the future, said Roger Wang, President of MISA. He added, “We are deeply honoured and thankful to be the Gold Award recipient as the Best Corporate – Leadership Training Provider in this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards. A large part of the win can be attributed to the excellent trainers who have dedicated their time to ensure the institute consistently offers a high level of service.” MISA brings a team of accredited and highly experienced trainers who bring a powerful combination of management experience, practitioner knowledge, and industry know-how. With business being more competitive, people’s ability to continuously master new skills and sharpen current skills is what will allow them to distinguish themselves from their competitors, said Wang. MISA offers a comprehensive set of leadership training programmes intended to enhance both technical expertise and soft skills, pillars for success in leadership roles. With close to 200 course offerings, it includes topics such as Personal Leadership, Team Building, Innovative Thinking, and many other subjects of vital importance to the business environment. Beyond standard course offerings, MISA also offers tailored in-house courses to cater to different industries and companies. The institute will continue to work closely with senior management to better understand current trends to ensure quality courses that best suit today’s market needs, Wang revealed. He continued, “Over the years, MISA has undertaken the role to provide ample networking opportunities for thousands of members through its diverse series of events. MISA has access to local and regional expertise and resources through its global network and membership in MIS. As a result, our trainers can distil the knowledge and insights of industry experts to their specially curated programmes. ODE Consulting was established in 1996, 25 years ago, to be able to make a difference and for their clients to “Experience the P.A.S.S.I.O.N”. ODE’s ability is to design holistic, integrated, and innovative solutions that transform organisations, individuals, and teams by embedding culture and delivering tangible business outcomes. ODE, Organisation Development Excellence, brings to bear their expertise in organisational development through their learning, coaching, and consulting practices. In addition, their 3 lines of business, which include the innovative platform, P.R.I.M.E Avobot,

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Founded in 1973, the Marketing Institute of Singapore Academy (MISA) plays a leading role in providing training, learning, and development solutions to professionals and corporations in Singapore and around the world. Through its professional development programmes, MISA continues to foster leaders as the training arm of the National body for sales and marketing, Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS). For over 40 years, MIS has lived up to the vision and mission of creating and connecting over 50,000 sales and marketing professionals. MIS Executive Development Services (EDS) remains the preferred training partner of many organisations with their comprehensive list of courses. MIS continues to cater to the skillupgrading and professional development needs of executives and managers to keep themselves abreast with industry trends and knowledge.

BRONZE WINNER

2021

SILVER WINNER

which changes the nature of learning and to make learning needs based and purpose-driven; Culture in the Workplace; which focuses on organisational culture and cross-culture; and Academy for Mastery, which certifies coaches, consultants, and cross-cultural practitioners. ODE’s research during the pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of the 6Rs; Reimagine, Recalibrate, Realign, Build Resilience, Rebuild and Reskill. Over the past two years, ODE has been helping their clients in driving the 6Rs with significant results. Their case studies tell the stories of how the 6Rs have made a difference in organisations. ODE is proud to have been awarded the Silver Award for Best Corporate - Leadership Development Provider, and Bronze Award for Best Corporate - Learning & Development Provider, at Readers’ Choice Awards 2021. “It is extremely special to us as the primary selection criteria are via votes from organisations and clients we have worked with over the years” said Ms Teo Jin Lee, Founder and Managing Director, ODE. “This is a testimony to the trust, relationship and excellent track record we have built up with our customers. Thank you to all our clients who have supported us over the past 25 years.”

Since 1996, ODE Consulting has been delivering awardwinning, cutting-edge, bespoke solutions to future-proof businesses and leaders and deliver return on learning. As an Approved Training Organisation in Singapore since 2008, ODE offers a funded Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) strategic leadership roadmap.

The right talent makes all the difference in today’s competitive business landscape. Since 2010, ODC has been a wide range of clients to elevate the performance of their people, so they become better equipped for the challenges today and beyond. ODC’s unique training methodology stems from our belief in helping learners acquire lifelong skills that are essential to operate in today’s ever-evolving environment. A wide range of courses across business and leadership domains

A fully online curriculum redesigned from the ground up

Courses delivered by industry experts and battle-seasoned mentors

Custom-designed courses available to meet your exact talent needs

Theoretical and practical learnings designed to be immediately applied With a regional footprint in over 14 different APAC countries, we lay the groundwork for great things to flourish in your organisation - by empowering the heartbeat of any organisation - your people. Share your talent development needs with us today, and let’s elevate your team together.

+65 6289 9166 | +65 6887 4892

enquiries@odctraining.com.sg

www.odctraining.com.sg

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

One Trusted Partner to Simplify Global Expansion in Over 160 Countries SPEED TO MARKET Set up in a new country in as little as a few weeks LOWER COSTS Save up to 87.5% in expansion costs FULL COMPLIANCE Risk-free and compliant with local labor and tax laws EXPERT SUPPORT Team of HR, Payroll, Legal and Visa & Global Mobility Experts SAFE & PROTECTED DATA Secure, industry-leading HR platform ONE PLATFORM, ONE PARTNER Elements is your direct partner with no outsourced third parties

www.elementsgs.com

Connect with us 60

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

inquiries@elementsgs.com elements-peo

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

ElementsGS

2021

THANK YOU FOR VOTING FOR US! We are honoured to be recognised as the leaders in HR. Thank you for your vote of confidence and having us on your global expansion journey. We will continue to create the best client experience with our service excellence and innovative solutions. Let us walk with you to help you exceed expectations and achieve long-term success.

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Employer of Record (EOR) Service Provider

ith the COVID-19 pandemic having disrupted global labour markets in 2020, Globalization Partners has continued to help tens of thousands of companies respond to changes and made the transition easier by removing boundaries and barriers to hiring remote global talent with their legally compliant Employer of Record (EOR) platform. Charles Ferguson, General Manager, Globalization Partners, Asia Pacific, said, “Thanks to our technology, our customers can hire the best talent, wherever, whenever they need to. Users can also trust our global employment platform for services including payroll, benefits, data and reporting, performance management, locally compliant contract generation, and more.” This goes a long way in explaining why Globalization Partners, for the second straight year, has won the Gold Award for Best Employer of Record Service Provider. “Globalization Partners is proud and thrilled that for the second straight year, we have received a resounding tick of approval from HRM Asia readers for our Employer of Record (EOR) services.” “We are honoured to be selected for the 2021 Gold Winner of EOR Service Provider category. We thank everyone who believed in Globalization Partners and casted their votes for us this year. As the originator of the sector, we have watched as the sector has grown, particularly in the past 18 months and we believe this truly validates

the tremendous opportunity in global remote team building today,” Ferguson said. Over the past 18 months, Globalization Partner’s robust growth has reflected the demand for high-quality, scalable, global remote work solutions in a business environment that has quickly shifted towards a “remote-first” work culture. The company is reporting record-breaking results and are already on track to exceed their forecasted 2021 new customer acquisition goal. They have also revised their financial forecast to exceed USD$1 billion dollars in annualised recurring revenue (ARR) by the end of 2021. Ferguson added, “To accelerate even beyond this unprecedented growth, the company is increasing capacity, the team in APAC has grown considerably and we expect it to double in the coming year as we continue to capitalise further on our market leading position in what industry experts call a trillion-dollar remote work industry. As companies redefine their strategies to capture opportunities in new markets, Globalization Partners is here to help them build their global teams without border and with zero limits.” Highlighting the commitment of the company to help clients better manage their workforce, Peter Oreb, CEO of CXC, accepted the Silver Award for Best Employer of Record (EOR) Service Provider. “On behalf of CXC, I’d like to thank everyone for this award, it is truly an honour to receive it. I would also like to congratulate the HRM Asia team for the great work you have been doing in the field of HR.”

GOLD WINNER

Globalization Partners simplifies global remote team building by making it fast and easy for companies to hire anyone, anywhere, within minutes, without setting up subsidiaries – via their legally compliant SaaS Employer of Record platform, AI-powered guided user experience, and world-class customer support team.

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2021

SILVER WINNER

CXC is the leading international provider of contingent workforce management solutions. With over 30 offices across 5 continents, they simplify how organisations and contingent workers connect compliantly and efficiently. Established in Australia in 1992 to provide contractor vetting, compliance and payroll, the contingent workforce market has continued to be CXC’s core, with services now delivered in over 70 countries internationally by local specialists. Their corporate offering has evolved over the past decade due to increasing market complexity, regulation, technology, and evolving client demand. CXC acts as an extension of clients’ HR and procurement function, taking responsibility for the entire contingent workforce.

CXC was established in Australia in 1992 before expanding globally. With the rapid change in workforce dynamics and organisational growth, CXC simplifies how organisations and candidates connect compliantly and efficiently. Over the past 30 years, Oreb and his team have observed many changes - from the ups and downs of the talent market, industry expansions and contractions, and technology booms. “However, one thing remained. We have always put our clients at the core of what we do,” he added. CXC’s continued goal is to help clients better manage their workforce by giving them access to quality talent, as well as supporting candidates in navigating the legalities of the employment market. “Winning the Silver Award for the Best Employer of Record (EOR) Service Provider category is a true testament of our commitment in providing highestquality solutions,” Oreb concluded.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Recruitment Firm – Outsourcing Solution

ith the emergence of an increasingly hybrid and mobile workforce, the talent landscape is continuing to change and evolve. For organisations, this means the challenge of finding the right people to meet their business needs has never been greater. The Best Recruitment Firm – Outsourcing Solution award seeks to recognise the best Recruitment Outsourcing Solution providers who have helped organisations find the right talent they need to successfully move their business forward. Winning the Gold Award in this prestigious category is Resource Solutions, a provider of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) solutions that help organisations build and manage their workforce to face current and future challenges. Expressing his delight at the win, David Barr, Managing Director, Resource Solutions APAC, said, “We’re truly ecstatic to have been awarded Gold in the ‘Best Recruitment Outsourcing Solution’ category at the HRM Asia’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2021. This win is true testament to the dedication and complex work that our extended team does day-in-day out, and it really is a team effort.” In the Asia-Pacific region, Resource Solutions’ operations cover 14 countries, and they have been solving some particularly complex talent problems for clients across multiple industries and country jurisdictions, Barr revealed. With an unwavering commitment to fostering relationships, finding solutions, and delivering outstanding results for their clients, Resource Solutions is also empowered by tech stacks that allow their teams to foster stronger relationships that are supported by meaningful data and streamlined processes. Barr also reported on how 2021 saw expansions for both Resource Solutions and their clients, and how he believes this growth will continue into 2022. “[2021] has been a challenging, but hugely rewarding year and I am incredibly proud of us as a business, and what we have achieved this year. Looking to the future I am beyond confident in our ability to deliver more of what makes us such a trusted provider of bespoke workforce and advisory solutions.” For Elabram, who scooped the Silver Award in the category, the win is a testament to more than 20 years of experience and dedication in the Human Resource business, said Mikel Yaw, Managing Director of Elabram. He added, “Elabram has provided HR solutions for our clients in many industries. We manage our clients’ requirements with end-toend solutions, and we assist our clients to find the right talents, recruit them, and manage them as employees for our clients. We also ensure that procedures are carried out properly within local policies and the individual needs of companies – we help companies find suitable candidates and we assist candidates in finding their dream job.” Elabram provides three primary services in Executive Search, Recruitment, and HR Outsourcing. Through HR Outsourcing, Elabram assists clients in finding the right talents, recruiting them, and managing these employees. Their Executive Search service

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Part of the Robert Walters Group, Resource Solutions is a leading provider of Workforce and Advisory Solutions with 25 years’ experience helping organisations secure talent to refine, realign and redefine their workforce of tomorrow. With a global footprint spanning over 30 countries, Resource Solutions provides bespoke, all-encompassing outsourcing solutions for some of the world’s largest brands. From complex global and multi-regional resourcing solutions to single country delivery demanding a niche and specialist recruitment strategy, Resource Solutions has the experience and resources to deliver the exceptional.

SILVER WINNER

helps clients to find suitable candidates for managerial and top-level positions, and with Elabram’s Recruitment services, clients have the option to select roles for short-term projects. Thanking his team and clients for the support, Yaw said, “I would like to express my gratitude to HRM Asia’s Readers’ Choice Awards and voters for selecting Elabram to receive this silver award of Best Recruitment Firm – Outsourcing Solutions.”

2021

Best Recruitment Firm – Engineering/IT Positions

n recognition of their status as one of the leading recruitment services in South-East Asia, Elabram has been named as the Gold Award winner of the Best Recruitment Firm – Engineering/IT Positions. With over 20 years of experience and dedication in the Human Resource business, the Elabram Group is fast growing as one of the leading HR solutions and services provider in South-East Asia. By focusing on people, processes, technology, and thinking globally and locally, Elabram is helping businesses fulfil their HR needs. Mikel Yaw, Managing Director of Elabram, said, “I’m profoundly honoured to receive this award and I would like to express my gratitude to the HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards and voters for selecting Elabram. I would also like to thank my clients, colleagues, and everyone who has supported us from day one.” “2020 was a rough year and we all experienced change but no matter how fearful we were, it was our job to create a difference. Therefore, it gives me so much joy that the effort our team has put in is not overlooked and has brought us to where we are now. This award represents what we do, and it will provide the motivation for us to

achieve more in the future. So, let this award be a seal of what we can achieve together!” Elabram is currently managing thousands of talents in various industries across South-East Asia. Through three main services – Executive Search, Recruitment, and HR Outsourcing – Elabram is dedicated to address multiple HR needs. Through HR Outsourcing, Elabram assists clients in finding the right talents, recruiting them, and managing these employees. “We also ensure that the procedure is carried out properly with local policies and company needs,” Yew added. “Our Executive Search service helps clients to find suitable candidates for managerial and top-level positions. With our experience and access to an extensive network, we can provide you with senior experts from various fields for the positions.” With Elabram’s Recruitment services, clients have the option to select roles for short-term projects. By providing more flexibility, Elabram allows clients to focus on their core business, said Yew, who concluded, “We help companies find a candidate and assist candidates in finding their dream jobs during this challenging situation.

GOLD WINNER

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Specialists in Workforce & Advisory Solutions Part of the Robert Walters Group, Resource Solutions is a leading provider of Workforce and Advisory Solutions with 25 years’ experience helping organisations secure talent to refine, realign and redefine their workforce of tomorrow. We are pioneers in the development of outsourced recruitment, putting people and innovation at the forefront of everything we do. From our unwavering commitment to foster relationships as talent partners, to our passion and experience in making every click and conversation a seamless, positive experience, we pride ourselves in our ability to continuously deliver impact, with the support of industry-leading technology. With a global footprint spanning over 30 countries, we provide bespoke, all-encompassing outsourcing solutions for some of the world’s largest brands. From complex global and multi-regional resourcing solutions, to single country delivery demanding a niche and specialist recruitment strategy, Resource Solutions have the experience and resources to deliver the exceptional.

Find out how Resource Solutions can support your organisations recruitment ambitions, contact

Mairianne Reardon, Head of Sales & Bids, APAC mairianne.reardon@resourcesolutions.com or visit our website www.resourcesolutions.com

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Serviced Apartment – By Property

perating since October 2016, Oasia Residence, Singapore has been committed to a high level of service quality and in providing accommodation beyond the conventional. Aiming to inspire and empower guests to Journey Well when traveling, through three wellness pillars: Refresh, Refuel, and Recharge, Oasis Residence Singapore achieves this through the facilities in the property, tranquil surroundings, and a brand of service that emphasises warmth, sincerity, and efficiency. With Oasia Residence, Singapore recently celebrating the 5-year milestone of committed service, there was double reason for celebration after they were named as the Gold Award winner in the Best Serviced Apartment – By Property category for the second successive year. Nancy Zhang, Residence Manager of Oasia Residence, Singapore, said, “Gaining this recognition from HRM Asia is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of our staff members, who consistently give their best to ensure a pleasant and comfortable stay in these times of adversity.” “I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our teams, corporate bookers, and business partners for their unwavering support. This award would not have been possible without your contributions, and we will continue to strive to achieve service excellence. Thank you.” Moving forward, Oasia Residence will continue to endeavour to go above and beyond to exceed guests’ expectations, ensuring their needs are well taken care of. They provide fully furnished apartments with a living area and kitchenette, equipped with all the essential comforts and convenience. Guests can return home to refresh their minds and senses in a scenic and tranquil environment and look forward to a suite of wellness offerings to recharge and refuel with a light continental breakfast at The Living Room. Alternatively, a host of dining, retail, and lifestyle establishments are located conveniently around the residence. Receiving the Silver Award for Best Serviced Apartment – By Property is Regency House, which aspires to deliver a Home-Grown, World-Class Singapore-inspired hospitality by helping guests to settle down during their stay in Singapore through anticipating their needs with a personalised touch, revealed Eunice Woo, Residence Manager, Regency House. She continued, “I am honoured and humbled to receive this award on behalf of Regency House for the second successive year. I would like to thank our voters for their unwavering support, which motivated our teams to persevere and soldier on through these times. Clinching this prestigious award will inspire us to strive for service excellence in ensuring a wonderful and memorable stay experience for all our guests in Regency House.” Woo also reiterated Regency House’s commitment to render warm hospitality services by providing the utmost convenience and comfort through a suite of inclusions, such as offering a fully

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

Since its launch in 2016, Oasia Residence Singapore has provided world-class hospitality to both local and international guests. In line with the Oasia brand by Far East Hospitality, they aim to inspire and empower guests to Journey Well when travelling, through three wellness pillars: Refresh, Refuel, and Recharge. As a property that caters to wellness-conscious travellers, Oasia Residence Singapore focuses on providing guests with opportunities to exercise, relax, and rejuvenate. They achieve this through the facilities in the property, tranquil surroundings, and a brand of service that emphasises personal warmth, sincerity, and efficiency. The property sits on the fringe of the city’s dynamic science and technology cluster, and is minutes away from the Singapore Science Park, One-North Business Park, National University of Singapore, and the Central Business District. Due to its proximity to Singapore’s dynamic science and technology cluster and business hubs, Oasia Residence Singapore primarily attracts international business travellers. Families visiting university students also choose their property as their home away from home.

furnished apartment with housekeeping and technical support services. She added, “We are heartened to learn that our long-staying and returning guests has forged deep connections with the team and their unwavering confidence is a boost to our team members morale. Through their tireless dedication and effort, the team at Regency House would like to thank the management team for their guidance and our business partners for their support.” Receiving the Bronze Award for Best Serviced Apartment – By Property, is ST residences.

2021

SILVER WINNER

Ideally located at the junction of Singapore’s Penang Road and Oxley Road, Regency House is a short stroll from the Orchard Road shopping district, where guests can enjoy an array of dining and entertainment options. Other entertainment hotspots such as the trendy Robertson Quay and Clarke Quay are also located nearby. Within walking distance to two MRT stations – Dhoby Ghaut and Somerset, guests are well-connected to the rest of the city, with the Singapore’s Central Business District at Raffles Place just two MRT stops away.

BRONZE WINNER

ST Residences offers a one-stop solution to furnished serviced apartments island-wide, providing quality accommodation with contract flexibility and competitive rates. ST Residences Novena, strategically located at 145A Moulmein Road, offers 5 apartment types. Guests can book a short stay with a minimum of 7 days or for a longer period. All apartments come fully furnished and equipped with kitchenette and refrigerator. Utilities are also taken care of with fast internet and utility allowance. Facilities like pool, gym, outdoor BBQ area, launderette and rooftop deck are also available for leisure enjoyment within the property.

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Mobility & Relocation Solution

s flexible and remote work becomes increasingly prevalent, companies are changing the way they hire, manage, and pay their talent. A direct correlation between remote work and global expansion is also taking place, said Rick Hammell, CEO of Elements Global Services. He added, “The old way of doing things is over and this shift creates complexity that can only be solved by scale and technology. Today, with the right technology, geographic location is no longer a barrier to global hiring, managing a remote workforce and business growth.” Hammell was speaking as Elements Global Services received the Gold Award for Best Mobility & Relocation Solution, which recognises the company’s commitment to be the best mobility HR business partner that provides leading solutions and services to global clients. Even before the pandemic prompted a rise in remote work, Elements has been investing heavily in HR technology. Since 2019, they have opened more than 15 offices across the EMEA, LATAM, and APAC regions, hiring their own remote workforce globally to provide real-time, direct, and local assistance to clients, wherever they choose to employ or work. They have also helped more than 300 businesses

expand globally while onboarding, managing, and paying more than 3,500 worksite employees in over 160 countries. Hammell said, “We are at the crossroads of a seismic moment for managing talent and achieving business success. Our deeper and stronger scale, to now serve more than 160 countries, coupled with our dedication to technology, will position existing and future clients for success with faster speed to market and greater agility.” On Elements win in the Best Mobility & Relocation Solution category, he attributed the win to an experienced team of lawyers and immigration experts who advise, organise, and ultimately deliver clients’ employees to their target markets in complete compliance with all local requirements. “Our dedicated team of professionals support clients and their employees throughout the entire process, acting as an extension of their HR team,” Hammell continued. “As borders continue to reopen gradually, we anticipate greater demand for mobility and relocation solutions from our clients. We will continue our service excellence to provide the best mobility and relocation solution and help businesses in the region to expand and enter new markets with speed and full compliance.”

GOLD WINNER

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

During our OCS (Organizational Climate Survey), we were pleased to see an exponential improvement with scores on leadership. I am confident that this program was the catalyst 2021butterfly effect that brought a consciousness towards positive leadership to creating the behaviors. OD Director, Statutory Board under the Ministry of Health (Singapore Government) Shared KPIs drove shared accountability and responsibilities...aligned all departments to a single shared objective...facilitated collaboration across departments to achieve common corporate goals. Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO), International Real Estate Company It’s been a privilege working with ODE for the past few years. ODE has been helping us to enhance and strengthen the organization and leadership capabilities. I look forward to continue to work with ODE for more development and training programs, and enhancing the capacity of my people. Managing Director, Local Professional Property Manager The results speak for themselves. For our recent employee survey, we had a 75% response rate, up from 43% in the previous year. We are also pleased to see a significant improvement on overall scores, particularly in the areas of engagement and advocacy. Group Chief Information Officer (GCIO), Leading Telecommunications Group

EST.1996

With offices in China, India and a Global Partner Network ODE is Organizational Development Excellence. ODE Consulting® accelerates business results by delivering end-to-end integrated holistic solutions that transforms both individuals and organizations. We have a 25 year track record in delivering innovative, quality services and solutions through our core practices of Learning, Coaching and Consulting. Our trademark methodologies and approaches have delivered significant business impact for our clients. ODE is also an Approved Training Organization (ATO) accredited by the Singapore Government (SSG).

OUR THREE LINES OF BUSINESS

TRANSFORMING THE DNA OF ORGANIZATIONS AND EMBEDDING FUTURE-PROOF CULTURE

Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology Awards 2019 Silver Winner: Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology

HRM Asia’s Readers’ Choice Award 2019 Gold Winner: Best Leadership Development Provider

P.R.I.ME Avobot Changes the nature of learning and to make learning needs based and purpose-driven.

Culture In The Workplace™ Focuses on embedding organizational culture and helps organizations transcend cross-cultural boundaries. Our work builds on Professor Geert Hofstede's research which embeds core intercultural values that engender cultural alignment.

2018 Best in Leadership & People Management Services &Organization Development Services by Global Business Insight

2018 Global Top 50 Coaches conferred by CV Magazine

Academy for Mastery Provides internationally recognized certification in future-ready skills like Coaching, Consulting and Cross-Culture.

C O N TA C T U S Website: www.odeconsulting.com Tel: +65 6323 8020 Email: enquiry@odeconsulting.com Find Us: 70 Shenton Way, EON Shenton #09-08 S079118

2017 Global Top 50 Coaches conferred by CV Magazine

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2016 HR Excellence Awards for Leadership Development Program

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

2021

Best Recruitment Firm – Client Experience

ith recruitment on the rise as many countries continue to recover from the pandemic, the race for talent is heating up. To recruit the best global talent for an increasingly hybrid workforce, organisations are looking to address key talent and skill shortages and are looking for the best partners to develop effective strategies for a postpandemic world. In recognition of how the company has helped their clients manage the challenges brought forth by the pandemic, Resource Solutions has been presented with the Gold Award for Best Recruitment Firm – Client Experience. David Barr, Managing Director, Resource Solutions APAC, said, “It’s with heartfelt thanks that Resource Solutions receives recognition as the ‘Best Recruitment Firm – Client Experience’ at this year’s HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards. It speaks volumes about the tremendous work, dedication and focus our account teams, and wider support functions, have had on working in close partnership with our clients as we emerge from the challenges faced in 2020.” “Throughout this year, we have witnessed an unprecedented spike in recruitment volumes across most accounts, and despite the challenges of COVID-19 still effecting a lot of the countries we operate in, our teams continue to deliver exemplary outcomes for our clients.” Established in 1997, Resource Solutions is a provider of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) solutions, and helps organisations build and manage their workforce to face current and future challenges. With an unwavering commitment to fostering relationships, finding solutions, and delivering outstanding results for their clients, Resource Solutions is also empowered by tech stacks that allow their teams to foster stronger relationships that are supported by meaningful data and streamlined processes. Barr added, “I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank our client partners in APAC who have been incredibly supportive during this year as we evolved, adapted, and innovated towards a postpandemic world. As talent and skill shortages become more acute, I am confident that the strength of our partnerships will continue to be a key ingredient to our collective success into the future.” Receiving the Silver Award for Best Recruitment Firm – Client Experience is Elabram, which has over 20 years of experience in providing HR solutions and workforce management systems for organisations in the Asia-Pacific region. Serving clients on both short-term and long-term projects, Elabram offers flexibility through a deep understanding of their clients’ needs, as well as design and implement systems to manage talents so that business processes can continue to function well. This approach, said Mikel Yaw, Managing Director of Elabram, has allowed clients to focus on their core business and develop successful business strategies. “We help companies find a candidate and assist candidates in landing their dream job.” Yaw added, “On behalf of the Elabram Team, I would like to express my gratitude to the HRM Asia Readers’ Choice Awards and voters for

COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

GOLD WINNER

SILVER WINNER

selecting Elabram to receive the Silver Award for Best Recruitment – Client Experience. I want to express my gratitude, most notably to my clients, colleagues, and everyone who has supported us from day one.”

2021

10th – 13th May 2022 | Suntec Exhibition & Conference Center Singapore

asia’s largest HR TECH EVENT returns ‘in person’ next may 2022

Register your interest to attend Sponsorship enquiry Luke Kasprzak Sales Director +65 6950 5490 luke@hrmasia.com.sg READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE 2021

END PREjUDICE AND AND

STIGMA TOWARDS

HIV

END PREJUDICE & STIGMA TOWARDS HIV

REDUCE THE SPREAD OF HIV

ENCOURAGE EARLY DETECTION & TREATMENT

to help achieve... ZERO

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NEW HIV INFECTIONS

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AIDSRELATED DEATHS

HOW YOU CAN PLAY A PART DEVELOP YOUR WORKFORCE'S KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS Start by providing HIV prevention education as part of your workplace health initiatives. This will help to address misconceptions around the subject of HIV as well as encourage early HIV testing and treatment.

BUILD A SUPPORTIVE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT A supportive environment can create a culture of empowerment, trust, care, respect and shared beliefs among employees. This can positively impact employees living with HIV.

ENHANCE WORKPLACE POLICIES Have clearly stated policies on maintaining confidentiality of medical information and non-tolerance of discriminatory behaviour. Demonstrate commitment to eliminate prejudice and stigma towards employees living with HIV.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT TO THE WORKFORCE. ENCOURAGE EARLY TESTING AND TREATMENT AT YOUR WORKPLACE Subsidies for medicines for HIV treatment are available for eligible Singapore residents

SCAN AND ACT NOW! Where to get tested for HIV anonymously bit.ly/AnonTest

Participate in our HIV survey and stand a chance to win cash vouchers bit.ly/HIVSurveyA

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