HRM 13.12

hrm ISSUE 13.12

Driving entrepreneurship at Mundipharma Select Group’s talent strategy HRM Awards 2014 finalists revealed

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ISSUE 13.12

Bestselling author John Gray on gender intelligence at work

hrm ISSUE 13.12

Driving entrepreneurship at Mundipharma Select Group’s talent strategy HRM Awards 2014 finalists revealed

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Bestselling author John Gray on gender intelligence at work

69%

Employees

WOULD WORK

OF

HARDER

IF BETTER

RECOGNISED HOW DOES YOUR

?

RECOGNITION RATE

by Power2Motivate Source: Workforce mood tracker report, 2013

HRM 13.12

Contents 20

Gender intelligence at work Gender blind spots are one of the main causes of workplace conflict. In this exclusive Q&A, bestselling author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and STJobs HR Summit Speaker John Gray shares how a better understanding of the innate differences between both genders can lead to greater business success

EDITOR Sumathi V Selvaretnam JOURNALIST Shalini Shukla-Pandey Aaron Justin Tan SUB-EDITOR Paul Howell TRAFFIC MANAGER Azimah Jasman SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amos Lee GRAPHIC DESIGNER John Paul Lozano SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Yogesh Chandiramani ACCOUNT MANAGERS Rebecca Ng Edwin Lim Jolene Ong GENERAL MANAGER Kaveri Ayahsamy REGIONAL MANAGING EDITOR George Walmsley MANAGING DIRECTOR Richard Curzon

“There is a very strong lack of gender intelligence in Asia. There is also a very high level of stress and women are often misunderstood.

To feel valued, they have to behave like men”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY David Teng (xcalibrephoto.com) Ted Chen (tedchenphoto.com) PRINTED BY Times Printers Pte Ltd PUBLISHED BY Key Media Pte Ltd 121 Telok Ayer Street #02-01 Singapore 068590 Tel: +65 6423 4631 Fax: +65 6423-4632 Email: info@keymedia.com.sg

– JOHN GRAY, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS AND STJOBS HR SUMMIT SPEAKER

MICA (P) 137/07/2012 ISSUE 13.12

ISSN 0219-6883

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HRM 13.12

Contents

12

Check out HRM online:

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hrmasia.com

26

FEATURES 12 | Building the company, person by person Mundipharma is serious about creating a “new face of pharma” environment, with Google-esque offices and an emphasis on the exact kind of talent being hired. Regional Director for Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa Raman Singh shares how he personally ensures an entrepreneurial spirit within the organisation

16 | Selecting top talent

Labour intensive roles, a shortage of manpower and high levels of employee churn. These are some of the challenges facing Singapore’s highly competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape. Boosting productivity attracting and retaining young talent are some ways to tackle them, says home-grown F&B business Select Group

26 | Working smart

Commuters who travel into the city area’s 16 stations before the pre-peak period have been enjoying free train rides since June this year.

The one-year trial is aimed at helping manage congestion during morning peak hours. While the government and some private sector employers already allow their employees to start and finish work earlier, more organisations are expected to follow suit. HRM discusses

30 | Personal coaching

Professional coaching is a distinct service and differs greatly from therapy, consulting, mentoring or training. HRM looks at the visibility, understanding, and impact of coaching in the corporate world

34 | How to say goodbye?

38

Resignations, redundancies and dismissals are a natural part of an employee’s lifecycle at an organisation.

HR needs to manage the employee separation so as to minimise legal risks to the business, protect the organisation’s reputation, and maintain workplace morale. HRM finds out more

REGULARS

38 | And the nominees are...

54 | View Point

At last, after months of research, the finalists across all 24 categories of the 2014 HRM Awards can be revealed

50 | The motivation question

Ross Reck, author of The Engagement Formula, and STJobs HR Summit speaker, has spent a long career looking at how staff get engaged and excited about their jobs.

In this special guest contribution, he answers the key question on HR’s lips – how do you motivate employees?

3 | Analysis 4 | News 10 | Leaders on Leadership 55 | Talent Ladder 56 | In Person 56 | Twenty-four Seven 57 | Talent Challenge 59 | Resources 59 | Executive Appointments

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’s news, features, and contributions by emailing: info@keymedia.com.sg 2

ISSUE 13.12

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ANALYSIS

Employment Law

Can everyone WorkRight?

Dubious employment practices were thrust into the spotlight with the series of WorkRight Roadshows last month. What can be done to ensure the rights of all workers in Singapore?

By Shalini Shukla-Pandey Some 600 employers have denied workers their basic employment rights in the past year. More than half of the workers affected were in the low-wage bracket, in sectors such as cleaning, food and beverage, and retail. Not paying for overtime work topped the list of infringements, followed by not giving staff annual or medical leave.

The WorkRight initiative, which was launched jointly by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board last year, aims to help workers to know their employment rights, and ensure employers are aware of their obligations under Singapore’s employment laws.

While some employers deliberately flout the law, the majority are responsible, with a handful who are genuinely unaware of their obligations. “We have therefore also stepped up our efforts to educate this group of employers,” Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said at the first WorkRight Roadshow last month.

One example was Long Life Stationery Pte Ltd, which was unaware of its obligations regarding overtime pay.

After a WorkRight inspection, Long Life Stationery rectified areas of non-compliance swiftly and made good any owed amounts of salary and CPF contributions for its 12 local workers. “The employer’s willingness to remedy its oversight promptly is the responsible thing to do,” said Tan.

Rights for all While WorkRight has Singaporean workers covered, other employees are left in limbo. Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a non-profit organisation dedicated to assisting low-wage migrant workers, says that while the great majority of migrant workers are covered by the Employment Act, there are many cases in which employers do not abide by the law and enforcement is ineffective.

Lack of contracts binding employers to a certain salary scale, underpayment of regular salary and/or overtime, forced “savings” deductions that turn out to be unrecoverable, and unreasonable deductions for things such as food, housing, utilities, laundry, and income tax, are just some of the ways in which migrant workers’ rights have been quashed. Others include illegal deductions for work absences and company doctors who

More can be done John Gee, Head of Research for Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) says more can and should be done to ensure migrant workers have their rights too. He suggests: • Removing employers’ right to send workers home at will • Allowing workers to not only join trade unions here but also take up posts in them and speak for themselves • Allowing workers to change jobs if their relationship with their employer breaks down • Ensuring promises about terms and conditions made in workers’ home countries are made in writing strictly enforced on their arrival • Ensuring workers retain control of their own documents – work permits and passports TWC2 has recently submitted its recommendations on the amendment of the Employment Act and the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

give them unduly short medical leave to keep company accident records looking good.

“There are companies against which we never hear complaints, but in some sectors, such as among subcontractors in construction, abusive behaviour such as this is widespread,” says John Gee, Immediate Past President and Head of Research for TWC2.

Foreign workers often keep quiet about salary issues because to speak up would cause them to lose their jobs and be repatriated, he adds. These workers also worry, perhaps with good reason, that lodging a complaint would prejudice any future application to work again in Singapore.

“We think that in some cases, extra consideration needs to be given to migrant workers because of their vulnerable status as low-paid foreigners in Singapore,” he adds. “Unlike locals, they cannot change jobs at will, or stay with relatives and benefit from their support during difficulties with their employers, and they are often unfamiliar with how Singaporean institutions work.

“Therefore, we’d like to see them being protected against arbitrary deportation by their employers, and being given opportunities to seek alternative employment if they fall out with their employers, rather than being sent home.”

Enforcement efforts

by Singapore’s labour ministry helped more than

22,000 Singaporeans Source: Ministry of Manpower

WorkRight Hotline: 1800-221-9922 Email: workright@mom.gov.sg To protect employees, the identity of anyone who files a complaint is kept strictly confidential.

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NEWS

Asia SINGAPORE

ASIA

Rising labour costs

Mobile job hunting on the rise The hunt for jobs has gone mobile. One out of three jobseekers in Asia now searches for jobs on a mobile device, according to data aggregated by job search engine Recruit.net.

It used over 1.5 million searches over the past three years to find that the number carried out by mobile devices had increased threefold. Mobile job-hunting accounted for just eight per cent of searches in 2011, up to 33% last month.

Singaporeans appear to be the most mobile-savvy job-seeking users in Asia, with the highest proportion of mobile job searches in the region, followed closely by Japan and Hong Kong. Vietnam and China, meanwhile, are at the bottom of the pack. Globally speaking, mobile jobseekers are most prevalent in the UK and Australia, accounting for 40% and 36% of searches respectively.

With mobile devices looking to take over personal computers as the preferred internet access devices by 2014, these job seeking trends look set to continue.

ASIA

Career stagnation pushing professionals out Eighty per cent of professionals in Asia have left a role due to a lack of career progression. According to the inaugural edition of the Focus Asia Whitepaper series, by Robert Walters, most professionals (85%) also enquired specifically about career progression during their interview process.

The “Using Career Progression to Recruit the Best Professionals” whitepaper found that 74% of job seekers deemed career progression “very important” when considering new job opportunities. A majority of organisations (78%) offered career progression in the form of international mobility among their global offices. Still, only a little over half (54%) of professionals said their organisations “mostly” followed through with the career progression they advertised for the role.

“Our research shows that candidates place great importance on career progression opportunities while considering a job offer,” Mark Ellwood, Managing Director – Southeast Asia, Robert Walters commented. “In the workplace, this importance continues as employees look towards acquiring new skills and work experience in their career.

“In a candidate-short environment, attracting and retaining top talent remains a key challenge for all employers,” he added.

“Knowing that career progression ranks high among candidates makes it increasingly important to ensure that employers include such opportunities in job offers. “An employer who clearly defines a career development path and strategically implements the right initiatives is more likely to both attract and retain a high-performing employee for a longer period,” Ellwood explained.

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1 in 5

complaints received by TAFEP relate to race, language, or religion Source: Tripartite Alliance of Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP)

The minimum relevant income for required mandatory provident fund contributions rose to

HK$7,100 per month (US$915.86) on November 1

Source: Hong Kong’s Legislative Council

Over

80%

of Singapore organisations have, or are developing, an HR portal Source: Towers Watson’s 2013 HR Service Delivery and Technology Survey

44%

of companies in Asia have no specific business continuity plan to address disaster readiness issues Source: Mercer’s 2013 Survey Report on Workforce Readiness: When Disaster Strikes

Restrictions on foreign workers are prompting labour cost fears amongst Singapore’s small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), according to new findings from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Their Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) for 2013 found that overall, businesses in Singapore were the most positive among the major markets towards their Government’s response to the economic downturn.

Some 46% of SMEs rated this as “good”, far above the global average of 15%. Large corporates in Singapore were similarly positive.

A higher number of SMEs (58%) reported a lack of investment opportunities during that period than the global average for SMEs (47%). Almost half (49%) of large Singapore corporates also complained of this.

Gabriel Low, member of ACCA’s Global Forum for SMEs said there were still some positive patterns emerging for Singapore’s SMEs. “Over the 21-month period ACCA and IMA analysed, there has been a steady improvement in business confidence,” he said.

“Unlike their larger counterparts, SMEs in Singapore have not had to cut staff numbers by anywhere near as much. Some 51% of large and mid-market companies cut staff numbers, compared to just 29 % at the smaller end of the business spectrum (companies with fewer than 250 employees).”

According to the Singapore Business Federation – DP Info Group SME Index – a forward-looking measurement of Singapore SME business sentiments over the past 3 ½ years – an increasing number of SMEs are focusing their attention on productivity improvements as they adjust to higher labour costs.

“The pickup in investment and business expansion indicators are signs that SMEs are making a concerted effort to drive growth by investing in better processes and equipment, rather than through manpower increases,” said SBF CEO, Ho Meng Kit. “SMEs are also increasingly looking to emerging markets in Asia and further away to drive growth.”

NEWS

Say NO to Manual Payroll Businesses with less than 50 employees

CHINA

Workers disengaged China has one of the world’s lowest levels of employee engagement, a survey by US-based Gallup has found.

About 68% of employees in China aren’t engaged in their jobs, and 26% are actively disengaged and likely to disrupt their colleagues’ efforts, according to its report, State of the Global Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for Business Leaders Worldwide.

Low engagement is pervasive across Chinese workers with different job types and education levels.

The seven per cent engagement rate among collegeeducated workers is not meaningfully SINGAPORE

Education and labour market flexibility have gone some way to balancing the labour market but the impact of skills shortages remains acute, according to the Hays Global Skills Index. The Index scale ranges between 0 and 10, with the higher the score, the greater the difficulty for employers in findings skills.

The score of 4.6 for Singapore is indicative of a mixed labour market, the company says. It notes that the country’s improvements in education and labour market flexibility have pushed down the overall score, despite the on-going and acute shortage of high-skills.

Skills gaps can manifest themselves

A breakdown of Singapore’s score

Source: Hays

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1

Top skills in most demand

High-skills needed

Education flexibility Labour market participation Labour market flexibility Talent mismatch Overall wage pressure Wage pressure in high-skill industries Wage pressure in high-skill occupations Average

different from the five per cent rate among those with an elementary education or less.

Even among professional workers and managers, job types often characterised by high levels of status and autonomy, engagement is relatively rare at eight per cent. More worryingly, four per cent of sales and service workers – on which Chinese companies will rely to attract new customers in an increasingly consumer-based economy – are engaged.

China isn’t all that far below global levels, Gallup found: Only 13% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work. North America, which covers the US and Canada, had the highest proportion of engaged workers, at 29%, followed by Australia and New Zealand, at 24%.

0.8 5.6 0.6 5.9 2.6 8.5 8.5 4.6

• • • • • • •

Internal Auditors Senior Project Managers Qualified Accountants Business Development Managers Cloud Architects/Engineers Experienced salespeople Banking professionals

Prepare payroll for all employees

2

Source: Hays

through wage pressures, and mismatches between available talent and skill requirements. The score of 8.5 for ‘wage pressure in high-skill industries’ in Singapore shows there is a widening pay differential between high and low-skill industries. “These movements in pay are a local reaction to the skills shortage as employers struggle to recruit staff for roles in high-skill industries and occupations,” said Chris Mead, Regional Director of Hays in Singapore and Malaysia.

Meanwhile Singapore’s score of 5.9 for “talent mismatches” suggests the labour that is available lacks the skills employers want. “This mismatch between the demand and supply for skills means employers’ expectations for skills and experience are not always being met by the available candidates,” said Mead.

ISSUE 13.12

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Prepare

Process payroll to compute CPF and net pay

Process

3

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HR INSIGHT

Employee Engagement

The leadership trust gap Trust in leadership, one of the key drivers of employee engagement, is declining in Asia, says a recent survey by The Forum Corporation.

DOES YOUR BOSS APOLOGISE? EMPLOYEE

5%

He always does

14%

He often does

50% He rarely or never does

49%

91%

Compared to

THE PAST

69%

More important now for me to trust my boss

34%

I trust my manager less now

7%

I always do

said “I’m the boss, I shouldn’t have to”

38%

said it is “not necessary

I rarely or never do

BOSS

48% 74%

More important now for my employees to trust me

43%

My employees trust me less now

Nothing taking responsibility for their mistakes at work has a direct correlation to how much employees trust their bosses.

While both bosses and employees agree that trust is important, trust in the workplace has eroded in recent years.

HRMASIA.COM

51%

said they would look incompetent

18%

said they would look weak

Employee trust links directly to employee engagement and how much extra effort employees are willing to exert at work The 5% cent of employees who do not trust their managers at all, were also not at all engaged at work.

The 20% of the employees who trust their managers to “some extent” were the third most emgaged group and rated their willingness to extent extra effort at work to “some extent”.

The 67% of employees who trust their managers “to a great or moderate extent” were the second most engaged group.

The 8% of employees who trust their managers to a “very great extent” are also the most engaged group of workers.

Source: 2013 Forum Global Leadership Pulse Survey ISSUE 13.12

said it depends on the situation

18%

2%

It’s highly important to have a boss employees can trust

6

6%

I often do

Do employees trust their boss?

EMPLOYEE

BOSS

Why are bosses reluctant to apologise?

How bosses erode trust Repairing Trust: The three most important actions that leaders and employees agree can build trust

Listening to employees and understanding their concerns.

Walking the talk, following through on commitments.

Encouraging employees to offers ideas and suggestions.

NEWS

International US

Higher incentives, equal productivity The old adage of ‘you reap what you sow’ may not be coming true for US employers. Research there has found that offering employees higher salaries right at the onset does not provide any incentive to increase their productivity. Instead, this adjustment leads them to assume previous salary expectations were wrong.

But workers who were given extra salary after they accepted a job were 20% more productive than those whose salary was set when the role was accepted, even though they were all earning the same amount, the research from Harvard University found.

The study employed three groups of people to do the same one-time data entry task. It hired one group at $3 an hour, another at $4 an hour, and the third group at $3 an hour but with a $1 an hour raise after they accepted the job.

“Employees who were promised $4 worked no harder than those who were promised $3,” researcher Deepak Malhotra told the Harvard Gazette.

US Only

15%

of hiring managers in the US say job seekers’ skills and traits match those they are looking for

Women still want male bosses

Source: Third annual job preparedness indicator report by DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board

About

52%

However, “those who were promised $3 but then later were given an additional $1 worked significantly harder than the other two groups”.

The researchers say the difference boils down to perspective: If the workers know the extra compensation isn’t mandatory, they are more likely to want to reciprocate the gesture by working harder.

of all the work smart phones in the UK go missing while the owner is out drinking Source: report by Trend Micro, the Centre for Creative and Social Technology (CAST) at Goldsmiths, University of London and Vision Critical

UK

Tax cuts to boost youth employment Firms in the UK might soon have more incentive to hire unemployed young people. Finance Minister George Osborne is considering offering a tax cut for firms who take on jobless under-25s, as one part of a raft of measures to get more people in their teens and 20s into the workforce.

While the total number of UK jobless has fallen in the last year, the number of unemployed young people has remained stubbornly high, with the latest figures showing 965,000 unemployed people aged 16 to 25 years old. Of these, 75% are not in full-time education either.

The number of 18 to 24-year-olds who have been out of work for more than a year has risen to 281,000 in 2013. Additionally, the numbers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than two years has almost doubled this year.

Under the plan, businesses would be exempted from paying employer’s national insurance contributions for new staff aged under 25 and hired from unemployment, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

The idea is being pushed by the Million Jobs campaign, which argues that money used to fund and administer the Jobseekers Allowance would be better used to persuade firms to take on young people.

“Despite all this talk of economic recovery, for many young people across the country, nothing has changed. Youth unemployment continues to be sky high, hovering around one million,” director Lottie Dexter said. “Hundreds of thousands of young people need wrap-around support; they should be matched and mentored into work so they can find and keep jobs. It is essential that we throw these vulnerable young people a lifeline.”

Efforts to promote women into strategic leadership positions are being hampered by the continuing trend that sees workers of both genders preferring to work under male bosses.

35% of American workers favour a male boss, compared to 23% who would actively prefer a female supervisor. Additionally, women are far more inclined to say men are better supervisors, results from a new Gallup survey show.

2059 adults were asked whether they preferred to work for a man or woman, assuming they were taking on a new job. 51% of the male respondents said they had no preference, while 40% of women said they’d choose a man.

“It is a trend thick with irony: The very women who have complained for decades about unequal treatment now perpetuate many of the same problems by turning on their own,” researcher Peggy Drexler wrote in an essay for the Wall Street Journal. She describes some female bosses as “high school mean girls all grown up”. “(They are) women with something to prove and a precarious sense of security,” she writes.

Still, the fact that 40% of the people surveyed had no preference indicates “an acceptance of equality,” Gallup’s editor-in-chief Frank Newport added.

Only 30% of US workers currently report to a female supervisor or manager.

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NEWS

International GLOBAL

UK

Difficulty networking may be behind the gender pay gap, according to new research by the Toulouse School of Economics in France. It found that a major factor behind female directors earning 17% less than their male counterparts was the fact that they were less confident at building a personal and professional network Deborah Gills, chief operating for US-based women’s business research and advocacy group Catalyst, says the problem may lie with the act of networking itself, with women finding it “lacks authenticity”.

“Sometimes the notion of meeting someone and then looking to them for help, or advice, or contacts in business, often feels just a little uncomfortable. Men seem to do it much more naturally,” she said.

Instead, she advises women to think of networking as a business skill in its own right. “Just as we would focus our attention on developing other skills that are important to our success, we should spend time and care in building our confidence and ability to network effectively.”

The study found that male directors generally had much larger networks of past acquaintances, while female directors instead focused on a few strong relationships.

Wage increases in the UK are slowing down, despite a growing economy and the unemployment rate falling to a three-year low.

The percentage of 16 to 64 year-olds in employment rose to 71.8%.

However, according to research by MetLife UK, almost 18% of the 2,870 working adults surveyed said that they have not had a pay rise in the last three years. Rachel Reeves MP, shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, said in a report by BBC: “On average, working people are more than £1600 a year worse off under this out-of-touch government.”

In particular, those aged 45 and above are most likely to have witnessed a freeze on their wages – about 34% for those aged between 45 and 54 and 33% for those older than 55.

In a report by employeebenefits.co.uk, Claire Oldstein, marketing director of Metlife UK, said: “Pay freezes are a regrettable reality for many employees and will have an influence on preserving for retirement, notably for older workers.”

This freeze on their wages will have an adverse impact on their retirement savings and plans. Oldstein added: “Retirement savers need to maximise their savings and guarantees have an important role to play in ensuring that people near to retirement can plan ahead and those who are still investing for retirement can protect their funds.”

Networking issues behind pay gap

Slower wage growth hits all

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LEADERS ON LEADERSHIP

Talent Management

Impact of technology Do you foresee new technologies affecting leadership and leaders? How and why?

Michael Anderton

Managing Director, Building Efficiency, Johnson Controls Singapore

New technologies have changed the traditional hierarchical, top-down exchange into one that is more collaborative. Therein lays tremendous opportunity to foster innovation, crowd source ideas, mine information and engage staff. It is important for leaders to recognise this, enable it and remove obstacles in the organisation.

With the speed and amount of information that is shared and made available, employee expectations have changed. Generation Y, who are digital natives, also have different work style preferences. For an engineering company like Johnson Controls, our skilled engineers and technicians are our lifeblood, so it is critical to remain attractive to them in this competitive landscape.

What we have done in Johnson Controls is to build on our strong track record in technical excellence, financial performance and social responsibility, steadily integrating new communications technologies in our work processes, for example Salesforce and Office 365. With more than 50% of our employees based in the field, we are investing in mobile technology platforms to facilitate better access to information, colleagues and other technical resources that will improve performance and ultimately job satisfaction. As leaders in an increasingly volatile business environment, we need to be in touch with how new technologies can help strengthen the relationship among employees and with the leadership, creating a dynamic and resilient organisation that is well tuned to meet the needs of customers.

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Lars Voedisch Managing Director, PRecious Communications

I don’t believe that technology will or has changed leadership styles, but it has amplified certain behaviours.

One of the main opportunities and challenges of technology though is the concept of “working anywhere” – through cloud services and mobile technology, many company services can now be accessed at nearly any time and place, be it emails, documents or applications.

This allows for more flexible working arrangements as staff can fulfil their duties and tasks remotely e.g. from home or even overseas.

However, the challenge with remote work is a lack of personal interactions with colleagues. So leaders would have to make sure that they add a human touch through the communication channels they choose (e.g. vary emails with phone calls or mandatory in-office days).

The bigger challenge though is to work around the “always on” mentality. Especially as more social tools are used to stay connected like Facebook or messaging services like WhatsApp, the lines between work and private are blurring.

Yet, I believe that overall technology might have changed the way how leaders and their teams work but it has not changed the characteristics or chosen style of leadership. A micro manager will use technology to his advantage the same way as somebody who’s more laid back but might provide access to more resources now. At the end, these conversations are the same as when companies started issuing laptops or Blackberries to their staff.

Mike Lim

Advanced Technology Practice Leader, Asia Pacific, DHR International

The rapid advancement of technologies such as mobile and social media has made it easier for leaders to communicate with their people but executives should not forget it’s still about connecting with the other person.

Technology has improved the speed and provided more methods to communicate but the fundamentals of good leadership and management have not changed.

After having been in the high technology sector for so long, I have long realized change is the only constant. Today›s leaders and senior management will need to embrace new communication tools or risk being alienated from their people, consumers and potentially miss evolving trends. The need for clear direction and unwavering leadership is probably more critical than ever before in the face of increasing complexity. With tools such as whatsapp, wechat, facebook, linkedin, email and your mobile phone all vying for your attention, consistency, transparency and time management have become extremely important. But all these technologies haven›t replaced the need to still meet face to face, look someone in the eye and build mutual trust. As an executive recruiter, I have seen leadership characteristics such as adaptability and tolerance of ambiguity becoming prerequisite skills to survive in today›s business world.

New communication technology brings new opportunity and increased complexity to the modern day executive. However one could argue that our parents also had to evolve from paper and fax to email. Change is inevitable; embrace it with a sense of adventure.

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CONGRESS SERIES

4th Annual

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR HR CONGRESS 21 January 2014 | Suntec Convention Centre

The 2014 Social Media HRM Congress delivers case studies and real world examples of best practice for driving social media integration into the Employee Life Cycle. From MultiGen workforce engagement to organisational risk prevention, this one-day event will guide you towards effective social media strategies whilst actively measuring its effectiveness. Join us as we gear up for 2014 by benchmarking HR social media strategies with award-winning organisations and speakers.

Hear from top industry experts:

Seiyi Goh Director - Talent Management and Development SINGTEL

Bandhana Rai Director - South Asia and ANZ Talent Acquisition DELL

Martin Prinz Senior Director Business Process Innovation EMC

Richard Lau Vice President Recruitment CERTIS CISCO SECURITY

Key Learnings: EW N

No Longer Just Conferences – We’re a Community Now

Aditi Madhok-Naarden Regional Head of Talent - Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa MASTERCARD

Nicola Weatherhead Head - Staffing APAC GOOGLE

HRM Community This special new HRM Community offers delegates and speakers full access to an online discussion and Q&A forum both before and after the event. Designed to assist you to maximise your learning, whilst providing on-going assistance for implementing strategies back in your organisation after the event.

Post Event Webinars To assist delegates with implementing strategies learnt during the event still further, a new series of Post Event Webinars is being offered. Featuring key speakers, these webinars offer you further help to address challenges being faced with expert solutions.

# # # # #

Explore innovative recruiting strategies to maintain active and engaging social media footprints Harness social media to its full potential to leverage

employee value proposition Aditi Madhok-Naarden is the Regional Head of Talent for MasterCard across Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and heads the team responsible for Talent Acquisition, Management andMeasure Development across the region.

She is based at MasterCard’s HR social media efforts by benchmarking ROI regional headquarters in Singapore. Prior to joining MasterCard in April 2012, Aditi was Vice-President - Talent and Development for Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, also based in metrics with top organisations Singapore. Her prior work experience includes heading Leadership and Talent as well as Resourcing and Talent for Prudential UK & Europe, while being based in London.

She started her career in London at IBM where she joined as an HR Business Partner Inspire MultiGen employee engagement and learning to for Integrated Technology Delivery before becoming a manager for Pan European HR Commercial Engagements and Alliances. boost workforce performance Aditi has an MSc in Human Resource Management from the London School of Economics and is a member The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Prevent organisational social media risks with the help of (MCIPD). customised HR guideliness

www.hrmcongress.com | +65 6423 4631

LEADERS TALK HR

Mundipharma

person person Building the company,

by

Mundipharma is serious about creating a “new face of pharma” environment, with Google-esque offices and an emphasis on the exact kind of talent being hired. Regional Director for Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Raman Singh shares how he personally ensures an entrepreneurial spirit within the organisation

By Shalini Shukla-Pandey “Never, never, never give up”, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously once said.

The saying still holds true for Regional Director of Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa at Mundipharma, Raman Singh.

Having been his credo since his self-funded studies at graduate school, Singh has imbibed this into the corporate culture at the leading global pharmaceutical company as well.

Every member of the leadership team has a framed poster of the quote in their office, courtesy of Singh.

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Despite getting off a plane from South Korea less than an hour before the interview, Singh talks with passion, complete with a twinkle in his eye.

“There is a real war for talent in the pharmaceutical industry today,” he starts off.

“As everyone expands into emerging markets, they want experienced, well-read individuals.

However, these are few and far between because talent is not mature in these markets.”

Retaining talent is another ongoing issue.

“With an average attrition rate of 18-20% in

BIOGRAPHY Raman Singh

Regional Director – Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Mundipharma

Based in Singapore, Raman Singh is Regional Director of Mundipharma for Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, overseeing all aspects of Mundipharma’s network of independent associated companies within these regions. Singh was appointed to the role in November, 2011.

Prior to this he was vice-president of commercial operations for Emerging Markets at GlaxoSmithKline in London. In that role, he oversaw all aspects of the brand’s commercial operations across its emerging markets. He has also held senior positions with Abbott where he served as a Regional Director for Australia and New Zealand, and General Manager for Korea.

Singh has also held a number of sales, marketing and strategy positions with Bayer.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from The American Graduate School of International Management.

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LEADERS TALK HR

Mundipharma Exchanging fresh ideas The pharmaceutical industry works closely with universities on research and development and has a strong emphasis on cultivating an open community for knowledge sharing between patients and the medical fraternity.

In South Korea, Mundipharma’s graduate programme was borne out of the idea that if fresh graduates joined the company early on and were provided with ample opportunities to develop their careers through job rotations, they would then bring with them a culture of innovation.

“They are also easier to mould. They come in fresh, hungry to learn,” says Raman Singh, Regional Director – Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Mundipharma. “We bring them in and make them go through the culture of the company and different functions and I believe the retention rates are higher that way. We give them opportunities and invest in them, so there is a lot more loyalty from them.”

the healthcare industry in Singapore, and 30% in China, how does one retain talent?” he asks. “Managing career aspirations? Providing learning and development?

Helping employees grow with the organisation?”

Mundipharma has been lesser known than to other pharmaceutical companies in the emerging markets of Asia, although the organisation remains wellestablished in the US and UK. Singh indeed has had his work cut out for him since he joined two years ago.

From Singapore to Dubai:

Local talent goes regional Having been with Mundipharma for just 18 months prior to being relocated to the Middle East, Joycelyn Lee, Regional Director, HR – Middle East and Africa was heading the HR department in Singapore.

“She was absolutely one of the high potentials right from the beginning,” says Raman Singh, Regional Director – Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa for Mundipharma.

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Humanising pharma Mundipharma’s focus on pain and stress innovation has influenced the lives of thousands of people in the regions it operates in. The nature of the industry is such that people may become desensitised, and Singh spares no effort in humanising the industry by religiously focusing on patient needs.

“The patient always comes first,” says Singh. “The patient is always at the centre of our business. So every level of the business has to work towards this final outcome.”

To achieve this, Singh has put in place a global code of conduct, and has set about ensuring every employee is held accountable for their actions. “The company culture had to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit amongst staff, such that they were empowered to make decisions for the final purpose of patient care,” says Singh.

The efforts have so far paid off. A culture survey by external provider Hays showed a 93%-response rate in favour of the work environment, much higher than the average of 70-80%. “We then had to think about how to sustain this culture,” Singh said.

In his day-to-day communication and behaviour, Singh tries to live the company culture. This has been cascaded down through all ranks of employees. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial culture at Mundipharma, Singh invited his receptionist to speak at a recent town hall meeting.

HRMASIA.COM

“She said: ‘I am the face of Mundipharma. Anybody who comes into the office, the first person he or she meets is me.

The impression of the company is absolutely reflected in the way I interact with the individual who walks into the office or when I answer the phone’,” Singh recounts.

The receptionist demonstrated initiative and commitment to the business, understanding that she, as an individual, is a powerful force for change in the organisation. “So people from the leadership team right down to rank-and-file workers understand what it means to be entrepreneurial,” he added.

Leadership matters This entrepreneurial culture drives empowerment, the aim being that everybody in the organisation is aligned and playing a role in being a leader. A strong performance management system also ensures all staff have goals that are cascaded from the top.

“We regularly monitor feedback and provide comprehensive learning and development plans – 70% on the job and 30% classroom – to stretch an individual,” says Singh. “This calls for the organisation to take some bets on people – we do a lot of that.”

The demanding leader expects a lot from his people but he is also approachable and fair, giving staff the resources they need to excel at what they do.

“We provide coaches and mentors, amongst other interventions such as a formal training programme,” he says. “The top 25 employees in the company (not necessarily top executives) go through an 18-month expedited training programme.”

Singh also conducts personal one-on-one coaching sessions with his leadership team, keeping everyone on the same page, to bring the business on a path sustainable growth.

Looking for the best Although he was based in London, Singh opted to move to Singapore for the duration of his role, enabling him to be in the same time zone as other Mundipharma offices in Asia.

He also wanted to be able to move easily around the region to meet with staff, clients, and governments. “However, I needed a leadership team that was capable and top-notch in every country under my jurisdiction,” he says. “It was really important that we hired the right people.”

This wouldn’t prove to be an easy task, as Mundipharma wasn’t well-known among its target recruitment market. Also, Singh is of the mind that people attract people. In fact, he joined Mundipharma because he was impressed with the shareholders.

“I liked the board. I saw Mundipharma as a sum of its people and thought if that triggered for me, it would do so for a lot of other people. So I decided to put myself out there (as part of the initial recruitment drive),” he explains.

While recruiting his leadership team, Singh looked towards identifying the individuals that the company

LEADERS TALK HR

needed to hire and targeted them. “That person had to fit into the culture. He or she shouldn’t mind going from rolling up their sleeves to making a cup of coffee, to sitting down in front of a computer and planning a strategic roadmap for 10 years,” Singh says.

“In a start-up environment, you do everything. You need a very different kind of personality and capability to do that,” he explains.

Singh flies out and meets with leadership candidates personally, so as to build a rapport with them. “It was really important to me to hire the right people to lead in this region, especially when Mundipharma was not well-known,” he says. His efforts have paid off handsomely. When he joined in November 2011, there were only about 20 staff in the Singapore office, but now the team has expanded to more than 60.

When Mundipharma first started its journey of expansion, it relied a lot on external talent. “We needed to move talent around; hire external talent, shift internal talent into different roles or out of the organisation altogether; and train everyone for different skills,” he explains. “I had the opportunity to create a culture from scratch here in Asia and that’s why we have a nice mix of people.”

Today, the organisation is doing a lot of internal hiring, creating movements that give staff additional responsibilities. “For example, when a country manager position was open in Malaysia recently, we took the commercial director from Korea and filled the role,” says Singh. “Also, for an HR director position for the Middle East, we took the director of HR from Singapore (see: boxout).”

The company also champions localisation. “I’ve never worked in a company that has so much local talent as

Mundipharma,” says Singh. For instance the general managers for China, Brazil, Columbia and Vietnam are all locals from the respective countries.

“In order to understand the local patient needs, local regulations, and what exactly the company needs to do to fit into the society and culture of a country, it is extremely important that we don’t compromise on talent and do everything possible to get the best,” Singh says. “And that’s what we’ve done.”

Now that the organisation is growing, Singh has started mixing talent around a little as most local talent also want regional exposure. “That’s why we’ve put a Korean in Malaysia for the first time,” he says.

“Somebody will want my job one day,” he adds. “So we have to be sure that we give the talent that’s out there enough exposure so that they are prepared to take over the helm and manage the organisation one day.”

Mundipharma has

57 years

of heritage in both hospitals and in household brand names

• I love: My work.

• I dislike: Missing special moments of my children, aged 11 and nine • My inspiration is: That we can make a difference in patients living in emerging markets • My biggest weakness is: That I don’t turn off from work.

• In five years’ time I’d like to be: Making sure that products that Mundipharma make reach many more people than today.

• Favourite quote: “Never, never, never give up” – Winston Churchill

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HR INSIDER

Selecting top talent

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HR INSIDER

Select Group

Labour intensive roles, a shortage of manpower and high levels of employee churn. These are some of the challenges facing Singapore’s highly competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape. Boosting productivity attracting and retaining young talent are some ways to tackle them, says home-grown F&B business Select Group

By Sumathi V Selvaretnam

It’s an exciting time for the food and beverage (F&B) industry in Singapore, as the country builds its reputation as a culinary paradise. Every week, new and exciting restaurant concepts are taking shape in this food-crazy nation. While businesses are riding on this wave of growth, they are also facing a host of HR challenges, including the attraction and retention of the right talent within a tight labour market.

The Select Group has been in the food business for over two decades, extending its reach into areas including Chinese fine dining, events catering, Thai casual dining, themed food courts, quick service restaurants, and even Hong Kong desserts. It employs some 1,600 employees across its 17 brands.

Grooming talent for future growth

AT A GLANCE • Number of employees: 1,600 • Size of HR team: 10 • HR priorities: Recruitment and nurturing of young talent, staff training and development, improving workforce efficiency and productivity

To keep up with its rapid expansion plans, Select has been re-thinking its recruitment, retention and talent management strategies, shares Doris Pek, Director of HR, Learning and Development, and information technology with Select Group. Looking past traditional means of recruitment, the company has been actively seeking out young talent at local educational institutions. “We offer book prizes to cream-of-the-crop students who display good academic performance. Award recipients also receive four to six-month internships where we get to assess their talents,” says Pek. The Select Group has been tapping on the training, support, and incentives offered by Spring Singapore’s Core Executive Programme (CEP), which grooms management associates in organisations to eventually fill up middle and senior-level positions. Select currently has 20 management associates under its wing.

Management associates who enter the business are asked to focus on a particular area right from the

start, instead of being rotated through different roles as is normally the practice. This helps them to gain a deeper understanding of that specific business function, says Pek. To attract more business and HR graduates under its wing, Select is also an industry partner under the Ministry of Manpower’s National HR Scholarship programme. This is a midterm scholarship that provides support for the remaining duration of recipients’ undergraduate studies. It aims to channel talent towards industry partners such as Select, where their HR expertise will be highly valued.

The SME Advantage With so many large organisations vying for talent, HRM asked Pek about the advantages of working for a local Small or Medium Enterprise (SME) like Select. She says the hierarchy in SMEs is very lean and management associates get to work directly with the senior management in the company. “By assigning them to specific business functions, we are also able to identify their strengths early and groom them faster. We offer them a more enriching learning curve,” she adds.

Fresh off the boat, one management associate was tasked with developing new tourism accounts for Select’s outlet at the Singapore Flyer. Her strong leadership skills became apparent during the year-long stint and she has now been assigned to develop two new F&B concepts that will see her working closely with the operations team, suppliers, contractors and interior designers, shares Pek. While a multinational corporation might be able to offer a higher salary, monetary gains are not the sole motivation of young talent today, says Pek. “Young people today want to integrate their interests and passion into their careers.”

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HR INSIDER

Select Group Plans are also underway for a structured Talent Management Framework that aims to identify and groom top talent right from the interview process, as well as plan a candidate’s long term growth with the company every step of the way.

Doing more with less The F&B industry is one of those most affected by foreign worker quota restrictions in Singapore.

Previously, the ratio of foreign to local workers at Select was higher. With quotas restrictions, it is currently 40:60. “With the quotas cut, the whole industry is poaching each other’s workers. So we are continuously reviewing their remuneration and benefits,” says Pek.

Select has introduced a number of programmes to deal with the manpower crunch. Its part-timer scheme, for example, gives housewives and retirees the flexibility to work at its outlets for four hours a day. “This help to cushion us during our full-time employees’ off days,” explains Pek. Re-designing jobs has also enabled Select to do more with less. Previously, each employee specialised in one work station. By re-designing the jobs, employees can now work across multiple stations. For example, an employee working in the kitchen can now seamlessly switch to a customer-facing role.

Most of the preparation work that was previously done in the kitchen is also now consolidated at

WHO’S WHO IN HR Karalyn Ong Management Associate, Recruitment and Talent Management, Select Group

Doris Pek Director of HR, Learning and Development & IT, Select Group

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Leow Lipin Management Associate, HR, Select Group

HR INSIDER

Select’s central kitchen in Senoko. This has helped to boost productivity, increase sales per labour by 50% and allowed Select to re-delegate duties. The central kitchen arrangement also creates greater flexibility and enables staff to be easily deployed across Select’s different outlets.

Push for productivity As Select’s employees are spread across different outlets, disseminating employee information can be a challenge. Earlier this year, the group established a HR information system (HRIS) to electronically handle functions like leave and salary slips.

Now employees can obtain all company-related information from an Intranet site, helping HR speed up its processing time and save 25% of its hours.

Previously each HR executive could oversee the needs of 300 employees but with the current system, this has increased to 400 employees.

The new HRIS system has also helped HR save time that can be invested on site visits that help to better assess needs on the ground, says Pek. “They can better understand what employees want and develop better policies.”

The Select Group has also introduced technology such as E-menus at is restaurants. This allows customers to browse their menus more efficiently and place their orders. Wait staff are also equipped with iPads, where they can key in orders that will be sent straight to the kitchen. “The paper method took about four minutes. The iPad saves 50% of the time spent on taking orders,” shares Pek. This has led to faster table turnarounds at its restaurants.

Structured training programmes have helped reduce Select’s turnover rate from 7% to 4%

Structured training programmes The introduction of structured training programmes has helped reduce Select’s turnover rate from seven percent to four percent, shares Pek. In 2008, Select was accredited as an Approved Training Organisation by the Workforce Development Agency and now offers seven structured Workforce Skills Qualifications training modules.

Workers are awarded with certificates upon the completion of each module. Those who complete all seven receive cash tokens. Post-course evaluation feedback has revealed that more than 85% of the trainees were “highly satisfied” with the courses, shares Pek. “Even the older workers are more motivated and confident, with many of them looking forward to more training.”

Employees can apply the skills learnt throughout their careers. “The skills become their own assets and do not belong to the company. They are also happier at the workplace, and efficiency has improved,” she adds.

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COVER STORY

Diversity

GENDER INTELLIGENCE

at work

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COVER STORY

Gender blind spots are one of the main causes of workplace conflict. In this exclusive Q&A, bestselling author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and STJobs HR Summit Speaker John Gray shares how a better understanding of the innate differences between both genders can lead to greater business success

By Sumathi V Selvaretnam

Q A

What are some of the main sources of workplace conflict between men and women? What are some trigger points?

Gender blind spots are the main triggers of conflict at work. This often happens when you are communicating one thing but hearing something else. In a survey of 100,000 executives in Fortune 500 companies, it was revealed that over 70% of women felt that they were not being heard. In contrast, over 90% of men surveyed felt that they were listening to what women were saying. A lack of communication is thus a major trigger point.

Q A

How can gender differences complement each other?

When differences are not understood in a positive way, they give rise to tension and conflict. Valuing unique differences is the basis of diversity training. Gender differences are the most common. As we begin to understand where others are coming from, only then can we fully appreciate their contributions.

Imagine this scenario: three men and a woman are at a meeting table. The men are dominating the conversation. They do not need an invitation to participate in the conversation. However, the woman feels that, “If you value my point of view, you will ask me”. She might misinterpret the situation and feel that she is being intentionally excluded from the conversation. Missing such an opportunity to communicate leads to an unnecessary rise in tensions.

Also, if the men were more aware, they would notice that the woman was not speaking up and encourage her to do so.

Q A

What is gender intelligence?

Gender intelligence enables you to understand the differences between men and women and appreciate them. Initially, the workplace was primarily designed by men, for men. As more women started entering the workforce over the past 20 years, they have had to make adjustments to fit in. For example, they had to adopt more masculine qualities to earn respect.

Today, thanks to gender intelligence, women can be both feminine and successful. Flexi-work and personal support from HR are a result of feminine qualities coming into the workplace. They have also fostered more cooperation, team building, and better communications between departments. Before this, it was not acceptable to seek to improve working conditions. Therefore, women’s contribution in the workplace not only improves the company’s bottom line but also creates a more personally fulfilling work environment.

The good news is, gender intelligence can be taught.

As gender intelligence increases the workplace becomes more balanced and conditions improve.

Also, according to research by Forbes magazine, companies that have a good balance of male and female executives at the board level are more successful as their bottom lines increase.

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over

70%

of women felt that they were not being heard

HRMASIA.COM 21

COVER STORY

Diversity

Q

While women have been making further inroads in the business world, many of them still hit the corporate glass ceiling. How important is gender equality really, in the work environment?

A

Some countries achieve gender equality by ignoring the differences that exist. While equality is important, you can’t it achieve with blindness. In Scandinavian countries, everyone is treated as equal but the stress levels experienced by working women is much higher.

Piercing the glass ceiling requires one to work 80 to 100 hours a week. Men are more willing to do that. Most women are not willing to sacrifice their personal lives for money. Until workplaces do not require women to give up their personal lives, most of them will not want to do what it takes to get them through the glass ceiling.

Women and men are also wired differently. Most men use the left part of their brain more and are more attuned to impersonal transactions. Women, on the other hand, use the right side of their brain more and cultivate more personal relationships. Norway for example, leads the way in terms of gender equality. Yet 90% of all engineers there are male and 90% of all nurses are female. This is

Catch John Gray ‘live’ at the 2014 STJobs HR Summit

because engineering is less personal while nursing requires dedicated care and attention.

Q A

Do employees perceive male and female managers differently? How so?

Research has shown that 70% of women and an even higher percentage of men prefer male managers.

Men who are managers tend to give people the room to make their own decisions. They are less hands-on and more focused on results. Men especially, tend to prefer that. However, male managers are also less likely to look into the needs of their employees. Female managers tend to micro-manage and this can lead to tremendous job dissatisfaction. It is also not uncommon for male employees to like a female manager’s management style, while the same qualities are disliked by female employees.

Q A

Would you give an example of a common workplace behaviour that could be misconstrued by either gender?

Imagine another boardroom situation: a female employee makes a suggestion but is ignored by her male colleagues. Another male colleague makes the same suggestion and takes the credit. The woman takes this personally – “He stole my idea.” If the same happens between two men, the male employee who had his idea stolen would point that out and bring back his original

Dr. John Gray ‘s presentation at the STJobs HR Summit 2014: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus – At Work Learn how to resolve unnecessary gender conflicts, misunderstandings, miscommunications, resentment, and frustrations at work from the world’s foremost authority on gender relations Dr John Gray.

In this intriguing session, Gray exposes the “Eight Gender Blind Spots” inspired by his most recent best-selling publication Work With Me. This is a relational guide that helps men and women find greater success and satisfaction in their professional and personal lives through the realisation that gender differences are intended to complement, not compete with each other.

Based on survey results of over 100,000 in-depth interviews with male and female executives in over 60 Fortune 500 companies, attendees will learn what compels men and women to think and act as they do, direct how they communicate, solve problems, make decisions, resolve conflict, lead others, and deal with stress.

28-29 April 2014 Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre 22

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Top three takeaways • Discover the eight blind spots that cause workplace conflict, and learn tools to improve communication, promote teamwork, and enhance working relationships.

• Increase your productivity by providing a greater awareness and appreciation of the diverse characteristics within each of us – and how these differences can positively or negatively affect productivity • Increase your effectiveness by empowering you to overcome frustration and resolve conflict in difficult communication situations.

COVER STORY

suggestion to gain full credit. Men view the workplace as a competitive environment and want to score a goal.

Women would rather say, “We did it together.”

Q A

Do you think workplace gender issues are different in Asia?

There is a very strong lack of gender intelligence in Asia. There is also a very high level of stress and women are often misunderstood. To feel valued, they have to behave like men.

This leads to increased stress as women need work-life balance.

One common blindspot is where men view women who are emotional as “weak”. However, a woman who responds emotionally to a situation is not incapable of dealing with it. On the other hand, men who get emotional often feel powerless.

Some countries achieve gender equality by ignoring the differences that exist. While equality is important, you can’t it achieve with blindness – JOHN GRAY, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS AND STJOBS HR SUMMIT SPEAKER

Q A

What are you looking forward to most during your presentation in Singapore next year for the STJob HR Summit?

What I enjoy the most is having people say, “I didn’t know about that before” after hearing my presentation. I like helping people reach that realisation. Singapore is very clean and has many beautiful hotels. The people are also very friendly. I am looking forward to a nice vacation!

ABOUT THE SPEAKER Dr John Gray is the best-selling relationship author of all time and a leading international expert in the fields of communication and relationships. Globally-recognised for his best-selling Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Gray has sold over 50 million copies of his 17 books in 50 different languages around the world. His main focus is to teach men and women to understand, respect and appreciate their differences; to complement each other and not compete with each other in both personal and professional relationships.

Appearing on various radio and television shows, including Oprah, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Larry King Live and CNN, Gray together with Barbara Annis, has recently launched his new book Work with Me: The 8 Blind Spots between Men and Women in Business, which highlights and helps resolve the most stressful and confusing challenges facing men and women at work today.

This new book will also be the basis of his presentation at STJobs HR Summit 2014.

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ON

Dr. John Gray, Relationship Expert, Best-Selling Author and International Speaker Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus – At Work

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Eng-Sing Soon, Executive Director, Human Capital Management,Goldman Sachs Effective Inclusion of Your New Recruits

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FEATURE

Work

smart G e t t in g f le x ib le

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FEATURE

Compensation & Benefits

Commuters who travel into the city area’s 16 stations before the pre-peak period have been enjoying free train rides since June this year. The one-year trial is aimed at helping manage congestion during morning peak hours. While the government and some private sector employers already allow their employees to start and finish work earlier, more organisations are expected to follow suit. HRM discusses

By Shalini Shukla-Pandey

The latest tool in encouraging flexi-work in Singapore is the Travel Smart scheme, whereby early-bird commuters get a free ride to work (See boxout).

However, with companies still struggling to figure out flexi-work arrangements, will the scheme pay off?

Under the two-year Travel Smart consultancy pilot, launched in October last year, the LTA has been working with employers such as Rajah and Tann and BP Singapore to facilitate their staff to travel pre-peak and take advantage of the free travel.

“To date, most of the 12 organisations under the Travel Smart pilot have obtained management approval to implement flexi-work arrangements, such as staggering working hours and IT facilities to enable employees to work remotely,” says Alice Tan, Group Director – Corporate Services, LTA. “Some are even providing shower and locker facilities to encourage active travel.”

Working smart Besides facilitating productivity, providing employees with flexible work arrangements also enhances their engagement, says Tan Hoe Soon, Director, Career Development and Management – Public Service Division (PSD), Prime Minister’s Office.

The Public Service, committed to growing a work culture that supports flexible work practices, has put in place initiatives include educating supervisors about managing teams more flexibly, providing support to agencies in the design of their flexible work policies, as well as scaling up the capabilities its “agency ambassadors”.

Within their agencies, ambassadors design and roll out flexible work guidelines and policies, creating awareness through various communication platforms and developing training for supervisors.

The guidelines are intended to facilitate flexible work arrangements while improving work efficiency.

Travel Smart Under the one-year pre-peak free travel trial which began on 24 June 2013, commuters who end their journey before 7.45am on weekdays at 16 designated MRT stations in the city area can travel free. Those who exit between 7.45am and 8.00am will enjoy up to a 50 cents discount off their train fares.

The 16 designated stations are: Bugis, Chinatown, City Hall, Clarke Quay, Dhoby Ghaut, Lavender, Orchard, Outram Park, Raffles Place, Somerset, Tanjong Pagar, Bayfront, Bras Basah, Esplanade, Marina Bay, and Promenade.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said results have been encouraging so far.

There has been a near-20% increase in exits for the pre-peak period of between 7.00 am and 8.00 am. At the same time, there has been about a seven per cent drop in the number of people exiting the stations during the peak period of between 8.00 am and 9.00 am.

Another way of looking at the effectiveness of the trial in smoothening the morning peak period travel is to compare the ratio of exits for the peak period hour between 8.00 am and 9.00 am, with that for the pre-peak hour between 7.00 am and 8.00 am.

For the 16 city MRT stations, encouragingly, this ratio has gone down to 2.1 after the implementation of the free travel trial, compared to 2.7 before the trial, says LTA. Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo recently said an LTA market survey found that half of companies here did not offer any form of flexi-work arrangement. Key reasons why companies were not able to offer FWA included: • The nature of their operations do not lend themselves well to FWA (e.g. construction, manufacturing, uniformed groups, etc…)

• Their small staff strength. (Companies with more than 500 staff are more willing to offer FWA) • Their lack of expertise/experience to implement such measures in their organisations The LTA will continue to work closely with companies to explore how they can introduce more flexi-travel (flexi-work) arrangements. “For flexi-work arrangements to be effective, the companies must feel that they benefit from it (such as in making them an employer of choice, in reducing some of their operating costs such as reducing office space requirements) and that flexi-work also improves their employees’ well-being,” says LTA. “Such changes in organisational culture will take time and we will continue to engage these companies.”

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FEATURE

Compensation & Benefits

Preliminary results from the first week of the free travel trial indicated that there was a

29%

increase in exits during the pre-peak period of between 7.00am and 7.45am weekdays

Examples of such guidelines include time range for staggered work hours, core meeting hours, as well as access and use of information and communications technology (ICT) tools when telecommuting.

To support LTA’s free rail travel trial, many public agencies have expanded the range of their staggered hours, allowing workers to clock in at 7.30 (from 8.00am previously) where feasible.

“Ultimately, workplace flexibility is about helping our officers to give their best at work to better serve the public,” says Tan. “To ensure deliverables are met, work outcomes are evaluated through a robust performance management system which includes regular work reviews of officers’ performance, based on mutually agreed work targets.

“We will continue to foster a more flexible work culture, while ensuring good work outcomes and a high level of service,” he adds.

Walking the talk Many public sector agencies located near the 16 designated stations have been offering staggered hour arrangements for some years now, even prior to the free rail travel trial. “The option of staggered hours is offered as long as service to the public and work outcomes are maintained and the officers put in the

Work in Singapore, live in Bali In the advertising world, flexible working has been part and parcel of the overall work culture. In an industry notorious for working long hours, companies naturally allow leeway to staff in terms of start times and other employment terms.

“While we have our official hours, we are not very strict with timings. Staff don’t have to clock-in as we understand that they have to work on a project-basis, and sometimes on US and Europe time,” says Tang Seok Hian, head of talent management (Southeast Asia), Starcom MediaVest Group. “We are flexible as a company and take into account staff needs as well.”

One employee, Hanley King, regional director of the global network client in Asia-Pacific, embodies the true meaning of work-life balance. He owns a house in Bali where his wife and four children live, but works in Singapore, frequently travelling around the Asia-Pacific region.

King flies out of Bali early on Monday mornings to get to work and flies out of Singapore on Friday nights to go home every week. The advertising company’s flexiwork policies allow him to switch off from work on weekends while he’s in Bali.

“I work long enough hours during the weekdays, travelling around the region so I am able to draw a line and say weekends are for family,” says King. “However, I do have communication lines open in case of emergencies.

“The challenge is perhaps getting a taxi to go to the airport on Friday nights!”

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required hours each week,” says the PSD’s Tan. To reduce peak hour travel demands, LTA reviewed several flexible work arrangements offered by public and private employers, including staggered working hours, telecommuting and part-time employment.

It was one of the first employers to increase the time band for flexible work hours. “Staff are strongly encouraged to report to work at the timeslots of 7.00am, 7.30am, 7.45am, 9.15am or 9.30am, and avoid travelling to work during the morning peak hours,” says Tan of LTA. “Also, in support of the staggered working hours scheme, it is recommended that, as far as possible, all internal meetings should be scheduled to start on or after 9.30am,” she adds. “This is taking into consideration officers who opt to start work at 9.30am.”

LTA’s enhanced telecommuting scheme also allows its staff to have the flexibility to work from an alternate location other than the office.

As part of its Travel Smart initiatives, Ernst & Young (EY) implemented ‘Flextime’, allowing staff to start work as early as 7.30am or as late as 9.30am, with effect from the start of May this year.

“This allows the option of starting and ending work earlier, thereby enabling employees to leverage the free MRT rides if they wish to,” says Max Loh, Singapore country managing partner at EY. Before the introduction of ‘Flextime’, Sophia Mah, EY’s communications manager, was already going into the office and starting work early. “Having the ‘Flextime’ option means I can continue with my preference of starting the day early at 7.30am, and on less busy days I can leave the office at 4.30pm after I’ve completed my work,” says Mah. “That leaves me the rest of the evening and night to pursue my personal interest and activities. The free MRT rides in the morning are an added incentive.”

She explains that ‘Flextime’ is a sensible scheme that allows people to better coordinate their work and personal needs, and demonstrates the firm’s trust and commitment towards a workplace where work performance is measured by the quality of deliverables and not face-time.

In addition to ‘Flextime’, EY has several other options under its flexi-work programme, including: • Telecommuting and home working • Reduced work schedules and part-time work • Seasonal work schedules, allowing an individual to work less than 12 months in a year • Career breaks of between six and 24 months • Unpaid leave for up to six months • Temporary transfers from one role to another for a period of one to two years Still, some employers are unable to utilise the

FEATURE

early-bird transport arrangements because only 16 MRT stations are involved in the scheme. Sherwin Tien Siregar, deputy CEO of Atlas Sound and Vision says the closest stations to his company’s offices are Newton and Little India, both outside of the free travel scheme. “It would be great if it could be extended to include the Newton and Little India stations as well as other stations that are slightly outside of town, as it will benefit more folks, possibly improving the uptake of flexible working arrangements in organisations,” he said.

Workforce of tomorrow Despite much effort being put into promoting flexible working schemes, the uptake continues to be slow. A Ministry of Manpower (MOM) survey last year showed that only 41% of public and private sector employers offered at least one flexible work arrangement – a rise of just three percentage points from 2010.

“For flexible work arrangements to work, managers need to be mindful that employees who start work earlier should, correspondingly, be able to leave the office earlier,” says Tan of PSD. “Work routines, such as meetings, should also factor in such considerations.

“Even with all these initiatives, whether the person chooses to take advantage of the free rail travel is a personal decision which depends on a whole range of other factors apart from just work arrangements alone,” he adds.

Siregar believes the uptake of flexible working has been slow because of cultural issues that affect Singaporeans personally and contextually.

“There are offices who have attempted to implement flexible working arrangements but they were unsuccessful as a majority of the workforce were not on board with this. They felt like they should not inconvenience their colleagues by taking up the (flexible opportunity). Due to that mind-set, the take-up rate amongst employees has been low,” Siregar explains.

That being said, Atlas puts employee welfare first and does have a successful case study of an employee who is currently on a telecommuting arrangement.

“That flexible working arrangement worked out for her due to two reasons – it fits into her job scope and her team is supportive and is able to work around her arrangement,” says Siregar.

Many organisations have had some aspect of flexible working but staff may not know it is considered as such.

For example at Atlas, there is an unspoken arrangement where staff at the corporate office can choose a starting work time of between 8.00am and 9.00am, and then arrange to end their work day accordingly. “This arrangement, although not formalised, has been around for years and it is a form of flexible working,” says Siregar.

CASE STUDY

Ernst & Young Solutions LLP As an advocate for flexi-work, Ernst & Young (EY) recently introduced telecommuting, where staff can work from home, as part of a flexi-work arrangement programme.

“As a new mother, telecommuting has saved me commuting time, which translates to productivity and efficiency, allowing me to spend time with my baby at home without compromising on the quality of work,” says Priscilla Tham, Manager of Human Capital, EY. “I also need not worry about sustaining breastfeeding for my baby. With telecommuting, it allows me to work in the comfort of my own home and motivates me to be even more focused on my work,” she adds.

Moving forward, Tham believes employers and even employees, need to shift away from the “presentee-ism” mind-set, where people feel that they have to be in the office all day to be seen as demonstrating diligence at work.

“I hope in the near future, more employers are open to implementing flexiwork arrangements and engage their employees to finding creative solutions to work-life balance,” she adds.

For EY, the flexi-work programme is an opportunity for the firm to better connect with its employees’ lifestyle needs, something which Loh believes can help to raise productivity through giving the firm flexibility in resourcing and helping it to retain talent that is more engaged and empowered. Loh says EY has heard positive feedback from people on its flexi-work programme. Mainly, staff appreciate that the firm has been able to help them, especially working mums, to better balance their personal priorities with their careers.

“For the flexi-work programme to work, having a trust-based and collaborative work environment is important, where our people’s performance is measured by the quality of their deliverables and not physical face-time,” Loh explains. “We encourage continued open communications, teaming and commitment to coaching to ensure that we are vigilant of any abuse or challenges that arise, productivity goals are met and that our people continue to deliver exceptional client service.”

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FEATURE

Learning & Development

Professional coaching is a distinct service and differs greatly from therapy, consulting, mentoring or training. HRM looks at the visibility, understanding, and impact of coaching in the corporate world

By Shalini Shukla-Pandey

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FEATURE

A concept that has moved from the world of sports to the executive suite, executive coaching is a means to help senior executives manage a constantly changing business environment and refine their leadership skills, says Professor Sattar Bawany, CEO and Master Executive Coach, Centre for Executive Education.

Coaching isn’t just limited to senior levels either.

“Increasingly, people all over the world, at all levels, utilise executive coaches to help them achieve their full potential,” Bawany explains. “The process focuses on the participant’s goals, reinforces learning and change, and increases self-empowerment.”

Coaching is a technique that anybody can use. It’s a process that can help individuals and groups close gaps between where they are at present and where they want to be. Coaching differs from training in that it is a personal and intimate way of helping one find a solution to a problem, while training teaches one exactly how to solve a problem.

“While internal coaches can be effective, external professional coaches are better qualified and experienced in providing expert opinions, unbiased views without conflicts of interest with the organisation or individual in question,” says Dr. Steve Morris, Head Coach & Partner, Align HR - SMA – part of the Align HR Group.

“It’s like when you go for specialist opinions in healthcare. A professional coach is a specialist in growth and development,” Morris explains. “Professional coaches have the relevant training, tools and experience to bring out the best in people in a wide variety of circumstances.

In addition, they bring their experiences along with them.”

Amanda Moody, Assistant Director – Professional Development Centre, British Council (Singapore), likens a trainer to the captain of a ship; the one who decides the content of the training session. “A coach is more like a passenger of the ship, facilitating deep discussions while the client is a rudder, steering the conversations in the right way to help him or her succeed,” she explains.

The task of coaching has been anything but easy in Singapore and the region. “In the ‘90s, people here were generally afraid of coaching and thought it was a remedial action for people with problems,” Morris explains.

“However, it was the winners and leaders in the US who had coaches to assist them in getting to mastery levels.”

Agreeing, Helen Choe, Principal Consultant, Korn/ Ferry International, says people who have performance issues go for skills training, while those on top go for coaching to better maintain an executive presence and navigate their organisations.

The landscape has now changed, with more people being open to the idea of coaching and asking how they

can get more out of it. “The golden age of coaching is here,” says Morris.

How to coach?

There are essentially two types of coaching. One is top executive-level coaching that helps to maximise individual capabilities and potential. In his nearly 15-year career as a leadership coach, Morris has coached several high-ranking individuals including Deputy Secretaries, Chief Executives, Group Chairmen, Generals, Admirals, and even a former Commissioner of Police, helping them find their aspirations and manage how they are seen by others around them.

Choe believes coaching should be an intimate, one-on-one engagement with an individual. “This will allow the coach to truly help this person unlock themselves and have an outside-in perspective, thereby increasing self-awareness and understanding of the impact their behaviour has on others,” she explains.

“The fact that it is such an intimate session will likely make it uncomfortable for the person being coached, but it yields the best results as well.”

Group-level, or peer coaching is essentially an organisational development programme that helps teams to form bonds, share experiences and values and learn from each other.

“I am a big believer in peer coaching. Peer coaching is a great tool for leveraging off each other’s experiences,” says Morris. “We learn from each other while helping each other. What greater way to work and grow?”

Initially, people in a group setting will feel rather apprehensive about sharing and learning from each

Coaching results in an average return of

5.7 TIMES the initial investment

Source: Study by Manchester Inc.

Communication skills coaching A top ranking female executive in an international company wanted coaching in public speaking so as to be able to present to large international audiences. She also had some issues speaking up in meetings and thinking on her feet.

“We worked out what exactly the problem was, whilst also looking at her strengths to keep the assessment well-balanced,” says Amanda Moody, Assistant Director – Professional Development Centre, British Council (Singapore).

Due to the key communication style changes she learnt through the coaching sessions, such as how to pronounce words, intonations, adding humour, posture and how to work with visuals such as PowerPoint presentations, the executive was able to deliver a major presentation at a large international conference within four months.

“People were actually coming up to her to congratulate her for the excellent presentation,” says Moody. “Coaching and consistent feedback helped her to be able to better communicate in a business setting where there was a male majority as well.”

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FEATURE

Learning & Development Remedial coaching In the last two years, remedial coaching has taken off.

“Leaders in today’s hectic business environment tend to behave in negative ways, not managing their emotions effectively,” says Helen Choe, Principal Consultant, Korn/ Ferry International. “They want quick fixes to help them become more aware of what their negative behaviour implies.”

With remedial coaching, leaders can see through complex organisational issues more clearly and better lead their organisations. “This ties back to the point of coaching, which is to provide outside-in, broad and unbiased perspectives to problems,” says Choe.

other. However, when people learn that others are experience similar problems as them, they are less self-conscious and more open about sharing, coming up with innovative solutions in the process.

For instance, Morris has been working with the leadership team at the National Library Board for the past seven years, improving group dynamics along with individual behaviours and capabilities.

Coaching is not necessarily only for people who are already leaders, as it also plays an important role in succession planning. Morris recently worked with some key talents at BP to help develop them for future leadership roles.

“Management didn’t want to keep hiring expatriate staff for such roles so they decided on coaching highpotential talent and grooming them to become leaders of tomorrow,” he explains. “Indeed, coaching helped to polish them and maximise their potential.”

Other organisations which have done the same include Citibank and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

Before and after Still, coaching can get a bad reputation because people don’t align their expectations of what coaching can do for them, says Choe. “Coaching in Asia is a challenge as people here want quick answers. Coaching can’t do that,” she explains. “Regular sessions can provide some direction and guidance and provoke people to think more deeply. That’s where the real benefits of coaching start to show.”

Prior to finding a coach, HR should first assess the current situation that the organisation or individual is in. Using tools such as 360-degree feedback and profile tests, HR can determine how big the gap between “where I am right now” and “where I want to be” actually is, says Morris. “In cases where HR doesn’t have access to these tools, professional coaches can conduct the analysis for HR.”

After the initial assessment is complete, a developmental plan is then drawn up and reviewed by the coach to address gaps in areas such as communication and strategic leadership. “Coaching generally consists of regular bi-weekly or monthly 90-minute sessions with the individual in question, and spans a six, nine, or 12-month period,” Choe describes.

A key aspect of coaching is the measurement of results. This can be done in two ways: qualitatively and quantitatively. For a qualitative assessment, tools such as a 360-degree feedback can be used to compare a person’s behaviour both before and after the coaching plan was put in place.

Questions such as, “Can you see a change?” and “Are you getting a different reaction from people around you?” can also be asked to get a feel of how successful a coaching programme has been.

There are several qualitative tools to assess the efficacy of a coaching plan. These tools include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Team Management Systems and Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment.

“A good coach should be using a framework and have a structure to every conversation with a client,” says Moody. “This also helps in measuring the success of the coaching relationship in a very clear manner.”

Coaching is an ongoing journey. “Organisations must clearly define the purpose of coaching, gauge the process, and evaluate results. Coaching is not just about providing support,” says Bawany. “Ultimately, coaching should deliver what any business needs – real results.”

International Coaching Week 2014 International Coaching Week 2014 will take place from May 19 to 25 in 2014.

CASE STUDY

Leadership coaching Sattar Bawany, CEO and Master Executive Coach of the Centre for Executive Education, once had a client who was working in the Asia-Pacific Regional Operations team of a global financial services firm. The firm was expanding and adapting to increasingly competitive market conditions following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009.

“In this intensely hypercompetitive and fast-moving environment, the firm understood that there was one factor that keeps the company ahead - the commitment, creativity and energy of its people,” says Bawany. “They wanted a radical new focus for the leaders at all levels which would drive the results through engagement of the employee in a manner which would capture the very spirit of the company and act as a motivational, inspiring force.”

Using these principles and partnering with the firm, the “Leadership That Gets Results” (LTGR) programme was designed and delivered.

“The LTGR programme created new levels of co-operation and trust that flourished across the various business units of the company,” says Bawany. “Managers became more energised and motivated to take positive action and their new commitment was cascaded through the entire company.”

After the coaching intervention, managers were ready and able to shape the future success of the company and steered the firm towards achieving its corporate objectives and sustainable business results.

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FEATURE

Strategic HR

How to say

goodbye?

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FEATURE

Resignations, redundancies and dismissals are a natural part of an employee’s lifecycle at an organisation. HR needs to manage the employee separation so as to minimise legal risks to the business, protect the organisation’s reputation, and maintain workplace morale.

HRM finds out more

By Shalini Shukla-Pandey

Conventional wisdom is that staff “join companies”, but “leave managers”. However, research conducted by Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, indicates that it’s not always that simple. His analysis of more than a thousand post-exit surveys reveals that senior leaders have more influence than direct managers on the many factors that cause employees to disengage and leave.

Out of 39 possible reasons for leaving, 26% of respondents cited five influenced more by senior leaders than their immediate managers and supervisors. They were: • A lack of trust in senior leaders; • A lack of focus on quality; • A lack of honesty, integrity, or ethics in the organisation; • Uncertainty about the future of the organisation; and • An unhealthy or undesirable working culture.

Only 13% cited reasons more influenced by immediate managers, including a lack of feedback, unfair treatment, or a lack of focus on productivity. The remaining 61% of respondents cited factors that can be influenced by both senior leaders and managers, such as lack of recognition, lack of opportunity for training and development, unfair or insufficient pay practices, excessive workloads, and inflexible work arrangements.

“Undeniably, people do leave jobs because of poor direct managers, but there tends to be many more poor managers in companies that have poor and uncaring senior leadership,” says Branham.

Amit Tandon, managing director of Empyrean Partners, says reasons for employees leaving will mainly fall into two categories.

Firstly, everyone has certain expectations from the company that might or might not be met. “People may not see themselves as growing with the organisation anymore probably because the company is not doing well or the employee is not getting the desirable growth opportunities,” says Tandon.

People are also instinctively resistant to change, be it that of a manager, leadership, policies or a merger or acquisition exercise, Tandon adds. “In some cases, the reasons are

genuine as the new manager or policies might not be employee-friendly, but sometimes these fears are totally unfounded.

“Resistance to change leads to rumour-mongering and even resignations,” he says.

Managing goodbyes When managing resignations, redundancies and dismissals, it’s essential for the leadership of a company to keep its ears to the ground. “Most policy decisions are taken at the top level and a lot of times, leadership teams might not be aware of the expectations of employees,” says Tandon. “It is not just about meeting the expectations of employees but also about communicating with them.

“If you keep employees informed about the ‘whys’ of your decisions, they will be more open to accept them,” he adds.

“For instance, I have seen a number of people deciding to stay

Sample exit interview questions • What motivated you to begin looking for another job?

• What does your new company offer that encouraged you to accept their offer? What circumstances would have prevented your departure?

• What did you like most about your job?

• What did you dislike about your job? What would you like to change about your job?

• The quality of supervision is important to most people at work. How was your relationship with your reporting manager?

• How do you feel about the hierarchy of our company? Would you like to suggest anything to add on?

• Was the training you received sufficient to enable you to meet our performance expectations? Would you like to suggest any other training which is required?

• Do you feel you had the resources and support necessary to accomplish your job? If not, what was missing?

• What suggestions do you have to make this organisation a better place to work?

• Do you have any suggestions of who we might hire, or where we might find your replacement?

Source: Amit Tandon, MD, Empyrean Partners

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FEATURE

Strategic HR back in a company because the CEO personally came and talked to them.”

Heng Siow Ing, executive director, HR Business Partner – Group Technology, UBS, says that while it is important to exercise care when on-boarding a new employee, it is equally important that employers say goodbye properly when it is time for the employee to part with the company.

“Whatever the reason is for their leaving, the respect for them as individuals has to be maintained,” says Heng. “This will form part of their experience with the firm, and we want them as well as the company to have a good closure.

“When employees decide to resign, we take the time to understand their reasons and if there is something we could do for them by way of providing similar opportunities, we should endeavour to do so,” he adds.

In the case of particularly difficult conversations such as redundancies and dismissals, HR should be gentle and empathetic with employees when delivering the message, and always provide a contact number of someone in the company to call if they need any assistance.

“It would also be highly recommended that we offer them the confidential and private support of an employee assistance provider, where they can seek counselling and emotional support,” Heng adds.

Administering the exit interview Most companies believe exit interviews should be done by the employee’s own boss. “Every line manager should be interested in understanding why their employees are

Cheer when employees leave Some companies are at their most vindictive when their employees are at their most ambitious – meaning the worker is considering leaving for a job at another company.

“Some businesses go so far as a pre-emptive firing. Others sideline employees away from parts of their job,” says Chris Seper, founder and CEO of MedCity Media. “Then there’s that general freak-out at the idea of someone is leaving.

“Either way, once word gets out, a job seeker can expect endless water-cooler chatter and at least a few cold shoulders,” he adds.

While Seper doesn’t want his best employees to leave, he’s also proud when they do.

“I’ve tried to create an environment where employees will openly tell me about serious job offers,” he says. “The first thing I say is, ‘Congratulations’.”

Seper is one employer who looks at working with employees the same way he looks at building his company. “If I build a great company someone is going to want to buy it,” he explains. “If I have great employees who work hard, do well and grow professionally, someone will eventually want to come along and ‘buy’ them too.”

When an employee starts at MedCity Media, Seper tells them he’s dedicated to making them a success – and that includes knowing they may someday move on.

“I expect them to work hard and focus on their jobs,” he says. “But when that good opportunity comes along, they should privately pursue and let me know how I can help.

“And I conclude with, ‘just give me a chance to beat the offer’.”

This approach shows that an employer really does see employees as something more than flesh-covered widgets. It also eliminates leaving as a threat. “Great employees are so valuable, but no one is irreplaceable,” says Seper. “And if someone offers your stars something better, you have a choice: beat the offer or, if you can’t, wish them well.”

“Besides, don’t you want a company packed with people striving to do better?”

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leaving,” says Heng. “Although they could obtain the information via a third party, there is nothing like hearing it for themselves and taking the opportunity to dive into more details if there are serious problems within the department.”

Having exit interviews done internally also sends a message to the employee – the manager cares enough to set aside time to listen and understand what is driving their decision. “Exit interviews also often yield useful market information such as compensation levels, and the hiring activities of competitors,” says Heng.

Asking questions such as, “would you share with me your reasons for leaving?”; “what considerations did you take into account in deciding to leave this firm?”; and “what memories will you take with you about your time spent in this company?” can yield valuable information for HR, Heng explains.

While most companies conduct their exit interviews internally, Branham recommends the use of a third-party to conduct the exit interviews so as to increase the likelihood that the employee will be candid in responding to the questions asked.

“Most people are more likely to describe the real reason they left when the exit survey is administered by a third party than by their own employer, because they know the information is anonymous and they won’t be burning a bridge,” Branham explains.

The key aspect is trust, he adds. Some HR staff inspire trust more than others, but some departing employees will not reveal the real reason they are leaving to any company personnel, because they fear the information will be shared with their manager and they will not be given a good reference.

“Most employees who leave voluntarily tell company staff they are leaving because they are getting more pay or a better career opportunity, because those reasons are usually true,” says Branham. “As a result, most managers believe pay is the main reason employees leave when, as my research shows, pay is the root cause of only about 15% of all exits,” Branham adds.

In the case of downsizings and individual dismissals, he recommends consulting an attorney and using the services of a career transition firm to assist in planning the notification process providing services to ease the transition of dismissed employees to new employment.

Predicting staff departures Some companies use data to “predict” which employees will leave. For example, Google developed a formula that predicts the probability that each employee will leave, allowing the company to “get inside people’s heads even before they know they might leave”.

According to Eric Siegel, the author of the new book Predictive Analytics, HP’s ‘Flight Risk’ programme uses data to predict which HP employees are most likely to leave.

Siegel says that such programmes are “becoming increasingly common, especially with large organisations”.

FEATURE

Why do they leave?

Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, says the following are behind nearly every employee departure.

• New hires are disillusioned because the organisation failed to provide a realistic preview of the job.

• Employees are hired into, assigned to, or remain in a job that doesn’t match their talents.

• The employee does not receive enough performance coaching or feedback.

• There is little or no opportunity for learning, career growth and advancement.

• The employee is feeling devalued, ignored, or unrecognised (includes insufficient pay or pay inequity).

• The employee is feeling extreme negative stress from overwork, workplace conflicts, inadequate benefits, or worklife imbalance.

• The employee no longer has the trust in or confidence with senior leaders.

SM

SM

Certification serves as a visible acknowledgement of your demonstrated mastery of core HR principles and skills essential to the best practice of Human Resources.

Source: Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave

In a pilot group, Siegel writes, HP was able to reduce turnover from 20% to 15% when armed with this knowledge.

Some might even go as far as pre-emptive firing. A licensed practical nurse in the US was fired after complaining to her boss about perceived wage disparity. The National Labour Relations Board said the company fired the worker as a “pre-emptive strike” to prevent her from discussing wages at a future time, thereby finding the discharge unlawful.

“In a business, it is always better to know in advance than to get shocks. Loss of an employee is a potential loss of revenue for the company,” says Tandon. “So, any use of data to be prepared for an exit is always good.”

For instance, HR can help managers assess ‘flight risk’ by tracking factors such as how long since the employee has had a promotion or pay raise, whether high performers are paid below mid-point in their pay range, frequency of absenteeism, quality of manager, how frequently they apply for internal positions and are not selected, and recent triggering events (being passed over for promotion, departure of a close co-worker, co-worker conflict, or recent completion of an education degree), says Branham.

However, pre-emptive hiring is a questionable area. While HR can prepare by building a candidate pipeline, and other such measures, it shouldn’t be firing someone purely because he or she is looking for a change, Tandon explains.

Heng agrees, saying HR should be proactive and speak discreetly to strong performing employees who are considering leaving, to understand their situation and take action to address the problem areas.

“Other than for retention purpose, I do not think it is neither good practice nor productive use of time to predict leavers, especially so for pre-emptive firing purposes” she adds.

PHR® GPHR® SPHR® HRBP HRMP

Resign for the right reasons In an exit interview, one employee said he was leaving because his colleague received a 30% hike in appraisal while he received only 10%. It turned out that his colleague had lied to him and he had resigned for completely incorrect reasons.

“So, your decisions can’t be based on just what others are telling you,” says Amit Tandon, managing director of Empyrean Partners.

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Visit www.HRCI.org to learn more about our portfolio of HR Certifications that can meet your career and professional development needs.

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And the nominees are...

At last, after months of research, the finalists across all 24 categories of the 2014 HRM Awards can be revealed

By Shalini Shukla-Pandey

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HRM AWARDS 2014

Finalists We are delighted to announce the finalists for what the Straits Times called “the ‘Oscars’ of the local HR industry”, the HRM Awards. Now in its 11th year, the HRM Awards has grown both in stature and size over the years. This year sees a record 229 finalists from 86 companies- with each one being announced here for the first time.

Unilever Asia has emerged as the biggest contender, with a whopping 15 nominations. The company scooped finalist positions in categories including the Hays Award for Employer of Choice, the Center for Creative Leadership Award for Best Leadership Development and the Best HR Team award. Next up is Singtel with 12 nominations followed by HewlettPackard Singapore, Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore and UBS AG, with nine nominations each.

But it’s not just the big boys who receive all the glory. For the first time, the HRM Awards is honouring Singapore’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with six organisations confirmed as finalists for the inaugural SME Employer of the Year Award.

“The new SME Employer of the Year award will highlight and reward HR’s commitment towards developing human capital in these smaller organisations, creating a level playing field for this key group of enterprises that make up so much of the country’s economic pulse,” says Emma Dean, Events Manager – HRM Awards 2014. Ninety-nine percent of all enterprises in Singapore are SMEs and employ seven out of every 10 workers. They contribute to nearly half of the national GDP. Another new entrant is the SIM Professional Development Award for Best Talent Management Practices, which celebrates best practices in the management of the entire employee lifecycle.

“Finalists will be judged on their recruitment and integration programmes, training and development, and performance appraisal schemes,” says Dean.

“Employee engagement, and rewards and recognition will also be put in the spotlight, along with succession planning policies.”

Making the cut HRM Awards are committed to recognising, rewarding and promoting ‘Great HR’. Becoming a finalist brings HR teams and their organisations invaluable recognition for their achievements. This recognition and publicity further boosts employee and team morale, while also raising an organisation’s profile as a preferred employer.

“The HRM Awards unveil the uniqueness of each organisation with distinct giftedness and the right combination of interventions to achieve breakthrough success,” says Lydia Goh, Managing Director, Excelsa Consulting – a long-time proponent of the Awards,

having been a judge annually since its inception in 2003.

“Every year, I am enchanted by how organisations pull gems from employee’s hearts and minds.”

The Big One The crowning jewel is the Hays Award for Employer of Choice, the most coveted trophy in Singapore HR. Title sponsor for four consecutive years, Hays, has been particularly supportive of great HR and this award.

“This award is a timely celebration of the essential role that HR plays in the success of organisations today,” says Chris Mead, Regional Director of Hays in Southeast Asia. “We’re proud to be associated with an award that celebrates commitment to human capital. From all of us at Hays, our congratulations go to all finalists.”

And the winners are…

The finalists now have a busy but anxious few months ahead. Each will be tasked with completing a comprehensive report for our esteemed judges’ consideration.

Finally, on 21 February, the who’s who of Singapore’s HR profession will gather for the revelation of all the winners during what has been described as ‘the’ HR night of the year. As always, winner identities across all categories remain under tight wraps, ensuring a night of high drama, suspense and celebration.

SIMPLY THE BEST This year’s HRM Award nominees come from a diverse mix of organisations. Unilever Asia leads the pack with the most number of nominations, but could the tables turn on the night of the awards?

Rank

Company

Number of Nominations

1

Unilever Asia

15

2

SingTel

12

3

Hewlett-Packard Singapore

9

4

Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore

9

5

UBS AG

9

6

A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research)

6

7

Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow

6

8

InterContinental Hotels Group Asia

6

9

Johnson & Johnson

6

10

Dell

5

11

DFS Venture Singapore

5

12

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)

5

13

Keppel Offshore & Marine

5

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HRM AWARDS 2014

Finalists Lanson Place Award for Champion of HR FINALISTS Kensaku Konishi President & CEO, Canon Singapore

Barathan Pasupathi CEO, Jetstar Asia Airways

Tan Chong Meng Group CEO, PSA International

Robert Yap Min Choy

Christopher Wei

Clarence Yeo

Group CEO, Great Eastern Life Assurance

Commissioner, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)

Jan Holm

Aditi Nayak

Leong Seng Keat

Managing Director, Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore

CEO, MindWave Solutions

CEO, Nam Cheong Limited

Kenny Yap

Grace Barki

Yuen Kuan Moon

Executive Chairman & MD, Qian Hu Corporation

CEO Singapore Branch and Head of Wealth Management, SE Asia, Royal Bank of Canada

Executive Vice President, Global Business Services, Chief Information Officer, DFS Venture Singapore

CEO Consumer Singapore, SingTel

Best Engagement Strategies FINALISTS

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• American Express • Diageo Singapore • InterContinental Singapore • Johnson & Johnson • Microsoft Services Asia • PSA International

• SingTel • StarHub • Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts • Tan Tock Seng Hospital • The Hoffman Agency • UBS AG

HRM AWARDS 2014

Best Graduate Development FINALISTS

Best CSR Practices FINALISTS

• ANZ • Baker & McKenzie.

Wong & Leow • Barclays Bank • Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages

• DBS Bank • DFS Venture Singapore • Hewlett-Packard Singapore • SingTel • Unilever Asia

• Accor Asia Pacific • Baker & McKenzie.

Wong & Leow • Cargill Singapore • Dell • Hewlett-Packard Singapore

• InterContinental Hotels Group Asia • Johnson & Johnson • M1 Limited • Royal Bank of Canada • Sony Electronics Asia Pacific • StarHub

Best HR Manager FINALISTS Sean Lim Manager Human Capital Development, Auric Pacific Group

Chow Kok Lam HR Manager, CEVA Logistics Singapore

Lars Schandorff

Leong Mee Yee

HR Manager, Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore

HR Manager, Nam Cheong Limited

Wong Wei Kwan (Rachel)

Eleutherius Liew Thiam Yew

Manager Regional HR, Panduit Singapore

Koh Li Hoon Assistant Director Compensation, Singapore General Hospital (SGH)

Manager Organisation Development, Pratt & Whitney Singapore

Ambika Sivadoss HR Business Partner, Unilever Asia

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HRM AWARDS 2014

Finalists Best Mature and Re-Employment Practices

Best Recruitment Strategies

FINALISTS

FINALISTS

• Asian Women’s Welfare • Immigration & Association (AWWA) Checkpoints Authority (ICA) • Central Provident Fund Board (CPF) • Maersk Drilling • Changi General Hospital Holdings Singapore (CGH) • McDonald’s Restaurants • Crowne Plaza Changi • Pratt & Whitney Airport Singapore • FedEx Express • Raffles Hotel Singapore • SingTel

• A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research) • American Express • Baker & McKenzie.

Wong & Leow • Certis CISCO Security • CEVA Logistics Singapore

• Changi General Hospital (CGH) • Hewlett-Packard Singapore • McDonald’s Restaurants • Resorts World Sentosa Singapore (RWS) • UBS AG • W Singapore - Sentosa Cove Hotel

SIM Professional Development Award for Best Talent Management Practices FINALISTS • A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research) • Building & Construction Authority (BCA) • DBS Bank

• DFS Venture Singapore • Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) • Johnson & Johnson

• Keppel Land International • Keppel Offshore & Marine • Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD)

• SingTel • UBS AG • Unilever Asia

Best Performance & Productivity Practices FINALISTS • Baker & McKenzie.

Wong & Leow • Building & Construction Authority (BCA)

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• Canon Singapore • Dell • Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium

• Jones Lang LaSalle • Keppel Offshore & Marine

• Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore • SingTel • Unilever Asia

HRM AWARDS 2014

Robert Walters Award for Best HR Leader FINALISTS Yeow Chun Fey

Florence Chow

Zareena Brown

Head of HR Singapore, BASF South East Asia

Group GM, HR & Admin, Hitachi Asia

Vice President HR AMEA, InterContinental Hotels Group Asia

Audrey Chin

Chee Nian Tze

Leslie Gerald Glass

Director HR, McDonald’s Restaurants

Group General Manager, HR, Robinsons & Co. (Singapore)

Head of HR, Wealth Management Emerging Markets, Royal Bank of Canada

Aileen Tan

Moira Roberts

Group Director HR, SingTel

Head of HR, UBS AG

Michael McCarthy Group Head Human Resources (APMEA), MasterCard

Karen Ferguson Executive VP Human Resources, Schneider Electric

Best Reward & Recognition Strategies FINALISTS • Certis CISCO Security • DBS Bank • Hewlett-Packard Singapore

• InterContinental Hotels Group Asia • Johnson & Johnson

• Keppel Land International • Panduit Singapore • Siemens

• StarHub • UBS AG • Unilever Asia

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HRM AWARDS 2014

Finalists HR Young Achiever FINALISTS Xyeve Lim

Senior Officer HR, A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research)

Graduate Development Coordinator, Barclays Bank

Eileen Chew

Xingyan Chen

Winnie Chng

Koo Shun Ting

Associate HR Representative, Asia Pacific, Illumina Singapore

HR Assistant, Maersk Drilling Holdings

Assistant Manager HRM, Singapore Tourism Board

Executive (Management Associate), Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Hazel Teo

Phyllis Chng Wan Yee

HR Business Partner, Unilever Asia

Francesca Wong Yan Cheng

Chua Kai Kuan

Daryl Lee

Senior Manager Human Capital Department, Building & Construction Authority (BCA)

HR Executive, Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre

Manager, Singapore HR, Western Digital

Best Diversity & Inclusion Strategies FINALISTS

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• Aviva • Dell • Diageo Singapore • Johnson & Johnson

• Keppel Offshore & Marine • Resorts World Sentosa Singapore (RWS)

• SingTel • UBS AG • Unilever Asia

HRM AWARDS 2014

Best Use of Technology

Best Use of Social Media

FINALISTS

FINALISTS

• Hewlett-Packard Singapore • Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore • Millward Brown Singapore • Resorts World Sentosa Singapore (RWS) • UBS AG • Unilever Asia

• Canon Singapore • Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages • Dell • InterContinental Hotels Group Asia

• Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore • Millward Brown Singapore • SingTel • The Hoffman Agency • Unilever Asia

STJobs Award for Best Employer Branding FINALISTS • A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research) • Great Eastern Life Assurance • Groupon Singapore • Hewlett-Packard Singapore

• InterContinental Hotels Group Asia • McDonald’s Restaurants • Prudential Assurance Company Singapore • Unilever Asia

Center for Creative Leadership Award for Best Leadership Development FINALISTS • A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research) • Accor Asia Pacific • Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow • CapitaMalls Asia • Cargill Singapore • Diageo Singapore

• Hewlett-Packard Singapore • Keppel Offshore & Marine • Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation • SingTel • Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts • Unilever Asia ISSUE 13.12

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HRM AWARDS 2014

Finalists Kaplan Professional Award for Best Training, Learning & Development FINALISTS • Accor Asia Pacific • Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages • Danone Asia

• DFS Venture Singapore • Diageo Singapore • Hewlett-Packard Singapore

• Keppel Offshore & Marine • Marina Bay Sands • Pratt & Whitney Singapore

• SingTel • UBS AG • Unilever Asia

Best Work-Life Balance FINALISTS • A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research)

• Cargill Singapore • DBS Bank • Dell

• Johnson & Johnson • Land Transport Authority (LTA)

• Maersk Drilling Holdings Singapore • National Instruments Singapore

Outstanding Contribution to HR PREVIOUS WINNERS HAVE BEEN:

2013

Geraldine Lee, Chief HR Officer, NTUC First Campus Co-operative

2012

Lydia Goh, MD, Excelsa Consulting

2011

Roger Collantes, CEO, Global Learning Solutions

2010

Tommy Ng, Senior Vice President of Corporate Services, SMRT Corporation

2009

Caroline Lim, Global Head of HR and Corporate Affairs, PSA International

2008

Low Peck Kem, Director of the People Matters Department, Ministry of Manpower 46

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HRM AWARDS 2014

SME Employer of the Year FINALISTS

Atlas Sound & Vision

Jason Marine Group

MindWave Solutions

Neo Group Limited

Qian Hu Corporation

Teambuild Engineering & Construction

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HRM AWARDS 2014

Finalists Hays Award for Employer of Choice FINALISTS

American Express

CapitaMalls Asia

Carl Zeiss

DFS Venture Singapore

Groupon Singapore

Hewlett-Packard Singapore

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA)

InterContinental Hotels Group Asia

SingTel

Ab StarHub

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UBS AG

Unilever Asia

Don’t Miss the HR Night of the Year HRM Awards is Asia’s pre-eminent event for celebrating the best and brightest HR people and practices. Now in its eleventh year, HRM Awards continues to be the benchmark for recognising and celebrating the very best in HR. Join the who’s who in HR at the industry’s biggest night of the year.

2014

awards Emcee – Adrian Pang

Featuring – Chua Enlai From ‘The Noose’

AWARDS

2014

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore | 21 February 2014

Title Sponsor

Event Partners

www.hrmawards.com

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Employee Engagement

THE MOTIVATION Ross Reck, author of The Engagement Formula, and STJobs HR Summit speaker, has spent a long career looking at how staff get engaged and excited about their jobs. In this special guest contribution, he answers the key question on HR’s lips – how do you motivate employees?

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This is probably the most frequent question that’s ever been asked by supervisors, managers, leaders and executives. The answer is simple: you can’t.

In fact, it’s impossible to motivate employees. The reason is that they’re already motivated by something called self-interest – pursuing the satisfaction of a set of needs that are important to them. Every single one of us comes into the world already programmed to pursue the satisfaction of a set of inborn needs.

This is how people are genetically wired—it’s part of our DNA. From birth to death, our behavior is completely defined by our pursuing the satisfaction of those needs. This means that if you expect employees to get excited about giving all their energy, creativity and passion to performing their jobs, you have to accept the fact that they come to work already motivated to pursue their self-interest, not yours.

Furthermore, no matter how hard you try or how much money you spend, you can’t change an individual’s self-interest

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Q

UESTION to make it look like yours. The only thing you can do is accept it for what it is and engage it – you must create a situation where the harder employees work toward pursuing the satisfaction of their own needs, the harder they work toward the goals of the organisation. So, the real question is not: “How do you motivate employees”, but rather “how do you engage them?”

Recently, I completed a study of a number of companies that have a high level of employee engagement. The companies include Google, Intel Technology India, Marriott Hotels India and SAS Institute – all of which are doing extremely well. What I found interesting was that each of these companies is following the same leadership process. It’s a process I call The Engagement Formula. If a company implements this formula, 100 percent of its employees (rather than the typical 30 percent) will become engaged with their work – all working at their full potential. Below is a description of The Engagement Formula and how it works.

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Employee Engagement

STEP 1

Create a FullEngagement Culture that defines the organisation and drives performance A full-engagement culture has four basic elements: • Minimal distractions – so employees can focus on performing their jobs If employees aren’t making enough money to support themselves, or if they’re concerned with being laid off, they become distracted and are unable to focus their full energies on performing their job. This is why businesses with a high level of employee engagement offer compensation packages that are at or above industry levels, provide fairly generous benefits, and create jobs that are reasonably secure and a work environment that’s pleasant and safe. They want to remove as many of their employees’ day-to-day distractions as possible so their employees can focus on doing their best work.

• Single status – everyone is treated as an equal Human beings are genetically wired to be treated as equals, not as subordinates or second class citizens. As such, they deeply resent being ordered around, belittled or talked down to. This is why companies with high levels of employee engagement refer to their employees as “associates” or “fellow Googlers” in the case of Google. It’s to reinforce the fact that everyone who works there is equal and therefore has the freedom to be themselves and do their job as they see fit.

• Mission – this is what we do A mission is a brief statement of what a business does or stands for. Nearly every business has one, either expressly stated or implied. For example, the mission of Marriott

ck Catch Prof. Ross Re ‘live’ at the 2014 STJobs HR Summit Prof.Ross Reck’s Presentation at the STJobs HR Summit 2014: The Engagement Formula – Three Simple Steps that Guarantee Full Employee Engagement

Top three takeaways

• What truly motivates employees • Why the traditional management model fails to engage employees with their work • How to create a workplace where every employee is engaged with their work

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•

Hotels India is: “To be the Number One hospitality company in the world”. This says that Marriott International is continually striving to be the best at what it does in the entire world.

A mission, by itself, may not seem all that profound, but when combined with a set of core values, these two concepts together can transform a workplace into something that’s very special – something that employees believe in and are proud of.

Core vlues – this is how we do it Core values communicate how the employees within an organisation are going to go about the business of executing its mission. As pointed out above, the mission at Marriott Hotels India is: “To be the Number One hospitality company in the world”. They have developed these core values that define how the company will go about executing its mission: - Put people first - Pursue excellence - Embrace change - Act with integrity - Serve our world These core values represent behavioral expectations for the employees of Marriott Hotels India and thus direct their efforts toward the goals of the organisation. When a set of core values is in place and everyone in the business is committed to them, employees no longer need a “boss” to tell them what to do and how to do it. They already know what to do – that’s the mission. They also know how to do it (execute the mission), thanks to the set of core values.

STEP 2

Hire only qualified people who mesh with the culture

Companies with a high level of employee engagement are extremely disciplined about using their culture as the primary criterion for hiring new employees. In order for employees to

Bring new clarity to employee engagement in this informative Asia exclusive. Join Ross Reck as he guides you through the importance of employee engagement and why businesses generally fail in this area.

Ross will assist you to know exactly ‘what’ employee engagement is and most importantly, ‘how’ to improve its effectiveness within your organisation. He will also share and examine major international high-engagement companies whose leadership practices exemplify and embrace his ‘Engagement Formula’.

Always a highly-requested speaker at conferences throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia, Ross Reck is a compelling speaker with clients from major multinational corporations. He is also the author of The Engagement Formula, Turning Your Customers into Your Sales Force, The X-Factor and coauthor of the best-selling The Win-Win Negotiator. Before dedicating his full-time efforts to improving the way the world conducts business, Ross served as Professor of Management at Arizona State University for almost ten years where he was recognised as a “Outstanding Teacher” and received the “Teaching Excellence in Continuing Education” Award.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Your Professional Development and Learning Technologies Partner!

become engaged with their work, there must be a tight fit between those individuals and the mission and core values of the organisation. What this means is that if a perspective employee can’t get excited about “pursuing excellence”, “embracing change” and “acting with integrity”, than Marriott is not the workplace for them to thrive in. At Marriott Hotels India, professionally qualified people who do not mesh with the Marriott culture simply don’t get hired.

STEP 3

We specialize in innovative blended learning and online courses for soft skills, leadership skills, IT skills, business skills and project management skills training.

Leaders must lead, not give orders

In a high-engagement organisation, there is no need for leaders to tell their followers what to do and how to do it – they already know this from their organisation’s mission and core values. Instead leaders set the example, provide support, and do whatever it takes to enable his or her followers to do their best work.

If you choose to create a fully-engaged workforce by implementing The Engagement Formula in your organisation, you’ll notice some major changes emerging almost immediately.

Your employees will begin to create a competitive edge for your organisation that your competitors can’t easily copy – your costs will be significantly lower due to greatly reduced turnover, absenteesim, theft and accidents, while your revenue dramatically goes up because your newly engaged employees are actively searching for innovative ways to improve products, services and customer experiences. Listed below are the kinds of things you can expect once you implement The Engagement Formula in your organisation: • You’ll achieve the incredible levels of profitability, productivity, customer loyalty and employee loyalty that are enjoyed by companies like Intel Technology India and SAS Institute.

• You’ll succeed at delivering “wow” customer service the way leading companies like Amazon.com and Marriott Hotels do.

• You’ll realise the extraordinary level of innovation found in companies like Google and Apple.

• Your company will become a magnet for attracting the best available talent.

So, how do you motivate employees? The answer is: “You can’t.”

The only thing you can do is engage the motivation that’s already there. As this article has shown, The Engagement Formula is simple, but the results that go along with implementing it are phonomenal. If you want to see The Engagement Formula in action, take a look at Google, SAS Institute, Intel Technology India or Marriott Hotels India.

We specialize in Customized Training

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E: learning@verztec.com W: www.verzteclearning.com

VIEW POINT Jerry Seah Assistant Director, Workplace Health and Safety, Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) Email: whp@snef.org.sg

SNEF

Workplace Health Promotion makes good business sense Companies can have a positive influence on employee's health by creating a healthy work environment with good organisational policies and a supportive environment, says Jerry Seah, Assistant Director, Workplace Health and Safety, Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) Employees health is a crucial factor in ensuring an organisation’s wellbeing and business success. According to the National Workplace Health Promotion Survey 2006, the number of private sector workplaces that have Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) programmes has increased from 45% in 2003 to 59% in 2006. This represents 76% of the total private sector workforce compared to 64% in 2003. The increase in number of organisations implementing a WHP programme is not surprising; more organisations have realised that putting in place a WHP programme is a key strategy to boost employees’ productivity and enhance their competitive edge.

Organisations which have a strong focus on building a vibrant health culture create a conducive environment that helps attract and retain talent. Some of the long-term benefits that organisations have reaped from having a WHP programme include: • Healthier employees who are more productive and less stressed • Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism ensuring business continuity • Lower healthcare and business costs • Higher staff morale • Improved corporate image and being seen as an employer of choice that cares for the health and wellbeing of staff The Health Promotion Board (HPB) provides a comprehensive support infrastructure and works with organisations to implement a holistic and comprehensive programme to: • Address the key pillars of healthy lifestyle, i.e. physical activity, healthy eating, smoking cessation, mental wellbeing and managing communicable diseases.

• Adopt a balanced approach which includes education, health promotion activities, environmental support and organisational policies at the workplace.

Consultancy services, training courses and seminars are just a few of the services available for organisations. Organisations can tap on the Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Grant, a funding scheme that provides financial assistance to help organisations develop and sustain their workplace health progammes. For SMEs (for workforce size of between 21 and 54

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200), the Grant co-funds up to 80% of the cost incurred for each WHP project, capped at $15,000 and for non-SMEs, the Grant co-funds up to 50% of the project, capped at $15,000. The Grant funds for health screening, health risk assessment and health initiatives on healthy eating, weight management, mental wellness, smoking cessations, chronic diseases management and other health related topics.

Organisations that are applying for the WHP Grant will be eligible to apply for the Women’s Health Grant that is capped at $5,000, subject to co-funding. This extension of the WHP Grant provides financial support for organisations to exclusively support women’s health in the workplace.

The Women’s Health Grant covers a range of programmes including women’s cancer screening and health and wellbeing education including practical tips to achieve personal effectiveness, health tips for healthy choices and programmes to empower women to cope with pregnancy and parenting.

The Singapore HEALTH Award, presented by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), is a national recognition to organisations with commendable Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) programmes and takes place once every two years. Organisations get to benchmark themselves against national standards and gain competitive edge in attracting and retaining the best talents. Applications for the next Singapore HEALTH Award will open in early 2014, so if you have implemented a health programme for your employees, apply and be recognised.

Workplace Health Resources • • • • •

The Singapore HEALTH Award Workplace Health Promotion Grant Workplace Health Promotion Grant – Women’s Health Training Courses & Seminars relating to workplace health promotion Health programmes covering Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, Smoking Cessation, Communicable Disease Education & Mental Wellness

Interested to find out how you can start a WHP Programme? Email us for more information at whpgrant@snef.org.sg or call us at 6827 6950.

A healthier workforce can result in a more productive workforce, So don’t hesitate, start a WHP programme today!

TALENT LADDER

New Appointments Ng Gian Heng

Assistant Director of HR, Traders Hotel Singapore Ng Gian Heng has been appointed Assistant Director of HR for the Traders Hotel, Singapore.

Having started with a local HR information system provider that specialised in HR project management, he was previously a HR manager at Marina Mandarin and Ramada and Days Hotels Singapore, with a total of eight years of HR experience.

Ng says he relished the opportunity to work with an internationally

renowned hotel chain such as the Shangri-La Group. “It’s a leading luxury hotel group and also regarded as one of the world’s finest hotel ownership and management companies, with more than 80 hotels and resorts throughout Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East, and Europe,” he said.

Ng will be in charge of all aspects of HR at the Traders Hotel, in particular developing corporate social

responsibility (CSR) within the organisation. “I’m the captain of the ‘Employees’ team,” he notes. “This encapsulates the welfare of our people, and providing them with a safe, healthy, fun and happy working environment. With my fresh outlook and amiable personality, I look forward to engaging with the dynamic team, with different nationalities and age groups working here.”

Abishek Gupta

Talent Acquisition, Senior Sourcer, Red Hat Asia-Pacific Abishek Gupta has joined Red Hat Asia-Pacific as a Senior Sourcer within the Talent Acquisition department. He has seven years of experience under his belt, and was formerly with Google.

He says his previous job was good, but not as challenging as he hoped.

He says he did not feel was fulfilling his true potential there. “I saw this great opportunity with Red Hat and

grabbed it,” he says. “Red Hat is a growing company but with an open culture, where everybody is willing to help each other, (and) people are approachable right up to the leadership teams. I am very happy with my decision to move.”

Gupta specialises in talent acquisition and recruitment. He is part of a recruitment team supporting Red Hat’s growth plans,

which includes hiring senior, well-regarded professionals in the enterprise technology space, including experts in middleware and cloud technologies.

“The key things I want to achieve and which keep me going are: the feeling of being challenged, getting an opportunity to work on important and high visibility projects, and being a part of dynamic environment.”

Head of HR for The Linde Group’s South and East Asia regional business unit, which covers 11 countries in Asia.

Woo will now be responsible for HR in The Linde Group’s three regional business units in the Asia-Pacific region - South and East Asia, Greater China (mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) and South Pacific (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands).

“In Linde, the Asia-Pacific region is seen as a key growth driver for our business and I will be working

closely with our teams across the region to implement a people strategy that enables the business and organisational aspiration and goals.”

One key area that Woo will be focusing on is people development.

“I think it is important that we continue to develop our people and support their career aspirations, (and) build on a culture of learning and the spirit of innovation which has been a cornerstone of our organisation since its establishment over 130 years ago.”

Woo Yuen Mei

Head of HR, Asia-Pacific, The Linde Group Woo Yuen Mei has rejoined The Linde Group as the Head of HR for Asia-Pacific. She has 26 years of HR experience in a range of industry sectors: finance, information technology, consumer products and manufacturing. She says she is passionate about talent development in the organisations where she has worked.

Woo was previously with AkzoNobel Paints, where she was HR Director, Southeast Asia and Pacific.

She was with the company for about two years, before which she was the

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IN PERSON

HR talent Gabrielle Tourelle

HR & Global Talent Development Director, Asia-Pacific, Text100

How many years in HR? I have eight years of HR experience and four years HR exposure in general management running a local Text100 office.

Biggest achievement?

My biggest achievement is having worked collaboratively on transforming the skills of our people in digital and integrated communication skills.

Why HR? In running campaigns and teams as a communications consultant, I always loved the people side of the business and helping people learn and grow, so HR was a natural step for me. There’s something very rich in understanding what makes a workplace and its people tick, and then creating a place with meaning and purpose for people.

Biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge I face is growing to be truly regional in understanding the mindsets of people in different offices and the environments in which they work.

Why Text100?

Communications agencies are fun places to be: filled with passionate and high energy people. Text100 stands out as a place that encourages people to be the best possible version of themselves. There’s a freedom here to be who you are and to be respected for that.

Within the business reality, there is also a strong emphasis on supporting people and creating opportunities for them.

After hours?

A daily yoga practice is important to me. Yoga is training for the mind to cope with today’s work pressures – understanding and taming the mind are key. I also teach yoga which keeps me learning and growing.

Family?

My husband is very supportive as he also does a regional role within the agency world as well. I count three step-children, three cats, and now a rescue dog as family so at times it’s a mad house. I’m an animal lover, so just hanging with the pets is one of my favourite things to do.

TWENTY-FOUR SEVEN

HR at work

Leana Caramoan Regional Resourcing Manager - Asia, Middle East and Africa, BT Global

7am: I start my mornings early with some yoga exercises and enjoy the quiet time alone. I must have my first cup of coffee before interacting with anyone.

1pm: Playing email catch-ups over my next cup of coffee.

I will make quick replies to those emails that require my attention, mostly the easy responses just to clear my inbox.

8.30am: I read my emails while commuting to work, mainly clearing the backlog from the UK, Middle East and Africa.

2pm: The day gets more hectic as it will usually be packed with a series of meetings. Working for a British company means the afternoons are always heavier, as Europe and other regions are awake.

9am: I will grab my second cup of coffee once I reach the office. I plan for my day with a small Post-it note. On it, I write the three tasks I must complete by the day. The Post-it forces me to be focused and, learning from my ex-boss, be deliberate in my choices and prioritise.

9.30am: I try to schedule half of my Asia-Pacific meetings in the mornings as it is the most opportune time to communicate. I make sure I have a break in between meetings just to consolidate the earlier events and also to realign my focus on the next appointment.

12.30pm: Lunch can either be a team affair or by myself, depending on my mood and occasion. If it is a team lunch, I try to avoid conversations that are work-related.

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3.30pm: In between my meetings, I will always ensure a five to ten minute break, and will definitely need my fourth cup of coffee.

3.45pm: The series of meetings will usually continue.

Otherwise, I will be replying to emails that require more time and attention.

6pm: Some days, I will stay late to complete my work. I do not like to bring work home and I find the quiet time after office hours rather conducive. On other days, I schedule time to go for a run, do some yoga, or just catch up with friends over dinner and drinks.

TALENT CHALLENGE

HR and Communication

Talent Retention What are you focusing on most to improve talent retention?

Kiranjeet Kaur Chief Talent Officer, Courts Asia

One of our key focuses in driving talent retention is the ability to provide challenging and meaningful jobs, in order to engage their minds and hearts, which in turn drives results, delivers creativity, and fosters innovation.

We have recognised when work provides meaningful and enriching experiences that lead to opportunities and career growth within the organisation, the staying power of employees is much stronger as they feel very much part of the company’s success.

The development plans should, as far as possible, be personalised for the emerging talent.

At Courts, we adopt a rigorous annual talent audit process where we use the Nine-Box talent matrix to organise our internal talent based on long-term performance and potential.

For example, developmental plans for high-potentials will involve aggressive rotation within the organisation, assignment on key roles or projects that are highly visible to senior management, as well as coaching and leadership training to enhance people leadership skills. For them, their developmental plans would include further enhancing skills and competencies in specialised functions and projects with further opportunities to act as mentors.

We subsequently engage in an interactive dialogue with each key talent to fine-tune their plans in line with theircareer aspirations whilst emphasising the experiential part of their development journey. Research has proven that the “70-20-10 model”, combining on-the-jobexperiences, stretched assignments, and projects, is the most effective development tool and we subscribe to it wherever possible to keep our people engaged and motivated.

Michael Lim Director, HR, Singapore Expo

In the current working landscape, Singex has identified that money (whilst important) is no longer the top motivator for our employees.

Along with a competitive compensation philosophy, our talent retention strategies address the intrinsic motivators for our employees, including improving employee engagement and providing learning opportunities and career growth through supportive and nurturing manager-coaches.

The key to employee engagement involves painting a shared vision of our organisation’s growth strategy and future plans. I’m not referring to the 50,000-feet view as presented in the boardroom, but shared visions at different “altitudes” that resonate and are understood by our people at the different levels of the organisation.

I›ve also found it powerful to weave the employee›s potential career path, learning, and growth opportunities into their lens of shared vision as this adds another layer of appreciation of the “future terrain”. In this way, they can then have meaningful performance and development conversations with their managers.

Setting the scene and engaging the employee to participate in the shared vision requires our managers to possess compelling story-telling skills. Relying on a standard script may result in an abstract and impersonal take on the vision.

Instead, managers are encouraged to include their personal interpretations and share their own experiences to bring meaning to their listeners. Just like a jazz band, the improvisation draws the listener in and creates meaning for the individual.

Naresh Kapoor

Director, HR, Singapore Marriott Hotel

At the Singapore Marriott hotel, we emphasise greatly on career growth and personal development to retain talent. Today’s workforce is more focused on career aspirations, instead of the job itself. We recognize this and have put in much emphasis on these aspects.

To retain talent, we need to first find out our associates’ individual aspirations. We have regular sessions with them to discuss their career plans, and to see how we can meet and exceed their expectations. Marriott International as an organisation is growing fast globally and this creates growth opportunities for our associates too. These options and opportunities are shared with all during our core training programs, namely Orientation and the “Living Our Core Values” programme. Over the years we have groomed associates to take over key roles in other Marriott properties in the region. Recently we launched our global “Voyager” programme to develop young aspiring and talented professionals in the hospitality industry.

However, career development alone may not be sufficient to retain talent in an organisation. We need to focus on other aspects, like company culture, work life balance, and total rewards and recognition. At Singapore Marriott Hotel, our family-oriented culture helps us to bring people closer, which is in line with our core value of putting people first. There are exciting rewards and recognition programs catered to all levels of associates in recognising their efforts and hard work. The performance management system also assists us in giving our associates due recognition and career growth.

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RESOURCES

Book Reviews

Going global – the leaders of tomorrow Many companies that are expanding their operations across the globe fail to understand that global leadership is distinctly different from the skills needed to run a domestic operation.

The book, What Is Global Leadership? sheds light on what is needed to develop a global mindset so that leaders can work effectively across different cultures and nationalities.

Authors Ernest Gundling, Terry Hogan and Karen Cvitkovich explore the 10 key traits of successful global leaders. According to them, “Now more than ever, leaders

must equip themselves with the skills to function effectively in a world that is simultaneously free of boundaries and replete with boundaries that mark our significant differences.”

Through various notes, graphs, pictures and surveys with individuals and multi-national companies, the trio have used various approaches to effectively convey the process that leads to one developing into a global leader and also provided first-hand accounts and real-life lessons that a reader can learn from.

In addition, at the end of every chapter, there is a summary and review page, complete with questions related to the topic. This allows the consolidation of points and also provides a reflection sheet for the reader to think about their roles in their organisation.

Title: What is Global Leadership?

Author: Ernest Gundling, Terry Hogan and Karen Cvitkovich Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing Price: S$43.58

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a leading economic development agency in tourism, one of Singapore’s key service sectors.

Known for partnership, innovation and excellence, the Board champions tourism and builds it into a key economic driver for Singapore. Join us if you have a passion for designing and shaping destination experiences and an appreciation of the socioeconomic impact of the tourism industry on Singapore.

Be part of our team in the following areas:

Senior Human Resource Business Partner

Assistant Director, Human Resource Management

Assistant Manager/ Manager, Human Resource Development

Responsibilities In line with STB’s aim to develop its global talents, you will be responsible for the development and implementation of the Board’s talent management and development initiatives. You will be involved in the areas of Human Resource Development, Management, Organisation Development, HR Business Partnering and Operations.

Responsibilities As a strategic partner to the business units, you will lead the Human Capital Management, Rewards and Recognition, HR Policy and Planning, and Shared Services teams in reviewing and implementing competitive HR policies, systems and processes to ensure that the Board has strong talent attraction, retention and engagement. In addition you will play the role of a senior business partner to our business units.

Responsibilities You will contribute to the performance management and leadership engagement for the organisation. Specifically, you will be tasked to review and enhance STB’s career development framework as well as to oversee and implement people development initiatives in the Board, including promotions, secondments and attachments opportunities. You will also be a HR Business Partner to one of the business groups, and will engage our internal stakeholders to understand their business needs and identify their key HR concerns in the running of their business and facilitate HR initiatives. A a HR Business Partner, you will counted on to provide advice, assistance and follow-up on HR policies and procedures to the assigned business group.

Reporting to the Executive Director of HROD, you will be part of the HR management team in formulating and implementing policies, systems and processes to identify, develop and retain talent.

Requirements You should possess a degree from a recognized university with at least 8 to 10 years of relevant work experience in talent management and development, with 4 years being in a supervisory position. Prior experience in the Public Sector would also be advantageous.

To be successful in the role, you should possess business and functional acumen, and be able to influence work globally to ensure alignment between business and HR strategies. You must also be able to handle a diverse and fast-paced environment.

Requirements You should have a degree from a recognised university, preferably with a post-graduate qualification in Compensation and/or Benefits, and 6 to 8 years’ working experience including 3 years in supervisory position.

You should have a good working knowledge of the various HRM areas and been involved in developing and implementing new frameworks and systems. You should also be a resourceful and process-oriented individual with effective communication and leadership skills. Prior experience in the public sector would be ideal as well.

Requirements You should possess a degree from a recognised university with at least 5 years of experience in HR generalist functions. Some experience in the public sector or business partnering function is an advantage. To be successful in the role, you should possess business and functional acumen, and be able to influence work globally to ensure alignment between business and HR strategies.

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills, as well as good analytical and thinking skills. Aside from being meticulous, you should also have the ability to multi-task and undertake pressure in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.

To apply, please send your resume to stb_talent_attraction@stb.gov.sg, attn: Winnie Chng ISSUE 13.12

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Opportunities . SINGAPORE Human Resources Manager . RETAIL

Senior Manager - People & OD

Our client, a renowned global retailer, is looking for a strategic HR partner. Reporting to the Store Manager and functionally to the Regional Head of HR, this role will lead the people strategy, provide sound HR advice in the areas of leadership, succession planning, management review and manpower budgeting in support of the business growth plan. The successful candidate must have at least 5 years of working experience in HRM and excel in building strong working relationships, Candidates would preferably be from an FMCG environment or retail industry.

Ref: SW 193561 SG$120,000 per annum

Our client is looking for an experienced People, Talent and OD Manager to join their team. The role focuses on the development of the talent agenda and the communication of change following recent HR transformation. The role will look to design and deliver various talent development initiatives, across all levels of the business that are aligned to company strategy and the global learning & development agenda. This role heads up a well developed team, therefore applicants must have leadership experience, strong communication skills, proven ability to partner with the business and experience driving successful delivery. Ref: JG 192841 SG$160,000 per annum

To discuss HR roles across Asia, please contact Sharon Wong or Jenae Grieveson on +65 6420 0515.

Alternatively, email sharonwong@frazerjones.com or jenaegrieveson@frazerjones.com

frazerjones.com

PART OF THE SR GROUP

@frazerjonesHR

UK | EUROPE | MIDDLE EAST | Asia | AUSTRALIA | OFFSHORE EA Licence No: 12C6222

Frazer-Jones

WE KNOW RECRUITMENT AND WE MATCH HIGH PERFORMERS WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPANIES

Senior HR Manager

Regional C&B Specialist

Human Resources Manager

› Industry leader across SEA, Middle East and Africa

› Reputable US listed company

› Renowned US multinational

› Stability and long-term career progression

› Newly created Asia Pacific role

› High visibility and exposure to the business

Our client is an established and growing company headquartered in Singapore. They have been successful in the construction of power, petrochemical and other industrial process plants for more than 40 years. The ideal candidate should have a minimum of 10 years of experience in a HR role within a medium or large sized company. While prior exposure in a similar industry is a plus, strong leadership and communication skills are crucial for this role.

Our client is a US listed multinational IT consulting business. Reporting to the HR Head, you will be responsible for designing regional compensation schemes and developing and implementing compensation strategies as well as preparing the total rewards budget for the region. Ideally, you should have 8 years of relevant experience in a consulting firm as well as in an in-house role. You will be a proven leader, an effective communicator and possess strong influencing skills. The successful candidate will get an opportunity to learn and grow with a renowned multinational!

Our client has interests in more than 20 countries and with a staff strength that is close to 10,000 across the globe, are looking to expand their business in the region. They are now looking to recruit a high calibre experienced HR Manager to help them achieve their goal. Reporting to the Regional HR Manager, you will be responsible for the full spectrum of HR activities. Key to your success is your ability to perform both operational and strategic HR Functions. The successful applicant will have a tertiary degree in HRM with at least 8 years of relevant experience.

Please contact Lucia Deng quoting ref: H1988890 or visit our website.

Please contact Nupur Agarwal quoting ref: H2015190 or visit our website.

Please contact Eugene Wong quoting ref: H1954700 or visit our website.

To apply for any of the above positions, please go to www.michaelpage.com.sg and search for the reference number, or contact the relevant consultant on +65 6533 2777 for a confidential discussion.

Human Resources

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Specialists in human resources recruitment www.michaelpage.com.sg

#14541 Licence No.: 98C5473 Business Registration No: 199804751N

{

Your career in HR starts here.

Senior HR Executive You will roll out HR initiatives and solutions in alignment with business goals and objectives, handle all HR projects with minimum supervision. You will be able to execute policies and initiatives relating to payroll, benefits administration, recruitment and selection.

Additionally, you will conduct learning needs analysis for the company and identify key development initiatives and programs, as well as conduct stand up training on a regular basis.

We are seeking candidates with a Degree in HRM and at least 8 years of working experience as a HR Generalist. You should have a good working knowledge in compensation practices, employee relations, performance management and Singapore employment regulations.

Familiarity in working with Japanese associates will be ideal; occasional travel is to be expected.

91722C

Contact us at +65 6632 0045 / hrmg@capitagrp.com for a confidential discussion.

HR & Admin Manager Reporting to the CEO of the company, you will be responsible for the full spectrum of HR, including recruitment and selection, performance management and appraisal, employee relations and communications, compensation and benefits, policies and procedures, training and development and all other HR functions. As this is an exciting and challenging role for a HR practitioner in the start-up phase of a new company, you will be responsible for the planning and implementation of HR strategies and initiatives and to provide timely advice to Management and Heads of Division on issues pertaining to HR. With a degree and at least 5 years of HR generalist experience with a good understanding of payroll administration, you are familiar with all statutory submissions and regulations of CPF and IRAS. You are resourceful and able to lead a team to oversee all HR and administrative functions of the new company.

Contact us at +65 6603 3366 / hrmg@capitagrp.com for a confidential discussion.

Assistant HR Manager Responsible for the full spectrum of HR functions, you will lead in payroll administration for all Business Units and employees, as well as the recruitment for all levels of staff. You will work closely with various business leaders to plan and manage the full spectrum of HR functions including attraction strategies, training and development, appraisals, and provide effective HR service to all Business Units. We require you to have a degree in HRM, along with about 5 years of experience, preferably within the F&B or service industries. Knowledge of Prosoft payroll software and report generation will be advantageous; you should also be well-versed with all local employment legislations. Candidates who are able to demonstrate a track record in leading a team effectively, will have an advantage.

Contact us at +65 6603 3363 / hrmg@capitagrp.com for a confidential discussion.

Professional. Personalised. Passionate.

THE HALLMARK OF OUR TALENT SOLUTIONS

CAPITA PTE LTD

EA Licence No. 08C2893 An ISO 9001:2008 certified company

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MAKE A QUANTUM LEAP Towards unparalleled career advancement with Kelly Professional and Technical division

Regional HR Manager SEA and Japan coverage

Individual contributor role

Our client is one of the world’s most recognized brands in IT&T – providing complex business services solutions to organizations.

They have a strong footprint globally, including a growing and profitable business unit in SEA and Japan.

This role will cover the full spectrum of HR services and be a point of contact for all HR related matters for SEA and Japan. Your role will be both a tactical and strategic one thus requiring you to be hands on and at the same time act as a strong business partner working closely with the business to implement mission critical people strategies for the company.

The successful candidate is a highly energetic and analytical HR professional with regional exposure. You will be a degree graduate (full time basis) and ideally have more than six years of HR generalist experience in a high growth, fast paced and changing environment. You have good knowledge of HR issues and best practices, C&B and HRIS. To submit your application, please email your resume in word format to lili_kang@kellyservices.com.sg or contact Li Li Kang at (65) 6227 2251 for a confidential discussion.

EA Personnel License No. R1108467

OD Advisor Leading FMCG player

Regional coverage

Our client is a leading player within the FMCG industry and they are currently seeking a dynamic OD Advisor to join the HR team.

In this exciting and challenging role, you will be supporting in the areas of training and development, engagement, talent and capability development. You will drive all learning programs/projects/initiatives with the view to creating a competency-based learning culture and a motivated workforce. You will be required to identify gaps in terms of training needs and to align all training policies and procedures. As a team member in marketing and delivering the programs to internal clients, you will support the development of the programs and ensure their effectiveness through continuous evaluation.

To be successful in this position, you will be an experienced training professional from a matrixed, MNC environment covering a regional portfolio. You will be a graduate in Psychology, OD or relevant field and have at least five years of L&D experience and sound knowledge of learning strategies. You should be familiar with the design and delivery of training programs, excellent in presentation, coaching and have strong communication skills, analytical and numerical ability is highly desired. You must be familiar with job evaluation and pay designs. Ideally, you should come from a sizable organization with regional presence. Working knowledge of Lominger competencies or competency models would be a plus.

To submit your application, please email your resume in word format to lili_kang@kellyservices.com.sg or contact Li Li Kang at (65) 6227 2251 for a confidential discussion.

EA Personnel License No. R1108467

Kelly Services, Inc. is a leader in providing workforce solutions. For more than 34 illustrious years, Kelly has been partnering Singapore’s leading companies to deliver the best talent in the market. Today, Kelly Singapore operates from over 10 strategic locations island-wide. Complementing our Technology and Science, as well as functional specialities for Finance, HR, Sales & Marketing, Procurement and Banking.

kellyservices.com.sg

Kelly Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd | EA License No. 01C4394 | RCB No. 200007268E

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Group Learning & Development Vice President

Head of HR

Compensation Specialist

Global Investment Manager

Global Real Estate Financial Services Organisation

Leader in the Tourism and Services Sector

Group Role

Country Head of HR role

High Visibility

Program Design Opportunity

Competitive Remuneration

Manager Level

This premier investment manager operates globally and invests in both public and private assets. It promotes creativity, mobility and diversity, and invests in human capital development.

An excellent opportunity exists within this global real estate financial services firm which is currently in a high growth stage with excellent opportunities in the region. Due to continuing business needs, there is now an opportunity for a dedicated and high performing HR professional to join them in this exciting role.

This leading organisation has a strong reputation in the tourism sector, which is known for its innovation and excellence. We are helping to appoint a new compensation specialist into the HQ team based in Singapore. With a global portfolio and growth agenda, it is an exciting time for them.

Reporting to the Group Head of Learning & Development and partnering closely with the business and functional leaders, you will develop a comprehensive learning strategy and design innovative and effective learning & development programs. You will drive organizational and cultural changes in support of the institution’s transformation journey.

Degree qualified, you will have relevant experience ideally in Financial Services though it is not a must. You will have experience in curriculum design, program development, training delivery experience (mainly on soft skills) and stakeholder & vendor management (on technical training development and delivery). You possess strong analytical, interpersonal and organization skills.

To apply, please submit your resume to Adnan Atan at aa@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference no AA6161\HRM, or call at (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

Reporting to SEA Head of Human Resources based in Singapore, you will work closely with the management team and implement global best practices for their regional operations headquartered in Singapore.

This is a generalist role encompassing issues pertaining to resourcing, talent management, compensation and benefits, learning and development, employee relations as well as other ad-hoc issues. You will partner with the business and support the management team.

The Compensation Specialist is responsible for undertaking the review of existing structure and implement the revised compensation framework. Reporting to the Head of HR, you will be required to review current system with an objective to formulate and carry out the revised compensation frameworks, hence ensuring the structure is competitive relative to the market.

You are HR qualified and have worked a minimum of 10 years in a progressive multinational. You possess great communication skills and comfortable with presentation in front of management team. You are hands on, yet have the capacity to think at a very broad level.

You will have at least 8 to 10 years in compensation design and implementation within local and global contexts. Ideally you should be degree qualified in Human Resources. You possess ability to collaborate across boundaries, cultures in an evolving environment. Exposure to best practices is highly preferred.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at ft@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT6152\HRM, or call (65) 63338530 for more details.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at ft@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT6357\HRM, or call (65) 63338530 for more details.

Financial Services I Commerce I Engineering I Human Resources I Legal I Sales & Marketing I Technology 64

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Business Registration No: 200307397W I Licence No: 03C4828

Returning the Human to Resourcing

6 Best Headhunting awards in Asiamoney Headhunters Poll for Asia since 2009

Talent Acquisition Specialist

Internal Communications manager

VP - Compensation & Benefits (Global Bank)

Global FMCG Organisation

Global FMCG Organisation

Prominent Global Financial Institution

Newly Created Role

Newly Created Role

Excellent Career Opportunity

Regional Scope

High Visibility to Senior Management

High Visibility to Senior Management

A global FMCG organisation is looking for a talent acquisition specialist to support their regional business. This is an exciting opportunity to join an organization, which offers a real opportunity to make an impact, drive growth and partner closely with the business.

This hugely successful and progressive global organisation has a global focus across the Asia Pacific region. They have a strong reputation for its collaborative work environment. Due to growing business needs, the organisation is looking to identify a manager to look after the internal communications and employee relations across the business.

This is a well-known global wholesale bank with a strong presence across Asia. As part of the organisation’s strategic growth, there is now an excellent opportunity to join as a Vice President (VP) – Compensation & Benefits.

You will report to the Head of HR based in Singapore and will be expected to work closely with the business to recruit across a wide range of functions for the regional offices.

You would be required to work independently and also need to be competent at managing external agencies. You also need to independently conduct and search for hard-to-fill positions by proactively networking and establishing talent pipelines, leveraging existing relationships, and developing new contacts.

You will have at least 5 years of recruitment experience ideally with regional Business Partner exposure. Knowledge and experience in the FMCG industy is an added advantage.

You are a powerful communicator with strong business acumen.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at ft@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT5357\HRM, or call (65) 63338530 for more details.

This role is highly visible as you will be reporting directly to the regional HR head. This role involves spearheading employee communications agenda and various projects for the region. You are also expected to work closely with various senior stakeholders across the region.

Ideally, you are degree qualified in disciplines of mass communications or human resources.

You will need to have strong communication skills and have worked a minimum of 5 years in a progressive and dynamic organisation.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at ft@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT6058\HRM, or call (65) 63338530 for more details.

Reporting into the Head of HR, you will work as an advisor to business units and regional HR managers. You will analyze the job markets, benchmark job positions and align current benefits with the market data. You will monitor the progress of stock option programs, assist in annual salary review. You will also be required to design job evaluation instrument and guides, review group medical insurance, design incentive programs and sales commission with the respective business units.

You will work with internal system to extract information for analysis and ensure feedback into payroll team. You are responsible for planning and budget for HR team and will ensure compensation & benefits structure are in line with budget.

Ideally you are degree qualified with strong C&B background of at least 7 years or more.

You have good understanding of various countries C&B benefit structures, and good communications skills. A good team player as well as one, who is able to work with minimum supervision, will succeed in this role.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at ft@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT6134\HRM, or call (65) 63338530 for more details.

Business Registration No: 200307397W I Licence No: 03C4828

Multi-award winning recruitment firm with specialist practices in: Banking, Finance - Commerce, Engineering, Human Resources, Legal, Sales & Marketing, and Technology.

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Human resources professionals speak to tHe experts regional Hr manager oversee the full spectrum of Hr

Hr Business partner roll out Hr projects across the region

This well known global shipping business with presence in Singapore is seeking a highly experienced HR professional to lead and influence the regions HR capabilities. The role will allow you to deliver the full spectrum of HR offerings ranging from talent acquisition and performance management through to compensation and benefits and employee relations. The successful candidate will have a degree combined with eight to ten years work experience at a regional level.

This expanding organisation in the technology industry is looking for a HR Manager to business partner professionally with various business units. Reporting to the HR Director, you will support staff in all matters pertaining to human resources in the areas of recruitment, performance management and employee engagement.

With more than five years experience as an HR generalist, you will have strong business acumen and HR operational experience, and be independent and resourceful to deliver business results.

talent management & organisational effectiveness manager support the ta & leadership development strategy This role will be a hands on resource in the region to support of the talent acquisition strategy, including university relations, and drive positive employer branding. You will oversee the leadership training and registration process to ensure timely communication, quality material and preparation of training effectiveness. You will also support employee engagement survey planning using reporting tools and support survey implementations. You should have a bachelors combined with five to seven years experience in the above, in talent management and organisational effectiveness.

recruitment manager oversee the regional recruitment strategy This expanding Telco multinational is looking for a regional Recruitment Manager to implement, develop and review recruitment strategies to meet global business objectives. The role will be responsible for directing the recruitment team and working harmoniously across a matrix environment to deliver high quality recruitment services. You should have over eight years of experience in a managerial capacity in a Technology environment with extensive knowledge and experience of the recruitment industry, and managing a team of experienced recruiters.

please contact Vargin Yeke, ash russell, mamta shukla or chris lui at hr.singapore@hays.com.sg or +65 6303 0721.

hays.com.sg

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Great people are at the heart of every successful business. It is this belief to invest in our team at Charterhouse that makes it possible for us to provide our clients with professional, specialised and tailored executive search services and the best possible talent for each company.

People are our business

Our client list spans across multi-national companies and global enterprises with a vested interest in people and talent development. These companies are currently searching for HR professionals to develop a rewarding professional career for and to value add to the following professional and executive roles.

AIG – Regional APAC Compensation & Bene�its Manager

AXA – Compensation & Bene�its Manager

One of the world’s leading general insurance companies is looking for a Regional APAC Compensation & Bene�its Manager for a 6 months contract.

One of the world’s leading �inancial services company is looking for a HR professional with a focus on Compensation and Bene�its, HR operations and business partnering.

Responsibilities:

• to drive and develop policies, best practices and strategies to attract, motivate and retain locally, regionally and globally • to harmonize the global job grading system and annual review cycle seamlessly • to drive a new performance culture through performance ratings and rewards system

Responsibilities:

Requirements:

• to drive and deliver HR operations and advisory in recruitment, payroll, compensation and bene�its, HRIS, employee relations and engagement • to identify and lead strategic HR projects and programmes to build a high performance culture and organization • manage a team in rewards, onboarding and HR administration

To apply, please email your CV to shereenf@charterhouse.com.sg or call Shereen Foo at +65 64355610.

To apply, please email your CV to shereenf@charterhouse.com.sg or call Shereen Foo at +65 64355610.

NTUC Income –Senior OD Specialist

Recruitment Consultant

An established �inancial services company in Singapore is looking for a Senior Organisation Development Specialist to drive organization-wide OD and talent management initiatives.

Charterhouse is a leading executive search �irm. We are looking for the right individuals for our specialist recruitment focus in Sales and Marketing, IT, HR, Supply Chain, Finance and Engineering.

• minimum 10 years of regional compensation and bene�its in large corporates or consultancy with strong experience in developing and establishing reward strategies across levels including short and long-term incentive plans • strong understanding of income tax, job evaluation methodologies and related legislation preferably in the insurance or �inance industry

Responsibilities:

• drive and develop initiatives and strategies relating to talent management, leadership development and OD (change management, culture building) to build, develop and retain talent pool • work with division heads to identify and engage talents to maximise leadership potential • build and establish career competency framework and career maps for career development and growth

Requirements:

• min degree with strong knowledge and experience in talent management, leadership development and OD in any industry • proactive and dynamic with strong analytical, project management, coaching, facilitation and presentation skills

To apply, please email your CV to shereenf@charterhouse.com.sg or call Shereen Foo at +65 64355610.

Requirements:

• min degree with at least 7-8 years of generalist and rewards experience in a fast-paced, change-oriented industry • independent, dynamic and hands-on with strong business partnering, negotiation, problem-solving, communication and interpersonal skills

This is an exciting Regional Business Development and Sales role; you will get the opportunity to provide regional high quality recruitment solutions and advise human resource strategies to international clients.

Requirements:

• business or related university degree • highly motivated individual with minimum 3 years’ successful recruitment and/or sales experience, an entrepreneurial spirit and a great team player • individuals with passion, drive and ambition in sales and recruitment • individual with �lair for business development and relationship building If you are keen to �ind out more or would like to apply for the role of Recruitment Consultant, please email Evelyn Neo at evelynn@charterhouse.com.sg or call +65 6435 5621.

For more information on your career and recruitment needs, please visit www.charterhouse.com.sg Charterhouse believes in investing in people. If you want to join a company that provides more than a job but a rewarding career call Gary Lai at +65 6435 5601 or email garyl@charterhouse.com.sg.

EA Licence Number: 06C3997

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ISSUE 13.12

HRMASIA.COM

A special feature brought to you by

New Tool Allows You To Determine And Compare Salaries

Want to know how much you should pay an employee or how much your peers are earning? STJobs has a tool for that.

BY MICHELLE WAN

Have you ever wondered if you are over- or under-paying your employees? Or how much your colleagues are making? Now you can find out where your employees stand with their salaries as well as compare your salary against your peers’ with STJobs’ Salary Benchmarker Tool.

The tool, which STJobs recently launched in September, easily allows users to find out the median salaries using the latest data by MOM published in June 2013. To begin, go to www.stjobs.sg/salary. From there, key in an annual gross income and select a job function and industry before hitting the ‘calculate’ button. STJobs’ Salary Benchmarker Tool will generate rankings in terms of percentages and provide the annual gross income by occupation in terms of percentile.

You can also choose to perform a quick search to find out the average market salary for the same job across various industries.

Follow these step-by-step instructions on using the Salary Benchmarker Tool

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Adrian Tan, Managing Director of RecruitPlus Consulting said of the tool: “The salary benchmarker is a useful tool that enables users to gauge their salaries. The results are credible as they are based on a report released by Ministry of Manpower.”

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Get Started at www.STJobs.sg/Salary

6 Image source: www.stjobs.sg/salary

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Key in your gross annual income e.g. $60,000

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Hit the ‘Calculate’ button and view results illustrated in graphics

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Select your occupation e.g.

Human Resource Manager

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Click the ‘reset’ button if you wish to re-calculate

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Pick an industry or leave the option as default to calculate across all industries

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Check out jobs listings relevant to your search

*This tool is only a guideline and should be used with discretion.

STJobs.SG STJobsSG

At STJobs.sg, your ideal employee isn’t hard to find.

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