HRM 14.10

DAVE ULRICH’S

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HR PODCAST THE BIG INTERVIEW: NTUC'S LIM SWEE SAY CHESTER ELTON & ADRIAN GOSTICK:

WHAT REALLY MOTIVATES STAFF?

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EDITOR’S NOTE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Sumathi V Selvaretnam ASSISTANT EDITOR Shalini Shukla-Pandey JOURNALIST Sham Majid

Introducing the all-new HRM Magazine

SUB-EDITOR Paul Howell

Dear HRM readers,

PUBLISHING ADMINISTRATOR Azimah Jasman

W

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amos Lee GRAPHIC DESIGNER John Paul Lozano SALES DIRECTOR Steve Lye ACCOUNT MANAGERS Edwin Lim Jolene Ong MARKETING EXECUTIVE Rafiq Jalil MANAGING DIRECTOR Kaveri Ayahsamy PHOTOGRAPHY BY David Teng (xcalibrephoto.com) Frank Pinckers (pinckers.com) PRINTED BY Times Printers Pte Ltd PUBLISHED BY

HRM Asia Pte Ltd 121 Telok Ayer Street #02-01 Singapore 068590 Tel: +65 6423 4631 Fax: +65 6423-4632 Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg

14.10

e heard you.

HRM magazine celebrates its 150th issue this month and we’re proud to have grown together with you over the years. The HR landscape has changed tremendously in the past decade and so have your daily challenges. In the lead up to this issue, we thought long and hard about what we can do to add value to your busy lives.

The all-new HRM magazine is the result of a series of focus groups, feedback surveys and dialogues that we have had with our readership.

In the issues ahead, we hope to offer solutions to some of the unique HR situations that you face on a daily basis through more in-depth stories and case studies, quick checklists and tip sheets, as well as bite-sized advice and commentary from leading HR experts.

Helping you keep an eye out on talent of the future, we are introducing a new section called HR Young Guns. Expect to hear refreshing insights from university students pursuing a concentration in HR. According to data from SPRING Singapore, 99% of all enterprises in Singapore are small and medium enterprises. These companies employ seven out of every 10 workers and contribute nearly half of the national GDP. In our all-new section called SME Spotlight, we look at some of the unique challenges faced by these companies, and learn how they are overcoming them.

The month of October also marks the launch of our brand new HRM Asia website- a one-stop portal for all your HR needs. Log in to www.hrmasia.com and sign up for your own personal profile. You will receive customised content and access to thought-provoking discussions with others in your specialisation.

We would like to thank all the HR leaders who participated in this special issue of HRM and took time off their busy schedules to attend the cover photo shoot. It was great seeing all of you.

Thank you again for your continued support as we strive to stay on the pulse of all things HR, in Singapore, in Asia-Pacific, and around the world.

Sumathi V Selvaretnam Editorial Director, HRM Asia

HRM Editorial Team

CONTACT US:

MICA (P) 206/07/2013

ISSN 0219-6883

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@hrmasia.com.sg

ISSUE 14.10

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CONTENTS 14.10 COVER STORY 16 Captains of HR In celebration of its 150th issue, HRM Asia speaks to 30 of the industry’s biggest movers and shakers to find out how strong leadership, the courage to make the right decisions, as well as having a clear understanding of what intrinsically motivates people leads to a happier workforce and greater business success.

16

FEATURES 12

12

2

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Singapore in transition

Singapore has steadily progressed over the years and now, the next stage of growth sees an economy that is in transition. Workforce growth needs to be slowed down while productivity has to be ramped up in order for the Lion City to stay competitive. National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Secretary-General and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lim Swee Say, shares more about what this means for HR

36

Open company, no BS.

Ranked as Australia’s Best Place to Work by a recent nation-wide survey, software provider Atlassian is led by a strong and inclusive corporate culture. In this exclusive interview with HRM Asia, Jeff Diana, Atlassian’s Chief People Officer and Jean Michel, its Vice President of Engineering, share the “secret sauce” behind the company’s success

44

40 40

HR PODcast: The future of HR Guest contributor and HR Guru Dave Ulrich answers some frequently asked questions on the future of HR and shares them in the spirit of an HR PODcast.

44

Take this job and love it Guest contributors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton examine what really motivates staff, and how organisations can tap into this for greater results

48

Bosch: Dedication to innovation With a unique ownership structure, German multinational Bosch is able to spend a relatively great deal on research and development.

HRM speaks to Jennifer Ong, HR Director, Bosch Southeast Asia, about how innovation has also been ingrained on the staff psyche

55

SME Spotlight

At Mindwave Solutions, employees are encouraged to innovate and come up with actionable business ideas outside of their job scope

60

High Impact HR

In the first of our brand new monthly features, HRM probes into some of the most unique and extraordinary HR practices devised

66

HR Young Guns

60 REGULARS

In our brand new column, HRM examines the future torchbearers for HR in Asia. A university student specialising in HR will share his or her passion for the function and how he or she is preparing for their future career

7 News

74

71 Viewpoint

The “incentive� and stick approach Companies are increasingly doing away with regular and monotonous incentives for employees in return for more unique and unusual experiences.

HRM investigates

11

Leaders on Leadership

59 HR Clinic 69 An HRD Speaks 73 Viewpoint 87 Talent Ladder 100 In Person 100 Resources 101 Twenty-four Seven ISSUE 14.10

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3

LAUNCHING:

The All New HRM Asia Magazine Fuelled with FRESH offerings: Q&A-style interviews with top C-suite executives HR Young Guns High Impact HR SME Spotlight HR Clinic Bite-sized thought leadership columns

Our Makeover Continues Online at www.HRMAsia.com

Exclusive digital content Live polls HRM Weekly Bulletin HRM Insights MyHRM communities Whitepaper downloads Cross-industry training courses Dedicated events page

INF GRAPHIC

HR GETS TACTICAL

How do HR professionals align their people strategies to company goals? Here are some snippets from SilkRoad, which quizzed more than 300 HR professionals

TECHNIQUE USED TO EVALUATE STRATEGY

DOES HR MEET WITH MANAGEMENT IN OTHER AREAS TO ASSESS HR?

36%

27%

24%

OFTEN

SOMETIMES

SELDOM TO NEVER

12%

2%

ALWAYS

DON’T KNOW

DOES HR MEET WITH C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES TO ASSESS HR EFFECTIVENESS?

34%

31%

14%

OFTEN

SOMETIMES

ALWAYS

8%

6%

3%

SELDOM

VERY SELDOM

NEVER

29%

34%

Gap analysis (actual vs targeted performance)

34%

40%

Anecdotal reporting

Is HR planning linked with your company’s overall business strategy?

Formal postcompletion reviews

39%

Periodic initiative review

Peer review

28%

1% Don’t know

Weakly or not at all linked

23%

Extremely well linked

48% Linked

Rate your HR department’s contribution to company goals

56%

26%

17 %

Considerable

Slight

Great

OBSTACLES FACED ALIGNING HR TO COMPANY GOALS

45%

Lack of HR technology to support company objectives.

56%

Working in a reactive company culture, constantly fighting fires.

34%

Securing our HR team a “seat at the table” in making business decisions about the organisation.

This was a “Check all that apply” question so results will not add up to 100%

Source: “Aligning Human Resources with Business Strategy: Creating Value & Competitive Advantage” and SilkRoad TalentTalk • Some icon graphics are by Freepik.com 6

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ASIA MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE

WIDESPREAD FORCED LABOUR FOUND IN ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY

Wanted: Data mining experts

Forced labour is present in the Malaysian electronics industry in more than just isolated cases, and that the problem is widespread.

According to a study by Verité, a non-profit organisation dedicated to ensuring that people around the world work under safe, fair, and legal conditions, 32% of foreign migrant workers were working in conditions of forced labour.

The report revealed that 77% of migrant workers had to borrow money for recruitment fees.

Some 95% of those interviewed said they didn’t feel they could leave their jobs until they had paid off their debts. Their situation was made worse after a 2013 change in Malaysian law made it possible for employers to pass on the cost of a per-capita levy the government charges on the use of foreign labour to the workers themselves, increasing their debt by almost US$400.

Twenty-two per cent of foreign workers were also deceived about their wages, hours, overtime requirements or pay, provisions regarding termination of employment, or the nature or degree of difficulty or danger of their jobs. These workers had

little ability to change or refuse their jobs upon arrival.

The interviews revealed that although it is illegal under Malaysian law, 94% of workers had their passports taken by their employers or by recruitment agents, with most (71%) saying they were unable to get them back.

“The problem of forced labour within the Malaysian electronics industry is complex, but many of the solutions are not,” Dan Viederman, CEO of Verité remarked. “Governments, companies and civil society alike need to increase transparency into the recruitment process for workers. Third-party employment agents should be regulated by governments and held accountable for their practices by their clients.”

“Workers must not be charged recruitment fees, and must be allowed to hold their own passports,” he added. “These actions alone will go a long way to ensure that workers are treated fairly within the industry.”

HONG KONG

FINANCE NOT FAMILY-FRIENDLY More than half (54%) of women working in the Hong Kong financial services industry believe that they are unfairly paid. Indeed, almost six out of 10 women (57%) think men are paid more for the same work.

According to a survey by eFinancialCareers, of those who believe a gender income gap exists in the financial industry, the majority (45%) perceive it to be an 11% to 20% gap; while a third (34%) evaluate the gap at 21% to 30%. Professionals are split when it comes to the expected future pay gap 41% think it will narrow; 50% say it will stay the same and nine per cent believe it will increase.

NEWS

Chief Technology Officers in Singapore also find it harder to recruit skilled professionals than their counterparts overseas (20% in Singapore, compared to a global average of 15%).

Tang said that data mining and analytics were skill sets that were increasingly in demand in Singapore.

“Singapore has always been at the forefront of using technology to drive business. It is no surprise that 42% of companies are using data mining and analytics, now a core function in many IT teams, to drive business decisions.

“Robert Half has seen recruitment activity for skilled professionals with experience in data mining and analytics increase by 18% in the last two years,” Stella Tang, managing director of Robert Half Singapore, said.

PHILIPPINES

CIVIL SERVANTS TO GET FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK Some government employees in Metro Manila will soon be able to enjoy three-day weekends. Traffic woes brought about by major infrastructure projects in the metropolis have prompted the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to approve a four-day work week scheme in a bid to promote work-life balance among employees and boost their morale and productivity.

Under the arrangement, government offices can voluntarily implement the new work schedule from Tuesday to Friday or Monday to Thursday. Employees covered by the scheme will be required to work from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., taking an hour off for their lunch break.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, to qualify for the new schedule, a government office must have a one-stop shop and its frontline services accessible through the Internet. It must also have a functioning call centre or hotline system which diverts calls to the officers of the day should the person concerned be off duty.

Government agencies that meet the criteria and are granted blanket approval by the CSC may implement the four-day work week scheme initially for one year, starting last month.

These agencies will also be required to monitor and evaluate their employees’ performance, frequency of absenteeism and tardiness, health and wellness, satisfaction, turnover rate in addition to their agency’s electrical consumption and client satisfaction.

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NEWS

ASIA

INDIA

EMPLOYERS HAVE FREER HAND TO HIRE AND FIRE India has begun a cautious overhaul of its archaic labour laws, with two states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party – Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh – taking the lead.

The amended Industrial Disputes Act (ID Act) passed in Rajasthan makes it simpler for employers to hire and fire worker, allowing 300 workers to be dismissed without permission from the state government, up from the current 100.

It also sets a three-month limit for a retrenched worker to file objections to his/her dismissal. The previous Act did not set any time limit.

The new ID Act further stipulates that a trade union will be recognised only if it has the support of at least 30% of workers at a factory. The present limit is 15%. This will check the mushrooming of multiple trade unions in one establishment and also make the recognised unions stronger.

Madhya Pradesh has followed suit.

Among its most important proposals is a new process of self-certification that will ease the notorious “Inspector Raj” that allows petty local officials to harass companies in the name of labour rights.

The state has now empowered the labour commissioner in lieu of the labour

inspector to prosecute employers in case of any violation of labour laws. To make them free from inspections, state industries will not have to maintain as many as 68 registrations and furnish 16 returns under 19 different laws. Now, they will be required to maintain only one register.

Given this, and Modi’s clarion call to foreign investors to “Make in India”, the new labour initiatives may spell good news for the Indian economy.

Still, there is strong opposition from trade unions from touching archaic labour legislations that actually help only seven per cent of workers who are employed by the organised sector.

The remaining 93% of workers mostly remain outside the ambit of these laws.

SINGAPORE

CHINA

WORKPLACE INJURIES RISE

FOREIGN TALENT HIRING REQUIREMENTS TIGHTENED

According to the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Statistics (January to June 2014) Report released by the WSH Institute, workplace injuries and fatalities rose in the first half of 2014, increasing by 14% and 20% respectively, Foreign hiring requirements in Beijing have been compared to the same period in 2013. tightened.

Thirty workers lost their lives at their According to a decree jointly released by the Beijing workplaces over the first half of the year, up HR and Social Security Bureau, the Foreign affairs office from 25 during the same period in 2013, while major injuries of Beijing, and the Beijing Municipal Commission of edged up to 279, from 273 in 2013.

Education, the tightened regulations aim to reduce the The construction sector was the main contributor (57%) threshold of foreign workers in the city. of workplace fatalities and remains a cause for concern. It The new standard stipulates that non-Chinese contributed 17 fatalities in the first half of 2014, compared citizens who wish to work in Beijing should meet four to 11 over the same period last year. The three traditionally requirements: higher risk sectors (construction, marine and manufacturing) • Aged between 18 to 60, with no criminal record accounted for 73% of all workplace fatalities.

• Hold a bachelor’s degree or above, with at least Falls, moving objects, being caught in between two years of relevant work experience. Teaching objects, and crane-related accidents were the most roles require at least five years of relevant common causes of workplace fatalities, with falls experience of SMEs in Singapore accounting for nine cases.

• Have a specific employer and hold a valid face challenges in The construction sector registered an increase passport or other international travel promoting productivity in major injuries from 71 cases in the first half of documents Source: Singapore 2013 to 84 over the same period in 2014. Major • Hold a valid work permit, or a residence Business Federation injuries rose for non-traditional sectors as well, certificate for work from 38 cases in the first half of 2013 to 50 over the • Be healthy same period in 2014. These were seen in various industries For candidates applying for programmes recruiting including Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and senior foreign experts to boost Beijing’s innovation Remediation Activities, Wholesale and Retail Trade and capability, the age limit is up to 65 years old.

Logistics and Transport.

Currently, about 37,000 foreign staff from the US, Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman of the WSH Council, urged Japan, South Korea, Germany and Australia work in Beijing industries to improve WSH outcomes – through proper risk permanently, with 95% holding a bachelor degree or above. management, addressing risks upstream, and strengthening They mainly work in the IT, computer science, education, of the internal WSH cultures. consultation, and science and technology fields.

88%

8

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INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

Pre-empt your talent from leaving!

GLOBAL

HOLIDAYING WORKERS ANNOYED BY OFFICE CALLS According to a new survey from Lastminute.com, more than seven out of 10 Spanish survey respondents claimed they had been consulted by a colleague during their vacation, and had clocked in two hours weekly on average despite officially being on a break.

The survey also showed that 72.3% of Spaniards and 68.6% of Italians had received work calls while trying to take time off. Meanwhile, 54.2% of French respondents claimed they had been disturbed while on vacation due to

Dr Roland

work-related issues.

On 70% of these cited occasions, the call was initiated to the respondent’s personal line, rather than their professional one.

In general, over half of workers constitute these professional calls as being a source of irritation (59.7% of French respondents, 58.2% of Britons, and 53.5% of Germans).

Their exasperation is frequently added to when the call or interruption is seen as “unimportant” or even “useless”, a feeling shared by 47.14% of French employees, 61.2% of Spaniards and 53.2% of Germans.

The survey, conducted for Lastminute.com by OnePoll, was based on a sample population of 6,500 employed adults throughout Europe.

B Smith

Vice President and Managing Director, Center for Creative

W

e recognise that talents keep a scorecard on their positive and negative experiences with organisations, assessing if the relationship is transactional or transformational.

Often, talents make the decision to leave well in advance of the actual move.

The question then arises: How can you be pre-emptive and retain your talent?

Knowing the view from inside your talent pipeline offers clues not only to retain talent, but also to increase their level of engagement. Sustain a talent-focused culture that provides a constantly nurturing and challenging environment. Most importantly, understanding that talent sustainability is a shared process, not just a “HR function” leads to leaders developing a talent mindset.

In addition to the employees (Talent) themselves, there are 4 other key roles in sustaining a talentfocused culture: • Talent Overseers – The board of directors that ensure that Talent Sustainability is a priority within the organisation.

• Talent Orchestrators – CEO and senior executives who need to align organisational resources and demonstrate commitment and engagement through their individual behaviours.

• Talent Influencers – Team leads who can leverage their close proximity of talent to identify and groom the right people for the right roles.

• Talent Accelerators – HR executives who are instrumental in providing systems and coaching to accelerate talent development, constantly engaging the various stakeholders.

Keeping in mind “How can we develop better leaders faster?”, a quick answer is to have the talent conversations before they are necessary or too late, and to do them right.

One in four US

WELCOME TO THE FREELANCING WORLD

UK office workers has confessed to making false expense claims at work Source: webexpenses survey

Over one in three US workers, some 53 million Americans, are now freelancing, at least according to the Freelancing in America: A National Survey of the New Workforce study by the independent research firm Edelman Berland. That research, commissioned by the Freelancers Union in partnership with Elance-oDesk, also found that twice as many freelancers have witnessed an increase in demand in the past year as have seen a decrease (32% cited an increase, while 15% saw a decrease).

Close to seven in 10 (69%) freelancers claimed that technology had made it simpler to secure freelance work, and 42% said they have done freelance work through the internet.

As the demand for freelancing grows, so does the reputation of those involved.

Nearly two out of three (65%) freelancers claimed that freelancing as a career path was more respected today than it was three years ago.

In addition, 80% of non-freelancers polled added they would be prepared to embark on additional assignments outside of their primary occupation if they were available and allowed them to make more cash.

“Freelancing is the new normal – and this survey shows that America’s new workforce is big, crucial, and here to stay,” said Sara Horowitz, Founder and Executive Director of Freelancers Union.

The study involved more than 5,000 working adults based in the US.

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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

9

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

UK

CAREER DEAD-END? British employees appear to be wedged in their careers when it comes to progression.

According to the latest findings from the Kelly Global Workforce Index (KGWI), more than two thirds of workers have not had a career development consultation with their firms in the last year, while 42% feel they do not have a concise career path open to them.

The survey also revealed that when given the options of progressing to a higher level in their company or garnering new skillsets, 68% would choose to upgrade their skills.

As many as 59% said they would also fancy the prospect of learning new skills over higher wages.

However, businesses are unable to meet this demand for skills development, with a third of workers confessing they

have become disappointed with the career development sources offered by their present company.

With 34% believing they do not have the chance to advance their career, many are using their own means to get ahead.

Some 31% of respondents admitted they had either pursued or paid for training themselves in the past year.

In addition, as many as 67% revealed they would look for a new job in the next year.

Helen Palmer, Regional Learning and Development Manager for Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Kelly Services, said in the present candidate-led market, workers have the advantage.

“Businesses must therefore ensure that in order to encourage retention, they engage their employees, offering the skills, training and support they need in order to help them progress their careers over the long term,” said Palmer.

US

US

WHEN COLLEAGUES BECOME FRIENDS

IS YOUR APPLICATION PROCESS “PAINFUL”?

Forget the often espoused notion that relationships between working colleagues are simply professional.

According to The Globoforce Workforce Mood Tracker study, 89% of US employees believe work relationships are crucial to their quality of life; while 93% specifically appreciate the respect of work friends or co-workers.

In fact, US employees value their colleagues so much that the effect of work anniversary celebrations rises when colleagues, emotion and recognition are included, as compared to simply receiving a “congratulations” only from a manager.

The study revealed that US workers polled were 28% more likely to feel valued if they were employed in firms where co-

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workers were included in their anniversary celebratiosn and 44% more likely to classify themselves Jobseekers are becoming increasingly agitated as “highly engaged”. when it comes to the applications they have to In addition, 95% deemed an submit for job vacancies in the US. anniversary with emotion and According to the 2014 Jibe Talent Acquisition Survey, acknowledgement to be a positive the majority of job searchers labelled their search as encounter, and were three times time-consuming (80%), stressful (78%), discouraging more likely to claim it (71%) and even painful (60%). made them feel more Six in 10 (60%) job searchers usually appreciated. anticipated firms to reply to applicants of employees who claimed to Traditional in a timely fashion, yet only 20% be suffering from high levels anniversary felt that most organisations actually of stress also said they felt celebrations were behaved this way. disengaged from work also deemed to be Technology is also frustrating job Source: Towers unfavourable, with seekers, with one in five (20%) job Watson Global Benefits workers craving for seekers claiming they would give up on Attitudes Survey more shareable and an online job application if they could profound milestone experiences. not finish it on a mobile device.

For example, 45% of In fact, 43% of HR professionals polled cited respondents wanted celebrations that IT problems were the most frequent obstacles that included shared memories for mobile hiring optimisation, with budget and compliments from co-workers constraints (35%) and internal resistance (32%) and managers. close behind.

“The current workforce is one In addition, 37% of recruitment professionals that thrives on positive emotion,” were worried that their firm’s application process said Eric Mosley, CEO of Globoforce. was curtailing quality recruits.

The Globoforce Workforce Mood The 2014 Jibe Talent Acquisition Survey quizzed Tracker study was based on 716 more than 1,000 job seekers and more than 300 responses from employees in the US. HR professionals.

57%

LEADERS ON LEADERSHIP

How do you personify your organisation’s brand?

W

hether we intend it or not, the culture and type of people of most start-up companies are usually a reflection of their founder. Over time, this reflection becomes the organisation’s “branding”.

I realised early on, that having a good corporate culture was going to be critical for the company’s longterm survival. Much as I didn’t want to create a company that was about “me”, I knew that my personal values and belief systems were going to be a big part of how the company developed.

There are six values that define who we are as a company, the official distributor of the Melissa brand of ladies fashion footwear for Singapore and Malaysia. They are: One Team; Customer Focus; Mutual Respect; Do The Right Thing; Promises Made are

Promises Kept; and Giving Our Best.

I will elaborate more about the two values that have extra significance for me personally.

Do the Right Thing. I don’t believe in shortcuts or cutting corners. I’ll always take the harder but “righter” route versus the easier path. For example, our company incurs a lot of additional effort to have two payroll cycles (instead of one) every month just so that we can pay our staff on time and in accordance to Ministry of Manpower requirements. I believe we are one of the few small retail companies to have such a practice.

Promises Made, Promises Kept.

Delivering on what I have committed to every time or at least, to the best of my abilities is a value I hold close to my heart and preach to my team as often as I can.

O

GAVIN MUI

Managing Director, Magnum Spirits and Wine

ver the past 15 years from a small start-up to one of Singapore’s leading spirits and wine distributors, I believe the growth of our company goes hand in hand with the growth of our employees.

They personify our brand and I believe in grooming quality staff who have the best reflection of the brand.

The common practices we have put in place since the start have helped us achieve the great success we own today.

Firstly, we conduct regular meetings with various departments to update the progress of the company, making all employees feel they are a part of the big picture and that their opinions and thoughts matter.

We also have trainings where we focus on personal improvement, with wine and new product training and even communication courses.

Directors and managers are also sent

TERENCE YOW

Managing Director, Enviably Me

for enrichment courses to improve their management skills.

Thirdly, there is internal growth, where we have personal supervision and monitoring from the heads of departments to ensure there is progress and improvement of each and every individual.

We also focus on trade exposure, where product knowledge is broadened with overseas product-focused trips.

In terms of staff rewards, there are long-term service awards with deserving staff trips creating harmony among employees and ensuring that they receive the much needed recognition to build a strong sense of belonging and loyalty.

Lastly, we have the “Train the Trainer” concept. I believe this focus should be given to a few key leaders who will in turn provide guidance and encouragement in their individual teams.

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11

THE BIG INTERVIEW

SINGAPORE IN TRANSITION O

ver the next five years, more than 200 million people are projected to join the workforce globally, according to the Global Employment Trends 2013 report by the International Labour Organisation.

This presents global HR challenges such as: • How to create enough jobs to minimise unemployment, • How to create quality jobs to minimise under-employment, and • How to create enough skills in all ages of workers to minimise job-skill mismatch, so as to minimise structural unemployment.

Singapore is no different. While 2014 has been a year of great advancements within the HR industry in the country, with the amendment of Singapore’s employment law and the enactment of the Fair Consideration Framework, the Lion City is facing similar challenges of an economy in transition.

Singapore’s total workforce has grown by about three per cent a year over the past few years, driven largely by an increase in the labour force.

“We keep injecting more workers into our economy. With more workers, we produced more output, and therefore we have had higher Gross Domestic Product growth,” National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Secretary-General and Minister – Prime Minister’s Office, Lim Swee Say, explains.

One outcome of this workforce-driven growth is that the ratio of foreign workers to local workers has been going up. This is because foreign worker numbers have been going up faster than local worker figures. Today, this ratio is one foreign 12 ISSUE 14.10

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Singapore has steadily progressed over the years. The next stage of growth now sees a workforce and economy in transition. National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) SecretaryGeneral and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lim Swee Say, shares how HR can help the Lion City to stay competitive

Shalini Shukla-Pandey shalini@hrmasia.com.sg

worker for every two locals (1:2).

“If we don’t change our strategy of workforce-driven growth, eventually the ratio of foreign workers to local workers will become 1:1, or even 2:1. Local workers may become the minority,” Lim warns.

“Singapore’s social fabric will then no doubt change, albeit for the worse.”

At the same time, Singapore’s productivity has also been dropping. The annual growth in productivity over the past decade was only one per cent, down from two per cent in the decade before.

“This is because there has been less pressure to efficiently produce more output with abundant manpower resources,” Lim explains. “If I need more products made, I just add manpower. Eventually, low productivity will render us less competitive.”

Neither the higher growth in foreign manpower nor the lower growth in

productivity are sustainable, says Lim. Looking ahead, manpower has the potential to become a severe bottleneck to Singapore’s growth.

Businesses won’t be able to grow, causing them to relocate. Jobs will then be scarce and unemployment may go up. If the quality of jobs can’t catch up with the education system, the country will face underemployment. If job quality is ahead of the skills of the workforce, structural unemployment will go up instead.

“If we do it right though, we can make every worker a better worker, every job a better job, every career a better career,” Lim affirms. “For that to happen, every employer must also become a better employer and every HR team a better HR team.”

Make every worker a better worker To maintain a foreign worker to local worker ratio of 1:2 and achieve sustainable growth, Lim explains that Singapore must maximise local workforce growth. If the local workforce grows at one per cent, the foreign workforce can also only grow at one per cent.

“Given our lower unemployment rate and higher employment rate, competition for manpower will continue to be keen,” says Lim. Instead of poaching and hunting for talent, which is not sustainable in the long-run, Lim says that a better way is for employers to farm local talent and value, nurture and invest in them for long-term gains.

One good way to do so is sector by sector, company by company, via a ladder

THE BIG INTERVIEW of progression: the “four-in-one” Progressive Wage Model. This ladder has four major rungs: • Skills upgrading – considering what kind of skills will be needed in the future; • Productivity improvement – every person can be more productive by doing the job “easier, safer and smarter”; • Career advancement – helping every talent to reach their potential based on skills, competency and potential, not qualifications, thereby making every career a better career; • Salary progression – helping workers achieve wage increases that are higher than the rate of inflation.

This is a broad-based transformation that Singapore is going through and it is inevitable that companies of all sectors and all sizes will be affected. Still, the more critical factor will be their ability to adapt regardless of size and sector.

“In short, big is not necessarily better than small, but fast is certainly better than slow,” Lim explains.

Singapore also recently adopted the Fair Consideration Framework and National Jobs Bank to further ensure that employers consider local talent fairly when hiring, developing local manpower as the growth of foreign manpower is slowed down.

Companies that just go through the motions under this framework will have their applications for Employment Passes more closely scrutinised.

“Instead of trying to go around Lim Swee Say, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) the framework, I urge employers, Secretary-General and Minister, Prime Minister’s Office unions, government agencies and employees to work together to make every worker a better worker, every job a better job, and every career a better career,” says Lim. “Through this, we can of Singaporeans will hold strengthen the Singaporean PMET jobs in 2030, compared core of workers in every major to about half today sector, complemented by Source: Population White foreign manpower in a more Paper 2013 sustainable manner.”

The National Jobs Bank also allows tripartite partners to see which jobs are growing in demand and ensure local talent has the skills to be prepared for Source: Goy Kae Lip those jobs.

“If we do it right, we can make every worker a better worker, every job a better job, every career a better career, every employer a better employer and every HR team a better HR team”

Two-thirds

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AWARDS

2015

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore | 6 March

Nomination Entries Closing Soon!

Submit your nominations by the 10th of October 2014

www.hrmawards.com

THE BIG INTERVIEW “The Continuing Education and Training (CET) Masterplan, and Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review (ASPIRE) framework ensure workers have sufficient avenues to up-skill, multi-skill and reskill for jobs of tomorrow,” says Lim.

Make every job, a better job Instead of letting jobs fall stagnant and adding more manpower to complete the task, to get more out of every worker, jobs must be redesigned and workplaces transformed so as to become age and family-friendly.

The re-employment of mature workers up to the age of 65 has been implemented smoothly, with a steady increase in the employment rate for mature workers in recent years. “From the workers’ point of view, longer lifespans mean retirement periods are also extended,” says Lim. “Working longer is also part of active ageing, and living a productive and purposeful life.”

“If we can make our workplace and job age-friendly, the extension of the reemployment age need not be done at the expense of quality of work, and hence will not negatively impact businesses,” he adds. “A reemployed worker doesn’t need to be a less productive worker.”

To further maximise local workforce growth, employers should change

mindsets and be open to hiring people who re-join the workforce after a hiatus.

Being more inclusive towards people with disabilities should also be a priority as this group of people can also be productive, says Lim. Ex-offenders should also be given a second chance at meaningful employment.

“Every employer can indeed be a better employer,” says Lim. “HR is at the heart of this and must also strive to be better.”

Tripartism is key Manpower is and will be even more critical to Singapore’s success in the coming years as the country slows down workforce growth and strives for higher productivity and innovation.

“To be truly successful in ensuring employment (make every job a better job) and employability (make every worker a better worker) of manpower move in tandem, we must mobilise and synchronise all efforts of tripartite partners – government, unions and employers – and workers themselves,” says Lim. “The best way to ensure that this critical resource of manpower does not become a bottleneck of our future growth is by making every worker a better worker, every job a better job, every career a better career, every employer a better employer and every HR team a better HR team,” he concludes.

Local vs. foreign workers Slowing down the growth of manpower in Singapore does not mean reducing the number of foreign workers in the country, says National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Secretary-General and Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Lim Swee Say. “In fact, foreign manpower will continue to rise, but at a slower pace so that we can maintain the ratio of local-to-foreign workers at about the current ratio of two-to-one,” says Lim. “While they will continue to be an integral part of our workforce, we do not want to become overly dependent on foreign talent for our economic success.”

Lim believes that employers must apply the same mindset to both local and foreign talent. Only then can Singapore truly maximise the potential of every worker, leading to business success.

For instance, in hotels, foreign workers used to be only allowed to do specific roles such as housekeeping but now, through the Jobs Flexibility Scheme for Productivity, they are multi-skilled and work alongside local employees in several other roles within the hotel. “Their value to the company has gone up, so their pay has also risen,” says Lim. “Therefore, optimising the deployment of the local workforce need not be done at the expense of our foreign workforce,” he adds.

Labour movement today One may ask how relevant is Singapore’s labour movement today? This is especially with professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) starting to make up a majority of the workforce, which was once mostly filled with blue collar workers during the birth of the country.

“Seven years ago, the labour movement saw this shift in the workforce composition coming,” says National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Secretary-General and Minister – Prime Minister’s Office, Lim Swee Say. The workforce could face a potential social divide and widening income gap between: highly-skilled and higher paid workers growing alongside low-skilled and lower paid workers; young workers growing alongside older workers; and local and foreign talent.

“We decided to reposition the labour movement for workers of all Collars (white, blue, gold and no collar or self-employed people), Ages and Nationalities,” says Lim. “At NTUC, we say all CAN join,” says Lim. Singapore’s labour movement is making good progress. A fifth of all PMEs are union members. More retirees are lifelong members of NTUC and making use of services such as U Live. Student membership is also growing, with more than 80,000 members having joined nEbO, the junior membership arm of NTUC. NTUC membership is currently made up of 75% Singaporean citizens, 10% permanent residents, and 15% foreign workers.

All union members are provided with the “four Ps”: • Protection – workplace rights • Progression – skills upgrading • Placement – through the National Jobs Bank and other services • Privileges – social benefits “We still have a long way to go and we continue to grow,” says Lim. “NTUC’s membership profile must continue to be an inclusive one, reflecting the profile of Singapore’s workforce.”

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COVER COVER STORY

CAPTAINS OF HR

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STORY COVER STORY

It has been over twelve years since the launch of HRM’s inaugural issue and along the way, we have witnessed the HR profession grow from strength to strength, and evolve from being a mere “enabler” to a valued business partner. Over the years, HRM Asia has forged strong ties and friendships with the local HR community. In this 150th special issue, 30 of the finest HR leaders in Singapore share with us some of the tough decisions that they have had to make, their proudest moments at work, and their thoughts on where the profession will be headed in the next 10 years.

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COVER STORY MARK LEONG

AILEEN TAN

Describe the toughest group that you’ve managed to get to truly cooperate…

How do you motivate people?

Director of HR, UBS AG

The ‘toughest’ groups, not a single group – are the ones who have challenged me to come up with innovative solutions and are also the ones who get to the core of the issue. For me, these groups were initially not clear about HR end goals, or were not confident that we had their best interests at heart, and that I was there to assist them meet their business objectives. My approach was to establish a relationship and value-add, and in so doing build a level of trust.

Your greatest HR accomplishment?

From a corporate perspective: Helping clients, internal and external, meet their goals of engaging and growing their people, and in so doing, meeting and strengthening business goals. From an individual perspective: The strong relationships developed with clients and business partners who have subsequently become good friends, mentors or mentees.

Any burning HR questions?

How best to establish the fine line between value add, client focus and people versus cost containment and the drive to have employees go selfservice; yet remaining relevant.

HR in 2024?

Clients will demand that we become more strategic, valueadding, and dynamic- driven by core principles; and (thereby) becoming a real partner at the table. Traditional aspects of HR service will be expected as a core, and delivered well.

While business acumen is required to work with commercial partners to drive the business forward, engaging people to build careers will be the key focus.

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Group Director HR, SingTel

I make the time to communicate and build relationships with my team. I am very passionate about what and how HR can make a difference and always encourage my team to explore new frontiers and possibilities. In challenging times, it’s important to stay calm and remain optimistic – the team counts on us as leaders to navigate through and stay the course.

Your biggest labour force challenge?

With over 22,000 employees in our group, we face a range of labour force challenges from the ageing workforce, hiring digital natives, and having fourgenerations. As we continue to focus on strengthening our core communications business and investing in new growth engines to ensure we remain relevant to our customers, it remains critical that we have a futureready workforce. We need to be creative and change our paradigm on how to tackle these challenges. For example, instead of considering our ageing workforce as one that is retiring, we could reframe this group as “Silver Talent” and consider how to extend their employability and help them stay relevant.

What do you love about your job?

Leading and shaping HR for Singapore’s largest locally listed employer means there is never a dull moment. I am proud and passionate about HR and truly believe that together with my team, we can make a difference and leave a legacy in SingTel.

A tough interview question that you always ask?

One of my favourite questions for candidates would be: “What would you do differently in your current role to be more successful?”

COVER STORY A MATEEN

Vice President of HR, Singapore, Southeast Asia and South Asia, DHL Express What do HR professionals hate to admit?

Traditionally, HR is not considered a strategic business function and most businesses perceive HR purely as the administrative support for people skills. However, this is no longer the case today. HR has earned its place in creating value that has a direct impact on business success.

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks?

At DHL, we work hard and play hard, and we believe in a healthy lifestyle. We encourage employees who are passionate about sports or hobbies to set up and champion hobby clubs and we have formed soccer, cycling, cricket and golf clubs. Staff Appreciation Weeks are a lot of fun as we have dress-up themes like the backto-school one we had in May earlier this year.

What is the most unpopular HR decision that you have had to make?

With every decision made, it’s not possible to please everyone, and I don’t believe we have to. HR’s role is to take the broader view of seeking alignment across the organisation, while offering fair and competitive compensation and benefits, and creating a safe and productive working environment.

If I wasn’t in HR I would be…

After working in HR for 27 years, frankly I don’t know the answer. It is in my blood.

However, I know what I’ll do after.

My plan is to go into education and give talks related to HR, nurturing the next generation of HR leaders.

TAN AI SIM HR Director, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea, Lenovo How do you motivate people I would say it’s different strokes for different people – the seniority, personality and personal circumstances of each individual calls for different ways. My advice is to latch on to personal motivators without losing sight of the big picture.

For example, staff who have a change in family profile, such as a newborn or starting a family, may prefer a role that requires less travelling at some point. If circumstances allow, adjust the roles and responsibilities of employees to accommodate for those personal needs.

I try to keep a listening ear and give feedback, both positive and negative. With feedback, people know exactly what is expected of them and in what areas they can improve upon. This makes my job easier too when I’m trying to get my plans and points across.

Describe the toughest group that you’ve managed to get to truly cooperate I won’t coin the description as “tough”, more apt would be “apprehensive”. The greatest HR challenge for me would be an M&A project and the need to get the buy-in and acceptance of employees, both current and potential. Current employees, who have had many long years of service, tend to be more apprehensive and resistant to change. Getting their buy-in is key as they possess the skillsets required to ensure business continuity.

Your greatest HR accomplishment My proudest moment was building a cohesive and forward-looking HR team that is valued by the business. Some members of the team came from non-HR backgrounds but today they are subject matter experts in their own areas of specialisation. Being able to make that difference in their careers and seeing them develop into professional HR practitioners is the greatest achievement in my HR career.

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COVER STORY TIMOTHY SEBASTIAN

Group Director, HR, Agency for Science, Technology and Research How do you motivate people?

I find that when you take the time to explain to talented people why they need to do a certain task or assignment, and how that particularly task or assignment they are working on contributes to a larger whole, you get a lot more buy-in and enthusiasm. People work best when they know that what they do means something, and that what they do counts to the organisation.

Your biggest labour force challenge?

Finding the right talent with the right fit for the organisation, and thereafter recruiting them in a timely manner is always a challenge. The fact that the talent market in Singapore is very tight doesn’t help.

It requires HR departments to try to anticipate talent needs in advance, and to be adroit in building different talent pipelines that can be triggered as soon as new talent needs are required for the organisation.

HR in 2024?

I think technology will allow us to work from anywhere, and to be connected to everyone.

This will gradually change the definition of the workplace. People will be able to work seamlessly from home, the office, or from public spaces. The traditional nine to five office may become a thing of the past. The HR of the future will be challenged to redefine the way it assesses and appraises staff, builds teams and forges organisational alignment, and the way it fosters leadership and people development in this new technology-driven work environment.

LEE MURPHY

Senior Director HR, Microsoft Asia Pacific What people management challenge keeps you up at night?

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks? Bugbears?

Firstly, how we prepare our people, teams and organisation in times of change and transformation, how thoughtful we are in our preparations and mindful of the impact change has on people’s lives.

Secondly, how we develop talented people to reach their full potential. This especially relates to people leadership capabilities that inspire, are authentic and builds commitment.

Personally, I feel that humour and the ability to laugh at yourself during difficult moments is a critical part of keeping the tempo up at work. I have a strong preference for informal gatherings as it’s a great way to keep it real.

A bugbear is when people are not present in a conversation and not making the effort to engage. As for quirks, I’m known to always have a tray of treats on hand, usually sweets, and chocolates from many countries.

I’m sure I have a few other quirks the team can tell you about!

Describe the toughest group that you’ve managed to get to truly cooperate When I moved from a Regional to a Global role with a mandate for change, I went through a difficult ramp-up period, managing resistance, dealing with ambiguity and lifting performance while adapting to a new way of working.

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If I wasn’t in HR I would be…

Landing a professional footballing contract in Serie A, the Italian football league, or a Hotelier on the Adriatic Coast….

COVER STORY LYN LEE Vice President of HR, Shell Business Service Centres What people management challenge keeps you up at night?

What keeps me up at night is taking stock of the rapid changes in the organisation, thinking about my HR teams across the world, and reflecting on how each and everyone across the world is doing in their work.

What is the biggest change in HR that you’ve experienced in the past 20 years?

The biggest change in HR over the past 20 years would be the shift in the way people work. When I started out working 20 years ago, the main way of communicating at work was still through computergenerated memos that were placed in In and Out trays! And when emails started to become the norm in the mid-1990s, the speed of communication quadrupled. Now, smart devices and social media, such as workplace forums, Twitter, blogs, and crowd sourcing, have really changed the way in which people exchange information, make decisions, and gather input for work.

Your biggest labour force challenge?

Managing a young and mobile Generation Y workforce where alignment of career goals to life and personal aspirations are much more critical than loyalty to the organisation.

If I wasn’t in HR I would be…

Running a chain of high end boutique hotels and resorts. I love travelling, spontaneity and surprise, luxury, good food and wine, golf, and spas, and enjoy the company of people from all corners of the world.

RAYMOND YIP

Senior Manager – Group HR, Qian Hu Corp What do you love about your job?

In a small or medium enterprise (SME) environment, where one has to multi-task and be hands-on, the merit is you can see your contribution bearing fruit clearly. This is great satisfaction. As the management representative for the organisation’s business excellence journey, I can get an overview of all the processes and contribute in operational and customer areas through working on areas for improvements.

Your biggest labour force challenge from a strategic perspective?

To me, it is not so much about manpower limitation given the legislation or rising wages. More pressing is changing people’s mind-sets in areas of innovation and value-adding, and in the acquisition of such skills.

In general, in my opinion, we have yet to achieve the Japanese mind-set in productivity, let alone the German way of value-adding.

How do you keep the workplace fun?

Any office quirks?

We did a mini-casino game session during a staff gathering years ago (of course, no money was used), to encourage creativity which led to a lot of fun. We modified mooncakes with wasabi for games, designed our own staff award plaques and created our own “longkang” (drain) bowling prize, amongst other initiatives. We work hard and play hard; this should be the way.

What is the most unpopular HR decision that you had to make?

We had to slash some staff benefits during an organisation’s declining business performance. Equally sad was having to retrench some long service staff. However, we do keep in touch. It was heartening to know that some had been re-employed after 12 years of separation. So, this is a good policy of re-instatement.

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COVER STORY PAULINE CHUA General Manager, Human Capital and Corporate Social Responsibility, Fuji Xerox Singapore What is the most unpopular HR decision that you have had to make?

To ask someone to go, especially if they have been working for the organisation for a long time. Rule of thumb is that there should be no surprises and we should follow the due process. In HR we wear two hats, a corporate hat and a hat for the people. Such decisions should be handled sensitively so that outgoing employees leave with dignity.

What do you love about your job?

I love the complexity of my job, driving organisational objectives; providing support and advice on people related matters; and drawing upon other parts of HR to bring the right mix of services to support the business. The challenge is to always ensure that our HR priorities, capacity and capability are always aligned with business requirements.

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks?

A fun and energising work environment is very important to Fuji Xerox Singapore (FXS). As such, HR launched the FUN @ Work initiative; F.U.N. being an acronym for Fun Environment, Unity and eNergy. We focused on four main areas for making FXS a fun workplace which included team bonding activities, open communication in terms of having regular town hall meetings and multi-generational dialogues, providing a range of recreational equipment for employees from table tennis and foosball to Kinect so that employees can destress at work anytime of the day and return refreshed and rejuvenated. Last but not least, work-life integration is included in terms of providing flexiwork arrangements, shower facilities for lunchtime workouts, a lactation room and a family-friendly work environment.

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GAURAV SHARMA HR Director, Coca Cola

What do you love about your job?

My job gives me the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of people, by inspiring them to do better with what they already have within them. I enjoy helping people grow to become better individuals or professionals so they achieve their true north. It’s a privilege to be a small part of their journey.

Your biggest labour force challenge?

Technology is invading our lives, with more people preferring to connect over e-mails, text messages and social media rather than have face-to-face live discussions. This, to my mind, is hindering development of social skills like compassion, inclusiveness and open-debate, which are building blocks for social growth.

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks?

Being at Coca-Cola, this is quite easy as we call ourselves a “happiness factory” – sharing moments of joy with the world!

My advice to others on having a great culture would be to “Let people be…, guide them in the right direction, and then let them do what they do best”.

If you weren’t in HR, you would be…?

I would be a medical practitioner, such as a doctor, and still continue to deal with people. On a serious note, all through my career of more than 14 years in HR, I have never had the desire to move to any other discipline for achieving my true north.

HR in 2024?

The HR professional who will perhaps be featured as the top HR professional in your 2024 edition will be one with clear understanding of how business runs and can dovetail that with what and how desired behaviours should be instilled into the workforce to build capability.

COVER STORY CAROL YONG

HR Director, Dairy Farm South Asia Describe the toughest group that you’ve managed to get to truly cooperate.

While highly profitable, one of my previous companies faced increasing competition. It was obvious to middle management that there was a need to implement a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to track and measure every individual’s performance on four fronts: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes and Human Capital.

Despite engaging each one individually on the importance of adopting a BSC, General Managers (GMs) were resistant to be measured by something so transparent. In a tense meeting, when the adoption of BSC was put to a vote, all the GMs stood firm against it.

Fortunately, the CEO supported it and urged all GMs to give it a try. Interestingly, he was supported by all the senior managers reporting to the GMs. The GMs were out-voted by their own staff – what a breakthrough!

A tough interview question that you always ask?

‘How does your wife/husband (if married) or parents

(if single) describe you? Why?’

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks? Bugbears?

The most memorable office quirk was how we celebrated National Day. A long Prime Minister’s speech was crafted for my reading (I was the PM) to my ‘Ministers’ (Managers). I was accompanied by the ‘Chief of Army’ to inspect the ‘Guard of Honour’. At the end, we even had a real Singapore flag being hoisted in the HR office.

What do HR professionals hate to admit?

I believe HR professionals hate to admit defeat or that they have failed to support the company successfully in driving the people agenda.

FOO CHEK WEE

Group HR Director, SEA, Australia & Hong Kong, Zalora How do you motivate people?

All of us want to be part of something bigger than each of us. Messages and actions need to be delivered consistently on three fronts to motivate my team in striving towards the same business objectives.

The three key ingredients needed to motivate people are: empowerment, measurement and recognition. On empowerment, team members are given full rein in how they perform their roles and responsibilities. On measurement, clear oversight is established to ensure all team members are aware of one another’s project or task progress.

On recognition, it should be personalised, contextualised and done in a big way. In addition to these three success factors, I strive to listen and respond to my team members’ aspirations, challenges, and developmental needs.

HR in 2024?

With the tremendous economic growth and

opportunities happening in Asia, I foresee three trends within the next 10 years.

• Transactional HR services will be totally outsourced as local HR service vendors mature and perfect their capabilities in providing business impact and scale economies.

• This trend enables the corporate HR function to focus on human capital strategies and executions that matters to the bottom line.

• With this focus, more local stories or evidence of how the HR function, across industries, company sizes and geographies, contribute to the organisational capabilities will surface.

In sum, I foresee the corporate HR function will no longer work on HR projects, but business projects with a HR lens.

If I wasn’t in HR I would be…

A lecturer in an educational institution, playing a part in grooming young talents to become the next-generation of HR leaders.

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COVER STORY ARINA KOH

Covering Director – HR, Ministry of Manpower What people management challenge keeps you up at night?

What is the most unpopular HR decision that you have had to make?

As the war for talent rages on, achieving high alignment between organisational aspirations and employee aspirations isn’t easy, as talents often look for greater flexibility to fill both specific and emerging roles.

Often, the worries are on two fronts: • Whether talents have developed stronger work or career connections outside the organisation, as it will then be harder to keep hold of them, and • If there will be enough competent and innovative people to move into roles when needed.

I often tell my colleagues that policies are meant to provide fundamental guidelines and parameters for all to work within, but HR’s value lies in being able to ask the right questions. Is this policy still relevant to this situation? If not, what can be done?

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks?

Food has an amazing way to bond people. I would occasionally bake for my HR colleagues when I find time and I would also stock up my snack basket in my office so they looked forward to having discussions at my office. Who says discussions have to be boring and solemn?

HR in 2024?

In a decade, Generation Y workers will be at a crucial stage of their working lives, with most holding key managerial or leadership roles. This generation, by then, will express a new set of aspirations and needs that will need to be understood and managed, and may not be aligned to that of the older generation, which they will be managing.

HR will then be expected to plan for strategic manpower in anticipation of future needs and set policies and practices that would appeal to a diverse workforce.

PATRICK OLLIVIER

Chief HR Officer, Asia-Pacific, Accor What do you love about your job?

I enjoy working in a rapidly growing environment such as Asia-Pacific. The business is developing so rapidly here that it brings positive challenges to HR in terms of recruitment and talent management.

Moreover, having worked in HR around the world, it’s all about the diversity of HR approaches and this is another aspect of my job which I thoroughly enjoy.

What is the biggest change in HR that you’ve experienced in the past 20 years?

It would undoubtedly be the evolution of organisations and the rapid nature of their transformations. This means that as an HR specialist, you need to constantly show agility in order to support and anticipate change. It is crucial to be able to adapt to changes in this day and age, especially at the speed at which they occur.

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Another area of profound change in my view is managerial style. We have now evolved towards a more coaching and mentoring leadership approach as opposed to the authoritarian management style of yore.

If you weren’t in HR, you would be…?

I’ve always been passionate about having international exposure in my career so if I weren’t in HR, I would probably be an explorer or adventurer discovering new worlds!

HR in 2024?

We are moving towards a trend of increasing work-life longevity – where people work until far later in their lives and have much longer career spans. The trend can already be felt now, but by 2024, we will be working with several generations within one workforce.

The interesting challenge we will face with this is having different generations work and thrive together within one organisation.

COVER STORY LOW PECK KEM

SYED ALI ABBAS

Chief HR Officer & Senior Director (Business Partnerships), Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office

Your greatest HR accomplishment

What is the biggest change in HR that you’ve experienced in the past 20 years?

In the last 20 years, the biggest change I have experienced is the recognition by line managers and HR itself that HR is no longer just a support function. HR’s role has evolved to be one of a change agent, making a significant contribution to a firm’s business outcome through its people, culture and management practices and strategies.

What do you love about your job?

What I love most about my job is the ability to be innovative and create an environment where people look forward to coming to work, and can contribute to and be happy to be part of the organisation. I love the fact that an HR practitioner is: • An architect who designs a work environment which is conducive for people to contribute to the best of their abilities, • A strategist who strategises with co-workers to devise business solutions, with people at the heart of what we do, • A conscience of the organisation, to ensure that we bring meaning to how we work and live, and • A gatherer of talent with a passion to make the working world a better one for all.

What do HR professionals hate to admit?

They hate to admit that some of the traditional ways of doing performance management or employee engagement may not be yielding the kind of results we hope to see in improving performance or engagement.

HR in 2024?

By 2024, HR will be recognised as an indispensable and strategic business partner.

The HR profession will have wellrecognised accreditation in the business community.

Chief HR Officer, Pacnet

What I’m most proud of in my career so far is being a good ambassador for the HR profession – at least so I’ve been told! That could mean helping business leaders better appreciate the value HR brings to the table and how it can help them meet their goals. Or it could mean helping employees fulfil their potential by building transparent, fair and fun workplaces. Or it could mean sharing my experiences and time with other HR professionals or students through conferences, networking or professional associations. Or it could mean mobilising the HR fraternity for broader social initiatives that help communities.

At the end of the day, what makes me happiest is when someone tells me they’re happy because of something driven by HR.

Describe the toughest group that you’ve managed to get to truly cooperate It has to be getting HR leaders from all around the world to participate in a global HR transformation project I worked on many years ago. We wanted to change HR from a region or country model to a full, global functional model. There were so many agendas and assumptions and empires in play during early discussions that it was a challenge getting people to agree on even the smallest things. What I found most fascinating was that cultural stereotypes mostly held true in real life. So people across countries in Asia, Europe, North America and South America lived up to the clichés about their respective cultures, both good and bad. Understanding that showed us the way forward on how to successfully engage with each of the people involved. The transformation did happen and comfortably beat all its objectives by big margins – so all’s well that ends well!

What HR professionals hate to admit…

The problem is not with anyone else – it’s with us. If we make the effort to improve ourselves as individuals and improve the results we drive as a function; the respect, recognition and “seat at the table” will follow.

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COVER STORY MADAN NAGALDINNE

SERENE TAN

What people management challenge keeps you up at night?

What do you love about your job?

The quality of a company’s culture is directly impacted by how effective managers are at leading teams. One of the biggest challengs in a company that is growing is how do you ensure that new managers understand the culture and the fabric of leading teams. In a mobile and socialcentric world, the role of the manager has been dramatically altered and ensuring that our new managers understand the expectations of leading teams is a challenge for any high growth organisation in today’s digital world.

An HR job is not an easy job, especially for me. I switched from a number-crunching career to a human-related profession. In the HR function, I love specifically: • Preparing for the unexpected • Interacting with different levels of people • Learning how to balance the expectations of employees and the interests of the company

Head of HR, Asia-Pacific, Facebook

Have you ever had to change your leadership style to achieve a desired goal?

Yes. You have to understand aspects about you that will never change (which are values, the compass that guides you, and your desire to develop people, etc) and aspects that need to change (leadership style; going from being collaborative to directive as the situation demands). I have had to lead and be led to achieve a desired goal and that means sometimes you need to jump in and be directive, and sometimes you will need to be led by others.

HR in 2024?

We are already seeing a big shift in HR – HR leaders are beginning to embrace Social and Mobile in their organisations and that has already started to make them very open. HR in 2024 will be very much a social and platform-led service relying on multiple signals (data) to make very relevant people decisions.

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HR Manager, Jason Marine Group

A tough interview question that you always ask?

This question would be: “In you work experience, describe a conflict within a team. What did you do? What was the outcome?

How would you do better if you come across a similar situation?”

Your biggest labour force challenge?

• Goal: To have a competent, committed, diverse talent pool that contributes to the long-term sustainability of the company.

• Challenge: To drive behaviours that are consistent with long-term competence and productivity, doing more with less in this tight talent environment.

If you weren’t in HR, you would be…?

I would be a teacher and would try all ways and means to help students succeed. I would want to understand every student’s personality and interest and connect them with an appropriate vocation, helping them recognise their own values and worth.

HR in 2024?

Virtual interaction, such as video interviews, will create a new milestone for the interview process. New software will enhance personality traits interpretation, helping to achieve a better culture and job fit. Candidates will be able to make an assessment to attain a company-candidate match before accepting a job offer, leading to a better employment experience once on board.

COVER STORY D N PRASAD

Director, Google People Services, APAC Google Have you ever had to change your leadership style to achieve a desired goal?

Yes and No. There are some nonnegotiables for leaders and leadership: integrity, focus on people and vision, building for the future, and the like.

I also believe that there are two other attributes that a leader should never compromise on: authenticity and vulnerability. Having said, the approach and application is definitely situational – one might need to be a strategic leader, an operational leader, a change leader, or a thought leader.

And, I think there are non-obvious ways to lead as well – as a parent, as a friend, as a coach or mentor - not always dramatic.

What HR professionals hate to admit?

You got me thinking. I think we don’t

admit enough yet that it is OK for us to enable the line manager capability and step back and play a crucial role in making things happen, make HR work as though we did not exist.

How do you keep the workplace fun?

Any office quirks?

Hire the best, given them a mission and a voice and be transparent, encourage them to think big and ideate, and give them the challenge to make the world a better place.

That pretty much sums up what we do in Google: to make work (and the workplace) fun. It all boils down to culture and people. The office space is open, representative of a blend of organisation and local cultures that facilitate open dialogues, exchanges of ideas and social interactions.

THERESA TAN

Head of Human Resource, Scoot How do you motivate people?

In my years of dealing with people, I think the basis of monetary reward will only motivate people to just do their job or complete a given task. What would really motivate people to perform is the ability to have the freedom to self-direct and do things, in a way which they think is best. So in Scoot, we try to provide such an environment for our staff and it motivates them to perform and to do things differently.

How do you keep the workplace fun?

Any office quirks? Bugbears?

For example, we do not restrict people on what they should wear to work. We have self-declared international shorts day where everyone wear shorts to work.

Once a quarter, we organise office parties with drinks and games. We also have fun competitions in the office like finding the

“biggest loser”- to see who lost the most weight within a month.

What HR professionals hate to admit Most HR professionals would like to think of themselves as business partners and in a lot of organisations, HR is still treated as an administration department. Despite the struggle to move away from this perception, most HR professionals are still being treated as administration specialist and this is what they hate to admit.

HR in 2024 HR will evolve to be more essential at a strategic level to support the business.

HR management will be decentralised and moved to the line managers. HR functions really should be at a higher level to develop plans to ensure leadership continuity in an organisation and to adapt to a changing business environment.

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COVER STORY ALEX KERSHAW

Director of HR – Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia, American Express Your biggest labour force challenge?

One of our biggest challenges has been strengthening our local talent pipeline across key segments of our business, such as customer servicing. When the Ministry of Manpower announced the changes to foreign worker policy in 2012, we quickly realised that we needed to change our talent strategy.

In partnership with the business leaders, we responded by strengthening our talent brand, leveraging new digital hiring channels, and transforming our approach to selecting and training new customer services employees.

Have you ever had to change your leadership style to achieve a desired goal?

Every day! Organisations and teams are dynamic and consist of individuals with unique needs. To be successful, I have to flex my leadership style to respond to the needs of

others and the shifting environment.

Your greatest HR accomplishment?

Winning the HRM Awards for Best HR Team and Best Employee Engagement Strategies earlier this year was a great accomplishment for us. We were particularly proud to be awarded Best HR Team as building a strong ONE HR team is one of our biggest priorities.

HR in 2024?

Many organisations are already transitioning toward a more agile workforce and this is a trend I see continuing over the next 10 years.

We will need structures which enable fast, nimble and responsive talent. As a function we have the opportunity to be at the forefront of this change, and we will need to challenge ourselves to ensure we are driving, not trailing this transformation.

CAROLINE LIM

Global Head of HR & Corporate Affairs, PSA International What is the biggest change in HR that you’ve experienced in the past 20 years?

HR has been able to make the leap from being a back-end administrator to a strategic business partner - in some quarters more successfully than others. This is possible when HR leaders recognise what I call the “false dichotomy” of weighing in people versus bottom-line results.

employees who might exploit loopholes or break the rules, which becomes overly constraining on the other 90% of employees; • Over-engineer HR solutions, introducing unnecessary complexity; and • Run HR programmes of short-term impact, treating them as the answer to long-term needs.

What do you love about your job?

HR in 2024?

I believe that: “brains can be bought, but hearts and minds have to be won”. When the environment encourages employees to be more engaged, energised and empowered, they become a strategic competitive advantage for the business.

I follow a three-part approach to inspiring my teams: Reinforce the positives, Address the negatives, and Set high standards.

It is not a given that HR is always important in an organisation. HR has to earn its place as a strategic business partner. In Singapore (Temasek portfolio companies), only 50% of HR Heads are on their company’s Senior Management team with executive decision-making powers and in active interaction with the Chairman and Board of Directors. My current company PSA is among that 50%. My hope is that this percentage of Singapore companies will increase.

An apt mantra for HR is that, “HR should not only be ‘at’ the table; HR should ‘be’ the table!”

What do HR professionals hate to admit?

HR teams tend to: • Design HR policies to regulate the 10% of 28 ISSUE 14.10

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COVER STORY JUNE KOH

TRICIA DURAN

Head of HR, Asia-Pacific Breweries (APB) Singapore

HR Director Singapore & Regional HR Director – Functions Asia Africa Russia, Unilever

How do you motivate people?

What do you love about your job?

The best motivation is sometimes the hardest. At APB Singapore, we encourage our employees to step out of their comfort zones and give them the courage to pursue their dreams. We provide opportunities for staff to go out to the market to connect with the business and see first-hand how our brands act as social platforms to foster relationships. More significantly, there’s no differentiation between ‘fun’ and ‘work’.

I love that as a business leader, I have the privilege of focusing on what I believe is the most unique competitive advantage any company can have – it’s people. If you really think about it, products, processes, and factories can all be copied by competition. The one thing that can’t be replicated are the people that make up an organisation and the value that they bring. The better our people, the stronger our business.

Describe the toughest group you›ve manged to get to truly cooperate As a HR professional, I encounter a myriad of personalities at the workplace. The toughest group to put together is a dream team: strong performers, working seamlessly as one. There are often differing opinions, so it’s challenging yet crucial to align them towards a common goal and vision. This applies across every task, whether rallying employees towards building our brands, or advocating sustainability or responsible consumption.

A tough interview question that you always ask “If you can invite someone well-known to dinner, who will that be and what dish will you cook?”

What you love about your job Being in the business of developing people and helping them understand their career aspirations beyond the confines of their roles is highly motivating. At APB Singapore, I work with people from across business units passionate about our various brands from Tiger to Heineken. Above all, as a Singaporean, I’m honoured to be part of a strong local brand that is committed to putting Singapore on the global beer map and fostering a responsible drinking culture among locals.

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks? Bugbears?

Our workplace is awesome! It’s been featured in newspapers and magazines as one of Singapore’s ‘funkiest offices’ housing a Toni & Guy hair salon, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream fountain bar, and an infinity pool (amongst other things).

I’m also an internationally accredited yoga teacher so do sometimes resort to teaching a few classes to office friends. I’m also a lead singer in the company band just to keep my work-life interesting!

What is the most unpopular HR decision that you had to make?

As HR professionals, we are custodians of the culture and of policies that often require us to speak up and state the unpopular.

Almost every week, I have “honest conversations” with people to help them step up their performance.

In these discussions, I often have to say things some people would rather not hear. Whilst it is never easy, these difficult conversations are powerful in that they could lead to a step up in leadership capability and ultimately business performance. So they are worth having!

HR in 2024?

I envision three trends: • Right balance between “High-tech, high-touch” HR • Advent of a purpose driven workforce • HR data turned into business insights ISSUE 14.10

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COVER STORY HAMIDAH NAZIADIN

FOO WAH TENG

What do you love about your job?

Describe the toughest group that you’ve managed to get to truly cooperate

Group Chief People Officer, CIMB Group

I find it very rewarding especially when I am able to make a difference and witness the results. For example, it is very satisfying to see that the graduate trainees we bring in under our The Complete Banker (TCB) programme are able to progress in their careers with CIMB.

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks?

One of the key challenges is to design programmes to cater to an ethnically and generationally diverse workforce. In order to foster a strong spirit of camaraderie and strengthen the bond among our employees, we continuously organise activities such as “CIMB Has Talent”, “CIMB Southeast Asia Games” and Treasure Hunts. We also have a Sports and Recreation Department that comes up with various sporting and recreational activities throughout the year.

If you weren’t in HR, you would be…?

I am certain that I wouldn’t trade my job in HR for any other profession as I am enjoying every moment of it. I have never had a dull moment in the job and being able to contribute to an organisation like CIMB and its people makes it a very fulfilling career for me.

HR in 2024?

Keeping up with the fastchanging dynamics of the business landscape and also the changing demands of today’s workforce, I feel that the role of HR has evolved drastically in recent years.

I am confident that HR will be a highly sought-after profession, with more HR-certification programmes being put in place to up-skill the competency level of HR professionals.

I foresee more HR professionals playing an active role and participating at the highest level of organisations, including at the Board level.

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Associate Director of HR, Illumina Singapore

It was my HR/Administration group many years back. The group ranged from long-tenured staff, to older workers to fresh graduates. Their aspirations, motivations and energy levels were diverse, and there were challenges to get them to work together. Through coaching, teambuilding activities and regular team meetings, they eventually gained one another’s trust and respect, and were more open and collaborative.

How do you motivate people?

Engaging people regularly; paying attention to what excites them; active involvement in discussing their career development; and using positive reinforcement. I look for ways to socialise and have fun outside of work hours. It’s often this “down time” where camaraderie is built and strengthened.

Have you ever had to change your leadership style to achieve a desired goal?

In the last 12 months, I have had to manage a team with generational differences, in which some are less than half my age. I have had to adjust my leadership style to make everyone feel included. I have also encouraged a mentoring culture where each generation can learn from the other, and offered coaching-style feedback to achieve my work goals.

What HR professionals hate to admit?

There are job applicants who assume recruiters will read their cover letter and full résumé. That’s not necessary all the time.

Most recruitment professionals use applicant-tracking systems that scan résumés for key words and job matches. The hint for a job applicant is to pull key words directly from the job description and put them on your résumé.

The more matches you have, the more likely your résumé will get picked.

COVER STORY KOAY SAW LEAN

Director of HR, Rajah & Tan Singapore LLP What people management challenge keeps you up at night?

In a professional organisation like ours, where talent is our revenue generator, finding the right talent and retaining them is the forefront of our business. I set outcomes on our talent acquisition process and it really keeps me awake when our hiring process takes too long to find the right candidate – as it impacts how we serve our internal customers and indirectly impacts how we serve our clients and external customers.

What is the most unpopular HR decision that you have had to make?

It was in one of my previous companies when I had to restructure some of the allowances and benefits in view of the economic downturn. Being in HR, it is the most unpopular decision as the circumstances affecting the decision are kept confidential and it

certainly does not boost employee morale when benefits have to be trimmed.

A tough interview question that you always ask Typically I will ask questions on achievements, perseverance, and their approach to work. The high achievers usually have a lot to talk about.

The tough questions will be finding the cultural fit to the organisation and their values, and it could be asking them to look back and assess their life and the criteria that have made them successful.

HR in 2024 In a decade from now, there could be a shift from a long term workforce to a transient flexible time workforce. The traditional tried and tested methods of acquiring, assessing, and compensating talents will no longer be the same. HR needs to embrace and integrate new and mobile technology seamlessly into the HR process to keep up with the changes.

VINEET GAMBHIR

Vice President HR, Yahoo Asia-Pacific What people management challenge keeps you up at night?

In my view, the most difficult challenge for talent is to try and focus on exactly where they want to go in their careers. I’d really encourage employees to think about not how they can do their current job well, but what job they want to do after that. If you extrapolate your next move, it allows you to map your gaps and work on continuous improvement. If you think only of the present, you tend to be complacent.

Continuous evolution of talent to the next level, is always high on my mind.

A tough interview question that you always ask?

“What is the one question you would ask as an interviewer?” Then I turn around and ask the candidate to answer it. It tells me the priority on the candidate’s mind and his thinking process.

Any burning HR questions?

I call this the “stem cell approach”—I want to see HR professionals who are fungible globally and functionally –like the stem cell concept where you can become just about anything and deliver the same result no matter what hat you wear in HR. Then, there will not be a need for specialists, generalists, Centers-ofExcellence or regions – just one talent, one company, one globe - how fast can we achieve this?

If I wasn’t in HR I would be…

An astronomer gazing at the universe, or in the airline industry.

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COVER STORY DORIS PEK

Director of HR, Learning and Development, and IT, Select Group Your biggest labour force challenge?

In the food and beverage industry, employees are required to work long hours, over the weekends and public holidays.

Hence, we provide flexible work shifts to attract part-timers who are mostly locals and ageing workers. This pool includes the regular part-timers and also student part-timers who are able to cover shifts during the vacations, which coincides with the peak business periods as well. In terms of coordinating schedules, our operations team are trained to plan and manage their manpower, and the introduction of IT initiatives have lessened the challenges of managing such a workforce.

A tough interview question that you always ask?

Are you prepared to work long hours and

weekends? Many candidates become less inclined to accept but we always believe in giving candidates realistic portrayals of the job to help manage their expectations.

How do you keep the workplace fun? Any office quirks?

We organise activities to actively engage employees. We have corporate social responsibility events, sports and teambonding activities amongst the business units. One such event is the Chinese New Year Mass Reunion Dinner organised with Kreta Ayer - Kim Seng CC. It is heartwarming to see 200 volunteers from different business segments and departments coming together to give back to the less fortunate in society. This has become an annual event that many of our employees look forward to.

WILLIAM CHIN

Staffing director, Qualcomm Asia Pacific What is the biggest change in HR that you’ve experienced over the past 20 years?

I have been working in the Asia region since 1996 including in countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and China. Multinational companies were just beginning to set up offices in the region then – they started out as small sales offices. Companies were hiring small HR teams to manage the daily operations of these offices. Over the years, business functions have grown. HR teams have also grown from singular digit teams to double digit leadership organisations advancing business growth.

Currently, the Asia region has become “mustwin” markets for companies.

What HR professionals hate to admit…

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value to business. Today, HR is expected to contribute to areas including compliance, corporate social responsibility and marketing.

Companies are facing increasing legal, government and social expectations to be solid corporate citizens in the communities in which they operate.

Another hot topic is data analytics.

However, HR are not data scientists.

While were are used to using metrics or balanced scorecards, HR expertise is not in the area of data mining. We can’t do it all. Nor should we try to do it all.

HR must cooperate with various non-HR divisions and work with partners beyond the core HR domain in order to achieve desired outcomes.

Any burning HR questions What can HR leaders do today to enable the next generation of HR to face the coming challenges?

LEADERS TALK HR

OPEN COMPANY, NO BS. Ranked as Australia’s Best Place to Work by a recent nation-wide survey, software provider Atlassian is led by a strong and inclusive corporate culture.

In this exclusive interview with HRM Asia, Jeff Diana, Atlassian’s Chief People Officer and Jean Michel Lemieux, its Vice President of Engineering, share the “secret sauce” behind the company’s success.

L

ocated in a beautiful heritageAtlassian was recently ranked at listed building in the heart of Australia’s Best Place to Work by local the business district, Atlassian’s magazine Business Review Weekly. Diana Sydney office is a juxtaposition of the and Lemieux explain more about the old and the new. company’s “no bullshit” culture.

Entering the office, you will notice iPads affixed outside each What are your top three people meeting room. Linked to an online management challenges? scheduling system, the screens provide Jean Michel Lemieux (JML): information on current and upcoming Our top challenges are: meetings. This increases visibility on • Keeping up with our rapid growth Sumathi V Selvaretnam meeting room availability and helps rate while also developing the amazing sumathi@hrmasia.com.sg employees avoid clashes in scheduling. internal talent we already have.

One quarter or more of Atlassian’s • Finding the right people for the 400 employees in Sydney ride a bike job as we expand our global footprint to work. There are bike racks on every floor and fully-equipped in Vietnam, Japan, Australia, and the US, including finding bathrooms for employees to freshen up. people leaders in these locations.

Feeling thirsty? There is even a craft beer bar with several • Keeping our unique culture intact during high growth and brews on tap. a global expansion, while ensuring we hire and retain for Beyond these thoughtful extras, the company stays rooted culture and values fit. through a strong corporate culture where everyone is held accountable and allowed to participate.

What are the best ways to recruit fresh talent?

“We’re all aiming for the same goals,” says Jeff Diana, Jeff Diana (JD): We believe one of the best ways to Atlassian’s Chief People Officer, who works hand in hand with invest in engaged, ambitious and committed talent is its Vice President of Engineering, Jean Michel Lemieux. “These through our growing graduate programme. We hired 19 grads shared goals are then complemented by open and honest in 2014 and have 38 starting in 2015. We also utilise a global forms of communication, where we regularly meet and discuss talent search –we search the globe for the best talent and as a management team.” relocate them. We use volume hiring recruitment campaigns,

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LEADERS TALK HR

Jeff Diana, Atlassian’s Chief People Officer

Jean Michel Lemieux, Vice President, Engineering

We believe one of the best ways to invest in engaged, ambitious and committed talent is through our growing graduate programme

Source: Aundray Cheam, Atlassian

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LEADERS TALK HR

Point of confluence Atlassian offers a

$10,000

such as 2012’s European 15 in and behaviour, so we find it bonus for successful 15 Roadshow, where members works best by practice and employee referrals of our Talent and Engineering tone from the top. We operate team drove a bus through a flat structure at Atlassian, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Madrid where people form teams and teams to recruit 15 senior software developers in work on common goals. This lack of 15 days. Large campaigns such as this give strict hierarchy means that we tap the us great brand presence in new markets right people to make the right decision and also allow us to source a large by consulting with the right teammates. number of hires at one time.

Right is determined by skills, relevance to the problem or solution and the team, How many résumés do you rather than a hierarchy. receive each month? How By empowering people to own their stringent is your selection decisions, we find that accountability is process and what are some core things an inherent part of our culture.

that you look out for?

JD: We receive approximately 1,600 applications per month and our recruiting team proactively reaches out to many more. Our selection process is tough but fair. We want people that are very good at what they do, but are also a great match for our culture. We take great pride in finding and hiring people that will live our values each and every day, while doing the best work of their lives.

What is your turnover rate?

JD: The regrettable attrition rate for Atlassian employees is six percent. We attract the best talent and are proud to have a low turnover rate relative to other companies. We have a robust annual talent review process to ensure the leadership team has identified promising talent that we can provide rewarding career paths for in the future.

We also have special equity programmes to ensure we retain and reward our very best talent and other team members contributing to our results.

How do you create a corporate culture where everyone is accountable?

JD: Accountability is both an attribute

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Atlassian strongly believes in being transparent to customers. How does this translate in your workplace?

JML: Transparency is ingrained into our culture and starts with our value Open Company, No Bullshit. With employees and customers, we believe in being upfront, honest, and providing all the information necessary to be successful. As we grow, we are fiercely protective of this value and what it means in terms of the trust we hold with both our employees and customers. It starts inside the company and has a direct influence on our relationship with customers.

How do you foster a culture of innovation and collaboration?

JML: We have several programmes and tactics that foster these values at Atlassian. We offer “20% time” which gives every employee the chance to spend 20% of their time developing or enhancing a “pet” product or service of their choice.

Atlassian also has ShipIt, which is a quarterly interactive event where employees get to work on anything related to our products with the goal of “shipping” actual solutions to our

Tapping on wiki technology, Atlassian created Confluence, a team collaboration software that enables employees to share all company-related information and work in progress. It can be used for multiple purposes such as tracking team tasks, presenting reports, and organising social events.

Confluence is beneficial for new Atlassian employees in particular as it provides instant access to the company’s information history. On their first day, new joiners can access an induction checklist on the system. The list contains 50 tasks that they are expected to complete over 90 days.

It includes elements such as writing a blog post to introduce themselves to the rest of the company.

This internal system keeps employees connected across Atlassian’s global offices.

customers; Atlassians (as we call our employees) get to pitch their ideas and everyone votes. We maintain a practice of “drinking our own champagne”, which means we use our own products to collaborate in house and in turn also refine our offering to our customers.

We promote living our values, including Be the change you seek, which empowers all Atlassians to not just critique, but to come up with ways to improve our products and just about anything else at the company. We also encourage a risk and fail culture, where risks (especially calculated ones) are embraced as a chance to learn and to get better.

Tell us more about your unique t-shirt culture. How does it help build a sense of community?

JD: T-shirts are made to commemorate every occasion at Atlassian, from product releases to company events and, of course, to express team pride. We liken them to Scout badges — earned and worn with honor. Many Atlassians even show off their tenure at the company with their “vintage” Ts. Our t-shirt culture embodies another one of our values Play, as a team. We want everyone to feel like

LEADERS TALK HR

• The ability to master your craft and do the best work of your life here, because you are achieving goals in pursuit of your passion. We care deeply about everything we do as a company, so naturally we set a high bar for everyone. But we also embrace risk and understand that sometimes we will fail.

• A clear purpose to what we do. We’re entering a software renaissance, and we’re in the business of developing software to help get amazing ideas off the ground and into Atlassian offers a $500 voucher to new hires to go on vacation with the community. To the marketplace. The their families before they start date, Atlassians have world’s most amazing their new job volunteered more than thinkers — like NASA 5,000 hours. rocket scientists and Foundation Leave has improved Tesla engineers — are coming to employee experiences by providing a us for solutions. Here, you come up platform (and the time) to engage with with new ways to solve challenges their favorite non-profits and instilling that no one has ever even thought of a sense of pride to work for a company before, every day. with such a strong community mindset.

Holiday before you start

they work with us not for us. And we want to make sure they have fun while doing it.

How did the idea for Foundation Leave come about, and how has it improved the employee experience?

JD: The Atlassian Foundation was established with a one percent model, where one percent of equity, one percent of profit, one percent of employee time, and one percent of software licenses are all donated to charitable causes.

The Foundation has a vision to advance humanity through the power of software and education.

In addition to the standard donation matching programme, where employee donations of up to A$1,000 (US$890) are matched by the Foundation, the company also provides every Atlassian employee five days a year to volunteer for the non-profit organisation of choice. Known as Foundation Leave, the five days a year leave is derived directly from the Be the change you seek. A key focus of Foundation Leave is to leverage skilled volunteering opportunities where employees donate their technical and vocational expertise to benefit

How do you keep employees fulfilled beyond these efforts?

How do you help them stretch their potential and make their work meaningful?

JML and JD: Our Employment Value Proposition (EVP) provides that every Atlassian will have: • The autonomy to do the work they’ve always wanted to do, guided by amazing values. Our goal is to give super-smart people the freedom to do crazy-good work, unencumbered by corporate “BS”. Things here are driven by a simple notion of Build with Heart and Balance: do the right thing and work the way you would if you owned the company (which all Atlassians do thanks to our equity programmes).

In a nutshell, why does Atlassian pride itself in being the best place in the world to work?

JML and JD: As Scott Farquhar, one of our founders, says: we want to create a place where people love coming to work; where we all get to do the best work of our lives. If we find the most amazing and talented people we can, and they each do the best work they’ll ever do, then magic will happen. This is the foundation that Atlassian was built on, and our model works. We’ve been successful because we’ve created an environment where passionate people can thrive and do their best work; guided by our values and uninhibited by the traditional “BS” that holds back so many organisations. In turn, we deliver amazing results for our customers.

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

HR PODcast:

THE FUTURE OF HR In the last decade, “podcasts” have become popular. Podcasts are internet broadcasts of selfselected and relevant content. Podcasts occur on almost unlimited topics. In this article, HR guru Dave Ulrich answers some frequently asked questions on the future of HR, and shares them in the spirit of an HR PODcast.

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Perspective: What challenges does HR solve?

Outcomes: What unique value does HR contribute to business results?

I often begin discussions with senior HR professionals with a version of the question, “what are the greatest challenges you face in your job today?”

The answer to this not only gives insight into the predisposition of the respondent, but lays out an evolution of the HR profession. There are generally four types of responses that capture the “Perspective” of an HR professional in four evolutionary phases of HR. Perspective means that HR professionals have evolved their thinking about how HR delivers value. As HR has shifted from administrative, to functional, to strategy and to outside-in thinking, the perspective has moved increasingly to value created through a more business focus. With their business focus, HR professionals can accurately converse about customers, products, operations and financials, but also help create the right type of organisation that sustains market value.

With an outside-in perspective, HR professionals offer unique information, insights, and recommendations to deliver competitive advantage. In formal and informal business discussions, each staff group brings unique insights to drive business results: Finance talks about economic performance with information about revenues, costs, and financial returns; Marketing discusses customers with recommendations on targeting key customers, customer responses, and customer connections; and Operations makes recommendations regarding systems, quality, and supply chain. When HR partners in these strategy discussions, we propose that they provide insight, information, and recommendations on talent (people, workforce, human capital), capability (culture, processes, key success factors, systems), and leadership.

HRMASIA.COM

Dave Ulrich Rensis Likert Professor of Business, University of Michigan Partner, The RBL Group dou@umich.edu

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Talent: At the risk of grossly oversimplifying, let me suggest that there is actually a deceptively simple formula for talent that makes it more productive: Talent = Competence * Commitment * Contribution. All three elements of this equation need to be considered and integrated to fully manage talent.

• Competence means that individuals have the knowledge, skills, and values required for today’s and tomorrow’s jobs. Competence clearly matters because incompetence leads to poor decision making. Competence should start outside-in by turning customer expectations into the talent requirements for the future.

• Committed or engaged employees work hard and do what they are asked to do, but may be doing the wrong things.

With an outside-in focus, committed employees focus attention on work and activities that will deliver value to customers, investors, and communities.

Dozens of engagement studies have shown that more committed employees are more productive.

• Contribution is less about behavioural engagement and more about emotional connection to the organisation. When employees find meaning (sometimes called well-being or a growth mindset), they become personally connected to the values of the organisation.

In business conversations, HR professional focused on talent outcomes can raise questions such as: • To what extent do our employees have the knowledge and skills required to deliver on our expectations for customers, investors, and communities?

• To what extent do we have an employee value proposition that increases commitment and engagement of our employees to the right goals?

• To what extent do our employees find meaning and purpose from their work so that they are self-motivated to accomplish work?

Capability: Talent alone is not enough.

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR well together as a team, or in their organisation, will not be successful.

Some simple statistics show the importance of teamwork over talent: • In international football, the winner of the World Cup Golden Boot (leading scorer) is on the team that wins the World Cup itself only 20% of the time; • Even in movies, the Academy Award for Best Film also has the leading actor 25% of the time, and the leading actress 15% of the time.

Great individual talent may succeed 15% to 25% of the time, but teamwork matters more.

When we work with executives to define the organisation of the future, we ask them a simple question: “can you name a company you admire?” The list of admired companies varies, but it often includes such well-known firms as Apple, Disney, General Electric, Google, Microsoft, or Unilever. We then ask the executives, “how many levels of management are in the admired firm?” Almost no one knows.

That’s because we do not admire an organisation because of its roles, rules,

or routines. Instead, we admire Apple because it seems to continually design easy-to-use products; we admire Disney for the service we experience; we admire GE because of its capacity to build leaders in diverse industries; and we admire Google and Microsoft for their ability to innovate and shape their industry. In other words, organisations are not known for their structure, but for their capabilities.

Capabilities represent what the organisation is known for, what it is good at doing, and how it patterns activities to deliver value. The capabilities define many of the intangibles that investors pay attention to, the firm brand to which customers can relate, and the culture that shapes employee behavior. These capabilities also become the identity of the firm, the deliverables of HR practices, and the key to implementing business strategy.

In business dialogues, HR professionals can be both the “architects” (defining the logic and blueprint) and “anthropologists” (interpreting the right pattern) of capability by raising the following questions: • To what extent have we defined our

FIGURE 1:

Evolution of HR Work in Phases PHASE 4 HR outside-in

HR professionals observe, interpret, and translate external conditions and stakeholder expectations into internal actions.

PHASE 3 HR strategy

HR Evolutuion

HR practices are used to deliver the strategic goals of the business (e.g. innovation, customer service or geographic expansion).

PHASE 2 HR practices

HR emphasises innovation and integration of HR services to manage people, performance, information and work.

PHASE 1 HR administration The answer to a present challenge is about the operational efficiencies of HR.

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culture from the outside-in, making sure that our external firm brand becomes the basis for our internal ways of thinking and acting?

• To what extent have we created a disciplined process of evaluating and transforming our culture?

Leadership: Ultimately, leaders bring together both individuals and organisations to solve customer problems. But, there is a difference between leaders and leadership.

The term “leaders” refers to individuals who have unique abilities to guide the behaviour of others. Leadership refers to an organisation’s capacity to build future leaders. An individual leader matters, but an organisation’s collective leadership matters more over time. Looking forward, HR professionals will need to not only help individual leaders be more effective through coaching, 360-degree feedback, and individual development plans, but also build leadership depth.

In our studies of leadership, consistent with the logic of creating value for external stakeholders, the requirements of effective leaders should be defined from the outside-in. Often leadership success remains either inside the company (leaders learn from other leaders in the company who have succeeded) or inside the individual (those that have emotional intelligence or authenticity).

An outside-in view sets the criteria of leadership from the point of view of customers, investors, or communities.

When leaders inside the company behave consistent with the expectations of customers (and other stakeholders) outside the company, the leadership will be more sustainable and effective.

Investors are increasingly valuing a firm based on its intangibles; one of which is the quality of leadership. These intangibles may determine up to 50% of a firm’s market value. When investors have confidence in the firm’s leadership, they place a premium on the firm’s stock price. This leadership premium becomes an outside-in view of leadership.

Communities may also benefit leadership.

One national oil company helped leaders

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

“What are the greatest challenges you face in your job today?” recognise that their ultimate value would be determined by their grandchildren. If the leaders of this national oil company made wise investments, their progeny would honour them; if they made bad choices, their progeny would scorn them.

In business settings, HR professionals may prod a discussion of the right leadership with questions such as: • To what extent do we recognise the importance of collective leadership in reaching our goal?

• To what extent do we create a leadership brand that defines how leaders inside our company better serve external stakeholders?

• To what extent do we regularly assess our leadership capability to discover areas of strengths and weakness?

• To what extent do we seriously invest in developing future leaders who will respond to future business requirements?

Determinants: How can HR invest in HR? “HR for HR” means that HR professionals apply to their own function the knowledge and tools they apply to their organisations. This means building the right HR organisation by making sure that the HR department aligns with the business organisation.

It also means investing in the right HR professionals by ensuring that they have the competencies for the future.

In the most recent round of our competency research, we found that effective HR professionals function in six roles. These are as follows: • Credible activists, earning a reputation for business value through their consistent delivery and proactive stance on business and HR issues.

• Strategy positioners who go beyond knowing the business to being able to position the business to win.

• Capability builders who create aligned and sustainable cultures that shape the right organisational identity.

• Change champions who are able to both initiate and sustain change at the individual, initiative, and institutional levels.

• HR innovators and integrators who design and deliver solution-focused HR practices.

• Information proponents who use information to improve decision making. This captures a wide range of current trends: Cloud, big data, analytics, workforce planning, metrics, scorecard, and so forth. Behind each of these information trends is the fundamental capability of leveraging information for competitive advantage both within HR and within the entire organisation.

We will continue to update these competencies to show not only how HR professionals can be personally successful, but how they can deliver business results. These evolving competencies are not the standards for certifying HR professionals, but for ensuring that HR professionals deliver value.

Conclusion: My POD (perspective, outcomes, determinants) for HR is a positive affirmation of why and how HR will continue to deliver value. With an outside-in perspective, clear talent, capability, and leadership outcomes are delivered by determined HR professionals with the right competencies.

The future for HR is very positive when HR professionals accept the opportunities of this “POD Cast”.

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Take this job and love it Guest contributors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton examine what really motivates staff, and how organisations can tap into this for greater results

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Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton are authors of the New York Times bestsellers The Carrot Principle and All In. Their latest book, What Motivates Me, will be released on September 30, 2014.

urn the mirror upon yourself: most days at work are you doing what motivates you? Or back up: Have you taken the time to reflect on what you are doing, exactly, on those days when you are most excited and energised in your work, when you have a proverbial skip in your step?

For 20 years, we’ve been lucky enough to consult with some of the world’s most hip and happening organisations. And over the last decade our teams have conducted three research studies on workplace trends, comprising more than 850,000 interviews. What all that data reveals is a key difference in those people who are most energised on the job.

What is it?

The happiest have aligned more of their work with their core motivations. As for those people who are most unhappy at work, as you might expect, their jobs are out of whack with what they are passionate about.

That probably sounds like a no-brainer, right? Then here’s the million-dollar question: why don’t we all do something about it?

The problem is, most people feel either helpless or overwhelmed. Many wait for an outside force like a manager

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR to fix things. But even well-intended managers who want to motivate their teams have to sift through vastly different notions about what motivates workers: one author has a list of three things that really drive employees, another says no— it’s this list of five different things, and so on. Unfortunately the fixes out there on motivation are much too simplistic and categorical to help many people. In our research, we have found that each individual is driven by a unique set, or blend, of internal and external drivers. Every person on this planet has a thumbprint-like makeup of what makes him or her most happy nine-to-five (and in the rest of life); and those thumbprints vary considerably.

From the data mining, our behavioural scientists identified 23 workplace motivators, ideas from Creativity to Impact, from Developing Others to Money (yes, money can and does motivate some people).

The bottom line is this: If we want to be happily engaged in our work and performing at our fullest potential, we’ve got to look inside and understand a few of these specific motivators that drive us. All of us host a unique blend of motivations that should guide us in sculpting the work life that’s right for us.

So, do we have to quit to chase our “dream job”? Not typically. In most cases we found this process doesn’t require a major career or job transition. Most people can make small changes in their work lives. As we’ve been writing our new book What Motivates Me over the last few years, many of the happiest people we spoke with said they didn’t find their bliss down a new path; they made course corrections on the path they were already on.

When people put their finger on the specific things that are causing them dissatisfaction in their work, they can use that positive language to discuss with their bosses and fellow team members some relatively small changes in job responsibilities or work situations that could create boons in productivity and commitment—just the things they and their managers are looking for.

We call this type of modification “job sculpting”. For employees, the benefit of this process is obvious. But for leaders, the payback can be powerful as well, as sculpting can

help diagnose how a team member’s specific tasks are (or are not) aligned with their motivations, as well as uncover subtle changes that can lead to increases in team morale and engagement.

Here’s just one example. Harvard Business School’s James Waldroop tells an interesting story. He was visiting with a Canadian company where he met a talented senior executive, the chief information officer, who told him she was planning on leaving the organisation soon. The woman’s strongest motivator was in doing creative work. She had just finished leading a project to update the company’s information system and had done a masterful job. However, now her role had evolved to maintaining the IT system, where a strong analytic penchant was needed. Little creativity was required in this work, and she had quickly grown uninspired.

Waldroop took her to have a talk with the company president. After some back and forth, he worked out a deal that would allow her to take on an additional role overseeing the company’s marketing efforts, despite the fact that she had no experience in that area.

The president knew she was imaginative and smart, and guessed she had a good chance of learning the role and succeeding. She did.

“She didn’t quit,” says Waldroop. “They gave her a little more money, but certainly not enough to compensate for the fact that she now had two jobs. But she was delighted. After all, none of us are singledimensional automatons, we all like opportunities to expand our skill sets. And the president was delighted because she was staying.”

We’ve now heard a thousand stories like this, and they give us hope. There are individuals and teams among us who are deeply fulfilled by their work, who are passionate about what they do, and are energised when Monday comes. So what’s their secret? In most cases, they have taken control of their careers. When our jobs give us the opportunity to do more of the kinds of things that satisfy our key motivations, we are naturally happier and more engaged.

Did we say this is a simple process: Unfortunately not. Does it does require a manager above you with a modicum of vision: Unfortunately yes. But is it worth it? Absolutely!

If we want to be happily engaged in our work and performing at our fullest potential, we’ve got to look inside and understand a few of these specific motivators that drive us

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HR INSIDER

BOSCH:

Dedication to innovation

With a unique ownership structure, German multinational Bosch is able to spend a relatively great deal on research and development. HRM speaks to Jennifer Ong, HR Director, Bosch Southeast Asia, about how innovation has also been ingrained on the staff psyche

Shalini Shukla-Pandey

German engineering company established over 125 years ago, Bosch is no doubt process-driven and organised, with many guidelines and emphases on quality control.

Germans and companies that are based there are also known to be polite and adhere to a very formal culture.

“Some people may get the impression that this is a very formal company because in German organisations, everyone is addressed as ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’ (if) they are not on a first name basis,” says Jennifer Ong, HR Director, Bosch Southeast Asia.

“If you go to Bosch in a different region though, the culture is different.”

For instance, in Singapore, employees don’t call colleagues with these honourifics. Filipino staff want to go out and see and do different things. Indonesian employees are interested in change, and ask a lot about transfers, training and other such career development opportunities.

“Out of the 140 employees in Indonesia, we had six transfer cases from one division to another last year alone,” says Ong. “This was quite an achievement for us, because it is a very small community but we managed to foster such an exchange.

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Total number of employees at Bosch: 700 (Singapore) & 7,000 (Southeast Asia) Size of HR team: 12 (regional headquarters)

shalini@hrmasia.com.sg

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AT A GLANCE

“With over 30 nationalities working within the organisation across Southeast Asia, it is really a melting pot of cultures here,” Ong adds. “Also, around 75% of the workforce in the region belongs to Generation Y, making for a very vibrant kind of an environment.”

Key HR focus areas: - Attracting the right people, at the right place, right time, and right price; - Developing and retaining employees - Leadership

Continuous innovation This diversity and energy bodes well for Bosch as there is a spirit of innovation and continuous improvement within the organisation. It is reflected in the company tagline, ‘Invented for life’ and drilled into employees right from Day One. “Around 10 per cent of our revenue goes into research and development and that is already one big part of being innovative,” says Ong. “Also, across all departments, we have the Continuous Improvement Programme (CIP)” she adds. “This is a process whereby every department is encouraged to see whether there are areas for improvement and to implement small and big

HR INSIDER

initiatives within their own departments.”

“We regularly assess our internal processes and continuously apply Bosch methods such as Value Stream Design in indirect Areas (VSDiA),” says Ong. “This allows us to conduct analysis and implement sustainable improvement of processes in all areas.”

One such improvement has been completed in HR. The department was able to reduce payroll processing time from 15 days to five days through just one tweak of a process and effective communication.

Value stream mapping has also been used in various processes to improve the efficiency between HR and Finance. For example, in the approval process for personnel-related claims, Bosch has reduced the lead time from five to two working days.

“As part of our project in 2014, we will be applying VSDiA to improve the process of expatriate tax reporting by Finance to HR and by HR to our third-party tax agent,” says Ong. “We expect this will shorten the lead time by 20% (around two days) to verify and reconcile invoices and receipts between Finance reports.”

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HR INSIDER Truly invented for life

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he Bosch family only owns seven per cent of the now unlisted company. While it was listed a long time ago, it caused a lot of problems for the direction in which Robert Bosch, the founder, wanted to steer the company.

“Because of the accountability to external shareholders, there was a certain control over the company that was restrictive so eventually Bosch was de-listed,” says Jennifer Ong, HR Director, Bosch Southeast Asia.

Robert Bosch Stiftung, a charitable foundation, now owns the majority of the company but does not operate

it and has no voting rights. Conversely, there is an industrial foundation that has holding rights to set the direction of the company, but also does not own it.

This arrangement has enabled Bosch to have the financial freedom to decide for itself the direction it wants to take. “This is also why we are able to boast an almost 10 per cent return in revenue that goes back into research and development without being questioned by external shareholders who are dividend-orientated,” Ong explains.

“So that is definitely a benefit especially as we’ve been talking about innovation all this while.”

To further foster a culture of openness and trust, and also encourage collaboration and innovation, the Bosch Connect Enterprise 2.0 programme was instituted. “This is an internal social media platform that promotes collaboration globally and within local teams,” says Ong. “Sharing of information is available.

It’s overarching, encompasses other processes and is geared towards the new digital age.”

For example, if someone in Indonesia has a question they can simply ask it via the internal platform and then an engineer, perhaps in India, will

respond. “This means that ideas and best practices are shared globally, but within the bounds of our community,” says Ong. This emphasis on innovation has no doubt yielded fruit. Bosch filed for 5,000 patents in 2013 alone. Employees who raise such patents are rewarded with an internal Inventor’s Award.

Keeping talent engaged Developing its own people is critical for Bosch to foster its culture of innovation. “We ask ourselves questions like, ‘how do we make our staff excited’, and ‘how do we ensure

they are motivated to continue with us’,” says Ong. This becomes more apparent in some generations. Where baby boomers and Generation X staff tend to stay with a company for five, 10 or 15 years, some employees have even been with Bosch for 40 years. They are growing with the company, taking on leadership roles, and achieving stability and knowledge.

Generation Y workers, on the other hand, get bored very easily, and that’s when we have to keep them excited. “‘So how do we keep them excited’, we ask,” says Ong. “We do this by giving these staff expanding and enriching roles.”

Sometimes staff are put on a crossfunctional project so they get a taste of doing some HR work for instance.

Overseas assignments and training opportunities are also encouraged.

“These are essentially things that can keep our employees excited,” says Ong. As much as possible, talents that demonstrate leadership capabilities are put into a development process that’s made up of three paths: development, specialist and project leadership functions.

“Those identified will all be given necessary training that includes technical skills of course as well as coaching, mentoring, formal training, and informal on-the-job training,” says Ong.

WHO’S WHO IN HR JENNIFER ONG

Director - HR Southeast Asia, Bosch

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SHANNEN LIM

HR Business Partner, Singapore, Bosch

JANE THAM

Senior Manager – HR, Singapore, Bosch

CHRISTINA KOH

Senior HR Executive, Southeast Asia, Bosch

FLORENCE GWEE

HR Shared Services Team Leader, Singapore, Bosch

HR INSIDER “These staff are provided with support mechanisms until they are ready to move up into management positions.”

Some divisions also have what Bosch calls the ‘shadowing effect’. For example, if someone were to be the designated person to take over an HR Director role, they will be tagged with the current HR Director for a couple of months so that they get to know the life of that position.

That’s what happened with Ong. Having joined Bosch in 2009 as a senior HR professional, she had the opportunity to go to Germany for a year as part of a training programme for her to get to know the company in its homeland.

“The plan was that when I returned, I would take over from my boss,” she explains. “So prior to leaving for Germany for my formal training, I was shadowing my then-HR Director and was also assigned a coach who till today, alerts me to blind spots that I can’t see.”

Ong has been in her current role since 2011, having recently received her five year-service award.

To further engage staff and promote retention amongst all levels, Bosch has introduced “Inspiring Working Conditions”. This aims to create an environment, in terms of physical spaces, Information Technology support and policies that make the working environment friendlier.

“For instance, in Singapore, we now have an initiative called ‘Family Friday’,” Ong explains. “This is held on the last Friday of the quarter and employees get to go home earlier to spend time with their families.”

In Thailand, flexible working hours were launched, allowing staff to come in at times that suit them. In Vietnam, staff are quite excited about sports activities that are arranged by or partially subsidised by the company.

In Indonesia, Bosch Southeast Asia has improved its information technology infrastructure so that employees don’t have to travel to the office to work,

Recognising employees for a job well done is a critical aspect of retaining them at Bosch since traffic in Jakarta is so bad. “Some employees are tired even before they reach the office because the commute takes so long, up to four hours at time,” Ong explains. These IT tools and systems that allow staff to work remotely are also available throughout Bosch companywide, around the globe.

Rewarding staff Recognising employees for a job well done is a critical aspect of retaining them at Bosch.

“I think monetary reward is something we cannot deny. It’s an important part of recognition,” says Ong. “The ‘merit increment’, for instance, allows us to differentiate the better performers through better salary increments.”

Since they are based on performance, Bosch does not have fixed bonuses in Singapore. “In other countries where Bosch operates, a fixed bonus is legislated so their bonus system is different, but essentially, most regions would have this performance-based bonus and merit increment structure,” Ong explains.

The other aspect is non-monetary rewards or recognition through additional days off, various town hall events, and Zünder, a worldwide internal newspaper that is also available online within the company intranet.

Employees who have been with Bosch for lengthy periods of time are awarded long-service awards. Particularly longserving employees, those that have been with the company for 10 years and more, are invited to be on stage at the Town Hall and are given a personal greeting from the President.

Keeping Bosch grounded Innovation is built as a pillar, but doing good and returning to society are also core values for the Bosch organisation.

In his will, the late Robert Bosch declared that a significant portion of revenue had to go back to the community through charitable activities.

In Singapore, Bosch has a regular event in HR called ‘Diversity Day’, where all 700 employees bring their own local food, be it Indian, Japanese or others to share. “It’s like a potluck kind of thing, for a bit of fun, and to foster greater cultural awareness,” Ong explains.

“For the latest Diversity Day, we decided to sell the food and the proceeds that we received assisted with the Typhoon Haiyan relief effort.”

Beyond raising funds for Haiyan victims, Bosch managed to also pool power tools and volunteers to help rebuild communities affected by the typhoon.

“Not only have our employees donated money to help the Haiyan victims, they also volunteer their annual leave,” says Ong. “Whoever wants to volunteer can go and help in rebuilding.”

Bosch also made a worldwide call for certain experts within the company, and they were willing to fly in at their own expense to help with the relief effort.

“Support for Haiyan is only one of the events that we have run. A lot of effort also goes into education,” says Ong. “We have sponsored Don Bosco, a technical school in both Cambodia and the Philippines. We also recently set up School for Life for under privileged kids in Chiang Mai, Thailand.”

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R Li nly eg m ite S$ ist d 3, e r Se 2 N at 95 ow s Av + G ! ai S la T bl e

THE BUSINESS SAVVY HR LEADER WORKSHOP

The No.1 Hands-on Business Acumen Workshop That All HR Leaders Must Not Miss!

29 - 30 October 2014 Hilton Hotel Singapore

HR professionals have long sought a “seat at the table” that would elevate their professional status while providing crucial expertise to the strategic initiatives of the organisation. Fluency in the C-Suite language will allow for a business dialogue about goals, alignment with strategy and most importantly, return on investment in staff. When HR professionals demonstrate how they can help improve bottom line, they form stronger connections with the company and continue to enhance the value of the department.

Addressing one of the hottest topics this year, The Business Savvy HR Leader Workshop is an interactive workshop designed to help HR professionals master strategies to strengthen their business and financial acumen and develop new skills to support management-level needs, therefore becoming key contributors in the organisation.

As this is a hands-on workshop, participants will be encouraged to bring information about their companies such as annual reports, financial reports and industry analyst reports in order to identify and resolve real-life business issues. If these are not available to you, we will prepare a case study example for you to dissect.

“In my 20 years of dealing with Fortune Global 500 CEOS, CFOs, and COOs, the biggest frustration they have with their senior HR managers is that they don’t understand the BUSINESS well enough!”

– Dirk Rossey, Former CHRO, Dubai Holding Divisions and Former Vice President, JP Morgan

Facilitators: Dirk Rossey Former CHRO, Dubai Holding Divisions and Former Vice President, JP Morgan

Jane Horan Founder, Horan Group

Dheeraj Shastri HR Business Partner, Workforce Planning and Analytics, HP

www.hrmcongress.com | +65 6423 4631

James Leong Founder and CEO, Visions.One Consulting Pte Ltd

HRM

CUSTOMISED EVENTS

HR BREAKFAST

Mercedes-Benz style

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midst the luscious greenery of Phoenix Park, HRM Asia held its first ever Breakfast and Corporate Test Drive Event with Mercedes-Benz on September 13. Guests included C-level HR and people management decision makers from PDD Singapore, ST Logistics, Google, Nike, Deutsche Bank, and other multinationals. The sumptuous breakfast spread came with an exclusive treat – an exhilarating testdrive experience on selected models of the Mercedes-Benz range, including the brand new C-Class.

Guests were also treated to a special presentation by Eric Wong, Head of Talent Acquisition and Development, Asia-Pacific at Polycom. The interactive session explored value-add solutions to pertinent problems faced by employee engagement professionals, as well as best practice models in Employer Value Propositions (EVPs). The C-level professionals present were invited to share their work-life balance programmes and discuss how HR was constantly recalibrating its EVPs with new benefits and methods to engage and retain talents.

To close the event, Oliver Grohmann, Senior Vice President of HR at Mercedes-Benz’ Overseas Sales and Marketing division highlighted the wide array of unique employee perks offered

by Daimler Fleet Management and how these were helping to differentiate major companies as employers of choice. Guests were then invited to experience the morning’s highlight – a rip-roaring test drive on several luxury models from the Mercedes-Benz range.

We want to work with you! Let us help you create an event to remember – please contact chris@hrmasia.com.sg or juliana@hrmasia.com.sg ISSUE 14.10

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SME SPOTLIGHT

FREEDOM TO

INNOVATE At MindWave Solutions, employees are encouraged to innovate and come up with actionable business ideas outside of their job scope.

Sumathi V Selvaretnam sumathi@hrmasia.com.sg

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n the fast-paced IT industry, firstto-market innovation is a key driver to success. To keep this spirit of innovation alive, local IT servicing company MindWave Solutions gives employees the opportunity to suggest ideas that can help the company grow.

Under its Intrapreneurship Programme, employees are able to transform their own innovative ideas into successful business plans of action, with support from the management, Chief Operating Officer Aditi Nayak says.

“This encourages them to think outside of their job scope, as well as suggest actionable ideas which can contribute towards the progressive growth of the company, which in turn helps us to retain such talents in MindWave.”

A successful outcome of the programme was the company’s Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) division – an employee-driven initiative. “This was subsequently enhanced to support the Smart Cities and Smart Health verticals, two areas which MindWave is known for,” shares Nayak.

Apart from this, a range of eCommerce sites and online portals have also been launched employees through the programme.

MindWave’s 2013 Christmas Party

Hiring challenges Growing and developing employees is a top priority at MindWave Solutions, and has been since its inception in 2005. The company now employs some 150 employees in its offices across Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

Finding the right talent to keep up with rapid expansion plans comes with a host of challenges, especially in an industry that calls for very niche skills, says Nayak. “While we do extend all

MindWave’s 9th Birthday Run – warming up with a game of Charades before hitting the trail

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SME SPOTLIGHT efforts to hire from the technically skilled pool of candidates within Singapore, at times, it is necessary to look for talents beyond Singapore. (This is) due to the low supply of IT-related skills locally, especially those well versed in software development.”

The company has also experienced a higher number of women opting out of the workforce, either before or soon after their maternity leave. “While we respect their decisions of choosing motherhood over their careers, MindWave has always encouraged them to continue their career journeys with us. However, this has resulted in another hiring cycle or the training of another resource to be immediate replacements for these job roles.

“For new mothers, we have tried to offer extended maternity leave over and above the regulatory requirements, as well as encourage flexible timings.

However, we have met with limited

success on this,” Nayak explains.

Helping employees grow To encourage and develop talent in Singapore, MindWave Solutions hosts interns from local polytechnics

and universities. “They are trained and we subsequently offer them the opportunity to join us as full time employees,” Nayak says.

The HR team at the company also takes a keen interest in developing its

“Our mid and senior-level managers typically mentor in one or more areas, and help staff advance in their professional and personal lives” Aditi Nayak, Chief Operating Officer, MindWave

Riding the wave together The WAVEriders Club is an employee club that aims to promote team building and the development of soft skills among MindWave Solutions’ employees. “It consists of developmental courses, welfare activities and get-together sessions for MindWavers to de-stress, and increase the group cohesion,” says Chief Operating Officer Aditi Nayak.

The club also produces an online newsletter called WaveLine, to keep its clients in the loop about major milestones within the company.

In view of its diverse workforce, the WAVEriders club celebrates special occasions such as Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.” The feedback we have received over the years has been very positive. These ad hoc activities bridge gaps in interaction between MindWavers, and this naturally leads to a fun-filled work environment for all to function in,” Nayak says.

Activities organised by the club have contributed to lower attrition rates in recent years, she adds.

MindWave’s 2013 Christmas Party – where MindWavers were eager to take a guess during a game of Pictionary

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SME SPOTLIGHT people. “We are always encouraging the learning and development of our workforce. As soon as an employee is inducted into MindWave, we conduct a training needs analysis for them, and based on our findings, we recommend necessary training programmes,” Nayak says.

Learning and development efforts continue throughout an employee’s journey with the company. “We recognise that follow up programmes or new skills trainings are needed as they progress to higher levels of responsibility and accountability,” says Nayak.

MindWave’s Mentoring Programme is another popular initiative within the company. It is a development process that is uniquely customised for each employee. “Our mid and senior-level managers typically mentor in one or more areas, and help staff advance in their professional and personal lives,” Nayak says.

Employees are also sent for various partner training programmes through the company’s Channel Partner Programme. This allows them to develop extensive product knowledge on the solutions that MindWave is selling, enabling them to better perform in their roles.

MindWave Solutions taps on educational grants from SPRING Singapore to enable its local staff to pursue short management courses or MBAs. “It acts as a great retention and developmental tool for us,” Nayak says.

Customised retention strategies As each employee is unique and driven by different motivations, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to retention.

According to Nayak, customisation of retention strategies is critical. “We have one-to-one sessions with our employees in order to know

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“Our mid and senior-level managers typically mentor in one or more areas”

their interests and motivations, which is crucial in ensuring their continued engagement at work. These sessions are not necessarily conducted in a formal setting and we feel that our employees respond well to such initiatives.”

For junior employees, the company focuses more on responsibilities to develop and enhance their skillsets.

“We believe in stretching their capabilities to the optimum by providing them with new tasks to work on,” Nayak says.

“As for our senior employees, we encourage them to introduce new initiatives, tapping on their experiences, and hence giving them a sense of empowerment and, in return, value-add for the company,” Nayak says.

Giving back

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities provide a meaningful way for companies to build greater cohesion in their workforces.

“MindWave owes some of its success to the community.

Therefore, it is only apt that we provide MindWavers (employees) with the opportunity to give back to the community through our CSR programmes,” Nayak says.

MindWave’s more recent contributions include donations to the Salvation Army, the Typhoon Haiyan recovery effort, and the Movement for Intellectually Disabled of Singapore.

Employees were encouraged to donate gently-used items such as clothes and toys which could benefit the underprivileged. “We hope to encourage employees to share the causes that they are passionate in. With their inputs, we should be able to better tailor our CSR activities to encourage higher levels of community engagement within MindWave @ WasteMET 2014 – meet the sales and the MindWave family,” Nayak marketing team behind the showcase! A wonderful mix concludes. of brains, charm and humour, a truly dynamic team!

HRCLINIC In the war for talent, how can company culture be a key differentiator in attracting and retaining the best talent?

I

’m in the Food and Beverage industry and to draw an easy but relevant analogy, for a great chef to cook up an award-winning dish, the best and freshest of ingredients must be available to him to demonstrate the full potential of his recipe. Similarly, culture is one critical ingredient in making sure organisations tick and return consistent performances and results on a sustained basis. Other ingredients with no less importance may include clear business vision, strategy, organisation and immaculate execution.

Nevertheless, having a fixated culture alone is no longer a guarantee of success in this day and age. Rapid change of the business landscape is the order of the day and has been unprecedented in the last decade or so. Many successful companies with long traditions of achievements in the past century have fallen by the wayside in recent years, some spectacularly so.

Culture is akin to civilisation and we must let it evolve with time and remain relevant to people.

Top leaders have to lead by getting themselves fully appraised of the realities of the business and constantly communicating those realities with all levels of the organisation and genuinely valuing feedback from the same audience. This way, employees will feel they play an active role in shaping the evolving culture they can identify with themselves. When everyone gets involved in the process, they will naturally gain enough emotional attachment and alignment to continue to play their part in the resultant ecosystem.

Phan Yoke Fei

Group Head, HR, Auric Pacific Group

Ask our HR experts. Email your questions to sham@hrmasia.com.sg

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HIGH

IMPACT HR

Zappos has adopted an open leadership culture where job titles and hierarchy will be abolished Source: Zappos Insights

HR LIKE NO OTHER In the first of our brand new monthly features, HRM probes into some of the most unique and extraordinary HR practices devised

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Sham Majid sham@hrmasia.com.sg

M

anagement and leadership frameworks in companies comprise of different structures and sizes.

But what about having no job titles or managers and the company instead comprising of different “circles”? That is the utopian notion for Zappos, an online shoe and clothing shop based in the US. And while Zappos favours shapes to epitomise its organisational structure, another technology giant has a different system again. Google uses numbers, data and algorithyms to structure its unique HR framework.

CASE STUDY 1 Zappos doing away with managers and job titles Renowned for being an extreme restructuring process known as “Holacracy”, Zappos will consist 400 “circles,” or teams who work handin-hand and handle different job roles within each role. The rollout of this method will be completed by the end of the year.

John Bunch, who leads the Holacracy implementation team at Zappos, says the main idea behind adopting this organisational structure goes back to

some interesting research done on how cities scale as they grow, and how companies grow without scale.

He explains that the research found that every time the size of a city doubles, productivity per resident actually goes up by 15%.

However, as the size of companies double, the exact opposite actually happens – productivity per employee actually goes down.

“So what we are trying to do with Holacracy is structure our companies more like cities,” says Bunch.

He says one of the biggest benefits Holacracy tries to utilise is the idea that in a city, there are no directors who are instructing each person on

“We feel that Holacracy allows us to have that free flow of ideas, more like it is in a city” John Bunch, Zappos

exactly what to do.

“People in cities are empowered to do whatever they think is right for them and whatever is going to push forward their lives,” explains Bunch.

Hierarchy is stifling Bunch, who has been with the company for four-and-a-half-years, says Zappos believes that the traditional hierarchy system is not really the best engine for ideas at a firm.

“We really want to move to a system where ideas flow very freely and flow, not just within silos in a company, but across the entire organisation,” Bunch elaborates.

“We feel that Holacracy allows us to have that free flow of ideas, more like it is in a city.”

Bunch says everyone in companies acknowledges that the bureaucracy can sometimes stifle ideas and innovation.

“As companies grow, I think it’s something that we all realise that that ability for agility and that ability to change direction and try new things get stifled and gets slowed down,” he explains.

He says Zappos is trying to break that down and empower employees to really sense an opportunity and then feel empowered that they can do something about it.

Going around in circles

A Google employee working while sitting on a swing in the Zurich office in Switzerland

Source: Google works

The major difference between Holacracy and the traditional hierarchical model is that under Holacracy, an employee can actually fill different roles throughout the organisation.

But even if an employee can fill five roles throughout the organisation, those five roles may be in different circles, says Bunch.

He explains that it really changes from the traditional hierarchy model where all of an employee’s work is reported up to one manager.

“It’s not about where your work reports up to, it’s about what purpose does that bit of work that you’re filling serve,” he adds.

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IMPACT HR

HR holacracy

an infrastructure for how According to Bunch, Holacracy ideas get brought up and how stretches across a range of HR they get processed, which also functions within Zappos. helps productivity.”

“If you’re in an Bunch adds that According to the official Holacracy website, this restructuring organisation where you’re ultimately, Zappos is aiming process radically alters how an organisation is built, how really empowered to take on to have both happier and decisions are formulated, and how power is distributed. work that you’re excited to more productive employees.

Holacracy is deemed to lead towards: take on and push forward “Throughout the history • Lean and adaptable organisation in a meaningful way, that of our company, that’s • Highly effective meetings is definitely going to help something we’ve really tried • Clearly distributed authority retention, we believe,” he to keep on top of our mind, says. and we feel that Holacracy is • Purpose driven work “Also, if you hear from going to take that to the next In fact, there is even The Holacracy Constitution that employees that are currently level,” he adds. documents the core rules, structure and processes of the in this system that they are “Organisational Operating System”. empowered, that’s then going The website says the constitution allows a company desiring to help in recruiting.” to utilise the Holacracy system to apply the intention rigorously He also believes that Google’s numbers’ game and in detail, ensuring that everyone has access to the “rules of Holacracy can spur robust While Zappos is making the game”. and dynamic effects in heads turn with its Holacracy performance evaluation and structural approach, Google feedback. is continuing its “Holacracy is an relentless march adaptive model that towards making constantly updates calculated decisions to keep track in based on an armada real time of what of analytics. you’re doing for the First and foremost organisation and though, at Google, what each person is the function is working on for the not known as organisation,” says “HR”. Rather, it is Bunch. known as People He adds that the Operations. more a firm can be “The name of clear on what work the function says each employee a lot about how we is doing, and the approach decisions more that it can relating to our be clear on what employees,” says D other employees N Prasad, Director, A group of “Googlers” collaborating in a casual setting in the Dublin office or what other Google People Source: Google works roles throughout Services, Asiathe organisation Pacific. that each piece of as they grow their company, instead “We take a similar work deals with, the wider array of of being less productive on a perapproach as our engineers do on the perspectives the company can bring in employee basis. “Productivity is product side — we make data-driven to help with performance evaluation certainly one of the goals, but there decisions.” and feedback. are many things that contribute to Indeed, according to Prasad, “All productivity, including happiness and people decisions at Google are based Productivity a key driver empowerment,” Bunch says. on data and analytics.”

In reference to the cities’ analogy, “Holacracy provides a system for He says the People Operations Zappos is trying to be more productive that empowerment and it also provides function comprises of traditional

Holacracy Constitution

CASE STUDY 2

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HR professionals, analysts and consultants, enabling both it and the broader organisation to organise and access information about ‘Googlers’ (Google employees), make all people decisions backed by data and sound analytics, and to make Google a great place to work.

“We think this approach to people management is what enables us to create an environment that supports continuous innovation which ultimately benefits our users,” says Prasad.

“It’s also about making Googlers’ lives easier and better, which has a positive impact on retention.”

The PiLab Google’s resolute commitment towards analytics and data is further underscored by its People Innovation Lab, or PiLab.

According to Prasad, the PiLab is a research group within People Analytics that is tasked with conducting research to address complex organisational issues that can arise at large firms.

“They dive into challenging questions such as how do we combat decision fatigue?, how do we provide incentives for creative work?, and how do we step up innovation by tapping diversity?”, he says.

Prasad explains that research conducted by PiLab is constantly changing the way Google operates as a company and is paving the way to a happier and more productive workforce.

“Through data and analytics, for example, we’ve been able to figure out interesting things like how many job candidates we should be interviewing

for each position, and what kind of attributes tend to predict success at Google,” says Prasad.

In addition, the PiLab has also spent time looking at the data behind what makes people at Google good leaders and what they can do to cultivate successful leadership.

“Once we have identified what these attributes are, we build action plans around these and integrate them into our staffing, learning and performance management programmes,” says Prasad.

“And, we have seen results pretty quickly too.”

Prasad adds that going beyond the obvious and solving future organisational and even industryrelevant challenges is what makes working with People Operations exciting and fulfilling.

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Developing Human Capital for SMEs

Putting A New Spin On Growth With Human Resources

In order to bolster its growth, local SME Zero Spot Laundry Service Pte Ltd went back to HR basics Home-grown commercial laundry provider Zero Spot Laundry Service Pte Ltd has been in business for 25 years, serving clients that include hotels and serviced apartments in Singapore and throughout Asia, growing from just seven staff to a workforce of 350. Despite the impressive growth, the management recently began to realise that a solid HR framework would be necessary if it was to take the business to the next level.

“We had the basic essentials like payroll, leave and administration, but we came to realise that in order to attract and retain talent, and build a team for our future, we really needed a sound HR structure,” explains Mr Alex Teo, Zero Spot’s Chief Executive Officer.

Getting started

The company turned to SPRING Singapore’s self-help HR Capability Toolkit, a resource set of templates and guidelines designed to help SMEs strengthen their HR systems. It also applied for the Capability Development

Grant (CDG), which covered part of the project costs relating to the engagement of consultants for HR capabilities development.

“In the past, many of our laundry floor operators earned a basic salary and relied on overtime pay to make more money,” Mr Teo says. “We wanted to change that mindset in order to improve staff satisfaction and productivity.”

With the help of a HR consultant, the company developed a structured performance-reward system for its operators. This gives them a better pay scale with a variable component pegged to their performance in six specific areas, including machine cleanliness, safety awareness and practice, and record keeping. “It was hard to implement at first,” admits Mr Teo, “but we saw productivity improve by 10% in a year.”

Helping staff grow their skill sets

The company also developed and implemented a job grading system which

We came to realise that in order to attract and retain talent, and build a team for our future, we really needed a sound HR structure.

Mr Alex Teo Chief Executive Officer, Zero Spot Laundry Service Pte Ltd (Pictured above)

ensures that all staff at the same level enjoy the same salary brackets. It also established a learning and development framework that helps staff grow their skill sets so that they can advance with the company.

As part of this framework, the company’s HR department came up with over 30 different training programmes that include on-the-job training for various processes, supervisory training and even language skills. Already, the company has seen a slight improvement in its staff turnover rate for 2012 and 2013.

“Naturally, there is still room for improvement,” says Mr Teo. “As we grow, we continually recognise how important human capital is for our business, but we also realise that it requires a lot of planning.

We are looking forward to learning more of the right strategies for our HR success.”

ADVERTORIAL

Investing In Local Talent Singaporean restaurant group JP Pepperdine attracts quality local talent to work in the F&B industry

and service staff where he developed a passion for the service industry.

“Even as a part-timer with little knowledge, JP Pepperdine gave me a real chance to learn about giving good service to customers,” he recalls. The company gave him the opportunity to experience working in its various different concept restaurants and this helped him broaden his view of what it takes to work in the service industry.

Supporting career aspirations

When Mr Tan completed National Service and graduated from polytechnic, he initially had plans to further his studies.

“I wanted to learn more and when I mentioned this to my bosses at JP Pepperdine, they offered me a position under the SME Talent Programme (STP),” he says. “I’m definitely looking forward to attending the courses and learning how to Candidates Ms Josephine Ang and Mr Gary Tan (centre), new additions to the JP Pepperdine better interact with my customers, which Group, with Chief Corporate Officer Mr Jerry Lim (right). form the most important Like many F&B businesses in Singapore, The SME Talent Programme helps us aspect of good service.”

JP Pepperdine Group, the company The initiative helps SMEs attract new talents and allows them to stay behind restaurants like Eatzi Gourmet and attract young talents from engaged within the company.

Kkongdon Korean BBQ, desires to maintain the institutes of technical a strong Singaporean core and constantly education, polytechnics Mr Jerry Lim seeks to attract local candidates to apply and universities by offering Chief Corporate Officer, JP Pepperdine Group for jobs in middle management. internship and employment “It’s common knowledge that it is hard opportunities. we had to come up with clearer and more to attract Singaporeans to work in the Mr Lim adds, “This structured programme relevant training programmes.” service sector,” explains Mr Jerry Lim, helps us attract new talents and allows The company’s journey is now on track, JP Pepperdine’s Chief Corporate Officer. them to stay engaged within the company. with candidates like 24-year-old Mr Gary “So when we heard about SPRING’s talent We are looking forward to using it to build Tan, who recently joined them. The assistant attraction initiatives, we were excited to a talent pipline.” restaurant manager of Jack’s Place at explore opportunities to attract quality Together with Mr Lim, the company Compass Point first joined the company local talent.” has successfully matched 10 other young several years ago as a part-time cashier talents through the STP since last year.

Developing an attractive offering

“First and foremost, we had to ask ourselves if we had the proper training and HR processes in place and could carve a career plan for these talents,” explains Mr Lim. “It was a painful process but it was good because it forced us to be very clear about our training policies and career roadmaps for employees.”

Mr Lim admits that attracting candidates was just one hurdle, retaining them was another. “The initial candidates came in for two to three months and then left. This taught us that our learning and development processes were not strong enough, so

Develop your Human Capital today!

The SME Talent Programme is expanded to support internships, study sponsorships and fresh hire training for ITE, Polytechnic and University students.

Find out more at www.spring.gov.sg/stp/sme To take the first step forward, SMEs may download the free self-help HR Capability Toolkit at http://www.hrcapability.sg/tool-kit/ to systematically manage HR functions.

SMEs can also tap the Capability Development Grant (CDG) to implement HR initiatives customised to their business needs. For more information, visit www.spring.gov.sg/CDG, call 6898 1800 or email enterpriseone@spring.gov.sg

HR YOUNG GUNS

HR FROM THE CLASSROOM

In our brand new column, HRM examines the future torchbearers for HR in Asia. These university students specialising in HR will share their passion for the function and how they are preparing for their future career

What attracted you to HR? Why are you studying it?

What attracted me to HR was intrinsic, not extrinsic. Growing up, I found myself inclined towards the needs of others – often mediating disagreements, and guiding others in paths I’d taken before. Opportunities to serve in my local church made this more apparent, as it helped me realise my passion for the roles of mentoring and teaching. According to Gallup’s StrengthsFinder (a test that I took a few years back), my top five strengths are Empathy, Harmony, Developer, Consistency, and Relator. This discovery of my strengths articulated and gave weight to my passions. Pairing my strengths with my passions, I felt compelled to pursue Organisational Behaviour and HR as my first major in SMU.

What aspect of HR do you hope to specialise in upon graduation?

Training and Development is an area of interest because of the platform it gives to inspire and cultivate lives. Compensation as well, as an organisations’ compensation strategy has a direct impact on employees’ motivations and corporate culture.

However, having been exposed to the role of a HR business partner (HRBP) through my internship attachment with Far East Organisation, I hope to be able to pursue the role as a HRBP.

employee turnover. The second would be to continuously find fulfilment in my role. Thirdly, it would be going beyond structural, cultural and societal expectations to empower individuals to find and achieve fulfilling, meaningful and purposeful vocations, through development of their abilities and passions.

What challenges do you anticipate?

Current and future Generation-Y employees have an entirely different set of needs and expectations from baby-boomers or even Generation-X employees.

Being Generation-Y myself, my challenge would first be to understand the interests of other generations before trying to accommodate and blend the different talent pools of the organisations’ workforce. As the talent pool progresses towards a balanced ratio of professionals from varying generational demographics, there will inevitably be clashes in needs and characteristics of respective employees.

A key challenge that I anticipate for myself as a HR professional is the tricky act of balancing the needs of a diversifying workforce. Beyond the issue of developing and retaining top talent in our knowledge-based economy, balancing the differing generational employees is fast becoming a central issue, especially in Asian organisations.

The top three things you want from your HR career

Your HR career five years from now?

The first would be to devise a HR matrix that could possibly predict

I aspire to take on the role of a HRBP, but practically, I recognise that the

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ANTON CHAN Year-three Business student, SMU, Majoring in Organisational Behaviour and HR

requirements of the role entails some years of experience in other HR functions in order to perform it well.

As such, I see myself investing my time in other functions like training and development and compensation and benefits, or as a HR generalist.

Hobbies and Inspirations Being a “Relator”, my hobbies include activities that give me time to be away from people, to recharge and unwind with some alone-time. Some activities I enjoy include tending to and breeding of my exotic pet shrimp, going for jogs, playing soccer, and occasionally watching action and crime television shows.

HR:

Watchmen of an organisation

By Anton Chan

A

watchman had numerous roles in ancient civilisations. It wasn’t a role that was suited for any individual; the city’s life and security depended on them. Duties of a watchman included perching themselves on large watchtowers, standing guard over the city’s crops so they would not be stolen while they matured. Others stood on the city walls observing the daily comings and goings within the city gates and observing everyday life of the city.

Overtime, watchmen would grow familiar to the usual activities in the streets, the people, their lifestyles, their habits and their work. They would be considered the most familiar as well, with all that goes on outside of the city gates, and the business transactions of its officials.

Putting all that together, watchmen had three primary roles: • To protect and preserve the city and its resources • To ensure people were on the “right paths” • To observe the external environment What does the role of a watchman mean in today’s modern context?

How is the role of HR in organisations today similar to that of an ancient watchman? Are there any parallels? If so, what are the implications?

To protect and preserve the city and its resources Like watchmen, HR has the responsibility to highlight any unusual

trends in employee behaviour and turnover trends, and to ensure that the organisation’s policies and culture are being adhered to.

Watchmen also had to be sure that the people that they were letting into the city were not enemies in disguise. Failure to do so could result in the city falling prey to espionage or worse. In today’s context, HR plays this role in recruitment and selection.

That means, the function has the weighty responsibility of ensuring that the people it is recruiting have the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to contribute to the organisation, and are not a deadweight that will simply feed off the organisations’ resource pie. In ensuring that this selection process is thorough enough to sieve through the good and the not so good, time and investment are needed to devise suitable methods to accurately test KSAs of prospective employees. However, the caveat is that shouldn’t be based on that entirely.

Peter Drucker once said, “One cannot just hire a hand; the whole man always comes with it.” HR must be wary of the danger of hiring based only on appropriate KSAs to fill a position; it needs to be a judge of a person’s character as well; it must make sound assessments of characteristics based on a person’s personality and background, against the organisation’s culture, and to make a match that will be beneficial to the organisation.

To ensure people are on the “right paths” In order to preserve the security of the city, watchmen had to sound out if people weren’t doing their jobs, or following their “normal” way of life.

In today’s context, while HR has a similar responsibility in ensuring that employees do their jobs, HR needs to ensure that well-performing and highpotential employees are channelled properly, and supported by reward systems in place.

Relating back to recruitment, if it is done right, focus and resources can then be shifted to retaining high-performing employees through training and development as well.

Humans are always progressing, and we never stop learning. The challenge for HR is to ensure that its training and development programmes are on par with the level of progression of employees and that it caters to all. When the channelling of human capital is done right, it will ultimately lead to the progression of the organisation as a whole.

In summary…

I believe with this perspective in mind, the key trait required of HR personnel is to be vigilant at all times, and never complacent. Undoubtedly, this is a vital role that cannot be overlooked in sustaining the life of the organisation, which weighs heavily on the shoulders of these watchmen: to protect, preserve and be its guardians.

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Leadership and Culture: A potent mix for organisational success

T

hroughout my career in HR, I have come to realise that two things can make or break an organisation – the first being its culture, and the second being the quality of its leadership.

Leaders drive organisations, but it is culture that drives performance. When employees are engaged, energised and empowered, they see farther, run faster, and aim higher – a truly strategic competitive advantage.

This led to the writing of my first book, Wonderland Through Caroline’s Looking Glass, sharing my passion

and some of the things picked up from over 30 years in HR. A whimsical tale, borrowing characters from Alice in Wonderland, the book weaves together culture change journeys relevant to many organisations, complete with side-boxes of tips, tools and traps – practical guidance to navigate the change journey towards a dream or Wonderland of a workplace.

As HR professionals, I believe while the phrase ‘HR at the table’ may ring true; it could be said that ‘HR is the table’! We have the ability to make a difference, shape the

future and create transformational change for the business, the people and the enterprise.

To quote someone I respect in the field: “HR is a tough job. HR is either loved or hated; there is no middle ground.” It requires balancing difficult decisions with the head, and listening with the heart. And it requires the guts to change things; to do what is right, and to right what is wrong.

And to cap it all off: “When employees can appreciate reasons for unpopular decisions, then you know HR is doing a good job.”

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Caroline Lim Global Head – HR and Corporate Affairs, PSA Group

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19 & 20 May Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre

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VIEW POINT

Corporate Travel:

A focus on changing travel dynamics in Asia Pacific Craig Ryan, Managing Director, APAC, Oakwood Worldwide, shares his insights on the region’s travel growth trends and what companies can do to elevate the mobility experience for their relocating employees

A

s the fastest growing region in the world today, Asia Pacific has experienced a significant surge in corporate travel, with a rise of seven percent since 20111. A variety of factors have contributed to this increase, including an improved economy and growth in infrastructure in developing markets. In fact, in China alone there are plans for 100 additional airports in the next 10 years2, enabling the country to become far more accessible to global travellers.

Moreover, according to The World Travel & Tourism Council, business travel in Asia Pacific yields a return on investment of more than 9:1. In addition, business travellers in the region confirm they are twice as likely to convert prospects

into customers with an in-person meeting3, and in China, The World Travel & Tourism Council reports 38% of the economy’s share of sales relies on business travel. The importance of this is reflected in the investment the Chinese government has made to its infrastructure over the past 20 years – an incredible 8.5% of GDP*4.

Given the growth in Asia Pacific, the travel industry stands to be greatly impacted by how travellers access travel reservations and the type of accommodations they choose. Amadeus, a travel sector technology leader, recently projected in its study “Shaping the Future of Travel” that Northeast Asia will account for 42% of the growth in global outbound

business travel spending over the next decade, while Southeast Asia will account for an additional 13%. The study results also showed that China is quickly catching up with the United States, which is currently the largest domestic market for business travel.

As a result, online travel sites will continue to grow, especially as more people in China choose to use the internet to book their trips and accommodations instead of employing the services of travel agencies. According to a recent A.T. Kearney consumer study of China’s upper middle class, about 70% of travellers use online travel sites for information gathering, with 58% booking their accommodations on sites such as Qunar.com, E-long, booking.com and Agoda.

With more people travelling to Asia Pacific for

business, reports show that companies face some real issues with culture shock.

Organisations, particularly those with employees on extended-stay assignments, are finding that the day-today challenges employees and their families face in a new culture include, a new work environment and language barriers.

Companies interested in attracting and retaining top talent want to provide accommodations and services that will elevate the mobility experience for their relocating and extended-stay employees, while allowing them to settle in and be productive quickly. Working with an experienced, trusted housing provider who can offer the global reach, and local expertise breadth of housing options required to facilitate this transition, is part of the solution.

Global Report on Serviced Apartments Asia Pacific Region Business Travel & MICE trends 3 US Travel Association, Business Travel Fact Sheet, http://traveleffect.com/sites/traveleffect. com/files/fact-sheets/BusinessTravel%2BCompanies.pdf, accessed 7 March 2014 4 McKinsey Quarterly, Ten forces forging China’s future, June 2013 1

2

Craig Ryan Managing Director, APAC, Oakwood Worldwide Email: globalsolutions_apac@oakwood.com To learn more about serviced accommodation solutions in Asia Pacific: Oakwood Worldwide (Regional Headquarters in Asia Pacific) 101 Thomson Road, #26-03 United Square, Singapore 307591 Tel: +65 6521 6380 Fax: +65 6521 6399 Email: globalsolutions_apac@oakwood.com Web: www.oakwoodworldwide.com ISSUE 14.10

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UPCOMING COURSE INFORMATION SESSION Join us for an evening of networking and insights on workforce development issues, and learn more about this new Masters programme.

Date: Time:

15 October 2014 (Wednesday) 7:00pm - 9:00pm (Registration will commence at 6:30pm. Refreshments will be provided) Venue: To be advised

Also find out about our other programmes and workshops at www.ial.edu.sg/upgrading.

Attendees are requested to register before 10th of October. Kindly visit www.ial.edu.sg/MSCSWD to register your attendance.

VIEW POINT

Emerging leaders in Asia Perspectives from emerging leaders

What is the future of leadership in Asia? Can organisations in Asia take on a more prominent role in charting the direction?

More importantly, what is the DNA of an emerging leader?

Read on as Darren Lin, an emerging leader from Align HR Consulting provide his thoughts on this topic The question “What is an emerging leader?” Asked one participant in the workshop, resulting in a deafening silence. It was as if someone had wandered on to a forbidden path. The facilitator took two steps back and heaved a deep breath before replying……

Picture this if you were the facilitator – what would your response be? As a participant, what would you expect to hear?

The current practice The identification of emerging leaders (ELs) requires a robust succession planning approach that garners management buy-in and stewardship.

Expectations need to be clearly articulated to provide the psychological incentive needed for sustaining the leaders’ commitment.

At present, the marketplace for emerging leaders’ programmes is littered with

topical materials that do not provide the greatest return on investment. There is a need to bypass this dated mode of programme evaluation, which primarily focuses on participants’ satisfaction levels. Business results should be aligned to training outcomes while ensuring that the ELs are ‘stretched’ beyond their comfort zones.

plaguing the workforce and the results are pronounced.

The case study A strategic business unit within an oil major, identified a small group of ELs to undergo a twoyear integrated emerging leadership development programme that includes individual and team coaching, modular workshops, tripartite sessions (coach, mentor, and supervisor), case scenarios, and action learning projects.

The ELs had to investigate, implement, and review their project and individual accountability plan, together with a follow-up presentation to the programme sponsor (senior leadership team).

The intent was to ascertain the ELs’ abilities to cope and approach complex organisational challenges within a learning context.

An evaluation of the programme revealed striking results, particularly, the ELs’ aptitudes to apply their learnings back to the workplace through critical reflection and reinforcement of positive behaviours.

The future of emerging leaders in Asia We believe that leadership development is a continuum.

There are no shortcuts to growing people capability.

In Asia, the search for the next emerging leader would engender not just IQ and EQ, but Adversity Quotient (AQ) as well - which is the agility and adaptability of an individual in unfamiliar situations. Resilience, versatility, and the ability to relate to all at varying levels could be the next boxed items on the interview checklist.

Looking ahead, emerging leaders “need to put their egos aside in order to deal with the ‘real’ business issues, be it in the form of resource constraints, disenfranchisement or management of a diverse workforce. Collectively, the 3Qs (IQ, EQ and AQ) will be the future yardsticks of emergent leadership success.” – Darryl Parrant, Managing Director of Align HR Consulting & Align SMA (formerly Steve Morris Associates).

The recommended approach These programmes should be built around the narrative of ‘nurture’, which brings individuals on an experiential journey, driven by shared meanings and adaptive capacity building. Proven research incorporating the VARK principles of learning via multiple sensory platforms (visual, auditory, read-write, kinesthetic) should be blended in. Weave in guided facilitation and support in action learning projects that explore thematic or unstructured issues

Darren Lin Associate Consultant, Align HR Consulting Email: darren@alignhrconsulting.com Align HR Consulting & Align SMA 22 Malacca Street Raffles Place #04-04 RB Capital Building, Singapore 048980 Tel: +65 65380280 Emails: info@alignhrconsulting.com; info@alignsma.com Web: www.alignhrconsulting.com; www.alignsma.com ISSUE 14.10

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MICE

The “incentive” and stick approach Companies are increasingly doing away with regular incentives for employees in return for more unique and unusual experiences. HRM investigates Sham Majid sham@hrmasia.com.sg

I

magine yourself as an employee, having just hit the challenging objective set by your boss.

You eagerly await the incentive that had been promised to you by your superior.

However, upon receiving the incentive, you are filled with disappointment, having realised it was not what you had been excitedly anticipating for.

Canadian employees in particular can attest to this all-too common situation.

According to findings from the recently-released 2014 Canadian Incentive Trends Survey, there is a gap between the incentives Canadian companies utilise and the incentives they believe workers actually want.

Results from the survey showed that over half (53%) of those polled offer company-branded merchandise, while nearly three-quarters (73%) utilise retail gift cards as incentives to motivate their employees.

However, survey participants listed prepaid shopping cards as the most motivating of potential incentive gifts.

The survey revealed that those polled fancied these prepaid cards twice as much as specific-store retail gift cards, and 74 ISSUE 14.10

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nine times more than merchandise.

“The incentive gap exists because recipients clearly want more choice and flexibility in the rewards they receive,” said Dave Eason, CEO of Berkeley Payment Solutions, which conducted the research.

On Singapore’s Sentosa Island, choices and flexibility are the norms when it comes to offering incentives for companies and their staff.

Spoilt for choice With 14 hotels, over 30 attractions and more than a 100 food and beverage and retail outlets situated alongside championship golf courses and yachting facilities, Sentosa Island has now become an even more attractive MICE destination.

Sentosa’s billing as a leisure resort-cum-meetings and incentives destination has been enhanced by the introduction of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), with its offering of six hotels and themed attractions such as the Universal Studios Singapore and the SEA Aquarium, says Steven Chung, Senior Assistant Director, International and Corporate Sales, Sentosa Leisure Management.

MICE

Sun, sand, sea and BBQ The Sand Dining experience is the latest offering for diners seeking to enjoy a meal in an exclusive setting. According to Chung, the suggested programme consists of: • Taking a scenic ride on the Singapore Cable Car from Mount Faber into Sentosa • Enjoying a welcome drink at Imbiah Lookout, followed by an exhilarating Luge down to Siloso Beach • Enjoying optional beach activities such as beach volleyball, beach soccer or water rafting) or a team building activity to simulate an “Amazing Race” experience involving a selected range of attractions • The group is then whisked off to Palawan Beach via a decorated and themed beach tram, with cocktails or mocktails served on board • Enjoying a BBQ by the beach with sand sculpted seating, including the IMU Pit and whole lamb or cow on a spit. Ambient entertainment include fire twirlers, belly dancers, or a live band.

• Ending the Sentosa experience at Wings of Time for an exclusive show with corporate branding on the water screen.

According to Chung, the opening of the , Mövenpick Heritage Hotel and the W Singapore - Sentosa Cove, coupled with improvements made to existing meeting facilities in hotels such as Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort and The Singapore Resort & Spa Sentosa, have also given MICE planners more options and flexibility in planning itineraries.

“As Sentosa ramped up efforts over the past few years to transform the island, we brought in more participative and skill-based activities to quicken the pulse on our beaches,” says Chung.

These include an indoor skydiving experience called iFly Singapore, and a MegaZip Adventure Park that offers a mix of adventure and thrills on a high rope course and zipline ending on an islet off Siloso Beach.

In addition, Chung says Sentosa will soon welcome Singapore’s first-ever bungy experience at the AJ Hackett Sentosa.

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MICE

Ever-changing incentive range

Google

According to Chung, customised team-building experiences are constantly being refreshed to meet the needs of MICE-seekers.

“Guests can have a variety of exciting and fun-filled encounters around the island, through obstacle-filled programmes such as the The Sentosa Imbiah Challenge as well as The Sentosa Beach Challenge,” says Chung.

He says these events have enticed over 8,000 participants since 2008, with China, India and Southeast Asia making up the bulk of their source markets.

“In recent years, we have been seeing an increase in demand from Australia as well,” he adds.

In order to escape from the deluge of meetings and work, MICE-seekers can also retreat to the island’s beachfront or marina at Sentosa Cove to unwind.

For example, Chung says that over at the Quayside Isle at Sentosa Cove, guests can savour unique cuisines from over 20 dining concepts.

“Signature events like Sentosa’s Halloween event and the New Year’s Eve countdown party further widen the choice for MICE groups,” explains Chung.

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“This year, Sentosa has added experiential dining options to its offerings, where MICE groups can enjoy a truly unique dining experience by the beach.”

Dinner by the sand anyone?

For companies laden with foodie lovers, Sentosa’s new and unique dinner affair will enable their staff to fully immerse themselves in the beachfront environment, with specially-sculpted sand tables and seats or low table seating, as they savour a delectable meal at Palawan Beach, with the Southeast Asia sunset as an exquisite backdrop.

According to Chung, the sand sculpted seating can hold from 30 to 60 people, while the low table seating can hold from 30 to 200 people.

Other experiences available include the Exclusive Dining on the Sea (on board a floating pontoon) and themed militarystyle dining in the Fort Siloso tunnel.

THINKING RELOCATION? THINK SANTA FE. We make it easy

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PROFILE

PARKROYAL SERVICED SUITES KUALA LUMPUR

Your local connection in the heart of Kuala Lumpur P

ARKROYAL Serviced Suites Kuala Lumpur is strategically located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s commercial, shopping and entertainment hub offering easy access to a variety of leisure and dining options.

Less than 45 minutes from the airport, the serviced suites is within walking distance of the Raja Chulan monorail, and provides an ideal base for experiencing all that this vibrant city has to offer.

Comprising 287 fully furnished apartments, with a choice of studios, as well as one- and twobedroom suites, guests seeking extended-stay accommodation will find that PARKROYAL Serviced Suites Kuala Lumpur offers everything they require for an unforgettable stay.

Find respite amidst the vibrancy of the city in the spacious suites that have been designed to suit the needs of the extended-stay traveller. The apartments offer stylish interiors with local touches that accentuate the soothing ambience, while at the same time providing comfort and functionality.

After a long day, unwind to your favourite tunes or

For more information, visit parkroyalhotels.com

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enjoy a movie on the home theatre system with a 40” LCD television, CD and DVD players. There is also complimentary wired and wireless Internet access to ensure that you are always connected, be it for work or play. All suites come with fully equipped kitchens for you to create tasty dishes from home or experiment with exotic local ingredients.

Keeping to your fitness routine is easy with the range of wellness facilities.

Whether it is leisurely laps in the swimming pool on level one or enjoying a revitalising workout at our fully fitted gymnasium, there is something to suit all fitness levels. You can also relax with a book by the rooftop pool, which provides access to the Jacuzzi and commands impressive views of the city skyline.

The residents’ lounge is the perfect place to mingle with fellow residents over a game of foosball or air hockey, or relax with a magazine or book from the in-house library. A business centre with meeting facilities ensures that you can manage your professional matters with ease.

PARKROYAL Serviced Suites Kuala Lumpur provides the best local connections to ensure that guests get the most from their stay. Our friendly PARKROYAL people are always ready to make recommendations of

local hotspots and hidden treasures, helping ensure that you to get the most authentic experiences.

Hunt for bargains alongside locals at Petaling Street, the city’s Chinatown, or shop for high-street fashion at Bintang Walk, one of the most popular shopping streets for locals and tourists alike. For a spot

of sightseeing, the Kuala Lumpur Tower, Aquaria KLCC and Petronas Twin Towers are all a short distance away.

Whether you are staying for a week or a month, PARKROYAL Serviced Suites Kuala Lumpur will ensure that all your needs are taken care of, and that you experience the city like a true local.

PROFILE

RESORTS WORLD™ SENTOSA

Can’t wait to experience

Ocean Dome, S.E.A. Aquarium

L

ocated on Sentosa Island, just 15 minutes from the heart of Singapore, Resorts World™ Sentosa Singapore is Asia’s ultimate leisure and M.I.C.E. destination. Here, guests can meet, dine and unwind at unique venues such as Resorts World Ballroom (Asia’s largest columnless ballroom), S.E.A. Aquarium™ (one of the world’s largest aquarium), Maritime Experiential Museum™ (Singapore’s only maritime heritage museum),

To find out more, please contact: Resorts World™ Sentosa Singapore 8 Sentosa Gateway, Sentosa Island, Singapore 098269 Tel: +65 6577 9977 Fax: +65 6577 9860 Email: mice@rwsentosa.com Web: www.rwsentosa.com

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and Universal Studios Singapore™ (Southeast Asia’s first and only Universal Studios theme park).

With such an extensive collection of indoor and outdoor function spaces that can accommodate any group size, the Resort can comfortably host 35,000 guests at any one time.

Facilities that impress When it comes to expansiveness and versatility, few venues come close to the column-free Resorts World Ballroom.

This state-of-the-art mega ballroom with its 11-metre high ceiling and 6,000 square metres of unobstructed space, has hosted numerous high profile corporate and social events, as well as concerts. With simple segregation, it can be transformed into three ballrooms or nine mega

halls with flexible seating configurations, including VIP rooms and other holding rooms. To add to your convenience, secretarial rooms, video conferencing and other facilities can easily be arranged upon request.

Apart from ballrooms and function rooms, Resorts World Sentosa Singapore also boasts of extraordinary venues for organising talkof-the-town events. Host your business associates at Universal Studios Singapore with a 1950’s New York scene right out of the movies; throw a lavish banquet against a panoramic backdrop of swimming manta rays and other exotic marine animals at S.E.A. Aquarium; hold an intimate networking session in a wine cellar at Palio; or make it a rock and roll celebration at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore.

The possibilities are as

endless as your creativity.

Gastronomic delights But the experience does not end there. Resorts World™ Sentosa Singapore is also home to some of the finest gastronomic experiences.

You and your guests can savour culinary masterpieces by our award-winning chefs, taking your events to a whole new level. When it is time to chill out, your guests will also have plenty of entertainment options, from world-class theme parks and shows to luxury shopping, all within walking distance.

For events that excite, inspire and create an indelible impression, there’s no better choice than Resorts World Sentosa Singapore.

Contact our experienced event specialists and let us help you turn your next business meeting or event into a success.

PROFILE

THE SPA ARTISAN

Time to get back to nature W

hile many spa retreats claim nature as their inspiration, few can maintain the total incorporation of nature into its facilities. The awardwinning Aramsa ~ The Garden Spa can.

Billed as Singapore’s first outdoor spa in a park, Aramsa ~ The Garden Spa is set in the lush botanical beauty of Bishan Park 2.

From its lush surroundings and nature-based treatments to its garden amenities and botanical ingredients, Aramsa is the perfect destination for relaxation and rejuvenation in Singapore.

Winners of the Singapore Tourism Board’s “Best Spa Experience”, Aramsa offers a unique garden spa experience not found elsewhere in Singapore.

With an all-natural concept in a secluded haven that boasts earthy décor and glorious gardens there is simply no escaping the ‘at one with nature’ feel. From the reception to the treatment rooms to the alfresco dining at

aramsa ~ the garden spa 1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1, Bishan Park 2, Singapore 569931 Tel: 6456 6556 Email: enquiries@aramsaspas.com Web: www.aramsaspas.com For event enquiries, kindly send to events@deliinthepark.com.sg For corporate benefits and enquiries, kindly send to marketing@asmaralifestyle.com

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the restaurants, it is a wonderful place to recharge and brainstorm. Pebble paths lined with scented herb gardens lead to 14 separate treatment suites, all of which replicate the outdoor garden feel with outdoor rain showers and sunken garden baths.

Aramsa’s exclusively created spa menus tap into the curative powers of botanical ingredients and offer a multitude of body massages, body wraps, exfoliations, water and body detox treatments. The spa also provides facials by SkinCeuticals, the leader in antioxidant anti-aging technology and the number one dermo-professional skincare line in the U.S.A. Further meandering paths lead to more nature-inspired facilities that focus on enhancing wellness, as well as several healthy dining and recreational options.

PowerMoves Pilates offers Pilates services by a team of dedicated instructors. SK Nails provides spa manicure and pedicure services to beautify one from top to toe. Dining options includes The Green Room Café which serves vegetarian options.

Canopy ~ Garden Dining is a pet-friendly café which provides all day brunch and western dining options.

Middle Rock Bar features an alfresco bar scene; after 5pm daily.

With the quiet spaces and multitude of service offerings, Aramsa at Bishan Park is perfect to host your corporate

Aramsa couple suite

Spa exterior meetings, brainstorming or teambuilding sessions in our lush garden setting.

For other venues under the Asmara Lifestyle branding, you can explore The Spa Artisan, a lush oasis situated at The Fullerton Hotel. For an out of Singapore retreat – The Club Med Bintan Spa (Bintan Islands) features spa villas with beautiful ocean settings. Club Med Bintan Spa is open to non- Club Med guests and offers complimentary land transfers upon request from your resort or the ferry jetty.

Bamboo massage

Garden bath

PROFILE

FABER PEAK SINGAPORE

Let Faber Peak Singapore inspire you!

N

estled in the relaxing surrounds of a tropical rainforest at the top of Mount Faber, Faber Peak Singapore is strategically located just 15 minutes from the city. It is home to three restaurants-with-a-view – Spuds & Aprons, Faber Bistro and Moonstone; two unique event spaces – The Ballroom and Private Dining Room and Singapore Cable Car, all under one roof.

Located 100 metres above sea level, Faber Peak Singapore promises an invigorating vista brought to life with an aerial view of a running cable car line, a harbour of luxury cruises and a magnificent view of nature for all corporate presentations, team-building sessions or workshops that take place here.

Starting with The Ballroom, this larger-scale indoor venue, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows presents a one-of-a-kind backdrop that is bound to leave everyone in awe.

Natural light flows in through the glass window panes and a verandah outside the ballroom is perfect for guests to enjoy the cool sea breeze.

For more information of this unique ‘mountain-escape’, please visit www.faberpeaksingapore.com

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The Ballroom True to its name, the Private Dining Room is a spacious and exclusive space suitable for semiformal and casual events.

This intimate space is an exclusive venue away from the city’s hustle and bustle. Located at the top level, guests can enjoy the flexibility of having their events in both openair and air-conditioned comfort while taking in the sea view at its balcony and a garden landscape from its main room.

For something a little more casual, check out Spuds & Aprons – the newest restaurant at the top of Mount Faber that serves up yummy east and west menus. Whether the alfresco Garden or air-conditioned Dining Room, Spuds and Aprons serves up an alluring

Private Dining Room

Spuds & Aprons – Dining Room

vista with compliments of Mount Faber!

Thank your staff with a treat or hold an event at Yakitori-Sake-Bar Moonstone. Unhindered breath-taking views and delightful dishes will ensure that company events reach new heights. Alternatively, for a relaxed, back to nature dining experience made complete with spectacular views of the city, head to Faber Bistro – just five minutes from Faber Peak Singapore.

To further ‘wow’ your guests, make arrangements for travel to Faber Peak Singapore via Singapore Cable Car. Experience a ‘joyride’ ride accompanied by changing views of the city, as you travel Mount Faber on this relaxing and unique mode of transport. Coaches and valet parking services are also available.

Select from Faber Peak Singapore’s array of venues, each with its own majestic views for an unforgettable event like no other.

Private Dining Room

Unparalleled Views

The Ballroom

The Height of Success for Every Event.

Experience our unique scenery, easy access and one-stop customised services.

Mou n t Fab er Leis ure Grou p 1 0 9 M ount Fa be r Roa d Fa b e r P e a k Sing ap ore 099203 T e l: (6 5) 6377 9688 Fa x : (6 5) 6273 4639 D a ily Op erat ing H ours : 9a m ti l l l a te

FaberPeakSingapore www.FaberPeakSingapore.com

The only event location in Singapore with a bird's eye view of the harbour, Sentosa and the city skyline, Faber Peak Singapore is the perfect venue for a relaxing and unforgettable company event.

Situated in Mount Faber Park and surrounded by awe inspiring rich verdure, Faber Peak is on one of Singapore's highest hills and yet only 15 minutes from the Central Business District by car. For even more convenience, choose our optional transportation service, or arrive in style by Singapore Cable Car. It couldn't be any easier. Whether you are planning a seminar, team-building event or company D&D, talk to us and let our dedicated team take care of the details.

Take your company event to new heights. Contact the Faber Peak Singapore events team at 6377 9616 or events@mountfaber.com.sg today.

®

Many organisations have opted for the hybrid model; managing some human resource functions in-house using PayDay! Software or PayDay! HRMS while outsourcing payroll and submission of employee’s income information to PayrollServe’s team of experts.

This model offers organisations the flexibility to handle their payroll and human resource functions in-house or outsource the functions to PayrollServe at any time without switching software solutions.

By outsourcing most of their payroll and human resource functions to PayrollServe, it gives organisations the peace of mind, knowing that their payroll is in the hands of professionals.

Organisations in this category will use either a LAN-based (PayDay! Software) or a WEBbased software (PayDay! HRMS) to manage their payroll and human resource functions.

Founded in 1985, PayrollServe has earned the distinction of being Singapore’s leading provider of payroll and human resource outsourcing services. Today, PayrollServe handles SGD1 billion payroll dollars and serves customers from Banking, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Professional Services, Retail and other industries.

This gives organisations the highest degree of control over the process. However, this model requires high level of technical knowledge and at least one full-time staff dedicated to payroll.

In some cases, some organisations may still outsource its management payroll to a payroll service provider for confidentiality reasons.

www.PayrollServe.com.sg | info@payrollserve.com.sg | +65 6336 0600

TALENT JeanMichel Wu

Chief Talent Officer, McCann Worldgroup

Jean-Michel Wu has been appointed as Chief Talent Officer for McCann Worldgroup with effect from October 20.

Wu, who will relocate from his Shanghai base to Singapore, will be tasked with building on McCann Worldgroup’s talent capabilities across the network.

He was previously regional talent director at WPP for five years.

Before joining WPP, Wu assumed various senior talent positions within Ogilvy & Mather, an agency within the WPP network that he joined in 2004.

“My 10 years within the WPP Group has been an incredible learning journey,” said Wu. “I now look forward to pursuing a career within McCann Worldgroup where I can be closer operationally while broadening my scope of work, adding valuable impact on the overall business of our clients and network.”

Wu added he was particularly happy to be joining McCann during a time of “explosive growth”.

Charles Cadell, President of McCann WorldGroup Asia-Pacific, heralded the appointment of Wu. “Our success is driven by the quality of the people who chose to work and stay with us,” said Cadell.

“Especially in Asia, finding and nurturing the best talent is critical.

Jean-Michel is the best there is at this and him agreeing to join us is another boost to the ongoing McCann success story in the region.”

Hugo Martinho HR Director, Asia-Pacific, India and Middle East, Schindler Group

Hugo Martinho has been appointed HR Director for Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East, at Schindler Group.

Martinho joined Schindler in 1997, and has worked in a series of management positions in both HR and Operations, spread-out over six countries. His previous assignment was Managing Director for Schindler Singapore and Myanmar.

Prior to joining Schindler, Martinho worked initially as a lawyer, after obtaining a Masters Degree in Law, as well as in Business Development.

Martinho passionately believes that people and teams are at the heart of any business. He is committed to developing his people’s uniqueness, and has always guided his efforts towards building strong teams and creating attractive working environments.

Being a true believer in the “discipline of getting things done”, Martinho’s focus throughout his 15 year-career has been on execution, “through a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, questioning, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability”.

The zone now covered by Martinho: Asia-Pacific, India & Middle East, comprises of 23 territories, representing a huge diversity in terms of cultures, operating revenues and business priorities.

Martinho and his team will aim to hit goals including: attracting and retaining the best people; developing future leaders and functional expertise; fostering a high performance culture; and creating and sustaining high employee engagement.

LADDER Sanjay Jorapur Chief HR officer, Hero MotoCorp

Hero MotoCorp has appointed Sanjay Jorapur as chief HR officer for its operations in India and globally.

Sanjay is now a part of the senior leadership structure at Hero MotoCorp and reports to Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal, the company said in a release.

Prior to assuming his new post, Sanjay was country HR Director at Honeywell and a member of its India Executive Council.

He also served as executive vice president and global head of HR and CSR at Crompton Greaves.

“As we strive to build a truly global organisation which promotes innovation and technological excellence, the capability, depth and diversity of our talent pool and the strength of our people practices will be the key to our continued success”, said Munjal.

“As people of different nationalities and socio-cultural background join the Hero family, we seek to build a world- class organisation in every sense of the term- policies and processes, meritocracy and work-life balance.”

“I am pleased to have Sanjay join us and take charge of this mandate.”

“With his extensive domain knowledge and rich experience, he will drive these initiatives to ensure that Hero becomes a global employer of choice.”

Sanjay boasts of more than 20 years of experience and will play an important role in enhancing the firm’s focus on innovative people-centric initiatives and processes, the release added.

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ADVERTORIAL

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info@glidespartners.com www.accountability.asia www.ozprinciple.com No 7 Kaki Bukit Road 1, #01-09 Eunos Technolink, Singapore 415937

Best Corporate Caterer

Orange Clove Catering Pte Ltd

Best Corporate Hotel

Singapore Marriott Hotel

Best Luxury Corporate Cruise Liner Silversea Cruises

Most Unique MICE Venue in Asia Bukit Gambang Resort City

Best Corporate Healthcare Raffles Medical Group

Congratulations to Our Winners!

The HRM Asia Readers Choice Awards showcases the very best corporate service providers and vendor organisations in Singapore. Winners of the various categories were decided based entirely on votes from the readers of www.hrmasia.com

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CTURING ENGINEE RING

BANKING & FINANCE

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for voting us as the Winner for Best Corporate Healthcare 2014 The provider that gives you integrated care from medical services to group insurance coverage RafflesOne offers tailored healthcare solutions for our corporate clients to better manage their needs through our Group Practice Model and 38 years of direct clinical and operational experiences. www.rafflesmedicalgroup.com l rafflesone@rafflesmedical.com l 6557 6861

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AVIATION

F&B RETAIL

Sembawang Way Causeway Point

Northpoint

Seletar Mall (Opening Soon)

Yew Tee Point Compass Point Ang Mo Kio

Lot 1

Bishan

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Sixth Avenue Jurong East

Nex

Shaw Centre (Opening Soon)

Clementi Jurong Point

Hougang Central

Holland Village (Opening 2016) Science Park 1

Ngee Ann City

Terminal 3 B2 Transit 1 Whitesands Terminal 2 Terminal 3 B1 Transit 2 Loyang Point Transit 3 Changi City Point

Tampines 1 Bedok North 112 Katong

Raffles Hospital

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Capital Tower

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Anson Centre Family Medicine

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24-Hour Emergency

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MedicalGroup

Singapore • Hong Kong • Shanghai

Raffles Hospital • Raffles Medical • Raffles Dental • Raffles Japanese Clinic • Raffles Chinese Medicine • Raffles Health • Raffles Medical Hong Kong • Raffles Medical Shanghai • Raffles Health Insurance • Raffles Healthcare Institute

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EIG HT S H I PS SEVEN CO NTI N ENTS A LL- I N CLUS IV E LUXU RY

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IN PERSON WENDY CHANG

Associate Director – HR, LaSalle Investment Management

How many years HR experience?

I have been in HR for 10 years, with the majority of my experience in HR generalist positions.

Why HR?

It’s a natural move to HR as I chose HR Consulting as my major for my Bachelor Degree in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). This area is one of the most challenging in an organisation and it can be complex, but yet enjoyable.

Why LaSalle Investment?

It is always a fast-paced environment when it is a financial services institution. It has a strong branding in the real estate investment industry and this role allows me to have a regional exposure. Since I enjoy interacting and working with people of various background and nationalities, being in a multinational business really excites me.

Biggest Achievement

I am still pretty new to the firm. But overall, bringing in good and right talents to the companies I have worked with has always been something I am pretty pleased with. I get a sense of satisfaction when the new hire tells me he or she is enjoying what they are doing at work or when the manager tells me we have just made a great hire. The sense of achievement is even greater when it’s a difficult or niche position to fill.

After hours?

I enjoy spending time with my family. As some of them work and are based overseas, I particularly value the time when we all are in Singapore and having meals together. Over weekends, I hunt around for local food at various parts of the island with my husband, and write food reviews.

Family?

Though my family and I are not staying in the same country, we are close. Thanks to technology, we are always in touch. I also make it a point to visit them twice a year in Hong Kong while they come over during Chinese New Year.

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BOOK REVIEW

Introverts,

make yourselves heard!

D

o you believe that being reserved and reticent are not positive traits in the modern working world?

Ever had doubts that just because you are introverted, you could not make yourself be heard in the workplace and in your personal life?

It’s time to dispel such notions, says Dr Sylvia Loehken, in her new book, Quiet Impact: How to be a successful introvert. This is meant to assist introverts to interact well in an environment that is often deemed to be too loud and boisterous.

Dr Loehken, an academic and a manager of a large international organisation, delves into specific aspects that highlight the secrets of how to be a successful introvert.

It includes 10 introvert strengths and how to utilise them; an introvert’s 10 major obstacles and how to overcome them; and a four-area plan to succeed in networking, negotiating, presenting and persuading as an introvert.

The book itself comprises of three parts; namely, “Who you are. What you can do. What you need”; “How to have a happy private life and be successful professionally”; and “How to make your presence felt and be sure you are listened to.”

The first part elaborates on an introvert’s strengths and obstacles while the second part focuses on shaping an introvert’s private space and workplace.

Finally, the third part zooms in on how to establish and cultivate contacts, how to negotiate , how to speak in public and how to speak up in meetings.

What makes this book highly engaging and worthwhile is that every section is transcribed from an introverted person’s point of view.

Hence, this book is a definite must-read for introverts looking to enable their qualities and ideas to shine through in both their personal and professional spheres.

Title: Quiet Impact: How to Be a Successful Introvert Author: Sylvia Loehken Publisher: John Murray Learning Price: $27.99 (w/o GST)

8.15AM Rise and shine! I like to start my mornings early, when the office is quiet and conducive for work that requires focus. I also use this time to plan and prioritise tasks for the day. A cup of English Breakfast tea is essential for me to kick off the day with lots of energy!

9.30 AM I get into a meeting with the taskforce for the Global Employee Engagement Survey we have just launched, to plan out some of the new and exciting employee engagement initiatives to be deployed worldwide.

Sylvia Koh Chief People Officer, CrimsonLogic

12.30 PM I go out with my team to our favourite seafood soup stall,

and at the same time, finetune the Healthy Lifestyle programme we are about to launch for our employees.

Singapore, to have a chat and gather his first-hand knowledge on customer experience.

1.30 PM

3.30 PM

Back to the office, I work with Ai Lin, my personal assistant who I cannot live without, to plan a business trip to India. This is my first time meeting the India teams and I’m looking forward to experiencing the culture and teamwork there. Namaste!

2.30 PM I am also on another taskforce to refresh our Customer Satisfaction Index measurement framework, so I drop by Leong Seng’s desk, who is the Vice President responsible for Sales in

I attend a conference call with Willie Soh, our Oman General Manager, to brainstorm our people strategy. It is very insightful to hear his on-ground experience and challenges, and I can now better understand and address his needs in talent recruitment and retention.

5.30 PM I attend to outstanding emails and reflect on the day. At the same time, I draw down key learnings and make a to-do list following the various meetings throughout the day.

HR Business Partner, Singapore

Talent Management, Manager

Senior HR Business Partner

› Global Consumer MNC › Operational and Strategic HR Role › Office Location: West Region, Singapore

› Technology Industry › Well known Brand › Career Prospect

› Listed Company › Strategic Partner › Great culture

An international brand name, our client has an established presence in Singapore and globally. It now seeks a dynamic and consummate HR Business Partner to be part of their Singapore operation.

The Talent Manager is responsible for managing key workflows and supporting key initiatives in the execution and implementation of Talent Management strategy including critical practices, programs and initiatives.

You are a seasoned HRBP with good project management and change management skills, experience in working with crossfunctional teams, delivery effective solutions.

You will partner closely with Business Heads to ensure HR goals are aligned with the organisational plan for the assigned business units. You are responsible for the development and application of policies and programs in the area of recruitment, HR planning, compensation & benefits, talent development and management, performance management, employee and labour relations.

Degree qualified, the successful candidate should have at least 8 years experience as HR generalist including 4 years HR business partnering experience with MNCs known for HR best practices.

Preference will be given those with experience as site HR in a manufacturing environment. You possess high adaptability, are hands-on and possess excellent interpersonal, communications and influencing skills and ability to work in a diverse culture environment.

• Design and implement talent management policies and processes.

• Develop and implement an internal and external potential talent pipeline bank • Ensure the talent processes are implemented, communicated and integrated across the business • Enhance the tools and processes in identify high potential, critical positions, retention risk assessment, talent development plans, rotation and succession plans.

• Develop and manage Talent pool.

• Involve in career developmental needs and promotion and succession plan process.

• Implement remedial actions to resolve identified deficiencies in a timely manner.

• Manage change points through stakeholder engagement.

• Acts as a single point of the contact for the employees and Line Managers in the BU • Implement end-to-end HR strategies to meet the People Priorities • Proactively supports the delivery of HR processes • To work with senior Management of the Business to give HR expertise advice on talent, recruitment, compensation, grievances/complains and learning of the employees • To work with senior Management team to identify opportunities for productivity improvements, via review of organizational structures, streamlining of business processes, continuous improvements and performance management • Drive, lead and deliver to the Talent Management, Career Development and Succession Planning agenda • Acts as the performance improvement driver and provokes positive changes in the people management within the Business

Reference number: MH/JD 46994 Contact person: Maureen Ho (Reg. No. R1105976)

Reference number: OL/JD 47346 Contact person: Oka Lee (Reg. No. R1216022)

Reference number: OL/JD 47350 Contact person: Oka Lee (Reg. No. R1216022)

1143/0514

SEVEN

Your Human Resources recruitment specialists To apply, please go to talent2.com and search for respective reference number.

For a confidential discussion, you can contact Maureen Ho or Oka Lee for the relevant position in our Singapore Office on +65 6511 8555  linkedin.com/company/talent2

Allegis Group Singapore Pte Ltd Company No. 200909448N EA Licence No. 10C4544

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Your career in HR starts here.

Senior Manager, Human Resource Management Succeed as a HR business partner with a well-established learning institution

The successful candidate will work with the HR Director and the HR team to support the strategic direction and businesses by delivering appropriate HRM programmes, policies, practices and advice covering functions in recruitment, performance management, compensation & benefits and employee relation matters. This will be a HR business partner role to directly support specific business entity/entities.

A good degree in Human Resource Management and 8 years’ relevant working experience in the area of HRM with 3-4 years in a supervisory role would be ideal. You have a good working knowledge of Singapore labour legislations and standard HR policies, procedures and functions. A strong communicator, you work well with internal customers and vendors to bring about successful working relationships in the workplace.

Contact us at +65 6632 0057 / hrmg@capitagrp.com for a confidential discussion.

Senior HR Executive - Talent & Workforce Planning Driven role in a fast-paced environment, focusing on talent planning

You will handle all recruitment and selection activities across multiple businesses in Singapore, while coordinating with recruitment outsourcing vendors for all talent acquisition matters. You will manage the onboarding program, review key talent policies and assist in regional talent development and retention strategies. Working closely with other HR business partners in the region, you will participate in workforce planning research and insight across geographies and COE initiatives.

You should possess a degree with around 5 years of relevant HR and Talent experience in MNCs. Other than strong labour law working knowledge, you have solid planning and statistical analysis skills as well as the ability to demonstrate good use of IT applications such as SAP and Prosoft HR. Contact us at +65 6603 3371 / hrmg@capitagrp.com for a confidential discussion.

HR Manager (Talent Management)

Develop policies in scholarship and talent management programmes You are an integral member of the Group’s HR team and are required to lead and contribute towards policy making and strategic planning activities. Working closely with key stakeholders to develop and execute talent strategies, you will ensure scholarship programmes and learning & development initiatives are well-managed and executed. Additional roles include collaborating with external partners to ensure effective leadership development interventions.

You are a degree holder with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in HR and Talent Management functions. Highly motivated and committed, you are comfortable dealing with ambiguity and enjoy meeting people, including young students and scholarship candidates.

Contact us at +65 6632 0048 / hrmg@capitagrp.com for a confidential discussion.

BUSINESS SUPPORT | OUTSOURCING | TECHNOLOGY | ENGINEERING | BANKING

Professional. Personalised. Passionate.

THE HALLMARK OF OUR TALENT SOLUTIONS

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CAPITA PTE LTD

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

MICHAEL PAGE

Senior Benefits Manager

Learning & Development Executive

Regional Senior HR Manager

› Leading regional conglomerate › Stable industry

› Visibility to senior management › Dynamic and team focused environment

› Newly created role › Global leader in industry

Our client is a leading player in the logistics sector and is headquartered in Singapore. They are expanding and diversifying rapidly and are looking for an outstanding individual to work closely with regional leaders to develop their employee benefits programs. You will be leading a team to review and revise benefits programs and policies while analysing costs and budgets and vendor selection process. You will be a Degree qualified HR Professional with 5 years experience in a similar role. Additionally, you will be highly adaptive and be strong in business advisory.

Our client is a market leading organisation in the Financial Industry with a strong presence in South East Asia. They are expanding extensively within the region and are looking for an astute L&D Professional. Reporting to the HR Director, APAC, you will be responsible for developing the learning framework in Singapore. You should come with at least 6 years of relevant experience, be a strong team player and possess excellent communications skills. Key to your success is your ability to engage and influence stakeholders.

Our client is the industry leader in the chemical and biotech sector with a centralised planning hub covering the APAC region. Their award-winning business employs close to 30,000 people across 100 countries. They are currently looking for a supply chain focused Senior HR Manager to succeed the HR VP Asia- Supply Chain. You will have a deep knowledge across all HR disciplines, prior regional exposure and supply chain business experience. This is a great opportunity to join an exceptional company with excellent career advancement prospects.

Please contact Domi Di Marco (Reg. no: R1439720) quoting ref: H2407200 or visit our website.

Please contact Eugene Wong (Reg. no:1331128) quoting ref: H2430210 or visit our website.

Please contact Ashley Wei (Reg. no: R1434529) quoting ref: H2405980 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

Get Connected. Stay Ahead.

Specialists in human resources recruitment

#15188 Licence No.: 98C5473 Business Registration No: 199804751N

WE KNOW RECRUITMENT

www.michaelpage.com.sg

TOWARDS UNPARALLELED CAREER ADVANCEMENT HR Business Partner

Manager, Learning and Development

New Role Attractive Remuneration and Benefits Good Career Progression

Attractive Remuneration and Benefits APAC Region Exposure Global Leader in Oil and Gas (EPC)

Our client is a leading distribution company providing market expansion services to organisations looking for reliable outsourcing partners.

Our client is an established global oil and gas company in Engineering, Procurement and Construction.

Reporting to the HR Director, this newly created role will be a single point of contact for employees and line managers, proactively supporting HR process delivery at business side. This role will be responsible to manage complex HR projects for business and HR centre of excellence. You will act as an advisor on HR functions to business and a catalyst to manage change, drive performance improvement, succession planning and talent management, and design HR frameworks. You will also be involved in maintaining effective working relationship with trade unions.

Reporting to the HR Director, you will be involved in the full spectrum of training and development process. Your internal customers will be engineering resources and you will be required to conduct training on compliance, policies and other supervisory programs. You will be the point of contact for formulation and review of training policies. You will coordinate and plan annual T&D budget with all departments. You will also lead HR activities such as performance management process, develop and update job competencies, and prepare training audit certifications.

To be successful in this role, you should have a degree in any discipline with 8 years of relevant work experience as HR Generalist/HR Business Partner, preferably in Pharmaceutical, FMCG, Retail or Distribution Company. You must have a proven track record in communicating and consulting with business heads and employees at all levels.

To be successful in this role, you should have a relevant degree with 8 years of training and development experience, preferably in Engineering, Construction, Oil and Gas, Manufacturing or Shipping industry. Candidates with good understanding of industry standards like People Developer will be preferred. You should have excellent communication skills and should be willing to work in an individual contributor role.

If you meet the above criteria, please email your detailed CV in word format to priya_prakash@kellyservices.com.sg. Your interest will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

If you meet the above criteria, please email your detailed CV in word format to priya_prakash@kellyservices.com.sg. Your interest will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

EA Personnel Registration No. R135491

EA Personnel Registration No. R135491

Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA, KELYB) is a leader in providing workforce solutions globally. For more than 35 years, Kelly in Singapore has been partnering the finest

local companies, key government agencies as well as some of the world’s most respected multinational companies to deliver the best talent in the market. Kelly’s centralised recruitment hub makes nearly 8,000 placements in Singapore last year. Complementing our general staffing capability, Kelly also offers great expertise in the sourcing of specialised professionals across technical disciplines such as Engineering, Technology and Science, as well as functional specialties 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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Headquartered in Singapore since 2003, Kerry Consulting is Singapore’s leading Search & Selection firm.

Our consulting team is the most experienced, and amongst the largest, in the ASEAN region.

We offer positions in the following sectors: Banking & Financial Services Commerce Finance Engineering & Supply Chain Healthcare & Life Sciences Human Resources Legal Sales & Marketing Technology

Kerry Consulting celebrates 10 years in Singapore since 2003

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TO APPLY: Please submit your resume to the consultant email address listed, quoting the job title and reference number. We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For further information on each job, visit the short URL

www.kerryconsulting.com | Returning the Human to Resourcing

Regional Training Manager (FMCG)

C&B Manager (Hospitality)

Deputy Manager Talent Development Trainer

Newly Created Role Asia Coverage Salary Circa up to $150K

Newly Created Position Growing Organisation with Strong Branding Salary Circa up to $90K

Excellent Working Environment Growing Regional Bank Salary Circa up to $96K

An employer of choice with annual revenue in excess of US$10b, this renowned FCMG company has announced exciting plans to expand their operations across Asia.

To support evolving business needs, they are now seeking a Training Manager to join their team in Singapore and reporting to HR Director.

Our client is an established US multinational within the services industry. Due to expansion, there is now an opportunity for a high calibre C&B Manager to join them in this newly created role. You will support the roll-out of Asia Pacific Compensation Cycle and execute the compensation survey benchmarking, benefits surveys and projects through conducting necessary analysis of the survey results.

A major regional bank with an established presence in Asia Pacific and is continuing to expand into new markets. Due to continued growth and migration of key global support functions into the Singapore, there is now an exciting opportunity for an experienced Learning & Development Trainer to join the regional Talent Development & Learning team.

An integral member of the team, you will manage training and development function for Asia, in line with Market Training & Development plans and consistent with global strategies. You will provide leadership to the field and execute training and development plans and other human resource activities.

More info: http://bit.ly/pc-6857 Ref No: PC 6857\HRM Priscilla Chen / pc@kerryconsulting.com

More info: http://bit.ly/pc-7435 More info: http://bit.ly/pc-7577 Ref No: PC7577\HRM Priscilla Chen / pc@kerryconsulting.com

Ref No: PC7435\HRM Priscilla Chen / pc@kerryconsulting.com Reg No: R1104327

Reg No: R1104327

Reg No: R1104327

Compensation & Benefits Specialist (Oil & Gas Industry)

Senior Manager - Total Rewards (SEA region)

Southeast Asia HR Leader (Director Level)

Global Oil & Gas Organisation Strong Career Progression Potential Exposure to Regional Initiatives

Newly Created Role Fortune 500 Organisation Salary Circa up to $200K

Leadership Role Fortune 500 Organisation Salary Circa up to $220K

This is an established Oil & Gas company with a strong global footprint. There is now an excellent opportunity to join the organization as a Compensation & Benefits Specialist. Reporting into the VP HR Asia Pacific, 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, align job grades with the various Business Segments.

This successful and growing organisation is headquartered in Singapore and has an exciting future ahead. The company is looking to make a strategic hire to ensure the further success of the business through its people and partners.

This organization is one of the leading industrial organisations in the world. It is consistently ranked as a great place to work, with exciting expansion and growth plans in the region.

More info: http://bit.ly/ft-7579 Ref No: FT7579\HRM Finian Toh / ft@kerryconsulting.com Reg No: R1104327

Reporting to the Global Total Rewards Leader and partnering closely with senior executives, this key Total Rewards Lead role will require you to oversee, manage and design the C&B policies and framework for the region.

There will be a big emphasis on executive compensation and benefits packages and, long-term incentive programs, as well as stock and share plans. You will also be required to support to M&A activity as necessary.

More info: bit.ly/1pP1REk Ref No: FT7399\HRM Finian Toh / ft@kerryconsulting.com Reg No: R1104310

Reporting directly to and supporting the APAC HR Director, this management role requires you to oversee and lead all HR initiatives for the senior leadership team within the Singapore operations and for SEA. With a diverse workforce, your key priorities will include performance management, compensation and benefits, recruitment, professional development and employee/ union relations.

More info: bit.ly/1q9HI9t Ref No: FT7421\HRM Finian Toh / ft@kerryconsulting.com Reg No: R1104310

Licence No: 03C4828

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Human resources professionals speak to tHe experts Hr Director (australia/new Zealand) ensure business deliverables are achieved

total rewards specialist take a solutions focussed approach

This globally recognised MNC is currently seeking an HR Director to join their Australia and New Zealand management team, initially based in Melbourne (Australia) and returning to Singapore as a VP HR for Asia Pacific after a two year assignment. This role will shape and lead the HR strategy across the Australia and New Zealand region to support and strive towards business objectives. This is an excellent opportunity to offer an internationally established HR Leader a strategic executive position in a global business with unrivalled global mobility and progression opportunities.

This fast-paced bank is seeking a seasoned Compensation and Benefits Specialist from a financial services background. This role would suit an individual with knowledge of best practice and bench marking expertise across investment and private/commercial banking within APAC. You must be commercial and solutions-focused in your approach to C&B. An understanding of the risk and compliance framework in which banks and financial institutions operate is a must for this client, who has repeatedly been nominated as an employer of choice.

Hr operations and change management manage & transform Hr shared services A unique and exciting opportunity has arisen for an HR professional to join this global MNC looking after the shared services team as well as getting involved in change and process management. You will be an integral part of a team looking to outsource HR transactional processes as well as working on HR delivery models. This is an excellent development opportunity that will stretch your change management and process transformation skills, whilst gaining hand on experience in a strategic Asia Pacific market. Strong stakeholder management skills are essential.

rewards and remuneration manager attract, motivate and retain staff A new and exciting opportunity has arisen in a global MNC for a Compensation and Benefits Manager to develop and implement the agenda for certain emerging markets in this specified region.

Reporting to the Regional Head, you will implement rewards and remuneration recognition strategies to attract, motivate and retain talent to support the business goals including the review of policies and manage the annual compensation review process. Part of your responsibilities will be to assist in the review of schemes as well as annual promotion increments and performance bonus exercises.

please contact ash russell, chris lui or tamara sigerhall at hr.singapore@hays.com.sg or +65 6303 0721.

hays.com.sg

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contact@ramco.com

ramco Hcm for the Y-not generation !

52

CUSTOMERS OnBOARDed RAMCO HCM IN 52 WEEKS

Over 35 large enterprises across Asean trust Ramco for their HR & Payroll

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