HR Magazine Autumn 2011

Autumn 2011 HK$45

Riots and

HR

Teambuilding via plane crashes

Getting HR social 7 HR deadly sins HR compliance: MWO & Privacy Ordinance

Australia AU$7 Brunei B$8 China 짜50 India Rs250 Indonesia Rp50,000 Japan 짜650 Malaysia RM15

New Zealand NZ$9 Philippines P250 Singapore S$8 South Korea W6,500 Thailand Bt200 Vietnam US$6 Rest of the World US$15

I SS N 2 2 21- 8394

Special Supplement: HKMA award for excellence in T&D 2011 (pages 37-55)

Publisher’s note

Well my three kids have been off from school and things have been fairly hectic at home, but that pales in comparison to the chaos that flared up in the UK during our trip home to see grandma and grandad over the summer. As riots and looting broke out across the country, HR within the Police Force came under heavy criticism from the Prime Minister for falling short of the mark in terms of staff deployment. Our cover story on page 12 looks at what went wrong, whether HR really was to blame, and what’s in store for the future.

Let’s face it, HR’s pretty hard work, so we look at getting the ‘fun’ back into HR, and give you tips on ‘getting social’ with your staff on page 16. And then when you’re done with the fun, we get back to HR metrics, and explore how powerful analytics can help you make strategic HR decisions more easily on page 18.

Our Team

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Paul Arkwright Copy Editors

Ashley Winka Layout Editor

Malou Ko, Zoe Wong Staff Writers

Byron Bain, Kieran Burke, Lily Heyland, Robert McBroom Advertising & Sales

Kollin Baskoro Tracy Poon

Photographers

Malou Ko Graham Uden

Enquiries

Subscription Enquiries

Tracy Poon & Karen Lai Tel: (852) 2736 6375 Fax: (852) 2736 6369 subs@excelmediagroup.org

Managing a sales team is never easy, but we’ll give you a headstart when we share the seven HR deadly sins to avoid on page 20. Learn how to keep Gen-Y happy and healthy on page 22. Then delve into an ethics toolbox to really secure your place as an employer of choice, on page 24.

As always, if you’ve been too busy to leave the HR office, our HR community section on page 28 gives you a round up of key HR events across the region in case you missed them. This issue also brings you a special internal supplement: the HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011—think the Oscars for T&D—getting you up to speed with who’s who in the world of staff development.

Stay compliant with advice from seven industry experts shared from our latest HR conference on page 28. Fubon Bank, Pfizer, Wharf T&T, Baker & McKenzie, Shangri-La International Hotel Management and City Telecom give practical advice on achieving compliance in HR whilst engaging staff and ensuring sustainable talent pipelines.

Enjoy it,

Editorial Enquiries

Paul Arkwright Tel: (852) 2736 6318 Fax: (852) 2736 6369 paul@excelmediagroup.org Advertising Enquiries

Paul Arkwright Publisher & Editor-in-Chief HR Magazine

Kollin Baskoro Tel: (852) 2736 6362 Fax: (852) 2736 6369 kollin@excelmediagroup.org

Published by

Excel Media Group Ltd. Unit 101 Fourseas Building 208–212 Nathan Road Jordan, Kowloon Hong Kong www.hrmagazine.com.hk

Printed by

Paramount Printing Company Ltd. 1/F, 8 Chun Ying Street Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate Tseung Kwan O, NT Hong Kong

No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent from the publisher. Copyright of all material is reserved throughout the publication. Contributions are welcome but copies of work should be kept, because HR Magazine takes no responsibility for lost submissions. The views, conclusions, findings and opinions published in this magazine belong to those expressing such, and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher, editor or editorial staff.

Autumn 2011

03

Content

Inside this issue 06

HR news

Cover story

12

UK riots blamed on poor HR in Police, HK staff negative about work, New MPF initiative, Staff exodus from China T1 cities.

HR features

16

Getting HR social, 7 HR deadly sins, keeping Gen Y happy & healthy.

HR community

28

HR Magazine Conference: Staff compliance strategies, Shining stars of HR, HKMA Award for Excellence in T&D 2011.

HR training

56

Plane crashes & teambuilding, Youngergenerationitus.

HR events

61

Get these dates in your HR diary.

If you would like to list your HR events simply e-mail us: kollin@hrmagazine.com.hk

HR classifieds

62

HR service providers throughout Asia.

HR legal update

70

Riots and HR UK Prime Minister recently slammed Police HR for deploying too few police and using the wrong tactics during the recent riots and looting that scourged the country. But many in, and outside, the Force feel this could spell disaster for law and order in the UK.

Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance changes—what they mean for HR.

Getting HR social

16

Staff social clubs How staff club programmes are helping HR get more social with their staff. Helping HR reconnect with employees and enhance staff engagement to boot.

HR Magazine conference

28

HKMA T&D Awards 2011

37

HR trends & compliance strategies

HKMA award for excellence in T&D 2011

Advice from Fubon Bank, Pfizer, Wharf T&T, Baker & McKenzie, Shangri-La Hotel Management and City Telecom.

In HR’s answers to the Oscars—get up to speed with who’s who in the world of staff training and development. Learn L&D tips and advice from the best of the best.

Published by

Autumn 2011

05

HR news

UK riots blamed on Police HR At the time of going to press, the Metropolitan police had arrested 1,875 people in connection with the disorder and looting, of whom, over 1,000 had already been charged.

Two men were jailed for four years after using Facebook to try and incite the riots. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has been extremely vocal on the issue—pushing for severe punishment for rioters and slamming HR in the Police Force for deploying too few officers during the riots. He said that police tactics had been ‘inadequate’ when the riots began in Tottenham, north London.

Theresa May, the Minister in charge of policing, also revealed she had told the Police to cancel all officers’ leave so that the Force could ‘flood the streets with officers’ to try to bring an end to the riots.

UK Police face internal HR battles, as well as rioters on the streets. Full story, page 12.

More skills shortages in HK 93% of Hong Kong employers cannot find skilled finance professionals in the current market.

According to the latest Robert Half Workplace Survey, despite a net 30% of Hong Kong employers looking to increase full-time staff in finance, accounting or banking in the second half of 2011; the vast majority simply cannot find suitable candidates. Hong Kong and Singapore are finding it the hardest with 93% and 97% of employers respectively claiming that it is challenging to find skilled finance professionals.

06

HR Magazine

The main reasons cited by Hong Kong employers for increasing staff are to fuel business expansion, 56%, and ease the workload of existing staff, 53%. Hong Kong employers are having the most difficulty finding skilled professionals in the areas of finance, 30%, and compliance, 24%, up 11% and 8% respectively year over year. To help address these talent shortages, Hong Kong hiring managers are trying to build the skill sets within their own team, 48% with a similar number promoting from within.

“A focus on staff training and development not only allows companies to build the skill sets of their current teams, but also may improve retention rates, since employees appreciate the opportunity to acquire new skills and take on different challenges,” said Pallavi Anand, Director, Robert Half Hong Kong.

In order to attract and retain the best talent, companies in Hong Kong are coming up with alternative means of coping with the talent shortage.

These include: • turning to recruitment firms, 37%; • increasing financial incentives such as salaries and bonuses, 35%; and • offering staff incentives for recommendations and referrals, 30%.

The survey also reveals that the majority, 88%, of Hong Kong employers are concerned about losing top financial performers to other job opportunities in the next year. This is well above the regional average of 76%. This fear of losing top performers is a very valid one, with Anand reporting that 45% of finance professionals surveyed in Hong Kong plan to seek employment or a promotion with a new company in the next two years.

HK workers negative on work, upbeat on management New figures show clear divide between the eastern and western work cultures According to the latest statistics from ORC International’s Perspectives database, employees in Hong Kong are dissatisfied and uninspired at work, but positive about pay, recognition and management. The database contains the accumulated opinions of employees on a wide range of subjects related to their levels of engagement. Combining the results of more than 400 organisations’ employee surveys, representing the views of approximately 1.4 million people from around the world. For each question asked, the scores have been ranked among the responses of other nations—specifically the UK, USA and Australia—to gauge Hong Kong’s position in the global employer environment.

Questions relating to work and stress received responses that were far more negative than other nations. When employees in Hong Kong were asked if they like the work they do, they recorded the lowest positive responses, with just 55% in agreement. In the UK, the sentiment was much more positive, with 84% in agreement. This result also compares to 83% in the USA and 78% in Australia.

The negative perception was apparent across a number of other work related questions. When presented with the statement, ‘Considering everything

I am satisfied with the job I do’, Hong Kong employees were ranked at the bottom again, with 62% in agreement.

Of the countries included in perspectives, Hong Kong also had the lowest positive responses for statements regarding: • Personal accomplishment (56% positive) • Intention to stay (64% positive) • Satisfaction with the company (58% positive) When asked if they were proud of their company just 47% of Hong Kong employees responded positively. The response showcases a clear divide between the east and west because respondents in the USA, UK and Australia ranked in the low 70s.

This negative outlook is somewhat offset by Hong Kong employees’ satisfaction with management. They had the highest number of positive responses when asked about the recognition they got for doing a good job, 64% positive.

Pay was another area the Hong Kong workforce was upbeat about, with 54% agreeing that they thought their pay was fair. On this topic they were almost on par with the top scorer, Australia where employees were 55% positive on remuneration.

Are You “Powering Up” HR news Your Leadership Machine?

Korn/Ferry International is delivering the world’s leading Talent Management Certification Workshops in Hong Kong from 19-23 September.

Make a Stronger Impact on Your Leadership and Talent Strategy.

Contact our consultants at ltc.hongkong@kornferry.com or +852 2971 2785 to find out more and register.

STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

TALENT ACQUISITION

PERFORMANCE & DEVELOPMENT TALENT ENGAGEMENT

Adecco acquires Drake Beam Morin In late July, Adecco Group announced the acquisition of US-based Drake Beam Morin, Inc. The acquisition has enabled the group to significantly strengthen its foothold in new geographies including the UK, Canada and Brazil—among the largest markets in the career transition and talent development services sector.

Patrick De Maeseneire, the Group’s

CEO, explained the move provided the organisation with, “An effective counterbalance to the temporary and permanent staffing business, given the countercyclical nature of the career transition sector.” The combined entity will continue to offer talent solutions throughout the entire employee life cycle, from onboarding right through to redeployment.

LEADERSHIP PIPELINE AND SUCCESSION

Korn/Ferry International TALENT MANAGEMENT

CERTIFICATIONS Autumn 2011

07 Powered by Lominger

HR news

HK rated top globally for living and working Hong Kong is among the top global destinations to relocate with 100% of professional women surveyed stating they would recommend living in the SAR. According to the Global Professionals on the Move Report 2011, commissioned by the Hydrogen Group, the reasons include excellent lifestyle, tax incentives, low crime rate and opportunities for personal development.

The report polled 2,637 professionals from 85 different countries with qualifications of a bachelor degree or above. Respondents placed Hong Kong joint sixth with France, while Singapore was joint fifth with Canada—after the US, UK, Australia and Switzerland.

As many companies are beginning to align their global workforces, Tim Smeaton, Chief Executive Officer, Hydrogen Group revealed, “We are increasingly seeing that our client companies in South-East Asia are planning their workforces strategically to incorporate the new global culture

of working. They recognise the need for gender diversity and equality, and also realise that by employing professional women from a global talent pool, they are future-proofing their businesses.”

According to Abigail Waudby, Director, Hydrogen Asia the expatriate female

Yachting helps charities & teambuilding

On the 1-2 October Hebe Haven Yacht Club will host the Ninth Annual 24-hour Charity Dinghy Race in Pak Sha Wan, Sai Kung. The event, very much a family affair, will see the club transform into a carnivalstyle attraction for the entire weekend with games, stalls, bars, restaurants and, of course, the dinghy race itself. A huge amount of organisation goes into each event, and David Campbell, Commodore quipped, “It’s like painting the Forth Bridge—as soon as you have finished, it’s time to go back to the beginning and start all over again.” To date the event has raised over HKD7.5 million for local charities,

08

HR Magazine

and this year four key charities will benefit from money raised: The Children’s Cancer Fund, Enlighten—focusing on action and awareness of epilepsy, TREATS—focusing on social integration and equal opportunities for all children in Hong Kong, and IDEAL— focusing on opportunities for intellectually disabled persons.

HR Magazine spoke with Simon Blore, Managing Director, Benoy—title sponsors of the event—to find out how entering teams brings HR multiple benefits aside from the CSR aspects and the opportunity to give something back to the local community. Blore explained, “Well, one

population in Asia is expected to continue increasing in the coming years—offering a challenging climate and therefore challenging roles. As the corporate world becomes increasingly global, international tenure is viewed more and more favourably.

of the first benefits is that the event actually gives all staff a chance to meet each other properly—they don’t always get this chance at work because our office is sprawled over two floors. Secondly, it’s a great opportunity to throw staff into new situations that they haven’t experienced before which boosts their confidence. Thirdly, they also learn a great deal through participating in the event, especially in terms of working together as a team in a more harmonious way.”

Richard Mortimer, 24hour Charity Dinghy Racing Chairman explained, “This year over 50 boats are taking part, of them nine have been specially adapted to allow less able people to also get involved.” Michael Franco, General Manager, Hebe Haven Yacht Club, revealed, “Next year we may move the event to Sai Kung Harbour when it should triple in size. That should put us well on the way to raising a total of over HKD10 million for charity by our 10th event.” For more information on entering staff teams, or just attending the event, visit the club’s website: www.hhyc.org.hk

HR news

Major banks shed staff globally HSBC plans to shed 30,000 staff mainly from its US credit card operations, amid continued fears over the stability of the US economy. Meanwhile, Lloyds is set to downsize by 15,000 staff. UBS, which employs around 65,000 staff worldwide, recently announced it would reduce its headcount by 3,500 in an attempt to save 2 billion Swiss francs by the end of

2013. Also contributing to the spate of job losses in the banking sector are Barclays, who will lose 3,000 staff and the Royal Bank of Scotland who plan to lose 2,000 staff.

More recently, in the US, it was leaked that Bank of America is planning to cut at least 3,500 jobs in the upcoming months, with the possibility of thousands of additional redundancies in the near future.

HR—keep it in the family?

With many in HR working in larger organisations, it is easy to forget that the majority of businesses in Hong Kong are SMEs, and many of these are family run enterprises. But what options do family businesses currently have in the face of globalised competition? Aside from conducting traditional export-related trades, more and more family businesses are now committing themselves to direct investment in foreign markets to help secure a more competitive position.

enterprises, despite their success, need new resources to internationalise their operations,” added Au. The oft-cited financial and human resources are important, but many family firms fail in their global expansion in the competitive world because of a lack of cultural and institutional appreciation in the new market. Michael Segalla from HEC described a disastrous advertising campaign in the Middle East. “In the ad, baby food was placed between two

Ad inspired by Prof. Michael Segalla

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) recently organised a workshop to help family businesses and their staff to make more informed decisions on ‘going global’.“Family businesses face critical choices in the face of globalised competition and can choose to: sell the family firm, accept business decline, go public, or grow their existing business,” said Kevin Au, Director, Centre for Family Enterprising and Business Advising, CUHK. “Unlike western MNCs which are built on their ownership, location and internalisation advantages; Chinese family firms become dragon MNCs through the so-called 3Ls: linkage, leverage and learning. Chinese family

babies. On the left, the thin, unhappy baby is ‘transformed’ into the happy, fat baby on the right. Nothing wrong with that in Hong Kong or China—but as Arabs read from right to left—the baby food became a poison!”

Segalla specified four specific areas in his cultural risk model that should be examined before moving products, people or processes to other countries.

These are the risk of false communication, preference hesitation, value rejection and cultural infrastructure adaptation. In the workshop, participants including lawyers and private bankers collectively analysed these cultural risks for expansion plans of their clients or their own firms.

New MPF initiative More than 60% of employees indicate a desire to contribute more into their MPF if employers are willing to match their contributions or if tax-deductible limits are increased for voluntary contributions. This according to a recent survey by Towers Watson, who announced the release of a “one-stop resource for information on MPF” that will include a quarterly magazine, MPFexpress.com and a portal to assist MPF members with monitoring the appropriateness of their MPF investment arrangements.

Naomi Denning, Managing Director of Investment Services for Asia Pacific, Towers Watson further explained, “This is the first time MPF members will have free access to comprehensive, unbiased information, both online and in print. We intend for the service to provide a balanced perspective on MPF and to help members make informed decisions and choices.

The service will provide collective analysis, opinions and views of all MPF schemes by reviewing their features, qualities, performance, fees and products. The website, www.mpfexpress.com, will have interactive tools allowing users to compare providers and funds and a series of calculators for planning and managing MPF investments.

The ECA is encouraging members to take a more active interest in their MPF investments thus resulting in greater market competition among MPF providers. “The objective of the MPF is to provide a long-term investment tool for members to accrue a reasonable pool of money for retirement income.

Hence, members will need to take a long-term approach to reviewing and managing their portfolio against their investment objectives, risk appetite and lifestyle needs,” revealed Denning.

She also asserted the importance of equipping members with sufficient data, research and expert knowledge.

Autumn 2011

09

HR news

Lumesse hiring spree Strong development in APAC sees swathe of strategic hires in the region Lumesse, is rapidly emerging as a top industry player in APAC, as evidenced by a number of major projects going live in the region and the strategic hire of industry experts on both technical and management sides.

Major projects that have recently gone live will bring an additional 6,000 self-service users in APAC onboard, who now gain access to Lumesse’s ETWeb talent management system.

“Although our service capacity is experiencing a quantum leap in APAC, we are highly confident of the systems’ reliability and accessibility as we own our data servers locally in Singapore and greater China,” said Erik Schmit, Group Managing Director APAC, Lumesse.

Aside from the significant investment

in technical architecture, the company has also hired a strong pool of additional talent to bring international experience into the region. Francis Chan is one such strategic hire who joins the company as Country Manager, Hong Kong.

Prior to Lumesse, Chan spent over eight years at a leading US-based talent management solutions company in product management, consulting, and business development roles in APAC. Chan holds an MBA, with a focus on organisational behaviour and marketing, from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and an MSc in Strategic Human Resources Management from the Hong Kong Baptist University. He is a seasoned talent and brings a transparent view of the entire solutions business.

Another noteworthy new hire is

Wengang, who, with over five years experience in the Silicon Valley of solutions project implementation, brings domain expertise and extensive project experience to the organisation.

Wengang is being taken on as Managing Consultant in China and has been tasked with leading the team to become the first-tier implementation professionals in the country.

“With these projects going live and strategic new hires, we prove to the HR world that we’ve strived hard to be the most desirable solutions provider if they want to maintain success globally,” said Matthew Parker, CEO, Lumesse. He added, “We are not only recognised in Europe and the US, but we’re also creating a strong impact on the APAC market.”

Staff exodus from China T1 cities

Companies in major cities are increasingly reporting a shortage in senior staff, especially in the finance and IT sector, as a mass exodus occurs towards second-tier cities.

With increasing urbanisation and investment in second-tier cities, as well as the high living costs in first-tier cities, many are now leaving the grind

10

HR Magazine

of Beijing and Shanghai for second-tier cities in search of better job prospects and a slower lifestyle.

According to Bó Lè Associates and their analysis of the Global Snapshot, there are two key reasons behind this migration.

On one hand, life in China’s metropolises is extremely stressful, leading jobseekers to grow disillusioned; while on the other

hand, the economic boom is finally reaching second-tier cities, making them attractive options for those who originally planned to make their living in Beijing or Shanghai. The upshot is that there is now a growing trend of skilled professionals, at senior levels, relocating from first-tier cities to second-tier ones.

Second-tier cities are increasingly being seen as ‘first-class’ opportunities as—boosted by huge amounts of investment and a better transport system—seem set to overtake major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in terms of hiring pace.

Wuhan, Chengdu and Dalian, have already emerged as important financial, industrial and commercial centres in central China.

Given the high cost of metropolitan life and the opportunities at hand in China’s smaller cities, the future it would appear, for the moment at least, seems to lie in second-tier cities.

HR news

Who moved my talent?

Free e-book authored by Peter Gold, HireStrategies “Armed with his new smartphone, an updated LinkedIn profile, a Facebook page and a Twitter account, 46 year old Henry ventured forth into the cloud to find his new social world. He had absolutely no idea where he was going or what he was going to do.”

Lumesse, formerly StepStone Solutions, is sponsoring free electronic copies of the new short book: Who Moved My Talent? authored by renowned HR guru Peter Gold. Gold has successfully helped a number of wellknown organisations use technology to assist and enhance staff performance.

His direct and uncompromising approach has earned him the reputation as one of Europe’s leading Talent technology bloggers. The

publication may be light-hearted but it notes the importance of looking at the scope of why finding, connecting and engaging people can transform your business. For a limited time only, the book will be free to download in PDF format in addition to e-book formats in English, French, German and Chinese via the Lumesse website: www.lumessse.com/whomovedmytalent “For over 20 years I have been in the recruitment and talent management business, so I’ve seen many different ways in which companies try to attract and develop people,” said Gold.

He added, “As we enter another period of growth, business leaders are evangelising the need for great people to help their businesses grow and prosper.

I wrote: Who Moved My Talent? to remind people that they need to continually review and improve how they hire, train and motivate people.

If they don’t [do this], they might find—just like the famous cheese—that someone has moved their talent when they weren’t looking.”

Autumn 2011

11

Riots and

HR

Cover story Riots and HR

UK Prime Minister recently slammed Police HR for deploying too few police and using the wrong tactics during the recent riots and looting that scourged the country. But many in, and outside, the Force feel this could spell disaster for law and order in the UK. Following the violent unrest which rapidly spread in the UK from London to other major cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham the Government recently pointed the finger at HR decisions in the Police Force as a possible root cause of the trouble.

Announcing measures to try and curb the violence, David Cameron—the UK Prime Minister—told an emergency session of Parliament that police tactics had been ‘inadequate’ when the riots began in Tottenham, north London. Theresa May, the Minister in charge of policing, also revealed she had told the Police to cancel all officers’ leave so that the Force could ‘flood the streets with officers’ to try to bring an end to the riots.

early from their holidays—to be seen taking charge—was ‘an irrelevance’ because experienced police officers had already devised a robust response—for which politicians later took the credit.

Cameron has since outlined a series of measures to expand police powers in emergencies including government authorisation for the police to use plastic bullets, water cannons and curfews. He also outlined contingency plans for drafting in the army to help with certain police functions such as guarding public buildings to help free up more police officers for riot duties. More controversially, he said that

the Government may stop future rioters from using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger—to make it more difficult to coordinate ‘Flash mob’ incidents. This move seems a little ironic following the UK Government’s open criticism of similar measures introduced in China, Egypt and Libya. The UK Government feels that in the UK such impositions on freedom of expression and communication are justified as they feel, “It would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”

Cancelling leave—wrong

Sir Hugh Orde, Head of the Association of Chief Police Officers was quick to rebut these damming comments and openly criticised the political leaders for finding fault with the police handling of the unrest. He pointed out that, in fact, the Police Force had been quick to learn from and react to the violence—which was some of the worst the country has ever witnessed.

Commenting on May’s decision to cancel police officers’ leave, Sir Orde was reported in the British press as saying, “Ms May had no power whatsoever to order the police leave cancelled.” He is also reported as having said that the decision of Ms May and the PM to return

The morning after: families tentatively leave their homes to survey the destruction outside their homes in Hackney, East London following a night besieged by riots and looting.

Autumn 2011

13

Cover story Riots and HR

Get officers out of HR

Chris Bryant, Rhondda Labour MP warned Cameron that any more staff cuts to the Police Force would make it much more difficult for Force members from Wales to provide back up to the English Police Force in cases of future social unrest in England. Commenting on Cameron’s actions to date, Bryant warned, “The Prime Minister commends Welsh police forces for sending people down from Wales, but in the next four years we’re going to have 1,200 fewer officers in Wales and it’s going to be more difficult for us to help you out.”

Ignoring this plea for help from the Force, Cameron replied, “In Wales, as in England, there are opportunities to get officers out from desk jobs, and HR jobs and IT jobs.”

Last year, in a televised debate, David Cameron, as Leader of the Opposition also criticised HR in the Metropolitan Police. He commented, “The Metropolitan Police has 400 uniformed officers in its HR Department—when our police should be crime-fighters, not form-fillers.” At the time, Martin Tiplady the, then, Metropolitan Police Force’s HR Director questioned

“

There are around 7,000 officers in back office jobs such as IT and HR—that isn’t right.

”

Cameron’s grasp of the figures pointing out that of the 400 officers mentioned, the vast majority—360—were in active training and assessing roles, rather than form-fillers stuck behind desks. The recent remarks

by Sir Orde have now further widened this rift between politicians and senior police officers in the UK.

More into the teeth…less into the tail In order to achieve budget cuts in addition to strengthening frontline policing, Cameron recently reiterated his opinion concerning nationwide policing in the UK. He stated, “There are around 7,000 officers in back office jobs such as IT and HR—that isn’t right, so we do need to make changes so we can have the visible policing we all want to see.” He added,

Police begin to restore law and order as rioters grip key UK cities, while the Prime Minister blames poor police HR for ineffective policing tactics.

14

HR Magazine

“There are police officers in back office jobs in IT, in HR, in other things that should be done by civilians, so we get the police on the frontline.” He then made clear the Government line-to-take, which would be to put more resources into the teeth of the Force and less into its tail.

Civilian HR vs Force HR

Many believe the proposed Government line to take, could spell disaster for policing in the UK and is likely to create huge problems when trying to replace those police officers currently working in HR roles with civilian equivalents. Tiplady was recently quoted by HR Magazine in the UK as saying, “The bottom line is: there will always be a significant requirement for cops in HR.” He believes that as a disciplinary service, police recruits should be trained and assessed by experienced police officers, rather than by civilians.

He explained that the two-year probation period undergone by police recruits involves reaching milestones that only experienced officers are able to assess and ascertain and added, “When I was in the Met, cops in HR roles were there out of necessity.”

Some have criticised HR duties within the Force as ‘scratching posts’ for officers who cannot, or do not want to, get involved in frontline police duties and that, in reality, police officers could easily be assessed by tutor officers working as ‘line managers’ within their division. This view would mean that straightforward competency reviews would not necessarily need to be carried out by those within the HR Department—so why not get those officers currently in HR back on frontline duties? Well, the answer lies in what exact role HR actually plays within the organisation.

HR functions within the Force, as within any organisation, are not just concerned with staff assessment and training, but

Cover story Riots and HR

“

The Metropolitan Police has 400 uniformed officers in its HR Department—when our police should be crime-fighters, not form-fillers.

frequently involve multiple roles. HR leaders are responsible for maintaining sufficient staffing levels within the organisation, developing and maintaining talent pipelines to prepare the organisation for future eventualities and ensuring policies and procedures organisation-wide keep the HR system complaint with current employment laws.

Those in HR are also responsible for ensuring managers i.e. those in frontline policing posts are sufficiently skilled in ‘managing’ and, as such, it is preferable that those managers, rather than the HR department in the Force to train, performance manage and assess frontline police officers. So while it is important for officers to be ‘out and about’ in the community policing, as they gain handson experience and additional on-the-job training and climb up the career ladder, it is also preferable that their duties include managing other police officers.

Where does all this leave HR in the Force? While ‘police-related’ training duties might be better performed by in-house police officers rather than civilians, should strategic HR functions be handled by civilian HR experts instead? HR Magazine contacted the Human Resources Branch of the Hong Kong Police Force and asked them if they thought civilians could handle HR jobs within the Force, however, they declined to comment on the issue.

‘Mixed HR’ approach

The HR function within any organisation plays a critical role in ensuring that the managers are supported by HR professionals where they need it most—in terms of skills and experience. In view of the very specific skill sets that are required by police officers, it may be difficult for a wholly civilian HR—with no practical policing experience—to

”

The UK Prime Minister has shown his support for the Employee Engagement Scheme, and launched The Employee Engagement Task Force in March, but are officers really feeling engaged?

understand exactly what is required by managers within the Force. A viable option may be outsourcing some non-police related back-end HR functions to civilians such as compensation and benefits, while assessment, training and development functions are better handled by frontline managers and coordinated by incumbent police-trained HR staff members. HR decisions concerning more strategic issues such as talent pipeline management and development may actually benefit from

a mixed HR team which pools ideas and input from both Force-trained and civilian HR professionals to help arrive at better rounded HR strategies, that not only meet the internal demands of the Force, but also the needs of the community at large.

This mixed approach might also help bridge the widening disconnect between the Force and the wider community in the UK. Hopefully, it will prove to be a robust step forward in avoiding a repeat of the recent riots, looting and civil unrest.

Autumn 2011

15

HR features

Getting HR social HR Magazine spoke with Sam Lau, Managing Director, Total Loyalty Company Limited to find out how staff club programmes help HR get more social with their staff. Following 15 years experience in running outsourced staff club programmes for Australian companies, Sam is now bringing the concept to Hong Kong. An innovative solution that helps HR managers reconnect with employees and enhances staff engagement to boot.

What HR benefits can a staff club bring to an organisation?

Having a successful staff club improves staff morale. Not only does it inject the ‘fun’ element back into working life, it also serves as a great informal staff communication platform for HR. Having a fun workplace with different activities and special offers all the time helps employers to stand out. Those who offer practical, useful benefits—relevant to employee lifestyles—are able to significantly differentiate themselves.

It helps tackle two of the key issues facing many HK companies now—how to offer a better work-life balance and how to get staff more engaged. The staff club concept is not just a set of ‘ideals’ or ‘targets’, but rather practical benefits that staff can relate to individually and use immediately.

Through interesting activities, staff clubs help bring together employees from different parts of the company— breaking down internal barriers and facilitating a more harmonious working environment.

It goes a long way to help companies achieve ‘employer of choice’ status with their staff.

How do Australian staff programmes differ from those in Hong Kong?

Australian companies embraced the worklife balance approach a while ago, and since then companies have been looking at different ways of incentivising, and showing that they care about, their staff.

The use of professionally run social clubs as one such solution has been in place for over 15 years in Australia and I was a pioneer in creating this as a new industry.

The focus in Australia is very much about organising discounts for employees.

In Hong Kong, we noticed that many companies have really only just started to look for new ways to engage staff.

Bearing in mind the busy lifestyle of a typical Hong Kong employee, we have

16

HR Magazine

found that helping run staff events has been a real key to our success in the region. Our programmes in Hong Kong, therefore, have been more focused on creating different and unique events for company staff.

How can staff clubs help achieve better work-life balance?

I believe Hong Kong companies have struggled, to date, to come up with practical solutions to provide a better work-life balance for their staff.

Following US and UK models, such as providing flexible working hours and working from home, simply does not fit the Hong Kong working culture.

Companies need to look at something more practical for Hong Kong employees—we all work long hours, and don’t have time to go and find really interesting activities to do, let alone arrange for colleagues to get together. It gets talked about over lunchtime but no one actually has the time, or the inclination, to organise these activities.

Staff also expect that by working for a company of a reasonable size, they are entitled to special offers and benefits.

Again this is normally left up to HR to try and source, and usually gets done in a very ad hoc manner.

A staff club is a platform where all these benefits and activities are presented to all staff, giving them instant and regular rewards. By ensuring new offers are continually added to the programme, the staff club becomes the portal through which HR can deliver meaningful lifestyle benefits to their staff to help enhance their work-life balance.

Why outsource staff social clubs?

Traditionally a staff club is run by enthusiastic individuals within a company, normally without much, if any, recognition or support. In fact, a lot of times when the team goes to a staff club

HR features

meeting, their involvement is frowned upon by their line managers. Moreover, due to on-going work commitments, efforts to organise social activities are usually very ad hoc. Companies are realising now that this is a hidden cost to them, sometimes quite substantial, if you add up the hours spent by HR organising social events and/or benefits for their staff.

Running staff clubs has never been seen as a ‘core business’ for any company, so the outsourcing model fits here well—where an external organisation, specialised in this area, helps deliver better and cheaper solutions.

In the TLC model, we ensure that every programme run still remains very much the company’s own staff club. We do not take over the club—we simply provide all the supporting resources to the staff club committee. It is still branded as their club, their members, their benefits—we just do all the tasks the staff club committee do not have the time to do.

What companies benefit most from outsourcing staff social clubs?

Staff club outsourcing best suit companies with 100-1000 staff, as these companies know that they want to have more benefits and events for their staff, but just do not have the resources to do so. Their HR team is normally working flat out, with a backlog of projects they want to roll out.

Outsourcing frees up extra resources to help them, without the need to increase headcount. We have found that companies in sectors such as banking, IT, legal and accounting tend to embrace the concept of outsourced staff clubs more readily than others.

What are the biggest challenges to making staff clubs successful?

There are two key areas to making staff clubs successful: variety and communication.

The trap many staff clubs fall into is they only offer very limited events—and

often they are simply the ones the organisers themselves want to do, which can alienate many colleagues.

A successful staff club needs to ensure there is a genuine variety of activities offered that cater to all staff. There must be something for everyone including family activities, sporting events, arts and crafts activities and adventure activities.

This diversity should also be reflected in the nature of special offers that are made available to staff. There must also be regular and consistent communications issued to staff—so they all look forward to regular updates, whether via weekly email or on posters in the pantry/staff canteen.

With outsourced solutions focused on the logistics of staff clubs, HR is left to focus on the KPIs of the events, ensuring staff are engaged in the programmes, thereby maximising their value.

At the end of the day, happier staff and happier HR is likely to be good news for engagement, productivity and, ultimately, the bottom line.

Autumn 2011

17

HR features

Making metrics matter How powerful analytics can help HR make strategic decisions more easily

HR Magazine spoke with Florence Cheung, Vice President, Human Resources, Wharf T&T to get her take on the challenges currently facing HR. She explains how rapid decisions, based on meaningful metrics, can help make HR more successful business partners and drive the bottom line.

Florence Cheung is no stranger to organisational development and formulating critical HR strategies, through her numerous HR management roles in multinationals. Responsible for looking after diverse workforces from around the world she has a self-confessed passion for the people business and the everchanging challenges it throws up, in terms of acquiring, motivating and developing talents in the people industry.

In her current role as Vice President, Human Resources, Wharf T&T she is responsible for overseeing the full spectrum of HR functions in HK and China and plays a leading role in the development of HRMS for the organisation. So what makes Cheung so popular with the CEO? In every project she rolls out, Cheung designs features that integrate best HR practices in order to drive maximum returns on human capital investment.

Key challenges

Cheung notes that currently, many staff have high expectations in terms of C&B packages and that this is putting HR under pressure to increase salaries.

She noted the need to strike a balance between staff engagement and human capital costs. Managing diversity, is another challenge facing HR as staff

18

HR Magazine

from different backgrounds, cultures and age-groups usually have different values, job expectations and job motives.

Cheung pointed out that new generations in the workforce tend to desire more opportunities for learning, personal development and job satisfaction, as well as fairness, transparency and communication. To help address these needs, she believes it is important to set good benchmarks in terms of worklife balance, or work-life integration—as many now refer to it. She said, “We have adopted ‘family-care’ and ‘paternity’ leave and shortened general working hours to promote better work-life integration. In the IT sector, we are facing particularly intensive competition in talent acquisition.

It is therefore essential that we adopt more focused HR strategies, such as this initiative, in order to continue to attract talented candidates that at the same time help retain knowledgeable and experienced staff.”

All change…next stop HR

Cheung has seen a dynamic shift in HR roles over the last ten years. “We have evolved from experts in HR administration to change agents who engineer the entire organisation’s development and cultivate positive corporate values in all staff.”

Modern HR plays a much greater role

than it used to, and rather than simply following decisions is now a strategic business partner to an organisation’s management team. Cheung pointed to four key drivers behind this change.

1. Increased human capital value: driving higher investment in human capital management. As organisations are putting increasing resources into fostering staff engagement and development, HR now takes a more proactive role in formulating respective strategies in this regard.

2. Employment ordinance and legislative changes: amid growing concerns on labour rights and benefits in recent years, a number of new employment ordinances have been introduced such as the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, Equal Opportunities, MPF and MWO in which HR serves as a professional consultant for employees and management team to ensure legal compliance.

3. New forms of remuneration: salary, bonus and double-pay are no longer the only forms of remuneration in today’s HRM. With higher education levels and growing competition in the jobmarket, job satisfaction

HR features

and other intrinsic rewards like recognition and empowerment are also valued by employees— especially for Gen-Y staff.

4. Talent management: it is now more important than ever to ensure an adequate talent supply. For effective succession planning and to maintain a stable talent pool, HR needs to review, evaluate and forecast competency levels of existing staff and identify the skills needed for different positions that may arise.

Getting strategic

To be effective, HR needs to be basing strategic decisions on fact-based analytics, according to Cheung. This involves cross-dimensional analysis on HR data to provide a valid, comprehensive and reliable reflection and overview of current HR practices within the organisation.

From this, HR can then formulate effective strategies to empower their workforce.

Cheung advised those in HR to observe patterns across multi-disciplines like turnover rate, reason for leaving, absence rates and job satisfaction levels to help uncover any hidden issues that may threaten the talent supply of an organisation. The observed patterns also allow HR to visualise and forecast trends of human capital development—allowing them to take preventive measures in good time, before problems surface.

In all cases, HR must react quickly and be decisive in adjusting their strategies to cope with rapidly changing business plans and market trends. Citing the example of the MWO, Cheung noted how growing concerns over labour rights had resulted in new employment regulations and the impact this had had on HR. Cheung explained, “This means that to ensure legal compliance, whilst controlling human capital costs and maintaining the competitiveness of their workforce, HR must be now able to demonstrate quick analysis on the possible impacts to the human capital—so that they can work out instant but well-planned workforce strategies at all times.” She added, “The thirst for talent in today’s business environment has posed new risks to talent supply in every organisation. HR must

Screenshot from COL DecisionHR: users can analyse data from all levels of their organisation in a user-friendly graphical interface.

propose the timely and most appropriate measures to the management team to ensure sufficient talent supply for smooth business operation at times of talent excess or shortage.”

Analytics that actually help HR

A good analytics tool enables HR to demonstrate in-depth, cross-dimensional analysis on a full spectrum of areas so that they can make timely, well-informed HRM decisions. Besides powerful analysing capabilities, it is also important that such tools provide easy-to-use functionality and graphical views so that even the most non-tech-savvy user can generate, and perhaps more importantly, understand relevant data.

DecisionHR is one such analytical tool which has recently been developed by Wharf T&T’s IT services subsidiary: COL .

The tool enables comprehensive analytics on the following: Human capital facts: enterpriselevel data including headcount, recruiting, turnover and absenteeism—to help evaluate the health and wellness of the organisation.

Human capital investment: HR data including employee satisfaction rate, retention rate, productivity and effectiveness—to understand, measure and manage which actions have the

greatest impact on business performance.

HR data by segments: insight into specific departments/functions—to identify areas for improvement.

Workforce forecasts: historical HR data including turnover, business opportunity data and staffing costs—to identify potential shortages/excesses of key capabilities, knowledge management risk and overall labour availability.

Talent value: analysis of performance data and job satisfaction levels—to develop personalised performance incentives, assess competitiveness of current offers and to decide which staff should be promoted.

Talent supply chain: ‘what if’ scenarios can be visualised with hypothetical HR data, e.g. predicting the volume and workforce needed and individual’s performance pattern to help make real-time decisions about talent demand and supply.

Through the timely use of such data analysis, HR should be able to put themselves in a much stronger position to demonstrate the direct impact of employee data on a wide range of critical business outcomes including: company growth, headcount trends, compensation distribution, turnover analysis, payroll forecasting, talent retention and absence/ leave distribution.

Autumn 2011

19

HR features

7 HR deadly sins when managing sales staff The

By John Treace, Founder and CEO, JR Treace & Associates

John Treace, with over 30 years experience in the sales management industry, has played a significant role in numerous business turnarounds throughout his career. In all situations he has noted errors consistently made by those in sales management—all of which negatively impacted not only sales, but also team morale. In this article, he shares advice for those in HR who need to manage sales teams—pointing out the seven deadly sins of sales management, and how to avoid them.

1. Conflicts with marketing

We have all heard of the traditional conflict between sales and marketing.

The sales team says the product is priced too high or not what the customer wants, or that the marketing programmes are ineffective. Marketing may say the sales force is not well trained, too small, ineffective, or a myriad of other complaints. Sometimes these are valid complaints, and good management will identify and address them. But if they aren’t valid, or if they are merely excuses for poor performance, it is imperative that management recognize

20

HR Magazine

this situation. There is nothing worse than having the sales and marketing departments at each other’s throats.

This is a formula for business failure, and powerful management will work to create collaboration and understanding between the two groups.

I was once employed to effect a business turnaround in an organisation that had conflicts between the sales and marketing departments. Since the overall corporate sales results were lacking, both groups blamed the other for the failure.

Prior management was unable to fix the situation, and the blame game expanded to serious interdepartmental conflict. To overcome this situation, we employed a consultant skilled in strategic planning processes and team-building.

We conducted a two-day offsite meeting designed to bring the sales and marketing groups together and show them they must function as a team for success. As a result, the relationship evolved so that if marketing was late introducing a new product, sales management would pick up the slack with promotions on existing products. Conversely, if sales anticipated

a tough quarter, marketing would work to release a new product ahead of schedule.

Teamwork between sales and marketing isn’t a ‘sometimes’ thing; it is critical to the success of a high-velocity organisation.

2. Poor people management

Powerful investment groups don’t invest in companies; they invest in people. People are the most important ingredient in any organisation. At the heart of high-performance organisations is management that obtains the willing cooperation of others to achieve its goals.

To gain the willing cooperation of others, employees must see that management genuinely cares about them, that they can trust management’s word, and that management focuses on distinction in all aspects of the business.

I once worked for a company whose upper management failed in all those respects. At this company, management continually changed policies, to the point that the sales team no longer trusted its leadership. Sales reps came late to meetings and were unprepared. In short, the message management sent

HR features

to the sales force was that they didn’t care, were not to be trusted, and were not committed to building a powerful business. This company had a continual revolving door of salespeople, and it eventually failed.

Another common mistake is not acting on low performers fast enough. In every failed business I have worked with, I have found a number of salespeople who should have been moved to another position. You do no favours by keeping a failing employee around, unless you are confident a correction can be effected.

One word of caution, though: most failing businesses do not have metrics that effectively judge individual sales performance, so care should be taken when identifying low and high performers.

Another error—the reverse of too few terminations—is aggressive termination.

To avoid both extremes, remember that it isn’t who you fire that counts but who you hire. The proper hire will not need to be terminated. Always look for a track record of success in candidates. Hiring the proper people and creating a culture of mutual trust is a vital component of good people management.

3. Not holding people accountable

Holding people accountable for their performance is a cornerstone of powerful organisations, but you would be surprised at the number of companies that don’t consistently do this. This is especially true during trying times, when management is inclined to lighten up on performance standards. During a downturn, it is better to reduce quota requirements than look the other way on non-performance. When we don’t consistently hold people accountable for their performance shortfalls, it sends a message that management is weak and not confident in the goals it sets. This will erode morale as well as confidence in management.

4. Poor award programmes Award programmes need to be seen as achievable and fair. Reps need to see that the playing field is level and that everyone has a shot at winning recognition. It is amazing how many

companies have award programmes that are slanted in favour of a few preferred individuals. This sends a moraledamaging message to all reps, including the favoured ones: that some are valued over others.

5. Changes to sales process

The sales process includes all the steps and procedures a company puts in place on its way to having the product delivered and invoiced. When the sales process is changed or modified, expect the sales force to need time to adjust.

For example, the sales team might be required to fill out new reports or obtain price quotes from the corporate office, even if they previously had the freedom to do this themselves. During a period of adjustment to a new process, expect sales to be impacted. When the sales process is changed, all of management should expect sales as well as sales forecasting to be affected and in a direct proportion to the degree and type of change, at least for the short term.

Additionally, sales reps generally dislike change. They don’t want to spend time learning a new process; they realize that learning the new system will detract from their current efforts. If they see the change as inhibiting their sales, this will impact morale—especially if the change is a non-sales requirement. If you are faced with needing to modify the sales process, quantify the amount of time the average rep will need to spend on the new non-sales activity, calibrate this lost selling time to lost sales, and advise senior management on the anticipated impact.

All management needs to be aware that changing the sales process will affect sales.

6. Poor metrics

Metrics are the numbers that tell us where we have been and where we are headed. They should act as the radar that lets us know well in advance of impending problems. A large number of sales management teams get into trouble due to ineffective metrics—or in extreme cases I’ve seen, no metrics at all. Usually, when we find poor metrics, it is because sales management doesn’t appreciate their value or does not know the business well enough to develop them. Good

metrics should allow sales management to confidently predict the quarter’s sales, identify high- and low-performing reps, and develop solutions to problems.

In today’s high-velocity markets, it is imperative to have a solid dashboard of metrics to guide the sales ship and keep it out of trouble.

7. Lack of deep understanding of the business Failing to know the business at a deep level is one of the surest paths to failure.

This has been a prime issue in every struggling business I have worked with.

Management that does not know the business at the customer, product, or service level will have difficulty identifying solutions to problems and will lack confidence in the directions they take.

At one company where I worked as a sales rep, our regional sales managers were unable to make any presentations to customers, and they didn’t bring any value to the sales process. At another, they were able to present products to customers better than most of the reps.

The company with management that had a better understanding of the customer and products was much more powerful.

The sales force could not use excuses for poor sales, and conversely, management understood the valid problems the sales force faced and worked to correct them without blame. The sales force was confident with this management group, but not the other.

When sales are going well, the lack of deep business understanding usually does not appear as a problem, but when business is challenged by sagging sales, it is. These are the times when a thorough understanding of the company’s customers, products and services, and sales process is critical. Without it, sales reps cannot be confident in the course taken by management.

Changes in the sales process, poor metrics and award programmes, ineffective management, conflicts with marketing, and a lack of business understanding are all deadly to the performance of business. In today’s tough business climate, wise management will review these topics frequently to ensure excellence in their organisations.

Autumn 2011

21

HR features

subject. Simply looking at the definition of insurance—the equitable transfer of risk from one party to another for a pre-determined fee—is often enough to exemplify the extreme ‘dryness’ of the subject. The very fact that insurance is a dry topic is often anathema to Gen-Y, a generation often stereotyped with shortened attention spans, and an almost constant uptake of media.

I want it now

Keeping Gen-Y healthy & happy

By Michael Lamb, Pacific Prime Insurance

Born between 1982 and 1995, Gen-Y, also known as Echo Boomers or Generation Next, are entering the global workforce in increasingly significant numbers. For many HR departments around the world, coming to an understanding of effective management of Gen-Y can prove to be a challenge.

It is then important for the modern HR department to know how to approach this group of employees who will have radically different perspectives on a host of issues than those which the company may have previously held.

Additionally, the matter of knowing how to interact with Gen-Y employees is often

22

HR Magazine

exacerbated by the fact that individuals born into this age group will, on average, change jobs more than any of their older peers: Gen-Y being almost 80% more likely to change their job than Gen-X.

Insurance is boring

While it may pose a challenge to develop a concrete set of tactics with which to interact with Gen-Y, a good example of how to cater to the roughly 80 million Millennials entering the workforce is through the topic of health insurance.

It would elicit no argument from a wide segment of the global population to state that insurance is often a boring

Many argue that Gen-Y is entirely predisposed to an ‘I want it now’ attitude, and that it is therefore important to display information in a format which is easily relatable to this age group. While PDFs may be the ubiquitous method for presenting professional data through electronic mediums, there is often little incentive for the Gen-Y individual to read through the walls of text contained in any PDF document. Many PDF documents rely on a static index to show the reader where the information relevant to their needs is contained. Scrolling through this index, and sorting out the various topics from one another, will be a chore to the Millennial.

While including an index is never a bad idea, simply including a search function on the document (making the PDF searchable) will enable the Gen-Y employee to find the relevant information much faster, allowing them to complete the task and move on.

Additionally, with regards to the generation’s need for immediacy, it is important to understand that these employees will regard the ability to interact with the organisation at all times of the day as being paramount. If the Gen-Y individual has a question, it is likely that they would like the question answered immediately rather than when the business is next open. In the modern world it is often possible to have staff on contact at all hours of the day, and by creating simple online chat capabilities, or even using a tool as simple as Skype, you will have allowed the Gen-Y employee the instant gratification they crave.

Paperless Gen-Y

Gen-Y is fundamentally different from all previous generations. As true ‘digital natives’ they are more internationally mobile, and more liable to have

HR features

shortened attention spans than any of their colleagues. This will often pose a significant headache for many HR departments, and stresses the fact that any attempt to engage these employees must be flexible in nature.

For example, knowing that Gen-Y is more predisposed than their older peers to change jobs, it can be a challenge, with regards to a corporate health insurance plan, to keep the policy’s enrollments and terminations up-to-date. If employees are entering and leaving a company daily, the working hours put into managing the company’s health insurance census can be extreme. However, if effort was made to move away from traditional paper formats towards simple online databases, then managing the movements of these employees would be as simple as clicking a button.

A migration to paperless policy documents would also conform to the Gen-Y mindset. Waiting for the hardcopy deliverable of a policy, which can in some cases take weeks, is not, in the Gen-Y view, the best use of time. If something has been ordered, in this case an insurance plan, then they would like to receive it immediately. There would be a significant upside in placing corporate health insurance plans on a website containing user accounts where a copy of the policy is uploaded as soon as coverage is confirmed. The documents will be available far sooner than if the employee had to wait for the hardcopy and, as they are stored

on a centralised website, the risk of losing important documents is lessened.

Another aspect of going paperless is with regards to making a claim on a health insurance policy. Completing large claims forms and then having to mail or fax these documents back to the insurance company is a highly time consuming task. If there is the possibility to allow employees to communicate solely in electronic format this should be used as soon as possible. Instead of mandating that handwritten forms, an already archaic practice in the Gen-Y mindset, must be physically submitted to the insurer, allow instead for the submission of electronic claims forms. These could be scanned copies of doctor’s receipts, or a central website which the claimant has input their details on, but allows for information to be updated in real time—offering the flexibility, ability to track, and immediacy required by this generational cohort.

Understanding that Gen-Y is more likely to switch jobs and careers, and understanding that the 21st century is seeing higher levels of global mobility than at any other time in history, there becomes a major concern that if the individual falls sick in one place that their medical records may be in another.

Creating Electronic Health Records, which are retained personally by the employee in question—either on a portable device such as a USB, or through an online database—will help ensure that the employee has access to all their relevant medical data at all times in addition to lowering costly printing expenses.

Healthcare on the move

When looking at the issue of global mobility within Gen-Y, it is increasingly obvious that this age group is spending far more time overseas than any previous generation. This can cause some serious concerns on the health insurance front as typically the individual must cancel the policy and obtain a new one when they return home after their travels.

New innovations are, however, being made in this regard including the possibility of having “dormancy” imposed on a medical insurance plan. In this instance, the plan would go into a state of hibernation while the employee is overseas,

and resume once they have returned to the country and company. While this benefit of dormancy is not yet widely available on the market, it does illustrate that many organisations and industries are starting to recognise the need for flexibility with Gen-Y, and creating products specifically relating to this age group.

In order to make the subject of health insurance interesting to Gen-Y staff, and to increase these employees’ engagement with the company, the optimal strategy would be the creation of an insurance micro-site detailing the company’s specific coverage benefits, claims process and miscellaneous policy details.

While this may be undertaken in tandem with the insurance company providing the policy, a website like this takes all of the best practices with relation to engaging Gen-Y employees and locates the relevant information in a single place. Digital in format, easily searchable, and accessible at any time from any place, a website, or online forum, is always the best way to interact with employees of this age group.

Technically advanced Baby Boomers

While the creation of specialised forums for Gen-Y staff may seem like the allocation of vast amounts of resources to a select group of employees, it is important to recognise that using mixed media strategies effectively can have a positive impact on all the staff within a company. In fact, for a product like health insurance, recent studies have shown that the user group most likely to use digital means when assessing the viability of an insurance plan are those individuals who are soon to enter retirement—the Baby Boomer generation.

As a consequence of this, there is an increasing trend of workers across all age groups relying ever more on the internet and using digital, and online sources to make important decisions. In this regard the creation of initiatives which will enable Gen-Y to understand relevant information more easily will enable all the employees to understand the relevant information more easily, leading to higher levels of employee engagement and a happier workforce.

Autumn 2011

23

HR features

Balancing the ethics formula:

A tool for guiding choices

By Abdullah Telmesani, PhD

Achieving higher levels of ethical conduct, as is the case of achieving all optimal positions, is a balancing act.

For corporations, ethical attitude and sustainable success are achieved by striking a balance between the bottom line and the interest of the employees and the community at large. Employees’ ethical behaviour and success, on the other hand, is achieved by balancing their personal interest with their companies’ interest.

The formula described above seems, according to the Deloitte 2010 Ethics & Workplace Survey, to be partially compromised. In their struggle to survive the global recession, some companies seem to have had to take drastic decisions that are not typical of their corporate cultural norms. These corporate actions and decisions naturally lead to employees’ uncertainty about

24

HR Magazine

corporate decisions and intentions.

This feeling of uncertainty and lack of clarity shaped the responses of 46% of the employees surveyed, when they indicated that a lack of transparent leadership communication would drive them to seek new employment opportunities. Furthermore, 48% of employed Americans who plan to look for a new job when the economy is more stable cite a loss of trust in their employer as a result of how business and operational decisions were handled over the last two years as a reason for leaving their companies.

While the ethical formula is partially compromised, the good news is that it did not collapse. The Deloitte 2010 Ethics & Workplace Survey indicates that, in spite of the feelings of uncertainty about their companies’ decisions and actions,

HR features

72% of employees still believe that their employers are responsive to their work/life balance needs. In essence, the employees, according to the Survey, believe that their employers are still honouring the fundamentals of the ethics formula. Employers are, at least, attempting to balance the companies’ interests with their employees’ interest.

The Survey does not go into the second part of the formula, which is related to companies’ attitude towards the interest of their communities at large.

As in the case of employers, employees’ ethical formula can also get partially compromised under pressure and times of uncertainty. This is indicated by the Deloitte 2007 Survey, 91% of employees surveyed indicated that they are more likely to behave ethically at work when they have good career-life fits. This statement does indicate that employees’ ethics formula of balancing their interest with their companies’ interest can also be compromised under pressure.

The balance of the ethics formula, in light of the above, could be compromised under pressure for both the employers and the employees, especially in times of difficulty and uncertainty. In attempting to minimise compromising the ethics formula between the employer and the employees, companies have elaborate codes of ethics to guide employees’ and employers’ choices.

From my experience and from teaching professional ethics to architecture students in the 1990s, it became evident to me that balancing the ethics formula comes from inside us, not from codes of ethics. Making choices between ethical and non-technical actions are among the most personal decisions, which we don’t usually like to discuss with others. This makes it important to simplify this formula and make it readily available to employees and employers, whenever needed, and with total privacy.

In an attempt to simplify the ethical

formula and improve its applicability for employees and employers, there is a practical tool, which I called the Ethical Toolkit. This toolkit consists of two levels.

The following case study describes these two steps and indicates their applicability to professional practice.

While evaluating tenders from various suppliers, our test case—let’s call him John—noticed how close the bids were in terms of prices and quality. During this period of evaluation, John met a friend who informed him indirectly that one of the suppliers was willing to pay for a personal trip for him and his family if he overlooked one of the conditions that this supplier did not satisfy.

John faced a dilemma in making a decision to award the contract to the supplier related to his friend. Would overlooking the condition of this supplier affect his company negatively? Would anyone even notice it? In trying to arrive at a decision, John followed the two-level ethical toolkit test as follows:

Ethical Toolkit Test 1. The Internal Test: In this test, John checked his gut feeling about awarding the contract to this company. Doing that, he realized that he felt uncomfortable about it; however, knowing that awarding the contract to this company would not affect his company negatively, made him feel more comfortable about awarding the contract to that specific supplier. In order to arrive at the right decision, John followed the second step of the test.

2. The Disclosure Test: In applying this step of the test, John looked at whether he would feel good about letting his colleagues, his family, and others know about the basis for awarding the contract to this supplier. Thinking about that made it very clear to him that awarding the contract to this supplier would not be ethical, since he would not be comfortable with letting others know about the real basis for awarding this contract to this supplier.

The Ethical Toolkit can be used by employees and employers at all levels. It can also be a useful guide, or exercise, for board members and executive committees in clarifying the ethical bases for executive choices.

Autumn 2011

25

HR features

Engineering MIT style at IVE For two weeks in June, a selected group of IVE students from the Applied Science, Engineering and Information Technologies Disciplines were given the chance of a lifetime. They attended a series of workshops designed and led by nine student-teachers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): Rebecca Gould, Elizabeth Kimball, Kyle Knoblock, Vibin Kundukulam, Nicholas Leonard, May Liu, Emily Shao, Danielle Wang and Danielle Whited (pictured above).

This interaction provided IVE students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, while being presented different points of view from some of the USA’s most brilliant, young, technical minds. This was not only a good chance for IVE students, but for MIT students as well; for most of them, it was their first experience of coming to Asia. We caught up with the MIT students on their last day in Hong Kong to get them to share their thoughts and experiences.

Stars in China

The programme, the China Educational Technology Initiative (CETI) is a studentinitiated team teaching programme with the goal of promoting both knowledge and cultural exchange between MIT students and their Chinese counterparts.

Knoblock, Student Teacher, MIT explained, “CETI was initially started to help schools in rural China connect to the internet and give them the opportunity to experience the benefits of MIT’s courses via “OpenCourseWare”. These days, the programme also sends MIT’s brightest students to teach classes in

26

HR Magazine

a wide variety of disciplines. This gives students from both countries the chance to experience and learn from immersion in different cultures.” The programme is aimed at students in secondary schools and universities, and its MIT student facilitators have become ‘stars’ in some of the more remote areas—attracting people of ages who show up to learn from the foreign mentors.

IVE students on the two-week programme attended a number of workshops based on their own disciplines, including: Applied Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and IT and experienced the MIT culture firsthand.

James Lau, Senior Project Officer, Engineering Discipline of VTC pointed out, “The nine MIT students also took part in a three-day “International Student Seminar” jointly organised by VTC and the Singapore Institute of Technical Education in IVE, Tsing Yi. Three hundred students from both schools attended the seminar, and the nine MIT students acted as advisors. This year’s seminar was focused on energy and sustainability at MIT.”

Bro’ culture & awkward turtles

The MIT student teachers were not in Hong Kong solely to conduct workshops on applied science, engineering and IT principles, they also gave daily classes on MIT and American culture, which were a big hit with the students. Gould, Student Teacher MIT explained, “We talked about food, American culture, movies, TV shows, and even conducted a lesson on

Bro culture.” Kimball, Student Teacher, MIT added, “The classes also gave the students a chance to share their culture with us. I remember we were talking about the various hand signs kids use in Hong Kong, and we ended up teaching them the Awkward Turtle [a hand sign used in the US to indicate an awkward situation] and the next day, in class, one of the students had an awkward situation and the rest of the class did the Awkward Turtle sign. This class was a great way for students to connect with each other, share their cultures and form a bond far beyond traditional education.”

After the lessons many of the students continued to hang out with their MIT peers. Kundukulam highlighted his favourite moment of the programme, “I enjoyed coming to IVE for the second time this year, and am extremely thankful for the warmth and hospitality with which my teammates and me received. My best memory was celebrating my birthday with cake and food in class and a very memorable experience of a hot pot dinner later that night!”

Make mistakes…

The MIT student teachers gave some advice to IVE students, “Don’t be afraid about not having the right answer, being wrong and making mistakes; this is all part of learning, but be sure to learn from your mistakes.” This programme showcases that while there are differences between students, there should not be fears about barriers, as all students have one goal: to have fun, or should I say, to learn!

TEST CENTER

business

SCAN MODE

006305.992

allyenglish

PRIMARY TARGET > WRITING FOR BUSINESS

CK YOUR POTENTIAL

effective

WRITING PROCESS BUILDS STEP BY STEP...

FOCUS ON TONE AND PROFESSIONALISM...

TASKS GRADED BY TUTORS...

WRITING BANK RESOURCES...

ONLINE COMMUNITY...

ENTRY AND FINAL TESTS...

BUSINESS TASKS...

business

reallyenglish

ONLINE

UNLOCK YOUR POTENTIAL

effective ONLINE

ONLINE

PRAC ENGL

FINANCIAL TIMES

TEST CENTER

ET EC T

ONLINE

SY ST EM S

INC

business

HR

glish

TENTIAL

MATCH ONLINE

D

FINANCIAL TIMES

ANALYSING: $$ COST EFFECTIVE... $$ COST EFFECTIVE...

PRACTICAL effective With a range of products suited to the busy professional, content from our international publishing partners and a proven track record in online training...

ENGLISH Whatever you have in your sights, take a look at

reallyenglish

web: www.reallyenglish.com.cn ONLINE ONLINE email: contact-china@reallyenglish.com tel: 852 3602 3090

51/F The Hopewell Centre, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

business

PR EN

T CEN

HR community

We did it again—July saw another full house for HR Magazine’s latest HR conference on HR trends and compliance strategies.

With so much happening in terms of Labour Ordinances in both Hong Kong and China, it was perhaps no surprise that HR practitioners were eager to get the lowdown on recent legal changes and their ramifications for HR. With a focus on compliance, topics included the recently introduced Minimum Wage Ordinance, the brand new Social Insurance Law, grooming sales staff to be compliant and ‘downsell’ and a host of tips on engaging staff while ensuring compliance and creating sustainable talent pipelines. If you didn’t get the chance to attend—you missed a lot—here we summarise key advice from the seven keynote speakers of the day.

Edmund Lam Vice President, Training & Development, Human Resources, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited Topic: Strategies to groom ‘qualified’ frontline personnel for selling investment products to ensure full compliance.

Lam, the first speaker of the day, provided HR with advice to help them achieve best practices relating to compliance. Beginning with a brief overview of the last financial crisis, and how governments and regulators globally are calling for greater compliance and developing stricter regulations. As these regulations more or less change the game, employers need to ensure their employees are up-to-date with compliance and regulations. In order to do this, the employees need training. Lam noted, “Training is now closer than ever to the sales line. We looked at our old framework for training and found that the training was not working. We had to come up with

28

HR Magazine

a new model to ensure required needs were being met.” What transpired was a four-phase pyramid plan.

to retake the questions they got wrong.”

Phase one—training preparation:

summary is sent to all stakeholders for review and to ensure that the training was compliant and the needs were met.

regulators are concerned that all training materials be reviewed by relevant parties. Lam explained, “We set up a rule that all material developed by the product managers has to be reviewed by relevant parties for their endorsement before it can be used. If there is no endorsement, it can’t be used.” He added, “It used to be that another salesperson would do the training, but now those conducting the training must be professionally qualified.”

Phase two—staff assessment: regulators have asked companies to prove that their staff are receiving and completing training. Lam commented, “We have a quiz after each product training that employees must pass with a mark of 100%. If staff get more than 20% wrong, they will have to retake the whole quiz. If they get less than 20% wrong, they have

Phase three—implementation review: after the training, an evaluation

Phase four—qualified sales staff: through all training procedures, the Bank ensures that staff are qualified.

Lam stressed, “We do this because our biggest interest is to ensure that our customers’ interests are safeguarded. The situation has changed for sales staff—in the past year, our staff have been asked by management to not upsell to clients, but try to ‘downsell’ and offer tailored products instead. Staff are encouraged to really listen to what the customer needs and then provide just that.”

Lam concluded, “Regulators are paying great attention to training and its effectiveness. Because of this, training is becoming a much closer partner to dayto-day operations.”

HR community HR Conference

Edmund Lam Vice President, T&D, Human Resources, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited

Stephen Leung Country Manager, Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited Topic: Compliance—a hurdle or a competitive edge?

Leung presented on the importance of compliance and how it can be used as a competitive advantage. He started by comparing past and current business strategies. He pointed out, “In the past ‘money’ was the buzzword, now ‘compliance’ is. When you go to different businesses—what are they talking about?

Compliance. Compliance with all the different laws, regulations and demands; it seems like companies are surrounded by the need for compliance.”

Recounting a story about a manager whose chair had broken, and instead of following company policy he went out and bought a new chair. Leung emphasised the importance of compliance in every company. He noted, “This story is about time management of which there are three types: firstly, system-imposed time—the time it takes to work with the system such as filling in forms; the secondly, boss-imposed time—if you do everything the boss tells you to, he will leave you alone; and thirdly, selfimposed time—time you allocate to your job and any extra activities. In this case, the manager used his own time to buy the chair—and not only wasted

Stephen Leung Country Manager, Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited

his own time, but also that of the boss, who had to then contend with the break in compliance.” Leung noted that if the manager had simply complied with the rules, the company could have saved a huge amount of time.

Turning to how leaders can leverage compliance into a competitive advantage, Leung referred to the Chinese term, 領袖, (leadership).

Explaining the constituent characters, he said, “領 (collar) represents being ‘firm’ and that sometimes HR managers need to be firm and ensure everybody is disciplined and does not violate the rules. At the same time, 袖 (sleeve) represents the idea of flexibility and that leaders need to be adaptable and caring.”

He noted that as business leaders, it was a key HR responsibility to have integrity themselves and ensure compliance in that their staff never violate company rules. He explained, “Compliance is similar to the laws of nature, everything requires a system and has to follow that system.

It is the same for companies, they have to follow the system and be compliant if they want to be successful.” Leung concluded that by following the system, ensuring leaders act with integrity, and ensuring all staff follow the rules, companies can easily clear compliance hurdles.

Florence Cheung Vice President, Human Resources, Wharf T&T Limited

Florence Cheung Vice President of Human Resources, Wharf T&T Limited Topic: HR trends and use of HR technology to ensure compliance.

The role of HR has changed dramatically in recent years and the need to adopt appropriate technology has become much more significant in terms of HR data analysis. Cheung explained, “HR managers have to ensure legal compliance—essential for the protection of our employees. HR managers have to understand personal data privacy, equal opportunity practices, the MPF and most recently the Minimum Wage Ordinance. All this can be very painful to managers—technology can help make our jobs easier.”

In order to help HR managers cope, analytics can be used to analyse the status quo; develop plans and solutions on how to meet staff, management and recruitment needs; and to support the decision making process. Cheung explained, “HR data needs to be valid, reliable, useful with regard to key decisions, compliant and comprehensive.” She then highlighted the main types of analytics HR managers should be looking at: • Human-capital facts: enterpriselevel data including headcount, recruiting, turnover and

Autumn 2011

29

HR community HR Conference

absenteeism—to help evaluate the health and wellness of the organisation.

• Human-capital investment: HR data including employee satisfaction rate, retention rate, productivity and effectiveness—to understand, measure and manage which actions have the greatest impact on business performance.

• HR data by segments: insight into specific departments/ functions—to identify areas for improvement.

• Workforce forecasts: historical HR data including turnover, business opportunity data and staffing costs—to identify potential shortages/excesses of key capabilities, knowledge management risk and overall labour availability.

• Talent value: analysis of performance data and job satisfaction levels—to develop personalised performance incentives, assess competitiveness of current offers and decide which persons should be promoted.

• Talent supply chain: ‘what if’ scenarios can be visualised with hypothetical HR data, e.g. predicting the volume and workforce needed and the individual’s performance pattern to help make real-time decisions about talent demand and supply.

Cheung summarised, “The HR role is becoming more challenging and multifaceted. Decisions should be made based on scientific analysis not on past experience and rules of thumb. Analytical tools can help with this.”

Jonathan Isaacs Senior Associate, Baker & McKenzie

Topic: China Labour Law issues Isaacs updated attendees on three major issues that HR managers responsible for staff working in China need to be aware of concerning the newly introduced Social Insurance Law. Noting that the issue, like many in China, was a complicated one, Isaacs stressed the importance for HR to ensure

30

HR Magazine

compliance with this issue in order to avoid significant legal problems later on. He noted, the new law is actually an amalgamation of laws already in place to form one national law, and there are three main issues that HR managers should be aware of: 1. Portability: in the past, social insurance was regionally bound, and could not be transferred for staff who moved to another city or region. With the new law, pension insurance will be nationally portable and the relevant employee funds can move to follow each employee. Medical funds are now also portable, however, they can only be moved within the province concerned. Isaacs cautioned, “It should be noted that at this stage these are ‘goals’ and there is still a transition in progress. There is one major thing to be aware of with this new law: employees can no longer withdraw their contributions early. Being aware of this and being sure your employees are aware of this is important.”

2. Penalties: penalties for noncompliance have been increased.

Each month companies are required to submit the amount of social insurance payable to each employee. If they are late, the fine could be as high as 110% of the original amount. If companies have failed to register, the government can impose a fine of up to three times the amount of contribution owed. Isaacs noted, “On top of this, the manager can also be held personally liable. It is key that you, at least, register. Not just the penalties have been increased, but the enforcement power of the social insurance authority has also been increased. They now have the power to search your bank accounts, require you to provide a guarantee if you don’t have the funds to pay and/or get a court order to auction off or freeze your assets if you still don’t pay.

However, it remains to be seen if the authorities, given their past history, will enforce this Law.”

3. Foreign nationals: the new Law is difficult to interpret. There were draft measures suggested in June stating that all foreigners, including expatriates and employees on secondment, would have to pay into social insurance. These measures were supposed to be in place by 1 July 2011, however, to date they have not been adopted.

Jonathan Isaacs Senior Associate, Baker & McKenzie

Isaacs, concluded with a word of advice to HR managing staff in China, “Chinese employees are becoming increasingly aware of their rights, leading to increased labour unrest when their expectations are not fulfilled.”

Eng Hwee Ong, Director of Corporate Training & Development, Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited Topic: HR trends in engaging leaders and compliance strategies Ong began by explaining that her organisation looks at employees as ‘valuable assets of the organisation’ who need to be engaged in order to feel fulfilled in carrying out their duties. She stressed that in order to do this, HR needs to ensure that the leaders in the organisation can create engaged employees—and went

HR community HR Conference

on to define ‘engagement’ from two perspectives. She said, “Leaders will define engagement as—colleagues who perform, are productive, innovative and team players. But, when you look at the employee point of view, they define engagement as—pay and benefits, training, career aspects and work life balance.” She explained that, in reality, engagement occurs when both parties believe their wants are being fulfilled.

As the views of leaders and employees frequently differ on engagement, Ong stressed the need for HR to look at both ‘performance’ and ‘satisfaction’ perspectives in order to roll out successful staff engagement strategies.

Eng Hwee Ong Director of Corporate T&D, Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited.

Some managers may ask why organisations need engaged employees, Ong explained, “If you look at an engaged workforce you will see high productivity, teams that work together, and employees who know how to contribute to the success of the organisation. If you can get employees to understand that even the simplest task can contribute to the success of the organisation, you have an engaged workforce which will be more profitable.”

Ong went on to note that 55% of organisations do not have engaged employees, and country-wide China has one of the lowest levels of employee engagement in the world. She added,

“You may not be surprised to learn that [among these employees] Gen-Y are the least engaged, while the Baby Boomers are the most engaged. Some refer to Gen-Y as the ‘Strawberry Generation’, because they can’t be touched—and if you do, you will bruise them.”

With reference to China, Ong noted, “Companies that develop the right solution to attract, develop and maintain Gen-Y will be successful in the future.

They want international experience, managers who will engage them and help them grow, and will ask what the company can do for them.”

We hope these employees will inspire the other 3,000 to do likewise. Peers have asked me: how can we justify the cost and return on capital? The answer is you can’t, sometimes you just have to believe in it and go for it. When you get it right, the return is going to be massive. If you get it wrong, you will have to absorb the downsides.”

NiQ Lai CFO and Head of Talent Engagement, City Telecom (Hong Kong) Limited Topic: CXO of the future—15 years forward succession planning HR trends in succession planning: upgrading talent to become the next generation of CEOs, CFOs & CTOs. Lai took the stage to present his organisation’s view on finding the best talent. He began by stating, “When you look at most American companies, they run by quarters. We believe that is no way to run a company. We need to take a long term view of our investments, when we invest in people it is like growing trees, it takes time. In ten years when you have fantastic home-grown talent and people ask how you did it. The answer is easy, you start 10 years ago.

This is the approach we follow.” This was apparent as Lai pointed out that a lot of people thought of CTI as a high-tech company, but in fact, they are actually a people company. He added, “Our single largest expense is people.”

In his company, leaders and employees are given a large amount of autonomy—and need to be able to handle the authority granted to them.

To illustrate this, Lai pointed out that for management level staff 77% have, or are currently pursuing, a post graduate degree. He added, “The lower ranks have by no means been forgotten, in fact we have started a study programme for 55 such employees to eventually obtain a degree from the University of Wales.

NiQ Lai CFO and Head of Talent Engagement, City Telecom (Hong Kong) Limited

To plan for succession Lai’s company runs the CXO of the Future Programme.

Lai highlighted, “We hope that the next generation will stay ahead of us, what took me twenty years to learn and twenty years of mistakes to earn, the next generation can achieve in ten.” To showcase the programme, two of the most recent successful applicants who made it onto the CXO Programme took to the stage to share their experiences. A major benefit of the Programme was that the rigorous selection process allowed the company to learn a lot more about candidates than they ever could in a one-hour interview. Through a series of challenges—think Ironman meets the Apprentice—the company gets to see an insight into potential employees’ mentality, productivity and persistence.

Lai summarised, “The bottom line is, talent engagement has to be integrated with investor engagement. We invest in our employees because we believe there will be financial benefits from this.”

Autumn 2011

31

HR community HR Conference

Bernard Ng Registered Foreign Lawyer, Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong

Topic: the Minimum Wage Ordinance— what HR needs to know to make sure they are compliant Ng, the last speaker of the day, focused on the Hong Kong legislation that has been on every HR manager’s mind recently—the Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO). Ng began by explaining which employee categories do not come under the remit of the MWO. He explained, “People who may be excluded include: student interns, work experience students, certain apprentices under the Apprenticeship Ordinance, livein domestic workers and other minor exceptions such as people who are working for their family.”

Ng cautioned those in HR, “Compliance is really quite a significant issue here. If you don’t comply with the Ordinance and keep proper staff payment records, the ramifications can be quite substantial.

If the issue is about non-payment of minimum wages: directors, partners and other managers may be held personally liable. While the company may not be immediately charged, the Labour Department will start making enquiries and it is likely to lead to some major issues for those in HR. There is, of course, also the potential for huge negative publicity.”

The basic formula used to calculate the minimum wage is, as follows:

wages payable hours worked

≥ HKD28 per hour

Complications arise in the definition of the terms: ‘wages payable’ and ‘hours worked’. Ng defined ‘wages payable’ as, “Salary, most overtime, most commission, bonuses and tips.”

He added that annual bonuses are not considered wages and that ‘wages payable’ cannot be more than ‘total wages’, so HR needs to exclude certain aspects from the wages payable. These exclusions include: wages attributed to hours which are not hours worked such as leave pay, weekends, days not worked and meal breaks.

Ng then defined hours worked as, “The hours an employee is at a usual place of employment because it is contractual, the manager has told them to be there, or the manager has agreed for the employee to be there.” He added that travel time between an employee’s residence and their workplace is not included, except when employees are required to travel out of Hong Kong to conduct work duties.

HR Directors meet and share ideas at one of the four networking sessions during the whole-day event.

32

HR Magazine

So, how do HR managers keep track of their employees pay schedules? Ng highlighted the best way he has found to date is a two-pronged approach. He said, “Firstly, take a high wage threshold: HKD20,000–30,000 per month and then ensure that you keep track of hours

Bernard Ng, Registered Foreign Lawyer, Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong

worked by all employees that fall below this threshold. Secondly, keep track of employees’ leave days. If, taking into account leave, any employee’s wage is less than HKD11,500 per month, then HR should keep track of hours worked and wages paid as well.”

Subscribe to HR Conferences + HR Magazine + HR Online Today

+

Subscription packages One-year subscription fee

Digital Subscription ▪ 12 month access to HR Magazine online ▪ 12 month access to entire HR Magazine online archive

Print Subscription ▪ One copy of print issue of HR Magazine delivered to your desk quarterly ▪ Delegate pass to attend our quarterly HR Magazine Conferences ▪ 12 month access to HR Magazine online ▪ 12 month access to entire HR Magazine online archive

+

Corporate Subscription ▪ Four copies of print issue of HR Magazine delivered to you and your colleagues’ desks quarterly ▪ Delegate passes for four staff to attend our quarterly HR Magazine Conferences ▪ 12 month access to HR Magazine online ▪ 12 month access to entire HR Magazine online archive ▪ 12 month access to HR Download Zone including: HR Conference speaker PowerPoints, Advice on Training & Development, Legal Issues, Employee Communication, Networking and more…

Step 1. Please tick one package only

 Digital Subscription HK$680

 Print Subscription HK$1,880

t e ou Tak orate ay p r d a co ption to i a r c e s s sub choo OK & BO 0)

E K$29 H FRE orth (w

 Corporate Subscription HK$3,200

Step 2. Please complete details and fax to: (852) 3764 3361 Mr / Mrs / Ms .................... Subscriber’s Name ..................................................

Job Title ..........................................................................................................

Company Name ..............................................................................................

Mailing Address ............................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................

District / Region ................................................................. HK / KLN / NT / PRC

101 Fourseas Building 208-212 Nathan Road Jordan, Kowloon Hong Kong

www.hrmagazine.com.hk Enquiries Tel: (852) 2736 6339 E-mail: subs@hrmagazine.com.hk

Phone (work / mobile) ......................................................................................

Fax ....................................... Email ................................................................

FREE BOOK: I would like (tick one)

 HR Guide to Corporate Medical Insurance  HR Guide to Staff Learning & Development  HR Guide to Recruitment

For office use only: Sub Start ...................................................

Sub Expires ................................................

User ID ......................................................

Password ....................................................

HR community

Shining stars of HR Following research commissioned by Lumesse, on 20 May 2011 a landmark event was held at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong to celebrate the success of several shining stars in HR. The HR event, organised by Lumesse, looked at the business impact of ‘New Talent’ acquisition. Erik Schmit, Group Managing Director APAC, Lumesse revealed the findings of HR Magazine’s research, commissioned by Lumesse, into what Gen-Y jobseekers are looking for from employers.

The company also took the opportunity to unveil their new brand identity with a candle-lit procession and jazz dancers bopping to the beat of their funky corporate video. Alexandra Richardson, Senior Human Resources Director, PepsiCo, Asia Pacific Region and Jonathan Stewart, Senior Manager, HR Communications, Asia Pacific, BASF and Emille Mac Gillavry, Managing Director, Maximum China also shared advice, along with a few laughs, on employer branding and the use of social media for recruitment. Three companies received awards for their outstanding efforts in building a trusted corporate brand and use of online recruitment tools.

Importance of employer brand Jonathan Stewart, Internal HR, BASF provided insights as to why employer

“

Keep in mind that all CEOs look at the same drivers... the bottom line and ROI.

34

”

HR Magazine

brand is so important to recruiting.

Stewart noted that there are changing conditions in the employment markets— primarily a dwindling pool of qualified talent—and because of this increasing competition to both hire and retain quality talent. In the light of this, he stressed the need for companies to ensure that they create and maintain a good employer brand and noted that this required focus both internally and externally.

Internal integration

The internal focus is the goal to have employee engagement. Stewart noted, “No matter what, the employer brand needs to be consistent and linked to the corporate brand.” He added, “Internally, it is important to engage your employees, as they are the greatest advocates of the brand.” Stewart also stressed the importance that companies look not only at what they offer, but also how employees perceive this. BASF has made great efforts in terms of using social media to help increase employee engagement. This has included the organisation establishing an internal ‘Facebook-style’ blog which allows employees, internationally, to join different interest groups, ask questions and work collaboratively. Stewart cited an example of a recent presentation he had to prepare, where through the internal online network he was able to ask colleagues in Germany for help and input—significantly decreasing preparation time, and allowing more objective input from different stakeholders.

External engagement

The external focus is the goal to become an employer of choice. In order to do this, Stewart highlighted six core missions for HR:

1. Get buy in from the board—let them help drive the plans through 2. Create guidelines for a global strategy 3. Provide internal training 4. Look at established media platforms to showcase the company 5. Build connections—use these platforms to link people to the media 6. Create target group specific pages

Branding bonds

Once companies have created an employer brand, Stewart pointed out that they then need to implement the brand. To ensure proper implementation companies must ensure they have four key elements in place in respect of the employer brand:

1. Support from the senior management 2. Joint training of management and communications staff—so everyone is on the same page 3. Communication and engagement at all levels 4. Consolidated, consistent and updated guidelines and recommendations

Stewart stressed that implementation is important, but companies should also be sure to maintain and update the brand to meet changing needs, and no matter what companies do, they should ensure the employer brand and corporate brand are linked.

HR community Brand flexibility

Alexandra Richardson, Senior Human Resources Director, PepsiCo Asia Pacific Region presented on PepsiCo’s experience when launching their new employer brand and the experiences gained from the implementation.

Richardson, quoting Jeff Bezos, Founder, Amazon.com, summed up employer branding, “Your brand is what people say about you when you leave the room.”

Richardson developed the definition by suggesting that an employer brand is much like a romance between two parties: the company and the consumer/ employee, with the objective of both parties being loyal.

Richardson highlighted seven core attributes, all of which need to be linked to the employer brand, that are critical to attraction and retention of quality talent:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Compensation Organisational stability Development opportunities Future careers Respect Quality of managers Positive work environment

“It is important to look at each of these aspects, and ensure they are all aligned to the business strategy, and

are differentiated from competitors,” Richardson noted. She added that brand should also be consistent across all regions, while remaining relevant to local operations. Using PepsiCo as an example, Richardson demonstrated how, through gaining local knowledge, the organisation had been able to adapt and modify these seven attributes to best meet local needs. Ultimately, this further enhanced the perception of the brand and led to attraction of higher quality candidates, who were more eager to be retained in the organisation.

Segmented approach

On the issue of employee attraction and recruitment Richardson noted that her company still makes use of traditional hiring channels such as campus career fairs, but that they were becoming less popular as the younger, more techsavvy generations preferred to search for jobs using other channels such as the Internet. She pointed out that methods used to attract, hire and retain employees should be segmented and applied differently between different talent pools. For example, companies could use social media platforms to help attract New Talent. She concluded, “No matter how companies have developed their brand, they should offer a positive experience at all touchpoints, and ensure that the experiences offered are consistent with the overall brand.”

According to HR Magazine’s recent candidate survey, 100% of respondents— all New Talents—used social media, and did so for an average of just under 16 hours per week.

In stark contrast, only 10% of companies are currently using social media as part of their recruitment strategy. Erik Schmit, Group Managing Director, Lumesse APAC noted, “Companies are spending an awfully large amount of money on placing jobs on job boards, so there is a huge disconnect between where you are spending your money and where you will find candidates—because they’re on Facebook not job boards.”

Schmit added, “83% of respondees from the companies surveyed are not using LinkedIn, I was astonished by this and goes to show that there is huge under-utilisation of social media as a recruiting channel.”

With greater use of social media like Linkedin and Facebook, Schmit recommended companies being in a situation where they are no longer simply putting jobs on job boards and waiting for people to apply, but— through social media—start pushing those jobs to relevant candidates and asking them if they would like to apply.

Passive fishing

Emille Mac Gillavry, Managing Director, Maximum China defined three different

Lumesse give awards to HR shining stars in recognition for outstanding achievements in recruitment

HKR International, award accepted by Ms Florence Chung, General Manager, Group Human Resources

Philips Electronics Hong Kong Ltd, award accepted by Ms Coco Fung, Senior Manager, Staffing, Country Human Resources

The Hong Kong Jockey Club, award accepted

by Ms Portia Leung, Human Resources Manager

Autumn 2011

35

HR community

types of job seekers: active, passive and non jobseekers, noting that 10% of those on the China job market are considered ‘active’, while 60% are ‘passive’ and would switch jobs if a good opportunity was presented.

He noted that companies should be targeting passive jobseekers, as that talent pool is much larger than the active pool, and it has been found that the general quality of applicants and skills tends to be higher among passive jobseekers.

Social swimming

Mac Gillavry highlighted a number of ways, including the use of social media marketing. He noted, “Social media is just as popular in China as the rest of the world, but due to restrictions, platforms like Facebook are blocked, so companies should look for more

effective equivalents that have huge penetration in China such as Renren, Kaixin001, Baidu and QQ. Mac Gillavry pointed out, “When comparing China to the rest of the world, companies must take account of the fact that China is different, and cater to the Chinese market and tastes if they want to be successful in recruiting in China.”

He added, “While social media is a very useful tool for recruitment, companies should be sure they are ready for using that social media—if they are not, then it is a good time to start. Companies can take their first steps towards utilising social media for recruitment, at minimal cost, by advertising with search engines that offer pay-per-click ads.”

Employer brands—the future Mac Gillavry explained why so few companies use social media for

recruiting purposes when compared to usage by HR in the US and UK. He said, “The idea of employer brand is advanced in Europe and the US. In Asia it is still a relatively new concept, however, this is changing fast and will likely leapfrog and soon advance upon the levels of uptake in Europe and the US.” Richardson offered advice on what HR could do to ensure their employer brand was developed.

She said, “Engage the CEO at a local level, keep in mind that all CEOs look at the same drivers—the bottom line and ROI. Therefore you should build a case on how employer brand influences ROI and its overall importance to the company. There should also be crossfunctional support that is proactive.

In fact, every company already has a brand—but what matters is how people perceive this brand.”

20 October 2011 Gen-Y Management Strategies Leading HR Directors and HR practitioners tell you what you need to know about getting Gen-Y on board and keeping them with your company without losing your cool.

Get ready with your questions for our experts.

Gen-Y management strategies:

Get advice and tips from HR practitioners in the largest companies in the region and globally on: • Becoming and remaining an employer of choice • Recruitment strategies targeting Gen-Y • Retention strategies that keep Gen-Y with you longer • Communication strategies that help you stop pulling your hair out Get inside the Gen-Y mindset, and start working with them

36

HR Magazine

Published by

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 Supplement

With sincere thanks to LEAD SPONSORS

MAIN SPONSOR

SPONSORS

MEDIA SPONSORS

SEMINAR SPONSORS

PRESENTATION SKILLS WORKSHOP SPONSOR

Message from Dr The Hon David K P Li GBM GBS JP Chairman The Hong Kong Management Association

Message from Dr Elizabeth S C Shing BBS JP Director General The Hong Kong Management Association

For the first time, Hong Kong’s dynamic business environment has been recognised as the world’s most competitive in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011. In the annual ranking compiled by the Lausanne, Switzerland based business school IMD and released in midMay, Hong Kong tied with the United States for first place among 59 industrialised and emerging economies.

Good leaders are the key to the success of any company. They set the direction and lead people towards organizational goals. In recent years, the recognition of leadership development has gathered momentum in Hong Kong, which is reflected in the surge in demand for related training programmes among the business community.

When assessing individual economies, IMD considers a wide range of factors in four separate areas: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure. This year, Hong Kong won top marks overall in both Government Efficiency and Business Efficiency.

However, we should not be complacent in light of such achievements.

Strikingly, Hong Kong ranked only 28 in the key sub-category of education. Given that Hong Kong is increasingly becoming a knowledgebased economy, our future competitiveness will be compromised if we are not able to improve our standards in this vital area. One area of critical importance is the continuous improvement of the productivity of Hong Kong’s human capital through innovative and effective training and development.

Since its establishment in 1990, the Award for Excellence in Training and Development has aimed to recognise companies and individuals who are making exceptional efforts to promote personal and career development for in-service executives and staff. This distinguished accolade singles out those who have made outstanding contributions in this area, and sets a benchmark for measuring true success in training and development.

However, there is no magic wand that we can use to turn a staff member into a great leader overnight. Leadership development requires a concrete vision, careful planning and the concerted efforts of everyone in the organization. Good training based on solid programme design and innovative content delivery are also essential.

In 1990, the Hong Kong Management Association took the lead to develop the Award for Excellence in Training and Development to recognize companies with outstanding training programmes and trainers who have demonstrated remarkable dedication to the development of their colleagues. Throughout the years, the Award has gained widespread recognition among the business community. I would like to pay tribute to our adjudicators, examiners, and in particular, Mr John Allison, Chairman of the Awards Organizing Committee and his fellow members for their invaluable contribution. I would also like to sincerely thank our sponsors for their enormous support over the years.

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

foreword

On behalf of our Association, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all Award entrants and winners for their tireless dedication to raising the standard of training and development in Hong Kong.

On behalf of our Association, I wish to thank the Panel of Adjudicators, the Board of Examiners and the Award Organising Committee for committing so much of their valuable time to this effort. Without the able chairmanship of Mr John Allison and the sharing of expertise by all Committee members, the Award would not have attained the success it enjoys today. I am also grateful to the generous support of our Lead Sponsors, Main Sponsor, Sponsors and Media Sponsors.

Finally, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to all our award winners. Their outstanding achievements have inspired their peers in the field and will lead to even greater success for Hong Kong in future.

Special Supplement 1.

HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

chairmanJohn Allison

John Allison VP, HR, Asia Pacific, FedEx Express Chairman, Training and Development Awards Organizing Committee, HKMA

John Allison, Vice President Human Resources,

Asia Pacific Division, FedEx Express and Chairman of the Organising Committee for the HKMA Awards has been involved with the Awards since 2007 and shares his views on what makes them the industry benchmark for T&D excellence.

Key criteria that sets finalists apart “We are looking for a programme that is tied to business objectives or a specific business challenge. One that has been designed to address this issue and that can demonstrate positive measurable results” explained Allison. Of the key criteria used in judging the Awards, Allison highlighted the most important one as ‘connectivity to business’. He said, “No function exists inside any business that is not able to contribute to the bottom line. What’s very important is the campaign is able to show positive bottom line results to the panel of judges.”

In the Awards, six campaigns are selected as finalists and judged on how well each team and campaign meets the criteria and the campaign that demonstrates the best results will be

2. HR M aga z ine w w w.excelmediagroup.org

the awardee. Allison pointed out, “In fact, all six campaigns are already awardees, as they have all done a fine job and have accomplished what we have asked them to accomplish.”

For individual award entrees, they are looked at as either ‘new’ or ‘distinguished’ trainers with less than five years, or more than five years, training experience, respectively. Allison noted, “We are looking for people who have the ability to communicate effectively and really teach the students. They also need to demonstrate the ability to put together a programme that is dealing with a business problem, teaching employees something specific—which is absorbed, and shows measurable results.” He added, “Nothing stands still, everything is in a constant state of change...So, we are looking for new ideas that trainers have applied to a programme.”

Training vs development Allison explained, “Training, in my definition, is primarily skills training. For example, with FedEx Express, when training drivers—we are training them skills, and this will continue to go

Increasing return on training Allison stressed the importance of training and development programmes to a company and its employees—and if absent employees would have no choice except to self-learn. Allison cautioned, “If people teach themselves, they may develop bad habits because they don’t know what it is they are supposed to be doing and that will probably lead to business, service and product failures.” He added, “When you have a well-trained and developed employee, the result is the company’s performance and results will be that much greater.”

Is size important?

MNCs do have an advantage over SMEs when it comes to development simply because their size allows them to put together a training and development function. In SMEs this

is normally only carried out as a sub function of a tiny HR department staffed by one or two employees, or as function of the different operating departments, such as salespeople training salespeople. Allison commented, “There is still a need for training in organisation like this, they should still look at best practices in the marketplace, what larger companies are doing and how they can follow or adapt these ideas.” Allison advised SMEs, “Form a training department, even if it is just one trainer. I truly believe that if you train me, my ability to perform at the highest levels of productivity and efficiency, regardless of company size, is much greater than if you don’t train me— there will be a positive payback.”

Future of T&D in Hong Kong Allison concluded, “Training and development departments are always challenged on how to find ways to reach the whole range of generations. We now have the new generation coming into the marketplace with a different set of social and IT skills.

Instructors are now challenged on how to deal with these young people, I think the influx of this generation is going to cause changes in T&D departments, not only in Hong Kong, but around the world.” Quoting from a recent presentation Allison attended, he quipped, “The teacher is changing from a sage on the stage to a guide on the side.”

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

on because you will always need to teach skills. In development, this takes on a broader perspective and we talk a lot about coaching as a form of development. You can teach some coaching skills, but coaching is really a culture—so you have to develop your people to be able to be coaches. This requires development programmes that are not just classes coaching skills, but teach philosophy and approaches to coaching.”

Special Supplement 3.

HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011

HKMA

award for excellence in TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 2011 Gold Prize

winners

‘BOC-ian’ Training Programme (Blossoming Outstanding Champions Training Programme) BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd

Silver Prize

Shangri-La Talent Development Programme Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

Bronze Prize

WISER Movement in Kowloon Central Cluster

Kowloon Central Cluster, Hospital Authority

Excellence Awards (listed in alphabetical order by company name)

Most Innovative Awards

SafeR+, a behavioural change programme in Safety Leadership

‘BOC-ian’ Training Programme (Blossoming Outstanding Champions Training Programme) BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd

Ngou Cheung Store Management Development Programme

SafeR+, a behavioural change programme in Safety Leadership Fleet Management Limited

Fleet Management Limited

Maxim’s Caterers Ltd

Grow Future Great Leaders

Standard Chartered Bank (HK) Limited

Certificate of Merit Technical Pro to Service Pro The Hong Kong and China Gas Co Ltd

WISER Movement in Kowloon Central Cluster Kowloon Central Cluster, Hospital Authority

Certificate of Merit Safety Training Centre Dragages Hong Kong Limited

Citation for Staff Engagement

Best Presentation Award

WE Programme American International Assurance Company, Limited

Mr Cyrus Li BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd

Trainer of the Year & Distinguished Trainer Award Winner Ms Prudence Sze Training Manager CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd. “I am so excited to receive the ‘Distinguished Trainer Award’. It is a wonderful recognition of my training profession. The judging process helped me rigorously review, and improve training and development approach including stakeholder partnership. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the HKMA, my company and colleagues for their great support. I will continue to build organizational capability to strive for customer satisfaction and business performance.”

Distinguished Trainer Award Winners Ms Lui Man Ying, Sonia Training Officer Civil Service Training and Development Institute, Civil Service Bureau, HKSAR

Mr Bob Xie People Development Manager Corporate Human Resources Department The Hong Kong and China Gas Co. Ltd.

“Winning the ‘Distinguished Trainer Award’ is a prestigious recognition of my relentless passion and efforts for helping people to grow through training. Thanks for the kindness of the judges in inspiring me to reflect on the qualities of being the best trainer. Also thanks for the unconditional support and assistance of my supervisors and teammates.”

“Life is a precious gift. I believe the ultimate goal of life is to accelerate its quality and value, both for self and others. The HKMA Award for Excellence in Training and Development is a great journey to review where I am, which reinforced my personal commitment to dedicate myself to make life more meaningful and valuable.”

Outstanding New Trainer Award Winners Mr Nicky Lam Service Manager—Training Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong

Ms Priscilla Lim Learning Delivery Manager HSBC

“I would like to thank the management for giving me this valuable opportunity to participate in the Award for Excellence in Training and Development of the HKMA. This Award has marked a milestone in my career and I shall keep moving on because this is only the beginning.”

“Winning this award is a great achievement in my career and a continuous reminder to test and push myself to new boundaries. I would like to thank the HKMA for this priceless opportunity and HSBC especially Asia Pacific Risk and my Learning colleagues for their heartfelt support.”

Ms Amy Law Learning Delivery Manager, Sales and Relationship Management HSBC

Ms Katherine Lo Assistant Manager—Learning American International Assurance Company, Limited

“This recognition means a lot in my training profession. It marks a milestone for my further development in this challenging yet highly interesting journey.

Thanks to the HKMA, my Company, and my colleagues for giving me a memorable and rewarding experience.”

“It is a great honour for me to represent AIA in the HKMA Award for Excellence in Training and Development and receive the ‘Outstanding New Trainer Award’.

Through the preparation and judging process, I have gained valuable insights on training and development, which plays a vital role in the growth of a company. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my company, managers and colleagues for their guidance and support.”

Mr Lee Chee King Senior People Development Specialist The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Mr Kelvin Lo Senior People Development Specialist The Hong Kong Jockey Club

“It is my honour to receive the ‘Outstanding New Trainer Award’. The judging process has given me valuable experience to further develop my views on planning, delivering and evaluation of training processes. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my company, managers and peers for their support and encouragement.”

“I am greatly honoured to receive the ‘Outstanding New Trainer Award’ from the HKMA. This award stands to define and recognize my work as a trainer and serves to further spur me on to excellence in the field of Training & Development.

I would like to express my appreciation for the enormous support from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, in particular, from my managers & colleagues, and will do my utmost to continue providing top quality training to the staff of the Club.”

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

winners Individual Awards

Ms Yu Suk Wah Amy Learning Delivery Manager HSBC “Continuous learning and improvement are always the guiding principles for my training career. Participating in the HKMA Award for Excellence in Training and Development is definitely a valuable experience.

The whole evaluation process recognized my devotion to the training profession. I would like to thank HKMA for the Award, and my managers and peers for their inspiration and great supports throughout the whole process

Special Supplement 5 .

HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

finalist

BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd.

staff engagement. The programme focused on a more holistic personal development approach, while teaching technical knowledge and skills. Five critical success factors were mapped out: Attitude, Knowledge, Skills, Teamwork and Virtue (心、智、 體、群、美), which were set as the core standards throughout the programme, from course design to evaluation.

Darryl H.C. Sing Head of Training and Development BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd

BOC Group Life Assurance

Company Limited (BOCG Life) offers extensive wealth management, retirement and life protection solutions to customers from around 270 outlets in Hong Kong. BOCG Life is jointly owned by BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited and Bank of China Group Insurance Company Limited. The Group’s Training & Development Department (TDD) is dedicated to providing in-depth insurance training to 2,700 licensed staff situated at the Group’s product distribution channels.

Training: one of the keys to achieving the corporate mission “We believe that people are born with unlimited potential, and if we find the keys to unleash their talent they will achieve the impossible,” said Darryl Sing, Head of Training & Development. To discover trainees’ potential, the department adopts an A-S-K framework in designing and developing courses that focuses assessment in three areas: Attitude, Skill and Knowledge. Sing believes that attitude plays the most important role among the three. He said, “If people understand what they are going to do and are keen to get results, they will find the skills and knowledge to make the dream come true.” With this belief, Sing thinks the ultimate goal of the department is to maximise trainees’ personal development by providing a vast range of training courses. “In attending training programmes, people with passion and willingness to grow will finally achieve all the corporate training objectives and show stronger performance. Thus, a successful T&D programme should focus not only on performance but also on personal growth and people development.”

BOC-ian Training Program The Blossoming Outstanding Champions (BOC-ian) Training Program is BOC’s in-house programme embodying their training philosophy. In 2010, in order to sustain and expand on the success of the Financial Planning Manager (FPM) model, the Company decided to hire fresh university graduates and offer them training from the ground up. The programme was put in place to help bridge the value gaps that existed between younger Gen-Y staff and more experienced professional staff working in banking institutions and large corporations. Sing recalled, “This was a formidable challenge for us. Young graduates who were born in the late 80s are sometimes seen to be reckless, selfcentered and wanting to gain quick wins with the least effort.”

To fulfill the corporate mission to transform these fresh graduates into professional FPMs, or BOC-ians, the TDD designed and implemented a comprehensive training programme tailored to the needs of Gen-Y fresh graduates with two core objectives: to achieve business production targets, and to encourage 6. HR M aga z ine w w w.excelmediagroup.org

Another challenge in the course design process was to maintain a harmonious balance between training effectiveness and Gen-Y staff expectations. Sing pointed out, “Fresh out of college and after over 20 years of classroom life, they are already tired of traditional training methods.” To help cater for this and build technical competencies without stifling curiosity and innovation, the Company tailored three main learning principles for the programme—the Three Ls: 1. Learn through experience 2. Learn to teach, teach to learn 3. Learn from the real world Equipping fresh graduates with these principles allows them to more easily blend into BOC’s corporate culture and to become what they term ’BOC-ians’. These are persons holding BOC’s core corporate values and more importantly a strong awareness of the Group’s social responsibilities.

Beyond business results: empowering youngsters BOC’s campaign has yielded excellent results and ‘BOC-ians’ have generated much higher rates of production and retention than existing senior salespeople. Sing said, “It is even more encouraging to see our BOC-ians demonstrating the core corporate values by applying our five critical success factors and truly integrating into our corporate culture.”

He added, “Witnessing the extraordinary return on our investment into the campaign, we could proudly say that this is one of our most successful training programmes in our corporate history.”

Sing pointed out that recruiting Gen-Y candidates may sometimes raise concerns over unpredictability in performance and attitude. However, not only has the BOC-ian programme transformed these youngsters into a group of capable financial planning professionals, it has also helped strengthen their discipline and skills. Sing added, “Gen-Y staff have cherished these lessons and are able to apply appropriate skills at all points throughout their career life.”

HKMA Awards Participation in the HKMA Awards has reaffirmed the training’s success in facilitating the corporate mission. Sing concluded, “Not only did we bring great business impact to the company, we also embraced the corporate social responsibility advocated in our workplace. What ultimately gratified all the trainers was that we really transformed a group of wild youngsters into passionate achievers, both in their career and life.”

Snapshot Most effective T&D programme: BOC-ian, as it helps fresh graduates grow and gives them a good sense of reliance.

Funniest T&D programme: BOC-ian off-site camp in Cheung Chau. Participants go on a night walk through a graveyard with some candidates facing & tackling their fears.

T&D programme with best ROI: BOC-ian, is the most comprehensive programme the company has ever run, with many positive returns. The programme has resulted in participants exceeding sales targets by three times in the first three months, and a turnover rate half of the normal rate.

finalist Kowloon Central Cluster, Dr Hung Chi Tim MBBS (HK), FANZCA, FHKCA, FHKAM (Anaesthesiology), Dip. Pain Mgt. (HKCA), MSc (Health and Hospital Mgt.)(Birm) Cluster Chief Executive, Kowloon Central Cluster

The Hospital Authority (HA) currently

manages 41 public hospitals and institutions, 48 specialist out-patient clinics and 74 general out-patient clinics. These are staffed by over 55,000 full-time staff and organised into seven hospital clusters according to their locations across Hong Kong. Dr Hung Chi Tim, Cluster Chief Executive, Kowloon Central Cluster and Hospital Chief Executive for Queen Elizabeth Hospital is responsible for coordinating and directing over 8,000 staff in the Kowloon Central Cluster.

Facilitating successful staff development programmes According to Dr Hung, the key to successful staff development programmes is to ensure staff see the need for, and meaning of, the training they are given. He said, “It is critical that staff see how training will facilitate them do their own jobs and help them fulfill their own personal development goals.” He conceded that this might be difficult to achieve 100% of the time, as in some cases staff would only become fully aware of the importance of certain training programmes after they had actually been through the programme itself. He also stressed the importance of aligning development programmes with the corporate vision and mission.

were staff-centric. He said, “Let staff give their own suggestion and proposals for training topics and focus, as they know better than anyone about the challenges that exist and how to go about solving them.” Dr Hung reiterated this with reference to The WISER Movement in Kowloon Central Cluster, Hospital Authority programme, which aimed to promote learning as a continuous process of getting wiser, rather than just wise. He emphasised the importance of letting staff find their own platform for learning new ideas. The management should provide staff with the right tools for achieving self-development rather than simply adopting a one-way training approach. In this way he believes staff are able to be more engaged and come up with sustainable development strategies.

Training pitfalls to avoid Leung noted that most people in the organisation are exceptionally busy and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It is important for HR to segment training in terms of who the programmes are aimed at and when they would be most effectively carried out. He cited the example of mandatory programmes at the HA such as those on personal data privacy which all staff are required to complete.

He explained that such programmes were better rolled out using e-learning platforms, as it would be logistically impossible to get a huge group of doctors together for a face-to-face training. In contrast, other courses such as those involving technical training were more effective if conducted in small groups with face-to-face instruction, coaching and mentoring to help get ideas across in a more tangible way. Likewise, Leung pointed out that seasonal segmentation of training programmes also helped further enhance their effectiveness citing the deliberate concentration of pandemic disease awareness training programmes that the HA run immediately prior to pandemic seasons.

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

Hospital Authority

Making programmes staff-centric Kelvin Leung, Cluster General Manager (Human Resources), Kowloon Central Cluster explained that it was vital to solicit input from the participants themselves to ensure development programmes

Snapshot Most effective T&D programme: WISER programme (We Innovate, Services Excel Regularly) has significantly boosted staff engagement levels.

Most controversial T&D programme: the WISE programme has helped elicit input from frontline staff who provided great practical ideas for training and process enhancements. However, as staff at different levels in the organisation may have different viewpoints, some suggestions can be quite controversial. In such cases, to ensure buy-in, it’s important to let all stakeholders see the benefits that implementing new systems can bring.

T&D programme with best ROI: Programme rolled out for team dispensing medication in the out-patient clinics. Training focused on giving the team ownership of their development, rather than merely focusing on potential problems. This allowed them to become a lot more harmonized and open to discussing ways for future improvements.

Dr Leung Kam Fai, Kelvin Cluster General Manager of Human Resources Kowloon Central Cluster

Dr Theresa Li MBBS (UNSW), FANZCA, FHKCA, FHKAM(Anaesthesiology), Dip. Pain Mgt. (HKCA) Chief Manager (Strategy, Planning & Service Transformation), Kowloon Central Cluster

Honing T&D through HKMA awards Dr Theresa Li, Chief Manager (Strategy, Planning & Service Transformation), Kowloon Centre Cluster explained one of the benefits of taking part in the HKMA Awards was the opportunity it provided to look objectively at how staff had applied the knowledge they had gained from T&D programmes in daily work.

Dr Li noted that the WISER programme was innovative as it was the first time that senior clinicians help drive a staff development project. At the same time the programme elicited input from frontline staff on ‘burning issues’ they needed help and relevant stakeholders at all levels were able to give input–this echoes a topdown and bottom-up approach of WISER.

Special Supplement 7.

HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

finalist

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

Making programmes staff-centric Programmes at the Shangri-La are very active with lots of participation. Ong pointed out, “We have cut down a lot of the lecturing and one-way-communication in favour of programmes that are very interactive with lots of activities, videos, case studies and exercises.” She added, “At the end of each programme we also get staff to write down how they will apply what they have learnt into the actual workplace. This is then passed onto the managers who will follow-up with the employee to check and help them apply their learning into the workplace.”

Training pitfalls to avoid

Ong Eng Hwee Director of Corporate Training & Talent Development Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited

Shangri-La

International Hotel Management Ltd. currently employs 38,000 staff globally, with over 2,000 in four properties in Hong Kong. Ong Eng Hwee, Director of Corporate Training & Talent Development began her career with ShangriLa in Singapore, as a training manager before transferring to properties in Beijing in charge of training functions for the entire China region. Ong came up with initiatives to meet the growing needs of staff in China, made sure corporate initiatives were implemented and trained up the training managers.

Facilitating successful staff development programmes Ong highlighted training needs in China properties originally revolved around basic training in standards, culture and consistency. These factors were important in the early stages of the Group’s expansion into China, especially when opening hotels in second-tier cities, where staff would require training in basic customer service skills. More recently training has become much more sophisticated and Ong said, “I would say engagement is now the most important factor and coming up with a programme that meets the needs of the trainees. Even at the design stage, the programme has to be able to engage employees and address what they really want to know.” She added, “With training, rather than simply ‘telling’ staff items you’d like to share, the content has to come up from the employees themselves, so they understand exactly why the training is important.”

Another technique used at Shangri-La to develop staff is through the use of case studies. Here employees are shown a case and then asked to discuss what they think happened, what should of happened, why events occurred and brainstorm different ways of dealing with such situations in future. Ong said, “This method allows employees to explore their own solutions, rather than just telling them which is great for Gen-Y as they love to feel engaged and involved.”

Ong shared, “Every time you come across new ideas, methodologies and programmes you have to be careful not to jump into them immediately.

Instead, assess whether the programme really fits into your organisation, the company culture and the needs of your staff. Programmes that may be the most popular, may not be the most suitable for your own organisation because the company environment may not yet be ready for, or even need it.” It is important to create the right environment before you implement new training programmes.

Honing T&D through HKMA Awards Ong pointed out that attending the Awards allowed the Group to learn from other companies and how they have carried out cultural training, leadership development and management training. She added, “It is really a good learning ground for new ideas.

It is also good to participate so we can share our programmes and best practices with others, just as we learn from them.”

Innovation in T&D One of the main things that has changed in the Shangri-La training programme is an increased level of course customisation to better meet staff needs. Ong said, “While there is still a formal structure, it is now more customised.” With 150 trainees on the programme at any one time individual progress can be difficult to track, so another innovation has been the move to using an e-binder on the intranet to log everyone’s progress. She added, “Once a staff member has been selected for a programme, they sit down with the General Manager and HR to customise it and add it to their personal e-binder.”

Snapshot Most effective T&D programme: The Talent Development Programme and the Shangri-La Care Programme both really help staff imbibe and start to live the service culture at the hotels.

Funniest T&D programme: The Supervisory Excellence Programme is a programme that is full of activities to help boost different styles of leadership—a one-day programme that many staff love to attend.

Most controversial T&D programme: Before the ‘Shangri-La Care’ programme was rolled out, hotels were responsible for finding their own service culture programmes. Because, at that time, this process was not centralised it was not evenly received by all hotels.

T&D programme with best ROI: In hotels it is hard to put a dollar value on the return of the brand, but from performance monitors and guest feedback, positive warm values have been reflected in all the hotels.

8. HR M aga z ine w w w. exce l m edia gro u p. o rg

finalist

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

Fleet Management Ltd.

(Left) Capt. Vikas Grewal Marine Manager—Business Division Assistant to Managing Director (Right) Glyn Thompson MIMarEST Manager, Quality Assurance Fleet Management Limited

Fleet Management Limited

currently manages over 200 ships—bulk carriers, oil and gas tankers and container vessels plying around the world. Based in Hong Kong, the organisation provides ship management services to cargo ship owners worldwide. Originally managing Noble Group’s in-house fleet, the company gradually began managing other fleets and now provides manpower and logistical solutions for a host of other clients. It is now one of the largest suppliers of shipping crew in the world with crewing offices in India, the Philippines and China.

Facilitating successful staff development programmes Captain Vikas Grewal, Marine Manager—Business Division at Fleet Management Limited stressed the importance of empathy with trainees when designing T&D programmes to ensure that management were not too aggressive in ‘force feeding’ information.

Instead, he favours employee-led programmes in which staff get the opportunity to think about their needs and how best to go about meeting them via different forms of learning and development programmes. All training programmes also have a strong focus on safety and environmental protection, and this is brought home to crew members every time they open their instruction manuals—which have self-chosen pictures of their own family members inside to remind them of who is waiting for them at home when they safely finish their duties.

Making programmes staff-centric Capt. Grewal explained that there were several key mindset changes the organisation wished to instill in all crew members through staff-centric training programmes. Firstly, by developing a safety mindset with a ‘never-walk-by’ dangerous situations attitude, that encouraged crew to immediately report potential safety issues before they escalated. Secondly, as most fleet work takes the form of short-term contracts, a significant amount was done to encourage

Snapshot Most effective T&D programme: toolbox meetings held on a daily basis to enhance transactional association and change behaviours on a practical level.

Funniest T&D programme: role playing of autocratic behaviour on board ships by participants during safety training workshops.

Most controversial T&D programme: sustaining momentum on our training programmes has been one of our biggest challenges to date.

T&D programme with best ROI: since the launch of our safety training, we’ve seen a 49% decrease in the crew injuries and a 166% increase in reporting of near misses.

This translates into a massive reduction in serious and/or fatal accidents.

10. HR M ag a z ine w w w.excelmediagroup.org

staff to return to work for subsequent contracts, including financial incentives paid to the crew’s family upon successful completion of certain stages of training and greater involvement of the crew’s family in corporate events. Thirdly, a move away from the traditional autocratic culture that had existed in the maritime field towards a more open culture with staff at all levels actively encouraged to communicate ideas in respect of training needs and safety issues.

Training pitfalls to avoid With increasingly younger crews joining the fleet, Capt. Grewal highlighted the importance of getting employee buy-in on training programmes. To meet this need, the training programmes at Fleet Management are jointly developed by both trainers and trainees. To help emphasise key ideas, training is also conducted repeatedly to ensure ideas remain fresh in the crews’ minds. Training messages are kept to the point and are easy to understand and translate into everyday work practices. Safety training focused on promoting SUN practices: Safety, Understanding and ‘Never walk by’ attitudes; and on eliminating RAIN behaviours: •

Rushing into jobs

•

Attitude of ‘it will do’

•

INjuring one self and others

Glyn Thompson, Manager, Quality Assurance summed up the training programmes and said, “It’s about creating a shift in the outlook and behaviour of the crew. A lot of the tools have been designed to allow staff to explain inappropriate behaviours so that the feedback lands in the right manner with the right people.

Any rank can challenge any rank over safety issues, and issues can also be raised through anonymous channels as well.”

Honing T&D through HKMA Awards Capt Grewal explained that the Awards had helped the organisation articulate their thoughts better in respect of training programmes. In terms of a better helicopter overview, Thompson added that “We’re now more aware of monitoring the success of T&D programmes, and have been able to get a more objective view of our T&D through other people’s eyes.”

Innovation in T&D Capt. Grewal explained that the new training culture had been innovative in that, unlike traditional top down blaming for bad behaviours, the new culture was one built on celebrating good behaviours. To action this, a series of reward cards were developed which could be given to staff as a thank you for rewarding SUN practices.

This was backed up by getting staff to embrace ‘STAR’ observations: •

Seeing—observing your colleagues work related safe and unsafe behaviour

•

Tools—is your colleague using the right tools?

•

Action—are they working safely? Are they clear on the risk?

•

Respect—share your observation with all due respect.

The smallest ideas often have the biggest impact on ROI

Innovative corporate training programmes from Excel, Tel: (852) 2736 6339, E-mail: corp@excelhk.com

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

finalist Standard Chartered Bank (HK) Ltd. Standard Chartered Bank

Facilitating successful staff development programmes

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered PLC. The history of Standard Chartered Hong Kong dates back to 1859, and it is currently one of the SAR’s three note-issuing banks. The Bank is committed to building a sustainable business over the long term and is trusted worldwide for upholding high standards of corporate governance, social responsibility, environmental protection and employee diversity. This heritage and these values are expressed in its brand promise: Here for good.

Law said, “There are a few things that are crucial to the success of training programmes: obtaining business sponsorship – which means the training will truly meet their needs; ensuring the objectives of the programmes are clearly understood by colleagues; delivering the programmes in the most appropriate and effective way and continuously collecting feedback and making appropriate adjustment.”

PLC is a leading international bank, listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges. It has operated for over 150 years in some of the world’s most dynamic markets and earns around 90% of its income and profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. With 1,700 offices in 70 markets, Standard Chartered offers exciting and challenging international career opportunities for its 85,000 staff.

Nita Law, Regional Head of Human Resources, North East Asia has been with the Bank for 23 years giving her HR advice in China, Japan, India, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Law explained that ‘alignment’ of staff development programmes is critical to their success—both in terms of overall business needs and the individual career aspirations of staff. She said, “Training programmes must be seen as useful by the end users.”

Therefore, business needs analysis and stakeholder discussions are always part of the process in determining the content and focus of the training programmes.

Making programmes staff-centric Law said that the Bank builds its training curriculum around staff’s job roles and constantly look at their feedback to know what is meaningful to them to keep the training programmes staff-centric. The Bank adopts a 70:20:10 development framework split between on-thejob training, learning from others—senior leaders and work groups, and formal training. A unique programme that assists in leadership sharing is the Power of Leadership Programme, in which senior leaders in the Bank share their experiences in 50-person forums. Another is the DNA Programme (Development and Networking Alliance) which uses group mentoring to coach high potential future leaders. Law said, “We know that leaders groom leaders. So we provide staff on the DNA programme with a high degree of autonomy to decide how often they will meet, what their key focus areas will be and how their learning can be best applied in their own workspace.”

Pilot scheme for new programmes Nita Law Regional Head of Human Resources North East Asia Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited

Law highlighted the importance of getting the right sponsors on board and clearly defining training objectives to assure proper alignment of training programmes. She also suggested that it would be useful to run pilot scheme for new programmes and solicit feedback from participants and management before rolling out a programme in full.

Importance of measuring results in the long run Snapshot Most effective T&D programme: Power of Leadership and DNA programmes.

Funniest T&D programme: reverse mentoring programmes in which junior talent share their innovative ideas with more senior staff. –– Most controversial T&D programme: DNA programme as setting a clear measurable outcome by both mentors and mentees is critical to the success of the programme.

T&D programme with best ROI: every programme we run is an investment and helps to support the business agenda.

12. HR M ag a z ine w w w.excelmediagroup.org

Law said, ”For talent development programmes especially, there is a need to demonstrate ROI not just from a framework perspective, but also in terms of the progress that an individual makes in the longer run post training.” Law explained that not every programme will lead to clearly defined ROIs and that many programmes bring intangible benefits but it is always important to define the ROI metrics right from the start of training programmes to measure the effectiveness of the training programmes.

Innovation in T&D At the Bank, training has become a lot more interactive, and Law explained how programmes such as the Power of Leadership and the DNA Programme had been very progressive in encouraging people to contribute ideas and allowed leaders to help develop leadership capabilities in the organisation.

finalist Maxim’s Caterers Ltd. Facilitating successful staff development programmes Kelvin Ng, Head of Training and Organisation Development stressed the importance of getting commitment from staff to ensure a successful programme. He said, “They need to be engaged and they need to see the importance of self-development. They are having real breakthroughs outside the classroom, so we need to get them to be committed, and sometimes it’s hard.” To ensure staff are committed the company holds pre-course briefings to let staff decide if they want to go for a particular programme. He also pointed out that it was important to have motivational trainers.

Ng added, “We want people to realise their potential through taking the programme and taking up managerial roles. The training takes a very personal approach and is meant to be inspirational for the staff members that attend it. The aim is to empower staff to change for the best in both their professional life and personal life.”

Kelvin Ng Head of Training and Organisation Development Maxim’s Caterers Ltd.

Jasmine Lok Assistant Training Manager, Operations Training Training & Development Department Maxim’s Caterers Ltd.

Making programmes staff-centric Ili Cheung, Human Resources Manager explained, “We talk to all supervisory staff around six to nine months before the Ngou Cheung Store Management Development Programme starts to determine their training needs and assess their levels.” At the end of the staff development programme participants are also asked to conduct a practical business-oriented project in which staff are encouraged to come up with innovative ideas such as creating a new brand like Maxim’s Café. Senior management also sit in and hear these ideas to see what type of ideas and business models emanate from this process. She added, “Staff find this a very rewarding experience as they get to have input and the chance to help develop new products—some of which have already gone into production and are available in stores.”

Training pitfalls to avoid Ng pointed out the importance of making programmes interesting with lots of exercises and activities. He talked about giving trainers encouragement to make at least one of their programmes each year into what he termed: ‘Star Wars’ programmes—involving stellar efforts in terms of planning and customising the programme to maximise benefits for the trainees. He added, “Irrespective of being a three hour module or a full-day workshop, time and effort must

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

Hong Kong Maxim’s Group

, founded in 1956, has grown into the largest catering company in Hong Kong operating over 70 brands and 550 outlets, serving over half a million people every day. The group employs over 15,000 staff working in outlets across Hong Kong and mainland China.

Ili Cheung Human Resources Manager Cakes & Bakery, Branded Products, Maxim’s Caterers Ltd. be spent in the planning of a successful model. The managers need to agree with any new ideas and it needs to be double checked that what has been planned is relevant for the store level staff.”

Honing T&D through HKMA Awards Jasmine Lok, Assistant Training Manager, Operations Training from the Training and Development Department said, “The assessment criteria from the HKMA awards, sets an extremely good framework for how we can showcase a successful training programme: objectives, stakeholders involvement, effectiveness, and most importantly creation of business results. It acts as a very good benchmark.”

Innovation in T&D Snapshot Most effective T&D programme: the Ngou Cheung Store Management Development Programme that reignited the desire of store supervisors to go further in their career and breakthroughs in their lives with primarily internal resources.

Funniest T&D programme: off-site team building for middle managers from operations, marketing & production teams that revealed their differences in thinking & behaviours and how they learn about putting themselves in others’ shoes.

Most controversial T&D programme: launch of the Learning Café programme. Staff debated how often it should be conducted and if more skills training/food & wine appreciation/ additional courses were required catering for staff at all levels.

T&D programme with best ROI: the Ngou Cheung Store Management Development Programme which induced positive behavioural changes recognised by staff at all levels and family members of the participants.

Ng highlighted the Group’s Learning Café’ as one of the most innovative programmes they had run as a week-long series of activities in the style of a conference. The programme comprised skills training such as negotiation and presentation skills; customer service skills; and fun elements thrown in for good measure such as wine and food tasting and a movie night. Some activities were aimed at boosting work skills, others aimed at boosting confidence, morale and bonding with the T&D team. He added, “We received very positive comments from all the managers expressing how glad they were about the week-long activities.”

Ng concluded, “We know at Maxim’s, no single programme can turn around everything for the better, and the general managers know this too and they are patient to wait and see ROI—positive changes don’t happen overnight. Demonstrating ROI isn’t always about money and sometimes the best ways of measuring ROI is to look at the changes in behaviour and confidence that training generates in staff. These behavioural changes will ultimately generate ROI for the company in the future.”

Special Supplement 13.

HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

American International Assurance Company, Ltd. Learning, leadership and talent management strategies Callister Koh, Group Head of Leadership, Talent & Development; and Stingo Chan, Group Head of Culture & Synergy, at the American International Assurance Company, Limited (AIA) share their thoughts on what drives a leadership culture within the insurance giant.

up to deal with this. Chan said, “Making sure leaders understand the performance matrix, and ensuring the organisation supports those leaders is critical for success. ”The organisation has three key performance matrixes: EV, OPAT and VONB, which all leaders are made aware of through leadership conferences and on-going exchanges. Koh highlighted, “One of the fundamental policies has been to ensure that leaders don’t just get hung up on developing a few pre-determined key attributes, but rather look for different sets of leadership attributes that can be applied at different moments in time, according to their level of suitability.”

Embracing diversity in L&D Chan explained that in view of the diverse range of employees that existed with the organisation, likewise a diverse range of learning channels needed to be established and maintained. Describing the staff as ‘always hungry for more’, he was eager to adopt the Blended Learning Approach, set up more business acumen related programmes together with expanding and encouraging adoption of self-learning channels.

Callister Koh Group Head of Leadership, Talent & Development American International Assurance Company, Limited T&D evolution In recent years, organisations have had to evolve to incorporate more staff ‘development’ as well as traditional staff ‘training’ into their programmes. Koh pointed out, “Companies are evolving, so are we and there is a need to build a new culture in the new marketplace. We have now developed end-to-end solutions that encompass staff acquisition, onboarding, developmental needs of the individuals, helping them to become leaders, and ultimately helping them to develop the next generation of leaders. So there’s no end to the cycle.” On the difference between training, learning and development Koh explained, “Training might be defined as plugging skills gaps. Learning is not so passive, more facilitation based and puts accountability with the individual rather than the trainer. Development is an umbrella term for the whole system that embodies training and learning.”

Key qualities in trainers Energy and subject matter expertise are the two most important qualities required by trainers, according to Koh. In terms of energy, trainers need great interpersonal skills ad empathy in order to bring out the best from both trainer and trainees. With regard to knowledge, Koh said, “You need to know your stuff, as the impact of imparting quality subject matter knowledge on expertise programme is very immediate.” The Group also gains feedback from employees for ideas on enhancing training focus and this feedback is shared with trainers and consultants to help them with their own self-development.

Koh also pointed out the growing number of experiential learning programme that had been set up to allow staff to develop through business related projects, many of which were CSR related so the wider community could also benefits from them. One of the most innovative learning programmes has been the Management Associate Programme which allowed staff to work with Government officials in Xian, China to diagnose key challenges and propose solutions for on-going key infrastructure projects.

Cultivating innovation Koh pointed out that it was essential to have a firm foundation for talent management and that robust tools must be used to identify the right talent from the start. The company must then provide the right development tools for staff as they progress up the organisation adding value, and also to help them achieve their own career goals. He added, “Emotional intelligence is an important consideration and can be assessed to let staff understand where they are now, what their desired state is and how they are going to go about getting there.” He added that staff are encouraged to think outside the box, enhance their feeling of self-worth and given visibility so they have a means of giving input on a wide variety of projects.

“We run an employee star award, and one category is just focused on innovation. Entries for this award allow us to collect and share success stories from throughout the organisation that have used innovation to drive business success and share them. This sharing enhances internal communication and helps facilitate new future business opportunities,” Chan supplemented.

Leadership strategies

14. HR M ag a z ine w w w. exce l m edia gro u p. o rg

AIA traces its origin in Asia back more than 90 years and following their Hong Kong IPO in October 2010, unique challenges and opportunities were created for AIA in terms of leadership strategies. As AIA became an independent and, more recently, a Hang Seng Index constituent, the bar for leadership qualities was raised significantly within the organisation. This also created the need for certain functions such as investor relations to be taken on board in house. Subsequently, new departments were set

Stingo Chan Group Head of Culture & Synergy American International Assurance Company, Limited

2011 Training & Development Awards Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

Organizing Committee*

Mr John Allison (Chairman) Vice President of Human Resources, Asia Pacific FedEx Express

Mr Steve Chow Human Resources Director Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd

Ms Maylie Lee Director—Human Resources, Hong Kong American Express International Inc.

Mr Stingo Chan Group Head of Culture & Synergy, American International Assurance Company, Limited

Mr Paul Clark Group Director of Human Resources Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

Mr Jim Lygopoulos Vice President of Human Resources, Asia Pacific The Walt Disney Company (Asia Pacific) Limited

Mr Michael Fraccaro Head of Learning, Talent, Resourcing and Organisation Development, Asia Pacific HSBC

Mr Kelvin Ng Head of Training and Organization Development Maxim’s Group

Ms Catherine Chau Head of Human Resources Hongkong Land Ms Iris Cheng Executive Manager—Human Resources Corporate People Development The Hong Kong Jockey Club Ms Winnie Chiu Senior Consultant Right Management

Ms Alice Ip Executive Director Sino Land Company Limited Mr NiQ Lai CFO and Head of Talent Engagement City Telecom (HK) Limited

Mr Chester Tsang Senior Manager—Management Training & Development MTR Corporation Ms Olivia Wong General Manager—Leadership Development John Swire & Sons (HK) Ltd

* Members of the Training and Development Awards Organizing Committee are also members of the Board of Examiners.

2010/11 Human Resources Development

Management Committee

Dr Ritchie Bent (Chairman) Group Head of Human Resources Jardine Matheson Limited Mr John Allison* Vice President of Human Resources, Asia Pacific FedEx Express Mr Graham Barkus Head, Organization Development and Change Cathay Pacific Airways Limited * Also members of the Board of Examiners.

Panel of

Professor Flora Chiang* Associate Professor Department of Management, School of Business Hong Kong Baptist University Mr Michael Fraccaro* Head of Learning, Talent, Resourcing and Organization Development, Asia Pacific HSBC Mr Liu Ka-yee, Francis Commandant, Fire Services Training School Fire Services Department

Mr Jim Lygopoulos* Vice President of Human Resources, Asia Pacific The Walt Disney Company (Asia Pacific) Limited Mr Anthony Mak* Principal Assistant Secretary Civil Service Training and Development Institute, Civil Service Bureau Mr Kenneth Wai* Area Director of Human Resources Island Shangri-La Hotel Hong Kong

Adjudicators

Ms Cally Chan Managing Director Hewlett-Packard HK SAR Ltd

16. HR M ag a z ine w w w. exce l m edia gro u p. o rg

Mr Helmuth Hennig Group Managing Director Jebsen & Co Ltd

Mr C K Lau Chairman & CEO Recruit Holdings Limited

Mr Lim Meng Teng Founder & Managing Director Neo Derm Group Ltd

Mr Edmond Ho Managing Director The Kowloon Motor Bus Co (1933) Ltd

Mr Stephen Leung Country Manager Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited

Mr James Thompson, GBS Chairman Crown Worldwide Holdings Limited

winners Past Awards

Individual Awards:

* The list below shows the Award recipients and their companies during the year of the Award indicated.

2010

2009

Trainer of the Year: Ms Elsa Lam, Ageas Insurance Company (Asia) Limited Distinguished Trainer Awardees: Mr Joseph Chan, HSBC Ms Elsa Lam, Ageas Insurance Company (Asia) Limited Mr Thomas Robillard, FedEx Express Mr Wilkins Wong, Civil Service Training and Development Institute, Civil Service Bureau Outstanding New Trainer Awardees: Ms Fanny Chan, HSBC Ms Effie Cheng, McDonald’s Restaurants (Hong Kong) Limited Mr Andy Lau, HSBC Mr Nelson Wong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Mr Will Wong, HSBC

Campaign Awards:

Trainer of the Year: Mr Kelvin Ju, AIG Companies Distinguished Trainer Awardees: Mr Kelvin Ju, AIG Companies Ms Amy Kwong, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited Ms May Li, Civil Service Training & Development, Institute, Civil Service Bureau Mr Frankie Lo, Ageas Insurance Company (Asia) Limited Mr Vincent Tang, HSBC Ms Catherine Tong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Mr Christopher Yang, HSBC Outstanding New Trainer Awardees: Mr Jonathan Bok, HSBC Ms Viola Chan, AIG Companies Mr Andy Clark, ClarkMorgan Corporate Training Ms Ivy Poon, The Great Eagle Properties Management Company Limited Mr Vincent Woo, PCCW Limited Ms Susane Yan, HSBC Mr Lester Yeung, PCCW Limited

2007

Trainer of the Year: Ms Carroll Chu, Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong Distinguished Trainer Awardees: Ms Carroll Chu, Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong Ms Selina Kam, HSBC Mr Kenny Mak, HSBC Ms Shirley Ng, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

Outstanding New Trainer Awardees: Mr Mark Chan, HSBC Mr Peter Cheung, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Mr Desmond Ho, HSBC Mr Badhri Nath Rama Iyer, HSBC

2006

Trainer of the Year Ms Michelle Yam, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts Distinguished Trainer Awardees Ms Sara Ho, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Ms Doris Ip, The Aberdeen Marina Club Ms Jessie Lau, HSBC Ms Carrie Wong, HSBC Ms Michelle Yam, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts Outstanding New Trainer Awardees Ms Iris Chow, HSBC Ms Angela Tsui, CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd Ms Joyce Wai, HSBC

2005

Trainer of the Year Mr Shekhar Visvanath, HSBC Distinguished Trainer Awardees Ms Marianne Chung, HSBC Mr Allen Kuo, HSBC Mr Gary Liu, The Dairy Farm Company Ltd Ms Theresa Sham, The Excelsior, Hong Kong Dr Chester Tsang, Hospital Authority/Institute of Health Care Mr Shekhar Visvanath, HSBC Outstanding New Trainer Awardees Ms Elsie Gung, HSBC Mr King Lee, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation

* The list below shows the names of the award-receiving companies during the year of the Award indicated.

2010

Gold Prize: Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited Silver Prize: Morgan Stanley Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Excellence Awards: Aon Hong Kong Limited Fuji Xerox (Hong Kong) Limited Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

2009

Gold Prize: MTR Corporation Ltd Silver Prize: Synergis Management Services Ltd Bronze Prize: Zurich Life Insurance Co Ltd Certificates of Excellence: Hang Yick Properties Management Ltd Hong Yip Service Co Ltd InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong

2008

Gold Prize: CLP Power Hong Kong Limited Silver Prize: Maxim’s Caterers Ltd and Hospital Authority Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Certificates of Excellence: Canossa Hospital (Caritas) Hong Kong CSL Limited InterContinental Hong Kong

2007

Gold Prize: Tao Heung Group Limited Silver Prize: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Certificates of Excellence: Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel Li & Fung (Trading) Limited PCCW Limited

2006

Gold Prize: Langham Place Hotel Silver Prize: Gammon Construction Limited Bronze Prize: Hang Seng Bank Certificates of Excellence: Hang Seng Bank Jones Lang LaSalle - Management Solutions Shun Hing Electric Service Centre Ltd

2005

Gold Prize: Langham Place Hotel Silver Prize: CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Ltd Certificates of Merit: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd PCCW Limited Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd Special Award for SMEs: KC Maritime Ltd

2004

2008

Gold Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Silver Prize: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd

Bronze Prize: AXA China Insurance Co Ltd Certificates of Merit: ACNielson (China) Ltd Hong Kong Housing Authority MTR Corporation Ltd

2003

Gold Prize: Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd Silver Prize: Circle K Convenience Stores (HK) Ltd Bronze Prize: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd Certificates of Merit: Canossa Hospital (Caritas) Kai Shing Management Services Ltd Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd

2002

Gold Prize: Hong Kong Housing Authority Silver Prize: Hsin Chong Real Estate Management Ltd Bronze Prize: Allen & Overy (HK) Limited Certificates of Merit: American International Assurance Company (Bermuda) Ltd Hong Yip Service Company Ltd Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

2001

Gold Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd Silver Prize: Hongkong Post Bronze Prize: Watson's The Chemist Certificates of Merit: Giordano International Limited Hang Yick Properties Management Limited Hong Yip Service Company Ltd

2000

Gold Prize: Standard Chartered Bank Silver Prize: Hong Kong Housing Authority Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Certificates of Merit: Heraeus Ltd Hospital Authority MTR Corporation

1999

Gold Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd Silver Prize: CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd Bronze Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd Certificates of Merit: Goodwell Property Management Ltd The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course Ltd Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation

1998

Gold Prize: Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers Silver Prize: Tse Sui Luen Jewellery Co Ltd Bronze Prize: DHL International (HK) Ltd Certificates of Merit: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Hong Kong Police Shell Hong Kong Ltd

1997

Strategic HRD Category Silver Prize: Regal Hotels International Bronze Prize: DHL International (HK) Ltd Skills Training and Development Category Gold Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd Silver Prize: Marks and Spencer (HK) Ltd Bronze Prize: Regal Hotels International

Award For Excellence In Training & Development 2011 SUPPLEMENT

Trainer of the Year: Ms Natalie Lee, HSBC Distinguished Trainer Awardees: Ms Lau Shuk Han, Ageas Insurance Company (Asia) Limited Ms Natalie Lee, HSBC Ms Jacqueline Moyse, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Mr Bradley Wadsworth, PACNET Outstanding New Trainer Awardees: Mr Jason Furness, HSBC Ms Angelina Lee, CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd Mr Lawrence Luk, General Mills Hong Kong Limited

1996

Overall Winner: Giordano Ltd Strategic HRD Category: Giordano Ltd Skills Training and Development Category: Mass Transit Railway Corporation

1995

Overall Winner: Hospital Authority Strategic HRD Category: Hospital Authority Skills Training and Development Category: Mass Transit Railway Corporation

1994

Overall Winner: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation Strategic Management/Strategic HRD/TQM Training Category: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation Management/Supervisory Training Category: Cathay Pacific Catering Services (HK) Limited Professional/Technical Training Category: Securair Limited

1993

Overall Winner: The Asian Sources Media Group Strategic Management/Strategic HRD/ Customer Service/TQM Training Category: The Sino Group Management/Supervisory Training Category: The Asian Sources Media Group Professional/Technical Training/Others Category: Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited

1992

Service Category: Mass Transit Railway Corporation Commercial and Industrial Category: Shell Hong Kong Limited

1991

Service Category: Arthur Andersen & Company Manufacturing Category: Computer Products Asia-Pacific Limited Construction Category: Franki Kier Limited Wholesale/Retail/Import/Export Category: Jardine Pacific Ltd – Pizza Hut Division Utilities and Public Sector Category: Mass Transit Railway Corporation

1990

Multi-National Corporations Category: China Light & Power Company Limited

Special Supplement 17 .

HKMA Award for Excellence in Training & Development 2011

HR training

Teambuilding via plane crashes How throwing staff into crisis situations helps them work better together as a team and can enhance their determination and innovation in the workplace.

“Before your team crashes, we make it fly” is the slogan of Flight Experience Teambuilding training courses—and when they say ‘fly’ they really mean it. HR managers and training heads are no strangers to teambuilding experiences; both for themselves and

56

HR Magazine

for the personnel working in their companies, but the Flight Experience courses fly above, almost literally, other teambuilding training options. In this feature we follow a group of HR team members on their memorable teambuilding experience.

The simulations cover a wide range of scenarios including the following: • Pack power plant fire emergency onboard—testing emotional management and leadership skills under stress.

• Engine flame out and fuel

HR training

“

When our group of 16 arrived at the facility, four pilots in flight uniforms welcomed us and a chorus of 15 ’wows’ was heard as the pilots first showed us the simulators. Entering the simulator is exactly like entering the cockpit of a real plane, and as a team, we would be working together in the simulator to pilot an airplane.

“You are going to learn how to fly in 15 minutes,” said our instructor when he started the briefing, we all laughed, little did we know that it was the truth. We entered the simulator cockpits in groups of four for our initial training and with the help of the airline pilot it almost seemed natural, like we had been flying for hundreds of hours. Those simulators were incredible—people were bending over the controls and sweating as though they were really flying an airplane.

Just as we were getting used to the controls, it was time for the first activity. The trainer, a pilot and expert in behavioural training, briefed us on what to do, gave out materials and told us the game plan. We were going to fly the plane ourselves, however, this would be no normal flight, as we would lose one engine and then have to figure out how to save the plane. This was a perfect example of planning and then action.

The task was not easy and the unfamiliar but extremely realistic

environment of the simulator pushed the team to the limit. Everything happened so fast during the simulation, the whole team really needed to focus and work well together to successfully finish the simulation.

Unfortunately, we crashed. After the simulation, the trainer asked the team to prepare for the de-briefing and come up with reasons for why we thought things had gone wrong. You could tell that the trainer had a great deal of experience with training pilots, as he immediately started pointing out what did not work in our teams and brought out many interesting discussions on how our brains reacted under stress, and advice on how the team could perform better under similar stressful situations in the future and how this linked practically to our daily work.

After lunch… another emergency.

But this time almost all of our passengers survived the ordeal.

Eight hours in total: between flying, discussing and learning how we react—time certainly flew by very quickly. At the end of the day, the 16 of us agreed that not only had we had an incredibly fun time, but we were also taking away with us practical experience on how our team works under stress, and how to leverage different strengths in times of crisis.

disruption—testing stress impacts on limited resource management and problem solving skills.

• Airplane fuel dump situation— testing negotiation, teambuilding and time management skills.

• Air traffic control communication— testing assertiveness.

Participants enter the simulator in a group of three or four participants, and after reading task instructions, take up specific roles within the cockpit.

During the ‘flight’ participants are then faced with the emergency situation(s) and, armed with checklists and the

instrumentation panels, while dealing with the emergent problems.

The situations encountered, all have close parallels in the business world, and as participants work through the simulations, they learn directly of their own capabilities and limitations.

They also explore how to work better as a cohesive team and, dependent on the specific scenario; also enhance their problem solving, leadership, management, EQ, negotiation, timemanagement and communication skills.

Airline food for thought, as you plan your next teambuilding activities.

”

Autumn 2011

57

HR training

Youngergenerationitus

By Alistair Lamont, International Practice Director, the alphaeight institute: www.alphaeight.com

A conversation I seem to be repeatedly having at the moment with middle managers across Asia concerns a disease they all seem to be coming down with, namely youngergenerationitus. The conversation usually starts with the manager saying they have this invasion of younger people into their team and it’s causing them all kinds of problems.

Symptoms

When I ask them to describe the symptoms, they say it mainly manifests itself as huge bouts of frustration whenever they try to manage, communicate or motivate them. Tell me more, I say, and they often launch into a tirade of frustrations revolving around the younger generation’s: • lack of attention • lack of respect for existing rules • lack of loyalty • attitude to work that is all about ‘getting away with doing the minimum’ “And don’t get me started on customer service,” they sigh. The conversation usually ends with an exasperated and resigned manager saying, “They live in a different world.”

58

HR Magazine

Youngergenerationitus has many symptoms, but if you want a cure don’t treat the symptoms—treat the disease. So let’s look at this disease.

Youngergenerationitus is most commonly caused by a belief and an assumption that is present in some Generation X managers:

•

•

The belief: the world is the way I see it and have experienced it—so you need to see it my way, even though you did not grow up with any of my generation’s experiences and you are unable to constantly read my mind or physically transport yourself into my body and brain.

The assumption: you know my beliefs, understand them and go along with them. Also we don’t need to discuss or incorporate your way of seeing the world, because my way is the right way—and this way has always worked for me and others.

Youngergenerationitus has some significantly negative effects on the relationships between younger and

older generations including: tension, resentment and frustration. In extreme circumstances it leads to another rather nasty side effect called high turnover rate. The No.1 reason most people leave a job is because of their manager. So, if you are a manager suffering from youngergenerationitus what can you do? Well there is a cure that can be administered in two stages: • Stage 1: understanding • Stage 2: managing with understanding in mind

Stage 1: understanding

When you start to: • really understand the way that the younger generation sees the world and why • compare it to how you see the world and why it might differ You can then start to be mindful of two key things when you are managing younger generations on a day-to-day basis: • Their and your needs—you may not always be able to accommodate their needs but it’s good to know what they are because there is often an opportunity for compromise or even just to acknowledge them. After all

HR training

it’s not all about you doing what they want—it should work both ways.

Also when you understand they have different needs, and see the world differently you may also realise that you too should communicate your needs and way of seeing the world to them—so they can understand you better next time.

• Their strengths—there are two sides to every coin. Through understanding you can start to see strengths where perhaps before you only saw problems and weaknesses. When you understand these strengths you can then use them to help you, the staff themselves and the whole team to succeed.

What follows are some typical examples of these differences—to help HR managers understand the reality they face when dealing with the younger generation.

Leaders

I see them as technology addicts They see themselves as technology savvy

I see myself as not putting technology before human contact They see me as technology resistant

I think that they question everything, are challenging and difficult They think of themselves as asking questions so they can make informed decisions

Managers

Corporate Training & Executive Coaching

www.alphaeight.com

I see myself as respecting authority

They see me as a ‘yes man’

Stage 2: managing with understanding in mind

Once you have a good understanding of where they are coming from, you need to be mindful of this whenever you are managing them. There are many ways of doing this which can be used to great success—the key is keeping their way of seeing the world in mind as well as yours. There are many other cures for youngergenerationitus but I find this one works pretty well. So if you ever come down with it or know someone that is suffering right now then please pass on this article—so they can get well soon.

Teams

Autumn 2011

59

HR training

IVE instructors train HK police A unique training programme that is fostering collaboration and idea sharing between the education sector and the HKPF has been a great hit with both sides.

What do the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and IVE have in common? More than you would think. Simon Wong, Lecturer, Department of Electronic & Information Engineering at IVE (Sha Tin) has spent the last six months attached with the Communications Branch (COMS) of the HKPF. This exciting experience was made possible through the Industrial Attachment Programme (IAP), which is a staff development initiative arranged by Vocational Training Council.

Dr Peter Chiu, Head of Department of Electronic and Information Engineering in IVE (Sha Tin) explained, “The IAP is a very important form of staff development in the Engineering Department in which our staff work with IVE’s strategic partners to update their knowledge and expand their scope and understanding of the development, implementation and application of technology in the workplace.

The programme also helps lecturers to know exactly what strategic partners need, and from that design and develop tailoredcourses and activities to meet those needs.”

Close industry connections

Wong explained that through the IAP he had been able to both improve his knowledge and skills as well as bringing back ideas that he can use while teaching.

He noted, “As a lecturer, my job is very student-orientated and I am expected to be up-to-date on technological developments. The best way to do this is to have close connections with the

60

HR Magazine

industry. I can use these connections to seek advice and information that will benefit the students.” He observed, “The IAP is an engineering oriented role, you are required to apply technical knowledge— gained from training programmes offered by organisations like IVE—to provide an efficient and effective information and technology service for the HKPF.” The IAP is also a great way for lecturers to gain a different point of view, and from this learn different skills and methods that they can pass on to students to make them more competent in their professional careers.

Student input drives training

During his time with the HKPF, Wong studied the training needs of the technical staff and developed a longterm, sustainable in-service training course for the HKPF. As a large majority of the staff in COMMS are IVE graduates and was taught by Wong, this longterm relationship helps facilitate the development of tailored programme for that specific cohort. The HKPF operates in a similar way, in that themes are proposed by management and the topics within these themes are proposed by the staff members.

Following the development of the training programme, Wong evaluated the adaptation of manpower and potential opportunities for enhancement of the Electronic Service Support and Information and Communications Network Management Centre. He also collaborated

with colleagues to publish the inaugural issue of the Internal Communications Department Newsletter.

Symbiotic training partnership Ir Jolly Wong, Chief Telecommunications Engineer in the Information Systems Wing of the HKPF explained how such training programmes benefit the organisation, “I see in-service training as a transformation process—staff gain theoretical knowledge from programmes developed by IVE as well as hands on training. The programmes also allow acquisition of upto-date knowledge that staff can leverage to proactively improve themselves to face up to changes.”

Explaining why IVE makes such a good partner for the HKPF to work with, Ir Wong added, “Firstly, IVE has a great reputation, facilities and lecturers.

Secondly, and most importantly, is that the training is flexible and dynamic— lecturer coming to daily workplace and using actual equipment deployed by the HKPF—and thus provides a down-toearth approach readily usable in the real working environment.”

The symbiotic programme comes down to one word: partnership. Ir Wong concluded, “This is a win-win partnership for both parties. The HKPF gains longterm sustainable in-service training and IVE lecturers gain unique knowledge that can help make both them and their students more efficient and effective in their own careers.”

HR events

What’s coming up in the world of HR

When

Who

What

Where

Details

1 Sept 2011 (Thur) 19:00 - 20:00

MGSM, Macquarie University, Sydney

Information Session of MBA Programme

Pico Tower Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2774 8585 www.hkma.org.hk/mgsm

1 Sept 2011 (Thur) 19:00 - 20:00

MGSM, Macquarie University, Sydney

Information Session of Master of Management Programme

Pico Tower Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2774 8585 www.hkma.org.hk/mgsm

5 Sept 2011 (Mon) 19:00 - 21:30

Joint Event by SHRI and ACCA

The Necessity to Relook and Overhaul HR Processes and Practices for Progression

Asian Civilisations Museum Empress Place, Singapore

Fee: SHRI Member/Corporate Friend SG$20 gina@shri.org.sg www.shri.org.sg

7 Sept 2011 (Wed) 08:00 - 09:30

AmCham

Driving Business Execution through Integrated Talent Management

1904 Bank of America Tower 12 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong

(light breakfast included) sanlee@amcham.org.hk Fax (852) 2810 1289

15 Sept 2011 (Thur) 14:30 - 17.30

HKGCC

Leadership Training for Supervisors & Line Managers

Chamber Conference Room 22/F United Centre, Hong Kong

Wanda Chiu Tel: (852) 2823 1280 Fax: (852) 2527 9843 wanda@chamber.org.hk

19-23 Sept 2011 (Mon-Fri)

Korn/Ferry International

Talent Management Certification Workshops

Regal Hotel Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Itc.hongkong@kornferry.com

19 Sept 2011 (Mon) 12:00 - 14:00

AmCham

25 years of the Leadership Challenge and the Leadership Lessons Learned Along the Way

HKUST Business School Central 15/F Hong Kong Club Building, 3A Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong

Members: HK$250 Non-members: HK$350 Fax (852) 2810 1289 sanlee@amcham.org.hk

20 Sept 2011 (Tue) 12:30 - 14:00

CanCham

Developing an Engaged and Motivated Staff Culture

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 1301 Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

events@cancham.org

27 Sept 2011 (Tue) 09:00 - 12:00

HKGCC

Managing the Post 90s Generation

Chamber Conference Room 22/F United Centre, Hong Kong

Wanda Chiu Tel: (852) 2823 1280 Fax: (852) 2527 9843 wanda@chamber.org.hk

12-14 Oct 2011 (Wed-Fri)

Summit Events

The Human Resource Summit

The Sheraton Lisboa Hotel Lisbon, Portugal

Tel: 004420 7828 2278 www.summit-events.com

20 Oct 2011 (Thur) 08:30 - 16:30

HR Magazine

HR Magazine Conference

Clifton’s Central Quality Level 33, 9 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

Fees: FREE ENTRY to HR Magazine Subscribers Half Day: HK$800 Whole Day: HK$1,200

Gen-Y Management Strategies: • Employer of choice • Recruitment strategies • Retention strategies • Communication strategies • Not pulling your hair out

Full details at: www.hrmagazine.com.hk

25-26 Oct 2011 (Tue-Wed) 09:30 - 17:30

Flight Experience Hong Kong, e-mind

Unique Teambuilding Experience in Boeing 737-800 Simulators

Flight Experience Megabox, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong

teambuilding@flightexperience.com.hk

27 Oct 2011 (Thur) 12:30 - 14:00

CanCham

Attracting Talent In The New World of Work

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 1301 Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

events@cancham.org

31 Oct 2011 (Mon) 08:00 - 16:30

AHRI

Leadership Conference: Find solutions to stay one step ahead of current and future leadership challenges

National Convention Centre Constitution Avenue, Canberra, Australia

Fee:AHRI member AU$339 Non-member AU$435 http://leadership.ahri.com.au/canberra

2-3 Nov 2011 (Wed) 07:45-21:00

HR Tech Europe

HR Tech and Enterprise Conference: Optimise, Enable and Unleash Your People

Hotel Okura, Amsterdam

To list your HR events here contact Kollin Baskoro.

Tel: (852) 2736 6362 or e-mail: kollin@hrmagazine.com.hk

Autumn 2011

61

HR classifieds

Index Business Process Outsourcing

| 62

Pest Control & Environmental Services

| 65

Conference & Exhibition Venues

| 62

Psychological / Assessment Tools

| 65

Education and Corporate Training

| 62-63

Recruitment / Executive Search

| 65-66

HR Technology Solutions

| 64

Relocation & Logistics

| 66

Leadership Development

| 64

Staff Benefits

| 66

Legal / Employment Law / Tax

| 64

Business Process Outsourcing Innovative HR has developed a comprehensive outsourcing service and has provided all the power, features and flexibility without the drain on internal resources. Our services include: Payroll Outsourcing, Hong Kong Work Visa Application, Talent Recruitment, Employee Handbook Development and Business Licence Application for establishing representative offices in the PRC. For more information, please contact Ada Lai on 2555 8062, or visit our website.

Special promotion on HR Library!

Innovative Human Resources Outsourcing Partners Limited 9/F, CLI Building, 313 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Tricor is a member of The Bank of East Asia Group. Tricor Business Services offers efficient, effective and professional advisory and outsourced support services to our clients. We deliver seamless solutions to address issues in accounting & financial reporting; cash, fund and payment administration; human resources and payroll administration; business advisory; trade services; and systems solutions to ensure the adoption of best practices in your business.

Tricor Services Limited Level 28, Three Pacific Place, 1 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong

AsiaWorld-Expo is Hong Kong’s leading exhibitions, conventions, concerts and events venue, yet it is also an ideal venue for annual dinners, world-class conferences, cocktail receptions, media luncheons and sumptuous banquets. With Hong Kong’s largest indoor convention and hospitality hall, AsiaWorld-Summit which seats up to 5,000 persons, together with a full range of meeting and conference facilities, award-winning chefs and attentive hospitality staff, AsiaWorld-Expo is definitely your choice for an unforgettable event.

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

Cliftons provides premium, purpose-built, training and event facilities and solutions, ensuring our clients’ programs are delivered seamlessly and successfully around the globe. Over the past 14 years, Cliftons has grown to provide clients with the largest network of dedicated computer and seminar training facilities across the Asia Pacific region.

Encompassing over 150 state-of-the-art training and meeting rooms within 10 CBD locations in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, this footprint of proprietary venues is supplemented by a global affiliates network that allows clients to manage all of their training needs around the world with a single point of contact.

Cliftons Training Facility 33/F, 9 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

Bite Sized Training High impact 90 minute workshops. Staff too busy to attend full day training, looking for better ROI for your training, need training delivered in your local language, want lunch-and-learn or breakfast sessions, or just need training delivered across multiple locations? Bite Sized Training is the answer! With 25 topics to choose from, covering everything from Negotiation, Delivering Presentations, Managing Gen Y, Sales and Leadership, and delivered by expert, accredited trainers, Bite Sized Training is the learning and development system of choice for leading companies across the Asia Pacific. Visit www.bitesizedtraining.asia or email info@bitesizedtraining.asia for more information.

Bite Sized Training Suite 1001 - 1002, Mass Mutual Tower, 38 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2555 8062 Fax: (852) 3003 0198 info@innovativehr.com.hk www.innovativehr.com.hk

Tel: (852) 2980 1888 Fax: (852) 2861 0285 info@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

Conference & Exhibition Venues

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

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

Education and Corporate Training

62

HR Magazine

Tel: 800 903 210 Fax: (852) 2816 7150 info@bitesizedtraining.asia www.bitesizedtraining.asia

HR classifieds DSL/Evans & Peck (Hong Kong) Ltd. provides Business advisory services to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and success of our client’s core business and projects. Our services include: Change Management, Leadership Development; Agile Business Optimisation; Process Improvement; Building high performance teams using NASA 4-D and other methodologies; Executive Coaching and Training.

Evans & Peck, part of the WorleyParsons Group, is an international infrastructure-based advisory company supporting major projects and change programs for private organisations and governments throughout Australia, Asia and the Middle East.

DSL/Evans & Peck (Hong Kong) Ltd. Level 14,Sun House, 181 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong

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

Excel Education Limited Unit 101, Fourseas Building, 208-212 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Excel’s renowned courses are tailored to the job nature, level and needs of the students. Our targeted, interactive approach in facilitation has allowed us to build an unrivalled reputation in the corporate training field.

Clients include: the Airport Authority, American Express, Bausch and Lomb, Credit Agricole, KCRC, the Hong Kong Government, Swire Travel and United Airlines.

Contact person: Yvonne Hau Tel: (852) 2722 0986 Fax: (852) 2492 2127 www.evanspeck.com

Tel: (852) 2736 6339 Fax: (852) 2736 6369 info@excelhk.com www.excelhk.com

The Hong Kong Management Association was established in 1960.

As a non profit making professional organization, its mission is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of management in Hong Kong.

Offering annually over 2,000 training programmes to more than 45,000 participants, ranging from work-oriented short courses, workshops, Certificates, Diplomas to Bachelor, Master and Doctoral Degrees, the HKMA is one of the largest providers of management training and education in the Territory.

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

macsimize is a leading training consultancy with a significant presence in the Asia Pacific region. Our solutions include: leadership and sales training; organisational development and teambuilding. macsimize capitalises on its diverse and visionary approach to developing human potential, potential that is measurable and results oriented. We aim to become your preferred global partner in developing your people and your business.

macsimize Pte. Ltd. Contact person: Ayesha Mathias Tel: (852) 9300 2390 ayesha.mathias@macsimize.biz www.macsimize.biz

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

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

The alphaeight institute specialises in neuroscience research and people development. We use our research to create individual and team development solutions for leaders, managers and frontline workers that are focused on business objectives. We offer our clients four key ways of developing their people: • Executive Coaching • Group Coaching • Workshops • Long-Term Programmes

the alphaeight institute 1906, 19/F., Miramar Tower, 132 Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Our • • • •

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

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

Contact person: Mrs Stephanie Herd Tel: (852) 2302 0283 Fax: (852) 2302 0006 stephanie.herd@alphaeight.com www.alphaeight.com

focus areas include: Leadership Development Management Development Team Development Team Building…and more

Our consultants are available to discuss all your specific needs.

Autumn 2011

63

HR classifieds

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

Our passion is developing intuitive talent management technology that people love to use. Our integrated talent management solutions—including talent acquisition, onboarding, performance management, succession management, compensation management, enterprise learning management and talent analytics—create fantastic outcomes and inspiring careers.

SilkRoad technology is a Talent Management software company providing solutions to enable companies to manage the entire career of your employees. We help you to bring in the best talent and keep it for the long term. From our offices in Hong Kong and throughout AsiaPacific we focus on the people, not the numbers, and pride ourselves in being the only HR technology vendor to centre our efforts around helping our clients provide truly positive talent experiences. Spread the smiles with SilkRoad’s talent management software. Work Happy!

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

SilkRoad technology Hong Kong Tai Yip Building, Floor 10-05, 141 Thompson Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Contact person: Eric Choi Tel: (852) 9193 8573 eric.choi@silkroad.com www.silkroad.com

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

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

CCL® 238A Thomson Road #16-06/08, Novena Square Tower A, Singapore 307684

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

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

• Team member engagement • Leadership development • Customer services

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

• Sales effectiveness • Process improvement and • Presentation effectiveness

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

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

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

• Sponsor or part sponsor your staff to achieve MBA, Masters, Bachelor, Diploma or Certificate courses.

• The spend is value for money • The return is measurable & tangible • Choose from 31 courses from 9 UK Universities (Bradford, Sunderland, Wales, Birmingham, etc) • 16 years in HK *All courses are registered

RDI Management Learning Ltd. 7/F South China Building 1-3 Wyndham Street Central, Hong Kong

Baker & McKenzie defined the global law firm in the 20th century, and we are redefining it to meet the challenges of the global economy in the 21st century. With one of the largest teams of dedicated employment lawyers based in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, we assist our clients to solve complex employment issues through strategic advice, innovative approaches and practical solutions. We help our clients find the best way to be responsible and respected employer, while maintaining the flexibility they require to adapt continuously to realities of an intensely competitive Greater China market.

Baker & McKenzie 23rd Floor, One Pacific Place 88 Queensway, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2992 0133 Fax: (852) 2992 0918 info@rdihongkong.com www.rdihongkong.com

Legal / Employment Law / Tax

64

HR Magazine

14th Floor, Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2846 1888 Fax: (852) 2845 0476 hrlaw@bakermckenzie.com www.bakermckenzie.com/china

HR classifieds

Pest Control & Environmental Services BioCycle is the first pest management company in Hong Kong to have acquired both the ISO 14001 and the ISO 9001 System Certifications.

BioCycle was set up in 1991 to provide safe and environmentally friendly Pest Control, Termite Consulting, Sentricon Colony Elimination System for termite colony and Sanitation Services, and operates under European management.

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

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

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

Only the professional carpet cleaning and pest-control services of Truly Care, Hong Kong’s specialists in occupational, industrial, environmental and domestic hygiene can give you a clean, safe and bug-free office and home.

Truly Care (HK) Ltd. Room 1522, Nan Fung Centre, 264-298 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan, N.T., Hong Kong

Don’t put your staff’s health at risk!

Tel: (852) 2458 8378 Fax: (852) 2458 8487 info@trulycare.com.hk www.trulycare.com.hk

For a free, no obligation, inspection and quotation, please call us now on 2458 8378

Psychological / Assessment Tools PsyAsia International is Asia’s leading independent distributor of Psychometric Tests of Personality and Aptitude. PsyAsia International also offers employee screening and assessment services, personal development courses and human resource training and consultancy.

Using highly qualified and experienced organisational psychologists, our solutions are World-Class. Our focus on scientific, evidence-based psychology at the core of our Human Resource Training and Consulting activities, as well as the employment of fully registered organisational psychologists, separates us from those providing similar services in the HR field.

PsyAsia International Level 8, Two Exchange Square 8 Connaught Place Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 8200 6005 www.psyasia.com/email www.psyasia.com

Recruitment / Executive Search AsiaNet Consultants, founded in 1988, has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and London providing International Executive Search and Business Start Up Services in China.

AsiaNet Consultants 15/F Onfem Tower 29 Wyndham St, Central, Hong Kong

AsiaNet is a member of the International Executive Search Federation— the largest executive search group both in Asia Pacific and worldwide.

Tel: (852) 2530 0130 info@asianetconsultants.com www.asianetconsultants.com

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

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

Silenus is certainly your partner of choice who specializes in recruiting talents in the Consumer and Retail sectors in Hong Kong.

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

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

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

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

Autumn 2011

65

HR classifieds Tricor Executive Resources, the former search and selection practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, has over the last 25 years built an unrivalled reputation for integrity and professionalism.

Through focused research and intense sourcing, we recruit management and top-level executives for positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the region.

We also offer related HR services such as recruitment outsourcing; compensation and benefit advice; outplacement and career counselling; and advisory services on grading structures and job descriptions.

Tricor Executive Resources Limited Level 28, Three Pacific Place, 1 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2980 1166 Fax: (852) 2869 4410 fiona.yung@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

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

Crown Relocations Suite 1001 - 1002, Mass Mutual Tower, 38 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Nespresso, the worldwide pioneer and market leader in highestquality premium portioned coffee, introduces consumers to the world’s finest Grand Cru coffees to be enjoyed in the comfort of their own homes and savoured outside the home, in locations such as gourmet restaurants, upscale hotels, luxury outlets and offices.

Nespresso is driven by core competencies that enable it to create highest quality Grand Cru coffees, long lasting consumer relationships, and sustainable business success. The Nespresso offer focuses on its unique Trilogy, the unmatched combination of exceptional coffee, smart and stylish coffee machines and personalised customer service.

Together, these three elements deliver moments of pure indulgence – the Nespresso Ultimate Coffee Experiences.

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

Matilda International Hospital offers newly developed facilities and state-of-the-art equipment for a comprehensive health assessment service and is committed to providing the best care and personal attention for both corporate and individual clients. Matilda Medical Centre has extended services to Central and Tsim Sha Tsui and provides full primary and preventative healthcare services. The combined expertise of the hospital and medical centres results in an entire suite of result-oriented health and wellness services to address specific medical and budgeting needs.

The provision of inpatient services and advance surgical suites ensures seamless follow through care and access to a wide range of experienced specialist facilities and advanced treatment options.

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

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers is a leading international health insurance brokerage specializing in providing comprehensive coverage options to individuals, families, and companies throughout the AsiaPacific region. Working with over 80,000 clients in 150 countries, Pacific Prime can deliver advice in more than 15 major languages. With offices strategically located in Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Pacific Prime is able to provide immediate advice and assistance to policyholders located around the world. Pacific Prime works with 55 of the world’s leading health insurance providers, giving customers unprecedented access to the best medical insurance products currently on the market.

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

Total Loyalty Company provides a staff social club outsourcing solution for Hong Kong companies. Offering a customized solution for each client, the staff social club program includes a company branded website, branded membership cards, a wide range of lifestyle benefits and privileges and a full calendar of social events. www.totalloyalty.hk

Total Loyalty Company Suite 2202, 22/F Manley Commercial Building, 367-375 Queens Road Central, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2865 7972 Fax: (852) 2816 7150 hkmobility@crownrelo.com www.crownrelo.com

Staff Benefits

A staff social club can add immense value to a company’s culture, from generating greater employee engagement, assisting with staff retention, through to creating a better work life balance for employees.

66

HR Magazine

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

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

Tel: (852) 3113 1331 Fax: (852) 2915 7770 info@pacificprime.com sam.cooper@pacificprime.com www.pacificprime.com

Contact person: Sam Lau Tel: (852) 2536 9010 Fax: (852) 2536 9008 sam@totalloyalty.hk www.totalloyalty.hk

HR training

MAKING A FRESH START

Steps towards a new career

Whether you are looking to pursue a personal passion, take advantage of an industry with growth potential or move to a new company, a fresh start can be attractive and worthwhile.

But, it is important to remember it is not always an easy road.

Andrew Morris, Director of Robert Half Hong Kong offers some useful steps to help those looking to make a successful leap into a new career.

Assess your situation

Before you take the leap, evaluate your current situation and establish why you want to make this change. What are you looking for in your new profession and why is it so important? It is crucial to be certain of your motivations before you take any further steps.

Do your due diligence

If you are unhappy with your current role, it is easy to convince yourself that any other option is a better one. It is important to research the industry and position that you are interested in by reading trade publications, conducting online research and networking. This will allow you to understand your field of interest and may highlight any potential hurdles such as new training or qualifications that you may need.

Seek advice from someone in the know

It may be beneficial to arrange an informal meeting/interview with a contact in the field. This will allow you a ‘real world’ perspective. Be clear that you are not looking for a job, but rather expanding your knowledge of what is required to fill the role and learn more about your field of interest. The person you speak to may also be able to offer advice regarding the challenges that come with the job, an insight into the hiring environment and helpful guidance on how to break into your chosen industry/career path.

68

HR Magazine

Know yourself and what you want

It is important to thoroughly evaluate yourself, your qualifications and your downfalls before making a career transition. When applying for a new job, it is important to understand your transferable skills such as communication, organisational and leadership skills as these are relevant to all industries. If your desired industry requires specific skills and qualifications, take your time to establish what you need to develop and focus on. If a license or certificate is needed, evaluate the time and cost involved to determine how easy it will be to make the switch.

Make the transition slowly

Take your time to determine whether you are comfortable in your newly chosen industry. There may be opportunities to undertake volunteer or temporary work that will allow you a better understanding of the position. By embarking on opportunities such as this, you will be able to establish whether a career change is the right path.

Be realistic

Whatever the economic climate, a careerswitch will not happen overnight. It will take time to build skills. Also, understand that you may need to start in an entrylevel position, until you gain experience.

Changing your career path is a daunting prospect, no matter how much experience or knowledge you have. By following these useful steps, you will be able to ease the transition process and hopefully discover a new career that gives you the professional satisfaction that you are searching for.

HR training

ExxonMobil on CSR ExxonMobil’s approach to corporate social responsibility Last year the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. In early 2011 The White House released a report attributing BP with nine faults. The report concluded that better management of decision-making processes and better communication both within BP and between BP and other companies would have prevented the incident, along with more effective training of key engineering and rig personnel. With the stigma of this disaster repeating itself, the oil industry’s business practices and ethics are being highly scrutinised and there is now a greater demand for accountability.

This issue, along with corporate social responsibility, was addressed during the Ripples Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility sponsored by AIESEC earlier this year at Hong Kong University. Grace Lam, Vice President, Public & Government Affairs, ExxonMobil addressed Exxon’s approach to corporate social responsibility.

Why corporate citizenship?

ExxonMobil has been in operation for 125 years and is the world’s largest energy company, therefore corporate citizenship is essential. “How we achieve results is as important as the results themselves.

At ExxonMobil, we are committed to continuing to meet the world’s energy needs and address environmental and other citizenship challenges…This is not just our philosophy but is central to the way we do business,” said Rex Tillerson, CEO, ExxonMobil.

Key areas of CSR

Lam discussed how the company’s approach to corporate social responsibility is focused on corporate citizenship and sustainability to ensure future generations

are not compromised by actions taken today. She stated, “Sustaining means balancing economic growth, social development and environmental protection so Exxon’s business strategy is to keep a balance of these three important areas.”

In establishing corporate citizenship Exxon focuses on six core areas: ▪▪Human rights and security ▪▪Corporate governance ▪▪Economic development ▪▪Managing climate change risks ▪▪Environmental performance ▪▪Health and safety in the workplace

Corporate governance

Lam stated, “Corporate governance means adhering to the highest ethical standards in every aspect of our business.” She said this is particularly challenging when working with developing countries due to corruption and the fact that they would rather not be involved.

Integrity is most important and to this end they have established a framework that governs employee practices called Standards of Business Conduct. This framework ensures that all 80,000 staff members are continually trained in business ethics and supports their commitment to equal opportunities and the laws and regulations of the countries in which they operate. As a result of the framework the company scored ‘ten-out-of-ten’ from Governance Metrics International, putting them in the top 1% of all companies.

On the topic of health and safety, Lam said, “Only when employees are safe and healthy can we have high productivity and protect the public.” She confided that zero injury or illness is a difficult goal, especially for energy companies and it is even harder when companies deviate from best practice and safety guidelines, as was the case with the BP oil spill. Exxon has an operational integrity management system

in place, which governs all the procedures and processes. They also provide training to staff on sexual harassment, equal employment opportunity and racial discrimination to ensure all staff understand their human rights.

ExxonMobil’s impact on the environment and CSR

While oil corporations may seem to ‘look the other way’ on the ever-changing climate and the risks that accompany it, Exxon has decided to face the problem, acknowledging that it is serious and everyone has their part to play in minimising the risk. Exxon has striven to reduce carbon emissions, increase energy efficiency and develop technologies to save energy and reduce pollution.

Environmental performance is critical in the company’s CSR approach, “Protect tomorrow today,” stated Lam.

Community investments

The company has developed numerous strategic community investments such as the ExxonMobil Malaria Initiative and the Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative, which develops leaders and builds a foundation for economic growth in the region. Educational partnerships have been formed, establishing special programmes to enhance student’s mathematics and science skills and preparing for the next generation.

Lam summarised corporate citizenship at ExxonMobil as: ▪▪ Striving to provide the world with energy while holding the social responsibility of reducing the impact it may have on the environment as our prime concern.

▪▪ Commitment to the health and safety of the communities we operate in and the environment as a whole.

▪▪ Engaging shareholders in the progress of all business initiatives and CSR programmes.

Autumn 2011

69

HR legal

Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance Changes and what they mean for HR...

The Government introduced the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill 2011 (the Bill) into the Legislative Council on July 13, 2011.

The Bill seeks to implement proposals published in a Hong Kong Government report in April 2011.

The proposals were formulated following a lengthy review process of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO), which commenced in 2009.

The recent enforcement action taken by the Privacy Commissioner against a number of Hong Kong banks over the transfer of customers’ personal data for direct marketing purposes and the Octopus Rewards incident demonstrate that the changes proposed in the Bill are both timely and relevant.

Key amendments in Bill include: Cross marketing There are specific provisions directed at cross marketing and selling personal data including the requirement of confirming in writing the types of personal data being transferred, the classes of persons to which data will be transferred and the categories of goods and services that will be cross-marketed.

Direct marketing There have been substantial changes to the types of notices and procedures to be followed in direct marketing.

For example, data subjects will need to be provided with an ability to opt out of receiving marketing materials before their data is used for direct marketing, as well as being informed of their right to opt out on first use of their personal data for marketing purposes.

They will also have the right to opt out at any time subsequently.

70

HR Magazine

New offences of sale or use in direct marketing It will be an offence for a person to sell or transfer personal data or use it for direct marketing without providing certain information or if the person has objected to the sale, transfer or use. The maximum penalty in these circumstances for sale is HKD1 million and five years imprisonment, and for use or transfer it is HKD500,000 or 3 years imprisonment.

relevant to employees who take personal data from client or customer lists for their own gain and may provide employers with a tool to discourage such losses.

Key points for employers to consider •

Privacy Commissioner to provide legal assistance There is a new provision which will empower the Privacy Commissioner to provide legal assistance to data subjects who intend to bring proceedings under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to seek compensation from data users.

New offence It will be an offence to disclose personal data of a data subject, obtained from a data user, without the consent of the data user if there is intent to (a) make financial gain (personally or otherwise); or (b) cause financial loss. It is also an offence if the disclosure causes psychological harm to the data subject. This is different from injury to feelings and it is likely that expert evidence would need to be adduced to prove psychological harm. The maximum penalty is HKD1 million and five years’ imprisonment. This could be

•

Even though many of the amendments relate to commercial uses of data such as direct marketing, they may be of interest to employers as a wide range of staff may handle the personal data. As a result, they should be appropriately trained and any existing systems to safeguard data should be reviewed and/or strengthened.

The risk profile for any claims brought by data subjects being assisted by the Privacy Commissioner’s Office may require upgrading and escalating within the employer’s company for a swift resolution, as the scrutiny of the Privacy Commissioner’s Office is unlikely to be desirable and may attract negative publicity.

Source: Baker & McKenzie

For more information, please contact: Jennifer Van Dale (852) 2846 2483 jennifer.van.dale@bakermckenzie.com Anna Gamvros (852) 2846 2137 anna.gamvros@bakermckenzie.com