HR Guide to Recruitment

HR Guide to Recruitment

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Foreword | Recruitment, a word that often conjures up fear in the eyes of many in HR, is something that every company needs to do. Constantly evolving, recruitment requires continual maintenance from HR and—if done properly—requires a variety of different approaches to maximise its effectiveness in different segments of the talent pool.

Bringing the right talent on-board is a core HR function that is fundamental to building successful and sustainable organisations. There has been significant debate about the best ways to go about achieving this. As ever, HR Magazine helps you cut to the chase and shares practical advice on what works well and what doesn’t.

We share observations and advice from a variety of perspectives including in-house recruiters, HR directors, consultant recruiters and the Hong Kong Government.

In this guide learn…

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Innovative recruitment strategies—as the reach and effectiveness of job boards wanes, we examine the use of social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn together with mobile technologies as recruitment channels.

The importance of pre-screening—with the avalanche of resumes reaching HR inboxes, pre-screening is becoming an essential tool to ensure only the best and honest candidates make it through.

Important cross-cultural and generational differences that exist in the recruitment landscape and how best to deal with them.

How to segment recruitment efforts to best suit the different components of the available talent pool—embracing diversity and recruiting to take advantage of fully integrating LGBTs, different generations, different abilities and different cultures and nationalities within the workforce.

The importance of employer brand—creating, maintaining and adapting employer brand, recruitment best practices and EVPs to keep attracting and retaining HiPos. Decruitment techniques and strategies that reduce employer liability and maintain employer brand, while still being sensitive to and nurturing outgoing talent.

Read on…recruit and retain

Paul Arkwright Publisher HR Magazine

s ude Incl hensive pre com isting s l ter crui ion e r f g o e re in th

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Paul Arkwright

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In order of inclusion in the guide: MRI China Group, eFinancial Careers, Manpower, Robert Half, Adecco, John Putzier, MS., SPHR—FirStep, Inc., Mathew Gollop—ConnectedGroup, James Hewitt & Karen Perron—SilkRoad Technology, Brien Keegan—Ranstad, Mark Geary—AsiaNet Consultants, Erik Schmit—Lumesse, Adrian Ashurst—Worldbox Business Intelligence, Greg Basham—eevoices, Dr Graham Tyler—PsyAsia International, Premiere Global, Community Business, Universum, Robert Walters, Cranfield School of Management, Dr Magdalena Meller, Richard Welford— CSE Asia, Pattie Walsh—DLA Piper, Richard Bates—Kennedys, Michael Downey—Hong Kong and China Employment Law Group Soundbites

A huge thank you to all those who, in interviews and/or at our conferences, took time to share their ideas that helped to make this guide possible. They include—in order of inclusion in the guide: Andrew J. Filipowski, William Yeung, Joseph Poon, Steve Chow, Ritchie Bent, Cliff Davis, Anthony Williams, Dr Frankie Lam, Fern Ngai, Anna Hong, Mathew Gollop, Adam Edwards, James Mendes, Annie Cheung, Richard Crespin, Kendrew Yu, Dr Helen Fung, Erik Schmit, Joanne Rigby, Eddie Ng HakKim, Shaun Bernier, Jim Thompson, Michal Kalinowski, Johan Ramel, Avril Henry, Professor John Bacon-Shone, Deidre Lander, Jennifer Van Dale, Subha Barry, Kate Vernon, Richie Bent among many others…

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

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Table of contents | Introduction

28

Consultant perspectives

48

Attracting staff without money

80

Recruiting in emerging markets

Current regional recruitment landscape "It’s easy to find a job in the current market" Upbeat hiring forecast Employer expectations—how much is too much?

More graduates take on part-time, temporary contracts Strategic targeted recruitment No more Russian roulette recruiting Recruit musicians not MBAs

Corporate perspectives

City Telecom (HK): talent selection DHL Express Greater China: bringing employer of choice to life Hang Seng Bank: HR strategies Hsin Chong Construction: line managers key in recruitment Jardines’ HR recruitment roadmap Manulife Financial: recruitment strategies Newell Rubbermaid: proactive recruitment strategies Oregon Scientific: recruiting the Oregon Trail of leaders Standard Chartered: identifying your talent bank TurboJet: smooth sailing to find right talent

ConnectedGroup: HR Fight Club HR in the fast lane Recruitment uncovered Recruiting your recruitment firm How the hunter becomes the hunted Sourcing good HR Outsourcers Building high performance teams Volume recruitment You never get a second chance to make a first impression

Money often speaks louder than words But money isn’t everything

Entering into emerging markets Recruitment retention in China Pollution & recruitment

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7 11 13 16 20 21 23 25

29 31 33 34 36 37 38 40 43 46

49 53 58 62 64 66 68 72 77

81 82

86

87 89 92

Recruitment technology & social media

Free recruitment database eases pain of candidate searches Talent quest Half of employees now communicating via social media Marketing & recruitment Facebook talent Googling for talent Tech savvy HR...I think not

Screening applicants

Pulling the wool over HR’s eyes Seeing is believing Getting psychometrics right

Attracting Gen-Y

96 97 99 101 104 106 107 108

114 115 120 122

The generation game Communication critical for Gen-Y recruitment Better work-life balance Social networking vs social notworking

Attracting talent Back to basics with employer branding What is it that attracts & drives talent?

Employee volunteering HR Role in corporate branding Employer branding Universities not instilling work-life balance...so it's up to HR

126 127 131 132 137

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Compensation and benefits

Mind the gap Payroll up 5% in 2011 Is HK HR ready for audit by the labour department?

Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

140 141 143 148 151 155 158 160

162 163 164 167

Creating inclusive workplaces for LGBT employees in Hong Kong How effective are your HR discrimination skills?

Getting women on the Board Towards a global recruitment culture The business case for recruitment diversity Merrill Lynch on leveraging diversity & inclusion Recruiting to ensure diversity and inclusion

170 171 172 175 178 180 183 185

Decruitment

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Spotlight on references—obligations and risks for employers Avoiding liability when giving references Don't ask, Don't tell Exit strategies Outsourcing decruitment

Recruiter overview

General Recruiters Adecco Personnel Limited Bernard Hodes Group ConnectedGroup Limited Gemini Personnel Limited Hays HK Limited Hong Kong Recruitment HRA Recruitment Hudson Manpower Michael Page International Morgan McKinley Randstad Hong Kong Limited Robert Walters PLC talent2 Tricor Business Services Limited Tricor Executive Resources Limited Work Group PLC Executive Recruiters Manpower Professional MRI China Group MSI (Man Search International Limited) Rec2Rec Asia Silenus (Hong Kong) Limited talent partners Specialised Recruiters Firebrand Talent Search Robert Half Taylor Root Mobile Recruitment Services Dazhi Mobile Recruitment Services Recruiter Matrix

189 191 197 199 201

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203 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 226 227 228 229 229 230

Introduction

Just hire someone. What's so difficult?

It is unlikely that we will witness any time soon, movie stars espousing how they, “Love the smell of recruitment in the morning.” Nor are we likely to see managers, in bedraggled suits—looking like they have spent too long in the business jungle— talking about how recruiting has changed them.

No, recruiting is not much of a blockbuster theme, but it is a critical issue that can make or break businesses.

Recruiting has evolved from simply writing a short job description and posting it on job boards or in the classifieds to a front-line strategy for corporate success. This guide is to help those in HR and recruitment better plan, navigate and conduct recruitment through more creative, segmented, efficient and effective means. The guide also shares best practices and observations from experts in the recruiting field.

The recruitment landscape is changing dramatically and research conducted by HR Magazine shows there is a growing disconnect between employer recruitment efforts and employee expectations—often

exacerbated by different mindsets among diverse talent pools. This guide compares viewpoints from HR, recruitment consultants and those of the jobseekers themselves—to find out what makes different generations tick, and what recruiters need to be doing to attract and retain the best talent.

Recruitment managers must ensure that the right message is reaching the right candidates at the right time and through the right means.

The use of social media to convey employer brand and employee value propositions (EVPs) to attract job applicants, now and for future positions that may arise, is becoming de rigueur.

We show you how, and why, HR needs to embrace different social media tools.

We also explore the latest trends and changes in the way companies are behaving and recruiting in order to remain employers of choice.

HR also needs to be prepared for the avalanche of resumes that flood into their in box each day. We help with insight on the best ways to ensure that recruitment filters are working to help separate the wheat

from the chaff, so that interviewing efforts can be focused on the most appropriate talent pools.

Even after employees have been onboarded, recruitment is far from over—with exit interviews playing a vital role in HR intelligence gathering to help better shape future recruitment efforts. We provide advice on how recruiters can best deal with decruitment—in a way that benefits future recruitment efforts.

Throughout an employee's lifecycle recruitment has a strategic impact on your company's brand, culture and ultimately the bottom line. When done correctly, effective recruitment allows companies to reap the rewards of an efficient, effective, motivated and cohesive workforce.

The guide can be read cover to cover, so feel free to dive in and swim the full length.

Although, based on current HR time constraints, we're not really expecting that—so we've divided the content into key HR recruitment functions to allow you to just dip in and get your toes wet in the most appropriate sections.

And if you haven't got time for that, it's probably time to hire someone to help.

Introduction

Current regional recruitment landscape|

This guide is aimed at helping HR and hiring managers to attract and retain a sustainable talent pipeline— something a lot easier said than actually done in practice. One of the most important keys to the success of any hiring strategy is for hiring mangers to really understand their target talent pool and find out what motivates them—again easier said than done. To help HR in this task, just a few months after the PRC became the second largest economy in the world, the MRI China Group surveyed over 3,000 professionals and managers to gain a deeper understanding of what motivates them as they pursue a job they love.

The MRI China Group Talent Environment Index was

conducted during Q4 of 2010 in China and Hong Kong targeting the mid to senior level management talent market, across a wide range of sectors. Out of a total of 3,185 respondents, 2,265 were based in China and 348 in Hong Kong. Here we summarise the key findings from the groundbreaking survey.

Mainland China job market highly volatile On the back of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPC) and the Annual Plenary Session of the China’s National People Congress (NPC) in March 2010, a key trend among China’s middle-class is an increasing demand for

HR Guide to Recruitment

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Introduction

higher quality of life. When combined with the fact that 64% of respondents received job offers in the last 18 months and 87% said they are open to making a move in 2011, employers face an extremely volatile talent market.

Happiness emerging theme

While compensation has long been a key motivator for Chinese talents, work-life balance is increasingly becoming an important factor and is now a key criterion for talents to evaluate their level of job satisfaction. This is indicative of a greater emphasis on happiness and quality of life amongst Chinese talents. As China continues to push forward the national ‘happiness and livelihood’ agenda of its current five-year plan, we are likely to see more talents in China placing work-life balance as their top priority when selecting employers.

It’s all about money, or is it?

When asked about reasons for changing jobs— respondents from mainland China and Hong Kong

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indicated different priorities. ‘Compensation’ ranked first in Hong Kong, while ‘increase in responsibility’ ranked first in mainland China. ‘Job security’ and ‘compensation’ appear to be stronger drivers of retention in Hong Kong. ‘Work Life Balance’ on the other hand seems to be a mounting preoccupation of junior professionals and managers in mainland China, while this trend is less apparent in Hong Kong. The majority of respondents remain dissatisfied with their current compensation.

However, career advancement, or ‘increase in responsibility’ received the highest response rate as the most important reason to move to a new role in mainland China and the results also showed that ‘challenges’ and ‘people’ were the most important motivators to remain in their current job.

Almost half of mainland China respondents moved to a new role with a compensation increase of more than 30%. The majority of respondents also indicated that they see themselves in the top 30% of the market in terms of compensation, yet 42% in mainland China and 36% in Hong Kong

Introduction

are not satisfied with their current compensation.

Accordingly, very few respondents are genuinely steady in their current job with 24% of the respondents in mainland China and 29% in Hong Kong determined to make a change in 2011 and the vast majority open to new opportunities. So, the outlook of talent markets in both mainland China and Hong Kong appears unstable for the two key reasons. Firstly, talents in general are unhappy about compensation. While the mentality of ‘there’s never enough money’ may still be valid, MRI believes that the lack of satisfaction is mainly driven by skyrocketing living costs in China. Secondly, the high volume of jobs continuing to be offered in both mainland and Hong Kong markets will prompt dissatisfied candidates to make quick changes.

These factors combined make for a potentially lethal combination for employers in China.

Companies seeking to attract and retain talent are likely to face considerable pressure and increased costs on two counts should these market conditions continue. To retain current talent, rewards will play an important part, but can be balanced against areas such as challenging work, and increased earnings through increased responsibility. However, they also face the reality that almost half the candidates achieved over 31% increases in salary on making a move. This can and will make hiring new talent a potentially expensive business.

Key staff motivators

Challenges and people: people satisfaction in the workplace is first and foremost linked to a sense of progress and achievement in their work and to the culture of the company which is embodied by the people surrounding them.

Responsibility vs compensation: 38% of Hong Kong respondents place ‘compensation’ as their number one trigger for changing jobs whereas mainland China respondents placed ‘increased responsibility’ as their main trigger. Considering that an increase in responsibility is usually accompanied by an increase in compensation, the outcome is probably the same, especially when referring to compensation increases in mainland China which were much higher than in Hong Kong. When trying

to attract talent in mainland China it should be noted that ‘increased responsibility’ and ‘career progression’ are key drivers ahead of ‘compensation’.

Work-life balance: ranked as the third most important trigger for accepting a new job role. The rapid increase in compensation for mid to senior level talent over the past five years, may now place people in a more comfortable position to look for a broader, more holistic approach to career choices. The desire for increased responsibilities and for work-life balance could create a significant challenge for companies seeking to attract and retain top young talent in China. China’s pace of development and the yearon-year growth of companies combine to produce long work hours for management; not to mention the matrix management structures of companies that require China-based mid to senior level talent to be engaged in late night and early morning calls to corporate offices in the US and Europe.

While in Hong Kong, work-life balance seems to be relatively more important to the most senior people who are also less keen on increased compensation. The survey found that younger managers in China are the ones facing the complex choice of wanting to achieve both: career advancement and work-life balance.

Talent mobility

Since 2007, many parts of inland China have been growing at a faster pace than the coastal areas. The economic expansion of inland Chinese cities should further accelerate in the coming years with an increased demand on key professional talent. This talent should ideally be found and developed locally.

However, for the first step companies may have to attract management and professional talent from their coastal-based operations in order to transfer best practices and support their expansion. The survey indicated a strong appetite for mobility within PRC and Asia with 64% of respondents in mainland China indicating they were seeking work both inside and outside local markets, and 29% of national respondents seeking work inside their local market.

Similar trends were observed in Hong Kong. After working in their homeland, Singapore and Australia are the most sought after working destinations.

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Recommendations to hiring managers

Many companies are experiencing 10-40% growth in their top line revenues and significant headcount and leadership needs when, due to similar growth in China over the last decade, talent is already in short supply.

Companies must consider new approaches to talent management and attraction. This challenging search for talent is compounded by the added complexity of a maturing mid to senior level management profile seeking something more than a fast career and money. There is no easy answer in such a competitive talent environment even when companies recognise the issue. However, placing the talent agenda at the core of its China strategy may mean the company stands a better chance of successfully coping with and transforming a talent problem into a strategic weapon to win over the competition.

Tips to attract new talent

1. Put talent acquisition at heart of business structure Assign a talent acquisition leader with a strong line to the CEO or MD of China. In many companies, this role is often situated 2-3 levels down from the head of the business. Shift talent acquisition from a recruitment procedure to a strategic driver of the business. Nearly every executive in China identifies failure to attract top candidates to their company as a major obstacle to meeting the business goals of the company. By repositioning this function as its own department, with the full sponsorship of the MD/CEO, it has a better chance of receiving the necessary resources and attention to help attract key talent.

2. Develop an attractive employer value proposition Delivering a clear message on the company’s promise to employees will enhance the effectiveness and the return on investment of talent acquisition efforts. With career development and work-life balance holding such a strong position in the minds of the talent pool, companies should align their promises accordingly when representing themselves in the marketplace.

They should also choose the right talent acquisition partners who are able to convey in a positive way their promise and employment brand to the market.

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3. Be proactive

Prevent ‘crisis hiring’ by taking a proactive approach to talent acquisition. Through talent mapping and a thoughtful candidate engagement strategy, companies can increase their chances of attracting passive candidates. Passive candidates will, by definition, be at a lower risk of receiving multiple offers during the recruitment process and thereby give the company the ability to approach without having to face competition from multiple suitors.

4. Be decisive

The length of the selection process in China is a critical component for a company’s success rate in attracting top talent. Many jobseekers receive multiple offers and these are often received at the same time due to the slow interview and offer process of most companies. This gives the candidate the opportunity to interview with multiple companies and then compare offers to determine their ‘market value’ and play companies off against one another. A streamlined selection process, completed within 30 days, would eliminate much of this risk.

5. Be aware of compensation challenges As mid to senior level talent in China demand international standards of compensation, companies must be competitive to attract the best people to their business. Derailing an internal compensation system to attract new talent is not an easy option, so companies will have to juggle and adapt to outside demands, seeking damage control while shaping their proposition around multiple dimensions, including career development and working environment.

In an overheated talent market, 2011 holds significant challenges as companies come to grips with the rising and shifting ambitions of talent in China. More than anywhere else in the world, talent should be on the agenda of any PRC-based CEO, as business success will be achieved through the retention and growth of a highly capable but demanding pool of professionals and executives.

As always, a problem to solve but also a great opportunity for the best employers.

Introduction

“It’s easy to find a job in the current market�

Almost half of Hong Kong finance professionals say jobseeking is now easy| Survey key findings at a glance Hong Kong finance professionals say:

It is easy for us to find a new job in the current climate

47%

We expect our salary and bonus packages to increase this year

We are not concerned or do not feel strongly about redundancy in the current economy

46%

Market sentiment is pointing to a positive outlook again and this was confirmed with the results of a global poll of over 2,300 finance professionals and jobseekers in over 10 countries. Over 500 professionals were recently surveyed in China, Hong Kong and Singapore; and among those surveyed almost half of Hong Kong finance professionals claimed that it was easy for them to find a new job in the current climate. The Finance Careers Survey conducted by eFinancialCareers indicated a positive market outlook, with finance professionals in Hong Kong also optimistic

We will consider moving abroad for work

82%

53%

about their salary and bonus packages and 46% expecting increases in the future.

According to the survey, finance professionals in China are the most optimistic about job prospects out of all countries surveyed, with 57% of respondents believing that it would be easy for them to find a job in finance and 69% of them expecting their salary and bonus packages to improve this year.

In light of economic recovery, the majority of finance professionals surveyed globally are not concerned with redundancy. With Asian economies recovering faster than expected from the global

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Introduction

economic crisis, finance professionals in the AsiaPacific region are least concerned with redundancy compared to other geographies surveyed.

Corresponding to the increase in market optimism across the region, 81% of finance professionals in Hong Kong, 82% in China, and 80% in Singapore are not concerned about redundancy in the current economy.

“With renewed market optimism and rising salary and bonus expectations among employees across the Asia-Pacific region, the finance recruitment market is becoming more candidate-led,” commented George McFerran, Head of Asia Pacific, eFinancialCareers. He added, “Candidates who were reluctant to move during the global financial crisis are now more confident about changing jobs.”

The survey revealed that over half of the finance professionals surveyed globally would consider relocating abroad for work, with respondents in China most likely to move overseas. Respondents in Singapore, 62%, and Hong Kong, 53%, are more reluctant to move abroad than their China counterparts.

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McFerran added, “As the market becomes more fluid, we expect increased movement of finance professionals in Hong Kong.

There are several work drivers that jobseekers will consider when applying for a new role including salaries and packages, career advancement opportunities, and workplace conditions. Out of all countries surveyed, Hong Kong finance professionals are most concerned with remuneration and benefits as they consider pay the most critical work driver, followed by opportunities for promotion and work-life balance.”

Other factors that finance professionals will take into account when applying for a new job include a company’s CSR practices. According to the survey, 88% of Hong Kong finance professionals would consider a company’s reputation in the industry, followed by its policy and values on work-life balance and employee relations, 69% and a company’s reputation in the community, 41%.

However, only 23% of finance professionals in Hong Kong will consider a company’s policy and values on ethical, environmental, and sustainability issues when changing jobs.

Introduction

Upbeat hiring forecast| All sectors showing positive hiring prospects.

Hong Kong employers report a continued upbeat in hiring for the second quarter of 2011. Jobseekers may benefit from employment optimism in Finance, Insurance & Real Estate industry sectors. This according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released in March 2011, which also indicates that optimism among employers in the Services sector remains solid.

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Seasonally adjusted data from the survey reveals Hong Kong’s Net Employment Outlook stands favorably at +19%. Hiring prospects weakened slightly quarteron-quarter by one percentage point but improved moderately year-on-year by four percentage points.

While 21% of the 814 employers surveyed expect to add employees over the next three months, only 2% predicted reducing staffing levels. Nearly three out of four anticipate no employment changes over the next quarter.

Employers in all six industry sectors reported positive hiring intentions in Q2 2011. Quarterover-quarter, employers in four industry sectors report softer hiring plans, whilst year-overyear; employer confidence in five industry sectors continues to strengthen.

HK employment outlook

‘Net Employment Outlook’ is calculated by subtracting those employers who plan to reduce staffing levels from those who plan to hire staff. A positive result indicates that more employers plan to increase rather than decrease staffing levels; a negative result reflects the opposite. No bar indicates Net Employment Outlook of zero.

Lowest unemployment since 2008

Lancy Chui, Managing Director of Manpower Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam Operations explained, “Once again…employment prospects have continued to remain steady. In addition, GDP growth, which expanded briskly by 6.8% in the third quarter of 2010, has helped strengthen the job market, pushing down the latest unemployment rate to 3.8%, the lowest since Q4 2008.”

Finance and Real Estate—strongest hiring +23%

Employers in the Finance, Insurance & Real Estate sectors report the most hiring optimism for the second quarter of 2011, with a solid outlook of +23%, representing a steady hiring picture quarterover-quarter and a considerable improvement of nine percent year-over-year.

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Chui added, “The latest news emerging from the finance sector is the HKSAR’s burgeoning reputation as an offshore RMB center, with experts predicting that yuan-related business will generate approximately 58,000 jobs in Hong Kong over the next few years. In addition, financial firms continue to add to their staff rolls as they continue to compete for market share in China.”

“Active hiring plans indicate a gradual economic uptick in employers hiring confidence throughout Asia. We also see that banking, insurance and real estate are feeling the talent crunch with strong demand for talent with specific skills and they are struggling hard to both recruit the right talent and retain employees,” said Chui, “The longer-term hiring trend places employment prospects in a generally positive light, particularly in the private banking, wealth management, telemarketing,

Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

front-line sales, financial planning and management trainee roles.”

Service Industry +21%

Jobseekers are likely to encounter a favorable hiring climate in the Service Industry sector with a positive outlook of 21%. The sector includes professional and business services; IT, accounting, legal, education, health services, leisure, hospitality and food services.

“In the IT sector, given the popularity of smart phones, the territory is beginning to see a rising demand for mobile application developers,” added Chui.

“Consumer enthusiasm in the luxury products or services, and the remarkably strong 9.6% expansion of China’s GDP in the third quarter of 2010 are likely to continue benefiting Hong Kong’s tourism, hotels and related industry sectors,” highlighted Chiu.

“Strong growth has further driven companies in the Services sector to add workers to cope with their expansion plans.”

Mining and Construction +19%

Employers in the Mining and Construction sector continue to forecast an upbeat hiring pace in Q2 of 2011, with an Outlook of +19%. Chui extolled, “Strong workforce demand is fueled by infrastructure work such as several railway projects.

Meanwhile, we note that the labor shortage is so acute that employers are turning to the last resort of recruiting inexperienced workforce and providing them with on-the-job training in order to keep projects moving ahead.”

Wholesale and Retail +18%

Job prospects continued to be hopeful, according to employers in the Wholesale & Retail Trade industry sector; +18%, it is the only sector reporting improved outlook over last quarter. “Similarly, the Retail sector is benefiting from the ever-growing influx of mainland China tourists, consumer enthusiasm is particularly strong in luxury products,” said Chui.

Chui added, “On the flip side, some concern on the part of employers remains in the Retail Trade sector. Despite an obvious turnaround to the positive, Hong Kong retailers continue to endure

some of the world’s most expensive retail space and the scarcity of prime units continues to push rental increases accordingly. Upon renewal, rents at some prime retail locations such as Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok have risen 80% to 100%.

This is an ongoing cost consideration and another factor that may impact employers’ ability to hire.”

Transportation & Utilities, Manufacturing +14%

Employers in the Transportation & Utilities, and Manufacturing sectors forecast a steady hiring pace in the second quarter of 2011, both with outlooks of +14%. Chui said, “Government statistics indicate there is a continuous upward trend in passenger traffic which may have contributed to the Transportation sector’s 10 percentage point improvement when compared with Q2 2010.

Employment prospects of both the Transportation and Construction industry sectors should continue to be optimistic.”

While Western economies are recovering, a slower external trading environment and softer consumer demand from the US and Europe continue to impact the Manufacturing Sector.

Chui said, “We expect to encounter additional challenges with worker shortages, rising wages and competition from other low-cost regions all combining to further weaken hiring confidence in the Manufacturing Sector. Any changes in the external trading environment and global market will directly pressure employer hiring expectations.

Nonetheless, hiring activity has increased throughout 2010 and only time will tell if healthy demand for workers will continue throughout 2011.”

APAC and global hiring outlook

In the Asia Pacific region, hiring plans continue to be strongest in India, Taiwan and China and weakest in Japan. Globally, nearly 64,000 employers in 33 of the 39 countries and territories surveyed expect positive hiring activity in the second quarter of 2011.

Forecasts are strongest in India, Taiwan, Brazil, China, Turkey and Singapore. In contrast, employers in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy report the weakest forecasts globally.

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Introduction

Employer expectations— how much is too much?

Hong Kong bosses most demanding in region.

70%

H on g Ko Si ng ng ap Au ore st ra lia N ew Ze al an d

of Hong Kong employers expect their staff to be available at any time

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Introduction

China, Robert Half International. “While technology can keep us connected 24/7, employers should resist the temptation to phone or email employees outside of work hours unless it’s truly urgent.”

“Employers must respect their staff’s need to properly unplug. They can do this by arranging proper ‘handovers’ when staff go on holiday and bringing in temporary staff to cover when key employees go on leave so that important tasks keep moving forward,” added Morris.

Compared to other finance professionals in the region, Hong Kong employees stay the most tuned-in to work during their down time with 77% claiming that they remain connected to work or do work-related tasks while on holiday compared to Singapore, 69%, Australia, 58%, and New Zealand, 62%. They indicated the top reasons for staying connected are the need to be available in case of emergency, 51%, technological advancements which allow access to information anywhere in the world, 38%, and the inability to switch off, 34%.

According to the survey, time off in lieu and overtime payment Chart 1 | Do you plan to increase/ decrease full-time staff during for extra hours worked the first half of 2011? are the most common ways employees are compensated, however not all employees are rewarded for putting in extra hours. While 49% of Hong Kong finance professionals said they receive time off in lieu and 46% receive overtime payment for additional hours worked, 16% said that they are not remunerated for working overtime.

The survey also included an update on the hiring trends for the Finance and Accounting, IT and Banking industries for the first half of 2011.

When recruiting the best, a pull factor gaining increasing significance is the level of work-life balance that you can offer as an employer. According to the latest Robert Half Workplace Survey, Hong Kong employers are the most demanding in the Asia Pacific Region. 68% of employers said they expect their employees to be available or contactable while on annual leave or out of the office. This is well above not only the regional average, 40%, but Singapore, 45%, Australia, 22%, and New Zealand, 20%, as well.

The survey also revealed that the highest demand is on middle managers, with 76% of respondents indicating they expect middle managers to be available while on holiday or outside of office hours, compared with 47% of senior management or directors and 23% of junior or entry level staff.

“In an environment where employees have had to help companies ‘do more, with less’ for some time, many are in need of a healthier work-life balance,” said Andrew Morris, Managing Director, Greater

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Introduction

Chart 2 | Do you plan to increase/ decrease temporary/ contract staff during the first half of 2011?

According to the survey, 52% of companies in Hong Kong, 49% in Singapore, 40% in Australia and 16% in New Zealand plan on increasing full-time staff levels. It can be seen from Chart 1 that in New Zealand, 75% of employers have no plans to change staff levels over the next quarter.

As can be seen in Chart 2, with temporary and contract staff, companies were much more conservative, with 48% of companies in Hong Kong, 43% in Singapore, 27% in Australia and 17% in New Zealand; planning to increase staff levels.

When asked about what levels companies were going to hire in the Accounting, Finance and Banking sectors, Chart 3, a large majority of

Chart 3 | At what levels are you looking at to hire finance/ accounting/ banking staff?

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Introduction

companies noted they would be looking to hire at the For trends, Morris highlighted that Australia has junior/entry—Hong Kong, 61%; Singapore, 75%; shown two very different economies. He said, “Perth Australia, 74%; New Zealand, 60%—and middle and Brisbane are absolutely booming due to the management levels—Hong Kong, 67%; Singapore, mining industry, while Melbourne and Sydney are not 59%; Australia, 51% and New Zealand, 56%. booming as much.” Regionally, he noted that there is Morris commented on these trends, “Hiring in still a war for talent, that will increase in intensity over general for 2011 is starting to return to normal time. He also said that expats will start to be hired (pre-GFC) levels, and is not as aggressive this year back to the APAC in order to fill talent shortages. compared to last year, However, the APAC has come out of the Chart 4 | In which functional areas do you plan to hire? crisis stronger.” He went on to note, “The majority of companies are showing similar trends this quarter as last, (Q2 over Q1) in that they are following a ‘hire and hold’ technique. It appears companies are more conservative and responsible.

They want to avoid making roles redundant. Many companies are hiring to sustain growth, and if there is another financial blip at this current pattern, companies may do better.

However, if the markets begin to heat up again, the situation may be different.” Chart 4 shows that the functional area companies most plan to hire in are accounting and finance, followed closely by banking.

Interestingly companies with functional units in operational support in Singapore,56%, and New Zealand, 40%, say they plan to increase staff in this area—indicating that the two countries are in need of more operational staff.

Morris noted that the industries in general are moving ahead with hiring, with IT showing the greatest demand, as companies begin to invest in back office operations and general infrastructure.

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Introduction

More graduates take on part-time, temporary contracts| A recent survey of nearly 300 students in universities and vocational training centres in Hong Kong showed that they are becoming more flexible in terms of their requirements for new jobs as they exit tertiary education. The survey, conducted

by Adecco, found that 42% were willing to take temporary or contract jobs, with 60% willing to work part-time. The expected monthly salary of fresh graduates was found to be between HKD10,000 and HKD12,000, with students exiting vocational training centres expecting between HKD8,000 and HKD10,000. Expected hourly rates for part-time work averaged around HKD40 per hour.

The increased flexibility toward temporary or contract jobs helps graduates accumulate experience, explore career goals, expand their network and close the employment gap. Most temporary and contract jobs are offered by multinational companies and by taking up such postings jobseekers gain the opportunity to work with different departments and different organisations. When a permanent position becomes available, a referral from within the company becomes invaluable and as Audrey Low, Country Manager, Adecco Hong Kong explains, “Direct transfer from a temporary position to a permanent position is highly likely and mutually beneficial to

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the temporary employee as well as the company itself.” Many employers do not prefer candidates who have long periods of unemployment and working in temporary positions or on a parttime basis also helps graduates minimise these ‘unemployment gaps’.

Work preference of fresh graduates

Introduction

Strategic targeted recruitment| It is difficult to overstate the importance of hiring the right person for the right job. Industry experts put the cost of a wrong hire at tens of thousands of Hong Kong Dollars wasting management time, HR time, employee search fees and more. Making the right choice is more than selecting an individual or following a gut feeling; recruitment should be seen as an ongoing strategic initiative and not as a reactive event to fulfil an immediate need. It is crucial to decide up front the kinds of people you want to hire, identify mismatches quickly, and then develop techniques to evaluate the remaining candidates based on the traits you require.

Before a new position is advertised, it is necessary to conduct a skills inventory. This is achieved by interviewing employees who have held the position (or a similiar one) in the past, and evaluating current employees in the specified position. The key attributes required are identified in addition to any specific personality traits which may prove a disastrous mismatch for the job. You may learn, for example, that the job requires strong multitasking skills in addition to customer service, and a confidence-lacking individual may soon sink in the position. A crisp job description should identify the ‘must have’ requirements of the position versus the ‘desired’ attributes.

Organisation

The recruitment process needs to be clearly delegated, with a clear and consistent ownership of who screens for what, against what criteria. When the hiring manager discovers a potential high calibre candidate, at least three other managers should interview him/her. Through a process of employment evaluation, a group of mangers proven to be effective at spotting talent can be gradually cultivated. The candidate’s credentials such as education and employment history should always be thoroughly checked. After all, just because people can give good answers and sound impressive—it does not mean they can do what they say.

Strategic and targeted approach

As already stated, companies should regard the recruitment process as an ongoing strategic initiative and not just as a reactive event that fulfils an immediate need. Top candidates usually already have great jobs—so how does your company attract the best talent? Consider advertising your jobs in unconventional ways—affinity groups, expert computer groups or local business networking functions, sponsoring local events, or employee referrals.

Candidate Profile

A profile for the perfect candidate should be created during the inventory process. Numerous testing programmes are available to help the identification of the winning attributes needed in different positions, or you can create your own. A deliberate screening strategy that can be adapted to both active and passive candidates should be incorporated; and once the ideal candidate has been qualified, this profile should be offered to frontline hiring managers.

Interview questions should be specifically designed to explore how far each candidate meets the core competencies needed for the job vacancy. Hiring managers should also be provided with a variety of creative sourcing options for that ideal candidate.

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Introduction

“

recruitment should be an ongoing strategic initiative and not reactive to fulfil an immediate need

”

It is essential that the employment message is targeted to the appropriate audience. Look for those people in the places where he or she lives and works.

For example, if you are looking for accountants, try using an industry publication or collegiate programme specialising in that discipline. Likewise, if you are looking for customer service workers, use a targeted publication. The most valuable employees should be involved in the recruiting process. This step acts to acknowledge their value and importance, and new staff are more naturally regarded as an extension to their department. Creating a climate where staff feel consulted and respected, of course assists in the retention of key employees. Passive candidates are frequently of higher calibre than active jobseekers, and it is therefore advisable to proactively source them.

Personal networks are the most common means by which passive candidates gain awareness of potential job opportunities. Employers can leverage these networks in referral programmes, and encourage referrals at all levels by offering pertinent rewards.

Compared to normal recruiting methods, referrals are bargains—cutting out agency costs. In addition, the current employee feels a sense of responsibility to guide and ensure the success of their friend.

The importance of building a team

Many decision makers focus on getting people with the right qualifications at the right price—and that is it. It is an easy trap to fall into because it seems to follow a simple logic. This is especially true when a company is expanding rapidly—the immediate need to meet a raising workload often subjugates the idea of building a core team. The lack of a cohesive team building strategy, however, can lead to high staff turnover, dissatisfaction, and lower productivity.

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Special attention should be undertaken during and after the interview to determine if the candidate will mesh with the company culture and/or is a team player.

Look to the future

Many analysts predict an increased shortage of specialised talent, and a further heightened state of competition for top candidates. Hong Kong’s unemployment rate is still low at 3.8%, underlining that companies need to become more effective at attracting passive jobseekers away from their current positions in order to obtain the best talent. The trend of decreased loyalty among employees, which results in shorter tenures, also highlights the importance of retention strategies in the future.

Technology has already seen an expansion of the virtual workforce. However, as technologies continue to expand in the areas of social networking websites and mobile technologies this is likely to influence recruitment strategies in a deeper way in future.

Collaboration, and sharing information over the internet is set to change the way employers target their job search and locate key talent. Expect new creative developments in this arena and make sure you stay abreast of them.

7 steps

toward successful hiring

1. Advertise your job opening in unique ways to appeal to a variety of qualified candidates.

2. Create a profile of the perfect candidate.

3. When the hiring manager likes someone, have three other managers in the organisation interview the candidate.

4. Have the three other managers rate the candidate a “Hire” or “Don’t Hire.” No passes are allowed.

5. The hiring manager should assess the hire at 6 months to see if it was a good decision.

6. Keep track of the interviewer’s “Hire” and “Don’t Hire” scores.

7. Cultivate a key group of managers who are great at picking candidates.

Introduction

No more Russian roulette recruiting|

Fixing people problems

There are only three places in the employment cycle where we can fix our people problems.

1. Selecting (prevention) 2. Training (correction) 3. Replacing (termination)

Q: Which one do you think has the most potential for improvement and highest return on investment?

A: Selection

By John Putzier, M.S., SPHR, President of FirStep, Inc.

Did you know that...

95% of applicants will exaggerate their credentials to get a job?

2/3 of new hires will be a disappointment in the first year?

Q: But where do we throw most of our time, money and effort?

A: Trying to change the person, via training, after we hire them and, more often than not, eventually losing and replacing them anyway.

2/3 of employees would rather work somewhere else?

If you hire misfits, and train them, all you end up with is a bunch of trained misfits. You cannot teach a pig to sing and you cannot teach a rock to swim, but you can find out who the pigs and the rocks are before you hire them.

The average cost of recruiting, selecting, orienting and training a HKD26,000/month employee is HKD390,000?

Tired of playing Russian roulette recruiting?

A 1% reduction in employee turnover for a 100 employee organisation yields HKD390,000?

And most importantly, that 80% of employee turnover is avoidable?

Most organisations rely almost exclusively on resumes, applications and interviews to make their hiring decisions. Given the facts, we would have the same success, or failure, rate by just flipping a coin. The candidate crafts the resume. The candidate fakes the interview. The candidate provides the references. Where do you take control of the process?

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Introduction

A lot has changed in the world of employment screening and selection, but relatively few employers have updated or enhanced their toolkits. We spend more time and effort researching the purchase of a copying machine than the people we hire. With today's technology, it is not only easy, but also inexpensive to look under the hood of our job candidates. Would you spend USD100 to take control of the screening and selection process? Would you spend USD100 to stop the revolving door of hiring and firing, to increase productivity, to increase customer satisfaction, to increase retention?

Believe it or not, with today’s sophisticated, web-based instruments and tools, that’s about all it costs to screen for the basic, but most important success factors. Some of the bestknown companies in America: Disney, Nordstrom, Ritz-Carlton and Southwest Airlines have known for years that the most important predictor of job success is not degrees, not experience, not even training—it's job-person match. These companies share philosophies such as…

• • •

Hire hard, manage easy Hire slow, fire fast Hire for style, train for skills

You can train someone on your company's processes, policies and procedures, but you cannot train someone to change their personality.

You cannot train someone to enjoy solving people problems. You can't train someone to be customer-focused. How many times have you heard a job applicant say, "I love to work with people", then you put them on the job and find out they are Attila the Hun—no eye contact, no warmth and no empathy.

The most important success factors cannot be determined from a resume, an interview or even a reference check. But now they can be measured with proven, valid, reliable and legally

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defensible instruments. With today's technology and tools, anyone can easily and inexpensively identify the ideal profile for any job, then screen candidates based on that profile. It is not only legal—it is smart. For example, one of the systems uses a Role Behavior Analysis (RBA) tool that asks you to force rank a series of questions about a job, such as: How important is it for this person to:

• • • •

Choose carefully among alternatives before acting?

Interact frequently with new people?

Stay at the same physical location most of the time?

Make unpopular decisions to complete a task or activity?

Then your candidates complete a questionnaire, either online or in your office that identifies their behavioral tendencies, traits, strengths and weaknesses in areas such as problemsolving, communicating, conflict-resolution and customer service. The computer then compares the job profile to the candidate profile and tells you exactly how closely their traits match the traits required of the job. It even gives you sample interview questions to zero in on areas of concern. Now you have control. Another advantage of this process is that you only have to profile the position once. Unless the job changes dramatically, its profile does not change, so you just store it in your computer and merely compare it to future candidates’ profiles. It is a little more work than flipping a coin, but look how much time and money we waste playing recruiting roulette.

Today, there is no reason to hire misfits and continuing to do so is a disservice to everyone.

The employee loses, the customer loses and so does the organisation. So stop the roulette wheel, put away your coin and prepare to build a highperformance organisation.

Introduction

Recruit musicians not MBAs| Hiring strategies that unleash entrepreneurship.

“You are an adult, act like one.” This advice to HR leaders was among the opening words of wisdom from Andrew J. Filipowski (Flip) the keynote speaker at HR Magazine’s engaging breakfast roundtable in late 2010. The event took place in the colonial surrounds of Hullett House, Tsim Sha Tsui and was attended by a select group of senior members of the Hong Kong HR community.

Filipowski, founder and CEO of Platinum Technology Incorporated grew the company from start up into the eighth largest software company in the world—with over 15,000 employees globally— before selling it for a staggering USD4 billion. Today, he is Founder and CEO of SilkRoad Technology and as such presented his thoughts and ideas on employee retention, engagement and empowerment in an entrepreneurial setting.

Filipowski commented on prominent issues faced not only by the IT sector, but by companies in all sectors. A key issue highlighted was that of employee engagement and empowerment. He advised that in order for companies to be successful, they not only need to be the best, but they also need to offer the best to their employees and those employees need to be empowered to be effective.

He stressed the importance of HR in any business, and the fact that it should be a large, if not the biggest, part of any business, and be fully integrated with all levels of management in order to be fully effective. Many successful companies in the modern world follow the ‘upside-down-pyramid approach’ to employee management, which Filipowski explained helps HR place more value on the employee than ever before.

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Introduction

From left to right: Eric Choi, James Hewitt, Peter Earnshaw and Andrew J. Filipowski from SilkRoad Technology; Paul Arkwright, Publisher, HR Magazine

He advised that in order to be successful with employee engagement, HR managers must place emphasis on four major aspects.

Aspects of employee engagement 1.

2.

3.

4.

Corporate culture Brand recognition Reputation Engagement from all levels of management

He added, “Without all these aspects in a business, there can be no success.” Conceding that achieving this was no mean feat, and pointing out several problems HR faces relating to staff engagement and empowerment in the workplace. He intimated that one of the biggest challenges to HR was that, “Without proper leadership and an established culture, HR just becomes a bureaucratic process where corporate culture is not built and maintained… or there may be no clearly defined corporate culture at all.” He cautioned that companies which still maintained this style of HR management would not be successful in the long run. Another problem he highlighted was that many companies with an established culture are not doing enough to keep employees engaged throughout their lifecycle with the company and beyond.

Filipowski then offered a number of practical suggestions, on ways to both engage staff and

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enable them with the tools they need to succeed as individuals and help the business succeed.

“Once employees have been enabled and are happy, there is a high chance companies will see an increase in profit and customers—both returning and new,” said Filipowski. He then laid out some basic advice for companies to help them achieve this.

Multilevel management involvement—all levels of management must be involved and engaged with the HR department and must recognise that human capital management is the most defining part of any company. Brand recognition—after managers have been engaged, companies need to build, engage and develop brand recognition, while also having a defined culture and reputation.

Once this has happened, companies will begin to see that people desire to work for that company, and will covet the opportunity to head over to that company. Providing staff with the freedom to experiment with ideas, and nurturing a culture of ‘not being afraid to take risks’ is also critical according to Filipowski, who encouraged HR to say to staff, “You are an adult, act like one.” Musicians not MBAs—after companies have established themselves as a leading employer, and attract the best quality employees, they also need to ensure that those employees fit in well with the organisation.

So, in order to hire the best, companies need to look at how they are hiring and adopt good hiring processes. HR should not just look at resumes, but instead at the process of how to identify who is the best. According to Filipowski psychometric tests and CVs are not always the best ways of determining if someone is the right fit for a particular job function.

Instead he advised HR to look at key attributes of successful members of the incumbent team as a cue for skills to look for in new recruits.

By way of example he pointed out that many in the IT sector also had excellent musical talents.

Filipowski argued that looking for traits such as musical ability—beyond the usual workspace—may also significantly help in the selection process.

The lifecycle of the employee begins before they have joined the organisation and Filipowski was insistent that, “Employees must be onboarded and ready to go from day one…a 100% ready employee

Introduction

will be more likely to stay with the organisation.”

After employees have joined the company and have settled down, Filipowski pointed out that it is HR’s responsibility to keep constant communication, contact, and conduct proper performance reviews and learning follow-ups throughout the employee’s lifecycle.

He then highlighted a couple of common problems in HR. Firstly, many organisations have good performance reviews, but lack proper follow up, and this frequently leads to lower employee satisfaction, and a feeling of less empowerment.

systems, your alumni can often be the only ones who know how to use them.” Filipowski summed up, “Take care of your employees, enable your employees and they will take care of your company.”

About Flip Flip was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA

Key accomplishments ▪▪Founder and CEO of Platinum Technology Inc. which he grew into the eighth largest software company in the world with over 15,000 employees. The USD4 billion sale of the organisation is still the single largest cash transaction for a software company in the world.

▪▪Named one of the 100 most influential people in the information technology sector.

▪▪Awarded ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ from both Ernst & Young and Merrill Lynch.

Key postings

Secondly, in modern HR, most professionals concentrate on people who are within the organisation and tend to forget about the people who have left—the alumni.

Using the accounting sector as an example, Filipowski remarked, “Accountants are brought in young, worked hard and very few will survive the first two years. Most are let go.

Those that are let go become the CFOs of your competitors, or even your partners.” He also quipped, “Sometimes with ageing corporate

▪▪Executive Vice President and COO, Cullinet Software, Incorporated ▪▪Founder of Platinum Wildlife Foundation ▪▪Founder of the Filipowski Foundation ▪▪Currently Executive Chairman and CEO of SilkRoad Technology

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Corporate perspectives

Corporate perspectives

City Telecom (HK): talent selection| Getting the right talent on board and the wrong talent off the bus.

HR Magazine spoke with William Yeung, CEO, City Telecom (HK) Limited to find out how innovative recruitment and reward policies have helped the company thrive.

Marathon selection process

At the heart of the company’s HR ethos is the fact that all staff are referred to as ‘Talent’ rather than employees, Yeung explained, “We are offering them a career, rather than a job.”

To illustrate this, the company ran their ‘CXO of the Future’ programme in a global search for two management trainees—taking candidates with less than two years experience because they wanted someone fresh. The programme, conducted in five stages over three months, included two days and one night on an Outward Bound training exercise.

Once they got through that, the hard work had only just begun and successful candidates were then required to run a half marathon and read no less than 18 management books during their 18-month probationary period, when they were assigned to different departments.

Yeung admits, “This is physically and mentally gruelling.” The process is capped off with the fact that candidates must sit the CFA examination, which currently only has a 33% pass rate in Asia. Yeung explained, “The reason for requiring CFA, when the CXO path does not necessarily lead to a CFO role, is that it provides the flexibility to hire people from non-finance backgrounds. It is also important that they can speak the common CXO business language and have their specialities in other areas.”

Reward performers, remove underachievers

Last year the company celebrated 10 years on NASDAQ and Yeung asserted the importance of Talent management as critical in facilitating this success. He added, “Every member of staff should be viewed as a Talent, and an asset, unless they are the wrong Talent. Therefore Talent is groomed through all means—be it incentives or making staff aware that unless they perform, they will lose their job.”

City Telecom certainly works hard to nurture Talent, and they are also not shy in ‘getting the wrong Talent off the bus’ when necessary. In what some may view as a harsh, yet extremely effective HR strategy, every year the worst performing staff have their contracts terminated. These represent the poorest performers with salaries totalling 5% of the entire payroll. If, for this reason, a department terminates someone’s contract, then the relevant salary amount from the staff member stays with that department, and can be utilised for training and/or new hires.

By getting rid of the lowest performers, the company is then able to reinvest that money into recruiting new Talent or offering increments to other better performing members of the team. In short, the company prefers to focus its resources on its top 95% of ‘right Talents’ rather than divert attention to the bottom 5% of ‘wrong Talents’. This

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Corporate perspectives

policy also helps strengthen transparency and staff members are reviewed twice a year if they are within the bottom 5%. If they are in this bottom 5%, they have six months to improve—otherwise they know their fate. Initiatives more often than not come from the top management. Yeung explained that when asking middle management to initiate change, often those who manage frontline staff, and therefore are likely to have greater understanding of customer needs, are able to more rapidly adapt to change. In contrast, backend staff tend to be more resistant to change and slower to adapt. To deal with this challenge the company put itself into a growth mode and rolled out recruitment of more sales and network development team members. Yeung also highlighted the importance of focusing on the quality of the existing staff and to enhance staff retention as well as the bottom line the company makes it a priority to provide a platform for Talent themselves to be entrepreneurial.

Nurturing Talent

Yeung believes City Telecom was fairly ‘recession resilient’ because broadband is a basic need. This was even more so during the recession, as an increased number of people tended to stay at home and make use of domestic broadband. Technology has already helped the company not just with external communications, but also internally. For example, internally it has helped the HR team by boosting communication via an online Talent forum, where Talent can share ideas and post videos. This is further strengthened through direct interaction and HR holds regular roundtable meetings and two individual Talent meetings each year.

Apart from their current search for management trainees City Telecom is dedicated to ‘doing more with less’. Yeung added that four years ago the organisation employed 3,800 Talents—serving 640,000 customers; currently they have 3,200 Talents—serving over a million customers. Yeung believes this is because they invest heavily in their Talent to maximise their potential and productivity. For example, the ‘Next Station University’ programme, where the company pays 90% of the fees for courses that are tailor-made and taught by lecturers onsite,

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represents a HKD10 million investment in Talents who do not currently hold a degree.

Yeung also stressed that there must be ‘crystal clear communication’ between the board and HR team, and that management committees had been very involved in the CXO project right from the start. He added that one of the company’s biggest achievements was their ‘team’ who are dedicated to learn and improve themselves—due to a company that stimulates and rewards self-development.

Yeung concluded that HR should focus on quality, not quantity by adding value to each individual Talent.

He also stressed the importance of benchmarking: individually—by department, within the industry, and beyond—locally and globally, as this ensures you are getting better value for your payroll.

Corporate perspectives

DHL Express Greater China:

bringing employer of choice to life|

In 1990, a state-owned post office known as Deutsche Post was going under. In the next seven years, Deutsche Post was turned around through the implementation of advanced technology that enabled process automation and effective cost management.

Business was growing so much so that in the next three years to 2000, Deutsche Post went international.

The scope of business widened to include the DHL “suite” comprising DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Exel Supply Chain. Moreover, head count increased, and the number of locations also saw tremendous growth. By 2005, Deutsche Post had become the number one integrated logistics company chiefly through the value creation programme, STAR. From 2006 onwards, Deutsche Post and DHL has been seeing strong organic growth taking them from biggest to best. Serene Wong, VP Human Resources,

DHL Express Greater China, elaborates that in order to grow their current employee population from 26,000 full-time employees in Asia Pacific to 60,000 full-time employees by 2015 so that business aspirations can be met, they need to become an employer of choice.

What is an employer of choice?

An employer of choice is one in which employees are highly engaged. Engagement, according to Wong, results when three core elements being think, feel and act, align. When the employee believes in and supports the goals and values of the organisation, the ‘think’ element is engaged. When the employee has a sense of belonging, pride and attachment to the organisation, the ‘feel’ element is engaged.

And finally when the employee is willing to go the extra mile and intend to stay with the organisation,

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Corporate perspectives

the 'act' element is engaged. And when all three f those elements are in place, you really have an engaged employee.

What drives engagement?

There are six key drivers of employee engagement, identified as follows by Hewitt Associates:

• • • • • •

People—senior leaders, managers, co-workers Work—intrinsic motivation, influence, work tasks, resources Opportunities—career opportunities, recognition Compensation—pay, benefits Procedures—policies, HR Quality of life—work/life balance, physical work environment, safety

DHL’s approach to moving towards becoming an employer of choice is split into two phases that address each of the above six drivers. Phase one addresses issues of leadership, rewards and remuneration and growing talent. In phase two, DHL works on learning and development, corporate social responsibility, work/life balance, work environment, OH&S, employer branding and diversity. Throughout phase one and two, key concepts that enable these projects to develop are change management and employee communication.

Change management

In leading change within the organisation, DHL utilise a seven step process:

• • • • • • •

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Create a shared need Develop a vision Mobilise commitment Plan & execute change Communicate change Align the infrastructure Sustain momentum

Employee communication

Keeping regular contact with employees is a critical step in engaging them and ultimately retaining them. Communication is far from one dimensional however, and can include many media, such as:

• • • •

• •

Team briefings Newsletters Notice boards Kick-off meetings—annual meeting with all managers regarding key achievements, strategic plans, potential challenges Emails Quarterly meetings with country managers—especially important for global organisations

Growing talent

DHL grow their talent with a simple four step process:

1. Talent acquisition—selection is based on corporate values and leadership competencies 2. Pipeline management—built on a rigorous performance management system, ‘Motiv8’ 3. Talent development—consisting of DHLLogistics Management University, a graduate trainee programme, deputy country manager program and DHL supply chain management scholarship 4. Talent recognition—comprising well defined career roadmaps, competitive rewards and renumeration and the potential for a global career

A talent management practice as clear and wellexecuted as what DHL now have in place has certainly laid the foundation for the global logistics giant to become an employer of choice.

Corporate perspectives

Hang Seng Bank: HR strategies| Joseph Poon, MD & Deputy CE, Hang Seng Bank shares advice on recruitment best practices.

At one of HR Magazine's recent HR conferences, Joseph Poon, Managing Director and Deputy Chief Executive, Hang Seng Bank, introduced the importance of HR as a strategy. Starting with the problem of having business plans that do not include people, he emphasised that CEOs should focus on talent retention as a key issue and that, “HR is not just primarily responsible for HR, but rather the business strategies that the CEO leads.” Poon spoke of an exercise begun in 2006 by Hang Seng Bank to rejuvenate their brand but found it difficult to try and articulate its culture. They decided that middle managers would form a core group on deciding the service excellence framework, which became seven beliefs, all with one aim, to deliver service excellence.

Poon stated that engaged and inspired employees ‘form the bedrock of an organisation’ and this needed to be integrated into the brand, which would be rolled out and led by the CEO with the theme, “Live the brand, start with me.” He highlighted that this concept needs constant reinforcement.

Joseph Poon, Managing Director and Deputy Chief Executive, Hang Seng Bank Limited

Poon went on to discuss the bank’s Talent Management System. He said when he first questioned its existence he received the reply, “Yes… but we haven’t launched it.” They then worked to deliver the model, along the way making reward and leadership plans for mid-level and the young as well as provisions for succession planning and the development of a career website.

He revealed, “Young recruits could disappear within 21 days...”, and so required constant follow up. He added that it was inviting trouble to have talent remain in the same job for more than three years, stressing the importance of having the talent pool being proactive in managing their own career development.

He listed the important factors for success, such as having the system as simple as possible and noted, “It was great to have strategic plans but that 80% of the success came from the leadership in implementation.”

Poon discussed the importance of being passionate about what you do as well as understanding how to balance learning with development in business. “In Hong Kong, especially, we lack exposure to strategic thinking… and project management.”

He stressed that, “The talents involved in career and succession planning grow, develop and are inspired with the strategic planning.” He added that the broader the exposure that talent can get, the better it is for both the person and the business.

After working on this for four to five years, and being only halfway through, Poon reflected: Is it worth it?

His response was that, “Within the talent pool the turnover rate is zero”, even with staff disengagement due to the recent financial crisis. He closed by stating that senior staff cannot delegate their responsibility to talent management, as it is just too important.

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Corporate perspectives

Hsin Chong Construction:

line managers key in recruitment|

Steve Chow, Director of HR, Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd and Synergis Management Services Ltd

Steve Chow, Director of HR for Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd and Synergis Management Services Ltd, shared advice on recruitment, performance management and succession planning at a HR Conference in 2011. With more than 30 years working experience—half of that in operations at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s betting centre and the other half in HR, Chow has experience to share from both sides. He said, “From the HR side, we

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always want people to follow, but our experience is that the operations manager doesn’t always do this and sometimes argues with us.”

Traditional HR

Chow started by asking, “Why doesn’t HR get respect?” He suggested that from an operational perspective, respect is not given because the traditional HR processes interfere with operations.

Corporate perspectives

“Typically, operations need to recruit, but they can’t do this directly. Why do I have to ask HR to place an ad?” He added, “Then they get annoyed when they have to check and correct content in the ads.” Finally, when HR asks the department to receive applications, they can start to question the role of HR. This questioning becomes more evident during the interview process. Chow said that HR needs to be present through the process, but feels that they can sometimes take on the role of an ‘escort’ by simply watching the questioning. HR then feels a duty to ask something in the interview and he quipped that these are in the form of the typical questions: “What is your strength, your weakness and your career goal?”

To operations’ exasperation, he added, it is common to then hear from HR, “He is not a good candidate.”

Chow believes that while these are traditional HR processes, HR does not add value to the organisation or operations. He said, “HR needs to be able to guarantee in the recruitment process that the person you recruit can perform in the office the next day.”

DIY better

Chow then asked: So what can HR do better? He said, “HR needs to do something that operations can’t do, so that they can rely on us.” Through Chow’s contact with the HKMA Training and Development Awards, he has accumulated strategies by copying the best HR practices from the nominations to do just that. He said, “For the last 14 years I have been stealing people’s property and turning it into my own. This is DIY.” From his experience at Synergis, improving productivity is important. “By improving productivity, we don’t need to find an extra 10% in sales, we can save it. That is a strategy that we can sell to the CEO.” HR developed the model so that the organisation can be aligned and resources are not wasted. “If a company is good at HR and research indicates that employees are skillful and knowledgeable at their work, then make them stay and be productive.”

Chow stated that the magic word used to define skillful and knowledgeable employees, for at least the last 30 years, has been competence. He asked that organisations question themselves about

competency based HR: “Are you competency based in the main areas of HR—recruitment, training and development, performance review, rewards and succession planning? Are those competencies specific to your company? How do you know? Are they based on your companies needs?” For the Synergis talent management model, competencies start with recruitment, performance review, succession planning, and loyalty and commitment motivations for staff. Chow said, “If you don’t start with recruitment, you won’t end up with good succession planning.”

Recruitment

Chow believes, “Recruiting the right people from the very first moment is very important.” So, in terms of recruitment, he had a lot of advice to offer.

He suggested to start by annually updating the job descriptions for every job in the company and to involve the line director in the process. “Most companies don’t do this as they think they don’t need it. Some jobs don’t even have a job description, but then how do you know what they need to do? Job descriptions help us to find the right person.” With up-to-date job descriptions, for each job then identify the critical tasks and the indicators that the task is being done correctly. As an aside, he added that training can then focus on the critical tasks. “Don’t waste money on what is popular.”

Use the job descriptions and critical tasks as a guide to prepare templates for the interviewer to follow.

He said, “If different sets of questions are asked, it is difficult to compare candidates.” He advised that it is important to ask the correct questions, not the inane: “I see you got married last year. Can you work overtime?”

In the interview, drill down into the answers to get more information, be able to say either: “This guy is BS or this guy is good at the job.” Give each candidate a rating on their answers to questions relating to the four most critical tasks. Be sure to ask for the line managers’ perceptions of the candidate, as this is good evidence for the recommendation. Chow said, “This is the only way forward to recruit the right person.”

Chow said that this is hard work for HR. At Synergis, they have prepared templates for each managerial level job and every department now uses a template.

The template is also provided to headhunters, he added, “The agents now have to talk to the applicants.”

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Jardines’ HR recruitment roadmap| HR Magazine explores the road to recruitment with Ritchie Bent, Group Head of Human Resources for Jardines.

What would you advise HR directors / HR managers to do in order to attract better quality talent to their organisation and to keep that talent within the organisation?

I would say, number one is there must be a clear career path for people. You must make provision for staff members’ career development and personal development. Secondly, remuneration levels are key and you’d better pay slightly over the odds rather than slightly under the odds if you can. But you can also compensate for this by ensuring people feel that they growing professionally in the roll they’re in. Thirdly, by giving lots of personal attention, it means HR directors getting out there, and what I say to my guys here is that 80% of their time should be out of the office because your job is to be out there amongst the people and then in here you doing the bits and pieces and then again you're out, and in this day and age it should be more anyway because you can take your office with you in the form of a Blackberry. HR is all about trust, and so the most important competency about an HR Director is that people trust you and if they don’t trust you they not going to tell you anything, and if they don’t tell you anything, things are going to happen that you not going to be able to predict, and therefore are not going to be able to control.

Will you tend to use a range of recruitment companies?

Yes, we don’t affiliate ourselves to a single one because, despite what search firms tell you, some are better in certain areas then others. Certain companies in Hong Kong are particularly good at the mass market, others are particularly good at high-end executive placements and others are particularly good at junior-

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end HR things, particularly the boutique search firms, you want a local HR manager for a smallish company, you probably better off going to a boutique firm than you are going to one of the big ones. If you want a significant HR director or a deputy MD then you’re better off going to the top, the big guys.

How do staff development and succession planning fit into the career planning process for staff at Jardines?

Succession planning, is also a form of development and is for the benefit of the shareholder, while career planning is for the benefit of the individual. So the two should really integrate with each other. Succession planning is an important part of the career planning process in order to develop each staff member. Firstly, you have to know that person extremely well, what’s missing from that person in terms of their capabilities for what they going to require for the future. Secondly, knowledge of these people and what they can do cannot be out sourced, as that’s really a process of people having actually seen it. You can get them evaluated on a one off basis, and there are a lot of companies that will do senior executive evaluations to determine if a staff member is capable of doing a particular job now. However, that should only be used as part of the decision making process, as there are many other considerations including input from people already at that level and input from people above that level, whether it fits strategically with what the company wants to do and whether it fits with that person’s career plan. In view of all the different inputs that are required, I don’t think you can outsource such high-level succession planning, and I include in that high-level executive recruiting. Search firms have to be used to find you ‘the bodies’ but their job should end, with getting you, say five names. So agencies can be part of the decision, but the ultimate decision must be made by the company.

Corporate perspectives

Manulife Financial: recruitment strategies| HR agenda—regardless of the economy

Cliff Davis, Senior Vice President of HR, Manulife Financial, speaking at a recent HR Magazine HR conference, recounted from his early days, coming from a Sales and Marketing background, where he did not have a high regard for HR. He said initially, “The HR people just didn’t get it.” Adding that when trying to run a business the functions needed were to support and add value. He quipped that, “HR had come a long way since then.”

He discussed talent shortage as a problem, and that it is only going to get worse by adding that, “We need to find ways to keep the talent pool running.” He offered that good talent always has a choice and then shared his ‘top five’ strategies for talent retention.

1. Attract through an employer brand. He said that Manulife have has taken the approach to try and control what the brand is, by refocusing on the brand. He said it is “Important to be clear about who we are and who we aren’t” and then that has to be communicated.

2. Use a valid and reliable selection process to get the right people. He suggested to keep an open mind as competencies may change, but maybe they will not and that putting together a system for interviews and training on how to hire for success was important. “We are not looking to just to fill empty jobs…we need to make sure that employees have the opportunities and the chance to grow.”

3. Develop people from day one. He suggested using the information from psychometric testing and interviews to structure progress from day one so that the talent can be successful. He added that talent management is a long, hard road and, “We have to relate to business leaders what is important to them”, by lining everything up with business strategies.

4. Continuously measure and follow up employee engagement and retention. Davis highlighted, that, “We all want happy employees

without losing connection, ability and delivery”, and that we get a lot of information, so focus on what is critical. He suggested a systematic way to look at standards, such as quarterly talent reviews.

5. Never burn your bridges. Davis recognises that people do leave the Cliff Davis, Senior company, but he wants Vice President of HR, Manulife Financial people's experiences to be positive and for Manulife to be recommended as an employer. “In the talent shortage to come we may want them to come back,” he added.

Davis stressed that this is a great opportunity to shine and show management what HR can do, by being a true business partner and show that you can facilitate, support and take initiative to be relevant.

He suggested going beyond keeping things running smoothly, by knowing the business strategies and what you can do to help.

Davis went on to offer an answer to the question, “Do we let people know that they are talent?” by saying, “Yes, otherwise we will lose them.” He believes not letting talent know they are talent could be a big mistake, however there are risks as people do change. He added that Manulife identifies people who can go two levels higher over the next five years, as it is hard to replace key contributors and that the people they can visualise running the business are the ones they want to keep.

He concluded by suggesting that not all HR leaders are right to push the agenda and get on board at Executive Committee meetings as, “If you haven’t run a business it is hard to understand.” He offered that by learning to think like a businessman and be forward thinking it was a real possibility.

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Newell Rubbermaid: proactive recruitment strategies| Anthony Williams, Director of Talent Acquisition, Newell Rubbermaid spoke at a 2011 HR Conference on the difficulties that the organisation had in attracting candidates, their proactive recruitment strategies and candidate relationship management (CRM). He started by saying that while some brand names may be familiar to consumers, the name Newell Rubbermaid itself did not conjure much excitement from candidates. “The name Newell Rubbermaid may not be very sexy…but from talent perspectives, we do have champagne tastes.”

The USD6 billion company with over 19,000 staff and a diverse portfolio of global business units, focused on North America—over 70% of sales were from this area. This meant HR and talent acquisition in the Asia-Pacific region faced challenges unknown to their North American colleagues: covering multiple countries and a lack of interest from candidates in a very competitive market. Williams explained, “We would need to spend 10 to 15 minutes explaining who we were before we would get any interest.” All this affected recruitment. “The hunt for candidates

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was very labour intense. We needed to educate who we were first.” Needing to educate meant extra recruitment time and escalating costs.

Williams said the decision was to take an active approach to recruitment, in addition to the traditional approaches. “The passive approach hadn’t yielded the type of candidate we were looking for. It was a ‘post and pray process.’ ”Williams shared the three changes in the recruitment approach that had been made in the last year, of which all had netted positive results: recruitment and business operations planning, prerecruitment process and candidate management.

Recruitment and operations planning

Previously, there had been problems with the timing and involvement in the hiring workflow which meant that talent acquisition did not find out about open positions until late, leaving them with unrealistic time frames and expectations to manage. The change implemented was that HR and the talent acquisition team partnered with the business operations leader to forecast hiring for the departments, from sales to manufacturing, for the year. This involved budget management and analysis and ensuring the talent acquisition team had a full understanding of positions that would be available, in terms of both succession planning and talent acquisition. This enabled the process to start so that when a position became available, there was already a ‘pipeline of candidates’ that had been built through networking and recruitment was not starting from scratch.

Generally, Williams said, a list of management competencies is used for recruitment. “There is a link between what we look for, how we hire and

Corporate perspectives

then we evaluate.” He added that for non-tangible candidates—when the criteria does not match with the CRM system—it actually helps to further the awareness of the market.

Pre-recruitment process

The pre-recruitment process involved reviewing the forecast and planning activities that would support networking—through industry events, referral programmes and social networking—to build pipelines for when the positions opened.

Williams said, “The aim was to get the name Newell Rubbermaid out there.” This meant that the organisation was constantly networking with industry related talent so that they had a very good understanding of the talent network. This ensured that efforts were not being duplicated within the organisation and were more efficient. Williams added that it even enabled the team to find perfect candidates early. “We had candidates when the jobs became open, rather than having no candidates.”

Williams shared some challenges with encouraging networking. “It was a skill we had to build. The team had competencies to network, but we had to change the mindset. The philosophy wasn’t quite there.”

Candidate management

Through networking, Williams said that talent acquisition would meet people in the industry that were not necessarily looking for a job. A database, the Candidate Relationship Management (CRM), was built so that after meeting these contacts, their details could be loaded into the system and enable Williams and his team to understand the market. He stated that the process was built around the market, “Positioning our team to be out in the market and knowing what is in the market.” He added that the CRM is different to an applicant tracking system which contains the applicants’ details and CV. When a position becomes open, Williams is then able to ‘pull a map out of the system’ and target a very specific audience. By reaching out to them, those contacts in turn become part of a viral marketing strategy. He said, “They are marketing our contacts for us. It is not necessarily headhunting, as that is a dirty word, but we are doing much more

Anthony Williams, Director of Talent Acquisition, Newell Rubbermaid

than networking.” Through this network, he said that Newell Rubbermaid is attracting very qualified, champagne taste candidates. “We don’t have a very sexy name, but our team has amassed an amazing number of contacts to get attention with a very specific audience.”

As a combatant to changes in contact details, Williams shared, “People move, things change. The people we are networking with aren’t hard to find with things like LinkedIn and private investigators.”

Results

Williams listed the positive KPI outcomes used to analyse the processes implemented: candidates were presented faster, jobs were filled faster, audiences were more familiar with the brands, recruitments costs had decreased and there was more credibility with business leaders. He added that agencies were not utilised as much, but when they were it was in a more strategic way. The biggest and most important result of the process, Williams shared, was that HR and talent acquisition were positioned as being more valuable to the business partners, and were not seen as merely transactional.

He concluded, “Even though the approaches were still in an early phase, improvement had been experienced in all areas.”

Newell Rubbermaid is underway with plans to launch a new branding campaign in the third quarter of 2011 focusing on their strong brand names and being an employer of choice.

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Oregon Scientific: recruiting the Oregon Trail of leaders| Oregon Scientific’s tactics for retaining current talent, recruiting global and future leaders and managing succession development.

Due to the current war for talent, many corporations are facing greater challenges in recruitment and succession development every day. At a recent HR Magazine conference, Dr Frankie Lam, Executive VP HR, Oregon Scientific provided insights into recruitment and succession planning strategies at Oregon Scientific.

Common issues in recruitment

Dr Lam stated that the current challenges that Oregon Scientific faces in their human resource departments are global people resources and management succession. He said, “If you walk into any organisation, the problems are all the same-recruitment and succession. It’s like playing soccer, but why do some teams perform better than others? I think it differentiates by your planning and execution; you find the right people in the right spots, and then they perform at the right match, at the right time, with the right skills and score the right goal.”

Oregon Scientific has approached these issues by looking at external and internal resources and has implemented two programs in their workforce, the Executive Associate Program and the Management Development Program. They also believe an important task to prepare for succession planning is by conducting a people and organisation review.

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Corporate perspectives

Executive Associate Program

In order retain their current talent, Dr Lam said one solution was to use external resources and implement an Executive Associate Program in order ‘to build a strong leadership bench for future global leaders’. He said, “Recruiting from the outside is important for the company but not necessarily the best solution; sometimes the best solution is training from the inside.” The objectives of this Program include identifying talent candidates externally and internally for business growth, developing internally and externally current and future global leaders, accelerating the organisation development and part of the succession planning. This is a three year intensive program with the following breakdown:

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On-the-job development, 70%: job rotations and special task assignments.

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Mentoring and feedback by senior management, 15%: performance review and 360 degree feedback.

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Learning and development programs, 10%: I-MBA and I-Engage Programs and book assignments.

Oregon Scientific’s criteria for staff enrolment in this Program includes a minimum of seven years working experience, MBA preferred, fluent in English, Mandarin and another foreign language is a plus, ability to frequently travel or work overseas and appropriate work values aligned with the defined management style. The characteristics of key future leaders includes alignment with core values, global perspective, savvy in e-business and internet applications, ability to manage in a rapidly changing business environment, good team leader and team player, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, inspirational to others with excellent coaching skills and a good role model with the ability to establish rapport.

Retaining and engaging key talent

Dr Lam stated that 27% of high potentials are at risk of career derailment with one out of every four never reaching his/her potential. Characteristics of derailers include not being a team player, defensiveness, arrogant, too ambitious, hurrying to move ahead and a sense of entitlement. He said that effective mentoring is the key in order to prevent the derailment of employees. Ideal mentors should possess the following characteristics:

• • • •

•

Company activities, 5%: CSR and deliver training for management.

Oregon Scientific believes it is critical for employees to continue reading and learning with Lam adding, “In Hong Kong, many do not read and have never even heard of Jim Collins so we give them books to read. What is the best way to acquire knowledge from others? Reading; I’ll say one of the key differentiators and why the Chinese are catching up so rapidly versus Hong Kong is because they read a lot.”

experienced and respectful senior management personnel; able to commit their time; passionate, and possess coaching and mentoring skills; right pairing—chemistry.

Management Development Program

Another solution that Oregon Scientific has implemented is their in-house developed core training Management Development Program which is grouped into three categories: personal development, management development and commercial development. The Program consists of executive leadership forums for senior managers, I-MBA Programs for selected managers and I-Engaging Programs and Management Essentials

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Programs for all managers. The I-Engage Program is a two day ‘boot camp’ for middle level managers that focuses on supervisory skills, work engagement and team effectiveness. The I-MBA Program is designed to accelerate selected talent to see if they are capable of senior level management.

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We need to be more strategic about where, why and when we rotate people throughout the organisation.

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We need to manage our talent earlier or our competitor will.

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We need to get better at addressing performance issues and creating more candid dialogues.

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Bottom 10% cannot be bottom 10% again and again.

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Talent and capability sharing across business units is critical.

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Leadership development is a shared accountability between senior executives and HRD.

People and organisation review

Many organisations regularly conduct performance management reviews, but Dr Lam advised to also execute a people and organisation review. This review is a business unit by business unit, function by function review with CEOs and executives. He said the review is important in order to agree on and select the high potential talent, the back-bone talent and the bottom 10% and then provide for specific plans in order for performance improvement or exit.

Dr Lam stated that it is necessary to separate the back-bones from the high potentials because while some employees may be key contributors, they are not high potentials.

Results

After one year of implementing these Programs and reviews Dr Lam said Oregon Scientific learned the following:

•

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We need to link talent and critical competencies more explicitly to our strategy—emerging market, war of talent market.

Dr Lam acknowledged that a common problem is for some employees within business units to believe that their resources are solely theirs so this results in problems of sharing and communicating with other business units within a large corporation. He added, “I believe to overcome this we need commitment from the leadership team, cross business unit rotation and leadership development and shared accountability.”

Due to the competitive market in the search and recruitment of talent, more and more corporations may start to cultivate and implement similar programmes in order to augment management succession and development within their workforce.

Corporate perspectives

Standard Chartered: identifying your talent bank|

Fern Ngai, former Head of HR, Standard Chartered

The Standard Chartered Bank has a history in Hong Kong stretching back to 1859 and is currently one of the SAR’s three note-issuing banks. Employing 60,000 people in 1,400 offices worldwide, with 5,000 in Hong Kong alone, the bank embraces a Diversity and Inclusion policy that encourages staff to embrace their differences and live the values espoused by the bank. Working for Standard Chartered is not only a job, but also an experience in personal development.

At the cornerstone of the bank’s talent management strategy are the leaders, who come down specifically to talk to staff at every level concerning performance and personal development in order to best utilise the talent within the organisation.

Self-service HR

Fern Ngai has played a pivotal role in ensuring that talent within the organisation is motivated, focused and ready to handle the challenges of the market. Originally from an IT background, she took up the role of Head of HR for Standard Chartered, before moving into corporate governance within the organisation. HR Magazine interviewd Ngai while she was Head of HR and asked her to share HR practices within Standard Chartered Bank including tools that enable line managers and employees to effectively ‘self-service’ their HR requirements. She explained that HR management systems adopted by the bank automatically generate metrics such as

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Corporate perspectives

attrition rates, which can then be used as yardsticks

by HR and business management to identify issues and weaker areas of performance at numerous levels within the organisation. This knowledge then facilitates the implementation of both proactive and reactive measures at an early stage to maximise results. These high-tech HR solutions, coupled with the establishment of a shared service centre in India, which takes care of the transactional aspects of HR management, have empowered the bank’s HR Department to move forward rapidly, enabling them to focus on more high value-added engagement type activities.

Managers to great managers

In another move forward, Standard Chartered is now focusing on further strengthening and increasing its leadership capability in order to fulfil organisational objectives and aspirations. To achieve this goal, Ngai and her HR team are instrumental in implementing and monitoring the accelerated development of talent within the bank with the aim of turning 'managers' into 'great managers'. These great managers, who are true leaders like Ngai, possess key values and attributes that ultimately drive the business forward towards, and beyond, its next stage of evolution.

Standard Chartered has seen strong, organic growth in the past few years, and maintaining the momentum of business growth requires the right people. To this end, Standard Chartered actively seeks talent with the right capabilities and values—team members who are creative, responsive, international, courageous and trustworthy. All staff have these values enshrined in them right from the outset of their careers with the Bank. Moreover, with senior management taking ownership of talent development by modelling and championing the behaviour they want to elicit in their staff, such values have become even more deeply engrained throughout the organisation internationally.

More than the sum of its parts

To achieve these key HR objectives, Ngai and her team ensure that staff attraction, retention, engagement and development are integrated into a holistic approach for talent management, aligned with the current and future needs of the business.

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One of the most critical factors at the heart of Ngai’s work ethic is talent development. This is essential in view of the current competitive job market within Hong Kong and shes stated, “Failing to develop your talent means you are not engaging your talent, which means you face the possibility of losing them”. Ngai also believes that a strong and compelling employee value proposition must be in place in order to attract quality new talent to the bank.

One way to achieve this is to develop holistic, synergistic management performance profiles for each high potential employee. These contain information such as personal preferences, strengths, track record and even whether staff members are geographically or functionally mobile, which helps managers place people where they can be best utilised. Aligning the strengths and preferences of individuals with positions that best exploit these creates a synergy that stems from staff being happier and more willing and able to contribute which, in turn, results in increased customer satisfaction and better business and financial results.

The leadership at the bank adopts numerous strategies for motivating staff and keeping them happy—some can be as simple as improving the pantry facilities to introducing 5-day paternity and adoption leave. But without the free upward communication that comes from leaders 'doing the rounds' and actively engaging their team members, things like this might never be discovered. The leadership team at Standard Chartered adopts an open and transparent management approach, in which they are accessible to their staff. This translates into members of the Executive Committee practising what they preach and 'doing the rounds'. Despite already frantically hectic schedules, EXCO members come down from the hierarchy and into the heart of the organisation to understand the nuts and bolts of the operations, and also to find out what makes their staff tick. They also share their career experiences through leadership seminars. This practice of active employee engagement facilitates improvements in employee satisfaction and engagement, which is gauged quantitatively through an annual engagement survey, in which all line managers with over four staff receive an individual engagement scorecard.

Corporate perspectives

Leading talent scouts

Leaders at Standard Chartered are expected to be talent scouts in order to help create a strong talent pipeline by identifying future leaders as early as possible in their careers, and mentoring them to develop them into great managers and leaders. Ngai realises the importance of managers being willing to take a risk when identifying new talent, especially at lower levels. Standard Chartered’s talent pipeline extends to include a university graduate programme that has created strategic alliances between the bank and many local universities including Hong Kong University, University of Science & Technology, and Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as many international universities, including those in mainland China. The bank also recognises that the “Baby Boomer” mindset present in many of the bank’s current leaders cannot simply be transposed onto the younger generation who have a different mindset. This part of talent development within the organisation is where building on existing strengths, so that staff are able to make a bigger contribution towards the success of the business, comes heavily into play.

Conversations that count

In addition to this strengths-based philosophy advocated by Ngai, talent mentors within the Bank also engage in four types of regular 'Conversations that Count' with their staff, namely performance, learn and develop, career development and engagement conversations. Underpinning the development of staff members are the ‘learn and develop’ conversations that set agreed development programmes with employees for the year ahead which are subsequently analysed upon completion with respect to performance. A performance conversation is an opportunity for employees to understand how they are doing in their role, to get clarity on their objectives for the rest of the year, and to recognise how their learning and development can help them to contribute more. Ngai places great importance on setting clear guidelines as to what is expected of employees in order to ensure that they are fully engaged in their roles. With this in mind, the engagement conversations with staff, focus on improving engagement and staff motivation in order

to achieve better customer service and financial results, as well as allowing staff to build their career within the bank and so enhance retention of talent.

These regular, planned conversations with every team member then lead to career development conversations that allow staff to explore options open to them within the bank and to make informed decisions about furthering their career.

Standard Chartered is again looking to the future, and a key factor that separates it from its competitors within the top banks in Hong Kong is its highly successful and progressive approach to talent management and delivering great results.

In a nutshell Take a risk: identify & start training up HiPos as early as possible in their careers.

Be proactive & reactive as early as possible to maximise benefits.

Get senior management involved: they can mentor, conduct open forums, do the rounds, act as role-models & share insights.

Align HR objectives with those of the whole organisation.

Provide employees with tools to self-service certain their HR requirements.

Align staff strengths with positions that best exploit these (even if this means shifting them to a new dept. / function).

Motivating staff needn’t cost a lot – it can be as simple as improving the pantry facilities.

Get staff involved in recruitment: personal referrals are cheaper than using recruitment companies & new recruits know more about what’s involved in the job even before they start.

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TurboJet: smooth sailing to find right talent|

Anna Hong, Deputy General Manager for Shun Tak China Travel, the organisation that run TurboJet ferries back and forth between Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Airport, Macau and Shenzhen, spoke to HR about their corporate culture and how Shun Tak China Travel manages their talent.

Finding the right stuff

When asked what key attributes STCT look for in their staff, Hong candidly says right attitude and

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“

Communication is key.

It is vital that staff are fully informed as to the goals and direction of the company.

�

Corporate perspectives

which aims to develop a career path for students through a cadetship or engineering programme.

Communication is key. According to Hong, it is vital that staff are fully informed as to the goals and direction of the company. The impact of the news of the Hong Kong—Macau bridge initially left staff at TurboJet with a pessimistic taste in their mouth, uncertain of their job security. It was through the implementation of team-building workshops that staff were made aware of the negligible impact the bridge would have on TurboJet business.

With the record trips from Hong Kong to Macau in one day set at three hundred, departing every five minutes, STCT staff need not be worried as the organisation is looking very strong for the future. Considering all the behind-the-scenes work involved, including vessel maintenance, this was an amazing feat, which STCT will be looking to repeat in the future.

commitment. Hong says that STCT invests a lot of time and money in training and nurturing their staff from raw cadets to “masters�, and therefore expects a reciprocal commitment.

Although everyone is different, there is a certain level of acceptance or tolerance for what the right attitude is. Hong defines the 'right attitude' as a positive attitude. When equipped with a positive attitude, one does not get discouraged or give up easily. A positive attitude carries over into a positive customer service experience for the customer, who are then more likely to repeat business. A negative attitude, on the other hand, might just create the opposite effect.

Dealing with staff shortages

The single greatest challenge facing STCT is shortage of staff. In order for the company to continue to grow, they need the right people and enough of them. STCT is now trying to reach out to the younger generation through secondary schools and other educational institutions to raise awareness and give children choices they may not otherwise consider. STCT has also implemented a graduate programme for technical institute alumni,

Anna Hong, Deputy General Manager, Shun Tak China Travel

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Consultant perspectives

Consultant Perspectives

ConnectedGroup: HR Fight Club| As the war for talent hots up again, and the boxing gloves come off, we speak with Mathew Gollop, Group MD; and Adam Edwards, Managing Director—Greater China; ConnectedGroup to get their take on how the battle is unfolding and what HR directors can do to win over new hires.

Who’s fighting and why?

According to Gollop, “Just about everybody.” The shortage of talent has now spread across multiple job functions and industries, leaving recruitment managers in a very difficult situation. He observed that the battle for talent had become more political over the last ten years and that this phenomenon has led to the emergence of an increasing number of ‘home-grown employment packages’. These packages are developed by employers specifically for the Asia Pacific region, rather than simply rolling out traditional overseas packages.

“We’re seeing people get multiple job offers, and a definite increase in headhunting,” commented Edwards. Previously, HR managers were primarily concerned with the issue of attracting the best quality talent, but in recent years they have had to take a much more holistic approach. He explained how the HR team, among all its other roles, was increasingly being expected to design staff T&D programmes to help improve retention in addition to developing employer branding strategies to help their organisations become an employer of choice.

“Now, more than ever it is essential for HR to engage in regular communication with their staff to keep them in the loop,” asserted Gollop. “HR must have career development plans in place and demonstrate clear progression paths.” He stressed that all such communication must be clear and

consistent and that it was now essential for HR to get the message of succession planning down to staff level. The importance of this tactic is evidenced by numerous exit polls that show staff leaving organisations because they felt they had hit a glass ceiling and/or uncertainty over their future plans. Gollop remarked, “The speed of transfer of strategic plans to staff at all levels within the organisation has now become a critical factor in determining staff retention.”

Factors prompting talent wars

Noting that talent wars were cyclical, “It’s a supply and demand issue," said Gollop. The Asia market is outperforming other areas and draining the talent pool.” As the world economies start to grow again following the financial contraction, many organisations have stretched their resources so thinly, that they are now willing to fight harder in order to retain and attract staff.

Socio-economic factors have also played a role promoting the talent war regionally. A number of issues including an ageing population, China’s onechild policy and the lack of educational places to cope with the growing number of graduates have all culminated in creating a talent vacuum within midlevel management.

Gollop explained, “There is a growing gap between senior management and the frontline staff

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which allows people to move for promotion more easily than in previous years—creating buoyancy in the market.”

HR magazine asked Edwards to share some of his experience in giving advice to HR teams and hiring managers about what they could do to help win over quality talent in today’s marketplace.

Top ten recruitment tips 1. Ensure the hiring process is efficient, and not overly complicated.

6. Engage with jobseekers as much as possible and as often as possible, even if they are not currently actively seeking employment. Put resources into showcasing future employment opportunities to passive jobseekers, to help create an ongoing potential talent pipeline.

7. Avoid being too specific with job descriptions, to encourage more applications from candidates in a broader spectrum of industry types and roles.

2. Pay due diligence to the hiring process. To get the most out of interviews, and reduce the need for multiple meetings with interviewees, several key decision makers should be invited to meet potential hires.

This also helps organisations get a broader range of perspectives on the suitability of interviewees.

8. Avoid being too narrow with salary bands, then the position may appeal to candidates with a broader spectrum of ages, backgrounds and salary expectations.

3. Consolidate interviews and meetings together in as short a space of time as possible, rather than staggering them out over a period of four to six weeks.

9. Expect counter offers to be made by interviewees’ existing employers. The ‘emotional pull’ of such counter offers from existing employers should not be underestimated. Around 70% of employers give counter proposals in an attempt to retain existing staff, and around 40% of these are successful.

4. HR should gain background knowledge of the commercial realities of their own businesses to help them gain easier and more meaningful access to passive jobseekers.

5. Ensure there’s enthusiasm within HR. Staffing directors should be so knowledgeable and passionate that they inspire candidates.

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10. Communication throughout the job hiring process is critical. Potential hires will talk to peers about their interview experience with your organisation, and bad interview experiences will often be instantly relayed on blogs and social media networks. To ensure interviewees leave with a good impression of your organisation feedback to them needs to be timely, relevant and detailed.

Consultant Perspectives

Even if candidates are not selected, it is still good practice to communicate with the candidate and give feedback on their performance. Some of these candidates may prove to be ideal for alternative positions arising at a later stage. Communication is also key when outsourcing recruitment, and external recruiters should be able to build strong partnerships between HR and potential hires. Gollop pointed out, “Nowadays, recruitment agencies need to be more than just CV factories, they need to proactively manage clients and foster long-term relations.”

What’s in a name?

HR also needs to consider the significance of job titles, in particular to Gen-Y staff, who tend to expect shorter steps leading to multiple promotion opportunities within a relatively short space of time.

Gollop mentioned that common topics on the minds of staff around this issue include:

• • •

How do other people perceive my job title?

Does my job title open doors for me?

Does my job title accurately describe what I do?

“

Good recruitment companies are now expected to do much more than simply recruit.

Respite for HR

”

Gollop explained what his group is doing to help those in HR deal with the increasingly complex and competitive task of staff acquisition. “We listen,” he said, “These days, you can’t just have a swelling database of CVs, it’s a much more involved process.” To meet this challenge, the organisation has an internal research team who map out particular markets to help tap specific talent. They also draw on insights from external research teams to help put together recruitment solutions that can be rolled out both at speed and in depth, within specific markets. He added, “Good recruitment policies can grab low hanging fruit with relative ease, but traditional methods tend to only focus on people who are actively seeking employment.”

Edwards explained that although many in HR are

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now making use of social networks to help find talent, such networks are far from private. With this in mind, using external recruitment companies brings the obvious advantage of providing a neutral platform where staff are likely to be more candid about their current employment situation and requirements. This not only provides a clearer picture for hiring managers, but also saves them a significant amount of time and resources.

On the use of social networks for recruitment, Edwards conceded, “LinkedIn is a powerful tool,” but was quick to point out the platform’s lack of confidentiality mean that existing bosses could easily see what their staff were doing. Again, this is an advantage of outsourcing recruitment—as potential hires are usually much more comfortable talking to external recruiters than they are with anyone in a competitor’s company.

Gollop added that the traditional role of recruitment companies had dramatically changed in recent years and recruitment process outsourcing was a lot more involved than in previous years. Good recruitment companies are now expected to do much more than simply ‘recruit’. Nowadays they also share advice on market trends, propose employer branding strategies and generally engage much more as a partner with

Mathew Gollop, Group MD (left) and Adam Edwards, Managing Director—Greater China (right) of ConnectedGroup

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HR teams. He concluded, “We have identified that clients need a ‘high touch’ relationship alongside strong delivery in order to really maximise our effectiveness as a true partner. As such we have begun to structure ourselves in a way that allows experienced leaders like Adam and myself to engage with clients strategically while fully involving our recruiters in the process and then monitoring performance to ensure we are exceeding expectations.”

HR battle plan •

Be flexible and adapt with the market.

The market is fluid—so expect change very quickly.

•

Partner with recruitment agencies— engage them as a ‘recruitment partner’ rather than just in the traditional role as a ‘recruiter’.

•

Understand the overriding business strategy of your organisation and the market you are operating in to help anticipate when specific talent pools may dry up, and what hiring strategies you can adopt to mitigate this.

•

Continually monitor what your competitors are doing.

•

Consider hiring talent from different backgrounds and industries—today’s workforce is much more flexible than previous ones. Staff can easily transition between different roles and/or industries.

Consultant Perspectives

HR in the fast lane|

Coping with talent needs amidst exponential growth.

In this day and age, businesses work and grow at a fast pace, backed by technology and shaped by globalisation. In this article, we share tips on how companies who are growing exponentially cope with their talent needs—in recruiting fast and accurately—as well as ensuring talent stays. James Mendes, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Alexander Mann Solutions shares his insight on some of the key issues.

provides the best opportunity to make a reasoned decision about the contribution that they can make to your organisation, and conversely the contribution your organisation will make to their career.

The hiring managers and recruiters who make the decisions about the people who will enter your organisation need to be fully trained and equipped with the skills needed to identify and attract the very best talent for your organisation.

What would you say are the three most important criteria in recruiting in a fast growing organisation?

2. Keep track of costs and requirements

1. Understand who are your target candidates to ensure you get the right people People are the foundation for success. By recruiting the right people at the right time, companies provide a firm foundation for further growth, and create a high-performance culture which in turn supports rapid growth and expansion.

Too often companies fail to do any location assessment to determine if their talent requirements can be met prior to making investments.

For businesses in developed economies today, 70% of total costs are people costs–with such a high proportion of costs being allocated to people, it is absolutely essential to bring the right people into the organisation, and make best use of the people investment.

The recruitment process is the very first point of contact with the future staff of your organisation, and

It’s easy for companies to turn to executive search and recruitment agencies when they need staff, and need them quickly. However these sources incur high costs, with agency fees often running into the tens of thousands of dollars, recruitment costs quickly build and can have a significant impact on cashflow and the company bottom line.

We find that organisations that have a heavy reliance on high-cost sourcing channels tend to be recruiting reactively—the staffing requirement is driven from an existing vacancy. Recruitment works most effectively in a proactive manner—sourcing talent ahead of the requirement, identifying where talent exists and market mapping.

By forward planning and understanding what staffing requirements the organisation will have in the next three, six or twelve months, recruitment teams can proactively recruit for roles and ensure that they utilise low-cost and diverse sourcing channels rather than being overly reliant on recruitment agencies.

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3. Build and promote your employer brand

Branding is an incredibly powerful tool in candidate attraction. Google, for instance, does not advertise externally for candidates, yet their employer brand is such that they receive over a million applications annually, and recruit the absolute best talent in the market.

There are innumerable benefits to employer branding, not least of which is the ability to generate candidate pipelines and talent pools.

With an applicant tracking system implemented in conjunction with an employer branding program, organisations are able to build proprietary databases of active, pre-qualified candidates which can be drawn upon on-demand. This in turn reduces reliance on high-cost sourcing channels, and helps enable forward planning.

Where should fast expanding organisations look for their talent needs across their offices worldwide?

Local experience wins out time and again, recruiting in remote offices is no different. While organisations can look internationally for talent, especially when

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they require specialist skills and experience, it’s often more cost-effective to do a deep search locally or leverage less frequently-used channels to reach non-active local talent.

Internal referral programs are especially effective, as the staff inside the organisation have a much better ability to identify potential candidates, and they can also access pools of qualified candidates who may not necessarily be looking for work. It’s surprising how often internal referral programs turn up ideal candidates in unusual locations.

Another channel which is increasingly utilised by organisations active in multiple countries is that of returning expat talent. Many countries see increased levels of returning nationals seeking the familiarity of home and trading earning potential for lifestyle. Such candidates boast world-class experience and exposure, are well-connected in their ‘adopted’ country, and are a great source of knowledge for rapidly growing companies. For specialist skills and experience we have seen an increase in global sourcing—local hiring. Increased global mobility and the slow down in European and US

Consultant Perspectives

economies have resulted in this being an effective channel when attracting international talent.

What are the key challenges organisations tend to face in recruiting quickly but accurately, and how they could best overcome them?

Recruiting quickly requires workforce planning, a seamless, solid and reliable recruitment process, well-trained hiring managers and HR communities, and a good pipeline of candidates. There is inherent risk in rapid turnaround recruitment if it is not performed in a structured manner; errors in the process could result in poor candidate selection, a poor fit between skills and requirements, dissatisfied unsuccessful candidates, and higher cost of hire.

Hiring errors often result in accelerated attrition costing the company time and money.

When looking for a very specific skill set, there are additional pressures as the candidate market tends to be tighter, and talented candidates even more difficult to find. In these situations, the hiring community need to be aware of the constraints of the recruitment team and be as flexible and proactive as possible when raising vacancies.

AMS work to overcome these risks and challenges by identifying them during the implementation phase of our solutions. We work with the hiring community to determine specific requirements, then engineer a bespoke and repeatable process which forms the core of the solution, supporting critical KPIs and the hiring strategy. In areas where quick turnaround is required, the process is implemented in conjunction with a strategy to generate pipelines and talent pools of pre-qualified candidates.

In buoyant times, one of the most important issues in talent management is that of retention and keeping the best employees.

How can a fast expanding organisation do this?

Key to retention is employee engagement, and recruitment is the start of employee engagement. The experience that a candidate has during the recruitment process sets their opinion of the company. Organisations who are serious about attracting and retaining the very best talent must ensure that all candidates

have a consistent experience throughout the recruitment process, which follows on to their experience with the company.

When AMS partner with a client to provide recruitment services, we do so using the client’s

branding and systems so as to provide a seamless service to the candidate—the candidate is unaware that the recruiters who have had contact with them during the recruitment process are in fact employees of another company. This differs from the experience for candidates that are recruited via agency, as the relationship is far more direct and presentation of the organisation far more objective.

One of our clients, ANZ, considers that all candidates are not only candidates but potential

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customers, and should be treated as such. The focus of the recruitment team at ANZ (aside from getting the best candidate for the role) is on making the candidate experience so positive that even unsuccessful candidates actively promote the experience to other potential candidates.

Those candidates who are successful in their application for a role are already familiar and comfortable with the organisation when they reach their desk on their first day.

Exit interviews are often a good indicator as to why employees are leaving your organisation, it is surprising how often employees leave managers rather than organisations. It is essential to have well trained management, invest in training and development for your workforce and actively promote internal career opportunities to increase retention.

What do you think are the top three mistakes organisations that are growing at an exponential rate often make in their talent management?

1. Poor planning / management info

Poor planning and lack of management information can cost companies dearly in operational flexibility, in cashflow, and in talent acquisition. Many organisations have difficulty in identifying the true cost of recruitment as it is not a centrally-controlled function. Centralising recruitment and providing accurate management information gives better clarity to the true cost of recruitment, provides a benchmark from which to work and plan from, and most importantly enables the setting of a recruitment strategy which aligns with the business growth strategy.

2. Right vs. right now

It is easy for hiring managers in organisations to be overly hasty when selecting a candidate. In many cases it is better to delay a hiring decision by several weeks in the anticipation of a stronger candidate, than it is to hire a candidate ‘right now’. Looking at the longer-term growth and stability of the organisation it is important to get the right candidate at the right time rather than the wrong candidate, right now.

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3. Reliance on traditional recruitment channels

Too often companies are overly reliant on traditional recruitment channels. A diverse sourcing strategy and utilising diverse sourcing channels opens up new candidate pools and allows you to tap into both passive and active jobseekers. Companies need to use advanced methods to source the best candidates not the best available candidates. Well managed employee referral programs continue to offer significant value as well as utilising the companies brand at the forefront of attracting talent, this also ensures you remain the proprietary owner of the data and can build a candidate pool. Whilst many companies use traditional press and online job boards to attract candidates, those looking to reach non active jobseekers have an increasing presence on social networking sites, second life and industry specific websites.

We understand that certain sectors like Finance and Banking are experiencing talent shortages for specific skills e.g. IT. What can be done to alleviate this situation and how can solution providers help HR managers?

Realistically there isn’t a simple solution to the shortage of IT skills in any market due to the supply and demand factors—it’s a global shortage which is created by the uptake of IT across many industries and in many capacities. Companies can look to source qualified IT staff from other areas—not just from their competitors, but from other industries where similar skills are in use. Using emerging technologies which search multiple lists, databases and websites, and searching talent through online communities is an effective method of identifying candidates who are not actively searching for roles.

AMS has an extensive consulting group who leverage industry experience and best practice to help our clients identify and attract candidates. A well managed recruitment function supported by best in class people, processes and technologies will give companies a significant advantage over their competitors in the highly competitive war for talent.

Consultant Perspectives

How has globalisation affected the recruitment process?

Globalisation has had a major impact on recruitment—organisations are identifying and moving talent throughout the world. It’s not uncommon to see graduate programmes cycling new staff through multiple roles, locations and countries to better equip them for a career which will involve greatly increased contact with other countries and cultures.

Many organisations are seeing growing interest from their workforce in global mobility programmes and secondment opportunities. I believe it’s a real benefit to organisations to be able to both source and move staff globally.

What other factors influence the recruitment process in fast expanding organisations?

Strategy, culture, and engagement. We often see recruitment (and HR as a whole) treated as the poor relation in strategic planning; either it is not considered to be an important segment of company strategy, or it is not involved in a timely fashion.

Company culture affects recruitment; the internal culture of the organisation—attitude towards risk, the autonomy in which departments can operate— has an impact on the ability of the recruitment function and hence process.

Engagement with the organisation is also key—a well-engaged and connected recruitment function acts in partnership with the business units that it supports, aiding proactive recruitment in line with business requirements.

How different is the recruiting process in Asia compared to more mature markets?

Recruitment practices in Asia are advancing quickly but still lag behind those in Europe and the US. We see a higher reliance on traditional recruitment channels in Asia and on the whole companies in Asia have made limited investments in their employment brand and have not invested in the tools, systems and infrastructure required to tackle their recruitment challenges.

Many organisations in Asia have been battling high attrition rates and rapid growth plans coupled with

the entry into new markets which has resulted in largely reactive recruitment functions. We are also seeing greater usage of advanced assessment tools and techniques in more mature markets.

How can Recruitment Process Outsourcing deliver more business value to companies and organisations in Asia?

RPO allows operational flexibility, provides ongoing cost savings, ensures that organisations get the best talent on the market, assists in workforce planning and strategy, and helps develop employee engagement through a positive recruitment experience.

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Recruitment uncovered| Trends, trials and tribulations‌

Annie Cheung, Branch Manager, Adecco Personnel Limited

As we progress through 2011, and economies around the world are becoming healthier, the number of job opportunities is on the increase. With this there is also a steady shift towards a younger working population with increasing numbers of Gen-Y staff entering the workplace. Many companies are beginning to discover that traditional hiring and retention strategies are rapidly becoming ineffective and there is a growing gap between opportunities they offer and what new hires actually want. The term ‘career’ no longer carries the long-term tag it used to, and Gen-Y new

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hires are now much more mobile than in previous generations. As a consequence HR now faces not only staff retention challenges, but also pandering to the needs of new hires who are increasingly choosey about companies they wish to work for. Companies now have to work harder and smarter than ever before in order to attract and retain the right talent to their organisations. We interviewed Annie Cheung, Branch Manager, Adecco Personnel Limited, who has over nine years experience in the recruitment field, to get her views on recruitment trends.

Consultant Perspectives

Key recruitment trends

Aside from the standard trend of high turnover amongst Gen-Y, there are a number of important recruitment trends emerging within the region.

Cheung highlighted that Q4 of 2009 saw a general upturn in the economy and in the number of jobs available; however, unemployment still remained relatively high. She noted, “There has been an increase in hiring activity across all major industries in Hong Kong, and going into next year, employers are likely to face a qualified-candidate shortage.”

Cheung pointed out that in Q2-Q4, 2010, there was an increase demand for mid to senior-level positions within the Logistics Sector compared to demand in 2009. In the Banking and Insurance industries, Cheung commented that companies have, and will continue to, become more aggressive in their hiring practices. Many companies have increased the number of recruitment open days they are hosting in an attempt to attract new talent.

With the increasing competition for employees, particularly within in the Finance industry, potential employees are now demanding higher salaries.

Cheung noted, “The current average wage [for frontline staff in the Finance industry], is around HKD10,000 per month, new hires and potential employees are demanding wages that are 10-15% higher than last year.”

One of the biggest changes has been witnessed in the Luxury and Retail Sector, with many planning to double the existing headcount in flagship outlets to cope with increased consumer demand. Cheung said, “This large increase is largely due to the increase in mainland Chinese tourists, who bring with them an incredible wealth...This increase in business and stores necessitates hiring more employees.”

Recruitment challenges for today’s HR

With HR battling it out, Cheung identified three key challenges for companies, often exacerbated for SMEs, in recruiting new talent. The first challenge is that HR is having an increasingly tough time finding not only suitably qualified and experienced candidates, but also in finding candidates that fit their organisation’s culture. The second challenge for HR is that even if they find the right candidates,

they may not be willing to stay with the company long-term. The third challenge faced by HR is that companies are now having to update and adapt their corporate culture to best suit the changing requirements of the younger generations currently entering the workforce.

“

With the large influx of Gen-Y employees, recruiting firms and HR managers have had to change the ways they attract employees.

”

Recruiting and retaining new hires

How does an HR manager deal with a generation of employees who, according to Cheung, are already building a reputation for high turnover and lower patience levels within jobs. This is an issue that is becoming not only more common, but also rapidly becoming the most important issue for any HR manager to address. Cheung noted, “In order for any company to be successful, they need to be able to attract and retain not only the best talent, but talent that also fits with the company culture. With the large influx of Gen-Y employees, recruiting firms and HR managers have had to change the ways they attract employees.” Cheung recommended several strategies that HR managers can adopt to help ensure efficient recruitment and employee retention—especially among Gen-Y.

1. Pre-recruitment phase

There are a number of things HR managers can do in the pre-recruitment and recruitment phases of hiring

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to ensure the best candidates are hired. Cheung highlighted, “Companies need to spend money on ensuring they build a well-known, reputable brand that will help drive employees to them. HR also needs to have a roadmap on how to develop new hires, show potential employees where they could be in five years.” HR must also guide employees as to the best routes via which they can achieve self-development.

Cheung also pointed out that this is incredibly important for SMEs—as this is where the majority of new hires will begin their careers. Without a wellestablished brand to stand behind, Cheung warned companies that they would have a hard time retaining employees, leading to higher turnover and ultimately resulting a negatively-branded corporate image.

HR managers should also be aware of what factors attract Gen-Y to come and work for the company.

Cheung suggested, “Most of Gen-Y have a fairly straightforward mindset. They believe that if they work hard, they will have increased chances for advancement within their company. They want

the opportunity for personal and career growth through on-the-job training. They also tend to have less patience and will not want to stay as long as employees from previous generations.” Cheung advised HR to be mindful of these factors and to provide a consistent and clear ‘roadmap’ which is transparent to both new hires and line managers in more senior level positions. She also encouraged HR to ensure compensation and benefits offered were in line with, or slightly above, market rates.

2. Recruitment phase

Once companies have established their brand, there are a number of ways of recruiting new staff. Cheung noted that internal referrals, from existing staff members, have proven to be successful, as employees who are already established within the company know the culture, and will typically suggest candidates who are the right fit. Existing employees are also able to give down-to-earth explanations concerning the corporate culture in place. All this makes it easier for the referred employees to fit into the existing culture.

Staff referrals, even where financial incentives are provided, are also significantly cheaper than traditional sources of hiring new staff. Cheung also noted the rising number of recruitment days which are being hosted by companies in the region, in particular in the Banking and Finance Sectors, which are currently aggressively recruiting new staff. Recruitment days typically attract from 50 to 200 jobseekers and provide an excellent opportunity to gauge the current market with face-to-face interaction with typical potential hires. In order to maximise attendance rates, Cheung advised HR to select dates for such recruitment days carefully to avoid clashing with similar events from other companies.

3. On-boarding phase

Once new employees have joined the company, there are a number of things HR managers should be doing to ensure that new hires are a good fit and to help maximise retention. Cheung outlined a fourpoint retention strategy.

Ensure new employees have a clear view of both company branding and culture—this will help them adapt to the existing corporate culture.

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Consultant Perspectives

1. Work closely with employees and engage them with lots of questions. Ask for their opinions and suggestions on problems and issues. Cheung said, “Be sure to allow Gen-Y to make mistakes, and show them that it is alright to make mistakes. When mistakes have been made, be sure to show them the way to fix the problems and involve them in the problem solving.”

2. For SMEs, Cheung suggested that HR should maintain consistent training and development opportunities within the company. She advised having a development or mentoring programme that allows new hires to experience different roles which will encourage staff to stay longer-term in the company.

3. In order for SMEs to attract and retain the best talent among the younger generations, companies should adopt a flatter organisation structure and encourage and foster close relations between employees and their managers.

Cheung summed up, “Ensure you give a clear career roadmap to employees and give them a way to succeed.”

Outsourcing vs in-house

The great debate still rages as to whether outsourcing all or some of your recruitment needs is a better strategy than keeping everything in-house. Cheung, as a recruiter, pointed out, “Outsourcing your recruitment can be a cost-effective and efficient way to achieve your hiring needs. There can be a cost and time savings, as most recruitment companies focus on the administration work.” This is a good option for HR managers in SMEs, as they tend to have lower headcounts within HR, and frequently don’t have sufficient resources in HR to run extensive hiring

processes. Cheung added, “By using a recruiting firm to hire new staff, HR managers can free up valuable time to focus more on existing staff.” For organisations that do already, or are planning to, employ recruiting firms to handle their hiring process, Cheung gave a number of suggestions on what HR can do to make the process easier and more efficient.

HR tips for working with recruiters 1. Ensure you have good branding that is consistent and clear with a well-established career roadmap.

2. Work with recruiting firms to ensure all sides are clear on expectations and requirements.

3. Develop a clear timeline and schedule for the hiring process, and work with recruiting firms to establish a contingency plan in case the hiring needs can not be met in time.

4. Ensure you receive daily and weekly updates from recruiters on matches and interviews.

5. Be open to the fact that it is rare to find an employee that matches 100%—the most common mismatches are ‘salary expectations’ and ‘notice periods’. Be willing to pay a little more and negotiate on salary and realistic notice periods.

6. Pay attention to other companies’ activities when scheduling HR recruitment days. The busiest day for such events is Saturday, and the most common location is Tsim Sha Tsui.

HR should be prepared to receive 50-200 resumes in one day.

By bearing these points in mind, whether recruiting in-house or enlisting the help of external recruiters, HR should be able to effectively close the gap between what their organisation offers and what new hires actually want. In this way they will be much better poised to not only attract, but also retain quality talent from the increasingly demanding talent pool they are casting their nets into.

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Recruiting your recruitment firm| ConnectedGroup shares advice on outsourcing and how to test out your potential agency before signing on the dotted line.

During the economic crisis, the employer held the advantage in the recruitment process, however now that the economy is slowly regaining momentum, there has been a shift to the employee moving to the driver’s seat. This shift is now resulting in the number one concern for many organisations being recruitment and attracting key talent. Mathew Gollop, Group Managing Director, ConnectedGroup shared his insight on strategies HR managers can use in order to choose the most suitable recruitment agency for their company.

Key issues of recruitment firms

Due to the high turnover rate in the recruitment industry, the feared, ‘Hello, I’m the new guy that will be servicing your account’ comes to mind for many companies. This scenario is a concern because of the amount of information that is lost regarding how to service the account when the recruiter leaves that company. Gollop advised that one solution is to request that the recruitment agency provide a template to their client that serves as a guideline on the recruitment strategies and processes for their particular organisation. This will alleviate the amount of time the company spends having to rebrief every new recruiter regarding the culture and strategies of their business. This template should be easily accessible and updated quarterly to address any potential changes.

Gollop said another problem with recruitment firms are their lack of cohesiveness on how they engage in staff accounts. He revealed that a number of his clients have the common problem where a good recruiter will come and sell themselves on

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what they will bring to the company but they do not incorporate the broader strategy in the business and what it can bring to their organisation.

Quantity versus quality

The actual quality of the applicants sent by the recruitment firm is becoming a concern for many companies because technology is now enabling recruiters to send more resumes in a faster time period; then they become more focused on how fast they can get CVs to their clients instead of their actual qualifications, which also hinders the recruiter’s ability to consider how the applicants may contribute to succession development for that company. Gollop conveyed, “Recruiting is a sales business and the problem is that recruiters sell and don’t recruit, so if they’re not able to be part of the business and involved in the strategy of the business, then they can’t truly understand a role and how it’s going to benefit a company, so they go out and sell a job spec.

They are trying to find people who have the same skills that the job spec demonstrates but what they are not doing is selling the broader opportunity and identifying people who have the skills to take that job to the next level, therefore you’re only ever getting a good match to the job but not necessarily ever getting the best match for that job.”

Get the most from your agency

In order for companies to get a high level of quality from their recruitment agencies, there are a few key strategies that companies can consider and implement within their organisation. Gollop noted that the volume of recruiters that a company employs

Consultant Perspectives

does not necessarily increase their chances of hiring for that job. If a company engages with five different agencies—don’t expect each agency to provide a different 20%; instead drive accountability through a smaller number of vendors. “Every recruiter goes and looks for the path of least resistance—one where they have a good relationship with the client and more exclusivity,” Gollop informed.

He also advised that clients should tell the recruitment agency exactly what they need in advance, and then the recruiter can spend their time building on those capabilities. He added that it is beneficial when a client who has had problems in the past with finding a particular hire in the market, sits down and shows him where they have already put the effort in, so then he can find out where to spend his time effectively. “The right kind of partnership is one where I can educate the client and say, ‘I don’t think you can find this skill-set in the market, or you won’t find this skill-set for that kind of salary, or you haven’t looked in this place—I will go do that for you’ so it’s a two-way communication,” Gollop disclosed.

Criteria for selecting a recruitment firm

Gollop said that the biggest complaint that he gets from clients is the lack of quality of recruiters therefore he advises that when selecting a recruitment firm:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Choose well Demand accountability Promote loyalty Drive change and development Go to their office Validate their information

He stated that when choosing a recruitment agency, about 90% of companies do not ask the key questions for future growth; instead they focus on the past performance and very few ask about the experience level and quality of the consultants who will be engaging in their account such as how many years experience they have, so it is valuable to request that a senior account manager handle the account.

Check their credentials

Many companies also fail to validate the qualifications the agency has listed. “Some companies may claim they have 20 consultants in Shanghai, when they actually have two. If you don’t question or validate that you will never know, so that is why you don’t get the service you’re expecting—there isn’t the capability to deliver what was promised,” stated Gollop.

He suggested that one creative solution to this is to test out who you will be working with first prior to engaging into a contract. He gave an example of a client who narrowed their list of potential agencies down to five and then told each vendor to send their two best candidates for the specified job. The client then rated the agency based on the relevance of the candidates, the quality of the resumes and how they were presented and the speed of response. “Not only were they getting a real life example of how these agencies were performing; they were actually getting their recruitment done in the process,” revealed Gollop.

He added that all though time consuming, one of the most important criteria in ensuring the selection of a quality recruitment firm is to go to their office. He advised, “If you’re outsourcing your talent to businesses that don’t have the capability to deliver, then the cost in the long-term will be significant so the short-term effort of going to their actual operational office, being introduced to their people and talked through the infrastructure that exists, you will gain a huge amount from that process; externally the agencies and service offered all look the same but the nature of each agency will be very different each time so you need to find out which one fits you in terms of your culture.”

After selecting the right recruitment agency, in order to enhance their performance Gollop summarized, “I think this is key-demand accountability. Any portfolios of recruiters that you have if you are a big organisation should have one or two companies that have a broad range of capabilities so that you can leverage cost and their performance because you will become a big part of their revenue over the course of the year.”

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How the hunter becomes the hunted| Using social media to increase employee value propositions.

By James Hewitt, Director, Asia, SilkRoad technology

We all know that finding and retaining 'top talent' is crucial to any and every organisation. With top talent turning the wheels, businesses are more likely to experience increased productivity, start yielding better financial return, and be more attractive to investors. The higher the quality of people you have in your office, the more productivity and results you get out of that office. Not to mention the fact that top-choice candidates generally need less time training to reach productivity.

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Consultant Perspectives

So, how do you find the best candidates?

Automating your hiring process not only helps find and sort candidates, but also ensures new employees become productive more quickly. But, in what ways can we get these candidates we all seek to start targeting us? The answer is simple: by becoming a company the best candidates intentionally seek out.

The key is a strong employment brand. It’s the best way to ensure your company finds higher quality candidates, faster and at a lower cost. A crystal clear employment brand can give your organisation a competitive advantage in the marketplace and help you attract, hire and retain all-stars.

Employee Value Proposition

The candidate's perception of your company’s employee value proposition (EVP) has a direct impact on:

Whether candidates proactively seek work in your company

Whether candidates accept an interview or job offer

How much compensation candidates expect to perform the required role in your organisation

If candidates perceive your company as being an ideal employer, more and more resumes will start coming in—and you can begin pulling the top candidates out of that elite group. This is a 'rich get richer' kind of dynamic.

Take Control of your employment brand To build your EVP you need to ensure that from the first interaction with a potential candidate— throughout the entire hiring process—to well past the onboarding process, you demonstrate your employment brand and culture to employees. Having

a clear brand and conveying it to candidates tells potential employees what it is like to work with your company, and what is expected of them.

A great place to start in building your EVP is a comprehensive and branded career site where candidates can ask questions about open positions and learn about your work environment. Make sure the site is easy to navigate. A great career site provides you an opportunity to spread your employment brand. Make sure you have option for jobseekers to 'share' jobs with friends via email and social media to make your openings more social.

Help jobseekers & current employees help you

Provide current and potential employees a way to share with others why you are a great company to work for and current job openings the exist. Go social—mobilise your workforce to be your greatest brand ambassadors and share the great things about your organisation.

It is imperative that HR stops fearing social media.

It’s going to continue to rule moving forward. If you’ve feared it in the past, it is time to learn to embrace it. Of course, you’ll want to have policies in place so your employees understand the company guidelines on what is and is not appropriate to share socially; you don’t want to accidentally share confidential information.

Having a social strategy allows for casting a wider net and reaching a greater number of passive candidates. As a bonus, social recruiting decreases the cost of recruiting and staffing. And that’s something every company can get behind.

Flock to LinkedIn, blogs and other social sites because that is where you are going to find candidates. Companies without a social media recruitment strategy will be left behind and miss out on an entire generation of socially-savvy employees.

Creating a strong EVP is not easy, but all the tools you need are available today.

Taking control of your employment brand, and providing candidates with a great end-to-end recruiting experience will reap its rewards­—high quality candidates will seek out your company and soon you will no longer be the hunter, but the hunted.

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Sourcing good HR Outsourcers|

HR Outsourcing Association (HROA) tries to make this task easier for HR managers.

With the market for outsourcing HR functions so diversified it is often difficult for those in HR to get an objective overview of what’s available in the market. HR Magazine spoke with Richard Crespin, the association’s Global Executive Director, about what they hope to achieve.

What is the primary goal of HR Outsourcing Association (HROA)?

The simple answer: to make HR outsourcing easier and more effective. This in turn means users can achieve faster and greater returns on their investments. HR touches virtually every part of an organisation and efforts to improve HR can have tremendous benefits for employees, employers and investors. Our goal is to unleash the wisdom of the HR outsourcing community. What do I mean by that? By sharing the insights of a community of people who have traveled the road already, and those about to start, we build an environment for collective learning. We harness that power to set standards, share best practices, create new tools and techniques and celebrate excellence.

Why focus on Asia now?

As a member-driven association, we live to support our members and their needs. We’re responding to the demand created by our members in other parts of the world. We started almost simultaneously in Europe and North America and have worked hard to absorb the massive growth in this field. We have now put in place an infrastructure to support a worldwide membership.

For the past few years our members have demanded a presence for the association in Asia to support their continued growth in this region.

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What do you feel are the main challenges for HR departments in this region?

Pretty much the same challenges that face any business in the region: the size of the geography, the diversity of languages, and the complexity of different legal and regulatory regimes. There is no 'one' Asia, there are many sovereign nations each with its own language, culture and legal constructs spread out over a vast territory. For the HR professional working in a business spanning multiple Asian countries that means running multiple payrolls, multiple benefits programmes, multiple HR administrations and the list goes on.

I think these innate complexities are compounded for HR departments that are part of multi-nationals.

If the HQ lacks an Asian perspective it can make for

Consultant Perspectives

a very frustrating experience. American and even European executives are used to working with a single legal framework; this is not the case in Asia.

Do you feel that outsourcing has redefined the profession of HR? Yes, it has created increasing opportunities for the HR executive to be more strategic. Traditional HR thinking throws together two very different ‘brains’: the administrative and the strategic. HR executives are asked to be extremely detail-oriented, processdriven and quality conscious while simultaneously thinking long-term about the ‘human condition’ within the organisation. When they run payroll, or process benefits, or maintain HR records they essentially run complicated assembly lines.

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Don’t go it alone.

There’s a vast community of people who have already gone down this road. Tap into them and you’ll find the journey more rewarding, faster and easier.

”

Simultaneously these same professionals are asked to be empathetic strategic thinkers. They have to develop effective strategies to attract and retain talent and structure compensation programmes, as well as being an advisor to their CEO on workforce strategy. HR outsourcing offers the potential to handover the ‘assembly-line’ to experts—leaving them more time to focus on strategy.

What changes in the HR industry do you anticipate in the future with advances in technology?

Technology continues to shrink time and space and it will continue to do so in HR. Right now

if I have a problem in Boston and a person in Bangkok that can solve it; the barriers of geography, tax laws, employment laws etc can stand in my way.

Ultimately, I think technology will help us break down these barriers. Geography won’t change and the laws might stay the same, but through better technology the compliance and administration will get taken care of ‘in the cloud’ allowing executives to focus on solving problems by finding and applying the right talent, regardless of where it resides.

Can outsourcing HR functions work in small as well as big companies?

Absolutely! In fact, in the US and Europe you rarely see new companies start with internal HR departments. It’s almost assumed that many of the basics of HR including payroll and benefits, will be outsourced from the outset.

Small companies can be nimble and use off-the-shelf solutions from the very beginning.

Large companies offer a lot of scale and volume, making it worthwhile for HRO providers to invest in customised solutions for them. Most complexity is in the middle.

Mid-sized companies often have all the complexity of a large company without the ability or willingness to take pre-packaged solutions.

The good news for mid-sized companies is that more and more vendors now recognise these issues and are looking at effective solutions. The HROA has a dedicated special interest group for mid-sized companies to take this process forward.

How can HR directors best measure the effectiveness of an outsourcing programme?

Three simple things: employee satisfaction, cost savings and quality improvements.

Based on your experience what advice would you give to HR professionals wanting to outsource more of their current HR functions?

Don’t go it alone. There’s a vast community of people who have already gone down this road.

Tap into them and you’ll find the journey more rewarding, faster, and easier.

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Building high performance teams| Why Formula One racing tactics should be emulated off the track and in the workplace to build truly exceptional high performance teams.

By Brien Keegan, General Manager, Hong Kong for Randstad.

With the AT&T Williams Formula One races recently over in Malaysia, once again the importance of teamwork comes to the forefront in the fast-paced, action-packed sport. Success in the racing environment demands the highest levels of accuracy, dedication and commitment—both from the drivers, and many others working in support teams.

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Consultant Perspectives

For most of us, F1 racing inspires images of speed, skill, high performance, success and celebration.

These same images can also be seen in any highly successful workplace, with one inherent quality linking F1 drivers with high performing leaders and individuals—determination. Determination to take risks, push the limits of talent, focus the mind and get the most out of your team. With this in mind, accelerating the success levels of your business means not only leading with the focus and determination required to get around the track before your competitors, but surrounding yourself with a team that will drive this through their own desire for personal and collective success.

your potential new high performers have the right mindset for your business. Furthermore, given the commonality for this particular talent group to be of high intelligence, an interview should not be the only informant. These days, with a high performance team relying on the intensity of each player, insight into people’s mindset and future behaviour is best gained through various scientific methods, such as psychometric testing, to ensure your drivers and pit crew are entirely on the same track.

When you have your ideal team in place, the next challenge is learning how to drive them to success.

Remember it requires strong leadership to transform a team of high performers into a high performance team.

Accelerate your business

Driving a high performance team to success

Like any sporting team after a difficult race, businesses are looking to enhance market share, increase profits and provide a stable foundation for future growth post the 2009/10 global financial crisis—and they are looking to do it quickly.

Unfortunately for the employer, high performance individuals do not make up the entire market. They can be somewhat of a rarity in some industries, simply due to the energy required to sustain such high levels of intensity, drive and motivation.

Considering the uniqueness of this talent pool, the first challenge facing any employer looking to build a trophy winning, high-performance team, is determining exactly how to engage the right people.

The first step—before even looking at possible new hires—is deciding precisely what you require in line with the goals of your business. High performance individuals work best when they can align their personal goals for growth with those of their employer. Ensuring you have a strong and transparent strategy in place prior to going to market means you will only attract those high performers who feel a connection with your company mission.

Finding the right people—the true high performers who will be critical to your accelerated growth plan—means finding people who will hit the ground running. Similar to F1, these are people who show a natural ability and talent in their field, have a strong ability to lead others, and are determined to succeed no matter what.

Like any sporting team, you also need to ensure

In the world of business, a handful of leaders such as Jack Welch of GE, Steve Jobs of Apple and Eric E. Schmidt of Google, are renowned for their achievements, but none have achieved greatness alone. Great leaders share a common belief that leadership is more about character and vision than authority and power. It is how they interact with their teams and peers, and how they naturally inspire, that truly displays their ability to lead.

The real question is, does this apply to the management of high performers? Is it about character and vision, or are they looking for something else— something that sets their leader apart?

In a team of high performers, collective action is inspired by a leader who either exhibits the same unique qualities as their team members, or in contrast, identifies the differences and ensures they learn how to cater to the needs of their team.

So how can you manage high performers efficiently over long periods?

1. Recognise, reward and challenge

Just like a team leader on the racing track, business leaders need to encourage their teams by providing genuine and regular recognition of excellence. At the same time, in order to ensure a sustainable level of efficiency, it is important to make certain that high performers, with their unique levels of intensity, do not tire of the ‘everyday grind’.

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Build in new goals once existing goals are close to being achieved, provide new challenges and competition, and introduce tangible rewards for milestones.

2. Set the goal and let them achieve it High performers are often unique in that they have different and innovative methods of approaching tasks and goals than other employees. Rather than trying to manage this and reign it in, set a clear direction and goal for them, and then step back. Do not micromanage—let them achieve.

3. Align business and individual goals High performers are characterised by the need to constantly try to better previous successes. Put the company or task goals in place, and then allow your high performers to set their sights on their own personal benchmark, often enabling them to far surpass expectations.

Ensure you are on the circuit

In one of the most dominating performances on the F1 track, a young Jackie Stewart in 1968 raced the Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit under torrential rain. With an average lap time of nine minutes, Jackie managed to blitz the field to win by just over

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four minutes, a feat which has never again been matched.

Just like reputations forged on a rain-drenched track, the credentials of a true leader shine through during periods of difficulty—a concept set in stone during the recent economic downturn.

Critical in these times, is a leader’s ability to identify this drop and continue to inspire and motivate their people. This is no mean feat.

During these periods, the traditional leadership attributes of inspiration, motivation, creating vision and providing recognition come to the fore. Effective harnessing of these characteristics can mean the difference between maintaining your high performers through difficult periods, and boosting them back up quickly in upswing, or losing them completely and requiring an entirely new team.

In pole position

The key point for employers and leaders to remember when managing this vibrant and evolving group is to recognise the top individuals in your organisation, and tailor programs to inspire them.

Understand what drives them, reward their efforts and allow their passion for success flow throughout the organisation.

Consultant Perspectives

Volume recruitment| Tight budgets and downsized staff pools have left HR struggling to screen the blizzard of resumes that they receive. HR Magazine shares advice on what HR can do to improve volume recruitment.

Current market situation—challenges for HR HR managers adopt numerous strategies for attracting and retaining the right talent, and few would argue that selecting the right people in the right place is the most important among these.

Volume recruitment challenges have always existed in HR, but recently they have been amplified due to advances in technology. Traditionally, companies have deployed three main strategies for recruitment of new staff:

1. assessment and screening of the existing talent pool within their organisation; 2. advertising positions to solicit new talent; 3. outsourcing the above functions to recruitment companies to find new talent.

With the high costs and inefficiency of traditional candidate sourcing methods, hiring managers have more recently been adopting more proactive approaches to reach candidates. Online social networks such as LinkedIn and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are being increasingly used as free alternatives to job boards, advertisements and recruitment consultants to source suitable new hires.

This technology has obvious benefits in terms of reaching potential hires and allows employers to recruit globally much more easily. However, this convenience is a double-edged sword and the same companies are now facing a large increase in the number of applicants they have to deal with each round. Jobseekers can now ‘carpet bomb’ their resumes: applying for many jobs, at any time, and with great ease. From an HR perspective this

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is not time efficient as it is difficult to guarantee all applications are genuine. Furthermore, over reliance on automated systems also runs the risk of alienating HR and hiring managers. Following the period of economic contraction, many organisations recruited less new hires and this has left HR and recruitment functions as easy targets for cost reduction. The rationale being that if there are fewer positions to fill then hiring budgets can be reduced.

In fact, HR now faces the challenge of an increasing number of jobseekers applying for the same, or in some cases a smaller number of positions.

Kendrew Yu, Head of Business Operations, SHL summed up the plight for HR managers, “The mouth has got bigger but the funnel has got smaller, so there’s an even more severe bottleneck…A lot of people are trying to get through, with very few coming out the other side.” These problems are exacerbated in sectors that experience relatively high staff turnover, such as retail, hospitality and F&B outlets. All of this leaves HR with several challenges including:

• • • •

getting swamped with resumes from too many applicants; inability to fairly and consistently evaluate candidate quality; longer time-to-hire required to properly evaluate applicants; and lack of data on effectiveness of hiring decisions.

If HR, working under pressure, gets these recruitment decisions wrong, this brings both direct and indirect costs to the organisation. Direct costs

Consultant Perspectives

of wrong hires include time wasted: sifting through applications; interviewing inappropriate candidates; preparing and terminating contracts. There may also be wastage in terms of unutilised training and development efforts and candidates leave with a negative impression of the company. Indirect costs of inconsistent hiring decisions go much deeper and last much longer. The resultant difference in ability from people at the same level throughout the organisation can have a dramatic effect on morale, performance and productivity.

reality is that HR is getting snowed under by the sheer volume of applicants they have to deal with.

Volume recruitment best practices

Companies can help overcome such challenges by adopting a system that is able to filter unqualified people, who do not match their requirements. In doing so, they can reduce the volume of applicants they have to deal with to more manageable levels.

In reference to such tools provided by SHL, Yu explained, “Each person reviewed or interviewed has a cost, so we want to make sure [HR is] interviewing the right people rather than people who are only mildly interested. We want them to devote resources to the right people.” Defining the requirements and desired outcomes of volume recruitment is critical for HR practitioners. Dr Helen Fung, a senior consultant at SHL, highlighted three key elements that HR managers should consider when planning recruitment strategies—define, measure and realise.

1. Define

It is vital for HR to specify exactly what kind and quality of applicant they want. To achieve this, HR must decide and outline the necessary requirements and competencies, such as education, personal characteristics, abilities and motivation. Additionally, it is important for HR to review the internal recruitment process to help clarify several elements:

• • • • • • When recruiting, HR has to be able to effectively screen and manage a huge pool of candidates without compromising the candidate and hiring manager experience, and do this accurately, fairly and within tight timeframes and cost constraints.

With so much talent available in the current market and ease of resume submission, HR should have no trouble in accessing top quality hires. However, the

•

where resources are currently stretched current business needs timescale available whether the process will be continuous throughout the year when the process is likely to peak whether the process will utilise an inhouse platform or be outsourced technology requirements e.g. temporary or new technology may need to be adopted, such as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

After this, HR can then define desired outcomes to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Dr Fung

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also stressed the importance of branding. HR must consider what impression or experience they want candidates to have, and whether they are expected to go through the whole screening process, or just the first stage.

It is important for HR teams to realise that different jobs will not only require different types of people, but will also require different recruitment strategies. With this in mind, they should allocate time to understand which particular target recruiting strategy works best for specific positions or lines of business. In doing so, hiring teams are able to bring the best talent to the table in the shortest amount of time. Moreover, it allows HR to leverage their recruiting functions directly into specific business lines, rather than just being seen as a ‘support function’.

2. Measure

After HR has clearly identified exactly what they want in a candidate ahead of time, they then need to work out how they are going to quantify and measure this in order to effectively realise their hiring goals. HR should be aware of what volume recruitment tools are available to help them do this.

Dr Fung advised, “Select tools that will help sift and select applicants. The key point is using valid tools, appropriate to the differing stages.” She added, “Volume recruitment often takes place in different locations and it is essential to maintain consistency and objectivity.” Technology and tools can be combined, for example within in-house platforms such as SAP, to allow HR to conduct testing and tracking. HR should determine whether current inhouse capabilities are able to meet demands. If not, the organisation may need to purchase a suitable system or outsource this function altogether.

3. Realise

There are several points that hiring managers should be looking for to ensure the success of their hiring process and tools they use to help them within this framework. An obvious consideration is: does the system in place realise hiring objectives i.e. does it provide qualified new employees? Another consideration, particularly from a long-term branding

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perspective, is to find out if the job applicants themselves had a good experience—regardless of what stage they reached. Hiring systems must be able to demonstrate ROI. Hiring is an expensive process, so HR should adopt systems that help reduce both costs and hiring times. Meeting demands is often difficult, and HR may be able to get new hires on board, but they may not be suitably qualified and unable to meet the business demands. Adoption of a properly structured system will help foster closer relationships with business partners and enable them to find the right people.

With fluctuations in the market, there may at times be a sudden inflow of applications, creating a lot of work for HR, for example during the graduate recruitment season. Therefore, HR managers must anticipate business needs in relation to recruiting new staff. For graduate recruitment this process needs to be in place well before the sudden rush of applicants. For companies recruiting throughout the year this is an ongoing process. “It is about putting a system in place rather than reacting constantly to shifting sands,” said Dr Fung.

3-stage volume recruitment

To avoid missing good candidates, the validity and consistency of hiring tools is very important.

Yu pointed out, “If the tools are unstructured, the risks are higher; therefore, objectivity rather than subjectivity is required. Assessment tools are for selecting in but also screening and sifting out unsuitable candidates.”

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There’s an even more severe bottleneck…

A lot of people are trying to get through, with very few coming out the other side.

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Kendrew Yu, Head of Business Operations, with Dr Helen Fung, Senior Consultant, SHL

Stage 1: pre-screening

Before embarking on any new recruitment, it is important to create a barrier to sift out unsuitable candidates. At this initial screening it is not about how good candidates are, but simply about if they meet the criteria and have the right competencies.

A tool that can help achieve this is a pre-application ‘realistic job review’. Yu explained that the tool comprised, “A self-selection process, asking questions like, do you like to deal with people.

If candidates do not then they can immediately stop applying.” If candidates like the job, the system will then invite them to continue with the application and enter their data, followed by a series of specifically designed competency based questions, from very general to very specific. This initial screening not only helps reduce workload for HR, but also reduces the number of unsuitable applicants ‘getting bored’ during unnecessarily protracted screening processes.

Stage 2: ability assessment

Once HR has candidates that potentially meet requirements, the second stage of the hiring process should be an ability assessment—for example numerical or verbal ability. In this way, any candidates who do not reach minimum requirements can be eliminated. Candidates should also be assessed to determine if they are a suitable fit for the company culture in terms of their personality, motivations and capabilities.

Stage 3: interview

The interview stage is very labour intensive, involving HR and line managers, and should be limited to highly possible candidates. Then the selected candidate is hired. All the information from the recruitment system should then be kept in one place, from the sifting stage to the on-boarding stage, so that it can be readily accessed and used for future development.

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Case study

Marks & Spencer, a leading UK retailer of clothing, foods and home wares, employs 69,000 employees worldwide. Delivery of great customer service is a core element of the company’s brand and getting the right talent in the right place at the right time is crucial to this. Store managers wanted a more efficient recruitment process to identify candidates early on with the potential to ‘delight customers’ and work effectively in a team. However, there were two issues that needed to be resolved. Firstly, the recruitment process was too expensive and inefficient. Secondly, the calibre of new hires needed to be raised to gain competitive advantage. The company has a ‘Talent Philosophy’ viewing talents as innate qualities possessed by people which cannot be explained by training or experience. These traits can be identified and measured thorough the use of psychometrics. Building on this foundation, Marks & Spencer wanted to move towards a strengths-based organisation and get the right people in the right place at the right time. This required a process that could identify the right talents relevant for each role, recruit people with those talents, train for specific skills and knowledge and then deploy employees according to their strengths.

This philosophy was put into action at an early stage in the recruitment process to save time and money. The initial focus was on selecting shopfloor staff, a process that previously had seen only a very low interview to hire ratio as many applicants interviewed were unsuitable for the roles and a significant proportion did not even attend interviews. The organisation, therefore, identified the need for a sifting tool that would ensure that those invited for interview had the right skills and attitudes to succeed.

Key stakeholders and representative groups of high, average and poorer performing individuals within the jobs were identified and invited to participate in focus groups and interview sessions. Based on the information gathered, SHL worked with Marks & Spencer to develop a screening tool comprising a series of job relevant, scenario-based and attitudinal questions that could measure the innate talents identified as critical for success in the role.

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“We worked very closely with SHL on the development of these questions to ensure that they were relevant and psychometrically sound as well as fair and providing valid indications of potential performance,” commented Mark Thomas, Organisational Development Consultant at Marks & Spencer.

All applicants are now pre-screened over the telephone, using the screening tool, prior to being invited for a full interview. The process involves speaking to one of Marks & Spencer’s recruitment specialists and answering one of a number of parallel screeners, each with twelve scripted questions.

This serves to highlight the behavioural traits likely to be exhibited by the candidate. This interim step means far more applicants can be assessed in a cost effective manner, and ensures that all are rated against a consistent framework.

The whole process has already delivered savings via a more efficient process. There has been a 33% increase in applicants screened out early in the process meaning that there are fewer candidate interviews, but they are of higher quality. This is demonstrated by an increase in the interview success rate, with 45% more interviewees being offered a job and an 18% reduction in applicants failing to attend interview. Overall, these improvements have led to a 61% reduction in cost per applicant contracted. So far this has saved Marks & Spencer over GBP1.5 million in recruitment costs.

The use of the screening tool has also had an impact on the quality of recruits. In an internal review of the process and its results, 75% of line managers rated the performance of employees selected using the new process as ‘better’.

Conclusion

Many in HR view volume recruitment as something extremely daunting, but it can be tackled with fore planning and thinking out of the box. Dr Fung assured HR managers, “It’s not unmanageable and can be improved. It’s similar to payroll, it’s not sexy, and is very labour intensive, so often companies outsource it. However, there’s room for it to be done better and free up time for HR to focus on valueadded tasks instead of manual work.”

Consultant Perspectives

You never get a second chance to make a first impression| How to increase productivity, engagement and decrease employee turnover.

By Karen Perron, Onboarding Director, SilkRoad technology

Every organisation has an onboarding process. And yet onboarding is something that most organisations do badly. Very badly.

Whilst it is to be expected that a poor onboarding process will result in much higher candidate dropouts, studies have also shown that the impact of a positive onboarding experience is truly significant in terms of extending employee tenure. That is: give an employee a positive onboarding experience and they will stay at your organisation for longer.

New employees’ first days are instrumental in integrating them into the company’s culture, and forming positive impressions of their new company.

You’ll never get a more excited, energetic and enthusiastic employee than on his or her first day, and the last thing you want is to turn them from excited new team member into disgruntled new jobseeker.

Good first impressions lead to increased retention and productivity, which is obviously good for a company’s bottom line. Employees start building first

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impressions the minute they make contact with a company, so start the onboarding process as soon as an offer is accepted. During the onboarding process sell the company to your new hire. Tell them why they should want to work for you.

You need to make absolutely sure that your new hire feels welcomed, valued and prepared to do their job. To ensure your company gives new hires the best first impression possible, you should:

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•

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Be ready for the new hire—What kind of impression will employees have if when they show up on their first day nothing is ready? Email is not set up; their new workstation is a mess; or paperwork they need to sign is not ready to go. Make sure everything is ready on day one when your new hire starts. It not only helps in forming a positive opinion about the company, but also helps them become more productive, more quickly.

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Make new employees feel welcome and valued as key players on the team—make sure your new employee is included in meetings and is giving material to familiarise themselves with your business. Make a plan for someone to eat lunch with them on the first day so they start feeling they are part of the team.

Introduce them to their new managers and walk them around the office so they know where the pantry, restroom and other facilities are located.

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Give them time to get familiar with their new jobs—don’t just go throwing new employees into 'do or die' situations. Ensure they are given proper training and not left feeling overwhelmed or confused.

Automate the administrative end of the onboarding—What’s even better than having paperwork ready for employees to sign on the first day? Having no paperwork for them to sign. Automate the process and go paperless, this way new employees can fill out all paperwork before the first day and hit the ground running.

Immerse your new hire in the company culture—Get new employees feeling excited to be a part of your team.

Let them know about the company’s policies and rules, and introduce them to co-workers that can help them gain a better understanding of what the company is about.

As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a great first impression.

Don’t mess up your opportunity to engage your new hire and secure a loyal employee.

Attracting staff without money

Attracting staff without money

Money often speaks louder than words| Over 70% of employees claim higher pay is key factor when considering job switch.

The vast majority of Hong Kong finance professionals consider higher pay the most important factor when considering moving jobs in the current market, according to The Robert Half 2010 Workplace Survey. Opportunity for career development was also identified as a key consideration for employees looking to switch jobs, 69%. The findings from the survey conducted in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand also shed light on standard remuneration packages in Hong Kong and non-cash benefits in addition to salary and bonuses. Currently, 66% of Hong Kong employees receive health benefits and 41% also receive life insurance as part of their compensation packages. Other perks that Hong Kong employees enjoy include paid maternity leave, 42% and professional development courses, 36%.

Andrew Morris, Director, Robert Half Hong Kong claimed that, “Clearly, cash is still king in the current economy…71% of Hong Kong finance professionals confirmed that a pay rise is the best way to foster employee loyalty and maintain morale and over half agreed that an improved benefits package is an

effective means to heighten employee loyalty.”

With this in mind, the company has urged employers to consider whether their current non-cash benefits address their staff’s personal and career development needs. For example, while employers attempt to build morale through team building exercises and off-sites, only 8% of Hong Kong respondents see this type of training as beneficial to their professional disposition. Morris added, “Employers must consider whether their benefits package is giving them the rewards they deserve in increased employee appreciation and satisfaction.

To remain competitive, employers must start to reintroduce cash benefits and improve noncash perks in order to attract as well as to retain talent.” Hong Kong finance professionals who are planning to switch careers will be carefully considering their benefit and pay package options. Additionally, they will also assess opportunities for promotion which is considered the most important means of recognising top performers, 64% in the local market.

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But money isn’t everything| Motivating staff without money.

Motivation is essentially internal

In contrast to the popular perception, the abillity to motivate staff is not the central role of a manger, it is about creating an environment where employees motivate themselves. It is possible to achieve this without relying on merit increases, bonuses and other monetary incentives.

Monetary incentives will always remain a powerful tool to motivate employees, especially in the short term. However, employees care strongly about several other aspects of their job, all of which can be leveraged to help motivate and retain staff.

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Managers can focus on the top non-monetary motivating factors: recognition, career development plans, the ability to make a difference at work and open communication.

Showing confidence and trust

By putting someone in a postion of leadership, with the autonomy to make decisions, you are demonstrating confidence and trust in that person.

One way to achieve this is to introduce a system whereby each of your employees runs a weekly staff meeting, its structure, delineation of responsibilities

Attracting staff without money

to others and follow-up. Placing future leaders into management development roles is one of the most important benefits that you have to offer your people. In addition, the leadership roles give employees a chance to see the challenges faced by their superiors, and will make them more understanding. People who are responsible for attempting to fix problems are less likely to blindly blame others because they are more sensitive to the challenges involved in finding a solution.

In addition, keep an eye out for other ways to give your employees more responsibility to test their leadership skills. Research and surveys consistently conclude that respect and recognition are two crucial aspects in maintaining high morale, and they are proven ways to retain employees—and the expenditure is zero.

Self-evaluation exercises

A crucial step in helping someone become motivated is to discover what internal factors motivate him or her. There a number of different strategies you can use to discover what motivates people, several of which will be explored in this article. People want to learn, contribute and make a difference at work. They are better placed to do this if they feel a direct connection with a company, and recognise their careers are moving forward. Have your employees become consciously aware of how they are affecting the business, and intermittently analyse their performance.

You can compare perceptions and some important differences may emerge that need addressing. You can structure a written self-evaluation form in three parts being Past, Present & Future.

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• •

Past: What have you done over the past year to increase revenues, decrease expenses or improve efficiency?

How has your work here made our company a better place?

How would you grade yourself on timeliness, reliability, customer satisfaction & responsibility?

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•

•

Present: What do you need from me, as your supervisor, to provide you with more structure, direction and feedback to help you develop the skills that you feel are critical to your success and the success of the organisation?

Future: What are your performance goals over the next year, and what will be the measurable outcomes so that you can demonstrate that you’ve reached those goals?

What do you see as the next logical move in career progression at our firm, and how long would you expect it to take to get there?

Until you know what’s important to your people, it is not possible to truly manage effectively.

Face-to-face evaluations require the manager to be a good listener and observe carefully while maintaining an attitude of acceptance and openness that encourages staff members to reveal their inner motivations. Talk-time should be roughly 80:20 in favour of the employee. There are many different types of assessments, exercises and lines of questioning that the manager can use, but the key to success is the non-judgmental and positive attitude that allows people to feel comfortable and proud about who they are and what they want.

Making use of personality assessments that identify preferences, traits or strengths, can provide further insights into your staff. After all, a person’s natural tendencies indicate what motivates them.

Using the data from the assessment, have a discussion with the employee to understand more completely how they feel about their strengths, how they use them and why they enjoy these strengths.

Ask them to tell you about a time when they were really happy at work. Draw them out to uncover what exactly was motivating them at the time, and listen

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here is that people are much more inclined to feel like they’re making a positive contribution to the organisation if they’re in a learning curve. Thus, even if you can’t promote them because of hiring freezes, you could indeed provide opportunities for personal development.

Training organisations offer one-and two-day offsite workshops as well as onsite seminars on everything from business writing to team building to supervision for first-time supervisors. The cost is minimal and, because prices are so low, the real issue becomes the opportunity cost of having your employees out of the office for a day.

Many other training organisations offer hundreds of situation-specific seminars via e-learning, self-study courses, like finance for non-financial managers, foreign language acquisition and software certification. Two or three seminars per employee per year may add very little to your overhead budget and allow employees a one-day “sabbatical” to reflect on their careers as well as to reinvent themselves in light of your company’s changing needs.

closely to what was important to them. Accept what they say, withholding your judgment. Notice their body language, and observe how they behave when they have complete choice. What do they do in their spare time? What kind of tasks do they volunteer for?

You can utilise the information gained from these exercises to leverage your staff’s strengths and discuss how to accommodate or change their weaknesses. Apart from the insights of the assessments, your willingness to be open and respectful, that is, to be a coach, with employees contributes to a positive working atmosphere.

External training and development

It is probably safe to assume that many of your best employees are resume-builders. They will stay long enough to prove their worth so long as they are on the fast track. Once they feel blocked from upward mobility, however, they may start to look for other opportunities elsewhere. Thus, it is crucial to allow all your employees a chance to reach their career goals within your organisation. The crucial aspect

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Open communication

More companies adhere to the philosophy of minimal communication rather than open-book management. In other words, senior management often assumes that the less employees know, the better. Even if your senior management adheres to this closed communication style, practise open book management with your own staff.

Whenever possible, research your organisation on an Internet search engine such as Google. Or send a member of your team to the library to find information in the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry or Ward’s Business Directory.

In essence, you will have a chance to research your firm as well as your competitors, and little does more to stimulate interest and competition than pointing employees to the right tools to educate themselves, and the rest of your staff. Knowledge is power, and the Internet and library make for free resources of invaluable information.

What is more powerful than knowledge though, is the ability to apply that knowledge.

Recruiting in emerging markets

Recruiting in emerging markets

Entering into emerging markets|

By Mark Geary, Joint President, IESF Managing Director, AsiaNet Consultants

By 2025 the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey—will have surpassed the G7 group of developed nations. There has already been a rapid relocation of manufacturing activity taking place into these markets. Automobiles, aircraft engines, clothing, footwear, computers, mobile phones, domestic appliances, toys and furniture are some of the products that are being made in large and increasing amounts in China, India, Russia and Brazil. Walmart alone imports USD15 billion worth of goods from China. This trend will continue and accelerate for the next 50 years. Why? Delphi, the major automotive parts supplier to General Motors, illustrates why this is occurring. One of Delphi’s biggest problems was that its labour costs were too high. As a result of its Chapter 11 restructuring, the company has reduced its labour costs from USD26 per hour to USD16 per hour. However if you take into consideration that the labour cost in China, India, Brazil and Indonesia is USD1 per hour then you can understand why so many companies will need to open up offices and factories in these markets to cut costs and improve margins. The relocation of sophisticated manufacturing into emerging markets requires large numbers of experienced expatriates and local managers, engineers and technicians to source this influx. In support of these high tech activities companies such as Intel, Visteon, Phillips and Carrier have set up major Technology centres in

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emerging markets countries. We have already seen major outsourcing of IT and back office operations to India. This is happening in Brazil, Mexico and Vietnam as well. Russia has become a global player in both oil and gas. Brazil has become a pioneer in bio-fuels. Indonesia has developed its vast natural resources—including timber, oil, gas, minerals and precious metals. As Turkey’s economy develops closer economic links with the EU, the role of the state is shrinking as massive privatisation efforts are taking place in essential sectors, such as industry, banking, transport and communications. Turkey is a major player in the garment industry and Mexico is a major oil exporter.

Boarding the bases

MNC’s are moving into the emerging markets because it is cheaper to source or manufacture their products in these countries as the costs are significantly lower than in the developed economies of Europe and the US and cut throat competition in the high street is so intense.

Global trade in goods and services is expected to rise more than threefold to USD27 trillion in 2030, and trade as a share of the global economy will rise from one quarter today to more than one third.

Approximately half of this increase is expected to come from emerging markets. This is dramatic, especially when you take into account that only two decades ago developing countries provided 14% of manufactured imports to rich countries. This figure is now 40%, and by 2030 is expected to supply more than 65%. At the same time, import demand from emerging markets is becoming the locomotive of the global economy. By 2030, 1.2 billion people in developing countries, 15% of the world population, will belong to the 'global middle class', up from 400 million today. This group will have a purchasing power of between USD4,000 and USD17,000 per capita, and will enjoy access to international travel, purchase automobiles and other advanced consumer durables, attain international levels of education and play a major role in shaping policies and institutes in their own countries and the world economy. In China itself, it is estimated that there is already a middle class—annual income USD 60,000—of 175

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million consumers who aspire to and are capable of purchasing branded/imported luxury goods.

Searching for added value

Major companies operating in the emerging markets are now looking to executive search firms to help recruit experienced and technically qualified executives who can speak the language and understand the cultures of these countries. Whilst expatriates may be needed to assist with technology transfers, the majority of these executives will be coming from within the emerging markets. The Chief Executives and HR Directors of major corporations in the US and Europe are increasingly wanting to engage the services of executive search firms that have in depth knowledge and experience in these emerging markets. Our experience in China has demonstrated that because so many firms are setting up for the first time they want advice on where the main activity clusters are, where to locate, how to find an office, how to structure remuneration packages as well as recruiting their staff.

According to Search-Consult executive search assignments are becoming much more intraregional. Companies are looking to attract candidates who have good interpersonal skills and understand the cultural nuances. However, candidate pools tend to be regional rather than global as there are important differences between South America, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Expatriates are still in high demand, especially those with technical skills who are needed to assist with the transfer of technology. Nevertheless, local country operations are increasingly being managed by internationalised local mangers that have received their education and have gained work experience in Europe and the US. Looking at the Search-Consult global league table of the top five executive search groups published in 2007, it is instructive to see that the famous names which would have appeared ten years ago have been replaced by new groups who have a very wide global coverage and are more strongly oriented towards the emerging markets. Their consultants are normally senior local business executives, with the occasional expatriate who has been in the country for a number of years and is very well networked.

Recruiting in emerging markets

Recruitment retention in China|

By Mark Geary, Joint President of the International Executive Search Federation and Managing Director for AsiaNet Consultants

Asia, as a region, can be very confusing to those who are not used to doing business with it. Yet in many ways it is similar to the challenge of dealing with Europe, experienced by those Americans who expect that the European Economic Community (EEC) will be united together in a similar way to the USA. Asia Pacific and Europe both consist of many countries with long histories, strong traditions, different languages and pride in their culture. Spain and France may be next door to each other but their

languages, cultures and traditions are quite different.

Within each country there can be strong regional differences—Delhi vs Mumbai, Singapore vs Hong Kong, Beijing vs Shanghai. So in this respect there are important regional characteristics which impact on recruitment.

China is forecasting strong GDP growth, which translates into strong growth in some of the cities earmarked for being opened up. The good and the bad news is this same pattern exists in all key

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high tech industries such as telecommunications, aerospace, automotive and engineering. All of these companies are urgently seeking high quality technical and managerial staff for their operations.

Whilst there is, in theory, a large pool of available labour in China, the talent may not necessarily be the ones with the skills and experience you require or be willing to relocate to the province or city in which your operation is located. The ones you want are the ones who are holding onto their jobs and unlikely to be looking or applying to recruitment ads. For managerial staff, key requirements are experience of doing business with international companies, ability to make presentations, communicate clearly in both spoken and written English, don’t sweep things under the carpet, identify solutions not just problems and take responsibility for the decisions they make.

Employers who have tried advertising frequently complain of two hundred applicants but none of them relevant. After experiencing the cost and loss of management time in using an advertised approach, companies then turn to executive search and find it to be a more cost-effective method of finding the right candidate and who also has the above qualities.

Executives in their forties grew up in the era of State Enterprises with a command and control structure where staff followed instructions. The demand now is for managers who can work independently, multi task and communicate fluently with an overseas head office in English. The universities are responding to this need and turning out high quality graduates who can be nurtured by companies. More and more locals are prepared to go overseas for education and on international assignments. The China Government no longer puts obstacles in the way of this. In the medium term, good quality middle and senior managers with international experience are harder to find. They do exist but they have to be sought out.

The cultural and language differences within the region mean that there is a high demand for Asians who understand the western way of doing business and westerners who understand the eastern way of doing business. More and more often, clients are

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expecting that western expatriates should be able to speak Mandarin.

If you are Coca Cola or IBM, then your company will be known to local staff. However the majority of companies do not enjoy this instant name recognition and an important part of the role of the executive search company is the marketing of the client company to potential executives who want to know if you are financially stable, creditable, have a good reputation and can offer a long term career.

These are the questions that middle and senior management candidates are seeking answers to.

Marketing yourself as a good employer is important to attract quality candidates.

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No matter how good or how successful you are, or how clever, or crafty, your business and its future are in the hands of the people you hire

�

Expatriates might be necessary when the operation is being set up. To ensure that the company culture is maintained in Asia, that the basic processes are set up and that new staff are trained to keep up the standards and products of the mother company.

These expatriates are usually found inside the company, ensuring they understand the culture and organsation. However few can speak the local language so they cannot communicate in the style and imagery of the local language and they cannot hear what the local staff are saying. Most companies want to move quickly to recruit sophisticated local managers who can inculcate the company culture into the local staff as well as cutting their operating costs.

Some companies complain of high turnover rates.

However closer examination of the reasons for turnover frequently reveal that these companies have hoist themselves on a petard of doing everything as cheap as possible. Employees

Recruiting in emerging markets

are looking for career development, learning opportunities and social interaction.

Those companies who have implemented similar policies in China to those existing in their home bases in their US and European operations generally have lower turnover. Many staff live away from their home. Opportunities to learn, gain qualifications achieve recognition are highly appreciated by Chinese staff. Companies who carry out opinion surveys, introduce performance appraisal systems, operate graduate development programs, introduce accelerated development programs are the ones who can attract and retain the best staff and outperform their competitors in this region which is growing and developing so rapidly.

Too many companies are failing to undertake human asset accounting and provide proper budgets for the attraction and retention of staff. Lets look at what is happening in many companies. A piece of machinery costing USD250,000 is going to be purchased. It is subject to a considerable amount of evaluation and testing before a purchase decision is made. Following purchase, the Finance Director will ensure that it is depreciated over five years and that each year there is an appropriate maintenance budget. Now let us consider the engineer who is going look after the machine.

He is going to be paid USD50,000 per annum.

Ideally you would like him to stay with you for at least 5 years, also without him the machine is not going to work. So the decision to purchase the engineer is 5 x USD50,000 = USD250,000. So has the Finance Director provided for depreciation and maintenance of the Engineer. No. Until companies start to provide proper budgets for staff retention then they will continue to experience high turnover.

When I am asked to recruit executives for companies I ask what are they doing about retention and often get blank looks. Frequently there is no coherent retention policy. Retention consists of many aspects—working conditions, living conditions, dormitories, recreation, education, recognition. How many companies carry out a regular human capital audit?

It is not difficult to develop a simple score card and then carry out a marking exercise and see

how you score. Then tabulate the results for each department and see which managers are performing and which are not. Many employers know that the conditions of dormitories and staff food would not be acceptable back in their own home country but do nothing about them. A monthly inspection tour by a member of senior management should be mandatory. Would you sleep there yourself? How do you feel about the washing and toilet facilities? Use the toilets yourself and then go and wash your hands in the same facility. Have you eaten the food? Try it.

Recreation can be a great source for team building. Team games like football, basketball, badminton, table tennis are not difficult to organise.

Joining local leagues promotes team spirit and pride in your company. Do you have a learning room?

It could be as simple as a room with eight to ten computers in it. Staff can then work on learning modules for the company benefit! If you certificate these courses and provide some modest reward for achievement you are gaining a large payback.

Also consider letting staff enrol in external learning programmes to obtain qualifications.

Recognition is one of the biggest areas of neglect but can provide the greatest payback. There are so many ways that staff can be recognised for achievement—for work well done, for customer service, for obtaining qualifications, celebration of births, birthdays, [and even] marriages. Such policies cost very little, but create a good feeling amongst the staff and very often help take the pressure of pay.

The workplace is an important social environment.

This has been well established by many surveys.

Staff stay with companies where they like the work environment and where they are respected. Pay becomes the big issue when these essential items are missing.

If companies start to look at their employees as assets and investments as the same way they do machinery then they will be well on the way to solving their recruitment and retention problems. It was Akio Morita the late Chairman of Sony who said, “No matter how good or how successful you are, or how clever, or crafty, your business and its future are in the hands of the people you hire.

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Pollution & recruitment|

Pollution drives strong recruitment demand in APAC

What on Earth has pollution got to do with recruitment trends? Well ‘Earth’ is the key word here, or the utilisation of its resources to be precise. Mainland China has been a major driver of growth in the APAC energy and environmental sectors. With annual GDP increasing at around 10% in the last decade—China is now the world’s top producer and consumer of coal. Natural gas consumption is also expected to grow by over 22% in 2011, and China has been the world’s thirdlargest oil importer since 2006. This surge in the energy and environmental sectors is creating a huge demand for skilled workers in these areas.

Good news for recruitment

In 2011 Chris Kiernan who heads the APAC team of Macdonald & Company announced the opening

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of its APAC Environmental and Energy practice in Hong Kong. The first of its kind in the region, the new practice brings recruitment services and support to these fast-growing environmental and energy sectors, most notably in mainland China. Kiernan said, “Hong Kong, mainland China and the rest of the region are experiencing an economic miracle that presents a number of energy and environmental challenges, and the very best talent is needed to find innovative solutions.” William Buck, Managing Director, Macdonald & Company pointed out, “This explosive growth in Asia-Pacific has opened up a wave of recruitment opportunities in the energy and environmental sector.”

Bad news for staying alive

With the ‘explosive growth’ of power stations in China, it comes as no surprise that PRC is the world’s top producer of CO2 emissions, along with the host of other

Recruiting in emerging markets

pollutants that regularly drift over Hong Kong skies. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report estimated that diseases triggered by indoor and outdoor air pollution kill 656,000 Chinese citizens every year: giving China the unenviable award of the highest number of annual premature deaths triggered by air pollution in the world. Previous efforts to impose stricter environmental measures and pollution levies on larger power stations in China, simply led to the establishment of a greater number of smaller-scale power plants that are not subject to such stringent environmental levies.

emissions by 2020 to 40% to 45% below 2005 levels, and is investing RMB 4 trillion in smart grid technology over the next decade to save energy, reduce costs and hopefully reduce pollution to boot.

Measures to be implemented include:

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China gets tough on pollution

The Chinese authorities also now recognise the need for tighter controls, and an ‘unofficial, informal translation’ of the very-briefly named, ‘Notice of the General Office of the State Council about Forwarding Guiding Opinions on Pushing Forward the Joint Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution to Improve the Regional Air Quality Developed by the Ministry of Environment Protection and Relevant Departments’ quotes The Ministry of Environment Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Commerce and the Bureau of Energy in China as recognising the problem as follows, “In recent years, acid rain, haze, photochemical smog pollution and other atmospheric pollution problems in some regions of China have become increasingly distinct, severely threatening people’s health and impacting environmental safety.

Successful experience at home and abroad proves that we must adopt regional joint prevention and control measures as early as possible to tackle regional atmospheric pollution problems. Now we put forward the following opinions on pushing forward the joint prevention and control of atmospheric pollution and improving the regional air quality, with a view to further reinforce the work of air pollution prevention and control.” (Source: US-China Energy Cooperation Program, American Chamber of Commerce in China).

As a result, the mainland Chinese government is now taking stricter measures to reduce CO2

Strict control of emissions from coal combustion: controlling the construction of coal-fired projects in key regions and pilot regional coal consumption caps.

Increasing construction of low-sulfur and low-ash coal distribution centres, and building demonstration projects of multi-pollutant control technologies such as combined control of SO2, NOx, particulates and mercury for thermal power units.

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Vigorous promotion of the use of clean energy: promoting the use of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, coal gas, solar energy and other clean energies in cities. Promoting energy conservation in industry, transportation and buildings and enhancing energy efficiency.

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Developing urban district heating systems with better SO2, NOx and particulate control. Developing cleaner coal technologies, and stepping up efforts to demonstrate and promote highly-efficient, cleaner-coal boilers for district heating.

Hong Kong efforts

The Hong Kong Government also agrees that Hong Kong's air pollution is mainly contributed by motor vehicles and power plants. They concede, “Smog is caused by a combination of pollutants mainly from motor vehicles, industry and power plants in Hong

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Kong and the Pearl River Delta.”

As such, the Hong Kong Government is working hard to reduce emissions and as of 2009, a comprehensive programme to reduce street-level pollution had lowered the roadside levels of respirable suspended particulates and nitrogen oxides by 33% and 31% respectively compared with 1999. The Environmental

Protection Department completed a comprehensive study in 2009 to review the air quality objectives and develop a suitable long-term air quality management strategy. According to the Government website they are currently at the stage of, “Considering the best way forward to update the Air Quality Objectives and how the new Objectives could be achieved.” The government has also launched an environmental initiative aimed at reducing CO2 emissions 50% to 60% from 2005 levels by 2020, and many local businesses are seeking to ‘green up’ by cutting energy

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costs and increasing energy efficiency. The SAR Government is also working with the authorities in Guangdong to help further reduce regional emissions.

The future

Recruitment is up, but so is air pollution—if the region is to remain an attractive one for expatriates to relocate to and to give regionally-based organisations a fighting chance of attracting and retaining key overseas talent—action needs to be taken, and needs to be taken quickly.

Clear The Air, a Hong Kong based charity committed to improving air quality, has made several recommendations to the Hong Kong Government.

Suggested measures include:

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mandatory retirement of old polluting diesel vehicles—currently over 70,000 of them;

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mandatory installation of fine particulate agglomerators on local coal power plants to cut emissions of asthma causing RSP;

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removal of duty on ULSF for all commercial ships and ferries using Hong Kong waters; and

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reduction of road traffic in city centres via ERP

If these measures are implemented, on a regional basis, and the promises made by the Governments on both sides of the border are kept, then the region should once more see blue skies both literally and metaphorically in terms of easier recruitment and enhanced retention of global talent.

Recruitment technology & social media

Recruitment technology & social media

Free recruitment database eases pain of candidate searches| Open database of jobseekers and skills streamlines process of matching candidates with positions—based on key attributes.

The burgeoning number of social networks and recruitment websites have made it more difficult than ever for jobseekers to be seen, heard and ultimately matched with suitable positions.

This problem is frequently compounded by the fact that HR managers and recruiters are inundated with resumes from candidates who are unqualified for the position on hand. To address these and similar employment concerns on a global level, a public freeto-use database has been launched at www.Labels. io to provide recruiters and jobseekers a smarter, easier and more effective means of matching specific experience and skills to available positions.

The site was developed on the premise that professionals are defined by three specific criteria:

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Past employer portfolio

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Skill-sets

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Personality

The new database focuses solely on providing these specific information subsets of jobseekers, foregoing the usual executive summary, functional expertise, key accomplishments and other corporate talk that so often unduly pad out multi-page resumes and CVs. Jobseekers may list, and recruiters may access, credential information completely free of charge. Only employers wishing to post job listings are charged.

“The idea to empower and aid hiring managers was born out of a sheer necessity, given how difficult it has become to find professionals with specific skills, abilities, experiences and work histories,” said Octavian Popescu, CEO, Labels.io.

He added, “Three, four and five-page resumes are boring and unnecessary, diluting key information needed by employers to quickly and easily identify qualified candidates.”

Popescu also pointed out that the glut of resumes that recruiters must cull through in response to job postings, which are often completely unrelated to the position on offer—a situation exacerbated by the high unemployment rate is just as bad.

This situation, frequently means that the initial recruitment and screening process amid the avalanche of respondents becomes the proverbial ‘Russian Roulette’ recruiting where luck of the draw beats actual qualifications or background.

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By focusing on eliciting and organising only the most critical information about jobseekers, the system aims to make key points highly visible to employers seeking particular candidate attributes.

The site will also soon feature automated jobsto-candidate matching functionality making this process even easier.

The site’s keyword-rich portfolio and skill set data entries allow jobseekers to be readily found by employers looking for specific knowledge or background.

Candidates can add a personal touch by way of a ‘pitch’ comprising one concise paragraph that showcases their personality and otherwise allows them to sell themselves as the best person for the job.

Once all three sections are complete, jobseekers receive a personalised profile URL, which they can then distribute at their discretion both on their resume and via social networks and similar highly visible resources.

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In addition, employers and recruiting companies may create customised versions of the database based on individualised needs, and similarly promote and drive traffic to their co-branded Labels.io page.

Because the site is an open database accessible by the public at large, anyone can contact a jobseeker or employer via the provided contact form, which does not avail personal e-mail or other contact details. Users may then access a personal-profile report function to view a variety of visitor statistics, including the last 10 page visitors with referrers, top 10 referring search engine keywords, candidates’ five most valuable (i.e. searched for) skills, which skills generated the most page visits via internal site search and other key metrics. Popescu concluded, “With no direct competition in the marketplace and a solution with so much upside, we intend to revolutionise the field of technology recruitment.” Labels.io seems like it might just be the game changer that HR and recruiters have been looking for.

Recruitment technology & social media

Talent quest| How social media and effective employer branding can help attract the best candidates.

Erik Schmit, Managing Director APAC, Lumesse

Times are changing. The primary concern of HR practitioners has rapidly shifted from minimising the effects of the downturn to the procurement of talent, as business growth in the region begins to accelerate. HR Magazine took this opportunity to talk to Erik Schmit, Managing Director APAC, Lumesse, for his take on the changing recruitment landscape in Hong Kong.

StepStone has adopted a very different approach from the major HR players from the US who typically set up in the region to provide HR solutions to US

clients. StepStone takes the view that it wants to engage locally and serve the HR needs of local clients. This means taking a local view in terms of recruitment of staff, marketing and advertising of the organisation’s services.

Work or play?

HR Magazine was curious to know more about candidates’ jobseeking behaviour in recent times.

Schmit pointed out that it has been a common problem in many industry sectors that people have

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“

The proportion of companies projecting powerful online presence is growing steadily.

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not realised how drastic the changes have been.

Schmit likened the whole process to booking a vacation with a travel agent.

“If you were to book your vacation 10 years ago you would go to a travel agency without having access to a lot of information. You would go along with a certain vacation in mind and whatever they would sell you, you would go for. Nowadays it is a completely different ball game. If you do some research on the internet, you can make over 50 comparisons and you can do a comparison of all the deals you could get. You can even go and look on YouTube and check out your hotel room. Likewise you will be able to read reviews of your destination [online].”

Schmit continued, “If you transpose this to the industry of recruiting the right people, you’ll see the same thing. When you were applying for a job 10 to 15 years ago what you would see is someone applying for a job with very little information available—or very brief information. It would be more about hearsay than anything else.”

Twitter and YouTube

Today, when candidates are looking for a job they have a huge amount of tools available to them. Schmit explained that many employers are still uncomfortable with this because they do not believe it is taking off—but it is taking off. Some organisations have Twitter accounts and/or movies on YouTube to present a culture. These will do a lot extra to provide potential candidates with the information they are looking for.

The proportion of companies projecting this kind of powerful online presence is growing steadily.

“If I do interviews with the younger generation, what I generally find is these people are very well prepared— they know a lot about your company…these changes

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are something that we as employers have to take into account. People make the difference in any organisation and if you want to be successful you have to make sure that you have the best people,” said Schmit.

What candidates are looking for goes much further than the job specifications. It is not only reading about the job itself—the candidate will also like to know about the culture of the company and how the company deals with its people. Candidates are very much interested in how their development is likely to track in an organisation.

Mobile workforce

What is now much more prevalent than a few years ago is that when organisations interview candidates, they are much keener to have training that will help them build up a skill set that they can use in future.

Schmit also observed that the situation of graduating and then spending 25 years with one company is no longer expected—and often not even desired.

“What you see now are candidates that develop individual skill sets that will suit different types of organisations. It’s no longer a necessity that a person sticks with a company for 10 years. After around two to three years they build up their skills and their skill set becomes more comprehensive and they offer it to another organisation. It is a win-win situation for organisations as a whole.”

Social media and branding

Also part of effective branding, it is important to embrace the technology that the next generation will be using. For example, making effective use of a company social media account. And this is the reality now. Companies need to embrace Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Companies can then use these accounts to communicate what is going on in the organisation—this is useful for candidates.

The company can mention projects they are doing, not just business-related but also samaritan work such as helping children in Africa or community work such as putting more computers in local schools. This all helps potential candidates gain a snapshot of what the organisation stands for. In the long term, making use of the technology can help organisations attract more candidates and a better quality of candidate.

Recruitment technology & social media

Half of employees now communicating via social media

But third of companies still don’t listen|

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keep them engaged and productive. “Respondents reported slight increases in use of social media tools, and more of them say they have established internal and external policies for appropriate workplace use of social media,” said Robin McCasland, former Chair, IABC Research Foundation. He added, “When managed effectively, social media can be a great addition to an existing employee engagement strategy. Employees and job candidates alike can read employer news and anecdotes that reinforce a strong, positive culture.” The survey found the most common communication vehicles organisations use to engage employees and foster productivity are e-mail, 83% and intranet, 75%. It also measured practices for creating and sustaining a culture of engagement in organisations, key findings are highlighted below.

How recruits communicate Goals for engaging employees •

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Nearly half of employees currently communicate through Facebook, instant messaging, and Twitter, but senior executives are still reluctant about embracing such social media tools to help gauge employee engagement in the workplace.

Compounding the problem, almost a third of companies rarely or never conduct employee listening exercises—this is according to the second Employee Engagement Survey jointly conducted by Buck Consultants and the IABC Research Foundation.

The survey of just under 900 communication professionals from a broad range of industries and geographic bases was aimed at finding out how organisations are communicating with employees to

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Increasing productivity, 66%, and retaining top talent, 65%, were the most important goals employers cite to keep employees engaged.

Other important goals identified by survey respondents were increasing employee morale, 59%, and creating a new culture or work environment, 52%.

Utilisation of social media •

•

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Most top executives do not participate in internal, 60%, or external, 62%, social media.

Fewer than half the organisations surveyed have policies in place to address employee use of internal and external social media.

Approximately half the organisations surveyed do not measure the effectiveness of internal and external social media.

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Measuring effectiveness •

•

Formal or informal employee feedback, 77%, was the most common way organisations measured the effectiveness of their employee engagement strategies.

Other methods included meeting annual company performance goals, 48%, and measuring employee retention rates, 42%.

Sustaining an engaged work culture •

•

•

32% of survey respondents indicated that their organisations rarely or never conduct employee listening activities.

For those that do, publishing a formal list of values, 74%, and using exit interviews with managers, 73%, were the most common practices adopted to sustain an engaging work culture.

Other practices included: regularly surveying the workforce on engagement and work satisfaction, 60%, inclusion of material on the organisation’s culture in new hire orientation, 56%, and involving senior leadership in orientation programmes, 54%.

media, making it ideally suited to building talent pools among in-demand staff.

According to the report, 60% of the employers surveyed already use social media as part of their recruitment strategy, and over a quarter have plans to do so in the near future. Yet 28% of employers said that corporate policies restricting access to social networking sites were a problem and a lack of awareness of social media was cited by 69% of respondents as the greatest barrier to implementation.

Matthew Parker, CEO, Lumesse explained, “Recruiters’ interest in social media is growing—96% said that social media has a role to play in recruitment because it’s one of the best ways to reach out to potential employees worldwide and build new talent pools, especially for high demand skills like mobile application developers or managers with experience in emerging markets. However, many recruiters aren’t opening Twitter accounts or LinkedIn pages in the absence of clear corporate support. Red tape and a lack of understanding may be harming the uptake of social media despite the fact that recruitment tools with built in capabilities are there to support them.”

Nearly a third of employers say corporate policies and lack of understanding are stifling recruiters’ use of social media, despite a growing demand from staff as the vast majority regularly use social websites.

This news is according to a global survey of HR professionals: The barriers to social media adoption, and ways to overcome them and drive new candidate streams, recently published by Lumesse. The survey indicates that use of sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to acquire new talent are still massively underutilised, despite the fact that two thirds of employers say they want to hire more people in the coming year. From the candidate’s perspective, 82% of jobseekers respond positively to contact via social

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Marketing & recruitment

...an inevitable marriage|

By Erik Schmit, Managing Director APAC, Lumesse

Job boards took a quantum leap from two-person organisations to multibillion-dollar-valued organisations.

The concept was simple: companies pay for their job to get published, the job board buys exposure through commercials, advertising and rich content to attract candidates. A hugely successful model in the early 2000s and a pull strategy that worked. Up until now... with the labour market becoming more competitive and the spectacular rise of social networks the game is changing again.

In the nineties, only the top tier employees would be headhunted. Why was that so? There was no visibility in the market, let alone the systems to monitor the labour market. Today, if you want to know and find out about the top performers of your competition you can simply go to LinkedIn to find out their names and look at their recommendations.

This was unthinkable only 10 years ago. Smart organisations at the time, would use so-called ambassadors at universities to make themselves known to students. But then, companies would carry little information on the best students, if at all.

Companies were ‘hoping’ to pull candidates based on great exposure and brand awareness—things only available to the big players.

A radical revolution has taken place in recruitment since the arrival of internet. With huge amounts of opportunities, but also a lot of risks.

Recruitment has evolved from a dusty, undervalued discipline to something sexy these days, and its lifeline is called ‘marketing’.

Some companies realised the importance of marketing in the early days already and have grown to integrate marketing knowledge in their recruitment processes early on. One such example, and a big exception, is a large brewery I once spoke

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to. They, very early on, realised the potential and risks of the arrival of internet. Their global head of graduate recruitment explained to me, “We do get, on an annual basis, thousands and thousands of applications from graduates. But, we only hire around 10 management trainees per annum. So basically, we have to turn down 99.99% of all applications—all of these are, of course, potential beer drinkers.” He continued, “Over several years that means we have to deal with a very large amount of applicants that were rejected and we realised we needed to act to try and overcome this…increasing the chances that these rejected candidates would keep consuming our beer.” The brewer went ahead putting in place technology, working with marketing and utilising the capabilities of the internet to at least try and minimise the impact on the psychology of a candidate.

“

Recruitment has evolved from a dusty, undervalued discipline to something sexy these days...

”

Then with the intense shortage of labour around the globe during the dot.com period a paradigm shift of unexpected proportions took place. Recruitment asked Marketing out for a first date. And Marketing accepted. How did this happen? Recruitment turned to Marketing to ask for help recruiting the right number of people in the shortest possible period of time. There were hardly any candidates out there and companies would do the most bizarre things to attract the right candidates. One example is that of a large IT company attracting salespeople. The interviews were held in the showroom of a car dealer. If the candidate was successful, he would immediately get the opportunity to select a company car to his liking.

Another example is that of a large American

retailer that would hold interviews in a hot air balloon—accompanied with the slogan, ‘the sky is the limit’ to attract more candidates.

Marketing got increasingly involved with recruitment in designing tailored recruitment campaigns, with a focus on pulling candidates. The relation between marketing and recruitment started to grow as they appreciated each other. Finally marketing had more input than only designing the job advertisement for the newspaper or the job board. Recruitment started to realise the marketing specific knowledge, if applied correctly, would help recruitment to realise its objective finding the right people at the right time for the right job at a cost as low as possible.

Then came Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and over 150 other initiatives referred to as ‘online social networks’, another major game plan changer. With the sudden emergence of these social networks, there was a potential not to push jobs to a job board, but instead start searching the online social networks to find suitable candidates for a particular job.

Marketing is now needed to understand how to better utilise Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and similar networks. So HR needs to know both how to be present in these networks and how to use them to channel the right ‘potential candidates’ in the right social network. Recruitment has always been required to identify the key skills and capabilities of potential hires. Today, recruitment is moving from a pull to a push strategy. Ultimately, companies should be able to approach the best candidate for a particular job with the push of a button. For recruitment to become really successful it will be essential to link it to the marketing of the organisation: working together not only on employer branding, but at the same time formulating innovative strategies on how to stay one step ahead of the competition to locate and approach the right candidates.

Do use networks such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to push the right jobs to the right people at the right time. The most attractive companies are already doing so. Find the candidate—let them not find you.

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Facebook talent|

Sourcing talent through online social networks.

In the war for talent where the global economy grows and demographics change in the blink of an eye, there is even greater pressure on finding and keeping the best talent. Gaining competitive advantage in the war for talent, requires some clandestine tactics, and social networking sites such as Facebook may give employers that edge. Among the hundreds of social networking sites, Facebook is arguably one of the newest and hottest on the internet today. And aside from throwing sheep at people or defacing a friends virtual wall with graffiti, there is also some potential benefit for the HR professional in terms of sourcing new, perhaps more passive talent.

Social networking sites are an effective tool for sourcing passive candidates without the ethical issues that come part and parcel with headhunting and the costs associated with recruitment agencies. These sites are a practical embodiment of the six degrees of separation theory which asserts that any one person on earth is connected to every other person through a common link of no more than four intermediaries.

Thus, Facebook and the like potentially become hugely powerful recruitment tools. Facebook in particular boasts over 24 million active users worldwide and has been receiving 100,000 new registrations daily since January 2007. That is simply a massive pool of potential talent just waiting to be tapped. Social networking websites offer the potential advantages

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of cutting down on the percentage that candidatesourcing activities have absorbed of the recruiting budget, which historically included a multitude of activities including recruitment advertising, thirdparty search firm costs, job fairs and traditional referrals. Referrals of any kind, traditional or otherwise, leverage the trust factor that is an intrinsic part of recommending one peer to another and which is now demonstrated in these social networking websites.

Thus is revealed the true power of a social network, particularly for talent management purposes.

Social networking websites are certainly a costeffective way to source talent-joining is usually free.

But it’s obviously not a standalone strategy and can effectively add to the recruitment ‘toolbox’ of any employer, complementing any well-designed recruitment strategy. Referral recruitment websites such as jobtonic are taking advantage of the phenomenon of social networking and have designed applications for Facebook that users can plug in to their profiles, giving quick and easy access to the latest job vacancies via an application button always present on the left hand side of their profile. In a similar vein, Taleo Corporation, leading provider of on-demand talent management solutions, is building a business edition application of their product for Facebook giving business customers the ability to source passive candidates and connect with talent through their most trusted networks.

As part of an overall talent management strategy that goes beyond sourcing talent, social networking sites can also be used to support mentoring, coaching and learning initiatives due to the interaction and collaboration possible.

On the clandestine front, these sites also give employers a glimpse at what a prospective employee is like as a person, outside of the work environment, giving valuable information as to their personality and therefore whether you want that kind of person on your payroll.

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Googling for talent|

In the information age we read every day about new and exciting ways to use the Internet. One such use is searching for staff online.

The concept of online recruiting is not new, job boards are now well established and popular tools for jobseekers and recruiters alike—but is their time limited?

Google is rapidly becoming the recruitment search engine of choice. 'Googling' for talent. involves recruiters reviewing specialist chat and blog sites looking for key words relating to specific skills and experience. The googler then either joins in the forum or uses the site’s own resume function to gather the details of those looking for a change of roles. For example, if a Desktop Publishing (DTP) designer is needed with skills in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, but who also has a working knowledge of, say, the luxury car industry, the googler would frequent magazine design and DTP discussion groups and blog sites, searching the postings for mention of top end car names. They would then read the contributors recent submissions to verify their history and expertise, and submit a request for resumes tailored to the specific target.

If this all seems like a lot of work, it is. The amount of information posted by industry professionals is colossal, and grows every day. Searching through this sheer volume of data for specific software and skill references is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but the rewards can be well worth it.

The skills required to google talent are minimal, but the time commitment can be considerable. It seems like only a matter of time before specialised tracking software will be developed that searches out individual sector forums, detects key words and automatically identifies potential candidates. Any ethical qualms readers may have about harvesting information from sites not specially designed for that purpose can be assuaged by the fact that Google themselves collect information from everybody who uses their search engine for the purpose of tailoring advertising content to particular users. Googling for talent isn’t for everybody. For the vast majority of recruitment scenarios the tried and tested methods will work perfectly well, and for a fraction of the time and effort.

However, for specialist talent acquisition, and for singling out the one perfect candidate for a certain role, it just may be worth the effort.

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Tech savvy HR...

I think not| • Over 90% of young talent use social media, yet only 10% of companies tap into it for recruitment. • Only 1% of companies use mobile technology to access jobseekers.

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Chart 1 | How often jobseekers visit social media sites

New research conducted by HR Magazine, first published in the 2011 HR Guide to Recruitment, reveals that most companies are at risk of losing young talent through not understanding discrepancies between the expectations of young job candidates and their current recruitment practices.

The survey, employing a ‘mystery-shopper’ approach, set out to rate company career websites and the general online recruitment process of major companies in and around Hong Kong. HR Magazine monitored candidates, who were current or recent university graduates, applying for jobs in 76 companies in both Hong Kong and Southern China, following them through the application research process and then through the online application process. All applications were submitted online, either via a company website, social media or job board.

The research, commissioned by Lumesse, found that more than 60% of local large and international companies are not doing well enough with their career website, especially as young talents rate corporate websites as their top job-seeking channel.

Social media—are companies using it in line with their target employees?

When HR Magazine analysed what kind of social media candidates are actually using, 93% stated Facebook as their SM of choice, see Chart 1. Despite their popularity within professional circles, a large percentage of young jobseekers in Hong Kong have not even heard of—let alone use—LinkedIn or Twitter: 83% and 79%, respectively. So HR take note—Facebook is clearly the social medium of choice for fresh graduates.

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Chart 2 | Media channels companies are using for recruitment

Despite the fact that the vast majority of young jobseekers are using social media—100% of those surveyed—a startling 90% of companies are still not using social media for recruitment. The survey indicates that 41% of companies prefer to use online job boards, see Chart 2. In reality, over 80% of jobseekers surveyed applied for jobs directly via a company's own career website, with less than 20% using job boards to apply for jobs, see Chart 3.

Smartphone penetration is immense in Hong Kong and China, according to Emile Mac Gillavry, Managing Director, Maximum: 66% of people in China are accessing the internet via mobile devices rather than computers and 48% of the population in Hong Kong already have smart phones. Yet, in spite of this means of accessing a huge potential talent pool, an incredible 99% of companies are still reticent about adopting mobile technology as

Chart 3 | Channels actually used be jobseekers to apply for jobs

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a source of recruitment. Mobile recruitment alone therefore represents a huge untapped resource for HR, and the sooner recruitment managers start utilising it the better.

These figures clearly demonstrate that, while the majority of jobseekers use at least one form of social media on a daily basis, only 10% of companies are currently using social media for recruitment. There is a huge disconnect between companies and jobseekers in terms of recruitment methods and expectations.

Company career websites: the good, the bad and the ugly

The overall content of an organisation’s career website and how it is viewed is important for HR to help maintain ‘stickiness’ for jobseekers—be they active of passive. HR Magazine’s survey focused on five key areas of website design and functionality:

1. Functionality

When candidates were asked to rate the sites overall functionality, 70% rated functionality of company career websites as average or below. In fact, only 30% of company websites have job search

functions, while even less, 19%, offer functionality for applicants to upload their CVs to a job databank.

Only 4% of companies surveyed offered interactive games or virtual tours of the organisation. Just over half of the companies surveyed do not require applicants to register when applying and 80% have no subscription function that would allow applicants to subscribe to receive future job alerts.

2. Content

While the majority of companies, 76%, provided detailed job descriptions on their website; 85% provided no information about the recruitment process and lacked any employee testimonials.

70% also lacked any information about career development. This lack of information is likely to leave candidates uninformed or misinformed about the company and its expectations, at best this will deter potential jobseekers, and at worst may lead to huge wastage of resources associated with miss hires.

3. Design

Candidates were asked to rate the design of the website, factoring in the image and outlook of company web pages. Interestingly, 72% of

Chart 4 | Preferred channel for online jobseeking

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companies were ranked as average and above average. The trend being that the majority of company websites are attractive, have a good layout and design, but improvements could be made.

4. Navigation

88% of career websites were considered fairly easy to locate on the web, with 80% of candidates able to find them easily. However, 63% revealed that while the career websites were easy to find, once actually in the site it tended to be harder to navigate internally.

5. Overall impressions

Overall, 73% of candidates rated their impressions of career websites as average or below average. So although companies’ online recruitment process is considered acceptable, there is still significant room for improvement.

Application process, new talent behaviour The majority of jobseekers surveyed, 83%, chose to ‘apply for’ jobs via a company’s website. Despite this, candidates stated that their most preferred channel to ‘look for’ jobs via online job boards, see

Chart 4. It would appear that applicants look for jobs using job boards and, upon finding a company and job they like, then go and apply for the job directly through the company's own career website. Thus, it is essential—even for companies utilising job boards for recruitment—to ensure that their own career websites are straightforward, functional and provide all the information needed by target applicants.

Accordingly, corporate websites were also seen as the most important channel for jobseekers to find out more about the company’s background and culture, see Chart 5.

In terms of the actual online application process, 91% of companies did not ask candidates to fill out an application and so missed the opportunity to collect valuable potential employee data. 87% of career websites also lacked a ‘refer a friend’ option, again leaving HR missing out on access to a huge potential talent pool of passive jobseekers via recommendations.

The average amount of time spent by most applicants applying for a job online was less than half an hour, with 62% of applications were completed in less than 15 minutes. However, upon submission,

Chart 5 | Jobseekers' favoured sources to understand company background and culture

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84% of companies did not send any form of acknowledgement. Even more disconcerting was the fact that, of the candidates who did not receive any acknowledgment letter, 93% said they also could not find any information from the website to help contact the company to follow up with enquiries or check if the application had in fact been received. The few companies that did reply, did so expeditiously, with 92% of responses being received within four days and 62% of candidates who received letters ranked them as average and above average.

Conclusion

Through the analysis of this survey, a few major trends have been established.

1. There is a disconnect between the forms of social media used by companies for hiring, if any, and the social media that is actually being utilised by young jobseekers. With 100% of candidates using social media, but only 10% of companies using it for recruitment.

2. When applicants are looking for jobs they tend to prefer online job boards, and once they have found a job or company they then go directly to the company’s website to learn more about the company’s culture and to apply for the job.

3. The online recruitment process of most companies is only viewed as ‘average’ by applicants. Company home pages and first page of their career sites—are viewed as 'above average', while the information and features provided are viewed as ‘below average’. So companies are generally not meeting the expectations and information requirements of online applicants.

4. There is a general lack of recruitment process communication between companies and applicants, with 84% of companies not sending letters of acknowledgement to applicants. Moreover, 93% of sites did not provide clear contact details to help candidates follow up with application enquiries.

Advice for successful online recruitment

There is definitely a need for greater communication with online job applicants. To be successful in online recruitment employers should ensure they provide pre-application information online including job details, company culture, employee testimonials and contact details to help jobseekers learn more about the company and facilitate follow up enquires.

Moreover—post application—employers should issue personalised acknowledgement letters, have a means of subscribing to future job alerts for candidates not wishing to apply at that time, and provide a ‘forward this position to a friend’ functionality to help garner more passive jobseekers.

All of this should be done right on the landing page in a clear and simple format without the need for applicants to perform multiple clicks and navigate around the entire corporate website.

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Screening applicants

Pulling the wool over HR’s eyes 68% of job applications fraudulent in Hong Kong and China| With HR spending so much time and resources in screening job applications, the news that over 68% of this may be spent dealing with false information about candidates is fairly disheartening.

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Leading commercial and private information companies report a growing problem of academic and work qualification fraud in China. Adrian Ashurst, Founder of Worldbox Business Intelligence— providing background checks globally—commented, “A range of international company clients operating in China have found that senior people they had hired on the strength of their CVs did not have the experience and academic qualifications required to fulfill their positions, after checking their credentials.”

He added, “Falsified information by applicants in the business and educational sectors is skyrocketing.”

There is a similar trend amongst Hong Kong jobseekers—a recent survey, conducted by eeVoices, of Hong Kong university and college graduates showed 62% admitted to resume exaggeration.

“

Falsified information by applicants in the business and educational sectors is skyrocketing.

”

Who lies the most in China?

The 2010 Q4 Hudson Report on Employment and HR Trends in China surveyed over 1,500 employers across Asia, and found that more than two-thirds of business respondents across all sectors had encountered candidates being dishonest about their background or experience in their resumes in China. The figure of 68% recorded in China is far higher than that recorded in the other Asian markets surveyed.

According to the report, respondents in the Media, PR & Advertising Sector were the most likely to have experience of candidates exaggerating or falsifying information in their resumes, 91% of candidates said they had done so. This was attributed to the very high turnover rate of workers

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in this industry, who often make bold claims to present themselves as being less deserving of the axe than their co-workers.

At 66%, the Banking and Financial Services Sector also yielded a high proportion of respondents indicating candidates had submitted false information about their remuneration packages.

One reason behind this may be due to the rapid expansion of the sector, with numerous international banks currently entering the market. This has provided employees in the sector with multiple job opportunities and many candidates are now more open to switching jobs to increase their remuneration—many exaggerating their current pay levels to help strengthen their negotiating position.

Both the Consumer and Manufacturing & Industrial Sectors reported a similar numbers of respondents who had encountered dishonesty on the part of candidates, at 64%. The Consumer Sector, being wellestablished, often has more experienced HR teams that can more readily identify falsified resumes. In addition, recruitment specialists operating in this field are highly effective at verifying candidates’ backgrounds before making recommendations to employers. This figure might have been higher if not for the experience of HR recruiting.

Employers in the Manufacturing and Industrial Sector often have highly technical requirements when filling vacancies and there is a significant crossover of candidates between companies, making it relatively simple to verify information provided on CVs. According to the report, these factors mean that candidates from this sector are more likely to be honest when preparing their resumes.

How big are the lies?

Respondents to the Hudson research, who said they had encountered candidates falsifying their resumes, were also asked about the specific areas in which dishonesty or exaggeration occurred. Remuneration packages—59%, and Job responsibilities and achievements—55%, were found to be the areas in which candidates were most likely to distort the facts.

This is in contrast to employers in the IT&T sector, who seem much more trusting of job applicants, and

Screening applicants

are least likely to carry out background checks. Only 42% of employers in this sector felt that background checks were ‘very important’.

Chinese educators have indicated that the culture of cheating takes root in high school, where the competition for slots in the country’s best colleges is unrelenting and high marks on standardised tests are the most important criterion for admission. The Ministry of Education announced two major antifraud campaigns in the ‘90s,

Cases of professional CV & academic qualification falsification in China reported by the international press this year •

After a plane crash in August killed 42 people in northeast China, officials discovered that 100 pilots who worked for the airline’s parent company had falsified their flying histories.

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An editorial published earlier this year in the British medical journal, The Lancet, warned that faked or plagiarized research posed a threat to President Hu Jintao’s vow to make China a ‘research superpower’ by 2020.

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Earlier this year, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou released results from a 20-month experiment it conducted by running plagiarism-detection software across a number of scientific journals, which found nearly a third of all submissions were suspected of being pirated from previously published research.

In some cases, more than 80% of a paper’s content was deemed unoriginal.

•

In a study of 32,000 scientists by the China Association for Science and Technology last summer, more than 55% said they knew someone guilty of academic fraud.

but the bodies they established to tackle the problem have yet to mete out any punishments.

Dishonesty about academic qualifications, cited by 42% of respondees in the Hudson Report, was more than twice as common in China as in the other markets surveyed. This chimes with numerous reports from companies specialising in background checks that they are experiencing a sharp uptrend in the number of falsified qualifications submitted by young Chinese students applying to study at international universities. Student checks can be broken into two tiers: a regular check where students have little or no work history to check, and checking MBA students’ claims of qualifications and their related working experience.

The padded resume of Tang Jun, the millionaire former head of Microsoft China and something of a national hero, was widely reported this summer to have falsely claimed to have received a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology. This story was broken by Fang Shimin (方是民), better known by his net-name Fang Zhouzi (方舟子), who has been fighting a lonely crusade exposing numerous frauds in China’s scientific and academic communities. Zhouzi’s website, New Threads, has reportedly exposed more than 900 instances of fakery, some involving university presidents and nationally lionised researchers.

Tang was subsequently quoted by the Beijing News as saying, “Losers cheat some people and get caught. Winners cheat the whole world all the time.” His supporters argued that it was fine for him to make such a mistake as long as his admirable business success was real.

Hong Kong movers and fakers

This growing phenomenon is not limited to the mainland, and Hong Kong jobseekers seem just as dishonest. A recent eeVoices survey of university and college graduates in Hong Kong showed that of the 62% who admitted to resume exaggeration, one-third said ‘they did it a lot’. According to eeVoices, statistics gathered over the last four years indicate 46% of background checks they conduct reveal exaggerated or false claims or result in unfavourable references.

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What do candidates lie about?

In China

In the Hudson research, employers who had encountered candidates falsifying information, were also asked about the specific areas in which dishonesty or exaggeration occurs. The findings revealed that remuneration packages, job responsibilities and achievements were the areas in which jobseekers lied the most, accounting for 59% and 55%, respectively.

Dishonesty about academic qualifications, was cited in 42% of cases in China. This figure is more than double that recorded in other markets surveyed. Candidates in the Media, PR & Advertising Sector were found to be the biggest culprits when it came to exaggerated claims on their CVs. With 64% lying about years of experience, and 88% exaggerating job responsibilities/achievements, this is much higher than in any other sector. As noted, many agencies are very sensitive to workload and candidates are often in the position of seeking new roles after obtaining relatively limited experience.

They therefore tend to exaggerate several aspects of their resumes. After Media, PR & Advertising, the IT&T Sector has the highest proportion of respondents reporting that candidates are dishonest about their job responsibilities/achievements and years of experience—61% and 43%, respectively.

Many IT professionals also work on specific projects and may exaggerate what they have achieved when applying for new roles.

Within the Banking & Financial Services Sector, a high proportion of respondents said that candidates tended to lie about their current and previous remuneration packages.

In Hong Kong According to data gathered by eeVoices job applicants in Hong Kong were most likely to lie about performance issues on their job applications, with 19% indicating they had been dishonest.

Incorrect education claims were the next most likely cause for concern in 15% of cases. Inconsistent position, employment period and/or salary accounted for 10% of fraudulent CVs, with lies about ‘dishonesty and unethical conduct’ being

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present in 2% of CVs. The data was gathered from a wide range of industries including: banking, luxury brands, logistics, IT, hospitality, education, apparel, property management, global software giants and a host of SMEs. However, Greg Basham, CEO, eeVoices Limited warned, “Employers should not find any solace in these statistics, as organisations who are known for rigorous pre-employment screening drive these numbers right down to where the frequency

Fraudulent education claims witnessed first-hand in HK by eeVoices •

Fake PhD Fellowship from a world class prestigious science institute—a CEO who graduated from the same US University wondered why this person’s PhD was not on his office wall with the other degrees.

•

Fake degree certificates and transcripts—right down to the same paper and watermark used by the university.

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Fake Masters Degree—one person claimed to have MBAs in Accounting and Finance—but it was discovered that, while enrolled in both programmes, neither was actually completed.

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Mail-order Degrees and MBAs issued from non-accredited institutions.

•

Fake Masters Degree issued from a USbased medical certification agency for a doctor. It was later discovered that work they had conducted during the same period was all in the UK. In fact, the person had left the UK due to criminal convictions for theft, went on to the US where they repeated the offences, before trying their luck in Hong Kong.

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and severity of the exaggerated claims is very low.”

He added, “It is not unusual for an SME, with no prior history of checking backgrounds, to start off with over 70% exaggerated claims from applicants, but after a few months of screening their statistics will start to mirror the industry averages.”

Leo Ma, COO, eeVoices who has worked in preemployment screening in both North America and Asia commented, “There is a higher rate of false education claims in this region [Asia] than in North America because this region has a shorter history of verifying education and claims on resumes. Other exaggerations in resumes run about the same rates across the globe.”

Basham conceded, “The tragedy for employers is that these people with something to hide will just go to the employer down the street and will repeat the same problems all over again.”

Candidate background checks

Many employers in China have followed suit and adopted much more stringent background checks on potential employees following the Tang Jun story. This has inevitably meant investing significant time and money in crosschecking job applicants’ credentials and credibility. Qiu Jialu, an HR specialist at a real estate investment company in China, said her organisation is stepping up investigations into potential employees’ background information.

Qiu said, “Our company has strict procedures for recruitment, especially for those applying for high and middle-level positions. Now, we are planning to expand the scope of background checks to also cover those applying for rank-and-file positions.”

“Tang Jun’s case reflects a social problem. With the increasingly cut-throat competition, many people buy fake academic credentials to advance their careers,” said Zhu Shibo, Manager, Recruitment Service Centre, at the China International Intellectech Corporation Shanghai Foreign Enterprises Service Company. Zhu explained that her centre has received unprecedented commissions to investigate job applicants in recent years. She added, “The number of employers who hire our services for background investigation, which usually covers the highest educational qualification, criminal

record and work experience, has doubled in the past two years.”

With HR background checks becoming more important than ever—it is becoming an essential part of HR to conduct in-depth background checks on all details in an applicant’s CV. Sometimes this is difficult on web-based subscription services or traditional search giants, such as Experian and Ashurst advised HR to look for partners who had a network of ground agents to help provide comprehensive background information on job applicants.

Research on existing directors of Chinese companies is normally conducted in the final stages of the selection process, but additional more in-depth research is sometimes required at a later stage. Fees tend to be highest for senior management checks because applicants’ education and work histories are generally more extensive than for people applying for normal positions.

“

The number of employers [conducting] background investigations has doubled in the past two years.

Advice for HR

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Basham pointed out that exit surveys show one of the key triggers for top performers leaving their jobs is ‘the quality of new hires’. If new hires are less able than those who they replace, this is an early warning sign that this loyal, committed employee might soon start looking for new offers. Rigorous pre-employment practices result in better hires who stay longer and contribute more. In the long-run background checks play an important role in helping establish your brand as an employer. Think twice about that CV on your desk.

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Screening applicants

Seeing is believing| Resumes only tell half the story.

When it comes to making crucial hiring decisions, nothing can replace face to face interaction to ensure an applicant has not only the technical prowess but also the soft skills needed to ensure a good fit into the organisational culture. A strong resume is not always a good indicator of an applicant’s potential for success. Applicants might look polished on paper but may disappoint at the interview stage.

A resume tells only part of the story and for this reason, assessing applicants and finding the perfect candidate is often a tough and time consuming challenge for hiring managers.

In the current climate businesses are inundated with resumes. It would be easy to assume that

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finding the right candidate for the role is more straightforward. And yet, it seems that this is still a challenge for many hiring managers as promising resumes do not always live up to expectations.

The interview enables hiring managers to gauge applicants’ potential performance, build rapport and determine interpersonal abilities.

Applicants can review and amend their resume until they are satisfied, but at interview, they have only one chance to answer each question. Also some applicants may not thoroughly prepare for the interview, or let their nerves get the better of them. Even with these challenges, there are a number of steps that hiring managers can take to secure the best hires:

Screening applicants

•

Ensure the creation of a finely tuned recruitment advert that clearly describes the ideal applicant.

•

The advert should be posted in targeted places, such as industry publications and professional association websites where strong applicants will see it.

•

Cast your net wider in the search for the perfect applicant by seeking recommendations from professional contacts, network online and with members of industry organisations.

To save valuable time, hiring managers should remain closely involved in the hiring process from beginning to end and if a strong applicant is identified, move fast to secure them. The best people always get snapped up quickly. Hiring managers should also consider following up on promising resumes by telephone. A ten-minute telephone interview will help to filter less suitable candidates and secure only the best applicants for interviews.

Securing workers on a temporary or project basis is another good tactic that allows the opportunity to observe first hand applicants’ skills, performance and fit for a permanent position. Also, working with a specialised recruiter who can pinpoint staffing needs within an organisation will help sort the weak from the strong and secure the best applicants to fit those specific requirements.

There are also plenty of useful ways for hiring managers to maximise their evaluation of applicants’ resumes. Developing a system for identifying key criteria should determine which skills and experience are essential and which are preferred but less critical. Also hiring managers should always be on the look out for items in resumes that can highlight that a person is not right for the job. For example,

typos could illustrate a lack of attention to detail and vague phrases, such as ‘familiar with’ could be a sign the applicant does not possess first hand experience or expertise in this area.

By closely evaluating resumes and locking in only the best applicants for interview, hiring managers can take steps to secure the candidate who is best suited to their organisation.

Hidden meaning behind interview questions

Employers want specific things from interviews and an applicants success lies in how they answer even the most basic interview questions. Robert Half confirms that basic and frequently asked interview questions contain hidden meanings that applicants often overlook. By reading into the layered meanings of questions such as, “What are your weaknesses?” or “Would you rather work alone or in a team?” applicants can easily boost their chance of impressing in an interview.

There are a well known clump of questions that hiring managers are likely to ask, however, Andrew Morris, Director, Robert Half believes, “The majority of people applying for jobs are unaware of the hidden meanings within these questions and as result do not maximise the opportunity the interview offers to illustrate their skills and successes.”

"Why do you want to work here?", "What are your strengths?", two examples of basic interview questions that Morris believes translate as, "How much do you know about this company?", "Why are you hoping to work here instead of for one of our competitors?" and "How have you used your strengths to add value to your employer?”

“What are your weaknesses?”—This offers candidates an opportunity to explain how they have overcome their weaknesses and the interviewer is able to see how self-aware and honest the candidate is and whether they are able and willing to make constant improvements.

“Do you feel more comfortable working alone or in a team?” This question determines whether a candidate is capable of working independently or in a group environment and whether they can work with minimal direction.

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Screening applicants

Getting psychometrics right| Advice on how HR can select the right psychometric tests and providers.

By Dr Graham Tyler, Registered Business Psychologist, Chartered Scientist and Executive Director at PsyAsia International: www.psyasia.com

Absolute objectivity

Psychometric tests are tools designed to assess psychological attributes such as aptitude and personality in an objective and quantitative manner.

There has been over sixty years of research in this field and it is well documented that—psychometric tests, when used properly by trained individuals, add significantly to the ability of HR to select the best candidate for the job.

Organisations which have adopted more ‘scientific’ human resource processes usually incorporate psychometrics into their approach.

Psychometrics is probably the only aspect of the selection process that allows for absolutely objective assessment of candidates. Moreover, they allow HR to assess large numbers of candidates in very short periods of time, which would be immaterial if the test did not do its job properly.

However, research has shown that the ability of tests to predict successful hires often exceeds that

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of traditional interviews. Generally, aptitude tests have been shown to be more predictive of success than personality tests, although there are a couple of notable personality tools that are also on par with aptitude tests.

There are numerous tests currently on the market and many distributors in Hong Kong—so how can HR be certain they are choosing the right test and choosing to work with the right distributor?

Professional understanding

Given that psychometric tests measure psychological characteristics, HR are advised to try and work with registered business psychologists, who will have the benefit of years of training in the psychology of people at work. Doctoral psychologists have the same level and years of training and experience as medical doctors, and can only re-register each year if they have undertaken significant professional development. In this

Screening applicants

respect, professionally qualified psychologists will have a much better understanding of psychometric tests. Some test distributors may have only undergone a few days of training in the tests they sell and will lack a proper understanding of the science and metrics beneath the tests, and are not accountable to anybody for their competence.

chosen their test when there was less market choice, and it may no longer be the best one currently available. So HR is advised to survey all tests currently available and select one that best suits their individual requirements bearing in mind the following key concerns.

Which test?

One of the most frequently asked questions regarding personality tests is, “How many questions are there in the test.” When we reply with, “200” there is usually a gasp—it should be noted that the reliability, and therefore the validity, of tests generally increases with the number of questions—provided the test is not ridiculously long. Most good tests, which assess multiple relevant aspects of personality for work, do so with around 200 questions. Personality tests cannot do their job well with the 20-50 questions that many in HR may expect. This is one reason why some test distributors do not offer free trials, as a

As for choice of test, this poses a perennial problem for those without training in psychometrics.

Many, new to the field, will ask which companies use a particular test—which would then require the distributor to break commercial confidence.

Alternatively, HR may come pre-armed with the name of the test they want to use because a friend’s organisation uses that particular test. In fact, such recommendations should have little bearing on test choice, as tests have been designed for different situations and different people. A friend may have

How many questions?

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test cannot be evaluated on the basis of the questions alone. Trial users may also be discouraged by long questionnaires and repetition of questions—when in fact this results in higher reliability and a better measure of candidate consistency and attention.

Locally or internationally developed?

There has been a movement that supports Chinese Personality tests that are ‘designed by the Chinese for the Chinese’. The idea may sound sensible and quite seductive, however, research published in the British Psychological Society’s Selection & Development Review, entitled: The Chinese challenge to the Big-5, indicated that locallydeveloped tests lacked the rigour of internationallydeveloped ones and had unacceptable reliability levels. Additionally, they had no incremental validity over internationally developed tests. Traditionally, Chinese culture may place greater importance on certain aspects of personality, such as ‘face’, than other cultures, however, our research did not demonstrate that this had any utility in helping to predict candidate performance at work in Hong Kong companies.

Overcoming inertia

If psychometric tests are so useful, why does every organisation not use them? Firstly, cost—and many in procurement may not consider the return on investment. Every aspect of the selection process incurs costs. However, as capital invested in psychometric tests is usually paid to a vendor rather than to in-house staff, this often acts as a further deterrent to purchasing them in the first place. HR can help by explaining the tangible ROI benefits of psychometric tests to those in procurement so they are better aware that using good tests results in superior prediction of talent performance, which will lead to higher retention rates, lower absenteeism, a happier workforce and ultimately a more successful organisation.

Test administrator training essential

As with any new procedure, adopting psychometric tests requires planning, a company policy on test use, fairness, competence in testing,

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etc. and this all takes time and can be offputting. HR is often surprised by the need for training test administrators. Proper training is, however, extremely important so that the HR staff administering tests and making decisions based the results know how to use and analyse them properly. Less reputable test suppliers may succumb to the reticence of organisations to train staff by offering tests that require little or no training, however, this is likely to fuel misunderstandings, misinterpretation and illinformed decisions. For example, if a candidate scores low on an empathy scale—without proper understanding of the test—some may assume they have little empathy. In reality, the scale always means more than its label and the greatest validity can only be obtained from interpreting interactions of scores among multiple scales. Furthermore, interpretation in selection varies significantly depending on whether tests are used with ‘forcedchoice questions’ or ‘rating scales’.

As in any assessment method, there is a degree of error in psychometric test scores and this must also be taken into account during interpretation.

Quality psychometric training courses will help educate administrators how to do this. The best training courses also teach the right questions to ask distributors and how to evaluate the response— from asking for reliability and validity figures, to understanding the rationale behind the test itself and the test publisher’s background.

Training bloopers

Non-psychologists, who run training programmes, may lack a comprehensive understanding of the field. One trainer for a well-known personality type tool told his class that criterion-related validity was most important for his test—the reality being that construct validity is. The manager at a profiling company in Hong Kong told an enquirer that his questions were getting too complicated and most clients don’t get that technical. The client was only asking the questions they were taught on a six-day British Psychological Society course. One supplier defined test validity as being ‘how accurately the candidate believes the test represents them’ and

Screening applicants

claimed their tests average 95% validity. In fact, there are many types of technical validity and this is not recognised as one of them. So, HR should be cautious with validity claims that seem too good to be true—check exactly how the supplier defines the term ‘validity’. More credible suppliers would provide evidence that the test significantly predicts meaningful workplace performance variables. This evidence should come from a sizable sample of employees rather than students in universities.

Top 5 questions to ask suppliers 1. What is the rationale or theory behind the test—is it a validated theory?

2. May I see evidence of the test’s reliability?

Look for internal consistency and test— retest reliabilities of 0.7+ for personality tests and 0.8+ for aptitude tests. Reliability is a precursor to validity.

3. May I see evidence of the test’s validity?

Look for either criterion-related validity or construct-related validity depending on how you will be using the test. You need to see that the test predicts something meaningful or accurately assesses your construct of interest.*

4. What training is required to use the test?

5. Do you employ experts in psychometrics, such as business psychologists, rather than test salespeople who are not experts in psychometrics or psychology?

*Notes Criterion-related validity is evidence that the test actually predicts what it says it does, for example, leadership potential or performance on various competencies.

Construct-related validity is evidence that the test really does assess the construct it was designed to measure, for example, numerical reasoning or conscientiousness.

Conclusion

In summary, psychometric tests have an established record of being able to predict the skills and performance of potential hires and new recruits.

However, for them to be effective, it is crucial that HR first equips itself with the right test. In order to choose the right test, HR needs to ask the right questions to suppliers so they can gain a proper understanding of the technical properties of the test, rather than simply relying on colleague recommendations. Psychometric tests are here to stay and both test vendors and HR have a responsibility to ensure competent and ethical test use and thus accurate and fair prediction of talent and performance in Hong Kong’s workplaces.

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Attracting Gen-Y

The generation game| Understanding Gen-X and Gen-Y.

The traditional employment model is dead.

Employment propositions and total rewards systems which were built on years of service to fund retirement are over. Organisations which were used to long standing tenure of 15, 20 or even 25 years need to rethink very quickly.

Gen-Y

Speaking at a recent AIESEC symposium, Eddie Ng Hak-kim, Chairman of Human Capital Management, asked the question ‘Can you really tell people what your career plan is?’ He believes the answer for most is no; they cannot say where they really expect to be in ten years time. But, when applying for jobs, saying you want any job being offered is not the right answer either. This raises the question of what

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young people should actually say. Ng believes that Gen-Y has a keen supply of energy and passion, but is sometimes overly focused on one thing. Ng noted that some HR professionals had said of Gen-Y, “I love them but I don’t want to hire them.” Gen-Y needs to look carefully at what company they are applying for, to check more closely what they will be a part of.

For the companies, extensive testing can help young candidates understand what they are committing to, and can even weed out some candidates who are applying for the job merely for the sake of applying for a job. If a young person does all the research before applying, joked Ng, “Then if you end up in the wrong job who is to blame?”

Shalini Mahtani, Founder and CEO of Community Business, noted that previously groupings for diversity had taken in ethnicity, gender, sexuality, but more recently age was being considered a factor, both for aging workers and Gen-Y. Organisations are now thinking of interventions to attract and retain both groups, because it has been shown that specialised

“

Too often there are too many differences between the expectations of university students and the corporates.

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interventions are needed. Mahtani warned that Gen-Y is also known for asking for the impossible.

She gave the example of ‘green’ employees asking for international opportunities. She also underlined a worrying trend in India and China, where Gen-Y look for inappropriate business; for example they come into a job as a secretary but ask to be called a managing director. She noted also that companies are looking at new ways of engaging and recruiting Gen-Y, including using Facebook to advertise jobs.

She further explained that because of Gen-Y’s attachment to the idea of family a number of firms;

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especially in India, are looking at ways of engaging Gen-Y’s parents, including open days for the parents of prospective employees. To further enhance the definition of Gen-Y, Asianet Consultants explained: Gen-Y has grown up with more freedom and choice, economic prosperity—until recently—and higher education with ever-changing technology.

They have different priorities and expectations.

More importantly, they are likely to be the most productive generation of all time because they work differently and harness technology and change as part of daily routine. The drive and energy of Gen-Y is global, green and puts work in a social context, whereby they no longer live to work but work to live. They have only been in the workplace for a few years, yet they have gained a reputation for being over-confident, disloyal and fickle. Arguably, this may be because they have been misunderstood and mismanaged by employers who are still managing them within Baby Boomers or Gen-X frameworks.

Gen-Y and Gen-X view and use technology differently. Gen-X use technology as much as Gen-Y but they use it when it supports a “lifestyle need” whereas technology is embedded into everything Gen-Y does. Not only have Gen-Y grown up with changing times, but the pace of change is seen as an opportunity to grasp. They have the ability to customise everything to their world. They do not need to buy albums or CDs because they can download the tracks they like to create their own playlists on their iPods; they can create their own personal web spaces on Facebook; use the internet to create personal travel plans or roam in a virtual, fantasy world. They want to add their own personality and interests to the world of their work— they do not want a job for life and do not pretend to do so. Gen-Y is the most travelled generation in history, through gap years and cheap flights.

It is this desire for diversity and adventure which stimulates this generation rather than the wealth, size and glamour of the West. With this international focus and multi-cultural influences, their aspirations drive them to gain as many career-enhancing experiences as possible. They want to present prospective employers with a multitude of real-life experiences rather than a stack of qualifications.

Attracting Gen-Y

Table 1 | Personal and Lifestyle Characteristics by Generation Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964)

Generation X (1965 – 1980)

Generation Y (1981 – 2000)

Core Values

Optimism, Involvement

Skepticism, Fun, Informality

Realism, Confidence, Extreme fun, Social

Family

Disintegrating

Latch-key kids

Merged families

Education

A birthright

A way to get there

An incredible expense

Communication Media

Touch-tone phones, Call me anytime

Cell phones, Call me only at work

Internet, Picture phones, E-mail

Dealing with Money

Buy now, pay later

Cautious, Conservative, Save, save, save

Earn to spend

Gen-Y has grown up with climate change, global warming and images of third-world poverty. They feel socially responsible to make the change for their global colleagues. They are connected via music, video and passion. They have experienced more family breakdowns than any generation before. Their global networking means that they relate to peers, not elders. They are searching for true integrity and are willing to challenge. Corporate values need to be more than words.

Gen-X

For Gen-X, born between 1965 and 1980, it means moving in and out of the workforce to accommodate kids and outside interests. For Gen-Y, born between 1980 and 2000 the line between work and home does not really exist. They just want to spend their time in meaningful and useful ways, no matter where they are. The challenge for the companies that want to hire the best young workers will be getting them in the door. Gen-X are in high demand but are opting out of long hours and they have high expectations for personal growth, even in entry-level jobs. More than half of Gen-Y’s new graduates move back to their parents’ homes after collecting their degrees and that cushion of support gives them the time to pick the job they really want. Taking time off to travel used to be a résumé red flag; today it is a learning experience.

Entrepreneurship now functions as a safety net for this generation. They grew up on the internet and they know how to launch a viable online business.

Gen-X want benefits such as stock option plans, health care insurance, paid vacation, sick days and personal leave days. They tend to be less motivated by promises of overtime pay and more motivated by personal satisfaction with their jobs. They want to grow in their jobs and learn new skills and are looking for development and training. They do not anticipate staying with one job or company throughout their entire career. They have seen their parents laid off. Many have grown up in divorced family situations. Gen-X expect to change jobs as they seek employment that offers them both better benefits and more opportunity for professional growth and personal fulfillment.

Implications for hiring & on-boarding

Gen-X are very self-centred while Gen-Y are more team-focused and anti-hierarchical. Formal grading and status attributes will be resisted—they want to have a voice. Creative working parties and innovation groups are the way to get their juices flowing. Early delegation and involvement is paramount. Theirs is a thirst for knowledge.

Gen-X expect their employers to hear what they have to say. They have an interest in understanding the ‘big picture’ for the company and how this

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Table 2 | Workplace Characteristics Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964)

Generation X (1965 – 1980)

Generation Y (1981 – 2000)

Work Ethic and Values

Workaholics Work efficiently Crusading causes Personal fulfillment Desire quality Question authority

Eliminate the task Self-reliance Want structure and direction Skeptical

What’s next Multitasking Tenacity Entrepreneurial Tolerant Goal oriented

Work is...

An exciting adventure

A difficult challenge A contract

A means to an end Fulfillment

Leadership Style

Consensual Collegial

Everyone is the same Challenge others Ask why?

Confident Team focused Delegate Socially responsible

Interactive Style

Team player Loves to have meetings

Entrepreneur

Participative

Communications

In person

Direct Immediate

E-mail Voice mail

Feedback and Rewards

Don’t appreciate it Money Title recognition

Sorry to interrupt, but how am I doing?

Freedom is the best reward

Whenever I want it, at the push of a button Meaningful work

Messages That Motivate

You are valued You are needed

Do it your way Forget the rules

You will work with other bright, creative people

Work and Family Life

No balance Work to live

Balance

Balance

The tables above detail typical characteristics of different generations.

Sources: Time; Greg Hammill/FDU; Mercer

influences their employment and growth. They are less likely to accept a ‘because I said so’ attitude.

Gen-Y enters the world of work with student debt.

Long-term benefits or pensions do not even register.

Choice is key, as is flexibility both in terms of working hours and location. Career enhancement, rather than development, is paramount-international assignments and experience is critical. But this promise needs to be real, not a frustrating, dangling carrot. Gen-Y wants to be judged on outcomes and results, not the hours seen at the office. Gen-X knew promotions were given out to those who got in first and left late, irrespective of their real contribution.

Gen-Y’s upbringing of consistent coaching from

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their parents means that they expect constant feedback and stroking. Line managers need to give a lot of face time to this group–this is the biggest management challenge for the Baby Boomers who were taught to be micro-managers. They are naturally self-assured and goal-driven. They are supremely confident, expecting everything to fall into their laps and hence, massively over estimate their own abilities, they think they will make their mark immediately and will rapidly progress in organisations. Gen-Y are probably prepared to give your organisation three to five years at most, before they will move on. Have you re-engineered your workforce strategy to cope with this change?

Attracting Gen-Y

Communication critical for Gen-Y recruitment|

Communication with Gen-Y graduates, born between 1980 and 2000, has had to change and understanding and relating to them has become critical to recruitment in today’s fiercely competitive marketplace. Gen-Y remain in education longer, travel further and have access to more information than any other generation. They are more aware of technology and use it regularly, constantly looking for something new and ‘different’. Graduates want to learn new skills, be challenged intellectually and excel professionally.

Gen-Y is the first age group to have grown up with the internet and it is an integral part of life.

Consumer aspects of the internet have provided increasingly intuitive and intelligent sites, thus expectations from Gen-Y have increased. The internet is not only a communication tool but also something that companies will be judged on.

Companies need to ensure that they maximise user experience of their website and offer personalised functionality and engaging interaction.

Gen-Y wants to see that an employer is a global citizen and cares about CSR and they will go online to find out exactly what a business stands

for. Many organisations state ‘we are diverse’ but focus groups tell us audiences see them as ‘fake’. A reoccurring problem is things haven’t changed enough. For example, organisations are still using traditional milk rounds, with long corporate presentations. Gen-Y want interaction, such as presentations where voting software like Touchpoint can be used to give real time feedback.

Graduates expect to gain from everything they do and are constantly thinking, "Does it add to my CV/experience?" Companies need to use interactive tactics or they will lose out to organisations that are.

To attract and engage Gen-Y, advertising campaigns have to be more interactive than ever.

Take the humble ‘brochure’ for example, there’s an ongoing debate over whether employers should produce one or not. The key here is that if you decide to invest in a brochure, make sure it’s memorable and useful. The branding should be about authenticity: it needs to be honest and does not have to be cool. Gen-Y does not respond well to you simply trying to be ‘like them’.

Prosumers have influenced all generations and opinions and have driven the increase in use of social networks. While many companies are viewing this as a new arena, the reality is that for prosumers it is established, normal behaviour. Organisations need to ensure they communicate the right message to the right audience or they will receive little sympathy from an audience that has high expectations.

How do you make each interaction with Gen-Y worthwhile? You must get an integrated message across the right channels. It needs to be defined to a clear target audience, delivered through a communication strategy founded on research and brought to life through engaging, interactive and relevant channels.

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Half of young employees would leave job for

better work-life balance|

30% of employees said they would consider leaving their current job for a better work-life balance (WLB) elsewhere. This finding is even more striking amongst workers aged 29 or less, where nearly half said they would consider leaving.

Over 71% of young workers, aged 29 to 39, stress the importance of employers addressing work-life balance during the recent economic contraction, compared to just 54% of employees age 60 or above. This according to a recent WLB survey by Community Business which clearly demonstrates WLB remains a priority for employees, despite the current economic climate.

“In the current economic climate all employers are under pressure to achieve more with less and this can often take its toll on employees…These findings should serve as a wake-up call to employers who have yet to prioritise the work-life balance needs of their employees,” stated Shaun Bernier, Managing Director, Community Business.

Mr Jim Thompson, Chair of the Community Business Leadership Team (CBLT) and Chairman of Crown Worldwide Group remarked, “This research clearly indicates that poor work-life balance, with

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its negative impact on health and productivity poses a real threat to businesses. At a time when companies rely more than ever on a healthy, engaged and productive workforce, this has major ramifications for companies and the onus is on us as leaders in Hong Kong to take the well-being of our staff seriously.”

48-hour weeks

HK staff work 21% more than ILO recommendation.

As this study has shown consistently over the past four years, employees in Hong Kong work long hours and spend little time on their personal lives. Employees are working just over 48 hours per week, which is 21% higher than the 40 hours recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

These numbers are backed up by findings from the 2009 Planning and Earnings: a comparison for purchasing power around the globe, published by UBS, which shows Hong Kong employees work more hours than those in all other Asian cities except Seoul.

The long work week leaves Hong Kong workers with

Attracting Gen-Y

Chart 1 | Importance of Employers to Address Work-life Balance (2009)

little time for their personal lives—most spending less than two hours per day on personal activities.

Large-scale redundancies, mass restructuring and general uncertainties have put huge pressure on remaining staff, and as much as 62% said they suffered prolonged fatigue and extreme tiredness, with 30% getting sick regularly due to heavy workloads.

HR managers need to be aware that subjecting staff to intense work levels and disregarding their personal needs is not sustainable, and poses a huge threat for companies, effecting both morale and corporate reputation.

Cost to business

30% of all employees would leave for better WLB. The cost to businesses is clear with poor worklife balance leading to absenteeism, poor performance, increased errors or faults and lack of motivation—ultimately impairing productivity and impacting financial performance. Almost one third of employees in Hong Kong would consider leaving their current job for a better work-life balance elsewhere and over 20% would consider leaving

Hong Kong for the same reason.

The benefits to promoting WLB include enhanced reputation, attracting and retaining staff, increasing productivity and raising morale. Companies that support work-life balance policies are likely to foster a more positive perception as an employer, thereby leading to better relations with employees, greater loyalty, commitment and motivation—reducing staff turnover and recruitment costs.

Cost to family life

71% of Hong Kong employees spend under two hours per day on personal activities.

With staff working such long hours it is no surprise that this comes at a cost to family life. Employees having insufficient time for their personal life and increased pressures at home. This has had a number of negative impacts on both family life and staff health. Key effects on the health of staff members and their families are as follows: • 76% encounter problems as a result of poor work life balance; • 53% suffer from fatigue;

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• •

41% have no time for their partner and family; and 31% suffer from insomnia and poor diet as a result of work pressures.

Chart 2 | Considering Leaving Current Job for Better WorkLife Balance (2008 and 2009)

Employers make little progress in WLB

Employees give employers less than half marks for their WLB efforts.

Despite the economic downturn, employees’ expectations of WLB did not radically change and their current WLB is still far from what they consider ideal. The preferred WLB ratio of employees is 62% work to 38% personal time, however, they reported that their actual WLB ratio is 83% work to 17% personal time. According to Dr Robert Chung, Director of POP, “In the midst of the economic recession, these findings show that the WLB of Hong Kong’s work force has remained relatively unchanged… and that there is ample room for improvement.” Employees continue to score their employers a mere 4.7 out of 10 for their efforts in promoting work-life balance.

CSR solutions

Five-day week and more paid annual leave best ways to improve WLB. Companies are increasingly looking at flexibility to address economic challenges and traditional reactions such as large scale redundancies need to be examined closely as to

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Chart 3 | Considering Leaving Current job for Better WorkLife Balance (2009)

Attracting Gen-Y

whether it will be strategically beneficial, or have negative effects on morale, loyalty, commitment and trust between employers and employees.

From an employee perspective employers are still not doing enough to promote WLB in the current economic climate.

Flexible working schedules, such as reduced hours or periods of unpaid leave, can be used to redistribute work and reduce salary costs. This also has the advantage of retaining talent and knowledge for a time when business picks up and avoiding the costs of redundancy.

At the same time staff who feel they are valued enough to be retained by the organisation, are likely to reciprocate with increased commitment and effort. Employees think several factors would help them achieve better WLB as follows: • 5-day work week, 27% • more paid annual leave, 19% • flexible working times, 11% • option to work from home, 9% • career breaks or unpaid leave, 9%

Lower-income workers struggle most with WLB

Financial security biggest barrier to WLB for HK employees.

Consistent with findings from previous years, staff with lower incomes struggle the most to achieve work-life balance. Employees earning $10,000 or less a month work the longest hours, just over 50 hours per week, and spend 23% less time on personal activities than workers earning over HKD50,000. 88% of Hong Kong employees face challenges in achieving work-life balance. This year, financial security has overtaken long working hours as the most difficult work-life balance challenge employees face on a dayto-day basis. Such findings may indicate the higher level of importance employees place on achieving economic security and the belief that it runs counter to attaining work-life balance during these challenging economic times. Long working hours and increased workload due to company downsizing rank as the second and third key challenges for workers in Hong Kong, respectively.

Chart 4 | The Most Difficult Work Life Balance Challenges (2009)

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Chart 5 | Initiatives Provided by Employer That Would Most Help Work-Life Balance (2008 and 2009)

Conclusion—recognising the importance of CSR

For companies committed to CSR, WLB is a critical issue.

It is not simply about ‘treating employees with respect’ but rather engaging a healthy and productive workforce which will help the company ride out challenging times and emerge even stronger. Employees still very much value work-life balance and companies need to remember that ultimately it is their people—their passion and commitment—who will determine whether the business succeeds or fails. Ensuring that employees are healthy, productive and engaged—is clearly more important than ever. Shaun Bernier, Managing Director, Community Business commented, “The credit crisis has shown that there is a wholesale loss of trust in large

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businesses—especially in the financial sector. These results indicate companies acknowledge that building workplaces that engage and motivate staff will put them in the best position for them to ride the storm.”

Bernier also highlighted the importance of companies continuing to invest in the community. “It is important for companies to remain true to their core values and to continue to demonstrate their commitment to being a socially responsible employer. Whilst companies may need to tighten their belts in terms of corporate giving, there is a lot that companies can do at little or no cost. Activities such as company supported employee volunteering and pro bono work, for example, not only benefit the community but are also a valuable way to boost morale and engage staff.”

Attracting Gen-Y

Social networking vs social notworking| When it comes to attracting key talent, employers must now ensure they tick the technology box.

According to a recent survey, 87% of Hong Kong workers are now demanding tech-savvy workplaces.

But as the use of social media in the workplace increases, this poses key challenges to HR managers in how exactly such online tools should be utilised.

Adequate technology in the workplace has now become a key criterion for Hong Kong workers in deciding whether their organisation is a good place to work or not. The results from a new survey conducted

by Premiere Global (PGi) showed that 87% of Hong Kong workers surveyed felt that an organisation’s technology capability was critical when evaluating employer attractiveness and competency. The survey asked 1,000 full-time office workers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia about the current state of their workplace including the role that technology plays now and in the future, as the younger generation of employees enter the workplace.

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Attracting Gen-Y

Gen-Y drives adoption of online tools

The vast majority of Hong Kong workers surveyed felt that Gen-Y staff were leading the charge in the use of technology including online business tools such as social networking, video conferencing, web conferencing and instant messaging within the workplace. When asked about the specific technological tools that Gen-Y staff had helped introduce into the workplace: instant messenger services within social media topped the list, with 49% of Hong Kong workers saying that they were now being used as business tools. Of those surveyed, 60% agreed that it is now acceptable for social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn to be used within the office environment.

Joanne Rigby, Asia-Pacific MD, PGi said, “It’s positive to see that companies in Hong Kong are realising the benefits of adopting online tools such as Facebook and instant messaging for their business communications, something that only a few years ago may have been frowned upon. It’s clear that Gen-Y is helping to drive this adoption, and organisations are not only listening to the younger generation, but recognise the opportunities and benefits these tools can offer.”

Those responsible for managing such staff often have a different response, with the perception of ‘Social Notworking’ reducing productivity as staff spend time chatting socially online. However, like it or love it, social media is at the forefront of Gen-Y communication and being utilised to the max. As a workplace tool it helps keep staff engaged and provides a platform for all employees to forge the increasingly important, if rather intangible, social networks that can make or break today’s business deals.

The workplace generation gap

The survey highlighted this potential rift within the workplace and of the 65% of respondents who agreed that there is a generational divide in their office, 82% felt that it could undermine the use of such online tools. This ‘workplace generation gap’ has emerged largely due to a lack of awareness of how different generations of employees prefer to work and is a key factor HR managers should

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address to ensure it does not become a stumbling block in the adoption of online tools within their organisations. “Whilst it’s good to see businesses catering to the needs of younger employees, it’s important to not forget the Baby Boomers in the company who didn’t grow up with technologies such as webinars, web conferencing and wikis,” Rigby noted. She added, “The key lies in having appropriate training and support so that all employees can feel encouraged and use online business tools for their day-to-day work.”

The answer…

The good news is that Hong Kong businesses appear to be on the right track when talking about evolving the workplace to cater to a younger generation of employees. Over 70% of those surveyed felt that they were already in that process or would soon be.

When asked how their workplaces should adapt in the future, the concept of flexible working also resonated strongly amongst Hong Kong workers.

Greater training requirements, 62%, and flexible working hours, 53%, were the two highest priorities cited by workers as methods of enhancing their workplaces in the future. Meanwhile, expansion in the use of online tools—to enable more effective information sharing—was on the Christmas wish lists of just over half of Hong Kong workers.

With the increasing number of Gen-Y, and also Gen-Z, employees entering the workforce, Gen-X and Baby Boomers will soon become a minority in the workplace. It will be interesting to see to what extent HR embraces technology to ensure that their organisations measure up in the future.

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From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Attracting talent ...more than just being sexy|

If your organisation doesn’t already have Gen-Y junior staff interviewing your new hires…read on to find out why you should. HR Magazine stole an opportunity to talk with Erik Schmit, Managing Director APAC for Lumesse who—never afraid to speak his mind—shared some fresh insights on practical things that HR can do to attract the best talent to their organisations.

Making employer branding work

HR is finding it increasingly difficult to attract the right talent and ‘employer branding’ has joined the ranks of HR buzzwords in the last few years.

But what exactly is ‘employer branding’ and how can it be done effectively? Schmit explained that the fundamental concept behind branding was for organisations to be consistent and persistent in what they do to brand themselves. “It’s all too easy to set something up on Twitter and YouTube to make your site look more sexy, but you have to be doing that on an on-going basis,” said Schmit. He added,

“You have to allocate resources for this, these days, recruitment teams need to embrace marketing teams within organisations to help make employer branding effective.” Utilisation of technology, and combining it with marketing efforts can significantly assist the process of bringing in the right kind of candidates, which often needs to be done within a very short space of time. “Gone are the days of simply posting a position on a job boards, sitting back and waiting for the right candidates to come along. Good recruiters these days have a number of technological tools at their disposal to help them stay in contact with good candidates in the market. They’ll often spend an hour a day on LinkedIn just to fill up their pipeline,” Schmit added. When asked what HR could do in practical terms to enhance the employer brand of their organisations, Schmit advised, “Get the board to buy-in and understand it’s not a one-off thing, but an on-going thing.” To make employer branding work it is essential to get the representatives from HR, recruitment, marketing and the board to come

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together and discuss the company’s approach to recruitment and employer branding. As a team, they need to work out what message the organisation wants to give to potential hires and how that message is going to be disseminated.

“

Gone are the days of simply posting a position on job boards, sitting back and waiting for the right candidates to come along.

”

Face time & flexibility critical

Face time is now a critical component of successful recruitment and does not need to decrease with the use of recruitment technology. When HR adopts recruitment technology it should be to help provide candidates with the right kind of information, and to help stay in contact with potential candidates who could be useful for the organisation in future.

Schmit advised HR to use the right tools to reach new hires, “It’s not just about using Facebook and YouTube, it’s also about getting face time at events such as university recruitment fairs, and company hosted events that are a bit different such as informal days out on a boat for potential hires.” Attending recruitment fairs also helps employers find out more about the current talent pool emerging from universities. Without wishing to generalise about Gen-Y candidates, Schmit explained that younger candidates today have different views on work-life balance than those in previous generations and contracts have had to become much more tailor-made.

To illustrate this point Schmit added, “People may be hiring candidates who are prepared to give up 20% of their salary in order to spend more time with their children and families. So HR has to be prepared to listen to what candidates want and be flexible with tailoring working contracts to suit each staff member’s circumstances and needs.”

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Key motivators: China vs HK

Talent management is really taking off in China now and, according to Schmit, will play a very important role in the next 10 years. He conceded that when it comes to recruitment, China is a very different kettle of fish from Hong Kong and quipped that in the mainland, candidates frequently had the expectation of starting off in an organisation as the Managing Director. “There’s a huge amount of talent running about there and it’s about trying to find out what are the key motivators for these people,” said Schmit.

In his opinion, key employee motivators in China include: the drive to learn very quickly and add knowledge; salary packages—to a greater degree than in Hong Kong; and opportunities to work for western companies and getting access to different skill sets.

Schmit added that employees in Hong Kong were also motivated by self-development opportunities, but they placed less emphasis on working for western organisations and more emphasis on worklife. To help the right talent onboard, he advised HR to, “Embrace the technology available, face time should not decrease, don’t try to make candidates fit into your organisation, listen to your future workforce, open up and try to understand them—this will help you formulate a successful strategy.”

Junior staff as interviewers

Schmit explained that there was often a large discrepancy between recruiters and the potential workforce, particularly with the younger generation.

He said, “There is a lack of understanding of what drives these graduates. You can’t change their behaviour, so you need to dig in and try to understand what drives them.”

To help bridge this gap, Schmit advised HR to have junior staff, with at least one year’s working experience in the company, to sit in on the interviews of new hires. He noted from experience within his own organisation that this created a win-win situation, “They [junior staff] get to feel important to be part of the process, and get to give their point of view, in their own terms and words.

And the candidate gets to ask questions in their terms and words. It is more relaxing this way.”

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Back to basics with employer branding| Michal Kalinowski & Johan Ramel from Universum on building an employer brand.

Key to successful employer branding

Every year Universum publishes a list of the world’s most attractive employers and conducts studies on companies. From these studies, four elements that contribute to the ‘winning formula’ have been identified:

Consistency

Consistency between markets, business units and over time. Kalinowski noted, “We found that companies that have a consistent employer brand across geographies do better than those that vary their employer brand. The reason is that communication is global and talent is mobile. For example, half of European students have spent at least one semester studying abroad and if the company brand is not consistent with what they know from home the brand will be tarnished. This is also important across business units, if different departments do not have the same message people will be confused and lose confidence. Consistency overtime means investing in employer branding rather than constantly trying to refresh your image.”

The Research has shown that companies sending out the same message for a three to five year period will make more of an impact in the market.

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Differentiation

‘Daring to be different,’ Kalinowski highlighted, “Many companies developing their Employer Value Proposition, EVP, find it difficult to draw the line when listing what they offer. Many say for example, ‘We’re international, respectful, we offer development opportunities and care for nature.’

An EVP, with 12 different statements just becomes generic. Our advice is that talent will expect many of these things, so you don’t have to state them all—just list out things that you really believe differentiate and distinguish you.”

A strategic approach

A good strategic approach is one that is both longterm and has the support of senior management.

Kalinowski said, “Many companies still confuse employer branding with recruitment advertising.

Recruitment advertising is very tactical and done on a short-term basis; there is nothing strategic about it. Start by identifying target groups, getting senior management on board and the support and funding to go the distance.”

Cooperation

The recruitment market is competitive and while recruitment is the function of HR, it is important to communicate with other departments otherwise creating something sustainable will be difficult and time consuming. While HR has many skills to deal with employer branding such as knowledge of company culture and what the company truly has to offer, it can benefit from the support of corporate communications or marketing functions who have well-founded skills and knowledge around communication platforms.

Is employer branding as beneficial for SMEs as it is for larger companies?

Unless you’re a very small company, employer branding is useful for two reasons: internal and external. Kalinowski suggests, “Consider what kind of talent you want to recruit and what type of individuals you want working for you—without that everything else becomes meaningless. Then identify what is attractive to your target employees

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Michal Kalinowski, CEO, Universum

and assess whether your company offers it, and put together a proposition that is not only based on remuneration but also cultural fit. That will increase both retention and engagement.”

Social media and creating an employer brand?

The rise of social media has been very important for employer branding and in respect of EVP, it can be partly aspirational, but it must be true and you must be able to deliver. Kalinowski said, “We have found that people who speak negatively about companies in an aggressive tone do not get a lot of credibility.

What is far more dangerous is if there is a real issue.

There will always be individual cases of disgruntled employees or potential employees.

That is a personal experience and does not really reflect on the company, it is more about the amount

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

of commentary within a certain theme. For example, if you go online and find a number of people complaining about the same issue, then there is a problem and people will begin to take notice.

Social media has made companies aware that their employer brand must be true. The process of checking out whether the promise is true is now happening during the pre-employment stage and walking the talk has never been more important.”

Does research show variation in generational expectations?

Kalinowski said that a few things are constant—most notably work-life balance; not in terms of working less, but working on employee’s terms. The company conducted a study to identify what different cultures and countries meant by work-life balance and it was consistent across markets that work-life balance means flexibility. This means flexibility in terms of where you work, what projects you work on and when you work.

Work-life balance was expected to filter out when the recession hit, but it remained number one for employees except for in one market—that is a generational aspect that wasn’t as strong before and it is consistent globally.

Secondly, Gen-Y expects a lot of mentorship, guidance and coaching. This has been highlighted because after the dotcom bust, companies went through severe job-cutting processes getting rid of a whole layer of middle managers, relying very much on Gen-X who are self-motivated and independent workers. Kalinowski said, “Now, however, the millennials are entering the job market and they have been parented in a big way and as a result expect constant individual coaching and feedback but the middle managers who would previously have been there to give that are gone.

Many organisations have started to incorporate training and development, mentoring and feedback into their EVP. This is particularly noticeable in US companies, for example Merrill Lynch held a day for their employees’ parents to educate them about working in an investment bank and what their children would be doing. In terms of geographical differences, the focus on professional,

Johan Ramel, CEO APAC, Universum

experienced hires comes to the forefront in Asia because the need comes from the market. In Europe the trends are around sustainability and social welfare. Employer brand maturity in Europe and the US is similar and the market price for talent is well established.”

He went on to explain, “In Hong Kong employees are gold hunting and are able to because there is currently no established market price for talent in Hong Kong. Russia is more similar to China and Asia than it is to Western Europe; the education structure is similar and there is a focus on money and prestige—in terms of employer or title, so we are seeing title inflation in Hong Kong and Asia because the prestige factor is so important.”

HR directors should be aware that jobseekers are investing an increasing amount of time researching particular employers, rather than adopting a blanket approach, as they want to know more than just if the company is successful or not.

Higher budgets and employer brand

Ramel explained, “Companies are concerned about the impact that previous years have had

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on employees and the subsequent consequences for the near future. What this means is that companies are focusing more and more on understanding the current needs and expectations of their current employees so they can devise their retention strategies. Most of these strategies will go through compensation packages and other benefits, but also through their internal employer brand—making their employees feel the pride of working for the organisation.”

attrition rates will increase and companies will have to be ready to respond.”

How companies are devising strategies

Employer branding helping companies in new economic growth

Ramel noted, “From what we have seen in research, it is that the inputs vary. While 80% of the American managers will rely on input for their Management, only 59% of the Asian managers will take into account the Management’s vision, goals and objectives. Even though this situation may not represent a problem in itself, HR managers should ensure that their employer brand reflects also the vision from the top management. Interesting to notice is the predominance for Asia managers to base their strategies in research from the talent market, 53%, and they also create strategies to address internal issues and opportunities. These are good news, since as we just mentioned before,

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Communicating employer brands, regional trends

Ramel said, “Again we see different trends in the regions analysed. While almost all the managers that participated in the latest study agreed that the corporate website will be of high importance, it’s the US and Asia that will focus the most on oncampus activities. While comparing the differences in strategies, it is clear that Asia will be the region focusing more on online media, a large majority of the participants revealing that they will be using this communication channel. By contrast, only 27% of the managers from Asia have stated that they will focus on direct e-mail communications. The lack of focus in this strategy might, in fact, be an opportunity for those that take advantage of this direct communication channel, provided they know who they are reaching out to.

Also interesting to reveal is the usage of employer videos. When asked, ‘What type of videos have you used that generate more interest among the students?’ a large majority of the participants revealed that they are using insider stories or interviews with employees. The way that these employers later use their videos vary, but 83% are using it on their corporate websites and 65% also use these videos during on-campus presentations.”

Previous experience shows that employer attractiveness is of huge strategic importance for talent supply, especially as soon as the job market becomes highly competitive again. When this happens, employers will need to secure their talent pipeline.

How are you going to be able to recruit 20 new employees in the timeframe of two months if everyone else is also recruiting and you’re targeting the exact same people as other more attractive companies?

The effect of a strong Employer Brand is quite visible. Ramel highlighted, “In recent studies on students’ preferences in Hong Kong, we noticed

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

that the companies which got in the top 25 ideal employer ranking were the preferred choice by 65% of the students. This figure shows how important it is to be top of mind and to have a strong employer brand—and if you don’t get the talent, it will be more difficult to develop your business.”

The benefits of a strong Employer Brand are clear: a larger talent pool, which allows choosing candidates with a more adequate profile; a shorter time-to-fill, reflected in a higher organisation fit and increased productivity; an increased employee engagement and simultaneously lower attrition rates; and reduced HR costs, such as salaries and under performing employees.

What companies have to do to be prepared for employer branding

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Research your environment—know how your target group perceives your employer brand, what they want and need from you and how you are positioned in relation to the competition.

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Develop or update your EVP—state clearly the value you provide as an employer, and differentiate your employer offering from the competition.

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Define the communication strategy— choose the right communication channels and understand how best to target your talent groups.

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Create your communication material— express the EVP by using the right words and images, so it becomes consistent with the corporate identity and branding efforts.

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Implement and monitor—start communicating your employer brand, measure your progress relative to your targets and monitor the success of your employer brand in relation to the competition.

Ramel suggested, “The initial step is to be able to answer these four valid questions:

How attractive are you, considering your recruitment goals?

How is your company perceived by your target group?

How is your direct competition perceived compared to you?

Who will you target to replace the people that will leave your company?

Indeed, every company has an employer brand. It’s all a question of managing it. Companies that feel they need to be prepared for the upcoming market growth should start dealing with their employer brand as soon as possible. Developing an employer brand is a five step process.

Ramel finished by stating, “Securing a talent pipeline and ensuring that companies have the right people on board is probably the most important task of any HR department. To be able to succeed you need knowledge and the correct tools. Nowadays most companies possess the tools, so if you don’t know the answers to these questions, it’s probably time to find out.”

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What is it that attracts & drives talent?| Avril Henry shares what drives each generation in the workplace and how HR managers can best engage and leverage the strengths of each generation set.

Job security

In Henry’s view Baby Boomers have been driven by job security, financial security, status and recognition for experience and they manage Gen-X and Y on the basis that they are driven by the same. She points out that those issues are not in the top five of Gen-X or of Gen-Y’s priorities. In fact, many people believe the global financial crisis is the best thing to happen to Gen-Y because now they will understand why those factors were so important to previous generations.

Adaptability

Gen-Y is by far the most adaptable generation because they are used to change. Henry believes Gen-Y’s just want to make enough money to enjoy their balanced lifestyle. They don’t want the stress of being micro managed. What drives Gen-X differs to Gen-Y. Top of Gen-X’s list is effective leadership, when asked what this means they’ll say, “We don’t expect you to have all the answers and we expect you to be honest about what you do know, and say what you don’t know, rather than pretend what you do know.

We will respect you more as managers and leaders when you are honest about what you don’t know.”

Loyalty

People talk about Gen-X and Y as being disloyal.

In Henry’s opinion this is because veterans and

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Boomers were extremely loyal to their chosen organisation and their chosen profession. Veterans in effect had a cradle to grave career, staying with the same organisation for forty years. Gen-X and Y would rather poke their eye out with a plastic fork than work at the same place for forty years.

Baby Boomers created the concept of the workaholic, doing what was expected of them and waiting their turn to be promoted and/or receive bonuses. They waited their turn to be recognised and then expected to be rewarded. However, with the recessions in 1991 and 1997, the Asian economic crisis and in the early part of this decade the technology crash Baby Boomers lost their jobs—not once or twice, but three times. This was devastating because they had been loyal, they had worked hard, and they had made personal sacrifices. And then, they lost their jobs, and the organisations simply said we do not need you anymore. Gen-X and Y were witness to this and as a result they are not loyal to organisations, because, in the words of Gen-X, “Organisations shaft people” and in the words of Gen-Y, “Organisations don’t care about employees as human beings.” Henry states there are two things Gen-X are loyal to: their careers and good managers.

They start managing their careers when they are in high school in contrast to Boomers who allowed somebody else to manage their career. Gen-X will follow their managers from one organisation to another and from one department to another. Loyalty to line-managers is often more important to Gen-X than to the organisation as a whole.

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Gen-Y is loyal to their friends and a good manager.

Gen-Y often do not have a sense of family and are looking for a sense of belonging. This comes from work colleagues and friends from university and school.

Risk takers

Gen-Y is the first generation who will leave a job without another job to go to, much to the horror of their Baby Boomer parents and managers. While they wait for the right job they will take on parttime jobs. They see Boomers doing jobs they hate, working for people they do not like and being part of teams where they do not feel included. They are motivated by good leadership and challenging work.

Gen-X are risk takers and want interesting jobs that challenge and stretch them. They are attracted to things that are new and they have not done before; they want new skills. Gen-X want regular constructive feedback and want to know when they are doing a good job, not so they become arrogant, but so they can keep doing what they have been doing well. They also want to know when they’re not doing a good job so that they can improve.

Key Gen-Y motivators

Henry shares her thoughts on what motivates Gen-Y.

1. Inspiring leadership. Gen-Y are a very optimistic generation. They have some really good values centred on community and the environment. They want to work in an organisation that makes a difference and contributes to society and the community and allows them to volunteer. Gen-Y want to work for and with people that love what they do—who love what they do so much that they are willing to share that knowledge with others.

2. Mentoring. Gen-Y want to be mentored by cool older people they like and respect and that like and respect them.

3. A supportive work environment. An environment that actually values creativity and innovation. This, says Henry, is why organisations like Google get the cream of the crop of young people—because they offer staff the opportunity to do innovative and creative things. Google employees get a creative day every fortnight. They can lie in the grass, go to a coffee shop or lie on the beach. They then share their creative idea at the next meeting.

4. Training and development. They want the possibility of professional development and personal growth and to know that what they are doing is adding value to the business and its clients. They want to understand the bigger picture.

5. Flexibility. Flexibility is not about part time work for women with school-aged children; it means an employer trusting that they will get the job done to the agreed standard by the deadline and that they get measured on the outcome. Henry states, “Unless I have to have face to face interaction with a client, when, where and how I do my job is not what is relevant. What’s relevant, is the outcome and results. That I have met the deadline and have met the standards.”

Invest in managers & leaders

In Henry’s opinion organisations have been governed by fear, intimidation, hard control and threatening leadership styles for too long. She calls for investment in management and leadership development enabling managers to motivate people. This is not always about money, but the culture, leadership and what you offer employees. Organisations spend so much time on their external brand that they forget about

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the internal brand. In the Baby Boomer generation, Henry suggests that many were not given training in communication styles, influence or persuasion.

Rather, they received leadership development by 'pillow osmosis'—going to bed and overnight, by the process of osmosis through their pillows, being imbued with people management skills.

Lead by example

Henry states, “An effective and inspiring leader is one who leads by example,” and must show commitment to the things they ask others to do. Managing change and diversity is different—that requires soft skills. “What I do know as an economist and reformed accountant is that soft skills produce hard results,” said Henry.

She added, “Soft skills are much harder to learn than technical skills because it requires behavioural change, and behavioural change asks us to challenge the way we think.” When asked why they would leave their job, 90% of Gen-Y cited bad managers. Henry stresses that because of word-of-mouth, everyone will know and now it is a whole new ball game called “word of mouse.”

Learn, unlearn & relearn

Henry believes that success will rely on your ability to do three things:

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Your ability to learn new ideas, new ways of managing people

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Your ability and willingness to unlearn old stereotypes, old assumptions, old ways of thinking and working

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Your ability to relearn new ways of working, new ways of managing people and interacting with clients

She believes that the world belongs to learners and people who believe in continuous improvement.

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Cultural differentiation

“Cultural differences are much stronger between Boomers and Gen-X around the world. Conversely, Gen-Y share more similarities and show less differences. This is driven by technology such as social networking sites like Facebook and myspace.com.

Generational differentiation is defined by when you were born and each generation is defined by political, historical and social events. The Boomers grew up during the Vietnam War, Gen-X are increasingly environmentally aware and have been influenced by global events like the nuclear fallout at Chernobyl and the fall of the Berlin wall. Gen-Y live with the increasing threat and occurrence of terrorism. The events that happen during your formative years are what shape you and the values of your generation.

Technology has played a key role in bringing the world into the homes, universities and workplaces of Gen-Ys and they are increasingly influenced by the unlimited access they have to information. Gen-Y is well educated, tech-savvy and are willing to change. If they cannot find a job, they will create one. According to Henry, Gen-Y is the first truly global generation because they have access to information that other generations did not. By the time they are 18 the average Gen-Y will have sent or received more than 200,000 text messages and emails—more than most veterans get in an entire lifetime. Gen-Y is the Stimuli Junkie Generation. They have had constant access to technology and from a young age are constantly stimulated. This has affected their capacity to be focused and sit quietly. This may not change as they age. Technology will continue to develop and they will continue to embrace it as a way of life.

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Employee volunteering| Shaun Bernier, MD, Community Business, explains the importance of employee volunteer programmes and how best to implement them in your company.

Community Business (CB) launched Hong Kong’s first public Main causes benefiting from EVW campaign in 2010 in support of employee volunteering. 'Give and Gain Day' the new name for Employee Volunteer Week (EVW) is helping mobilise the corporate sector to collectively impact the community through employee volunteering programmes.

Many companies already support employee volunteering through their own programmes or policies allowing employees time off to Jim Thompson, Chair of the Community Business volunteer. The purpose of the Give and Gain Day is to Leadership Team (CBLT) said, “The scale of continue this support by bringing together numerous participation from the companies, their employees companies to make an impact on the community and and CEOs indicates a strong level of commitment to encourage other companies to take notice. give back to the Hong Kong community.”

Almost 80 companies participated in EVW in Thompson added, “The surveys completed indicate 2010, organised by Community Business. The event benefits not just to the charitable organisations benefitted just under 5,000 people, an increase of and NGOs that were the recipients of the volunteer nearly 30% attendance of the 2009 event. activities, but also to the businesses themselves— Reports from the participating companies revealed employers found it gave their employees a chance to that 1,809 employees volunteered over 6,000 hours of learn about the community and enhance relationships their collective time on nearly 100 volunteer activities between colleagues.” serving Hong Kong charitable organisations and NGOs.

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Alistair McGregor, CEO, Community Business Key benefits companies realise from EVW commented, “Companies of all sizes and across various industries, including Accountancy, Finance & Banking, Law and Technology took part in EVW. The fact that nearly 80 companies and 40 CEOs/Senior Executives participated in Employee Volunteer Week, demonstrates the strong business case for employee volunteering in Hong Kong and that support spans employees and CEOs.” He added, “Leadership support is essential when • Recruitment and Retention—Enables we promote employee volunteering. This year, employees to identify with the company we are happy to see that the number of C-Level they work for on a deeper level, as participation has almost doubled, showing an well as for employers to be seen as an increase in support and awareness from senior employer of choice to potential recruits. management of the benefits from employee volunteering.”

Why focus on volunteering?

A company’s interest in all its stakeholders—not just its shareholders—shows that businesses today are concerned not only with their economic bottom line, but also with their social and environmental impact.

Employees are an important stakeholder group and for most companies are their most important asset, which is why they invest large amounts of resources to attract, retain and develop them.

Employee volunteering is an essential part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Particularly during a period of economic recession when the community is suffering and companies may lack financial resources to give, employee volunteering is a practical CSR activity that offers immense benefits for businesses, employees, and the community:

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Loyalty—Strengthens employee loyalty and a sense of belonging to their employer

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Team-building—Provides employees built-in opportunities to team build and/or enhance their skills.

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Commitment—Enables companies to demonstrate their commitment to the community during the economic recession.

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Inexpensive—Employee volunteering (EV) is a low-cost CSR activity for companies.

Business case for employee volunteering

If carried out strategically, employee volunteering can be a valuable human resource tool and can be used to develop both the professional and the personal skills of employees at all levels. CB’s experience

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developing and managing the Race for Mentors programme between 2004-2006 demonstrates the clear business case for structured employee volunteering programmes. Race for Mentors was a unique employee volunteering programme in Hong Kong involving a tripartite relationship between a company (Credit Suisse), government school (Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School) and a nonprofit organisation (Community Business). The programme involved Credit Suisse executives mentoring ethnic minority students over a period of six months. In addition to the benefits the students received from the programme, Credit Suisse volunteers developed their communication and problem-solving skills, improved their relationships with their colleagues, and experienced both increased pride in their firm, as well as in their perception of their company as an employer of choice.

Implementing successful EV programmes Before a company reaches the point of implementing an effective employee volunteering programme like Race for Mentors, it should develop a framework upon which to build a programme.

This framework is the basis for the Seven-Steps that form the core of CB’s “Employee Volunteering: The Guide”. For those companies that already have some parts of the framework in place, or which have existing employee volunteering programmes, these steps will provide a starting point from which to develop the rest of the framework. The SevenSteps include:

1. Obtaining leadership support, without which EV will always remain ad hoc, unstructured and excluded from integrated business operations.

2. Finding out what the business, employees, and community think. Engage with business leaders, employees and various segments of the community.

3. Finding the best fit for the company.

Identify the common ground between business objectives, employees interests and skills, and community needs.

4. Developing a corporate policy that is aligned to the company’s values, has employee buyin and is clearly communicated.

5. Developing an organisational structure, particularly with regard to who makes decisions and who carries out the day-today operations, while understanding the advantages of the various structures set forth.

6. Managing volunteers and other resources—from the outset of the volunteering process right to the end.

7. Measuring and reporting input and impact.

Measurement is of particular importance as line managers are increasingly concerned with returns in all parts of business operations. Reporting is crucial for companies that want to be transparent in what they do and that wish to quantify the impact of their community investment.

Beyond the framework

While the Seven Steps will help a company create its own employee volunteering programme, it will need a solid project management plan to successfully carry it out. A prime example of this is the ENGAGE “Journey of Opportunity” Action Day (JOO), which CB is organising for the second year on 3 April. The concept of JOO arose from the Community Business

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Leadership Team (CBLT), a unique group of business leaders committed to corporate social responsibility who represent nearly 40 companies in Hong Kong across a range of industries. The CBLT chose to join together for JOO, contributing their time and skills to help build the aspirations of young people in the district of Tin Shui Wai. JOO includes approximately 40 corporate volunteers accompanying 60 youth on a journey to experience life at a university campus and in the corporate world.

The project management of JOO is applicable to companies implementing their own employee volunteering programmes:

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Planning—The bulk of the work takes place here and the priority is to ensure that the programme meets the key objectives of all the parties involved and that relationships have been established with the right partners (i.e, NGOs).

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Marketing—After defining the programme, developing the communications strategy is key, including the web site and logos if applicable.

Review—The review process should start on the day itself with participants invited to give feedback and should be supplemented by an additional review meeting with key stakeholders shortly after the event.

Getting employees involved •

Recruitment and Training—The success of the programme relies ultimately on the commitment and enthusiasm of the employee volunteers. Choosing Team Leaders, as well as holding briefings for the volunteers, can engage employees on a deeper level.

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Implementation—Delegating responsibility to Team Leaders and fully briefing volunteers in advance, ensures each party knows their role and that implementation on the day of the activity is straightforward.

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Many opportunities exist in Hong Kong for companies to make an impact on their business and in the community through employee volunteering. In order for companies to do so, they simply need to understand that employee volunteering can be a valuable business tool and simultaneously be a positive force for good in the community. Give and Gain Day offers companies the opportunity to demonstrate precisely that.

Joining the volunteer programmes is free, and extremely simple. The employee volunteer activity companies choose to participate in is up to each company, can either be organised by the company (Company Volunteering) or the individual employees (Individual Employee Volunteering), and can take place within or outside of work hours.

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HR role in corporate branding|

By Dr Magdalena Meller

Leading companies allocate six-figure advertising budgets Diagram 1 | Four Levels of Customer Satisfaction to develop their brands.

A strong brand invariably increases consumer awareness, competitiveness, and market share. The branding process can also sharpen corporate identity.

One of the most recent and remarkable examples of external and internal brand building is Adidas.

The “Impossible is Nothing” campaign was devised by marketers with the purpose of connecting to customers.

Beyond Adidas’s commercial success, the campaign also raised the company’s spirit, Source: Based on First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest a key HR deliverable. It Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman reenergized the company’s workforce by giving Adidas employees added confidence in the brand. To do so, HR must regard employees, their products and abilities and thereby instilled managers, and also job applicants and short-listed greater pride and commitment. candidates as customers who require high levels Thus, since a powerful brand can affect all of service and care. Equally as important, this facets of company’s operations, all managers are perspective can help the HR department shift from responsible for protecting and cultivating it. a tactical (administrative) approach to a strategic HR professionals are the ones entrusted and approach (leadership and consultancy). in a position to create positive and high quality experiences for employees and candidates alike to reinforce the values of the corporate brand.

Employees and managers as customers In particular, supporting and developing a Similar to marketers and sales people, HR culture of service and salesmanship within the professionals need to aim at achieving high customer HR department can actually lead to strengthening satisfaction levels. A pyramid consisting of 4 levels of

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customer satisfaction can be used to shape priorities within the HR department.

As shown, HR must first be accurate. At this level, employees expect to receive the benefits they enrolled in, the payroll slip to reflect all information accurately, and for HR staff to answer questions competently. If the HR department consistently fails the accuracy test, customers will defect and the friendliness of HR employees will not matter.

Second, HR must be available. At this point, employees expect an open door to their HR department. This means that the HR staff is available anytime, anywhere, and can notice that all too common look of “I need help now”!

Third, HR must act as a partner to employees and managers. At this stage, employees want their HR staff to listen to them, to be responsive to them, and to make them feel that they are truly concerned about their development, performance, and progress. Employees and managers who feel understood and enabled to execute the company’s strategy are one step closer to real satisfaction and genuine advocacy.

Finally, HR must provide genuine advice. At this juncture, employees and managers will feel the closest bond to their HR staff because they have helped them learn and achieve professional goals.

To recap, the first two levels, accuracy and availability, barely prevents dissatisfaction. Therefore, the greater benefits arise at level 3 (partnership) and level 4 (advice). Specifically, partnership provides HR the opportunity to create positive feelings of satisfaction and advice constitutes the most advanced level of customer satisfaction. The payoff of treating employees and managers as customers is that positive employee experiences will help to improve HR’s image, increase inter-departmental collaboration, and ensure the success rate of employee referral programs.

Applicants as customers

HR professionals also need to send powerful brand messages to applicants and candidates. After all, the HR department orchestrates first impressions of the company to potential hires and the recruitment

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process provides insight into the company’s organisation and structure.

The HR approach for dealing with potential hires may be supported by how marketers and sales people view and understand clients and prospects. Indeed, a satisfied client or prospect will pass on his/her positive experience to one person or a handful of people whereas a dissatisfied client or prospect will share his/ her negative experience with another 10. The same is true for jobseekers; unsuccessful candidates will share their experiences (good or bad) with others.

Furthermore, from a sales mindset, HR staff should actually view all applicants as if they were already hired. This point of view will keep HR staff on their toes, reinforce the “best” behaviors, and cause the department to be more responsive. The return can be significant, research in 2007 revealed that two-thirds of candidates base their decision on whether to join a company by their ‘interview experience’.

We should be aware that it does not take much to create a negative impression that no capital-intensive branding efforts will be able to undo. Frequently, applicants are simply overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork required by the HR department.

Those, who are invited for an interview face other common HR difficulties; poor coordination, interviewers that show up late and are unprepared, and seating arrangements that emphasize status and power of the interviewer over the candidates. More often than not, HR also does not bother notifying candidates that they are no longer being considered for the position.

All of this leads to the suggestion of critically reviewing an applicant’s journey with your company from the moment they submit an application (see Applicant’s Journey).

The payoff of treating also applicants as customers is that positive applicant experiences prevent damage to the company’s image and spread the word-ofmonth of the company’s professionalism amongst its competitors, strategic partners, clients, etc.

In a nutshell, HR should champion strengthening the company’s brand through maintaining effective client relationships with employees and managers and efficient communication loop with all potential hires regardless of the outcome.

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Ultimately, integrating recruiting and marketing efforts and getting HR and marketing to work more closely together is an important key for successful retention and business growth.

Applicant’s journey

“If you want to work here, you will have to find us.”

Is your HR department easy to find? Are there any signs to direct job applicants to your HR department? Is the career website easily accessible and informative?

“If you wish to receive an acknowledgement for submitting an application, please attach a selfaddressed envelope with proper postage.”

Do you write back to applicants confirming that you received his/her application? Are you utilizing an auto-response feature for online applicants?

“We will keep your CV on file.”

Do you store resumes of applicants? Do you review CV’s on file toward new vacancies?

Do you unnecessarily create dark areas of communication leaving applicants uncertain about their status?

“Thank you for coming.”

Do you communicate to short-listed candidates reasons why they were not successful? Do you provide valuable feedback to stimulate candidates’ self-development efforts? Do you maintain a communication loop to create evangelists for your company?

“We only contact short-listed candidates.”

Are unsuccessful candidates simply forgotten?

Do you ever thank applicants for their interest in your company and position? Do you thank applicants for demonstrating interest in your company, taking time out to research your business, filling out an application, and preparing and going through an interview?

Post Interview Satisfaction Survey Do you investigate the applicants’ perception about the recruitment process and their satisfaction levels with the job interview?

Are results of such a survey part of the performance review of recruiters and hiring managers? Do you explore what applicants think about your company?

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Employer branding| Have the rules changed?

A strong employer brand remains a major factor in attracting, retaining and engaging top talent, which in turn translates to a high-performing organisation. However, the recent crisis has changed the rules of the game while the advent of social media is revolutionizing the metrics and modes of communication. The collapse of the “once mighty giants” at the height of the crisis shocked many and casted doubts on previous stereotypes and assumptions as to what constitutes an “employer of choice”. As such stereotypes disappear, job candidates are becoming more open and willing to consider offers made to them, even from companies they would not have considered before.

Hence, companies with less established employer brands now have a window of opportunity to reposition themselves in front of their target audience and stand out during tough times announcing: “We are still hiring.” The wave of company closures and redundancies also led many forward-thinking companies to take the opportunity to replace their average performers with top performers, given that top performers are becoming more available in the job market. “Trading Up”, “Raising the Overall Average”, “Building the War Chest” are just some of the opportunistic branding messages being utilized by companies that are positioning for growth after the crisis. Even good candidates who are currently employed can be more easily persuaded to join if they have bad experiences with their present employers, such as having fewer benefits and experiencing pay cuts.

It must convey a consistent message that reflects the actual experience that shareholders, consumers, as well as existing and potential employees have of the company. Hence, a strong employer brand starts with the CEO, who must work closely together with the marketing and HR leaders of his or her organisation to make sure that the “intangible brand” mirrors this “tangible experience”, both internally and externally.

The internal aspect of employer branding addresses what an employee experiences while on the job, including on-board experience, internal communication and training and development.External branding focuses on what a candidate experiences while being recruited, including the recruitment workflow, recruiting timeline and employer’s responsiveness throughout the process.An employer brand that looks excellent on paper can easily be tarnished by a candidate who goes through a bad experience during the recruitment process, such as:

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Slow interview arrangements;

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inconsistencies in job specifications;

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unresponsive to candidates’ emails and inquiries;

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multiple interviews that are not adding value.

Employer, corporate and product brands

The crisis made many realize that, apart from being a collection of catchy slogans and “employee value propositions”, a company’s employer brand is truly inseparable from its corporate and product brands.

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On the other hand, an average employer brand can be bolstered by good candidate experience:

• • • • •

Compact and consistent job details; employer is swift to respond; process is highly organised; opportunity to meet the “winning” teams; assessment that is relevant and reliable while demonstrating the company’s unique brand and culture.

Impact of social networking: the power of relationships

The advent of social media, including frontrunners such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning and Twitter, is revolutionizing the way employers–and employees –brand themselves.

According to a study conducted by Nielsen Online, the time spent by internet users on social networking sites increased by 83% from June 2008 to June 2009.

Asians comprise a bulk of the new wave of users who have joined the social media bandwagon, according to a recent study by Universal McCann, with 64% of Chinese internet users currently belonging to a social network.

This new wave of social networkers include job candidates who routinely check the message boards, Twitter and Facebook pages of a potential hiring company and its employees.

There are ways in which social networking can influence a job candidate’s perception of a company:

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Access to more information: blogs, company websites, online newspapers, etc.

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Access to feedback from colleagues/ communities: positive or negative comments said by present/past employees of a company, partners, former colleagues, clients.

Ultimately, candidates will listen more to a recommendation by a credible relationship rather than believe impersonal information read over the net or traditional media.

A recent Asia-wide survey conducted by Bó Lè Associates validates the various sources which candidates see as credible when it comes to employer recommendations:

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Their own network of colleagues, partners, ex-bosses and associates;

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employees—current and former, including managers of the hiring company;

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recruiting agency of hiring company.

However, between creating friendly networks and promoting oneself as an employer of choice, lie a few perils such as privacy issues, identity fraud, mixed or unwanted messages and slander by disgruntled employees or colleagues, among others.

In the US, many companies are adopting a form of “social media strategy” to best leverage and manage social networks to build relationships, correct misinformation and promote their product as well as employer brand. Coca-Cola, for example, appointed Adam Brown as the Director of Social Media while other companies are hiring friendly, articulate “tweeters” whose main responsibility is to tweet, blog or maintain on-going conversations with their target audience.

In Asia, companies still tend to adopt a wait-andsee attitude with incorporating a social media strategy into their branding strategy, especially in China where many of these tools face certain restrictions. Many are also concerned about employees using it in an unproductive or destructive way.

Eventually, however, social networking may cease to be seen as a nuisance by companies but rather, as a powerful communication and relationship-building tool.

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Universities not instilling work-life balance...so it's up to HR| Despite the obvious lack of work-life balance (WLB) in Hong Kong, Students at the Hong Kong University are still being actively encouraged by the Social Sciences Research Centre (SSRC) to conduct paid telephone surveys, in which they phone random residential telephone numbers up to 10.30pm at night.

Late-night surveys ethically wrong

Universities play a vital role in educating students not just academically but also, and perhaps, more importantly, in what is ethically and morally correct behaviour. However the practise of encouraging students to perform such late night surveys seems contrary to this.

The SSRC is an independent research centre which was established to conduct research on behalf of the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Government, NGOs, universities and other institutions. The Centre is currently directed by Professor John Bacon-Shone who, according to their website, is recognised internationally as “A research methodology expert.”

Students hired by the centre make telephone calls to random members of the public held in the university’s database up to 10.30pm at night. This practise raises serious ethical issues regarding the timing of surveys conducted by the Centre.

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Why late night surveys are bad for WLB:

They are an invasion of privacy on residential lines late at night. With precious little WLB in Hong Kong, being interrupted at home is, at best, a nuisance.

For many families, with small children in bed, the phone ringing at such a late hour in a small dwelling often wakes up the children and disrupts their sleep.

For the students themselves, the fact that the University is encouraging them to phone people so late demonstrates a lack of respect the public’s private time and more disturbingly instils in the students, before they even enter the work arena, that ‘working’ until 10.30pm is not only acceptable, but actively encouraged by their university.

From employer of choice...to providing employee choices

Recruiting students for late-night work sets dangerous precedent

The practice of getting students to conduct late night surveys is helping to perpetuate the cycle of the incredibly poor WLB that exists in Hong Kong.

HR Magazine spoke to Kelvin Ng, Research Project Manager at the SSRC, in-charge of the Telephone Survey Unit, to ask him about the ethics of employing students to call members of the public so late at night. He said, “I understand your concern, but this is a difficult issue to resolve.”

WLB is a complex issue, and certainly arises due to a number of factors, but a critical reason that persists in Hong Kong is due to the mindset that working late into the night is ‘good and something to be praised’ as it shows determination. Working 'hard' is good, but working 'late' is not, because it has a negative impact on the individual, their immediate family and ultimately on society as a whole. Once this mindset becomes ingrained, it means that many in the office become ‘afraid’ to leave before 7.30pm – 9.00pm for fear of being labelled as lazy.

Local universities have an important role in helping to break this cycle by being role-models to the students themselves in their own working practices.

Encouraging students to telephone members of the public on their residential lines late at night is counterproductive, and sets a very dangerous precedent. Moreover, if students are working until 10.30pm, this is also likely to negatively impact on their studies during the daytime.

When asked for comment on the late nature of the calls made by students, Professor John Bacon-Shone, Director of the SSRC said, "Precisely because of workbalance problems in Hong Kong, many people do not get home before 8pm, making it infeasible to do scientific research if we stop that early at night [before 9.00pm] as we would exclude many hard working HK people." He added that, to date, the SSRC had not received any 'formal' complaints about the lateness of their calls. This fact may be a function of callees simply too busy, or exhausted after work to consider loging a formal complaint. It may also be a function of the society we live in that bombards people with advertsing and unsolicited calls and e-mails, where logding formal compalints about them all would almost be a fulltime

job in itself. It may simply be that everyone in Hong Kong is happy to take late night survey calls. Either way, it is not the best of WLB starts for students themsleves to be making calls at 10.30pm.

Making things better

HR Magazine encourages all universities and educators in Hong Kong to teach students some key points regarding WLB.

Life is about reaching balance between work and leisure time.

The average number of working hours in Hong Kong is already 49 hours per week, according to Community Business suveys. This figure is 22% higher than recommended by International Labour Organisation (ILO). Over three quarters of employees in HK reported that they face negative impact due to a poor work-life balance. With over 76% reporting prolonged fatigue level, sleepiness and extreme tiredness. In the light of this in Hong Kong it is even more critical that students not only respect other people’s private time, but also their own private time. As such, students should not be encouraged to conduct university work after 9pm.

Those conducting telephone surveys to residential lines should assume every call they make will be to a family with children, who go to bed at 8.30pm, and do not want to woken up by the phone ringing.

Every research organisation should stress the importance of following up on ‘opt out’ requests. It is good practise to put a questions to all people surveyed to the effect that, “Are you happy to receive similar calls in future?” in the same way that mass electronic mails also have to carry an ‘unsubscribe’ function.

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Compensation and benefits

Mind the gap| Deirdre Lander, Director of Data, Surveys and Technology, Towers Watson Hong Kong said, “Employees know that they are increasingly on their own for everything from managing their career, to planning for a secure retirement—but do not feel well equipped to deal with it.” The survey also indicates that regular communication about reward and benefits is becoming increasingly important for HR. This seems to fall on deaf ears though as most employers simply stick with existing benefit packages.

Lander highlighted that the ‘paternalistic’ employment proposition—typical of last century—is unsustainable for most employers today. In order to take advantage of a strong business position and boost employee engagement and productivity, she advised HR to look at three key areas:

There is a growing gap between employers and employees concerning benefit packages and almost 60% of employees would consider benefits when deciding on leaving or staying with an employer.

Nearly 70% would prefer to have flexibility in managing their benefits. Despite this, over 60% of employers have made no changes to their benefit programmes over 2009. This according to the Towers Watson 2010 Global Workforce Study.

The survey revealed that although most employees understand that they are primarily responsible for their financial security and wellbeing, under half of them feel comfortable in managing retirement income and post-retirement healthcare.

Close to 30% of those surveyed indicated they would have to work after retirement for financial reasons.

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Honing their ability to enable employee self-reliance, fostering within each person the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to effectively manage their careers, benefits and financial future.

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Creating a more personalised work experience for segments of the workforce, aligned with how employees add value to the business.

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Developing leaders, reward structures and HR programmes that are more flexible and responsive to the everchanging global business environment .

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Payroll up 5% in 2011|

Average payroll increase this year for salaries across the board is between 3% and 5%, according to the Robert Walters Global Salary Survey of 2011. The survey results released just before we went to press highlighted a number of pressing points that will affect salaries in 2011.

Banking & Finance

Demand for financial professionals in the banking and finance sector is expected to remain constant, although, the first two months of this year have been relatively slow. Robert Walters anticipates that salary expectations from candidates are probably going to outweigh what the market is willing to pay, as salaries were increased so much in 2010.

During this ‘cooling off period’, salaries are expected

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Compensation and benefits

to equalize in the financial services industry from the base component this year. Matthew Bennett, Managing Director, Robert Walters Hong Kong explained, “The number of open cheque books we have seen flying around the market was significantly less at the beginning of this year, than we saw at the beginning of 2010.” He added, “We also expect the candidate pool to probably grow in the next three to four months…I think the pool will shrink again in the second half of this year, so now is as good a time as any to start hiring.”

Accounting, Finance & Retail

Accounting and Finance was a very active sector in the last six months of 2010, and has shown greater demand since the middle of January 2011. Retail and manufacturing sourcing companies have also been very active, and any candidates with experience in the PRC are still highly sough after by clients, and can therefore demand salary increases.

HR

In regards to HR, Bennett explained that he still expects significant internal recruitment across both financial and non financial services, as companies focus on increasing headcounts and saving costs.

He explained, “This is where we have seen the most growth in regards to the HR function. There has been an increase in the hiring activities across senior HR hires in the region, and this will also be the focus of organisations this year—as more and more focus on Asia.” Organisations are also beginning to utilise contract recruiters who pay more, to gain greater flexibility in the marketplace.

IT

The IT market was one of the most buoyant markets in the first half of 2010. There was a marked slowdown in the fourth quarter, which Bennett attributed to companies looking to save costs— especially in financial services sector. Looking at the current trend, he added, “We have begun to see the roles starting to flow through again in the past few weeks, which has been good news.

We probably will not see the investment banks hire in the same amount of volumes that we did last

year, but there will be other financial services clients that will be looking to bolster their IT teams to be able to look after demands of the front office.”

The real surprise for 2010, however, was the demand and hiring within the commerce industry for IT positions. Bennett explained that he had not seen any slowdown in this sector, nor did he expect one in the first six months of this year. Bennett explained that salary expectations within the financial services industry for IT banking candidates might actually drop a little because the demand is not there.

Despite this, he countered that, “With the lack of supply, and increasing demand, we could see salary expectations on the IT space increase.”

Legal

The legal story has been much the same as last year—incident negotiators and candidates with derivatives and capital markets experience continue to be in high demand and as such are demanding the biggest salary increases. Corporate lawyers also continue to demand the biggest increases in the private practice space. Competition for toptier clients within the financial services industry is expected to be very aggressive. Bennett explained, “We have probably seen more counteroffers in the legal division, over the past six months, than any other division in Robert Walters, and we expect this to continue again, for the first six months of this year.”

Sales & Marketing

On the sales and marketing front, there will be significant focus on hiring mid to senior level candidates, as most industries are looking for experienced and established networks to increase revenue and help strengthen teams. Social media and digital marketing are still very much buzzwords, and as such candidates in these fields are demanding the highest increments. Retail candidates are again expected to be highly sought after, as more and more retailers look to move their flagships to Hong Kong.

Logistics

Supply chain and logistics has seen a massive increase in the number of hires in procurement departments inside both banking and non-financial

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industries, as companies look to save cost by buying in larger volume.

Bennett said, “Candidates are in short supply in this area, so we may see salary expectations, especially in the procurement side rise up to about 20%.”

Outlook

As a result of the current stability of the marketplace and candidates being more willing to take risks, the candidate pool is expected to increase in 2011, which is expected to ease pressure on salary expectations and quicken recruitment timelines. The Commerce and Industry Sector was the big mover in the last six months of the year, as well as commerce finance. There was an increase of 23% in jobs registered, in sales and marketing, 18.5% and in the legal jobs by 17%.

In addition, the number of contract jobs increased by 44% in the second half of the year—trends which Robert Walters expects to continue for at least another four to six months.

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The Asia Job Index Q4, 2010 indicated the total number of job advertisements increased by 3.1% from Q3 2010; largely as a result of the dramatic increase in the number of jobs in Japan which increased by 127% year on year, last year. China saw an increase of 57%, year on year, last year, while Hong Kong and Singapore saw a decrease from Q3 to Q4, due to the holidays, headcount restrictions and bonuses.

IT, legal and HR positions have seen the largest increase in number of jobs registered throughout 2010. China has become the second largest economy in the world, with a huge number of professional jobs being advertised. Besides a relatively slow start to the year, jobs numbers across the region have increased on a month on month basis and we expect a similar outcome in 2011. The survey indicates there has already been a build-up in the number of jobs leading into March. Bennett said, “In Hong Kong, quarter on quarter, except for Q4, we saw growth and we expect to see the same numbers in 2011, with the Financial Service Sector continuing to hire. However, it is the non-financial service sector that we will probably see the most amount of activity in the first six months of 2011.”

The recruitment market of 2010 showed a war on talent for top-tier candidates due to increased demand from companies looking to take advantage of the market recovery in 2010. This trend began with the Financial Services Sector in the first half of the year, then commerce and industry saw the demand in the second half. Complex and specialised roles still remain the most difficult to find in the financial services with consumer banking and wealth management increasing the volumes of positions available. 2010 was a strong year for growth, though Bennett explained that similar levels of growth were very unlikely in 2011.

GDP growth of the region has dropped to about 5.3% compared to 6.8% last year, and this slowdown is predominately a function of newly industrialised countries ‘settling down’ to more sustainable growth. Bennett concluded on an upbeat note saying, “We do, however, expect the emerging markets to continue to grow, which will also help the export demand grow in the first half of the year.”

Compensation and benefits

Is HK HR ready for audit by the labour department?

Crucial tasks that HR departments must apply to current staff and new recruits to remain compliant with new Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO) in Hong Kong.

The statutory minimum wage comes into force in Hong Kong, for the first time, on 1 May 2011. These critical changes to the labour laws—which initially set minimum wages at HKD28 per hour—are likely to have a dramatic effect on how businesses operate. In order to remain compliant, avoid fines and avert potential legal action, it is vital that HR departments address these changes before the MWO comes into effect.

At HR Magazine’s January 2011 conference Jennifer Van Dale, Partner, Baker & McKenzie, provided an update on the recent legal changes regarding staff employment contracts and the implications for HR when taking on new recruits and important record keeping requirements.

Minimum Wage Ordinance

Van Dale pointed out that the MWO is a major change to the legislation and means that the total wages that an employee receives in any one wage period divided by the hours that he or she works in that wage period has to be greater than or equal to HKD28 per hour.

Key implications of the MWO for HR include:

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Record keeping—need to keep track of hours worked for employees earning less than HKD11,500 per month

•

Bankers taking home millions—still not earning minimum wage

While many companies do not believe these changes will affect their workforce—as they do not have any minimum-wage employees, Van Dale issued a word of caution to HR, citing an example of a private banker who was remunerated entirely on a commission basis. Although his total commissions were substantial, because they fluctuated substantially from month to month, there were some months when still did not get the minimum wage despite earning millions overall during the year .

Hours actually worked

The new record keeping requirements require that employers keep a record of hours worked for anyone earning less than HKD11,500 per month. Breaking down this obligation, it means that employers will need to keep track of:

• • •

Variable income—may need to revise remuneration structures for employees whose income is mostly variable

Place of work—need to count travel time to a location that is not the usual place of work as hours worked

•

employee time that is spent at work; and whether the employer has agreed that the employee can be there; or whether the employer has directed them to be there.

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day and then resume and complete their work), or alternatively to not allow employees to work past standard office hours. This, Van Dale suggests, is likely to make workplace relations more strained.

Travel time

Van Dale emphasised that identifying when an employee is ‘authorised’ to work is an absolute critical issue given a typical workforce pattern in Hong Kong where employees arrive at work before 9.00am but don’t start work immediately, or don’t leave when the official office hours end but instead continue to work, have a break, e.g. to eat with colleagues or socialise, before finishing their work at 7.30pm or 8.00pm.

If managers or supervisors know that someone is coming in early or everyone is staying late and do not object, even though staff are not technically ‘working’ the entire time, it may still count as hours worked if the employees show that they are staying in the workplace with the agreement of the employer.

Van Dale reported that the Labour Department has stated that it is of the view that these difficulties are not a legal issue (even though they are in legislation; rather they view it as a ‘workplace relations issue’. The message they are trying to send out is that employers need to discuss this with employees and then establish a policy that states they’re welcome to stay after hours, but that it will not count as hours worked.

Van Dale agrees that this is ideally resolved through communication, but notes that criminal penalties can be imposed for breach of the MWO and therefore this is very much a legal issue. She also noted that she has had frank discussions with the Labour Department about the specific issue around before and after-hours work patterns, because in her view it puts pressure on employers to force their employees to finish all work before they can socialise (rather than take a break at the end of the

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Another important record keeping aspect related to hours worked includes travel time. If an employee goes to a place that is ‘not the usual place of work’ such as to a customer’s office—that still counts as hours worked, Van Dale warned. One solution she advised for HR is to include a statement in the contract that explains the usual place of work is ‘the office, or any of the clients’ and customers’ offices’, in this case travel time may not necessarily need to be counted as hours worked. Business travel outside Hong Kong will also count as hours worked, although most people who need to travel abroad will be paid in excess of the minimum wage so this is less likely to be an issue.

In order to remain compliant for record keeping related to travel time, she said: •

audit the ‘usual place(s) of work’

•

assess whether the’ usual place(s) of work’ are accurately reflected in the contract

•

implement a system to track travelling employees to determine where they usually work

Coping with variable incomes

Many employees have variable incomes that fluctuate such as high commissions and low base salaries, and in order to remain compliant with the new ordinance, it is important that the compensation averages out to at least the minimum wage in each wage period. Employers should also pay close attention to this variable as it may happen both in between, and during any given wage period.

Van Dale explained that one option would be to have one wage period for monthly salary and then a separate wage period for variable compensation.

Compensation and benefits

Alternatively, HR could amend commission plans so they include advanced payments—so payroll can be adjusted to ensure the employee remains above the HKD28 threshold during all periods. The legislation does not permit employers to count payments for hours not worked as wages, but the Labour Department indicates that an exception may be possible in these kinds of cases. The Labour Department is working on guidance for employers and Van Dale anticipates that when the MWO comes into force in May, employers will have a better idea of the best way to ensure compliance. In order to comply with those earning variable income, Van Dale advised:

•

identify employees whose income is highly variable and whose regular income is near, or below, the HKD28 per working hour threshold

record keeping requirements renders employers liable to a fine of HKD10,000 per offence. If ‘offence’ is interpreted as per employee, this could amount to a substantial sum in organisations with a large number of employees. She also cautioned that if a company’s payroll department is overseas, then most likely they will not be compliant with these new regulations and will need to be educated.

Payroll audit

Van Dale advised HR to immediately update contracts, and review policies addressing the issues of employees being in the office when they are not working, travel time and overtime. To understand whether contracts and policies need to be updated, she advised companies to conduct the audit immediately in regard to record keeping identifying:

•

•

•

assess whether changes to the remuneration structure are necessary, such as commission paid in instalments and/or adjustment of base salary

implement systems to detect instances of underpayment so they can be promptly rectified

Non-compliance penalties

Van Dale said that she has seen a crackdown on employers who have not yet complied with changes to wage rules implemented in 2007, as well as an increase in Labour Department inspections of wagerelated records among her clients. She cautioned HR that nowadays if the Labour Department receive a wage-related complaint, they will most likely investigate the employer. Penalties for not complying with minimum wage include a HKD350,000 fine and three years’ imprisonment. Failure to comply with

• •

employees currently earning less than HKD11,500 per month; employees with fluctuating wages; and factors to include in a comprehensive travel policy that are relevant for your organisation.

Questions HR should ask themselves when performing a payroll audit 1. Do your employment contracts need to be amended to clarify what exactly are ‘hours worked’ and what is ‘the usual place of employment’?

2. How should the policy on ‘hours worked’ be properly authorised and approved?

3. What is the wage period?

4. Are rest days identified, and is it specified whether they are paid?

5. Are your internal systems ready to cope with the new record keeping requirements?

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Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

Creating inclusive workplaces for LGBT employees in Hong Kong| Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals in Hong Kong face a number of specific challenges, both in their private and professional lives, according to Creating Inclusive Workplaces for LGBT Employees in Hong Kong, a resource guide for employers published by Community Business.

At the launch event, it was highlighted that there is enormous scope for the corporate sector, particularly international companies operating in Hong Kong to drive positive change in this area. Shalini Mahtani, Founder, Community Business pointed out, “For the most part, matters relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace are largely not addressed in Hong Kong, yet the cultural and legal context of Hong Kong is such that LGBT individuals in Hong Kong face a number of specific challenges in their private and professional lives.”

Apart from the need for companies to be fair and responsible employers, companies should be concerned by the negative impact such challenges can have on workplace relationships, the health of LGBT employees and ultimately productivity and performance.

In gathering the content for this publication, an advisory group of experts including: Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Out & Equal Workplace Advocates in the US and Tongzhi Community Joint Meeting (TCJM) in Hong Kong as well as other individual experts in the field such as: Mark Kaplan, Dr Mark King, Roddy Shaw and Dr Sam Winter were consulted. Researchers also engaged with stakeholders in Hong Kong—both employers and LGBT employees, to gain insight into some of the key issues for LGBT employees in Hong Kong, particularly with regard to

workplace challenges and what action can be taken by employers to create more inclusive workplaces. Kate Vernon, Head of Research & Marketing, Community Business stated, “This resource guide is the first step in this regard—designed to inform and educate companies operating in Hong Kong, not just about the challenges that LGBT employees in Hong Kong face but also what they, as employers, can do to create open and productive workplaces.”

IBM and Goldman Sachs are the key drivers behind this initiative and have earned various accolades and awards globally for their leadership in championing LGBT issues in the workplace. IBM received the top score in the US Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for seven years in a row and the number one ranking in the UK’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index in 2010.

Goldman Sachs has received the top score in the US Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index since 2005 and was ranked number five in the UK’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index in 2010. The publication highlights the business case for addressing the needs of LGBT employees and provides the cultural context for LGBT issues in Hong Kong. As a practical resource, it also provides a set of recommendations on what companies can do to create inclusive workplaces for LGBT employees and includes a number of examples of good practice. It is envisaged that over time the recommendations outlined in this guide may become the basis for a corporate index for LGBT employees in Hong Kong—similar to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index in the US and Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index in the UK.

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How effective are your HR discrimination skills?

Leadership litmus test for HR|

By John Putzier, M.S., SPHR, President, FirStep, Inc.

As an HR professional, which of the following belief statements belong in your brain?

1. Diversity can and should be celebrated to the maximum extent possible.

2. It is not only possible for diversity and organisational effectiveness to coexist, but also to be a win-win for both employers and employees.

3. Pay/rewards for performance are essential to creating a high-performance organisation and culture.

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Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

Are these trick questions? No. Would it not be blasphemous for any HR professional, or any leader, for that matter, to not agree with these belief statements? Of course. But ironically, while the HR profession has bemoaned the lack of a seat at the strategic table for decades, we continue to preach one thing, and practice another.

How so? What really brought this message home for me was the reaction I got to my second book: Weirdos in the Workplace! The New Normal…Thriving in the Age of the Individual from many of my HR colleagues. On the one hand, CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners and non-HR executives love and embrace the message, while some HR professionals, without actually reading the book, pull back and gasp. How insensitive. We can’t call people weirdos?

We’re HR professionals. Please.

Before you have an HR hernia, you must understand the basic premise that “A weirdo is anyone not like you.” Hmm! That’s the point.

Can you believe we are approaching the 47th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the States, which was the genesis of equal opportunity, and all the laws that followed?

As a former EEO Compliance Officer for a Fortune 100 manufacturer in the 1970s and 1980s, I speak with both knowledge and experience. I even agreed philosophically with the need for these laws, given the bad behaviour of our society and some of its organisations.

However, for the times we are in: ‘The Age of the Individual,’ it is not only simplistic and naïve to continue defining diversity in terms of government mandated protected classes: race, sex, religion, national origin, sexual preference and the like, but it actually runs contrary to a purist philosophy of diversity. True diversity is individuality.

In fact, for truly liberated, progressive HR professionals, it should be downright insulting and even somewhat bigoted to operate from an implied assumption that all women think and act alike, or that all Asians think and act alike, and so on.

Granted, there is the need to be able to categorise people for the purposes such as legal compliance and reporting, but it is high time we transcend these artificial barriers for the purposes of real

organisational effectiveness, progress and true celebration of the individual.

Now that you understand the premise and motivation behind my logic, I would like to share with you some of the more controversial ‘weirdisms’ within it.

Weirdism #1: all workers are not created equal

Again, at first blush, many ‘political correctites’ may hesitate to jump on this bandwagon. However, if we are in agreement with the logic thus far, one has to concur that to celebrate individuality, and to grant the rights and privileges that come with it comes the responsibility to recognise that there is no ‘one-sizefits-all’ HR model for creating a performance-driven organisation; or a meritocracy. HR professionals, who continue to cry for a seat at the strategic table, must also learn to recognise when the expression and manifestation of individuality is in alignment with organisational strategies and objectives, and when it is not. Not all individuality is worthy of being celebrated.

Some may be tolerated, but some may even need to be terminated. There are limits of behaviour to earn the rights and privileges to live in a free society, and the workplace is a microcosm of society.

So, the whole point of Weirdism #1 is that if we accept the new definition of diversity as individuality, we have no choice but to be responsible to our organisations, and to the individuals within them, to recognise their differences—in behaviour, performance, value—and to respond accordingly.

This brings us to Weirdism #2.

Weirdism #2: discrimination is good, it is right, and it is necessary

This is the real litmus test. Had we started with this principle at the beginning, many would never have read this far. Take a breath. With the advent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and it’s resultant EEO, OFCCP, AAP’s, ERISA, ADA, ADEA, and all the other acronyms of ‘discrimination’ in the U.S., many organisations, and especially their HR Departments, have misguidedly evolved into a ‘fair is equal’ mindset.

In other words, to avoid the risk, legally or perceptually, of being accused of ‘discrimination’

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we have become victims of the law of unintended consequences. Treating everyone the same can only result in institutionalised mediocrity. Giving everyone a 3% merit raise not only punishes the performers, but also rewards the slugs, and wastes valuable organisational resources. That’s a lose-lose-lose.

The word discrimination is not a bad word. But we have made it one. If someone says you have discriminating taste, you say, “Thank you” and take it as a compliment. If you answered ‘yes’ to the belief statement at the beginning that ‘pay for performance is essential to creating a high-performance organisation and culture’, then you believe in the virtues of discrimination.

Discrimination based on performance! Not race or sex or the like. Welcome to the Age of the Individual, and to enlightened HR. Any manager or leader who does not discriminate is not manager or leader material. Being willing and

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able to make distinctions and make tough decisions is a core competency of modern management and leadership. And that goes for HR management and leadership, as well. In fact, HR should be leading the charge.

Conclusion

None of this should be new to you. And it probably is not, now that you understand the logic and rationale. So why create such controversy? Why use such potentially inflammatory and politically incorrect verbiage?

When CEOs, business owners, entrepreneurs and non-HR executives hear this message, they rejoice.

They say they have been thinking this way for a long time, and wish they could hear it from their own HR departments. And ironically, HR probably agrees. So let’s make it a win-win.

One of my hidden objectives is to get the strategic HR message out to the non-HR mainstream, to the people who hold the keys to the boardroom, and to the ‘individuals’ we must all attract, retain and motivate. HR should already get it. I shouldn’t have to preach to the choir.

But, now it’s HR’s job to shift its mental paradigm of how to position itself with its own leadership.

That is, to get their leaders’ attention by speaking their language, without compromising the beliefs or principles of the HR profession. And by following the aforementioned logic, now they can.

HR cannot be seen as glorified union stewards, blindly advocating for the rights of all employees.

They must be stewards of both the individual and the organisation. It is not incongruous to advocate for the individual and the organisation simultaneously. The greatest places to work are usually the greatest companies in all other aspects, as well: profitability, effectiveness, customer service and so on.

But it takes backbone. It takes courage. It takes hard work and tough decisions to create a culture that both recognises and celebrates the individual and then discriminates based on performance and value, in order to do so. You cannot have one without the other.

See? We agree after all.

Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

Getting women the on Board| Community Business and the Cranfield School of Management published the first Women on Boards: Hang Seng Index 2009 report. The research, based on the UK’s renowned Female FTSE Report, looks at the representation of women on the corporate boards of Hong Kong’s top companies, as listed on the Hang Seng Index (HSI). It ranks the companies in terms of the gender diversity of their boards, with those with the highest percentage of women on their boards appearing at the top.

In the UK and other countries the dearth of women at the top has been highlighted by studies benchmarking the proportion and type of female directors on the boards of the country’s top organisations. With a lack of female representation at senior levels, companies are not only denying their organisations of valuable talent, but also limiting their ability to reflect the needs and interests of their customers and shareholders and therefore restricting their financial performance.

“This is the first time that Community Business has taken a look at Hong Kong’s own leading companies, as listed on the Hang Seng Index and focused on the representation of women on corporate boards in particular.” said Kate Vernon, coauthor of the report and Acting CEO of Community Business. The focus on corporate boards is timely.

Following the corporate scandals and financial failing of several major institutions across the world and the consequent collapse of shared values and a global recession, questions are being asked internationally about the validity of traditionally homogenous boards of directors. There is a currently growing body of academic evidence linking diverse boards to better corporate governance and various other aspects of performance.

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Lack of gender diversity

percentages are in line with, or compare favourably with the UK FTSE 100. Only one company, Sun Hung Kai Properties, has a female Chair and one company, Hang Seng Bank, has a female CEO.

Looking at the overall findings, the first year of this research reveals that out of a total of 585 directorships on the HSI, just under 9% are held by women. This percentage is comparable to Australia but lower than the UK, US and Canada. Out of the total of 42 companies listed on the HSI, 67% have women on their boards, which leaves 14 companies with no female representation at all.

In addition, 15 companies, around 36% of those surveyed, have more than one female director, 13 companies, 31%, have female executive directors and 7% of all executive director roles are held by women.

Of all new appointments made in 2009, as of 24 August 2009, just under 13% were women. All these

Company rankings

The report includes a Women on Boards League Table which ranks the companies listed on the HSI in terms of the gender diversity of their boards, with those with the highest percentage of women on their boards appearing at the top. At the top of the list is China Construction Bank Corporation which has five women, around 29%, on its board of 17. Bank of China Ltd is second with three women, 20%, on its board of 15 and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. is third with four women, 19%, on its board of 21. China Life Insurance Company Ltd, China Resources Power Holdings Company Ltd and MTR Corporation Ltd are all in fourth place, each with two female directors, 18%, on their boards of 11.

Chart 1 | Percentage of Woman on Boards

Views of women directors

Table 1 | Key Findings Regarding Gender Diversity of Boards of HSI Companies 2009 Total number of directorships

585

Total female held directorships

52

Number of woman holding HSI directorships

47

Companies with female executive directors

13

31%

Companies with at least one female director

28

66%

Companies with multiple female directors

15

35%

Companies with no female directors

14

33%

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8.9%

Nine female directors on the boards of HSI companies were interviewed to obtain their views regarding women on boards and personal experiences of being female directors. The majority of women were surprised that the overall percentage of directorships held by women is under 9%, saying that this was lower than they expected.

Reasons cited were the limited talent pool–perceived or actual, Hong Kong’s male dominant society and the so-called ‘invisible filter’—a process whereby women themselves opt out of senior roles because of family obligations. They also highlighted that women tend not to be as well networked as men and therefore often do not get considered for appointments to board positions.

Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

Table 2 | Top 10 HSI Companies in Terms of Highest Percentage of Women on Boards Rank

% of Women

Board Size

No. of Women

Company

1

29.4%

17

5

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORPORATION 中國建設銀行股份有限公司

2

20.0%

15

3

BANK OF CHINA LTD 中國銀行股份有限公司

3

19.1%

21

4

CHEUNG KONG (HOLDINGS) LTD 長江實業(集團)有限公司

4

18.2%

11

2

CHINA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD 中國人壽保險股份有限公司

4

18.2%

11

2

CHINA RESOURCES POWER HOLDINGS COMPANY LTD 華潤電力控股有限公司

4

18.2%

11

2

MTR CORPORATION LTD 香港鐵路有限公司

7

17.7%

17

3

SWIRE PACIFIC LTD 太古股份有限公司

8

15.8%

19

3

THE PING AN INSURANCE (GROUP) COMPANY OF CHINA LTD 中國平安保險(集團)股份有限公司

9

15.4%

13

2

BOC HONG KONG (HOLDINGS) LTD 中銀香港(控股)有限公司

9

15.4%

13

2

HUTCHISON WHAMPOA LTD 和記黃埔有限公司

The majority of women interviewed agreed with the statement that more needs to be done, mainly by companies rather than government, to encourage greater participation of women on boards. All but one were opposed to the introduction of legislation or quotas—an approach adopted by some countries in Europe. They highlighted that more education was required to raise awareness about the importance of diversity on boards and its link with business success.

The women identified a number of skills they believed were required to be a board director: integrity, commitment, in-depth industry knowledge, senior management experience and the ability to bring a broader perspective to the business. They were unanimous in their belief that a pool of qualified female talent existed in Hong Kong and that women in Hong Kong were interested in board roles, highlighting that they had worked alongside other very qualified women particularly on not-for-profit and public committees. The

majority of women interviewed were optimistic that the percentage of women on boards would increase over the next five years, with predictions ranging from 9% to 20%. However, Dr Ruth Sealy of Cranfield School of Management warns, “Experience in other countries, such as the UK, has shown that without specific action, the pace of change can be painstakingly slow.”

The report concludes that one of the greatest challenges for Hong Kong is that the benefits of gender diversity are not well understood by the business sector and for the most part ensuring fair representation of women on boards is not even discussed either by companies or senior women themselves. “If there is to be noticeable improvement, companies, their stakeholders and senior women themselves need to have open dialogue on this issue and consider what steps can be taken to ensure that more women are considered for appointment to board positions,” said Shalini Mahtani of Community Business.

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Towards a global recruitment culture| Avoiding cross-cultural faux pas.

History has taught us that ignorance, in certain contexts, yields a fear of the unknown, and what was unknown about different cultures in the past spawned cross-cultural fear, one possible cause of racial discrimination; and most of us have either seen or heard about the associated, sometimes disastrous, consequences of such anti-social behaviour.

Indeed, anti-social behaviour is one ingredient in the sociopathic cocktail. Abiding in ignorance on this matter, from the macro view can contribute to an antisocial society. From the micro view, it can spell disaster for your personal and professional relationships. Crosscultural awareness has been an issue for at least as long as the concept of globalisation has been around, and is becoming a critical element in recruitment programmes. With the world metaphorically shrinking at an ever increasing pace and with more societies becoming more and more multicultural, an acute cross-cultural awareness is crucial to not only your business success, but also the success of your interpersonal relationships. With the information

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superhighway at our fingertips, ignorance is no longer an excuse. However, before you get intimidated at the prospect of having to learn every single aspect of every other culture in the world, relax; you don’t need to.

Remember, that potential foreign business partner or friend is in the same boat as you, and is about as likely to commit as many cultural faux pas as you. But you want that business transaction to go through smoothly without anyone getting offended, right? So what would not go astray is learning some of what is considered taboo in the particular culture you are targeting.

Stereotypes across cultures

A stereotype is a belief that all people from a certain culture behave in a certain way. Stereotypes occur when we judge and compare a culture in relation to our own cultural values, and perhaps even prejudices.

Stereotyping also seems to stem from what is termed inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is a form of logic where we attempt to draw a universal conclusion from a particular premise, observation or example. For

Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

example, from the premise/observation “all observed tigers are orange with black stripes” (particular), using inductive reasoning, the conclusion that “all tigers must therefore be orange with black stripes” (universal) might be drawn. The conclusions drawn as a result of using inductive reasoning are less than certain and probably not true. We know, for example, that there are white tigers with black stripes. And such conclusions are often also drawn based on culturalbased behavioural traits usually made in relation to the differences we see between that culture and our own. After all, if there were no differences, we would not know any different and we would not have the problem of stereotyping. These conclusions are also probably not true for every single person belonging to the culture in question, because people as individuals have choice.

A common stereotype about East Asians in the 70s for example, is that if you were Chinese, you must know Kung Fu, and if you were a Japanese girl, you must be really timid. To some extent, these stereotypes still exist today. However, nothing could be further from the truth. There is a difference, however, between stereotyping and cultural generalisations.

Whereas stereotypes are usually based on opinion, cultural generalisations are based on standard ways of doing things within a particular culture, but not on prejudice. To say that the Japanese have had a history of a collectivist culture, for example, would be true, or at least would have been true at one point in Japan’s history. But times do change.

70% of what you say is non-verbal

Time is money & timing is everything

A global culture?

Particularly in the business world, problems can occur when cultures clash with respect to time and punctuality. E.T. Hall introduced the concept of monochronic and polychronic cultures.

Monochronic cultures are those where “one thing at a time” and “time is money” are the important concepts. Countries whose cultures tend to be of a monochronic nature include the United States, Australia and Germany amongst others. Polychronic cultures, on the other hand, are those where multitasking is the order of the day and time is inferior to interpersonal relations. Example polychronic cultures include Greece, Portugal, France and Spain.

Non-verbal communication makes up 70% of communication. In other words, almost threequarters of the information you give to a person comes by way of body language and other nonverbal signs: eye-contact, gestures, silence in conversation and touching. The variation in meaning and contextual appropriateness of non-verbal communication among different cultures is great. For example, a comparative study by Graham (1985), showed the differences in non-verbal communication between Japanese, Americans, and Brazilians. The study found that firstly the number of silent periods greater than 10 seconds per 30 minutes was 5.5, 3.5 and 0 respectively; secondly, conversational overlaps/interruptions per 10 minutes was 12.6, 10.3 and 28.6 respectively; thirdly, facial gazing, number of minutes of eye contact per 10 minutes, was 12.6, 10.3 and 28.6 minutes respectively; and finally, the number of touches, excluding handshaking, per 30 minutes was 0, 0, and 4.7 respectively.

Non-verbal communication is as much of a language as verbal communication, and therefore the way that a person interprets non-verbal communication will be based on the non-verbal language they “speak” themselves. An awareness of the idiosyncrasies of non-verbal communication in the particular culture you wish to understand better, along with the spoken language, will go along way in helping to make yourself understood beyond what you actually say.

The question of whether there is likely to be a global culture considering that the world is “shrinking” is in all likelihood, no. That said, the “global culture” may not be of the variety that anyone in history has been used to, and in some cases even in today’s times. The global culture may simply a global understanding, awareness and acceptance/tolerance of the differences between cultures. The study of cross-cultural differences could fill volumes. This generic article does not really do the subject much justice, but may serve as the impetus for you to begin your own targeted study of the cross-culutural differences between yours and another culture.

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The business case for recruitment diversity|

By Richard Welford, Director, CSE Asia

Our economy depends more than ever on the talents of well educated, skilled, flexible workers. The potential for major shortages of qualified workers in some occupations is quite alarming and could slow growth in many parts of the world. Yet if one examines the profile of people in senior positions in business, one soon recognises that there is underrepresentation of large segments of the population.

Putting that right could therefore be a source of newly qualified, skilled staff. A positive approach to promoting diversity can simultaneously strengthen economic competitiveness, address labour market shortages and open doors to challenging and rewarding careers for many traditionally disadvantaged people.

In the workplace, diversity relates to the variety among people related to factors such as age, culture, education, employee status, family status, function, gender, disability, ethnicity, national origin,

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Cross-cultural and diversity considerations

physical appearance, race, regional origin, religion, sexual orientation, intelligence and thinking style.

Diversity also refers to the other ways in which people are different, such as educational level, life experience, work experience, socioeconomic background, personality and value systems. It might easily be claimed that the continent of Asia has the most diverse of workforces in the world, yet in many Asian businesses the whole issue of diversity is something very new.

In an era of critical skills shortages, organisations will find that they must attract, retain, motivate and use their valuable human assets more effectively if they are to maintain competitiveness. Diversity management can reduce staff turnover, increase retention rates and reduce absenteeism. In order to retain competitiveness a business must ensure that it has the best staff it can get. If it excludes any particular group then it runs the risk of excluding some of the best potential talent.

Data shows that people entering the workforce in the next twenty years will be more diverse than the current workforce. In Asia, we will be experiencing a rapidly aging workforce as people live longer and birth rates continue to fall. The demographics of many workforces will change with increased migration and women will become more economically active. Changes in cultural norms will see less reliance on traditional family structures and more people making alternative choices about their lifestyle habits and working patterns.

Valuing diversity means promoting the value that all individuals, all races, all voices, and all cultures have equal integrity and have the same fundamental rights. In respecting diversity it is important to recognise that there are other ways of viewing the world, solving problems, generating success, being happy and working.

Managing diversity successfully means creating an environment that values and utilises the contributions of people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives in an effective way.

Organisations need to develop people management strategies that accommodate differences in the backgrounds, perspectives, aspirations and responsibilities of their employees. They need

to recognise the contribution that a diversity of perspectives makes to generating new ideas and new ways of conducting business.

Managing diversity therefore means promoting inclusion, creating an environment where all differences are valued, and in which each employee can develop to their full potential. From a business perspective, managing diversity is valuable because it means an organisation gets the most from its staff. Companies that embrace diversity realise that it is not enough to hire employees from underrepresented groups; they must also provide an environment where all employees are supported, valued, developed and engaged.

Workplace diversity principles need to underpin all aspects of human resource management, including planning, selection, career development, performance appraisal, training, occupational health and safety and workplace participation.

They should incorporate flexible working conditions to allow employees to balance their work, other responsibilities and leisure time.

Workplace diversity strategies yield many benefits for organisations and the community: they help to build the organisation’s relationship with the community, enhance the contribution of its employees and improve the quality of its programmes, products and services because it is recognised as an engaged, sympathetic, proactive and trusted organisation.

A starting point for many businesses should be diversity training. This needs to be forward looking and promote a business case for diversity, in which businesses prosper through having a diverse workforce. This business case approach is clearly important in order to obtain senior management buy-in, corporate commitment and also to accelerate the rate of progress.

But diversity does not mean hiring those who are different and then forcing them to behave in the same way. Indeed, the diversity debate has shifted from an ethical obligation relating to nondiscrimination and affirmative action to a business strategy that truly values difference. Business leaders, faced with intense competition in global markets, a global war for talent and increasingly

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sophisticated staff are now focusing on how to leverage diversity as a competitive differentiator.

A good reason to engage with diversity includes a recognition of some of the significant benefits of a diversity strategy, which include the following:

Improved service to customers

A workplace that can reflect both the local community and global markets will understand its customers better, which will in turn lead to improved service. A diverse workplace will have good communication with its customers based on a deep understanding of their needs.

Competitive management practices

Organisations that value and capitalise on employee diversity often have productive and fulfilling workplaces which help them attract and retain employees. This leads to savings in recruitment and training costs, as well as maintaining corporate knowledge and expertise.

Improved employee morale and motivation: A diversity strategy makes work more fun, improves communication between employees and increases people’s feeling of self-worth.

Personal development and education

Promoting and celebrating diversity in the workplace helps to develop many personal attributes of individual people. People begin to appreciate different ways of behaving, different value systems and different personalities. A wider set of experiences feed the mind and help to create better understanding and appreciation of others.

Creating a learning organisation

In line with personal development, a diversity strategy can also help the organisation develop itself and become a dynamic, flexible, learning organisation.

Innovation

A diverse workforce with a range of different backgrounds and perspectives gives organisations a broader range of ideas and insights to draw on in decision making and policy development. Diversity can stimulate creativity, new perspectives and

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alternative values. It creates new opportunities and therefore makes good business sense.

The ability to move into emerging markets So many companies have made mistakes when they have moved into new locations and brought with them inappropriate (and sometimes offensive) cultural norms and values. Disrespect for local culture is something that will not be tolerated any longer. Creating a diverse culture, rather than a monoculture, therefore allows a company to expand in a sensitive way.

Decreased complaints and litigation: The costs to an organisation of an unhappy employee can go far beyond low productivity, high turnover or absenteeism. Increasingly, they may include litigation and damage to corporate reputation and brands. Leading companies in the world already know that diversity is an important part of the wider business strategy and that it can add considerably to workplace efficiency and effectiveness. In short, world class companies celebrate diversity.

Indeed, diversity is central to internal aspects of corporate social responsibility and helps the company develop an external profile that demonstrates flexibility, inclusiveness and respect for all people.

Having a diversity strategy in the workplace is fun and rewarding. It empowers people, adds to the personal satisfaction of staff and helps to generate increased commitment, productivity and loyalty to the organisation.

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Merrill Lynch on leveraging diversity & inclusion| HR Magazine seized a rare opportunity to speak with Subha Barry, Managing Director and Head of Global Diversity and Inclusion for Merrill Lynch.

DiversityInc recently ranked Merrill Lynch seventh out of the “Top 50 Companies for Diversity.�

Barry shares her candid advice on what HR managers can do to ride out the current economic contraction by incorporating diversity and inclusion in their organisations.

Have you found that there are any specific challenges in implementing Diversity and Inclusion programmes in Asia?

When we launched our Global Diversity and Inclusion program in 2005, I came to Hong Kong with the understanding that the way that diversity issues play out in the Pac Rim region may be very different to how they play out in the United States.

What might this current economic climate mean for employee development programmes in Hong Kong?

What is important in a time like this is that all the

HR managers in Hong Kong should try to collaborate in this group challenge. Group diversity needs to be nurtured and refined.

Very often it is during downturns that a lot of good work that has been done and progress that has been made gets undone, and if we can have collaboration maybe there are certain sectors that are less affected. Those sectors that are less affected, and the ability for us to make sure those sectors continue to nurture talent and are able to do more hiring, will enable good talent to find a home.

Do you feel that Hong Kong has an advantage for this type of cooperation over other financial centers in Asia?

For this kind of collaboration Hong Kong can be a model. Because unlike the other countries in the Pacific rim where business tends to be very spread out and regional, in Hong Kong businesses are very close to each other.

Hong Kong itself can decide that it will be the leader, the pioneer, the role model to show the rest of the Pacific rim how to do this.

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Aside from the evident positive branding and CSR promotion that companies who invest in Diversity attain how else might companies benefit?

I am going to tell you something very simple.

Diversity has long stopped being a good thing to do, or a nice thing to do, or something you do just to build good will. It is smart business, whether it is direct development because you are building diverse communities or whether it is talent that you are trying to engage, it is something that sets you apart and gives you an edge.

How can having a well-defined Diversity program help companies to improve their business practices?

The reason you want to create a diverse environment is because you want people from those communities to feel like they could come and work in your company and know that they have as good an opportunity to rise and succeed as anybody else.

When it comes to my company, and looking at the competition, then my company obviously has a builtin advantage—a competitive advantage.

In what way does having a diversity and inclusion hiring policy affect your companies talent pool?

If you take people with disabilities as an example, you stop looking at them just as disabled people and you start looking at them with people with unique abilities, because that is one of the things that they discovered: people who have disabilities have some very powerful compensating abilities and the opportunity that this gives to companies like Merrill Lynch is to hire them for their abilities and not just judge them for their disabilities. If we are able to do this better than the competition then we are probably going to have an advantage in terms of looking at talent.

Do you see this as a growing trend in HR? I am of the opinion that more and more companies will see the opportunity that sets us apart. I truly believe that there will be a sense of competition around it.

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Subha Barry, Managing Director and Head of Global Diversity and Inclusion for Merrill Lynch

In what way do you feel Merrill Lynch’s merger with Bank of America will affect Merrill’s existing diversity and inclusion policy?

I actually think that the merger with Bank of America will be very positive for our diversity and inclusion program. Bank of America in the US has a very well defined, well-evolved policy and programme around diversity and inclusion and I am confident absolutely that we will be supported in that. In the US they have done a lot that we can learn from so it’s going to be a win-win situation.

Do you have any final advice for HR managers on how Diversity and Inclusion programmes might help their organisations?

Again, if we can start thinking about creating inclusion as being something that is a smart business decision, it is time for the dialogue to evolve from the political correctness, etc. to focusing on increasing bottom line revenues and business for the company—that’s where this is headed.

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Recruiting to ensure diversity and inclusion| Kate Vernon, Managing Director of Community Business gives her take on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in the workplace.

What do you think are the greatest challenges facing HR managers in Asia?

Companies in Asia are faced by an acute war for resources so they need to ensure that they attract and retain the best talent—no matter what shape or form that comes in. That means they need to develop diversity strategies and policies that help create an inclusive workplace where all can contribute. We have found through our work that key diversity issues in this region focus on issues such as developing Asian talent, progressing women in the workplace and addressing the ageing

workforce. Companies in Asia are not doing enough to develop Asian leaders—particularly those who can lead regionally and globally. With regard to women in the workplace, despite claims of equal opportunities, the participation rate of women at senior levels is low—companies need to do more to retain and empower female talent. Companies are not yet addressing the impact of the ageing workforce—yet this is an issue that will challenge all companies within the next decade or so.

These issues were addressed at our third Diversity & Inclusion in Asia Conference held

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in November in Hong Kong. The Following is an Extract from Community Business 2007 Report— Diversity Priorities in Asia: Challenges and Actions to Impact Change

Background

Community Business, a leader in the field of workplace diversity in Asia, is dedicated to understanding the challenges and issues facing companies operating in this region. It is the organiser of the Diversity & Inclusion in Asia Conference, which was first held in 2005, then in June 2007 and in November 2008. The conference attracts over 200 delegates from across the region: a combination of senior business leaders and human resource professionals from the corporate sector across Asia. The companies represented are primarily multinational companies operating in Asia.

A key component of the conference programme is a facilitated discussion where delegates are given the opportunity to engage in structured dialogue with their peers.

Key D&I issues explored by delegates at the 2007 Conference: 1. the priority diversity issue for their organisation in Asia from the four diversity themes presented at the conference: gender, culture, disability and generation;

2. the specific challenges relating to the diversity issue that they said was their top priority and the countries most affected by this issue;

3. the specific actions they believe their company can take to impact change in this area.

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Key D&I issues and recommendations from community business

As in 2005, in 2007, culture and gender were identified as the most pressing diversity issues for many western multinationals operating in Asia. In 2007, participants were much more vocal about the lack of support for Asian leadership in the region and were clearly frustrated by the lack of progress in this area. In terms of gender, many companies in Asia continue to struggle with getting more women in leadership positions.

It is interesting that generational issues are challenging a significant number of companies in the region. They see the business case for appealing to the young—particularly in terms of being an employer of choice, and appreciate the need to understand the demands of Generation Y. Disappointingly however, the issue of disability still remains on the fringe of corporate discussions and was evidenced by the small number of companies that cited this as a priority in their Asia operations.

For each of the issues discussed, participants raised the importance of senior leadership commitment.

Leadership backing is more likely to bring an integration of diversity into business, a change in corporate culture and a commitment of resources.

Leadership needs to understand also that even with the best possible intentions, strategies and resources go only part way. What is needed over time is for leadership in Asia to be diverse in itself—particularly in terms of having Asian and female representation.

Traditional, often outdated, attitudes prevail in many workplaces in Asia—be it the view of Asian people as future leaders, women in leadership positions, young people as having inappropriate work styles or stigma around people with disabilities.

More work needs to be done to break down these stereotypes. Training is used as a change agent but often fails in delivery in Asia as its focus and development is often US or Europe-centric. What is needed is a concerted effort for companies to engage experts from Asia in developing such programmes. In addition, mentoring can be used much more in Asia to impact change in attitudes and behaviour.

For some companies, investing in the development of local employees, women, young people or people

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with disabilities can be challenging and can represent a certain level of risk—hence their reluctance to do so. We heard that in some cases there is a lack of willingness to address the challenges head on and assign the necessary resources. However these companies are being myopic in their focus and will inevitably lose out to those employers who are committed to operating a system of meritocracy— where it is essential to attract, recruit and retain the best regardless of any form.

In Asia some processes may need to be adapted to accommodate more flexible requirements of women in leadership, more informal ways of working may need to be introduced to harness the energies of the younger generation, or workplace adjustments might need to be made to ensure the productivity of people with disabilities. All of this requires leadership commitment, a change of corporate culture, investment of time and resources. It requires a process of stakeholder engagement and a genuine dedication to create an inclusive environment where all individuals can realise their full potential.

With it comes creativity and fresh perspectives— one of the greatest values of diversity. The companies that are prepared to turn risk into opportunity will be the winners in the war for talent and leaders in our global economy.

In what way do policies of D&I benefit companies who integrate them?

More diverse organisations equate to greater business success. This is on several levels.

From a commercial perspective, companies need to reflect the diversity of the global market place they are serving. For example, organisations that hire more Asian talent are likely to benefit from greater knowledge of the Asia market.

Secondly, if they are to be an employer of choice and attract the best and brightest talent they need to create inclusive workplaces for all employees— whether it is for women, people from a certain ethnic group, young, old, straight or gay or disabled employees. Such an environment leads to greater staff engagement and loyalty.

Thirdly it is well recognised that greater diversity of thought that comes with a diversified talent pool,

promotes creativity and innovation—and that’s critical in today’s fast moving business environment.

For example, companies that encourage greater participation from women may benefit from softer skills deemed critical for the future workplace including: teamwork, collaboration, relationship building, etc. Organisations that encourage greater engagement of Gen-Y may be exposed to new ways of thinking and working.

How can companies work together further to advance these D&I interests?

To date, little research has been done on these issues in Asia. Community Business is proactive in this field and is working with leading companies to explore the issues in Asia. It is important for companies to collaborate with one another, engage in dialogue, share experiences, both good and bad, and share best practices in this field.

How can HR Directors approach reluctant CEOs and convince them to adopt this element into a company’s overall business strategy?

The HR Director must clearly demonstrate the business case for diversity to help bring the CEO on board. They could also refer to successful examples in other companies to help substantiate their case.

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Spotlight on references| Obligations and risks for employers.

By Pattie Walsh, Partner and Head of Asia Pacific —Employment, Pensions and Benefits, DLA Piper

It is common for employers to receive requests for the provision of a reference when an employee is leaving, or has left, the company. References are of benefit to both employees and employers operating in the labour market. It is important that employers are aware of their rights, obligations and the potential risks that are involved when providing references to employees or a third party.

Legal obligation to provide references

There is no general legal obligation for employers to provide references, however some industries may require the provision of prescribed information as part of their compliance obligations. Any refusal by an employer to provide a reference should not be made on a discriminatory basis—gender, race, marital status, pregnancy, family status or disability.

Furthermore, not providing a reference because of complaints regarding alleged discrimination could amount to an act of victimisation.

If an employer chooses to provide a reference, they must ensure that the information provided is accurate and not misleading. Inaccurate or misleading information could expose an employer to legal action for reimbursement of economic loss by the employee and potentially by the company or individual who relied on the reference.

In the 1994 English House of Lords case of Spring v Guardian Assurance plc & others, an employee brought a claim in respect of a reference that was negligently provided by his previous employer. The reference described him as "a man of little or no integrity and could not be regarded as honest.". As a result of this reference, the employee had difficulties obtaining employment. The House of Lords held that if an employer is prepared to provide a reference, the employer owes a duty of care in its preparation because the employer possesses special knowledge of the employee's character, skill and diligence during employment. Accordingly, the reference should be accurate, honest and not negligently written. The House of Lords held that it was reasonably foreseeable that damage would be suffered if the reference was prepared without reasonable care. Furthermore, it was held that there was enough "proximity" between the provider of the reference and the employee to permit the recovery of the employee's economic loss. It is likely that this authority would be followed in Hong Kong.

Information included in references

There are no legal requirements as to what should or should not be included in a reference, however, in light of the decision in Spring, employers may prefer to keep the reference succinct. Some employers only

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provide information relating to the employee's job title and the period of employment with the company. If an employer wishes to include additional information, care should be taken to ensure that the content is accurate.

When considering the content of the reference, employers should be aware that an employee can make a data access request under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PD(P)O) for a copy of the reference. The only exemption from the requirement to provide a copy of a reference is limited to personal references and only until the individual has been informed about the outcome of their application for a new role. Therefore, where an employer provides the reference on the company's behalf, the reference will fall outside the scope of the exemption and will need to be disclosed to the employee.

Where a personal reference is provided, it should be made clear that it does not represent the views of the company and is provided in a personal capacity only. To avoid confusion, the personal reference should not be printed on the company's letterhead.

In contrast, if the reference is provided on the company's behalf, it should be printed with the company's letterhead and signed by a person with the authority to provide such a reference.

in any proceedings for a breach of the PD(P)O. The Code recommends that references should only be provided if the employee has consented or if a third party requesting the reference has obtained the prior consent of the employee.

Top tips for handling reference requests 1. Keep proper employment records including the employees' commencement dates, employment contracts and payroll records, to ensure that the facts stated in the references are true and accurate.

2. Consider implementing a reference policy, which contains a consistent approach to the handling of references—including the contents of the reference and who will have authority to sign. Put in place a review mechanism whereby the contents of references can be checked to ensure they are true and accurate.

PD(P)O obligations

When providing a reference to an ex-employee's potential new employer, an employer should be aware of its obligations under Data Protection Principle 3 of the PD(P)O. This requires that personal data must not be used by an employer for any purpose other than the purpose for which the data was to be used at the time of collection, without the employee's consent. This consent should be broad enough to cover provision of specific information, such as the employee's salary. Failure to adhere to this requirement may render the employer in breach of the PD(P)O and the ex-employee may bring a civil action seeking compensation or file a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner.

The Privacy Commissioner has issued guidelines for the provision of references under the Code of Practice on Human Resource Management. Although the Code does not have the force of law, a failure to adhere to its terms will adversely affect the employer

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3. Ensure that members of staff are aware that if they provide references in their personal capacity, such references should make it clear that they do not represent the views of the company and are not printed on the letterhead of the company.

4. Before providing a reference to an exemployee's potential employer, obtain the prescribed consent of the employee.

In particular, ascertain what facts can or cannot be disclosed to the potential employer in the reference. A written record of this to guide those providing references would be recommended.

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Avoiding liability when giving references| employers should and should not do when providing a reference and the legal issues they should bear in mind when doing so.

Types of reference

A reference may: • be provided by a previous employer as a corporate reference; • be given by a director, manager or senior member of the ex-employer for whom the employee worked; or • a personal reference.

Richard Bates, Partner, Kennedys

Most employers know they should be careful when giving a reference for a current or ex-employee (both referred to as an “employee” for the purposes of this article). Employers are usually concerned about exposing themselves to liability to the recipient of the reference. They may also be worried about being liable to the employee if they give a poor reference and the employee fails to get the new job. This article provides guidance on what

It is important to make clear what type of reference is being given. An employer is legally responsible for a reference given on its behalf. If the reference is given on headed notepaper or makes reference to the job title and work the employee carried out for the employer, the implication will be that it is provided on behalf of the employer and is not a personal reference. Employers should therefore have a policy of who can give references on their behalf, for example only senior managers or above, and require references to be ‘cleared’ by the human resources department before being given.

Refusal to give a reference

In the absence of an express provision in the employment contract or elsewhere to which the employer has agreed, an employer is under no legal obligation to provide a reference. That being said, a refusal to do so may lead to allegations of discrimination by the employee, e.g. that the employer’s failure to provide a reference is based on grounds such as sex, disability or family status.

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An employee could also argue that refusal by the employer to give them a reference is a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence that is present in every employment relationship. Employers should also bear in mind that regulatory authorities are sometimes entitled to demand references to ensure, for example, that a particular employee is ‘fit and proper’ to take up a particular role. This may extend to a right for a prospective employer to require a reference from the current employer for example, if both employers are regulated by the same regulator and subject to the same regulatory requirements or code of practice, see the Legal & General case discussed below.

Even if there is no obligation to provide a reference an employer will often agree to do so. Employers tend to feel they have a moral obligation to provide a reference since without it the employee may not be able to obtain other employment. In addition, employers sometimes enter into compromise agreements in order to settle disputes with departing employees. Compromise agreements commonly include a term agreeing that the employer will provide a reference and what that will say.

In general, it is better for employers to have a written human resources policy dealing with references setting out who may give them and what they should and should not say.

1. Liability to the employee For negligence

It is long established law that employers owe their employees a duty to take reasonable care in the preparation of a reference and will be liable to the employee in negligence if it fails to do so and that employee suffers financial loss as a result. The case that is usually cited as putting matters beyond doubt is Lawton v. BOC Transhield Ltd. [1987]. It was in this case where the court extended for the first time the negligent misstatement principles established in the famous case of Hedley Byrne & Co. Ltd. v. Heller & Partners Ltd. [1963] to the giving of references for employees. Lawton was reaffirmed by the English House of Lords in Spring v. Guardian Assurance plc [1994]. This case also confirmed that holding employers liable in such a way was not contrary

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to public policy on the ground that it might inhibit the giving of full and frank references. As the court said in the Spring case, there is nothing to stop a person giving a reference from disclaiming liability for it and therefore preventing a duty of care from arising. A reference may be given either during or after employment. An employer certainly owes its employees a duty of care to take reasonable care when providing them with a reference whilst they are employed. This duty may in certain circumstances apply even after the employee ceases to be employed.

False and negligent statements

In the case of Legal & General Assurance Limited v. Kirk [2001] an ex-employee attempted to go one step further and argue that his previous employer owed him a duty not to make false and negligent statements even where he had not asked for, and, quite strangely, not been provided with. a reference. The facts of Kirk were as follows.

Legal & General (“L&G”) employed Mr Kirk as a financial consultant. After his employment ended L&G claimed Mr. Kirk owed it GBP7,500. Mr. Kirk denied he owed L&G anything and counterclaimed for commission he said was due to him. He also claimed that in wrongly claiming that he owed it a debt, L&G was in breach of a duty of care not to make false and negligent statements about him as such statements prevented him from obtaining other employment as a salesman of life assurance and other financial products. This was because the rules of the Life Assurance and Unit Trust Organisation, and its successor, the Personal Investment Authority, required that before appointing a person as a representative a member should obtain appropriate references and that a member should not appoint a person unless it was satisfied that the applicant did not owe an “industry debt” in excess of GBP1,000. In short, Mr Kirk did not ask for a reference because he knew it would refer to the industry debt he owed L&G and therefore would have inevitably led to his rejection as a candidate for an appointment. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument holding that in order for Spring to apply and Mr. Kirk to have a claim for

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negligent misstatement there had to be an actual statement made. L&G had not given Mr. Kirk a reference and consequently no one, including Mr. Kirk, had relied on such a reference and suffered damages as a result.

Defamation and malicious falsehood

If the employer gets its facts wrong and that damages the reputation of the employee it may amount to defamation. This will usually be libel, if the reference is in writing, but a verbal reference may constitute slander if the employee can establish what was said and that it was not true.

References are normally privileged (and therefore should be marked as such) and cannot form the basis of a claim for defamation but privilege is, broadly speaking, lost, and a claim for defamation not possible, if the person giving the reference is malicious or knows or has reason to believe the relevant statement was untrue. If an employee can prove the person giving the reference has indeed made an untrue statement about him or her and also that this has been made maliciously, the employee may also have a claim for malicious

falsehood. It is therefore essential that the person giving a reference must reasonably believe the content of the reference to be true.

Constructive dismissal

Finally, a breach of the duty to provide a fair, accurate and not misleading reference may, if it occurs whilst the employee is still employed and is sufficiently serious, give rise to a right for that employee to leave and claim constructive dismissal.

2. Liability to other persons

It is also likely that the employer’s liability when giving a reference extends to third parties, such as a new employer, who relies on the reference.

Negligent misstatement and deceit

This is the principal cause of action a third party will have against an employer if it is in breach of its duty to third parties to ensure that any reference it gives is accurate and the third party relies on that reference. Providing incorrect information knowing that it is incorrect may also give rise to a claim for the tort of deceit.

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What type of things should an employer say when giving a reference?

The test can probably best be summarised as an obligation to ensure that any reference it may give is true, fair and accurate and does not give a misleading impression.

Fact and opinion

Reference letters usually contain a combination of facts and opinions. For example, “Ms X was employed by the Company as a senior manager from January 2001 to April 2007 and is a hardworking and conscientious employee”. It is clear that when giving this sort of reference not only must the employer ensure that it has got its facts right but also that any opinions expressed in the reference are reasonably held in all relevant circumstances.

employer does not have a genuine and reasonable belief in the employee’s guilt may give rise to a right for that employee to claim against the employer.

Data privacy

Information about the employee contained in a reference is almost certain to constitute personal information of the employee. Employers need to be aware of their obligations under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (the “PDO”) in respect of such personal information. A detailed consideration of the PDO is outside the scope of this article but employers should:

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ensure that they have notified the employee that his or her personal information may be used for the purpose of providing a reference;

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check that any personal information which is provided is no more than is reasonably required for the purpose of providing the reference; and

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ensure any personal information which is provided is correct and up to date.

Specific details

Generally employers can work on the basis that they are under no obligation to include specific details or to ensure that the reference is comprehensive, provided it is true, fair and accurate and not misleading. In a broad manner of speaking, an employer is free to provide a simple factual reference, although if it has a policy of only providing such references, it should say so to avoid prospective employers from assuming this is because a positive reference cannot be given.

Disciplinary proceedings and misconduct A question that is often asked is whether the employer is required to mention either misconduct or disciplinary proceedings, either ongoing or past, or both. Failing to include information about any disciplinary proceedings would probably not be fair or accurate and would give a misleading impression to the prospective employer unless the employer makes clear that its policy is only to provide a factual reference confirming, for example, that the employee was employed and their job title.

Conversely, referring to an employee’s misconduct where the employer has no proof of such misconduct, or where a full investigation has not been carried out or, at the very least, where the

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There are also specific provisions governing access rights to personal references. In short, an employee is not entitled to see their reference until after they have been accepted or rejected for the relevant position, but after that they will be able to see what the person providing the reference said about them.

An employee who claims his or her reference is inaccurate is entitled under section 22 of the PDO to request that the employer corrects such inaccuracy.

The employer is then required, assuming it agrees the reference is incorrect, to provide the employee with a copy of the corrected reference within 40 days of such request.

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Re-hire Costs—New employers who have relied on a negligent reference will be likely to claim the costs of hiring, dismissing and finding a replacement for an unsuitable employee.

Financial Loss—If an employee has been dismissed for dishonesty, but this fact is not mentioned in their reference and they repeat the offence whilst at a new employer, damages might well extend to the financial loss that such new employer suffers as a result of hiring the dishonest employee.

There are now specialist firms who offer to obtain copies of references from previous employers so employees can make sure what is being said about them is correct and reasonable. They will also testify for the employee in court if the reference is inaccurate or negligently given and the employer refuses to correct it.

Summary

Employers should bear the following points in mind when giving a reference:

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An employer is not obliged to give a reference unless there is an express provision in the relevant employment contract or elsewhere requiring it to do so.

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If an employer does give a reference it is under a duty of care to ensure that the information in such reference is correct, that any opinions expressed are reasonable in all the circumstances and the reference is not misleading.

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If an employer is in any way concerned about giving a reference or the information or opinions expressed in such reference it should state the reference is given “without liability”.

Would they be good for the new job?

Ideally the employer should avoid commenting on the suitability of the employee for the new job. The employer will usually have little if any information on what the new job entails and any such opinion is likely to be extremely subjective and therefore more difficult to justify as reasonable.

Damages

Loss of Salary—Getting it wrong can be expensive.

An employee is likely to claim the loss of salary suffered as a result of a prospective employer deciding not to employ them because of a negligent reference. In an extreme case, an individual might become virtually unemployable as a result of a negligent reference and damages would then be much higher.

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Disclaimers

If employers are concerned about the effectiveness of disclaiming liability they can rest assured. As far back as Hedley Byrne the courts accepted that it is possible to exclude the implied duty of care that arises when one person makes a statement that others may rely on by stating that it is given without liability and should not be relied upon. However, employers should make sure that any such a disclaimer of liability:

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is as clear as possible;

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excludes liability to anyone else who might seek to rely on the reference; and

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•

excludes the liability of not only the employer but also its directors, officers and employees.

Disclaiming liability to the employee is more problematic. It would require the employee to agree to the disclaimer and few employers feel comfortable asking their employees to do so. Even then such disclaimer would be subject to challenge on the grounds it is not reasonable. For those reasons employers seldom bother. Nevertheless, hopefully by adding a disclaimer to third parties employers will feel free to provide full and frank references that tell prospective employers what they really need to know. After all, recruitment can be a lengthy and expensive process and anything that makes that process easier is to be welcomed.

Decruitment

Don’t ask, Don’t tell|

When to give and not give reasons for terminating the employment of staff.

By Michael Downey, Hong Kong and China Employment Law Group

Introduction

It is commonplace for employees to give positive reasons for handing in their resignation. It is only after the employee has long departed that the company learns that the real reason for the resignation was quite different from the reason given at the exit interview. In a similar way employers are often unsure how far they should go in giving reasons for terminating an employee’s employment.

This article will provide guidance concerning when to give reasons and also when not to give reasons when terminating the employment of staff.

At law no reasons need to be given

The law does not require an employer to give reasons for terminating an employee’s employment.

An employer simply needs to give the requisite notice—or a payment in lieu of such notice—and the employment contract will be regarded as having been lawfully terminated.

When should an employer give reasons?

There are many circumstances when an employer should give the actual reasons for termination. The failure to give reasons (or the actual reasons) may result in the employer being legally disadvantaged as the following examples illustrate:

Giving reasons to avoid a claim of unreasonable dismissal Cynthia has been employed by New World Tours since 2003. Over the last six months Cynthia’s performance had noticeably declined by reason that she continually engaged in arguing with her new supervisor. In

the event of Cynthia’s employer terminating her employment it would be advisable for her employer to record the reasons for the termination, i.e. lack of cooperation on her part, in her termination letter.

This is because in the event of Cynthia lodging a claim for unreasonable dismissal under Part VI(A) of the Employment Ordinance a court would place much more reliance on reasons that were given at the time of the termination, and the response, if any, that Cynthia made, as compared with any reasons that may be given by her employer for the first time in the court room. It should be noted in passing that generally only those employees who have been employed for more than two years but less than five years may make a claim for unreasonable dismissal under Part VIA of the Employment Ordinance.

Avoid giving the wrong reasons

Nestor is employed as a senior Vice-President by Picking Limited. Recently it was discovered that Nestor had been engaging in serious corrupt activities during the course of his employment. The company informed Nestor that it if he agreed to resign the company would issue him with a reference stating that his employment had been terminated by Picking Ltd by reason of a management reshuffle. After his employment was terminated, Nestor claimed HKD390,000 in long service payment from his employer arguing that his employment had been terminated as a result of managerial changes and not in any way related to any alleged misconduct on his part. In this example, Nestor has a very good chance of succeeding in his claim by reason that his employer gave a wrong reason for why his employment was terminated.

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When should an employer not give reasons?

There may be some situations in which it is advisable for an employer not to give any reasons for terminating the employment of an employee as the following examples illustrate:

To protect secrecy

Winnie is employed by Central Drive Limited. The company has obtained conclusive proof that Winnie has been passing the employer’s confidential information to a competitor. The company wants to summarily dismiss Winnie but does not want to inform her of the reasons in order not to alert the competitor against whom the company is considering taking legal action. So long as Winnie’s employer has sufficient proof of her wrongdoing there is no corresponding requirement in law that her employer must communicate the reasons for termination of her employment. It is only in the event of Winnie challenging her summary dismissal in court that it will be necessary for the employer to disclose its reasons to the court.

Give no reason rather than inventing a reason Gerald has been employed by Samui Tours since 1983. Gerald is almost 60 years of age which means

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he may be required to retire under the terms of his employment. The company wanted to find a younger and less expensive employee to fill his position. The company required Gerald to retire informing him that his position was being closed down.

Soon after his employment was terminated Gerald discovered that his position had not in fact been closed down and the real reason his employment was terminated was that he was too expensive to continue to employ. Gerald wants now to commence legal proceedings against the Company to recover unvested pension benefits and unexercised share options that he feels he has been unfairly denied.

Had the employer simply required Gerald to retire without giving any reason it is likely that much of the trouble that the company may not face could have been avoided.

Conclusion

Employers need to be careful when giving reasons for terminating the employment of staff. In some circumstances it is a good practice to give reasons but make sure that the reasons given for termination are the real reasons and not simply a clumsy excuse.

In other cases giving no reason for termination may be much more preferable for the simple reason that the law does not require any such reason to be given.

Decruitment

Exit strategies|

Even in the most attractive working environments where all the best HR practices are followed and every effort is made to retain staff, the time will come when some staff want, or need, to move on. The days or weeks between notification of a resignation, redundancy or termination and an employee’s actual departure can be a time of great awkwardness for both employer and employee. However, handled well, that time can be a precious opportunity for the organisation to gather information and knowledge from the employee. While many organisations focus on knowledge the employee has and the optimum way to pass that knowledge on to a successor, far fewer organisations take the opportunity to find out the specific reasons that led to the employee leaving the organisation. Such information has clear potential value in reducing turnover, fine tuning retention strategies and, possibly, uncovering problems within the organisation. The best way of obtaining that information is through a well conducted exit interview.

Exit interviews are typically the responsibility of HR managers because of their relatively neutral place within organisations. Questions normally focus on the elements of their job the employee found rewarding and frustrating, as well as their reasons for leaving the organisation. While many organisations recognise the potential value of an exit interview, they are reluctant to utilise them as a tool, perhaps fearing awkwardness should the departing employee dissolve into tears or let loose with recriminations and spite. Other organisations avoid exit interviews because it can be difficult to know what, if anything, to do with the results. Negative feedback can be hard to take and it can be a challenge to know what action is necessary after damning comments have been received.

Finally, exit interviews can be time consuming and many organisations would rather their overstretched HR Department devote time to remaining employees rather than “wasting time� on people who have already decided to leave.

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However, most leading companies in the United States have recognised the importance of exit interviews as part of their overall approach to HR. There is a broad recognition that if they are well structured and conducted in a fashion that demonstrates a willingness to respect, listen to and deal with the issues raised by the departing employee, the exit interview can achieve a number of objectives beyond the obvious information acquired:

•

When a departing employee is someone the organisation is sorry to lose, exit interviews can identify ways that the organisation could retain similar employees in the future. Equally, the exit interview provides a final opportunity to counter offer (if it seems likely that the employee may be willing to reconsider their position).

•

No company wants to believe that it has serious problems. However, if there are serious issues of staff mismanagement or impropriety, the exit interview is one of the few opportunities to acquire that information. Psychologically, a departing employee is more likely to be a whistleblower than one planning to stay in your organisation and it would be far better that information of serious problems in your company be passed on internally and dealt with before the employee departs, rather than passed on to third parties later on.

•

Exit interviews also provide an opportunity to remove any remaining negative effect held by the departing employee. By making peace with the employee, any wish for retribution the employee may have held can be minimised.

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•

Exit interviews can also create a positive image of your company in the eyes of remaining employees. They suggest that the company cares about its employees and deals sympathetically with their concerns.

However, even if the importance of exit interviews is acknowledged, the best way to conduct the interviews remains a contentious issue. Essentially the main choice is between a face-to-face interview and a questionnaire.

Questionnaires, whether paper or electronic, can be more convenient to administer and are less time consuming. Further, they may be less confronting for employees who are uncomfortable with a face-to-face interview. However, incomplete or vague questionnaire responses can make interpretation difficult. Face-to-face interviews provide much greater opportunity to probe important issues, clarify and specify areas of concern and demonstrate understanding of the employee’s point of view but are time consuming. If time allows, combining the questionnaire and interview formats can be useful. Providing the employee with the questions prior to the exit interview will increase the likelihood of obtaining well thought out responses. It will also supply a structure to the interview without which it may consist of vague, short or disconnected responses.

A final consideration is that conducting an exit interview at the time the employee is leaving the company may not be the best way of obtaining accurate or truthful answers to the questions you pose. Most career advisors advocate approaching an exit interview just like a job interview. Employees are advised to keep information general so as to avoid burning bridges with the company. Employees may also be concerned that negative information they relate may be passed on to their manager or other individuals concerned. That can be particularly problematic if the departing employee wants to use that individual as a referee. Where possible, it can be more constructive and informative to conduct an exit interview after a period of time has elapsed. They may feel more comfortable in making disclosures once they have obtained other employment and are less worried about what their former boss could tell potential employees.

Decruitment

Outsourcing decruitment| HR Magazine spoke with Ritchie Bent, Group Head of Human Resources for Jardines about options available to HR for outsourcing decruitment.

Following layoffs, companies can use outplacement companies such as DBM, who will come in after staff have been released with statutory payments and help you find those staff new careers outside of the original company. Now that’s a very powerful thing because that person goes away resenting it at first, but later they realise that the company is doing something above and beyond what they need to do. So I think outplacement companies play a very important role because outplacement impacts the morale of the people who remain behind as they then realise that the company looks after them. In terms of companies that need to get rid of two thousand employees, I don’t think companies can abdicate responsibility for that, I think they have to be in charge of it ultimately. But I think getting companies that can help place these staff somewhere else is a good thing—it’s the “human” part of Human Resources. A great example of the importance of the “human side” of HR from Jardines’ perspective can be found when we recently closed the Mandarin Oriental down for renovation. That was a USD142 million renovation, and we had 593 staff who we had to lay off for a year. Now we didn’t want to lose those staff, so we redeployed all of them across the group for a year. This did two things: firstly, employees thought, I like the Mandarin, I’m going to go back to a brand spanking new hotel, and secondly, those staff have taken 5-star customer service skills and been able to transfer them to other companies in the group where they were redeployed such as Pizza Hut, Jardine Airport Services and Dairy Farm. So it was a win-win all the way round, and

then virtually all of them, almost without exception, went back to the Mandarin which is filled up again with the same people it had previously. This for me is an example where its not being ‘soft’ it’s being commercially astute by being people-oriented and it makes a huge amount of commercial sense.

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Recruiter overview General Recruiters|

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Executive Recruiters|

217

Specialist Recruiters|

223

Mobile Recruitment Services|

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Recruiter Matrix|

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Adecco Personnel Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

The Adecco Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is the world’s leading provider of HR solutions. With close to 32,000 FTE employees and more than 5,500 offices, in over 60 countries and territories around the world, Adecco Group offers a wide variety of services, connecting more than 600,000 associates with over 100,000 clients every day. The services offered fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing, consulting and outplacement. The Adecco Group is a Fortune Global 500 company.

Website Email

Audreu Low (852) 2895 2616 (852) 2895 3571 12/F, 26/F, Fortis Tower, 77-79 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong www.adecco.com.hk hongkong@adecco.com

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services We serve not only general staffing but also professional selection. Our separate division of professional selection enables us to concentrate and distribute industry insight, best practice and new initiatives, and to take full advantage of the local depth.

Adecco has been helping businesses develop short-time to long-term recruitment strategies and secure the employees best qualified to meet the unique challenges they face. With our proven experience, extensive resources and expert recruitment solutions, we connect clients with the people they need, and people with the work they want.

Key Recruitment Areas • Accounting & Finance Banking • Events & Exhibition • Office & Industrial • Sales & Marketing • Merchandising & Logistics • Japanese/French Position • Information Technology • Executive Search • Property & Real Estate • Japanese Speakers

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Bernard Hodes Group Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

Bernard Hodes Group has Asia Pacific hub offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai with a global network of offices and partner agencies across the region and across the world.

Website

Email

Mr Chris Plowman (852) 2598 1362 (852) 2598 1801 Suite 1501, Cityplaza Four, 12 Taikoo Wan Road, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong www.hodes.com.hk www.hodes.com www.hodes.com/global cplowman@hk.hodes.com

A proven 16-year history in the region, longer than any other similar agency/consultancy, with a portfolio of work for local, regional and multinational major-name clients. Winners of numerous creative awards including two first places in the Global Communications category of the Creative Excellence Awards (US) and a finalist in the JC Decaux MTR advertising awards in 2010.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Consulting, Client Service, Channel/Media Advice & Buying, Creative Copywriting, Design and Production Services, relating to branding and communications to support talent attraction and retention strategies. Employee and Candidate Research, Employee Value Proposition Development, and Employer Brand Communications development/implementation and measurement. Internal Employee Engagement Communications development and implementation.

Key Recruitment Areas • Supporting Human Resources, Resourcing and Corporate • Communications teams across all industry sectors with Recruitment • Communications and Marketing services to support talent attraction and retention strategies

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

ConnectedGroup Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Adam Edwards (Managing Director) Telephone (852) 3972 5888 Fax (852) 3972 5897 Address 19/F, Silver Fortune Plaza, 1 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong Website www.connectedgroup.com Email infoHK@connectedgroup.com

With over 14 years experience in executive recruitment, contingent resourcing and retained search, ConnectedGroup has developed a portfolio of people-centric solutions around the needs of its clients.

Built on a foundation of providing research driven executive search assignments, ConnectedGroup has evolved into a full service human capital consulting business.

Our offices in Asia and the Middle East 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 industries.

We measure ourselves both internally and externally against our core values of being candid, creative and connected in order to reach our ultimate goal which is to be remembered for exceeding expectations.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services ConnectedGroup’s core businesses are focused around the attraction, development and management of talent and cover executive search, executive recruitment, human resource consulting and recruitment process outsourcing.

The four divisions operate independently of each other and can be integrated to provide seamless solutions when required.

Key Recruitment Areas • Banking • Insurance • Information • Technology • Professional Services • Resources • Media • Retail • Healthcare • Fashion • Property • Construction & Engineering • Government, Public Sector & Education • Industrial & Manufacturing • Legal • Hospitality & Tourism

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General Recruiters|

Gemini Personnel Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Janis Lee Telephone (852) 3552 9139 (Executive Division) (852) 3552 9129 (Permanent Division) (852) 3552 9159 (Temporary Division) (852) 3552 9100 (Administration) Fax (852) 2810 6467 Address 6/F, ING Tower, 308 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong Website www.gemini.com.hk Email gemhq@gemini.com.hk

Gemini Personnel was founded in 1983 and has since become synonymous with delivering sustainable client driven human capital management solutions to a wide spectrum of clientele across Asia. With a breadth of experience in unique international staffing markets, we have developed a service offering that brings regional expertise direct to our clients operations without the need to source from multiple vendors.

Gemini has since grown to become one of the largest recruitment companies in Hong Kong with substantial operations in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Thailand and Singapore. As a member of the USA based National Personnel Associates Network, our services span the globe.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Gemini Personnel provides comprehensive assistance to companies seeking staff from temporary placements through to executive search and selection. Gemini’s Search and Recruitment Consultants are highly experienced in recruitment consultancy and possess specific industry knowledge.

Key Recruitment Areas • Construction and Property • Merchandising • IT & Telecom • Industrial Manufacturing • Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) • Financial Services • Electronics • Entertainment & Hospitality • Professional Services • Logistics

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Hays HK Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

We are the experts in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of specialised industries and professions. We operate across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments.

Website Email

Abigail Tannis (852) 2521 3296 (852) 2521 8499 Unit 5805 – 07, 58/F, The Center, 99 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong www.hays.com.hk Abigail.tannis@hays.com.hk

At Hays, we believe the right job can transform a person’s life and the right person can transform a business. We’re passionate about connecting our candidates with the right job for them. This ensures a highly focused, fully tailored service. That’s why, for over 33 years, we’ve powered the world of work.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Hays HR understands that HR professionals are critical to the future growth of any company. Our deep expertise allows us to source talented professionals at all levels, with a particular focus on senior managers and directors. We’ll work with you throughout the recruitment process to ensure we put you in touch with more high quality candidates than any other recruitment consultancy.

Key Recruitment Areas • Senior HR generalists • Specialists in compensation & benefits • Learning & development • Talent management • Change management and recruitment

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General Recruiters|

Hong Kong Recruitment Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 3173 8714 Fax (852) 3015 1219 Address 50 Stanley Street, World Trust Tower, 13/F Suite D, Central, Hong Kong Website www.hongkongrecruitment.com Email info@hkrecruitment.com (for general inquiries) talents@hkrecruitment.com (for candidates)

We see our candidates and clients as our partners. Your success is our success.

With strategic alliances with other reputable recruitment agencies in other major world-class cities in China, Singapore and the US, we are confident we’ll be able to offer our clients and candidates an unprecedented level of services and resources.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Our mission is simple. Yours. We see human resources as the most valuable asset a company can ever own. Our experienced consultants (with diverse industry backgrounds) are dedicated to match the best candidate for your company and placing the best and the brightest ones with their ideal jobs.

Key Recruitment Areas As a professional recruitment agency, HKR specialises in recruitment services from entry level to managerial level positions and a broad range of consultation services.

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

HRA Recruitment Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Mike A Rawbone FCIPD; MIoD; MIHRM(HK) Telephone (852) 2735 9961 – 4 Fax (852) 2735 9967 Address Suite 1703, 17th Floor, Silvercord Tower one, 30 Canton Road, TST, Kowloon, Hong Kong Website www.hrahk.com Email group@hrahk.com

HRA Recruitment is the recruitment division of the Human Resources Consultancy-HR Associates (HK) Limited.

Based in HK and with international alliances in Australia, New Zealand; UK; India; China, Singapore & The Middle East, we successfully operate within Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing and the Oil & Gas sectors.

All our recruitment consultants have held senior level (up to board level) appointments within international HR functions or have been line managers from within one or more of the industries we serve.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services We carry out retained search assignments; advertise & select, data base search or large scale bespoke recruitment campaigns.

We recruit at all white collar staff levels (including the service & support functions) from within the industries we serve.

Key Recruitment Areas All professional & qualified staff within our targeted business sectors up to and including Managing Director level appointments.

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General Recruiters|

Hudson Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 2528 1191 Fax (852) 2528 2901 Address Unit 1501-1507, 15/F, Times SquareTower One, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Website hk.hudson.com Email hkresume@hudson.com

Hudson (NASDAQ:HHGP) is a professional recruitment, search, recruitment and talent management solution provider with many of the Global 1000 companies as clients and serving many clients on a multi-national basis.

Hudson employs more than 2,000 staff worldwide, serving clients and candidates, in approximately 20 countries.

In the Asia Pacific region, Hudson is one of the largest professional recruitment firms and has been accredited with the ISO 9001:2008 certification in Hong Kong and Singapore. Multi-lingual consultants have local knowledge and the connections to attract candidates from a vast pool of local professionals. Offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore are supported by the global resources of Hudson.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Hudson offers a comprehensive range of services to ensure clients secure the right person for the job as quickly and efficiently as possible. Through an extensive database of candidates, extensive recruitment advertising experience, a strong internet presence and an established international network, they are able to match qualified individuals with organisations by: • Developing a clear understanding of an organisation—its culture, operations and needs and then identifying qualified candidates • Conducting a rigorous screening process, including reference checking and testing as appropriate; • Supervising each phase in the recruitment process

Key Recruitment Areas • Accounting and finance • Advertising and communications • Banking and financial services • Healthcare and life services • Human Resources • IT&T • Legal • Manufacturing and industrial • Sales and marketing • Supply chain and procurement

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Manpower Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 2525 3513 Fax (852) 2869 4629 Address 21/F., Euro Trade Centre, 21-23 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong Website www.manpower.com.hk Email enquiries@manpower.com.hk

ManpowerGroup® (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, creates and delivers high-impact solutions that enable our clients to achieve their business goals and enhance their competitiveness. With over 60 years of experience, our $19 billion company creates unique time to value through a comprehensive suite of innovative solutions that help clients win in the Human Age. These solutions cover an entire range of talent-driven needs from recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. ManpowerGroup maintains the world's largest and industry-leading network of nearly 3,900 offices in over 80 countries and territories, generating a dynamic mix of an unmatched global footprint with valuable insight and local expertise to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, across all industry sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, local, multinational and global companies. By connecting our deep understanding of human potential to the ambitions of clients, ManpowerGroup helps the organisations and individuals we serve achieve more than they imagined—because their success leads to our success. And by creating these powerful connections, we create power that drives organisations forward, accelerates personal success and builds more sustainable communities. We help power the world of work.

The ManpowerGroup suite of solutions is offered through ManpowerGroup™ Solutions, Manpower®, Experis™ and Right Management®. Learn more about how the ManpowerGroup can help you win in the Human Age at www. manpowergroup.com.

With over 40 years experience locally, Manpower Hong Kong provides suite of innovative solutions that help clients win in the Human Age. Manpower helps both organisations and individuals we serve achieve more than they imagined. More information on Manpower Hong Kong is available at www. manpower.com.hk.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services 6 offices in Hong Kong and Macau: Manpower—providing services in: • Temporary & Contract Staffing • Permanent Recruitment • Accounting • Managed Business Solutions - Managed Services Program - Borderless Talent Solution - Recruitment Process Outsourcing - Talent Based Outsourcing

Key Recruitment Areas The suite of innovative workforce solutions covers an entire range of talentdriven needs from permanent recruitment, contract staffing and assessment, training and development to outsourcing and workforce consulting.

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General Recruiters|

Michael Page International Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

Michael Page International is a leading professional recruitment consultancy specialising in the recruitment of permanent, contract and temporary positions on behalf of the world’s top employers.

Website Email

Anthony Thompson (852) 2848 4700 (852) 2530 6101 Suite 611, One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong www.michaelpage.com.hk anthonythompson @michaelpage.com.hk

The Group operates through 143 offices in 29 countries and has over 4,400 employees worldwide. Our presence in the Asia Pacific region extends across China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Michael Page International focuses on three key levels of recruitment: executive level professionals, qualified professionals and clerical professionals. Our recruitment consultants are specialists in their fields, and are able to offer indepth market knowledge and expert advice to both employers and jobseekers.

Key Recruitment Areas • Accounting • Finance • Banking • Engineering & Manufacturing • Executive Search • HR • IT • Legal • Marketing • Mining & Resources • Procurement & Supply Chain • Property & Construction • Retail • Sales • Secretarial & Office Support

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Morgan McKinley Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 3907 3907 Fax Address Suite 3407, Lippo Centre Tower II, 89 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong Website www.morganmckinley.com.hk Email hk@morganmckinley.com.hk

Since 1988, our business has become synonymous with exceptional levels of service, an in-depth knowledge of our markets, a determination to be the best and above all a proven track record of success.

As a global professional recruitment consultancy, Morgan McKinley connects specialist talent with leading employers across multiple industries and disciplines. Recruiting today’s talent for tomorrow.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services We source the very best talent for leading employers and work in partnership with those employers to ensure an excellent level of service. For permanent, temporary or contract positions; in search of international or local talent; at Board level or junior positions—Morgan McKinley will deliver.

Our clients, including many FTSE 100 and 250 companies, top financial services firms, governmental and ‘third-sector’ organisations and local SMEs, rely on us to support their growth and development plans by recruiting the most suitable professionals for their business.

Key Recruitment Areas • Finance jobs • Accountancy jobs • IT Jobs • HR jobs • Sales and Marketing jobs

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Randstad Hong Kong Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Brien Keegan (General Manager) Telephone (852) 2232 3409 Fax (852) 2501 0900 Address 1501 & 1506 Wheelock House, 20 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong Website www.randstad.com.hk Email brien.keegan@randstad.com.hk

Today, more than ever, organisations want to recruit the right person, first time. Not just the right candidate on paper, but the right fit for their organisation.

At Randstad we think of this as true talent—and everything we do is dedicated to delivering it.

We know that true talent shapes business, but finding it takes specialist market knowledge combined with a genuine understanding of a client’s individual culture. Randstad’s skilled and dedicated team works hard to add value and efficiency, ensuring every candidate we recruit is the right match, and every service we provide is of the highest quality.

Founded in 1960, Randstad is today a global leader in the provision of recruitment & HR services. Covering more than 90% of the global market, we take the lead in ‘Shaping the world of work’, leveraging the true value of human capital here in Hong Kong and across the world.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services • Staffing—temporary/contract and permanent workforce solutions in highvolume industry specialties • Professionals—exclusive recruitment of specialised permanent and contract positions within client organisations • HR Solutions—payroll administration through to major HR and recruitment process outsourcing programs In addition to the above services, randstad offers Executive Search and Inhouse services throughout the APAC region.

Key Recruitment Areas • Accounting • Banking & Finance • Business Support • Construction, Property & Engineering • IT & Telecommunications • Sales & Marketing

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Robert Walters PLC Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 2103 5300 Fax (852) 2103 5301 Address 20/F Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong Website www.robertwalters.com/en-hk Email hongkong@robertwalters.com

Operating across five continents, with 43 offices in 20 countries, Robert Walters plc is a global specialist recruitment and recruitment outsourcing business.

They specialise in permanent and contract recruitment across all industry sectors, and count the world’s leading investment banks and multinational blue-chip commercial organisations as clients. Operating at all levels of seniority, they manage the careers of the best professionals in the accounting, engineering, finance, banking, legal, technology, sales & marketing, HR, supply chain, procurement & logistics, support and administration fields.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Robert Walters in Hong Kong has a well established national network of offices covering both permanent and contract recruitment.

Key Recruitment Areas • Accountancy and finance • Banking and financial services • General management/ consultancy • Human resources • Information technology • Legal • Sales and marketing • Secretarial and business support • Procurement and supply chain

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General Recruiters|

talent2 Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Gina McLellan (Director, Asia) Telephone (852) 3473 3175 Fax (852) 3473 3100 Address 59/F, The Center, 99 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong Website www.talent2.com Email gina.mclellan@talent2.com

talent2 is the leading HR BPO organisation in the Asia Pacific region, working with clients across diverse organisation types and industries to deliver end-to-end people management solutions that put people first. These include HR Advisory, Payroll, Recruitment and Learning.

Our credibility and reputation factor is excellent. We are especially known for our bulletproof capability and strong implementation. talent2 was founded in 2003, is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (‘TWO’), and operates from 42 offices in 19 countries across the Asia Pacific region, Middle East, UK and USA. Our end-to-end people management solution gives talent2 a unique capacity to fulfill the rapidly evolving business needs for talent management.

While many organisations will talk the talk, talent2 walks the talk. We pay 10% of the Australian workforce; that’s 1.3 million people. We do 500,000 training interventions every year, which makes us the third largest provider of learning in Australia behind Accenture and IBM. We are the pioneer of RPO in Asia, and #1. in RPO in Australia and NZ.

Key Recruitment Services Key Recruitment Areas • Accounting, banking and finance • Sales and marketing (both consumer products and services) • Engineering • IT&T • Legal • HR • Retail • Risk and Compliance • Corporate affairs and public relations • Advertising and communications • Executive contracting/project solutions

BPO • HR Diagnostic • Workforce planning • Leadership Development & Succession • RPO Permanent • RPO Contract • Assessment & Career Management • Employer Marketing • Payroll & Benefits (HRIS & Solutions) • Vendor Neutral MSP • Development & Learning

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General Recruiters|

Tricor Business Services Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 2980 1888 Fax (852) 2861 0285 Address Level 28, Three Pacific Place, 1 Queen’s Road East, Central, Hong Kong Website www.hk.tricorglobal.com Email info@hk.tricorglobal.com

Tricor Group (“Tricor”), a member of The Bank of East Asia Group, is a global provider of integrated Business, Corporate and Investor Services.

Tricor Group comprises Tricor Services Limited and associated companies.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Tricor Business Services offers efficient, effective and professional advisory and outsourced support services to our clients. We deliver seamless solutions to address issues in finance, accounting & financial reporting, treasury and cashflow administration, human resources and payroll administration, business advisory, trade services and systems solutions to ensure the adoption of best practices in your business.

Key Recruitment Areas • Advertising, Media, Communications and Public Relations • Banking, Financial Services and Insurance • Non-profit Organisations and Professional Bodies • Consumer Products (FMCGs) • Healthcare and Pharmaceutical • Hospitality and Leisure • Information Technology and Telecommunications • Professional Services (Architecture, Legal, Consultancy) • Property Development, Investment and Management • Retail and Distribution • Infrastructure, Shipping and Logistics • Manufacturing and Trading

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Appendix

General Recruiters|

Tricor Executive Resources Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

Tricor Executive Search & Selection (Tricor ESS), formerly the recruitment 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. Our team has a proven track record in successfully completing search engagements across a wide spectrum of management disciplines and in a diverse category of business sectors.

Website Email

Fiona Yung (852) 2980 1166 (852) 2869 4410 Level 28, Three Pacific Place, 1 Queen’s Road East, Central, Hong Kong www.tricorglobal.com fiona.yung@hk.tricorglobal.com

We also offer related HR services such as job structuring, recruitment outsourcing, outplacement and career counseling, compensation and benefit advice and psychometric testing.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services • Executive Search & Selection • Human Resources Consulting • Compensation & Benefit Advice • Outplacement & Career Counselling • Advisory Services on Grading Structures & Job Responsibilities

Key Recruitment Areas • Banking & Finance • Communication & PR • Consumer Products (FMCGs) • Healthcare & Pharmaceutical • Hospitality & Leisure • Manufacturing & Trading • Non-profit Organisations • Professional Services • Property Development • Retail & Distribution

218 |

Appendix

General Recruiters|

Work Group PLC Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

Work is a consulting, communications and resourcing business that helps employers find and keep the people they need. Our services range from employer branding & marketing, to candidate sourcing and assessment design.

We also deliver research, employee communications and candidate management services. By enabling our clients to engage with talent more effectively, we reduce their costs and improve their performance.

Website Email

Neil Chowings (852) 3711 3190 (852) 3711 3006 19L, 151 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong www.workcomms.com neil.chowings@workcomms.com

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services We help organisations develop highly effective direct sourcing solutions, enabling them to attract and retain the best talent. This is delivered through our research, candidate sourcing and employer marketing services. Employers who work with us attract the best talent whilst reducing their reliance on 3rd party recruitment consultancies and head-hunters.

Key Recruitment Areas • Identifying and attracting the right recruits through employer marketing and research-led search • Assessing and measuring candidates and employees through occupational psychology services and assessment techniques • Engaging and retaining your people through inspiring internal communications and people development

HR Guide to Recruitment

|

219

Appendix

Executive Recruiters|

Manpower Professional Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 2525 5171 Fax (852) 2525 5172 Address Units 601-6, Tai Yau Building, 181 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Website www.manpowerprofessional.com.hk Email enquiries@manpower.com.hk

Manpower Professional Hong Kong’s team of subject matter expert consultants, talent sourcing capabilities and solutions driven service provide us with the platform to provide clients with the solutions they need to win in the changing world of work. Our teams comprises specialist recruiters who possess extensive experience, market and industry knowledge and business networks that offer our clients effective talent recruitment solutions for middle to senior level management hires. With expert recruiters spanning over 80 countries and territories globally, Manpower Professional can help businesses source talent across borders.

More information on Manpower Professional Hong Kong is available at www. manpowerprofessional.com.hk.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Manpower Professional—focuses exclusively on recruiting senior business leaders who will create competitive advantage for their company, specializing in:

Key Recruitment Areas • Information Technology • Banking • Finance and Accounting • Hospitality • Engineering • Logistics • Manufacturing • Consumer and Retail • Sales and Marketing • Human Resources • Property and Construction

220 |

Appendix

Executive Recruiters|

MRI China Group Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Christine Raynaud (CEO) Telephone (852) 3656 5888 Fax (852) 2530 9905 Address 2/F Wilson House, 19-27 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong Website www.mri-china.com Email info.hongkong@mri-china.com

The MRI China Group is a leading recruitment and human resource solutions company with its’ regional headquarters in Hong Kong. It provides services across Asia through offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Singapore and Taipei. It has over 200 staff and is part of the MRI Network.

All MRI China Group consultants specialise in specific skill and industry sectors, offering clients a unique combination of expertise and knowledge.

The MRI China Group has been awarded CCH/China Staff Recruitment Firm of the Year, China in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 and HCM Magazine: Best Recruitment Company, Greater China 2009/2010.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Services provided include specialised executive search and recruitment, competitive market analysis as well as talent research in the Industrial/ Manufacturing and Banking/Financial Services Sectors.

The specialised Industrial/Manufacturing team focuses on the Pearl River Delta area, partnering with the teams in Guangzhou and across China.

The Banking/Financial Services team has a major focus on the Hong Kong market as well as Asia Pacific.

Key Recruitment Areas Industrial/Manufacturing: • Operations • R&D • Quality Assurance • Operational Excellence • Supply Chain • Logistics • Human Resources • Finance Banking and Financial Services: • Risk • Operations • Compliance • Wealth/Retail Sales • Human Resources

HR Guide to Recruitment

|

221

Appendix

Executive Recruiters|

MSI (Man Search International Limited) Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

MSI was established by a group of experienced business executives each of whom has over 20 years of commercial and industrial experience in general management and consulting in the Asia Pacific region.

Website Email

Chris Strachan (852) 2892 1319 (852) 2892 1329 18/F, Fortis Tower, 77-79 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong www.msi-search.com cas@msi-search.com

We are an industry specific research based firm which offers a unique blend of Advisory and Recruitment services.

Supported by a global network of strategic partners and a sophisticated database we offer clients that are seeking engagement with successful and experienced executives a personal and professional service, and results that are based on an indepth understanding of the client’s requirements and the regional markets.

We are flexible, pragmatic and relationship driven. Asia Pacific is our focus and Greater China a strategic imperative.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Our services are underpinned by a research based “go to market” approach, believing that the best talent is likely to be employed and upwardly mobile requiring a sensitive and professional approach by experienced executives.

We consider that the world is our source of talent.

Key Recruitment Areas C-level and Senior Management appointments for all functions in FMCG including: • Retail • Luxury goods • Apparel & footwear • Consumer electronics and durables • Manufacturing • IT & telecoms • Leisure & hospitality • Logistics

222 |

Appendix

Executive Recruiters|

Rec2Rec Asia Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address Website Email

Rec2Rec Asia is a specialised recruitment-to-recruitment consultancy based in Hong Kong offering professional services to recruitment firm clients, corporate clients, and recruitment consultants both locally and internationally.

Rebecca McComb (852) 9221 6191 (852) 2858 9695 www.rec2recasia.com rebecca@rec2recasia.com

We work across industries recruiting top-notch recruiters for key roles with a focus on senior positions in Hong Kong, Greater China, Singapore, and Japan.

We have strong experience in the Asian recruitment industry and four years in the local recruitment-to-recruitment market.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services We recruit top-notch recruiters for key roles, which demand...

Key Recruitment Areas Specialised recruitment-to-recruitment services in the areas of: • Legal • Financial Services • Commerce & Industry • Human Resources • Sales & Marketing

HR Guide to Recruitment

|

223

Appendix

Executive Recruiters|

Silenus (Hong Kong) Limited Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

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

Website Email

Ms Mickey Ng (852) 2185 6300 (852) 2185 6303 8/F, World Wide House, 19 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong www.silenus.com.hk info@silenus.com.hk

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.

Key Recruitment Services Key Recruitment Areas Our service covers all functions, with focus on middle to senior level openings in Consumer and Retail industries.

• Sales • Marketing • Store level • Retail outlet operation • Buying & Category Management • Merchandising, Product Development & QC • Design • General Administration • Finance & Accounting • Human Resources • Information Technology • Logistics & Procurement

224 |

Appendix

Executive Recruiters|

talent partners Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

talent partners is the retained executive search arm of the talent2 Group.

Website Email

Gina McLellan (852) 3473 3175 (852) 3473 3100 59/F, The Center, 99 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong www.talent2.com gina.mclellan@talent2.com

talent2 offers a complete range of outsourcing services, including executive search and recruitment, Human Resources Information System (HRIS), payroll, consulting and learning in the Asia-Pacific region. talent2 is about talent management for the future. Their aim is to help companies with their staffing needs and assist them to achieve resourcing goals. A full range of integrated services that cover the talent lifecycle are included, from planning and selection, hiring and on-boarding, to payroll and learning, clients source the best employees for the job, manage them and get the best out of them.

Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:TWO), talent2 is one of the fastest-growing companies in the services sector.

Key Recruitment Services Key Recruitment Areas • Accounting, banking and finance • Sales and marketing (both consumer products and services) • Property, construction, engineering, resources and mining • Government • Industrial • HR • Retail • Corporate affairs and public relations • Advertising and communications • Executive contracting/project solutions

HR Guide to Recruitment

|

225

Appendix

Specialised Recruiters|

Firebrand Talent Search Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Steven Pang (Director) Telephone (65) 6336 7444 Fax (65) 6336 7555 Address 25 Church Street, #02-04 Capital Square Three, Singapore, 049482 Website www.firebrandtalent.com Email spang@firebrandtalent.com

Firebrand, formerly the permanent and search division of Aquent, specialises in permanent recruitment solutions across Marketing, Creative and Digital. We exist to place talented specialists in permanent jobs they love, and to help companies find, attract and retain the most outstanding talent in the marketplace.

We are experts in our respective fields and partner with companies to find, select, match, on-board and retain the best and brightest talent via our global talent communities and network.

The Talent we represent are the best in their fields of expertise. We ignite their careers and help them identify, build and sell their own unique brand to great companies.

Firebrand has ten offices in eight countries including Australia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Visit www.firebrandtalent.com for more info.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Permanent and executive search recruitment

Key Recruitment Areas Permanent and executive search recruitment in the following areas: • Executive Management • Online Marketing • Traditional Marketing • Communications • Print Creative • Digital Creative • Digital Production • Account Services • Media • Fashion Design

226 |

Appendix

Specialised Recruiters|

Robert Half Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone (852) 3653 7300 Fax (852) 3653 7366 Address 21st Floor, Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong Website www.roberthalf.com.hk Email hongkong@roberthalf.com.hk

Founded in 1948, Robert Half International (NYSE symbol: RHI) is the world’s leading specialised recruitment firm and the first to provide placement services for accounting, finance and information technology professionals.

In Hong Kong, Robert Half International operates four divisions: • Robert Half Finance & Accounting, which specialises in experienced temporary and permanent finance professionals.

• Robert Half Financial Services Group, which places temporary and permanent banking and financial services professionals.

• Robert Half Management Resources, which specialises in financial project consultants.

• Robert Half Technology, for high-calibre IT professionals.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services Robert Half is a specialised finance recruitment agency and as such businesses know that they can rely on us to source professionals of all levels and across a all industries for accounting jobs, finance jobs and banking jobs.

The Robert Half Technology division recruits for a range of IT functional areas including IT management, development, business intelligence, networking, IT security, database administration and engineering.

Key Recruitment Areas • Financial recruitment • IT recruitment

HR Guide to Recruitment

|

227

Appendix

Specialised Recruiters|

Taylor Root Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

Taylor Root is the world’s leading legal and compliance recruitment firm, with offices throughout the UK, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Australia.

Our reputation is built on the performance of specialist teams of recruiters, many of whom are qualified solicitors or barristers, who pride themselves on providing honest, professional and effective advice to clients and candidates alike.

Website Email

Robert Conway (852) 2973 6333 (852) 2973 6377 1918 Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong www.taylorroot.com.hk robertconway@taylorroot.com.hk

Being one of the first dedicated legal recruitment businesses to set up an office in Asia has allowed us to forge very strong relationships with law firms, financial services organisations, and multi-nationals across the region.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services We work with clients in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China and across the AsiaPacific region to source the very best legal talent from around the world. We provide the most highly sought-after candidates with advice, local knowledge and insight into forthcoming opportunities, whilst managing the entire recruitment process.

Key Recruitment Areas We recruit qualified lawyers into Private Practice law firms, large multi-national firms, in-house legal teams within banking, financial services and FMCG and compliance roles.

228 |

Appendix

Mobile Recruitment Services|

Dazhi Mobile Recruitment Services Company Information

Background & Company Profile

Contact person Telephone Fax Address

Dazhi was founded in Hong Kong by Ashley Steinhausen, a co-founder of the first Job Board in China, www.zhaopin.com, in 1997.

Website Email

Ashley Steinhausen (852) 9647 8179 (852) 2571 2787 12th Floor, Ruttonjee House, 11 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong www.dazhi.mobi ashley@dazhi.mobi

Dazhi offers a full range of mobile based recruitment services including 1. Mobile site build—iPhone/Android/Symbian platforms.

2. Mobile advertising. Media planning and buying. Location based advertising.

3. Candidate processing and selection.

Clients include software houses, pharma companies, Retail and Investment Banks, FMCG and retail companies.

Its revolutionary (US Patent Protected) platform is best suited to companies with substantial hiring needs (50+ staff) in short periods of time. A high level filter on the application page substantially reduces unwanted and unsuitable applications.

Key Recruitment Services Overview of Recruitment Services An award winning recruitment advertising platform, giving clients an attractive and efficient channel to reach out to potential candidates 24/7 by fully utilising the power and reach of mobile devices.

A powerful Employer Branding tool, it raises candidate acquisition to a whole new level.

Fully compatible with all leading browsers, it can be used in Mainland China, Hong Kong and across SE Asia.

Key Recruitment Areas APAC—ex Japan.

All industries especially those with large volume hiring requirements such as: • Insurance • Pharmaceuticals • Banks • Retailers RPO companies are also clients.

HR Guide to Recruitment

|

229

Appendix

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Other

Payroll & Benefits

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Permanent Positions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Scope

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

A

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Executive Functions

Recruiter Matrix|

A| Achieve Asia Limited T: (852) 8226 6652 F: (852) 8226 6653

Adecco Personnel Limited T: (852) 2895 2616 F: (852) 2895 3571

Affinis Asia T: (852) 3102 0700 F: (852) 3012 0969

Aimhigher Consultancy Limited T: (852) 2111 8482 F: (852) 2157 9090

Alpha Omega Personnel Services Limited T: (852) 2375 1000 F: (852) 2375 1184

ALS International Limited T: (852) 2920 9100 F: (852) 2920 9199

Ambition T: (852) 3101 3066 F: (852) 3101 3068

Aptitude Asia Ltd T: (852) 3478 3650 F: (852) 3478 3880

Aquis Search Limited T: (852) 2537 0333 F: (852) 2537 0333

Aries Consultants T: (852) 2302 1287 F: (852) 3904 8549

Armstrong Craven T: (852) 3711 3190

Asia HRZR T: (852) 3905 3067 F: (852) 3693 4222

Asian Career Co Limited T: (852) 3161 5400 F: (852) 3163 2888

Associated Consultancy T: (852) 2721 6998 F: (852) 2723 9669

Astus Maxim Recruitment T: (852) 2104 7766 F: (852) 3010 1798

Astus Recruitment Limited T: (852) 2104 7799 F: (852) 3010 1798

Avanza Consulting Limited T: (852) 2885 1266

230 |

° °° ° °° ° ° °° ° ° ° °° ° ° ° ° °° ° ° ° ° °°°°° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

°

° °°

° °°° °°° ° ° ° ° °

°° ° ° ° °°°

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°°°°° ° °°°°°° ° ° °° °° °°° °° ° °°°°° ° °° ° °° ° ° °°° ° ° ° °° °° °° ° ° °°

Appendix

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Other

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Executive Functions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Scope

Recruitment

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

° ° ° °

° ° ° ° °

Media & Publishing

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

B|C

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Permanent Positions

Recruiter Matrix|

B| Bernard Hodes Group

°°

T: (852) 2598 1362 F: (852) 2598 1801

Best Fortune Personnel Services T: (852) 2295 6395 F: (852) 2295 6895

Besteam Personnel Consultancy Limited

°

T: (852) 2736 8202 F: (852) 2735 9726

BGC Group (HK) Limited T: (852) 2855 6988 F: (852) 2855 6988

Bó Lè Associates T: (852) 2525 4339 F: (852) 2525 7153

C| Capital Careers T: (852) 3905 3068 F: (852) 3693 4222

Capital People T: (852) 2530 1292 F: (852) 2525 3868

Carbon International Limited T: (852) 2899 2311 F: (852) 8200 1162

Carmichael Fisher Limited T: (852) 2522 9873 F: (852) 3189 7689

Cassie D.A. International Lts - Cassie Personnel

° °°°°° ° ° ° °

°

° °

° °°

°°° °° °°°

°

° °°

T: (852) 2877 3383 F: (852) 2877 0196

Cathay Employment Agency

°° °° ° ° °

° ° °

T: (852) 2869 0811 F: (852) 2526 7189

Centaline Human Resources Consultants Limited T: (852) 2521 1166 F: (852) 2840 0068

Charterhouse Partnership T: (852) 3151 1317 F: (852) 3151 1399

CityWeb Consulting Limited T: (852) 2111 8531 F: (852) 2111 4178

Clear Business Solutions Limited T: (852) 2581 2995 F: (852) 2541 1306

Code Asia T: (852) 8120 3121

Command Group T: (852) 2529 7363

°°

° °° ° °°°° ° ° ° ° °° ° °°°° °°°

° °°° °° ° °°

°°° °

° °°

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°°

HR Guide to Recruitment

° |

231

Appendix

Computer Recruitment Consultants Limited T: (852) 2861 3181 F: (852) 2528 9091

ConnectedGroup Limited T: (852) 3972 5888 F: (852) 3972 5897

COREsearch Limited T: (852) 2146 1499 F: (852) 3007 8916

CQrecruit T: (852) 2850 8690 F: (852) 2850 4763

Creative Management and Career Consultants Limited

°°°° ° ° °°° °

°

°

T: (852) 2525 0555 F: (852) 2525 0060

D|

°

Darwin Rhodes

° °

T: (852) 3101 0930 F: (852) 3101 0989

Dazhi Mobile Recruitment Services T: (852) 9647 8179 F: (852) 2571 2787

DJR Technology

T: (852) 2309 2678 F: (852) 2309 2799

E|

°°

°°°°°

°°° ° °°°

eCircle Executive Consultants

° °

T: (852) 3427 8030 F: (852) 3579 0001

eideaLINK Limited T: (852) 2572 1282 F: (852) 2572 2081

Elevate!

° °

T: (852) 3679 3938 F: (852) 3585 3710

Emaster Consultants Limited T: (852) 2153 8119 F: (852) 2153 0181

Essentials Recruitment Consultants Limited T: (852) 3622 3360 F: (852) 3622 2150

232 |

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Permanent Positions

Telecommunications & IT

°

T: (852) 3972 5700 F: (852) 3972 5749

DYK Associates Limited

°

°° ° °° ° °°

T: (852) 3106 2877 F: (852) 3104 0101

Cyberspace Limited

Other

°°° ° °° ° °

°°°

T: (852) 2918 8747 F: (852) 2918 9808

Crossings Executive Search

Risk Compliance

Retail

Scope

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

C|D|E

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Executive Functions

Recruiter Matrix|

°

°°

°

° °

° °° °°° °° °° °°

° °°

°

° °°°°

Appendix

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Other

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Permanent Positions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Scope

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

F|G|H

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Executive Functions

Recruiter Matrix|

F| Faro Recruitment (Hong Kong ) Co. Limited

°°

T: (852) 2506 2676 F: (852) 2506 2796

Financial Technology Group T: (852) 9354 6247

Firebrand Talent Search

G A Professional Services O/B G A Career Limited

°°

T: (852) 3692 5888 F: (852) 3692 5333

Gemini Personnel Limited T: (852) 3552 9100 F: (852) 2810 6467

Genesis

° °

°°

T: (852) 2127 7747 F: (852) 25272048

T: (852) 3520 3925 F: (852) 3544 8253

°

°°

G|

Galen Personnel Services Co.

°

°° °°

° ° °°°

°°° ° ° °° ° °°° ° ° ° ° °

°°

T: (852) 3423 4303 F: (852) 3423 4363

Genuine Personnel Consultants Limited T: (852) 2522 3333 F: (852) 2596 0111

Greycells Executive Limited T: (852) 2877 9009 F: (852) 2877 9222

H| Havest Personnel Agency T: (852) 2312 0060 F: (852) 2312 1110

Hays HK Limited T: (852) 2521 3296 F: (852) 2521 8499

Hong Kong Recruitment T: (852) 3173 8714 F: (852) 3015 1219

HotelsHR Limited T: (852) 2523 1882 F: (852) 2523 2321

HRA Recruitment T: (852) 2735 9961 F: (852) 2735 9967

Hudson T: (852) 2528 1191 F: (852) 2528 2901

Hughes-Castell (Hong Kong) Limited T: (852) 2520 1168 F: (852) 2865 0925

°

°° °°°° °°°

°°° °°° °°°°°°° °° ° °° °°° ° °° °°°° ° °

°°° °° °

°

° °° °°° °°°

°°

°

°°

°°

° ° HR Guide to Recruitment

|

233

Appendix

Human Sources

°

T: (852) 2815 8205 F: (852) 2815 8306

HVS Executive Search Hong Kong

°

I| T: (852) 3970 6600 F: (852) 3970 6601

Infinity 8 Talents, the Luxury Recruitment Co.

°

T: (852) 3180 7764 F: (852) 2730 0829

T: (852) 2147 8908 F: (852) 2521 8665

°

°

° °°

°°°°° ° ° °° ° °°° ° °° °

°°

T: (852) 3752 0515 F: (852) 3752 0662

Inspire Search & Selection T: (852) 3976 5600

Insurelink Consultancy Limited T: (852) 2723 6093 F: (852) 2723 6098

Isaac Search Limited

° °

°°

°

°°

T: (852) 3741 1234 F: (852) 3741 1200

J| J & E Consulting (HK) Limited

° °

T: (852) 9436 2763 F: (852) 9436 2763

Job Station Personnel Agency Limited T: (852) 3743 0608 F: (852) 3741 0378

Judd Farris Property Recruitment T: (852) 2802 8062 F: (852) 2802 8089

Jumbo Right Limited T: (852) 2771 2701 F: (852) 2780 0952

Junsun & Co Personnel Consultants Limited T: (852) 2573 3553 F: (852) 8161 6642

K| Kelly Services Hong Kong Limited T: (852) 2522 1186 F: (852) 2522 1501

234 |

° °°° ° ° °°

°

°° °° °°

°°

°°°°°°°

°°°°°°

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

°

T: (852) 2836 0363 F: (852) 2836 0351

Initiative Recruitment Hong Kong Limited

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

°°°

InfoTech Services (Hong Kong) Limited InfraSearch Asia

Other

°°° °

T: (852) 2791 5868

iKas International (Asia) Limited

Permanent Positions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Scope

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

H|I|J|K

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Executive Functions

Recruiter Matrix|

Appendix

Kingswood Global

T: (852) 3658 9000 F: (852) 3658 9003

L| Links Recruitment Limited T: (852) 2116 1020 F: (852) 2119 9878

Lloyd Morgan T: (852) 2895 5282 F: (852) 2577 5902

M| Macdonald Company T: (852) 2248 3000 F: (852) 3753 4345

Manpower T: (852) 2845 3280 F: (852) 2845 6093

Manpower Professional T: (852) 2525 5171 F: (852) 2525 5172

Manpower Services (Hong Kong) Limited T: (852) 2912 5517 F: (852) 2522 0884

Marcom Search Limited T: (852) 2525 2098

Michael Page International T: (852) 2848 4700 F: (852) 2530 6101

Million Pak Limited T: (852) 2736 8628 F: (852) 2736 8627

MJB InterCommunication T: (852) 2525 7168 F: (852) 2560 2388

Monster.com T: (852) 2114 5022 F: (852) 2891 5018

Morgan McKinley T: (852) 3907 3907 F: (852) 3908 3908

MRI China Group T: (852) 3656 5888 F: (852) 2530 9905

MSI (Man Search International Limited) T: (852) 2892 1319 F: (852) 2892 1329

Multinational HR Consultancy Limited T: (852) 2399 0866 F: (852) 2787 6281

° ° °

°

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Other

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Executive Functions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Scope

° °

T: (852) 3189 7630 F: (852) 2541 3100

Kinsey Allen International

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

K | L| M

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Permanent Positions

Recruiter Matrix|

° ° °

°°° ° ° °° ° °° °°°°°° °°° °° ° °°°°°°° ° ° ° °° ° ° °° °°°°°°°° ° ° ° °° ° ° ° °°°° ° ° °°°

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HR Guide to Recruitment

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235

Appendix

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Other

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Executive Functions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Scope

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

N | P| Q | R

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Permanent Positions

Recruiter Matrix|

N| New Step International Limited - Cross Cultural Training

° ° °°

T: (852) 2541 8118 F: (852) 2541 8638

Nohhi Personnel Agency T: (852) 2721 0005 F: (852) 2724 3391

Novare Asia recruitments

°°°

T: (852) 2971 5863 F: (852) 2536 4386

P| Peoplus Recruitment

T: (852) 2375 5000 F: (852) 2375 5060

Portfolio Asia T: (852) 2531 2200 F: (852) 2511 6223

Potential Personnel Consultancy T: (852) 3523 1388 F: (852) 3963 4222

Prime Calibre T: (852) 3905 3064 F: (852) 2156 1990

Profile Search & Selection T: (852) 3589 6800 F: (852) 2156 1990

PSD Group T: (852) 2531 2200 F: (852) 2511 6223

Pure Professionals Limited T: (852) 3972 5850 F: (852) 3972 5898

Q|

°°

°

° °°°° °°°° °° ° °° ° ° °° °° °

Quality Search Limited

°

T: (852) 2322 0052 F: (852) 2322 0521

R|

°°°

Rail Personnel Limited T: (852) 2753 5636 F: (852) 2305 4512

Randstad Hong Kong Limited T: (852) 2232 3409 F: (852) 2501 0900

Rec2Rec Asia

°°°°°°°°

°

T: (852) 9221 6191 F: (852) 2858 9695

Recruit Express (Hong Kong) Limited T: (852) 2175 0698 F: (852) 2175 0278

236 |

°

°

T: (852) 3188 1290 F: (852) 3188 1291

Pinpoint Asia Limited

°

°

°

°°

°°

°

°°°° ° °°°° °°° °°°° °°°

°

°

°°

°°° °°°° °°°° ° °° °°

Appendix

Recruit Legal T: (852) 2169 0868 F: (852) 2169 0201

Red Personnel Limited

°

T: (852) 3101 5550 F: (852) 3549 7530

RGF Hong Kong Limited

°

T: (852) 3653 7300 F: (852) 3653 7366

Robert Walters Hong Kong PLC T: (852) 2103 5300 F: (852) 2103 5301

RT Search Consultants Limited T: (852) 2723 6200 F: (852) 2723 6622

Russell Reynolds Associates T: (852) 2523 9123 F: (852) 2845 0044

S| Sara Beattie Appointments Limited T: (852) 2507 9333 F: (852) 2827 4630

Seamatch Partners Limited T: (852) 2111 3718 F: (852) 3007 1947

Search Partners Limited T: (852) 2122 9612 F: (852) 2180 9124

SearchAsia T: (852) 2169 0878 F: (852) 2169 0108

Sheffield Haworth (Asia) Limited T: (852) 2110 1234 F: (852) 2110 1233

Sheffield Personnel T: (852) 2890 8832 F: (852) 2576 9884

SHL (Hong Kong) Limited T: (852) 2577 1246

Silenus (Hong Kong) Limited T: (852) 2185 6300 F: (852) 2185 6303

Star Anise Limited T: (852) 2810 9077

Sterling Search T: (852) 2868 9130 F: (852) 2868 6713

°° °° ° °

°°°

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

Executive Functions

Telecommunications & IT

Risk Compliance

Retail

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Other

° °° °

T: (852) 3971 8400 F: (852) 3971 8422

Robert Half

Scope

°

T: (852) 2730 6282 F: (852) 2730 6677

Resourcing Options Limited

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

R|S

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Permanent Positions

Recruiter Matrix|

°°° ° °°°°°°° °°°° ° °

° °°

° °°° ° °° °°° °°°°°°° ° °° ° ° °°

°°°°°°°°°°° °° ° ° ° ° °° °°°° ° °° °° ° ° ° °°°°°°°°°°°°°° ° ° ° ° ° ° °° °

°°°°°° °°°°° °° ° ° °°

°°°° ° °°°° ° ° ° ° °°

HR Guide to Recruitment

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237

Appendix

STP Limited T: (852) 3796 7111 F: (852) 3796 7000

T| T: (852) 2153 3300 F: (852) 2153 1199

Talent Mosaic Consulting T: (852) 3656 7866 F: (852) 3656 7879

talent partners T: (852) 3473 3111 F: (852) 3473 3100

talent2 T: (852) 3473 3111 F: (852) 3473 3100

Taylor Root T: (852) 2973 6333 F: (852) 2973 6377

Technology Careers T: (852) 3905 3075 F: (852) 3693 4222

Telelink HR Services Limited

T: (852) 3514 7002 F: (852) 2368 4754

Three Hills Recruitment Limited

°

T: (852) 2801 5868 F: (852) 2537 1493

T: (852) 2810 0360 F: (852) 2525 8516

Tri Come Recruitment Search T: (852) 2395 1368 F: (852) 2394 4219

T: (852) 2980 1166 F: (852) 2869 4410

Tully

° °°

T: (852) 2850 8923 F: (852) 2850 4763

Y| York Executive Search Limited T: (852) 2528 2212

238 |

°

°° °° ° ° °° ° ° ° ° °°°° °

° ° ° ° ° ° °

° ° °° ° °°

° ° ° °

°°

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Payroll & Benefits

Temporary/Contract/MSP/Secondments

°° °°° °° °°° °° ° ° ° °°° °°° ° °°° °° ° °°° °

Transitions Asia Limited

T: (852) 2980 1166 F: (852) 2861 0285

Permanent Positions

° °°°°°° °°°°° °°°° ° °° °°°°°°°°°°° ° ° ° °

T: (852) 3743 1972 F: (852) 3743 1970

Tricor Executive Resources Limited

Telecommunications & IT

°°°°

Tracy Taylor Personnel & Business Services

Tricor Business Services Limited

Other

°°

T: (852) 2423 2928 F: (852) 2423 2918

Theodore West

Risk Compliance

Retail

Recruitment

Media & Publishing

Marketing/Sales/FMCG

Manufacturing & Merchandising

Logistics & Supply Chain

Legal & Professional Consultants

HR

Finance & Accounting

Engineering

Scope

° °

Talent Connect Limited

Building & Construction

Banking Technology

S|T|Y

Banking & Financial Services

Key Recruitment Areas

Executive Functions

Recruiter Matrix|

°°° ° °°°

° °

° ° ° °°

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