PUBLISHER’S NOTE IN THE NEWS It is a new year but the same issues still linger as employee engagement continues a steady decline throughout the S.A.R (page 9) and employers struggle to fill their positions (page 7). Singapore has officially taken the lead in Asia according to the 2018 IMD World Talent Rankings, as Hong Kong falls six places to 18th position (page 6). The war for talent is reaching fever pitch throughout APAC and technology companies have announced plans for robust salary increases to combat the issue (page 9). While salary is always a strong driver, it appears Hongkongers are also increasingly on the lookout for employment with companies that have a greater sense of corporate and social responsibility (page 8).
COVER STORY The Fourth Industrial Revolution is well and truly upon us and new technologies continue to be developed and implemented at exponential rates. Companies failing to embrace the changes are quickly falling behind and in many cases—simply disappearing altogether. HR’s strategic role has never been more critical as they endeavour to remodel slow-moving organisations into agile businesses of the future (page 18).
OTHER STUFF How do your employees feel about the way their performance is managed? The answer is—not very good according to Morgan McKinley’s latest white paper. With an emphasis on financial rewards and accountabilities, annual reviews are increasingly regarded as a last-century practice that do not help facilitate collaboration or innovation. Find out why rethinking performance management has become a top agenda item for many organisations (page 24). When ground was officially broken on the Hotel ICON site in 2009, some industry observers believed the concept of hospitality students running and maintaining a world-class luxury hotel was essentially flawed and it would surely fail. Ten years on, the internationally acclaimed Hotel sits among the best in the region. Richard Hatter, General Manager explains how he has nurtured the winning team of talent that has helped grow the property to everything it is today (page 28). In this issue, we also share some of the insights from HR Magazine’s own ‘Big Hairy Leadership’ conference. From leading thriving companies to how leaders deal with challenges and changes, we share tips and strategies for navigating the changing world of leadership from our stellar speaker line up (page 42). Enjoy...
Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine
HR MAGAZINE EDITORIAL
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2018/19 WINTER
08 10
18
HR NEWS
HR FEATURES
06 09 10 12 14 16
24 28 32 34 36 40
Hong Kong News APAC News International News HR Events HR Moves HR in Numbers
The future of performance management How to create an ICON 7 high-tech job portals in Hong Kong Developing sustainable staff and organisations Walter Tsui CareER Navigating global minefields in background screening
COVER STORY
HR COMMUNITY
18
42 48
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
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HR Magazine conference 21 September 2018 Diversity & inclusion conference 16 November 2018
24 38 48 42 HR TECHNOLOGY
HR BOOKS
54
58
Culture eats benefits for breakfast: why it’s time for AI in HR
HR LEGAL 56
Sexual harassment is not just a problem for the West #MeToo movement has lessons for Hong Kong and China, too
Work is Love Made Visible Autism Works
HR CLASSIFIEDS 59
HR Classifieds
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HK NEWS
HK TALENT SLUMPS SIX PLACES BEHIND SINGAPORE IN WORLD TALENT RANKING Hong Kong has fallen six places to trail Singapore in the annual IMD World Talent Ranking released last November. Hong Kong dropped from 12th internationally to 18th while Singapore remained steady in 13th position. The rankings highlight the extent to which countries develop, attract and retain talent to sustain the pool that enterprises employ to create long-term value.
which a country attracts and retains talent and the quality of skills available in the talent pool. Both Singapore and Hong Kong, which were ranked first and second respectively in Asia, were reported to excel in tapping into the international talent pool. Switzerland was ranked first and Denmark second for the fifth year in a row, followed by Norway, Austria and the Netherlands. Norway joins the top three, advancing
four places up from last year, thanks to an improvement in public expenditure on education and the readiness of its talent pool. Canada (6th), Finland (7th), Sweden (8th), Luxembourg (9th), and Germany (10th) complete the top 10. Bris expounded, “This year the most successful countries in talent competitiveness are mainly European, mid-size economies. Moreover, these countries share high levels of investment in education and quality of life.”
Arturo Bris, Director, World Competitiveness Center noted, “Cultivating a skilled and educated workforce is crucial to strengthening competitiveness and achieving long-term prosperity, particularly in the current dynamic landscape where artificial intelligence, robotics and other new technologies constantly redefine the challenges that governments, businesses and society, in general, will have to face in the future.” 63 countries were assessed by IMD based on three factors: Investment and Development, Appeal, and Readiness. These factors include indicators that capture the resources invested in developing local talent, the extent to
NURTURING NEXT-GEN DESIGN TALENT Five local students at the Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong (SCAD) have been supported by Swarovski to incorporate over 200,000 crystals into their final fashion collections. The company has leveraged its focus on sustainability and upcycling of materials to help give local design students their first step up onto the career ladder. Maria Nava, who used custom fabrication for much of her ‘Green’ collection, commented, “I was thrilled to include crystals into my final collection, as Swarovski is a brand that truly believes in and supports emerging talent in the Designer Dylan Helyer (Photographed by Horatio Di Battista)
6 | HR MAGAZINE
industry. The crystals are of the highest quality, which enabled me to elevate my garments and truly express my style aesthetic.” Sustainability was a key design element throughout each of the collections. The students—Cheryl Ma, Tammi Lau, Danica Borges, Dylan Helyer and Maria Nava— were provided with both new and upcycled crystals to embellish their garments. Other initiatives included using Merino wool for 60% of fabrics, a material that is 100% biodegradable, and sourcing 10% of the trimmings from vintage products.
HK NEWS
40% HK EMPLOYERS NOT FILLING POSITIONS Just how difficult is to hire talent? ManpowerGroup recently surveyed just over 39,000 employers across 43 countries and territories, including 365 from Hong Kong, to discover how much difficulty they have filling current postings. The Survey looked at which job categories are hardest to fill, and why.
Among 365 Hong Kong employers surveyed, 92% recognise they are having more or similar difficulty to fill jobs this year than at this time last time. Lancy Chui, Senior Vice President of ManpowerGroup Greater China Region commented,“Sales representatives and IT personnel continue to rank as the top two positions to fill this year, as recent developments in online technologies across industries, together
Top 5 Jobs Employers Have Difficulty Filling (2018)
Top 5 Jobs Employers Had Difficulty Filling (2016)
1
Sales Representatives (B2B, B2C, contact center)
1
IT Personnel
2
IT (cybersecurity experts, network, administrators, technical support)
2
Sales Representatives
3
Engineers (chemical, electrical, civil, mechanical)
3
Accounting & finance staff
4
Management / Executive
4
Management / Executive (management, corporate)
5
Professionals (project managers, lawyers, researchers)
5
Engineers
with new business models continuously increase demand in hiring.”She continued,“The evolution of differing business requirements relies significantly on getting IT talent with the right skills to enhance efficiency and productivity and, as such, require IT staff to possess both hard and soft skills (communications, customer services, etc.) when managing different projects with departments and vendors.” The most common difficulties filling roles cited by Hong Kong employers include a lack of available applicants (40%), a lack of experience (19%), and applicants expecting higher pay than offered’ (14%).
HK DISNEYLAND GEARING UP CAST FOR VISITOR INLFUX VIA NEW BRIDGE At the end of October 2018, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) officially welcomed its first batch of visitors making use of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZMB). The bridge, now fully open, provides an uber-fast convenient means of travelling between Macau, Zhuhai and Hong Kong. This not only opens the door for enhanced tourism, it also has huge implications for helping facilitate the movement of talent throughout the Greater Bay Area—a key goal of the HKSAR Government. The inaugural HKDL tour was jointly arranged with China Travel Service on the first day of the
bridge’s operation. Located within 10 minutes’ drive from the Hong Kong Port of the bridge (after a 30-minute drive across the bridge), HKDL couldn’t be better positioned to further expand its reach into the western Guangdong region. Samuel Lau, Managing Director, HKDL travelled to Zhuhai to accompany the inaugural tour to Hong Kong and greeted 50 guests from Zhuhai at the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF). Lau noted,“The opening of HZMB brings the western Guangdong region closer to HKDL and guests can set off any time... We will fully leverage our geographical advantage of being located near the HKBCF
positioning HKDL as a top travel destination for guests from the western Guangdong region.” And aside from the Disney stages, the stage also seems set for new growth. After a decline in visitors over the last few years the opening of the bridge seems to have bucked this trend. HKDL posted a solid 3% increase in attendance last year, with over 100,000 additional guests compered to 2017. With over 6.2 million visitors in 2017 and this figure set to rise, HR at HKDL has its work cut out continuing to nurture its cast so they are able to help serve this burgeoning new market.
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HK NEWS
HONGKONGERS SEEK SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE COMPANIES 21% actively participate in unpaid volunteering outside work hours Two-thirds think contributions to society by doing unpaid voluntary work are important
According to the latest Randstad Workmonitor study, 66% of Hongkongers consider it important to contribute to the society by doing unpaid voluntary work, but only 33% actively commit to volunteering activities outside of their working hours. 77% of Hongkongers, however, would be keen to volunteer if they were given paid time off by their employers. Employees in Hong Kong do not have much choice about which charitable organisation they can volunteer at, with only 21% of the respondents saying that they were given paid time off to volunteer for a cause or charitable organisation of their own choice. Almost three-quarters of Hongkongers (74%) surveyed said that they will only want to work for a company that has a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. Expectations on the companies having a strong CSR programme, however, are lower during the job search process. When looking for a job, only 57% of the respondents said that it is important that the company they are applying a job at participates in a philanthropic initiative.
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77% willing to contribute to society if employers offer paid time off
Hongkongers are firm believers of diversity at the workplace, with 91% saying that it is very important that all opportunities should be presented based on the individual’s ability to perform the role. This same group of respondents also agreed that job opportunities should be made attainable to the labour market regardless
of the individual’s physical ability, age, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation and religion. Hence, it was a surprise that less than half of the respondents (47%) said that their current employers have a diversity and inclusion policy.
APAC NEWS
TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES PLAN FOR ROBUST SALARY INCREASES IN 2019
Median Overall Salary Increase Budgets Market
2018 Actual
2019 Planned
Australia
3.4%
3.3%
China
7.2%
7.8%
Hong Kong
4.2%
4.0%
India
10.4%
10.5%
Japan
2.8%
3.0%
Singapore
4.0%
4.0%
South Korea
4.6%
4.8%
Taiwan
4.0%
4.0%
Salary budgets at technology companies are expected to increase in China, India, Japan and South Korea in 2019 according to new data from Radford, a division of the rewards solutions practice at Aon plc (NYSE: AON). In Singapore, salary budgets are expected to remain flat at 4.0% in 2019. The fast-growth, developing markets of China and India report the highest increases in salaries at 7.8% and 10.5%, respectively.
While salary increase budgets are forecasted to be up in several markets, merit increases alone won’t be enough to hire, engage and retain talent in a hot labour market. Alexander Krasavin, Partner and Radford Leader for Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa explained,“Companies must assess what jobs are needed for future growth and hire for those roles in a competitive marketplace while also engaging and retaining their current talent when many other job opportunities exist.”
Source: Radford Global Technology Survey Quarterly Workforce Trends Report, Q3 2018
HK EMPLOYEES LESS ENGAGED Mercer announced the findings of its inaugural Hong Kong Employee Engagement Index— Enabling Your Talent to Thrive. The findings show that employee engagement in Hong Kong has declined consistently over the last three years— this is in stark contrast to the upward trend observed in employee engagement across the globe. Only 75% of Hongkongers are satisfied with the companies they work for compared to 81% of their counterparts in the Mainland and other countries such as India. What may be a case for worry is that even among the engaged employees, only a small
fraction are reportedly enthusiastic about going above and beyond their scope of work to help their companies thrive. Only 75% feel they have enough opportunity to continually learn and grow despite the growing emphasis and investment on learning and development at most organisations today. Jackson Kam, Regional Talent Strategy Leader, Mercer, stated, “Engagement represents the best opportunity for Hong Kong to optimise the human capital it has. If performance and productivity are a combination of individual talent and engagement, the
best way to optimise talent is to ensure it’s engaged. Although this seems obvious, many organisations still struggle to build the work environment they need to fully realise engagement in the workplace.” Mercer’s Hong Kong Employee Engagement Index survey is based on responses of employees from more than 40 companies in Hong Kong. It assessed employee engagement by measuring the level of pride, motivation and commitment employees have toward the organisations they work for.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS PERCEIVED DIFFERENTLY IN MALE AND FEMALE LEADERS Traditional leadership stereotypes based around emotional intelligence and personality traits have been disproven in a recent study. Thomas International, an assessment specialist organisation, discovered female leaders have been shown to be no more empathetic than male leaders and male leaders no more assertive and composed than female leaders. While leadership traits have been shown to be the same across the genders, they are still often erroneously perceived as different in the workplace.
seen as ‘flighty’ and ‘not having what it takes’ the study found. The in-depth study, assessed the personality traits and emotional intelligence of 137 director-level, female leaders in organisations with at least 100 employees. It then benchmarked them against a demographically, hierarchically and industry matched male senior leadership sample.
The study found that against every measure including approach to risk, competitiveness, conscientiousness, assertiveness, emotion management, relationships and optimism, there is no discernible difference between successful male and female leaders. Contrary to dated popular opinion, women were not found to be more sensitive and men were not more likely to be risk-takers or more competitive than the women in the study. A key difference, however, was found when examining how these traits are perceived by people. Personality and emotional traits found in successful leaders, and which are perceived as good in men, are often interpreted as a fault in women. The study found that ‘losing your cool’ or showing strong emotions is seen as passion when it is a man, but as hysteria when it is a woman. Also,‘standing your ground’ and being direct is seen as assertive when it is a man and bossy when it is a woman. Women are expected to be more serious at work if they want to be seen as ‘leadership material’. Being too happy is
Jayson Darby, Head of Psychology, Thomas International, asserted,“Women are as likely as men to have the traits of a good business leader, but women face additional hurdles to their success; the very traits that are proven predictors of leadership potential are judged negatively when they are shown by women. There is an inherent bias in the way people describe female success, and it is holding women back.”
Darby continued,“Our research is a wake-up call for companies. We’ve proven there are simply no meaningful differences between the traits that make great male and female business leaders, yet the gender imbalance remains, and it is affecting gender diversity at the very top.” The research also shows there are some career advantages that benefit men much more than women. For men, age and education predicted 25% of why a man was in a senior role.
These ‘career boosts’ do not appear to work so well for women— with age and education being 150% more likely predictors as to man is a senior leader compared to a woman. The study found women are judged much more on their personality instead. On the subject of career privilege, Darby observed, “Women in business can’t seem to catch a break, even if they possess the traits that predict success, they have to contend with stereotypes and biases that turn those advantages into negatives. We also observed evidence that the ‘old boys club’ is still an influencing factor, with women benefiting far less from age and education-related privilege. A man with an Oxbridge degree will be offered a huge advantage in their career efforts compared to a woman with an equivalent qualification, even if she has better leadership traits. The end result will be lots of average men getting ahead of more talented women.” Talent management processes and the language companies use to define success are concrete ways in which companies can begin to eliminate these biases and stereotypes. Darby concluded, “If companies want to really solve the diversity problem in the boardroom, and have great women reach the top of their organisations, they need to start evaluating them impartially.”
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
HUMAN TOUCH STILL CRITICAL TO HIRING PROCESS While employers and HR professionals are increasingly using candidate sourcing technology to attract the best talent, many business leaders have indicated the human touch is still a critical part of the recruitment process. Randstad Sourceright’s Talent Trends research, which surveyed 800 human capital leaders in 17 countries worldwide, revealed over half (51%) of employers believe initial screening should be mostly or completely automated. The same percentage also feel automation is useful for tracking HR data/metrics and for the creation and management of HR analytics. Despite the widespread adoption of sourcing tools, employers still value human
interactions because it keeps candidates engaged during the recruitment process. The top three areas of the recruitment process employers believe benefit from a personal touch include shortlisting candidates by video interviews, scheduling interviews with candidates and managing talent communities and engagement. Anthea Collier, Managing Director, APAC Randstad Sourceright, stated, “There has never been a better time for employers to explore the possibilities that technological innovation can bring to their recruitment processes. It is now so much easier to source and screen talent, but at the same time there’s an added level of complexity. This requires companies to consider the overall hiring experience, and
more specifically to determine the best mix of tech and touch to improve recruiting outcomes.” No matter where employers come down on the ‘tech’ versus ‘human touch’ divide, 65% believe the candidate experience will be positively enhanced by the continued advancement of HR technologies. They also feel these new tools will free up recruiters to focus on more knowledgeintensive work. Research also found that among the leaders surveyed, 73% say smart technologies have had an equal or greater impact on their organisation this year more so than in the past.
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HR EVENTS January 2019 Organised by
School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
Artificial Intelligence and Social issues Location: Room 6050, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre,18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong Website: https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/artificial-intelligence-aiand-social-issues-tickets-52386177467?aff=ebdssbeac Time: 4.00 pm – 5.30 pm
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Leverage digital technology in your HR service delivery—Singapore 21/01/2019 Co-hosted by HR Magazine & BPP
Join us for a complimentary five-star breakfast from 8.30 – 10.30 am at the Fairmont Hotel Singapore on 21 January 2019 while you learn how to leverage digital technologies in your organisation’s HR service delivery. We promise to get you back to your office desk before 11.00 am!
Leverage digital technology in your HR service delivery—Hong Kong 18/01/2019
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Co-hosted by HR Magazine & BPP
HR Magazine and BPP have teamed up to bring you a unique professional development opportunity. Vicky Knight from BPP University’s School of Business & Technology will share insights into how technology is impacting the world of work and the HR profession itself. Location: Sheraton Hong Kong (Tang I Room) Date: Friday, 18 January 2019 Time: 8.30 am – 10.30 am Website: http://hrmagazine.com.hk/event/bpphk/ Email: angel@excelmediagroup.org Tel: (852) 2636 6339
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Location: Fairmont Singapore (Minto Room) Date: Monday, 21 January 2019 Time: 8.30 am – 10.30 am Website: http://hrmagazine.com.hk/event/bppsg/ Email: angel@excelmediagroup.org Tel: (852) 2636 6339 Organised by
Laputa Technologies Limited
Network & Learn: Experience CRM Solution & Digital Transformation
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Location: Audi Tsim Sha Tsui Showroom, G/F, China MinmetalsTower, 79 Chatham Road South, TsimSha Tsui Website: https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/network-learnexperience-crm-solution-digital-transformation-audi-tsim-shatsui-showroom-tickets-53946059115?aff=ebdssbeac Time: 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm
February 2019 Organised by
6
Atechup
Develop a Successful Virtual Reality Tech Startup Business! Location: Hong Kong Website: https://www.atechup.com/ Time: 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Organised by
15
Learn and Develop your Agility, Creativity and Design Thinking superpowers for real business problems Location: Hong Kong Island, Wanchai Website: https://www.elearn2grow.com/training Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
Tools to foster healthy employees and drive the bottom line Co-hosted by HR Magazine & Aetna
This event is available to HR Professionals, enjoy a 5-star breakfast while hearing insights from Aetna. Location: Hotel Conrad, Hong Kong, Bowen Room, Level 7 Date: Thursday, 28 February 2018 Time: 8.30 am – 11.30 am Website: http://hrmagazine.com.hk/event/aetna/ Tel: (852) 2636 6339
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E-learn2grow
Organised by
15
28
Apogee
User Experience Hong Kong 2019 Location: InnoCentre, 72 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/user-experiencehong-kong-2019-tickets-50802104462?aff=ebdssbdestsearch Time: 1.00 pm – 6.00 pm
HR EVENTS March 2019 Organised by
3
8 March 2018
Atechup.com
How To Develop a Successful FinTech Startup Location: Hong Kong Island Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-developa-successful-fintech-startup-business-today-hong-kongentrepreneur-workshop-tickets-50563728473?aff=ebdssb destsearch Time: 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Organised by
5–6
Liquid Learning Group
Women in Leadership Workshop Location: Hong Kong Website: https://liquidlearning.com/events/womenleadership-workshop-wilm0319a-hk Time: 9.00 am – 4.30 pm
HR dummies guide to blockchain, AI and HR tech Cool tools to save time, money & resources • How Blockchain & AI are transforming recruitment • Using blockchain to cut out middlemen & streamline HR data flow • Leveraging BC & AI to drive engagement & retention • AI for sourcing candidates • AI for screening resumes & conducting interviews • Assessing candidates with AI • Softening candidate rejections with AI • What does the future workplace look like • HR and data analytics
Organised by
6
Global Compliance Community
GCC 30-minute Free Consultation on Compliance Issues Location: GCC Lounge, Unit 1, 8/F, Winning House 10-16 Cochrane St, Central, Hong Kong Website: https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/gcc-30-minutefree-consultation-on-compliance-issues-tickets51238721395?aff=ebdssbdestsearchk Time: 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Organised by
Date: Friday, 8 March 2019 Time: 8.30 am – 4.30 pm Tel: (852) 2636 6339 Fee: FREE ENTRY for HR Magazine subscribers Non-subscribers HKD 1,200
Organised by
7
8
Atechup.com
How To Develop a Successful Artificial Intelligence Tech Startup Business Location: Hong Kong Website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-todevelop-a-successful-artificial-intelligence-tech-startupbusiness-today-hong-kong-tickets-52772101777?aff=e bdssbdestsearch Time: 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Marcus Evans
The Marcus Evans HR Summit 2019 The thirteenth annual HR Summit is the premium forum bringing elite buyers and sellers together. As an invitation-only event taking place behind closed doors, the summit offers chief HR executives and service and solution providers an intimate environment for a focused discussion of the key new drivers shaping corporate priorities and HR strategies. Location: RACV Royal Pines Australila Website: http://www.hranzsummit.com/index. asp?eventID=&LangID=&pageID=1#.XCyGqhMzai5
Organised by
18 – 20
29
Equal Opportunities Commission
Second ceremony for signatories to the Racial Diversity and Inclusion Charter Location: 16/F., 41 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong Website: www.eoc.org.hk Tel: 2511 8211 Fax: 2511 8142 Email: eoc@eoc.org.hk
HR MOVES Chee-Wei Tan has been appointed Global Head of HR for Shell Energy effective from October 1, 2018. Shell Energy is the global marketing and trading business of Royal Dutch Shell for energy commodities, including LNG, natural gas, power and environmental products. Based in Singapore, Chee-Wei holds more than 20 years of human resources and consulting experience with strong strategic business-partnering, talent management, organisational development, business transformation and change management experience at global, regional and country levels. As the Global Head of HR for Shell Energy, Chee-Wei will be responsible for developing and implementing human resource strategies that drive business growth and transformation of the global energy market.
Chee-Wei Tan Global Head of HR Shell Energy
JLL has appointed Jordan Kostelac as the Director of Proptech in Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Kostelac’s appointment is part of the firm’s global strategic vision to drive digital innovation in real estate. In his new role, Mr Kostelac will work with internal and external stakeholders in pushing continuous innovation within and beyond the company. He will focus on exploring emerging technologies, leading the firm’s tech-based incubator programmes and showcases, as well as creating and deploying tech-enabled business models and products for clients. He has helped many of the firm’s largest global clients, including HSBC, Johnson & Johnson, Standard Chartered Bank and AIA, to navigate and better understand the evolving nature of work. With nearly 20 years of interdisciplinary experience from FMCG operations management and process improvement consulting, Mr Kostelac has a proven track record of success in aligning multinational corporations’ operational requirements with technology partners.
Jordan Kostelac
Director of Proptech, Asia Pacific JLL
Sudarshana Rangachary recently joined Twitch, a leading video platform and community for gamers with more than 100 million gamers gathering every month to broadcast, watch and chat about gaming. Rangachary has 20 years of global experience in Human Resources. She was most recently VP of Human Resources at Gap, Inc. Sudarshana spent over 12 years at Avery Dennison in various technology and industrial companies. She will also report to Sara Clemens, COO, Twitch. Clemens opined, “Her collective expertise scaling global businesses and building engaged, high-performing teams will help ensure we can continue to deliver the best experience in multiplayer entertainment to our growing, global community.”
Sudarshana Rangachary Chief Human Resources Officer Twitch
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HR IN NUMBERS
89%
of Hong Kong businesses are confident they can teach the skills needed to respond to digital transformation and automation
87%
of adults from Hong kong believe that virtually anyone could become mentally ill AETNA International Study
Robert Half Annual Study
89%
of adults from Hong Kong agree that there is a need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness AETNA International Study
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56%
of organisations are discussing how they can improve performance management Morgan Mckinley, 2018 “The Future of Performance Management in Hong Kong�
HR IN NUMBERS
77%
21.6%
of Hong kongers are willing to contribute to the society if their employers offer paid time off
of surveyed companies in Hong Kong do not provide any health and wellbeing activities for their employees
Ranstad Workmonitor, results Q3 2018
AIA Hong Kong, 2018 “Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality” Hong Kong Survey Findings
57.2%
1.9%
of employees interviewed are subject to at least one dimension of work-related stress
The forecasted rate in which HK private sector salaries will grow in 2019 (adjusted for inflation)
AIA Hong Kong, 2018 “Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality” Hong Kong Survey Findings
ECA International ‘Salary Trends’ annual survey and report
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COVER STORY
The Fourth Industrial
Revolution Pushing through the pain of digitalisation
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is not on our doorstep or around the corner—it is already here. With the onset of new technologies, which are being developed at exponential rates, already making organisations more efficient and profitable, HR’s strategic role in organisations has never been more critical. To keep up digitally, organisations not only need to embrace change but also remodel themselves into more agile businesses for the future. The benefits are vast while the consequences for not doing so could be dire. While most business leaders see technological concepts such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an opportunity rather than a threat, it is also a case of adapt or die for some organisations.
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COVER STORY
Recently, leaders from industry, business, education and government met in Hong Kong as part of a summit to discuss their critical role in an ongoing, international technological and digital transformation. While the event was broadly focused on leadership and how a rethink is needed by organisations to proactively respond to digitalisation, HR proved to be a common topic of conversation as well. Professor Aleksandar Subic, PhD, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development), Swinburne University of Technology stated, “More than ever, HR departments must integrate far more closely and seamlessly with the strategy of the company.”
“Digital is the main reason just over half of the companies on the Fortune 500 have disappeared since the year 2000.”— Pierre Nanterme, CEO, Accenture HR’s strategic role Right off the mark, Subic acknowledged HR departments already play central roles in organisations and the idea of being strategic is not a new one. He was, however, adamant digitalisation and the changes wrought by it will be painful for HR departments if they are not able to be strategic. He explained, “HR will have to be inherently, completely integrated because the HR department has a leading role in identifying key capability gaps and developing strategies such as how to effectively transform the current workforce or replace the current workforce over time. Also, HR will be responsible for identifying what capabilities their organisation needs now as well as into the future. That far more strategic approach needs to be evident. It can’t be separate—it needs to be integral to the innovation and digitalisation strategy of the company.”
HR leaders on strategy Kerry Rooks, Chief Human Resources Officer, Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd, shared, “Understand how your company makes money. If you don’t understand that as HR then you can’t be strategic.” Lelia Konyn, Head of HR and Corporate Affairs, Shun Shing Group, advised, “When asking HR to be strategic, you need to start with CEOs and Boards. The strategic mandate comes from CEOs and Boards. So if they mandate the hire of a strategic, business literate HR head and demand they surround themselves with capable business and financially literate people, it will happen. If they hire operational administrators and then expect them to be strategic, there is a clear mismatch.” Stanley Yau, Director, Human Resources & Administration, HK Express, commented, “Organisational Design: Industry 4.0 is characterised by a constant changing environment and fast responses to changes, the organisational structure should enable more decentralisation, empowerment and collaboration. Flatter structures through organisational design help with this.”
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COVER STORY While the message is that HR departments will take a leading role in identifying capability gaps and where those gaps might be in a changing environment, Hong Kong businesses feel confident this will not be a painless process. In a recent research survey of 150 Hong Kong-based CFOs, commissioned by Robert Half, it was found that 89% of Hong Kong businesses are confident that they can teach the skills needed to respond to the digitalisation changes. Subic highlighted, “It’s all about people, at the end of the day, apart from the business model and the actual technologies themselves. If you don’t have the people to implement or execute that strategy then it’s a problem.”
responsibility—company and employee. The employee has to want to learn and commit the time and effort. The company has to be clear what skills it requires to execute the strategy and compete profitably; then commit to train, develop or hire them.” She continued, “As the custodian of people processes and systems, HR needs to work with their CEO and Boards to identify skill gaps and priorities, and present plans, including cost, timelines, milestones and outcomes.”
chatbots we didn’t need people to answer phones. Rather, we needed people to train the chatbot using coding. The challenge for us was that the incumbent employee may not want to learn coding—a far cry from being on the phones.” This was a challenge the HR team resolved using several different methods. Rooks explained, “The affected employees could decide to either opt out or opt into our new way of working. We want to give people as many options as possible and we’re lucky in that we’re a big business with broad options across numerous business areas. For those who opt out, it may be possible to find a solution somewhere else in our business. Some employees self-select themselves out entirely but it can be a really reasonable conversation. Some people say ‘I’m too old for that now’ and they actively look for a job elsewhere but even these conversations can be positive with understanding on both sides. The challenge for HR is having the conversations respectfully so the tone and message are well understood and that they are framed in the right way.”
Kerry Rooks, Human Resources Director, Prudential Corporation Asia acknowledged, “It’s a company decision and HR’s obligation is to develop new skills. The key challenge is the assumption that employees want to learn new skills because they’ve been here in their old roles forever.”
By up-skilling and developing capability, organisations not only appear as beacons to talent, but they also put themselves in a position to handle the disruption caused by digitalisation. Subic noted, “Developing advanced capabilities and transforming the workforce through lifelong learning will take form in many shapes but HR needs to own that agenda, needs to own and implement that strategy. It’s no longer just up to the individual within a company to develop their own learning but something that needs to be completely owned by HR for strategic purposes.” Lelia Konyn, Head of HR and Corporate Affairs, Shun Shing Group reiterated HR’s role in developing people as essential but that it will not work without people with the right mindset. “It takes two to tango. There is joint
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The up-skilling dilemma The pain of transforming a workforce due to shifting digital company priorities was felt acutely at Prudential Corporation Asia. Kerry Rooks, Human Resources Director, Prudential Corporation Asia acknowledged, “It’s a company decision and HR’s obligation is to develop new skills. The key challenge is the assumption that employees want to learn new skills because they’ve been here in their old roles forever.” Prudential recently underwent a digital transformation in which their traditional call centre was replaced by chatbots. Rather than call in, users typed questions to a chatbot which either answered the query or escalated to the next step for more challenging requests. Rooks continued, “We shifted to a model with heav y use of
COVER STORY Key HR & Leadership priorities In the latest research report by Roffey Park titled Working in Asia: Key HR and Leadership Priorities for 2018, more than half of senior managers both in and out of HR believe AI will create an equal or larger amount of jobs than it destroys. The survey, of which more than 1,000 senior managers across Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China were surveyed, see AI as an opportunity rather than a threat. Subic added, “We need to integrate and embrace these technologies but as a way to augment our workforce and business models, as well as to develop new business models. BMW have increased their production of vehicles for global sales significantly over the years but they haven’t reduced their workforce—they’ve kept it the same. In their case, they’ve used new technologies within digitalisation to increase the value of the company.” The same report notes that while there is optimism from senior leaders that AI and digitalisation will not affect workforce numbers, there is uncertainty about how to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. A public sector manager in the report responded to this idea, “Senior management has to better understand AI first and look at how that can impact us, and also how we can optimise it. We have to change the overall organisational mindset around this—that we can no longer do things the same old way.” In fact, senior managers in Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom indicated their organisations did not have the leadership and people-skills needed to take advantage of AI, nor were they currently investing enough
in re-skilling employees to keep pace with the changing demands that technology brings. As technology becomes more advanced, companies are becoming more global and virtual teams are becoming spread around the world. In the R7eport, senior managers indicated their workforce is not prepared for the current and anticipated increase in virtual working. This leaves those organisations quite unprepared for the anticipated increase in virtual work. The report concluded the best way to make inroads on this preparedness is to develop soft skills such as communication and listening as well as shift towards an outcome-based model of performance management.
No common playbook To the frustration of business leaders everywhere grappling with how digitalisation will affect their organisation, there is no single method for developing their staff or their business strategy. Subic stated, “The trick is there’s no common playbook you can get off the shelf. Individual companies will have to develop their own strategies, their own roadmaps of how they will transform. It will differ between companies rather than being one-size-fits-all.” This tends to make conversations in this space abstract and hypothetical. At the recent Industry 4.0 summit, Dr Bronwyn Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Standards Australia expressed, “My definition of Industry 4.0 is very different to yours, and what’s important for the success of Industry 4.0 is that we have a common language, a common way of understanding what that future means.”
which can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, organisations want to keep sensitive information under wraps and consultant costs down. They can, however, be a godsend to take the pressure off in key areas around digital transformation such as exploring the scope for automation and solutions around recruitment, talent management and automation of end-to-end HR processes. Roddy Shaw, Senior Business Development Manager, BIPO Service Limited pointed out, “Technology has opened up possibilities of totally re-designing business processes and models so that businesses may now create new revenue streams that were previously untapped, new ways of customer engagement that could create new products and services and new digital employee experience that has now become the new norm for employee satisfaction and retention.” To an organisation looking to embark on a digital transformation, or simply begin to think about what is possible for their business, Shaw stated that keeping abreast of the technologies such as AI, Big Data, cloud and mobile as a good place to start. He continued, “They may want to identify the quick wins as well as the areas that may sustain a long-term gain which could require more strategic planning and external advice. They need to be open to experimentation, pilot projects, prototypes and to cultivate a culture of openness in the organisation of new ways of business and new processes.”
HR departments often have a lot on their plate and have to reach out to providers such as BIPO
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COVER STORY
Among their role in acquiring digital talent and training of digital skills, Shaw discussed HR’s critical role in creating a culture of innovation in partnership with the c-suite. He asserted, “The tech start-up community is rather vibrant in Hong Kong—constantly providing new products and there are many global and local vendors providing a broad range of solutions. The challenge, however, is the shift in the paradigm of digital transformation. It is not about buying the best product or best-fit solution out there. It is about knowing what digital transformation can do for the organisation and putting the right talents, leaders and programmes in place who are able to drive innovation at every level of staff and throughout the organisation.” This point was echoed in a recent interview with Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (SFST), James Henry Lau Jr. He expounded, “There is also a proliferation of third-party co-working spaces across Hong Kong that further aid collaborative start-up financial technology (Fintech) ventures to get off the ground. These new workspaces help incubate start-ups and SMEs. By nurturing interaction across different industry sectors under one roof, they provide an ideal place to generate solutions to help solve Fintech disruptions. There are numerous co-working spaces that have been sponsored in-house by organisations such as Accenture, DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. These co-working spaces perform a somewhat symbiotic function in that they offer start-ups a ‘home’ and projects to work on, while the host organisation benefits from agile solutions created by their in-house innovation hubs to help solve their current, and rapidly-morphing, challenges. In this way, organisations can pose questions to start-ups based on their latest challenges and the flexibility and adaptability of the start-ups allows them to find solutions much more rapidly than traditional consultancies would do, and for a fraction of the investment.”
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“One of the challenges we have is to justify the investments with potential benefits, which can sometimes be difficult to quantify. For example, it can be challenging to project exactly how much more efficient our recruitment process may become and how much we might save on recruitment costs or if we decide to invest on digitalisation around recruitment.” Digital Transformation at HK Express HK Express undertook a digitalisation project implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool during the second half of 2018. Stanley Yau, Director of Human Resources and Administration, HK Express shared, “It started as a holistic project of ‘Digital Transformation’. Although it was headed under the Commercial Department, they’re cross-departmental in nature.” He continued, “The scope of digitalisation covers all processes and functions in the company. HK Express had never previously had an ERP such as SAP. It’s not solely, however, about simply having an ERP, it’s about how to obtain and apply knowledge from both internal and external big data sources to achieve a wide range of objectives such as increasing revenue, increasing margins and enhancing operational efficiencies.” HR’s role was to incorporate initiatives such as candidate experience, onboarding, performance management and training into the wider project scope. Yau pointed out, “The project is still in the beginning phase. One of the challenges we have is to justify the investments with potential benefits, which can sometimes be difficult to quantify. For example, it can be challenging to project exactly how much more efficient our recruitment process may become and how much we might save on recruitment costs or if we decide to invest on digitalisation around recruitment.”
Yau went on to discuss two key learning points which HK Express will carry forward into future digitalisation projects. He noted, “Firstly, we will better communicate and engage our entire employee population in future projects. Secondly, we will better justify the investments qualitatively by using more best-practice solutions in the market and also let senior management experience some of these practices where possible.” He added, “We think we are one of the earliest airlines in the region to conduct a holistic digitalisation project of this kind and we’ve noticed people in the organisation are excited by the idea.”
COVER STORY Building tech bridges While things are becoming clearer as to what HR’s role through digitalisation might look like, bridging the gap between knowledge and action is more difficult. Konyn concluded, “First you have to understand how technology impacts your business. Secondly, you have to decide you want to do something about it. Knowing is one thing, doing is a very different thing.” She continued, “Doing requires an investment of resources such as time, people, money and thorough planning on deploying these resources. ‘Doing’ is a project—you need to articulate everything that needs to happen and how it is going to get done; define your project objectives, clarify the project scope— what, where, how, who—and develop the task list to do it. It’s important to remember a project without a clear owner such as a senior sponsor or supporter, and without relentless focus and push, will fizzle out.”
Workplaces are changing in terms of technology as new, digital initiatives present far more efficient and competitive solutions to old processes. Questions remain on how some long-held assumptions about work and management will change along with these technological advancements. For HR to shift work cultures from control to empowerment, two key changes are needed. These are a shift in approach from presentee-ism to high trust and also from work being defined by time and place to a more autonomous and fluid attitude to historical work boundaries. With this in mind, Industry 4.0 technologies are not the issue—the real issues revolves around softer, people-related matters which arise as implications of technology.
HR FEATURES
Interview with Reina Cheng, Managing Director, Morgan McKinley
The future of performance management With emphasis on financial rewards and accountabilities, annual reviews are increasingly regarded as a last century practice that does not allow collaboration or innovation. The fundamental purpose of performance management is to create a process which promotes and improves employee effectiveness. It has traditionally provided the framework for feedback, acknowledging achievements and awarding recognition with the goal of supporting higher levels of performance. It is a well-established system for planning, goal-setting, monitoring and implementing corrective actions as well as quantitative appraisals of contributions to the business. Ultimately, performance management must be approached from the perspective of building engagement. Morgan McKinley Hong Kong recently conducted two surveys on the format and effectiveness of performance management practices within Hong Kong businesses—from the perspectives of employees and the managers responsible for reviewing teams. Reina Cheng, Managing Director, Morgan McKinley took us through their findings, published in the white paper—The Future of Performance Management in Hong Kong.
What performance management has become Performance management is so closely associated with the annual performance review season that discussions on how organisations are approaching it invariably start with grumbles from clients and candidates alike. Few enjoy the review process. Even the best candidates have room for improvement and the huge time investment from managers, who may have multiple team members and teams across regions, can take its toll. Cheng explained, “Annual reviews, more often than not, have a large emphasis on financial rewards and accountabilities and the majority of employees also report that they feel annual reviews are primarily utilised when there is a lack of performance.”
“Many of our own client organisations have reported that rethinking performance management has become a top agenda item for their executive teams. The annual review is failing to serve today’s organisation. The need for agility is increasing—after all, many businesses no longer have clear annual cycles.”
Despite the stigma, annual reviews remain prevalent within Hong Kong organisations—over 60% of employees surveyed are reviewed annually and almost 30% are reviewed continuously. Of managers, 43% conduct annual reviews and almost 50% conduct continuous reviews. Over the last 5 – 10 years, however, the leading tech, consultancy and forward-thinking retail brands have begun to abandon the annual review structure.
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The annual tradition Unclear expectations Cheng highlighted some of the negative feedback recorded in the findings. She discussed,“The majority of employees feel the annual review is too subjective and focuses too much on their recent performance leading up to the review rather than their overall annual performance. 78% of employees state they are either not reviewed accurately or rarely reviewed accurately and 66% disagree with their manager’s feedback.” The research has also indicated that many organisations do not set clear goals or include KPIs within the review process to measure performance objectively. Cheng noted,“When goals are unclear it creates a gap between the manager and the employee’s shared expectations.”
Not a motivating tool 65% of those surveyed said the annual review process was not motivating for them. Cheng expressed, “Predominantly the reason given was that staff felt the remuneration offered does not tend to match the results of their performance and most are convinced that there is no link between performance and promotion.” She added,“Others see the whole process itself as demotivating and feel the targets are arbitrary and do not offer opportunities for career progression or even help them manage their workflow.” In addition to the above, 55% of employees reviewed annually felt that the process limits collaboration and communication with their manager. Cheng noted, “For many of these employees, the review is a once-a-year conversation about their performance and development, they feel their managers are too occupied to observe them and there is little to no chance for daily communication.”
Positive aspects Not all the surveyed feedback was negative as 88% of managers reported that the current annual performance review is effective and around half of the manager respondents revealed that it is not time consuming and they only have to spend between 1 – 3 hours on the annual review. On the employee side—21% felt that their reviews were accurate and 13% find the review process motivating. Cheng highlighted,“At organisations where the annual review is reported as effective our findings have highlighted some key success factors such as supplementing the process with continuous review, rating performance on pre-determined metrics and enabling open and transparent communication between employees and their managers. When managers work in collaboration with the employees it turns the annual review into a useful development tool and not just an arbitrary process.”
The continuous trend Over half of managers using continuous performance review processes have only adopted the process within the last 1 – 2 years. Another 35% have been following it for more than five years. Cheng opined,“As we move into
a more flexible workforce, our research indicates that an increasing number of companies will shift to a more collaborative style such as continuous review which favours frequent collaboration with team members.” The continuous approach was overwhelmingly preferred over annual reviews by the survey participants. 44% of employees said that the continuous review motivated them to perform and 53% said they were also happy with the daily feedback they received. Cheng said,“The majority feel it is more effective as there are no surprises and they receive timely feedback which aids them in their own development and helps them solve problems in a timelier manner. The continuous approach facilitates better working relationships and strengthens communication within teams and most of the participants surveyed believe it enables them to accurately assess team member’s performance.” In many ways, the continuous review satisfies the goals of performance management but it is not without its issues. In comparison to the traditional annual review, the continuous review is far more time consuming for managers and it is a commitment that grows with large teams often spread
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HR FEATURES geographically. Cheng stated, “Continuous review is a significant improvement but 29% of employees still claimed that they didn’t feel they were reviewed accurately due to subjective manager feedback and undefined assessment metrics. This really highlighted for us that transparent metrics must be in place for the staff—if there is a lack of quantifiable measures the staff will challenge the measures.”
Relevant performance measures An analysis of both traditional and continuous processes revealed that one of the biggest causes of contention was defining the metrics employee’s performances were measured against. Cheng said, “If staff have been reviewed based solely on quantifiable measures, such as sales, they tend to feel that it discredits all their other work, such as the relationships they have built or their ways of working. It is equally demotivating only being measured on projects and achievements by their manager’s ratings, which is usually the cause of disruptive disagreements and is almost always dismissed by the employee as being too subjective.” The research indicates that organisations should start by defining metrics that match their company objectives, followed by the department’s objectives and finally the individual employees’ objectives. Cheng noted, “This practice reinforces that the performance review is about identifying how each employee can perform to meet the organisation’s objectives, not a personal assessment.” She added, “The metrics need to be objective, behavioural-based, observable and drawn from multiple sources.” In addition to the metrics, the goals defined by the organisation must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound). Cheng highlighted, “Most things can be quantified, even what may seem unmeasurable. Things like creative quality of work can be very subjective to review but metrics can be applied such as the effectiveness of the outcome or the speed of delivery and client feedback.”
DESIGN
MEDIATION
Designing the performance appraisal-sitting with the organisation’s leaders to align goals for individuals across the organisation
Clarifying the organisation’s position in any dispute arising, to ensure relationships remain workable and employees motivated to perform
TRAINING
TALENT MANAGEMENT
Providing training to executives, managers and employees on the performance review process, responsibilities and benefits
Designing and sourcing development opportunities
SUCCESSION PLANNING Setting the timeframe and objectives for promotions
IMPLEMENTATION Ensuring the smooth implementation for the appraisal process, setting up on the timeframe and following up on any issues
COMPENSATION Ensuring resources are allocated fairly and consistently
HR engaged Cheng said, “The role of the HR department is vital in achieving the objectives of the performance management process. Their input at every step needs to ensure the right metrics are included, that direct managers receive the training they need and that employees are coached through the process to get the most out of it for their personal and career development. Performance management drives engagement and engagement initiatives drive performance. This is why HR business partners are so vital in this process as they bridge the divide between the business and the employees and keep everyone on track. ”
Conclusion While the adoption of the continuous approach to performance management is trending throughout Hong Kong, most companies are still in the initial stage of its implementation. Cheng noted, “It is an appropriate change and a better approach from the perspective of building engagement. But to reap the benefits of the time invested, managers must be trained in communication and leadership skills and prioritise spending quality time with each team member; the performance review measures must be fair, based on relevant quantitative and qualitative measurements sourced from business results, managers, peers and clients—using technology to streamline the process where appropriate; and finally, the HR team must drive the process and be on hand to guide both managers and employees.” Drawing on her experience and research, Cheng concluded, “From working with our own clients, we understand that the size and structure of the company has a big impact on the performance management style adopted. Tailoring an organisation’s approach to performance management to suit its unique working practices and team’s geographic location can have a positive impact on engagement and create a culture focused on driving improvement for success. “
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How to create an ICON Interview with Richard Hatter, General Manager, Hotel ICON
Owned by the world-ranked Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hotel ICON is both a luxury hotel and an unparalleled state of the art training facility designed to nurture the next generation of Asian hospitality experts. On the back of winning General Manager of the Year at the prestigious BMW Hoteliers Awards of Greater China 2018, as well as three Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) awards for their training initiative called We Love to Care—Richard Hatter, General Manager, Hotel ICON, sat down with HR Magazine to discuss his background, what the awards means for the business and how the learning and development outcomes from the programme will affect business practices in years to come. Iconic vision When ground was officially broken on the Hotel ICON site in 2009, many industry observers believed the concept of hospitality students running and maintaining a world-class luxury hotel was essentially flawed and that the project would surely fail. Employee 0001, as Hatter’s ID card displayed at the time, had a different perspective and today Hotel ICON is
ranked within the top three of almost any trip advisory list for Hong Kong. Mr Hatter reflected, “Experience taught us that we could build a brand on our own. I wanted to launch a ‘heritage brand’ that was confident, stylish, individual and cool and that really considered who our guests were. I never wanted to just get into Gen X or Y for the sake of it—a ‘heritage brand’ is not just about how old you are.
It is about how relevant you remain. Brands can never stop innovating—a heritage brand like ICON is timeless. It has longevity. It is well-recognised and accepted socially, culturally and politically. It has an established track record of meeting the needs of education and generating commercially excellent returns, exceeding expectations, and consistently delivering on their core promise and premise.”
Richard Hatter, General Manager, Hotel ICON
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Third culture man ‘Having a different perspective’ is a phrase that could be used to summarise much of Hatter’s life and indeed may be the key to his success. As a third culture child, he spent the majority of his formative years leading a nomadic life as he followed his father, a member of the Ministry of Overseas Development, through Asia and Africa. Immersed in cultures foreign to an English child in the 1960s, the developing world became his teacher. What strikes you when you first meet Hatter is his authenticity. Hatter’s conception of hospitality, culture and inclusion is something that cannot be learned in a classroom—and the initiatives he has put in place for his staff have nothing to do with satisfying industry trends—they are a reflection of whom he is and how the world has transformed him to be.
compared to their peers, and are far more interested in travel and the rest of the world. As an hotelier in a multinational business world, the ability to build cultural bridges can be invaluable as a mentor or a teacher. I have always felt more comfortable as a foreigner in a foreign land than a tourist might.”
We Love to Care Introduced as a training programme in 2017, We Love to Care’s goal is to develop the skills and knowledge of the hotel’s interns and employees, with particular focus given to ‘excellence in customer service and in the understanding of emotional intelligence’. Hatter highlighted, “It’s a three step process, the first of which is creating operational excellence, these are the technical skills. The next step is what we call aesthetic excellence. It’s the stuff that isn’t quite as obvious as you might think to a local person. It’s about how do you stand, where do you stand, just at the right distance in terms of personal space. To give the staff confidence and teaching them to adapt to what is, for many of the young locals, a pretty surreal environment. The third part is what we call emotional excellence, which is building rapport and creating moments and creating memories. How do you create a memory for a customer? We teach that and everything is very carefully documented with many examples of how it is achieved.”
Upon clinching the prestigious HKMA training and development award—the Silver Award for Excellence in Training and Development in the Skills Training category, Aside from being the hotel’s General Manager, Hatter discussed culture as crucially important Mr Hatter is also a lecturer, an Adjunct in forming their training programmes. Associate Professor at The School of Hotel He stated, “I always tell my staff not to try and Tourism Management (The Hong Kong emulate the European style of establishments Polytechnic University). His classes are cultural such as the Ritz Carlton but to follow their melting pots filled with students originating own core values. There is this beautiful from different countries and socio-economic Confucian concept of the ‘extended family’ backgrounds. Hatter expressed, “One tends that is ingrained in Asian culture. This sense to find common ground quickly when they of sharing is quite foreign to Westerners. have been exposed to many people of different As a third culture child, I became aware cultural backgrounds, as I have. of this cultural conception Children who have been exposed where being humble, gracious, “ There is this beautiful Confucian concept of the to more than one country have sincere were valued above ‘extended family’ that is ingrained in Asian culture. an increased global perspective all—these are really the
This sense of sharing is quite foreign to Westerners.”
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hallmarks of hospitality, and these are the core values that we have worked to incorporate into our service. Hotel ICON really is this fresh interpretation of Asian hospitality. It all comes back to culture.”
“ By including empathy in our training programmes, we encourage our associates to take into account the experience and perspective of their colleagues, as well as our guests, especially when resolving issues.” Thriving into the future As well as adding value to customer service, the programme also directly tackles internal issues such as diversity and inclusion. Hatter discussed, “By including empathy in our training programmes, we encourage our associates to take into account the experience and perspective of their colleagues, as well as our guests, especially when resolving issues.“
Following the success of the We Love to Care programme, Hatter was again honoured in November at the BMW Hoteliers Awards of Greater China 2018 where he received the prestigious General Manager of the Year award. On accepting the award Hatter said, “I am very honoured to be part of such a distinguished group of winners and nominees. The Hotelier Awards as an institution brings together top achievers and provides a collective motivation for all of us to grow as future leaders.” For Hotel ICON, the mission has always been to develop a hospitality talent pool that will enhance Hong Kong’s position as an ‘intellectual’ centre. Further connecting Hong Kong and China with the rest of the world, Hotel ICON assumes an important role in promoting interpersonal ties as well as exchanges in the areas of education, culture and tourism and youth development. Hatter acknowledged, “We are thrilled that many of our staff have benefited greatly from the training. We are especially proud to see many of the young hoteliers whom we have trained rising through the ranks both at ICON and at other reputable hotels around the world and leaving their own impressions.” Over the last seven years, Hatter and his team have increasingly found themselves sought-after in the industry as hospitality-related consultants. To meet the demand Hotel ICON has launched the ‘SHTM+ICON Consultancy Service’ together with The School of Hotel and Tourism Management (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University). The world has taken notice of Hotel ICON’s reputation and indeed watched with both excitement and envy as its star has risen. Long gone are the naysayers and Hotel ICON is widely accepted and touted as a ‘Hong Kong tourism success’ worthy of imitation and emulation.
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7high-tech job portals in Hong Kong by Dean Baker
Looking to hire? With a plethora of job portals and recruitment options flooding today’s market, finding the right service to secure the right person for your team can be a daunting task. But there are now a number of recruitment services that have developed unique high-tech approaches to improve the hiring experience. Here are some of the best ones to look out for in Hong Kong:
1.
2. Jobable.com
3. Wanted.jobs
The jobs platform of the popular professional networking site has become a go-to for recruitment with roughly 560 million profiles online and 50 million jobs open at any given point in time. Powered by a common skill, taxonomy and network-based features, Linkedin addresses skills gaps across markets, and seeks to enable professional development with its Linkedin Learning program. A 2016 acquisition by Microsoft has given it access to the tech giant’s ecosystem, further cementing its strong position in the recruiting industry.
LinkedIn Jobs
For Jobable, data is the name of the game. From their machine learning recommendation engine to their job relevance score for jobseekers and a ‘Human Capital Analytics’ data visualisation solution for recruiters, Jobable not only uses data but also translates it into useful information. To that end, they also incorporate gamification to their platform with ‘CV Fighter’, which can inform users if their skills match their desired job position.
The first social recruiting platform in Asia to leverage the power of human referrals backed by AI technology, Hong Kong newcomer Wanted brings trust back into the recruitment process. Wanted helps job-seekers connect over social networks, and pays for referrals that result in a successful hire. Together with no upfront fees, this means every resume has a higher chance, by a multiple of eight, of resulting in a successful job placement, saving hiring managers up to 75% in total cost savings. Serving five markets in Asia, Wanted has been a hit with tech jobs and startups.
Total number of jobseekers registered: 47K in HK in 2012 Other: Over 560 million global users 3 million active job listings
Total number of employers registered: 1,000+ in HK (10,000+ job openings) Total number of jobseekers registered: Over 300,000 in HK
Total number of employers registered: Over 3,200 companies in Asia Total number of jobseekers registered: Over 400,000 jobseekers in Asia Other: Their AI machine learning algorithms can predict to within around 85% if a job-applicant will pass or fail.
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4.
5. JobsDB.com
6.
A relaunch of South China Morning Post’s (SCMP) signature recruitment service ClassifiedPost.com, CP Jobs has not only upgraded the user experience but also integrated data intelligence with their real-time job-recommendation and matching feature, ‘Match Me Plus’. Their regularly updated career advice blog is a goldmine for job-seekers. And for companies, SCMP now offers free-of-charge job listing services on all CP Jobs.
CP Jobs
JobsDB offers a cost-effective platform spread across several countries in the Asia Pacific. Yet even with their wide regional coverage, their service is always localised for their users’ countries; they believe this is what sets their platform apart from the rest of the big recruiters. They are also a part of the Australian Stock Exchange–listed SEEK Limited—the world’s largest job portal by market capitalisation—which gives them access to world-class tech support.
A part of global job search and news company Dice Holding Group’s network, eFinancial Careers not only connects users to roles within financial organisations, but also provides in-depth career information and the latest industry insights. This duality as a recruitment platform and industry news channel allows eFinancial Careers to maximise the user’s potential. With localised websites in over 19 markets, the platform has been able to gather a community of finance industry professionals and companies.
Total number of jobseekers registered: 47K in HK in 2012 Other: Over 560 million global users 3 million active job listings
Total number of employers registered: 60,000+ in HK Total number of jobseekers registered: 1.9 million in HK Other HK stats: Over 5.4 million Visits Over 1.6 million Total Unique visitors Over 57 million Total Pageviews Over 35 Pageviews Per Unique Visitor Over 13 mins Time Spent Per Unique Visitor Total number of jobseekers registered: 1.9 million in HK
Total number of jobseekers registered: 50K in HK (1.6 million worldwide) Available jobs: 12,559 in HK (Aug 01) Other HK stats: Pageviews 1,474,106 Visits 284,318 Unique Visitors 134,617 % of New Visitors 53% Loyal Visitors 5,264 Other: A monthly global audience of over 1.5 million finance professionals Over 1.5 million CVs Over 2 million unique site visitors/month
7. JobDoh Empowered by a social mission to reduce poverty, JobDoh connects temporary workers to employers in less than three minutes by making use of AI screening capabilities to process thousands of applications. The utilisation of AI frees up recruiters to focus on building culture, training and engagement. Their mission, technology, and philosophy has been successful within just two years since their founding, with 110,000 registered workers and a retention rate of 80% with more than 6,000 employers.
Total number of employers registered: 8,000 in HK Total number of jobseekers registered: 160,000 in HK
eFinancial Careers
With unemployment falling to its lowest levels last year since the 2008 financial crisis, the Hong Kong job market is finally looking up. This of course means more competition for employers, so it’s worth leveraging a good tech solution to ensure the most efficient use of time and resources. The above options constitute some of the top hi-tech services available in the Hong Kong recruiting industry worth checking out to ensure the smoothest hiring experience possible.
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Developing sustainable staff and organisations Interview with Hironori Oka, Chairman, Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Limited HR Magazine sat down with Hironori Oka, Chairman, Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Limited to discuss the organisation’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations and the role Daiwa plays in the wellbeing of every one of its employees.
Daiwa shapes societies and their own employees With nearly 50 years’ experience at the forefront of Hong Kong’s investment banking industry, Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Limited (Daiwa) is also an organisation honing itself towards sustainable development for employees. With the establishment of the Human Rights Awareness Promotion Committee in 1984 by Daiwa Securities Group, Daiwa has since implemented a range of initiatives designed to accommodate a diverse and inclusive workforce. In 2016, there was a specific case where a staff member, Alan, was seriously injured in a bicycle accident that left him disabled. This incident necessitated carefully planned empathetic and practical measures by Daiwa to ensure his successful reintegration back into the workspace. This adaptability and process of reintegration showcased the company’s philosophy—Daiwa Spirit, in the light of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Sustainable development and healthy money Aimed at promoting training initiatives to raise human rights awareness, the Daiwa Securities Group set up the Human Rights Awareness Promotion Committee in 1984. Oka acknowledged, “We have always placed a lot of importance on harmony within the organisation, particularly among employees, customers and joint ventures. Inclusion is a big part of that as well.” He continued, “As an organisation, simply making money is not enough. Instead, we question how we make money in a way that is healthy and harmonious for every person involved—from our staff to our customers. There needs to be harmony within the business and, for us, it’s more about making what we term, healthy money.”
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Daiwa’s commitment to the UN’s SDGs echo the traditional Japanese values of its roots and help the organisation make money in a way that is sustainable for stakeholders. Oka explained, “The philosophy comes from the Japanese arm of our business, but the initiatives are spread right across Daiwa. There is a similar concept to SDGs in Japan termed, Sanpo-yoshi—a way of thinking in the business community that is common in the western part of Japan where Daiwa originates. Sanpo-yoshi is a value concept of doing business to ensure ‘three-way-satisfaction’ of customers, society and the company itself. If these three elements are kept happy then it’s good for the business.”
Sustainable development meets business objectives While SDGs are important to ensure every talent is able to fully integrate into the workforce—Oka observed a balance that must be struck to ensure financial business objectives are also met. He shared, “Our business and our objectives are driven by business outcomes. Without money, we aren’t able to survive or contribute to society. Of course, financial outcomes are very important
but we know that just focusing on profits alone is not good enough.” He continued, “The reality is that business goals also have to be sustainable. If we only give and we don’t make money then the goals are not sustainable. When we are making positive changes for society, we also need to be mindful of how we can capitalise on this as well.” While there is a range of ways in which business sustainability can be achieved, Oka discussed social impact bonds as an important sustainable development initiative. He explained, “Organisations, particularly MNCs, can issue social impact bonds. These could be green bonds, inclusive bonds or even vaccine bonds issued as investments to be used positively within society. Around the world, many people need vaccine bonds, particularly in African countries where funds are made available for immunising children. We are now assisting with these kinds of opportunities. We’ve seen this rise for many years and now over 50% of the market share in Japan is organised by Daiwa.” He added, “We are extremely active in this space and are creating a lot of products and services that are making meaningful contributions to achieving this goal.”
HR FEATURES Disability triggers care plan In June 2016, a bicycle accident in Vietnam left a Daiwa employee with a serious spinal cord injury. Oka described how the event fundamentally changed Daiwa’s approach to disability management in the workplace. He expressed, “For us, the trigger was a colleague Alan who had been at Daiwa for more than 10 years at the time of the accident, and had been a strong contributor to the organisation. In the Daiwa family, I feel our employees are like our kids and to help them feels very natural. We’re not the kind of company to see them off. Instead, we do all we can to help them and I think this is common sense. I hope many others would take the same action.” At the time of the accident, the Daiwa HR team arranged an air ambulance service to repatriate Alan back to Hong Kong. After six months in an intensive care unit, Alan was certified as permanently paralysed from the chest down. Connie Chan, Head of HR at Daiwa observed, “Daiwa was stoic about never giving up on Alan and immediately thought about how best to reintegrate him back into the workplace. Throughout 2017, he underwent rehabilitation and in the first meeting with the team at Queen Mary Hospital they told us we would be able to achieve our main goal of facilitating Alan’s return to work.”
In December 2017, Alan began an occupational rehabilitation programme and by April 2018, he had been discharged from hospital and was continuing his rehabilitation programme from home. At the same time, the Daiwa office in Hong Kong was renovated to create better disabled access, while staff also received disability employment training. Chan explained, “We renovated the office by making the corridor wider and installing automatic wheelchair access. We also made Alan’s cubicle more spacious and installed new switches that were accessible to wheelchair users. His workstation was decorated with welcome signs and in September 2018 Alan finally returned to work.” While Alan has now successfully returned to the workforce, he and Daiwa have worked together to manage his return and revise his duties according to his new ability levels following the accident. Oka highlighted, “Since the accident, he now has different strengths and it’s our job to identify what they are. Some parts of the job he’ll be unable to do but it’s about identifying in what ways he can still contribute to the organisation. The expectation is that he remains an effective contributor to our company in the same way he was prior to the accident.” This extended to colleagues within the organisation as well. Oka discussed, “He is not like he was before and some other employees initially weren’t sure how to interact with him. That’s why education is critical, particularly around his needs and the kind of assistance that is required. We sought professional advice from Alan’s specialist about all of this and as a result, we think he is much happier at work now.”
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Walter Tsui CareER Walter Tsui is the Co-Founder and Executive Manager of CareER, a job-matching platform and peer support group for higher educated people with disabilities and people with special education needs (SEN). Born with both eyes visually impaired and now with 5% sight, Tsui shared with HR Magazine the challenges faced by people with disabilities in the workforce and the role HR departments and hiring managers play in the hiring process. Formative experiences Visually impaired from a very early age, teachers at local mainstream primary and secondary schools were very supportive. Tsui joined an exchange program to the United States and studied Economics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, graduating with internships at Goldman Sachs, UBS and Dialogue in the Dark (Germany). While he was studying, Tsui had difficulty finding adequate learning support. Despite getting bioptic telescopes—a pair of vision-enhancement lenses—after a year of study, he questioned as to why there was not comprehensive learning and support for SENs, or student union groups to support SEN students. After he finished studying, Tsui’s strong experience, particularly with internships at MNCs, SMEs and Social Entreprises impressed HR and recruitment teams, but it still took him more than six months to find a full-time job.
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His own struggle to find work was formative of Tsui’s eventual decision to seek a career within social innovation, forming CareER in 2014. Tsui reflected, “Ultimately, I was inspired to create a platform for persons with disabilities and SENs to share job-seeking experience and connect with inclusive employers who value people’s capabilities.”
Challenges, mindsets and false perceptions In the ongoing struggle HR and hiring managers have finding great people for their teams, Tsui highlighted people with disabilities as a massive value add for any organisation. On the topic of talent, Tsui asserted, “There is a large talent pool out there of people with disabilities whose capabilities are often overlooked by organisations and hiring managers. With Hong Kong’s high turnover rate, many companies seek committed and talented
candidates, particularly in IT, Marketing and Operation related vacancies.” This is precisely what CareER is set up to assist with. Tsui expressed, “They have a higher chance of acquiring the right candidate if they consider employees with disabilities.” Despite this outlook, Tsui says there is a false assumption of ‘all or nothing’ in relation to people with disabilities. That is to say if someone is visually-impaired, the assumption is they are totally blind, unable to communicate in written form and exclusively use braille. If they are hearing-impaired, there is a false assumption they solely use sign language to communicate. With mobility disabilities, some assume it means the candidate is in a wheelchair and will need accessible toilets in the workplace. The reality is that disabilities have different levels of loss of functions.
HR FEATURES Tsui concluded there needs to be a larger focus on public education around disabilities and what they mean for the workplace, particularly for hiring managers and HR departments. “This could be through online media platforms, such as sharing videos on Facebook. The key message I would have people take away is that we should focus on abilities rather than disabilities. Also we need to think of people with disabilities in the same way as everyone else with their own unique competencies, rather than as heroes.” From a legal and HR standpoint, companies need to comply with the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, which is a part of Hong Kong employment legislation. The team at CareER developed a model in which organisations can measure their workplace, processes and culture.
To meet the challenges of the job market, as well as when in a role, people with disabilities have to prepare themselves in a range of different ways. Drawing from personal experience, Tsui opined that they need to be able to truly understand their strengths as well as the challenges at the workplace imposed by their disability. Further, they will need to have thought about how to articulate their disability to colleagues and overcome the fear of actually having that conversation. Tsui pointed out, “This can create all kinds of challenges, from low self-esteem, unnecessary stress and a fear of putting oneself out there. They may not want to seek help from others but ultimately need to break through that barrier to be successful.” For those with disabilities, CareER promotes a focus towards self-acceptance in a range of ways. This could be a leadership training program, exposure to scholarships and internships to build experience, as well as peer support and role models from people who can share their stories. Tsui added, “There should be a target on teenagers and those entering the workforce to ensure they won’t limit themselves. It is important they adopt a mindset that they can actually go far and achieve their goals.”
All employees need an accessible and welcoming environment, as well as to be a good match with the companies’ business needs, whether they are a person with a disability or not. Ultimately, the employer has to understand the employee’s limitations, like any employee, and to provide reasonable accommodations. Finally, they need to be treated and trained like any employee. A good employer will guide them and help develop their career path as well as encourage them to take up new responsibilities. | 37
HR FEATURES Infrastructure challenges for Hong Kong In Hong Kong, any building revamps after 2008 have had to comply with the Barrier Free Access regulation. Tsui remarked, “Around 70% of the commercial buildings were built before 1997 and lots more in the decade that followed. As a result, most of the buildings in old business centres like Sheung Wan and Wan Chai are not accessible to wheelchairs.” There are infrastructure features in the city designed to help; for example pedestrian lights can deliver accessible traffic signals for the low vision, and MTR stops and buses are largely equipped with wheelchair access. Tsui explained, “While the transport infrastructure is quite good, our clients tell us sometimes the general public still has a weak awareness, seldom letting wheelchairs get on the buses, MTR or elevator first.”
Think further—“Hong Kong is an aging city. Forecasting predicts that by 2040, more than a quarter of the population will be elderly or retired. Hong Kong has to prepare for this both with suitable infrastructure and citizens’ mindsets.”—Walter Tsui
On the subject of whether things have improved for people with disabilities in the workforce, Tsui is adamant they have for several reasons. Tsui expounded, “The aging population of Hong Kong as a rising issue has prompted development and conversation around Smart City. Also, there has been no platform like CareER providing job-matching based on candidates’ capabilities and businesses’ needs before. Our experience tells us when an employer can find a matching candidate with disabilities, they rarely turn the candidate down. Sometimes, the learning curve of candidates with disabilities might be a bit longer but the employers value their commitment to the position and individual potential more.”
Looking forward Tsui’s experience as part of advisory teams in government, SMEs, MNCs and local companies has given him a broad understanding of stakeholders’ concerns. In regards to empowerment, Tsui stressed, “There is often capacity to unleash the potential of persons with disabilities in these organisations. We all should focus more on how to empower and motivate them to work and live independently rather than just providing subsidies and welfare policies.” Tsui claims there is service gap in education and employment for people with disabilities in Hong Kong and that CareER is looking to fill requirements there. Tsui expressed, “Our current school structures from preschool through to university, inclusive education and youth development are crucially important, but are not well-structured to create synergy
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for all our youth (not just youth with disabilities). SENs officers at universities have very limited knowledge about learning accommodation practices in secondary and primary schools. Career planning is rarely discussed in secondary schools and university career centres can rarely provide professional career consultation to students with disabilities.” Through their flagship service ‘Talent no Boundaries’, higher educated students and graduates with disabilities are evaluated based on their competencies and potential, the same as all candidates in the job market. Tsui concluded, “They also equally have needs for their career (as well as family) planning and development. They need an equal opportunity not only in recruitment, but in all areas. Ultimately, that’s what we are delivering.”
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Our HR Conference on 21 September 2018 was attended by a plethora of HR professionals and executives to delve into the big, hairy issues around developing future leaders. From how to lead thriving companies to how leaders deal with challenges and changes; our speakers discussed what to do when things go pear shaped and how to navigate the changing face of leadership.
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HR COMMUNITY
Managing people through change Due to the catastrophic nature of Typhoon Mangkhut, Stanley Yau, Director of Human Resources and Administration, HK Express Airline was unable to present. Stepping in on behalf of Stanley Yau was Paul Arkwright, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at HR Magazine. He recalled HK Express’s mass cancellation during the golden week in 2017, referring to it as an “Emergency for the airline, in terms of internal organisation.” Successive resignations of safety and emergency trainers affected the number of qualified crew and pilots to support operations throughout the busy week, hence the occurrence of the incident. Proactively addressing the issue, HK Express developed a series of engagement strategies to enhance employee-centricity and efficiency, breaking the trade-off between efficiency and
service. Improving HR analytics was vital to restoring both their employer and corporate brand image. On top of reanalysing rosters and sick leave patterns for restructuring purposes, critical position analysis was also conducted where they evaluated the priority of different roles to prevent a single point of failure. Key talents with a strong leadership mindset have also been identified and groomed to improve staff stability. To build and develop closer bonds with staff, in addition to offering more attractive salary packages, HK Express retuned their office atmosphere to create a more relaxing working environment and encouraged staff to be open and transparent with feedback about the company. Staff benefits such as taxi allowance, buddy flights and awards were also upgraded to show appreciation. Small gestures have
PAUL ARKWRIGHT Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine Topic | Managing People through Changes been found to have a huge impact on staff satisfaction and work ethic for the company. While HK Express may have gone through challenging times, they managed to turn things around and improve by rebuilding a more sustainable business. This has been proven by a reported 16% rise in employee satisfaction from December 2017 to July 2018, as well as a 40% drop in sick leave and an approximate 8% fall in the attrition rate for the first half of 2018.
Leading a thriving workforce We live in a world of disruption and frequent changes. At times, it may even be overwhelming with so many trends coming towards us, especially in a technological sense. So what does it take to lead a thriving organisation? This is a question many leaders ask themselves as they are consistently under pressure to deliver and exceed expectations. Jackson Kam, Regional Practice Leader (AMEA), Talent Strategy, Mercer commented, “In order to be successful, it is important that we can identify and prioritise these trends so we can respond to them accordingly.”
JACKSON KAM Regional Practice Leader (AMEA), Talent Strategy, Mercer Topic | Leading a thriving workforce
Jackson Kam presented success strategies crucial to cultivating an exceptional workforce. While technological changes such as AI are very popular nowadays, the demographic shift in the workforce is also seen as a top trend. The ratio between the younger generation and older generation are rapidly changing, and it is up to us how we take advantage of these trends.
Although it is difficult to build for an unknown future, getting involved in a lot of scenario planning is key. Building a better talent engine that fits the pathway the company is on is extremely important. But how does one make sure they attract the right talent? There are three main aspects employers must keep in mind when hiring—health, wealth and career. Financial benefits are simply no longer sufficient. Employers need to make sure that they offer employees a career that has purpose and aligns with the employees’ values. They have to offer a career path that shows promise and progression, and to pick the right talent requires careful skill-gap analysis. Jackson Kam summarised, “If a company conveys good work culture—innovation and collaboration will happen automatically. If we want to measure our own organisation, this is a very good dashboard to use. Take a step back and look at all the success factors.”
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Profile of future leaders Managers and leaders are interconnected because both positions involve planning, organising, communicating and monitoring. Not to mention empowering a positive momentum and energy. Their roles are the abstract creation for vision and strategy. In the world we operate in today, we all need to thrive and overcome challenges. It is vital for leaders and managers to help their team achieve this. Unfortunately, it is not always the case that the right person is chosen for this job. Professions are more individual based, whereas managers and leaders are involved with people. One may expect their star performer to contribute successfully so much so that you promote them and give them a leadership role. Yet they do not take into consideration whether this person would like to get a managerial position or not. Asking them whatever they understand the responsibilities
and liabilities with the new job and whatever they are for it is essential because many are not willing to make the sacrifice, even though they would be provided with a raise. Another poor choice in leadership would be hiring a Teflon Leader. A leader who blames others when they do not get the work done, someone who is toxic and frequently undecided about all sorts of matters. Lelia Konyn noted, “The fact is, the success for the team is the managers’ success.”
The idea of exiting a senior leader is a daunting prospect for any organisation. Under threat of lawsuits and bad press, companies often make rash decisions when things get ‘hairy’. Helen Colquhoun, Partner, Employment Law, DLA Piper advised that while it is important to proceed with caution, do not be afraid to dismiss a senior leader and once the decision has been made, deal with it sooner rather than later.
HELEN COLQUHOUN
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Head of HR and Corporate Affairs, Shun Shing Group Topic | Profile of future leaders
Although there is no magic formula to help create the perfect framework on leadership, it is usually composed of two fundamental things. One being the individual (holistic view, track record, ability, aspirations and motivation) and the other being the context (a growing or stagnant business, country of origin).
The ‘hairy’ part of leadership
Partner, Employment Law, DLA Piper Topic | The ‘hairy’ part of leadership—what happens when leadership goes wrong?
LELIA KONYN
In today’s world, senior executives have a range of things they could negotiate when leaving a company. Contrary to popular belief, money isn’t always top of the wishlist. Colquhoun reflected “it is often all about image, being seen to be leaving triumphantly.” Poor messaging, or messaging conveying an acrimonious exit could
damage their reputation to the extent they might struggle to find their next role. Companies care about reputational damage from the media and how they are viewed internally by their own staff. So a harmonious exit, or even a civil parting of ways, can be mutually beneficial for both parties. In fact, most terminations are about human psychology. Colquhoun opined, “If you terminate executives in a way that gives them a little bit of control, a little bit of dignity, they are generally far less likely to challenge the termination.” While it is uncomfortable, dismissing a senior leader is likely something every organisation will face. With a bit of preparation and decisiveness when the time comes, it would not be quite as ‘hairy’ as some might expect.
HR COMMUNITY
HR NEWSFLASH As digital natives, Millennials know no other way to behave. They want access to information at all times and consume and digest things in different ways. Being tech-savvy, they depend on technology to support their development. Deborah Taylor mentioned, “It has shrunk the glove and changed the way we communicate and behave.” They encourage social and off-site events so they can explore and develop networking skills, and think about flexible working because they have the access to the technology.
But what do Millennials bring to the workplace? Deborah Taylor opined, “They challenge the status quo, look for meaning and engagement, blur boundaries between physical and digital and also multi-task. She reminded us that while all those at work need to adapt to the new mindset, we must prepare for the digital world by focusing on younger talent. Digital skills are now a must-have and retraining and development must link to productivity and profitability.”
HR NEWSFLASH
Deborah Taylor, Director of International Education Solutions, BPP Topic | Preparing for the Digital Workplace Seriesthe Millennial Mindset Newsflash
Global leadership, nurturing employee feedback & leveraging flexible benefits Philip Morris International has undergone an amazing transformation in recent years on the back of a significant product redesign primarily by shifting consumer and regulatory attitudes. Sarah Hassan, Director of HR Hong Kong, Macau and RHQ, PMI gave her take on how she has been able to respond effectively as her organisations business goals have been constantly evolving. A large part of this effective response has been the degree of flexibility and authority given to employees to operate within a HR framework but not constricted by it. Hassan explained, “In the past, HR decided everything such as the hours that people worked, their career paths and their office spaces. Now we have shifted a lot of the
decision-making directly to employees. We do a lot of group focus session and crowdsourcing as well as give our employees a higher degree of control over their careers.” In the face of PMI’s transformation, HR has had to respond accordingly and Hassan noted that they were able to remain agile by getting employee buy-in from the ground up. She reflected, “We wanted to demystify the company’s transformation and why employees should care about being more agile. We wanted to give everyone a greater sense of perspective regarding the bottom line. By making decisions more inclusive, we have found that employees have taken more ownership over the company mission and become more accountable.”
SARAH HASSAN Director, People & Culture, Philip Morris Topic | Global leadership: nurturing employee feedback & leveraging flexible benefits
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PANEL DISCUSSION
Facilitator: Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine
The panel (left to right ) • Devi Novianti, Equal Opportunities Officer, EOC • Sarah Hassan, Director, People & Culture, Philip Morris • Helen Colquhoun, Partner, Employment Law, DLA Piper • Fyiona Yong, CEO, Wholistic Coachsulting Ltd • Brett Cooper, General Manager, Philip Morris
First up, the panel discussed how they see leadership morphing towards a more coaching and conversational model which is more heavily weighted towards facilitation. Fyiona Yong, CEO, Wholistic Coachsulting Ltd asserted “I think leaders do understand it is all about coaching and providing regular feedback because we know millennials want to have more regular feedback than any other generation.” With the subject of regular feedback for millennials raised, the panel went on to discuss what timeframe was acceptable from their perspective. Brett Cooper, General Manager, Philip Morris expressed, “I don’t think feedback should happen on a set
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timeframe but when it is necessary. Sometimes it is on a weekly or daily basis but other times it should be straight away. If someone has done something good then tell them right away, there is no reason not to.” The conversation shifted to discussing the difference between a good leader and a bad leader. Devi Novianti, Equal Opportunities Officer, EOC, stated, “It is really important for leaders to check their unconscious bias, to stop, think and act. Ask yourself ‘what if this idea has come from a different person, would I treat it differently?’” Sarah Hassan, Director, People & Culture, Philip Morris, stated a good leader was one who gave the right amount
of space to their team to deliver. She opined, “That’s how you can help create magic. You have the right leader giving the right amount of space to experiment and do new things.” As for when things fail with a senior executive in an organisation, Helen Colquhoun, Partner, Employment Law, DLA Piper pointed out, “Companies often try very hard to make it work through initiatives such as coaching. My experience, however, is that the people who really need the coaching are normally not the ones who are receptive to it. If they are not receptive to change, I think you need to bite the bullet. A bad boss can be very damaging for the business.”
HR COMMUNITY
How to inspire, lead and communicate as a young leader Bridging the generational gap in workplaces is key for any organisation to develop its young leaders into successful senior executives. There is, however, a lack of relevant training for millennials who are already stepping into leadership positions. Fyiona Yong, CEO, Wholistic Coachsulting Ltd, stated that while the average age of first time managers is 30, the average age of a manager’s first leadership training is only 42. New leaders aren’t being given the coaching they need until well into their careers and Yong reflected that this echoed her experience in a leadership position as well. Yong quickly rose through the ranks to be a young leader through several key senior executive positions at Shell. On reflection of these roles, Yong’s success was down to three key realisations which she coined as ‘The 3 E’s of Leadership’. She ‘equipped’ her team to understand the big picture and how their individual roles fit into it. Further,
Yong discussed ‘empowerment’ as a key leadership trait. Yong commented, “Imagine I’m at the pool, I’m going to push my team members in and see how they handle it. But I will also be there with a lifesaving ring whenever they need support and steer.” Finally, Ms Yong discussed ‘exposing’ her team to the organisation and allowing them to be recognised as critically important. Research suggests that current and future millennial leaders don’t want a raft of technology solutions to train them to lead. Like their predecessors, Yong stated they prefer coaching and on the job learning methodologies. She continued that only 36% of millennial leaders feel ready for the challenge, signifying to organisations that relevant training is good for the company too. In the end, Yong summarised, “Leadership is not really about age, it is mainly about impact, influence and inspiration”.
FYIONA YONG CEO, Wholistic Coachsulting Topic | How to inspire, lead and communicate as a young leader
HR NEWSFLASH Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine
Topic | Thrive45 For efficient talent management, it is essential for HR to fully maximize the performance of their workforce. The Thrive45 Survey, Mercer’s latest 45-point diagnostic tool, helps bridge the gap between HR strategy and business strategy. The Thrive 45 Survey, which is completely free of charge, brings organisations a number of benefits. The results allow organisations to benchmark themselves against other
organisations in Hong Kong and globally— providing them with objective insight into their position in the market. In addition, the Survey helps gauge levels of employee engagement and satisfaction with current HR policies and processes. Furthermore, the Survey can be leveraged as an internal SWOT analysis and help highlight future focus. Employees taking part are also able to leverage Thrive45 to express their opinions and increase engagement with their organisations leaders.
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In addition to the Survey, Mercer will be hosting the Thrive 45 Awards to recognise and reward those companies that are helping employees to Thrive. Entry is open to any organisation with at lease 30 full-time employees in Hong Kong that have operated for at least two years. Take part to benchmark your organisation, gain international recognition, engage and empower your employees and ensure that your organisation is fostering a thriving work culture.
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Diversity & Inclusion conference 16 NOV 2018 Hong Kong employees hiding sexuality massively impacts work performance Diversity & Inclusion Conference, hosted by HR Magazine & Hotel ICON, highlights need for employers to create ‘safe’ workplaces to drive respect, inclusion, engagement and retention.
Industry leaders across Hong Kong’s corporate and social sectors attended the 2018 Diversity & Inclusion Conference held at Hotel ICON in collaboration with HR Magazine on 16 November 2018 to demonstrate commitment to Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace. Employees in Hong Kong as well as globally are massively impacted by being less efficient when they feel they cannot be themselves at work. Through keynote speeches and panel discussions, the conference further stressed the importance of tackling inequality and embracing a progressive work culture.
The last few years have seen more and more companies embrace the concept of diversity and inclusion. While many started introducing initiatives to tackle workplace inequality, it was rarely done with good strategy. Fern Ngai, Ceo, Community Business, stated that demonstrating commitment to diversity and inclusion is about encouraging what more can be done. In an internal sense, companies have to evaluate their benefits package to employees. Is there bias or discrimination? In addition, internal sharing can facilitate an online platform for those in the LGBT community to express their thoughts more comfortably than approaching HR. Involving employees in training and guides that explain why LGBT is relevant and showing up to LGBT events speaking proudly of their employees and their commitment to diversity and inclusion can go a long way. In an external sense, the strong influence of senior leaders holding workshops is always a plus. Having a male leader support women in the workplace and staff in general supporting
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initiatives such as pride parades and Pink Dot Hong Kong can foster a culture of inclusion and demonstrate core values of a strong business. Ngai mentioned, “Companies can say we do this and that, but it is always better to have objective validation.” She also showed a video by Coca Cola of Indians and Pakistanis working together and instead of tearing each other apart, leading a life of togetherness and harmony. The message conveyed that it is about how similar we are as opposed to how different we are.
FERN NGAI Ngai summarised, “In order to build an inclusive workplace culture and mindset, we must think how diversity and inclusion can be aligned with our brand to show authenticity and commitment.” She continued, “Although progress is slow, things are moving in the right direction.”
CEO, Community Business Topic | Demonstrating commitment in D&I
HR COMMUNITY LGBTQ+ Panel Topic | Fostering LGBT+ and inclusiveness in and out of the workplace Facilitator: Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine • Fern Ngai, CEO, Community Business • Alexandra Maiden, AsiaPac Talent Leader, Financial Services, EY • Jack Guest, Regional Lead of Diversity and Inclusion, HSBC • Tony Tenicela, Global Leader, IBM • Brenda Alegre, Assistant Lecturer Faculty of Arts, HKU
First up, the panel discussed what organisations can do to eliminate the fear of negative consequences from revealing their sexuality in and out of the workplace. Jack Guest, Regional Lead of Diversity and Inclusion, HSBC noted, “LGBT+ acceptance is more than just within a corporation, it’s also about society. The way that we can influence the wider community is to visibly show the company’s values.”
workplace. Alexandra Maiden, AsiaPac Talent Leader, Financial Services, EY discussed ‘allies’ as extremely powerful within a business. She remarked, “We have voluntary ‘allies’ training and what we have found is that most questions from allies are around how to demonstrate they are an ally and how to not put someone in a difficult or uncomfortable situation. Those questions come from everywhere in Asia Pacific.”
While progress has been made on LGBT+ issues, the panel discussed why the pace of change has been slow. Brenda Alegre, Assistant Lecturer Faculty of Arts, Hong Kong University expressed, “It’s slow in Hong Kong and Asia, as well as many other countries around the world. The culture has to change and that cannot just happen overnight. We need more aggressiveness to promote change to a culture which dates back centuries.”
As for how to promote LGBT+ on a micro-level, particularly for those who do not proactively get on board, the panel had a range of ideas. Guest noted the first step was to ensure senior leaders were comfortable with LGBT+ as a conversation topic which could take some reverse mentoring. He explained “There was initially a fear about saying the wrong thing, about offending people. Before senior leaders can set a tone from the top, it’s important to spend time with them to discuss how to talk about LGBT+ in a business context.” Quantitative metrics, in the form of surveys, was discussed as effective to measure the outlook
The conversation shifted to discussing the most effective initiatives HR and business leaders can take to promotes LGBT+ in the
of the organisation, as long as they could be conducted independently and discretely. Fern Ngai, CEO, Community Business commented, “Not everyone comes out so it is difficult to measure. However, we’ve found some companies are successful including demographics in their surveys which help to also measure productivity in the workplace.” Finally, the panel discussed Transgender and the ‘+’ groups as sometimes forgotten within LGBT+. Tony Tenicela, Global Leader, Marketplace Diversity and Workplace Engagement Services, IBM pointed out, “IBM recently partnered with the Human Rights Campaign, an international NGO, to produce a white-paper with guidelines for when employees chose to transition. It’s a very personal and impactful process and I encourage all organisations to download from our website. Safety should be the utmost concern for all of us because it drives respect, respect drives inclusion, inclusion drives engagement and engagement drives retention.”
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HR COMMUNITY
JACK GUEST Regional Lead of Diversity and Inclusion, HSBC Topic | D&I Initiatives at HSBC
For many, bringing your true self to work is an incredibly challenging thing to do. When Jack Guest, Regional Lead, Diversity and Inclusion, HSBC, moved from the UK to HK in 2011, he initially felt a huge difference in culture around sexuality in the workplace between the countries. Guest stated, “Hiding your sexuality certainly does have an impact
Research shows that, in the long run, diverse teams that are well-managed and led inclusively outperform more homogeneous teams. Alexandra Maiden, AsiaPac Talent Leader, Financial Services, EY and Holly McGhee, Diversity and Inclusiveness lead, FSO APAC have been tackling the question of how leaders leverage the diverse skills and perspectives on their teams to drive higher performance. As a first step towards building towards inclusiveness, Maiden highlighted, “We enabled our leaders to examine their own micro and macro behaviours and to influence the organisation around its people, processes and systems to build an inclusive culture.”
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on your performance. When we talk about whether this is a workplace conversation— absolutely it is.” Led by Guest and several other colleagues at the time, the HSBC Hong Kong Pride group was formally foundered in 2012. While progress was slow, their journey went from lunchtime meetings in which some members hid their involvement from their teams to authentic legitimacy with senior level support. Through gaining an ally who happened to be a senior leader in the Hong Kong branch, to the writing and re-writing of anti-discrimination policies, to reverse mentoring, and a suite of
other initiatives, the Pride group evolved into a business success story. Guest went on to discuss opening up and broadening the conversation as the next step. He added, “What we’ve been doing is focusing on individual groups to elevate them into the conversation, making them feel part of it. That’s served us very well. We now need to look to the future in our role. We need to start advocating for a wider conversation around culture.” He continued, “See yourselves not as administrators or programme managers, see yourselves as influencers because people listen to your words in the workplace.”
The idea of how best to nurture a diverse workforce is changing. McGhee illustrated, “Now we’re seeing conversations around equity, as opposed to equality. It might appear slightly unfair as we’re investing more in women or the LGBT+ community who have previously not had as much of a platform.” Across a broad range of initiatives, such as employee network groups, ‘allies’ training, Inclusive Leadership workshops and the introduction of work-life balance policies, EY is driving a diverse culture from multiple sources. Maiden explained, “One thing alone will not create a change. You need to be working on multiple levels from the grassroots to the senior leaders across the board to affect change in any organisation.”
ALEXANDRA MAIDEN Talent Leader APAC, EY Topic | Embracing & nurturing diverse workforces at EY
HR COMMUNITY Multi-Generational and Cultural Diversity Panel Topic | Nurturing multigenerational and multicultural workforces Facilitator: Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine • Florence Chan, Senior Manager - Programmes and Development, Community Business • Devi Novianti, Equal Opportunities Officer, EOC • Priyanka Gothi, CEO, Retired Not Out
The panel first discussed the phenomenon of the aged economy and how age discrimination is alive and exists, where large organisations have been known for firing people simply because they were older. Florence Chan, Senior Manager, Programmes and Development Community Business shared an experience of hers. Last month she was in a taxi and was talking to the driver. He spoke back to her in perfect English only to find that he was an auditor for Deloitte before being forced to retire. Devi Novianti, Equal Opportunities Officer, EOC asserted, “Young people also face discrimination where employers say they aren’t ready for a role they clearly are.”
to balance old and young generations were. Priyanka Gothi, CEO, Retired Not Out commented, “You can drive ways to encourage collaborations and innovation between different generations.” She had a 15 year-old and 79 year-old working on a project together and they got so involved in the task they forgot about the age difference. She added, “You can improve workplace productivity by doing simple things like putting cushions on benches at work to aid those who are older as well.
The Panel went on to discuss how to balance that dynamic and what the effective strategy
The conversation continued to discuss how an organisation would go about designing training programmes that is going to be effective for a broad range of people. Chan mentioned, “Put into consideration different generations, older generations might need help with digital training programmes
CONNIE CHAN
Chan shared, “Daiwa was convinced not to give up and immediately thought of how to bring him back to work. Throughout the entire year of 2017, he continued rehabilitation, and in the first meeting with Queen Mary they told us we would be able to achieve our main goal of facilitating Alans return to work.” Chan continued, “We renovated the office by making the corridor wider and installing automatic wheelchair access. We also made his cubicle more spacious and installed switches accessible to wheelchair users. His work station was redecorated with welcome signs and in September 2018, Alan finally returned to work.”
Head of Human Resources, Daiwa Capital Markets Topic | Helping different talents integrate into the workplace - a true story triumph after tragedy
Connie Chan, Head of Human Resources, Daiwa Capital Markets shared a story about one of their employees Alan. He had gotten in to a very serious bike accident and ended up with spinal cord injury certified as permanently paralysed below the chest.
Edward Chan, Occupational Therapist at Queen Mary hospital praised Alan’s family for standing by him and giving extraordinary support that got Alan through 29 operations. Chan commented, “Alan’s life is a journey of hope. Look at Stephen Hawking’s life and you will be able to see, disability is just a label.” Walter Tsui, Cofounder and Executive Manager, CareER continues to work together with Daiwa in facilitating workshops that not only help different talents integrate into the workplace,
whereas younger generations might not.” Novianti added, “It is also about marketing and developing a promotion tactic that is appealing to employees.” The conversation then shifted to asking whether multiculturalism was more important than mulitgenerationalism. Chan said, “Both are just as important. Cross-cultural exchange and celebrating different cultures are crucial to help raise awareness. Training and interactive workshops can also be introduced engaging employees in a role model series and showing real-life stories.
but also identifies both invisible and visible conditions. Tsui explained, “Always says talent and ability instead of disability, and do not assume things about others. For example, people who are blind may not need to use braille, so always ask and try to communicate.” Tsui added, “Offer empathy, not sympathy and understand that they can serve like normal people.”
nal AN, Occupatio EDWARD CH sital op H y ar M en Therapist, Que
WALTER TSUI, Co Founde r& Exceutive Manager, CareER
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HR COMMUNITY Around the world, businesses, governments and individuals have been making a stand on LGBT+ inclusiveness. Brian Leung, COO, BigLove Alliance stated, “We can make baby steps in our own industries way to make our culture less hostile. It is possible to make the world—and its businesses—a more accepting place”. Leung went on to state that organisations that remain passive to LGBT+ inclusiveness are missing out an opportunity. Inside organisations, there is a measureable lack of productivity when people feel oppressed or excluded.
BRIAN LEUNG COO, BigLove Alliance Topic | Achieving parity in the workforce
From Burger King’s Proud Whopper campaign, where the burger wrapper was tagged ‘We are all the same inside’ to the Pink Dot LGBT+ festivals held in Hong Kong and Singapore, Leung discussed positive campaigns supporting LGBT+ inclusiveness as being good for business. He concluded, “Taking a stand within the turbulent political landscape is a sign of corporate and brand strength.”
In addition, taking a stand as a business, whether through advertising, events or actions not only helps spread a message of inclusion, but it is actually good for business as well. Leung pointed out, “Data shows brands are held accountable on more than just their products and services, but increasingly for
Panel Discussion Topic | Creating workplaces for people of all abilities Facilitator: Paul Arkwright, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, HR Magazine • Walter Tsui, Co-Founder & Executive Manager, CareER • Dr Zoe Fortune, CEO, City Mental Health Alliance HK • Keith Lui, Director - Global Prime Finance APAC, Deutsche Bank AG • Christina Li, Director of HR & Admin, Jardine Group - KFC Hong Kong • Ricky Cheung, Relationship Manager, LinkedIn
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their stances on political and social issues that consumers face today.”
Paul Arkwright opened up the discussion by asking the Panel where the conversation should begin when discussing inclusion for employees with special needs and disabilities in the workplace. Walter Tsui, Co-founder and Executive Manager, CareER highlighted, “To start your journey in disability inclusion, it is important to realise that there are around 500,000 people living with disabilities in Hong Kong. If your organisation’s recruitment process is not inclusive enough, both your organisation and your clients will miss out on a lot of opportunities and value that could come from this demographic.” Keith Lui, Director, Global Prime Finance APAC, Deutshce Bank AG added, “We partner with CareER and for us it has been about first building awareness. We have facilitated workshops and information sessions to raise our staff’s awareness about the reality of working with people with disabilities. From this place of awareness we can then build engagement.”
HR TECHNOLOGY
Culture eats benefits for breakfast:
why it’s time for AI in HR The human resources industry is not necessarily known for being on the frontier of technology, even when it can make things easier. While industries from airlines to medicine have employed AI-powered chatbots, too many HR departments are counting LinkedIn as their most innovative digital platform. Why is that? The answers are what you would expect— budget allocation is usually prioritised toward the pipeline (marketing for employee talent, for example); people are resistant to change; or they are so focused on recruiting in what is now a job-seekers market that priorities have likely shifted away from employee retention (benefits, in particular, are tied to retention rates; 78% of workers would likely remain with their employer because of the benefits it offers, up from 72% in 2016).
from employees—when does my sabbatical kick in? How can I file for a live event and change insurance? What kind of options do I have for combining PTO with my maternity leave?
But all that recruiting will not address the long-game—reducing turnover. The boom of on-demand services generated by new technology led people’s expectations to rise. Services like Lyft and GrubHub have made instant service the new normal. Employees who spend upwards of 8 hours a day at their jobs are expecting, at the very least, the same level of service they enjoy in other areas of their lives. We are especially seeing this in the travel industry’s customer service via social media, where airlines’ average response time has fallen to 20 minutes.
The problem of higher inquiry volumes will only become more challenging as benefits change in response to cultural evolutions and demand for more personalised employee packages. More benefits options for more people mean even more inbound matters for HR to handle.
While all of these are reasons why HR should consider a technology review for their employees, there is also a huge benefit to HR staff—more efficiency means more capabilities and fewer problems. Efficiency is definitely an issue for HR when it comes to benefits; a recent poll ranked benefits-oriented issues, like employee leave and insurance matters, high in the top reported issues. As the workforce is growing along with the population and more companies globalise, HR departments, the world over, are simply unable to keep up with even the most mundane inquiries
Finally, there are language barriers that come with globalisation. Like the instant-service apps employees are used to outside of work, they also have access to translation tech that makes communication easier on vacation, for example. How do you handle an urgent medical coverage request from an English-speaking employee traveling for work in Germany, when the nearest service centre is located in Belgium? We have seen a particular demand for ‘smart’ translation services from insurers servicing small businesses and the travel industry.
Policy and policy changes are another factor. As the availability and progression of intelligent automated technology becomes more streamlined, a lot of HR departments are offering basic resolution to employee benefits in-house, saving money and reducing processing time. For example, answers to basic benefit coverage are done in an automated digital manner, while staff can personally respond to more complex ticket items. Instead of seven points of contact, there are only two.
Let’s say a medical coverage inquiry about an MRI doesn’t get answered in time and the employee selects a more expensive provider option for the procedure. HR could have analysed the most cost effective provider and saved thousands. Or what if HR sees the question in time but this is the first time an MRI coverage arose? Realising the importance of servicing employees requires jumping into their mindset; when an employee is calling a benefit centre, their attitude is the same as yours when dealing with an insurance company: ‘this is where they cheat me now.’ Handling these issues in-house, in-person, in a timely manner removes that negative association. Despite all the advantages, a select few businesses are leading the charge in AI for HR. What led them to take the leap? Look at the primary reasons benefit administrators came into place to begin with: besides the need for privacy, it is largely driven by the need to optimise the operational cost of maintaining a large HR workforce for benefits administration.
The concern is no longer, ‘will robots will take my job?’ It’s ‘how can robots make my job easier?’
This makes a major difference in cost and not just around eliminating third party handlers.
Customer data supports digitalisation. On average, we have seen $180,000 in savings for a team of 10 advisors, and equaling capability by the equivalent to four full-time employees. Insurers’ close rate has been increased by 28%, with a 33% reduction in traffic volume and a 30% higher rate of completion for service requests.
In other words, more HR leaders must realise that these pain points are now a non-issue. We now have the ability to handle more inquiries, instantaneously, with fewer employees, at a flat cost. And it does not remove HR staff, it simply redirects their time toward more urgent or complex requests. It is time to consider AI—what many of us, use to see as a pie-in-the-sky technology reserved for NASA or Microsoft—as accessible, because it is. The concern is no longer, ‘will robots will take my job?’ It’s ‘how can robots make my job easier?’ Cutting down on monotonous tasks makes any HR staffer a happier person. Just ask them.
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by Aamer Ghaffar
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HR LEGAL
Sexual harassment is not just a problem for the West - #MeToo movement has lessons for Hong Kong and China, too #MeToo—Born in the West
#Me Too—A Global Phenomenon
A simple Tweet by Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano on 15 October 2017—“If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet”—kick-started the global #MeToo firestorm. Now a little over a year old, #MeToo has given a voice to previously silent or reluctant victims of sexual harassment.
While #MeToo exploded into the public consciousness in the West, its impact was not so immediate in Asia where it was initially denied by some commentators. The day after Milano’s tweet, China Daily ran an opinion piece asking “What prevents sexual harassment from being a common phenomenon in China, as it is in most Western societies?”.
The movement has publicly ended the careers of a trail of celebrities and high-profile business executives who, prior to #MeToo, engaged in sexual harassment, safe in the knowledge that the victims would be too scared to speak up. While headlines initially focused on celebrities, the strength of #MeToo exposed the sexual harassment iceberg that had hidden millions of women and men below the surface, unable to speak out and take action about their shared experience of harassment and abuse.
The author went on to argue that Chinese society is more “harmonious” than Western societies and that “behaving inappropriately toward women, including harassing them sexually, contradicts every Chinese traditional value and custom”.
Studies carried out in the US found that over 80% of women and 40% of men experienced sexual harassment during their lifetime, with 10-25% of women experiencing sexual harassment each year.
The opinion piece was instantly met with criticism and condemnation in both the West and China (and has since been removed from the China Daily’s website). The tone of discourse has also dramatically changed, with China Daily more recently running pieces titled ‘Employers need to do more to prevent sexual harassment’, ‘Stronger legal measures urged to combat sexual harassment’, and ‘A storm in the East a year after the launch of #MeToo in the US’.
All the statistics show a huge proportion of all sexual harassment that occurs in the workplace, with the most common forms of workplace harassment being jokes about sex, sexual comments, staring, and unwelcome physical contact.
Local studies show that these more recent headlines are much more representative of the reality in Hong Kong and China. In 2014, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), Hong Kong’s equality watchdog, published a survey officially stating that “Sexual harassment
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remains a common occurrence in the workplace”. It went on to describe its findings that one-fifth of female workers say they have been sexually harassed, with a third of those doing nothing about it. In the EOC’s March 2018 report Knowledge of Sexual Harassment and Experience of being Sexually Harassed in the Service Industries, it was revealed that 12.1% of those surveyed had been sexually harassed. It is a sad indictment that the legislation designed to eradicate sexual harassment in Hong Kong, the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO), has been on the statute books for over 20 years, but has had little practical impact despite a promising start. In its first year of enactment, the EOC received 13 SDO complaints, 11 relating to sexual harassment. The first District Court case of sexual harassment commenced in 1998 and won by the Claimant the following year (Yuen Sha Sha v. Tse Chi Pan [1999] HKDC 2).
HR LEGAL
As the awareness of rights increased, so did the initial number of SDO complaints handled by the EOC. The EOC’s Annual Reports over the past 10 years, however, show a relatively consistent plateau. Each year the EOC has handled around 100 reports of sexual harassment, with about 90% of all cases relating to workplace sexual harassment. Of these, the EOC has supported the complainants in court proceedings in fewer than five cases in each year. The position in China is perhaps even more extreme. A study published in June 2018 by the Yuanzhong Gender Development Centre said that “of the more than 50 million court rulings made from 2010 to 2017 that are publicly available, just 34 involved sexual harassment”. Only two of these cases were brought by victims suing their alleged harasser, and both failed. While this may seem outrageous, it is perhaps less surprising when you consider there is currently no codified law preventing sexual harassment in China, and no legal definition of sexual harassment.
Recent statistics from the West, China and Hong Kong all show a huge disparity between the number of surveyed incidents of workplace sexual harassment and the number of formal reports made or cases brought to trial in the District Court.
#MeToo Practise What You Preach #MeToo has given victims an invisible support network of millions of shared experiences, emboldening some who have traditionally tolerated harassment in silence to speak up and take action. This should set off the loudest of alarm bells for employers.
When those experiencing sexual harassment were asked why they had tolerated such behaviour and taken no formal action, the majority cited fear and complicated complaint procedures, with employees in smaller organisations being even less likely to come forward—this in part is due to such companies being less likely to have policies in place to deal with sexual harassment.
Under the SDO, unless an employer can show that it has taken reasonably practicable steps to protect employees from sexual harassment, the employer will be liable for the acts of its employees. The statistics indicate that almost half of all employers do not even have in place a zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy or Code of Ethics which prohibits sexual harassment, which is the most basic of all steps an employer can take to protect employees from harassment. Without this basic protection, it is unlikely an employer would have any defence against a claim that is vicariously liable for the acts of an employee. In most cases a standalone policy will be insufficient, it must be implemented. Employees should be trained, and sign declarations of understanding, and the implementation of the policy must be consistent and transparent.
In the March 2018 EOC report, less than onefifth of the employers in the Service industries had sexual harassment policies. In earlier EOC surveys undertaken between 2012 and 2016 across a wide range of sectors, including Sports, Social Services (NGO), Education, and Business, more than half of employers were found not to have any formal sexual harassment policy.
The high-profile sexual harassment scandals in China show that #MeToo continues to gain strength across the border. Human Rights Watch published a report on 8 November 2018 on female civil servants, citing numerous posts on social media describing their experience of being sexually harassed and seeking advice. It also reports that the anti-
#MeToo Risk Bubble?
corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping has resulted in the disciplining of officials accused of sexual misconduct. Wider action is also underway in China at a national level, with the preparation of the Draft Civil Code, set for final review by 2020 that will require employers to take reasonable measures against sexual harassment in the workplace. #MeToo also has the power to force employers to practice what they preach. When faced with criticism, organisations can no longer stay silent, and senior management and corporate untouchables can no longer act with impunity; the assumption on the assumption that complaints against high-ranking managers would be whitewashed no longer stands. #MeToo has forced organisations to take responsibility for sexual harassment in the workplace. Cover-ups are no longer tolerated, and major organisations must be seen to be proactively stamping out sexual harassment.
Adam Hugill Adam Hugill specialises in employment law in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region. He also advises on a wide range of legal and commercial issues, both contentious and non-contentious, in the region and beyond.
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HR BOOK REVIEW Autism Works By Adam Feinstein People with autism are being excluded from the workforce, with only 16 % in full-time employment. In his book, Autism Works, Adam Feinstein addresses the lack of understanding of the contributions people across the autism spectrum can make to the workplace. An autism researcher and historian, Feinstein draws attention to this vast, untapped human resource and the possible competitive advantage companies can gain by actively seeking people with autism for positions in organisations. Employers who create supportive workplaces can enhance their companies by delving into a deep talent pool of candidates with autism. While also helping to produce a more inclusive and tolerant society, people with autism can themselves benefit materially and emotionally from improved employment opportunities. Packed with real-life case studies examining the day-to-day working lives of people across the autism spectrum in a wide variety of careers, this book provides constructive solutions for both employers seeking to improve their workplaces and for individuals with autism considering their employment options. It dispels popular myths about autism, such as that everyone is good at IT, and crucially tackles the potential job opportunities available across the spectrum, including for those who have no language at all. It also highlights the neglected area of gender differences in the workplace and the costs of autistic females’ ability to ‘camouflage’ their condition. This book is a must-read for employers, HR professionals, adults with autism, and for anyone interested in the present and future of people with autism in the workplace. Employing autistic people is not an act of charity but one that makes sound economic sense.
Environmental stories for children the gift that gets them thinking! Set of three books only HK$200
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Endorsed by Sir David Attenborough Written by local author, Stu Pryke Get a copy delivered to your door
HK CLASSIFIEDS
HR Classifieds Index Business Process Outsourcing Education / Corporate Training Employee Wellbeing / Insurance HR Consulting HR Technology Solutions Leadership Development Legal / Employment Law / Tax
| 90 | 90 – 91 | 91 | 91 – 92 | 92 | 92 – 93 | 93
Management Consulting | 93 MICE Venues / Event Organisers | 94 Recruitment / Executive Search | 94 Relocation / Logistics | 95 Service Apartments / Hotels | 95 – 96 Staff Benefits | 96 Talent Management | 96
BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING Established in 1968, Boardroom has been listed on the Main Board of The Singapore Exchange since 2000. We are one of the leading business solution providers in Asia, specialising in Accounting & Finance, Corporate Secretarial, Payroll Administration, Share Registry and Tax Services.
Boardroom Corporate Services (HK) Limited 31/F, 148 Electric Road, North Point, Hong Kong
We currently have direct office presence in 13 cities across Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Australia, serving a portfolio of over 5,500 publicly listed and privately owned companies across Asia Pacific and beyond. Our clients span a wide range of industries, including listed companies, Fortune 500 companies and major multinational corporations.
Tel: (852) 2598 5234 Fax: (852) 2598 7500 marketing.hk@boardroomlimited.com www.boardroomlimited.com
TMF Group helps global companies expand and invest seamlessly across international borders. Its expert accountants and legal, HR and payroll professionals are located around the world, helping clients to operate their corporate structures, finance vehicles and investment funds in different geographic locations. With operations in more than 80 countries providing managed compliance services, TMF Group is the global expert that understands local needs.
TMF Hong Kong Limited 36/F, Tower Two Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tricor Business Services draws on our diverse professional expertise, backed up by the latest technologies and systems, to provide a comprehensive range of services, including but not limited to: Business Advisory; Accounting & Financial Reporting; Treasury & Payment Administration; Human Resource & Payroll Administration; Tax Services; Trade Services; Trust Assets Administration; Fund Administration; Governance, Risk & Compliance; and Information Technology Solutions.
Tricor Services Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
Our work processes and controls in the rendering of accounting and payroll services are externally audited by Ernst & Young Hong Kong and accredited each year in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3402.
Tel: (852) 3589 8899 Fax: (852) 3589 8555 info.apac@tmf-group.com www.tmf-group.com
Tel: (852) 2980 1888 Fax: (852) 2861 0285 info@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com
EDUCATION / CORPORATE TRAINING As a trusted international organisation and a global leader in English training, the British Council has over 70 years’ experience in English assessment. We develop and deliver English language programmes for businesses in Hong Kong. Aptis, British Council’s English testing tool, is a robust four skills test used by corporate businesses, government organisations and educational institutions. It provides an accurate and affordable way to benchmark language levels of employees for recruitment or career advancement purposes. With results available in as little as 24 hours, Aptis assesses ability in the areas that HR want to focus on – in individual skills or combinations of speaking, writing, listing or reading. Dew-Point International Ltd. is a leading provider of training and management consulting services throughout Asia. We assess the specific needs of our clients and respond with customised, practical training programs and consulting services. Established in 1973, we combine in-depth knowledge with genuine enthusiasm and highly dynamic training techniques to create productive and effective learning experiences. Dew-Point enhances organisational and individual effectiveness by building the capacity within organisations without the need of continued outside help. Through assessment, skills training, team facilitation and executive coaching, we have ensured the long-term success of countless clients.
British Council 3 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2913 5100 aptis@britishcouncil.org.hk www.britishcouncil.hk/en/exam/aptis
Dew-Point International Ltd. 21/F., Ritz Plaza, 122 Austin Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2730 1151 Fax: (852) 2730 0164 info@dew-point.com.hk www.dew-point.com.hk
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HK CLASSIFIEDS An Asia-based communications agency, Giles Publications works with many of the region’s most respected organisations, providing tailored support for the internal teams. Our full suite of services, including editing, copywriting, translation, design and production, means we can handle projects from concept through to delivery. We also offer a range of hands-on training courses designed to address questions and concerns often raised by our clients. Topics include copywriting, business communications and presentation skills. Tailored workshops are also available.
Giles Publications Unit B, 21/F, 128 Wellington Street Central, Hong Kong
The PTI Group is a consulting, training, and publishing group. In conjunction with the internationally-renowned professional association, International Professional Managers Association (IPMA) of UK, we offer online pure distance learning courses (PDLCs). IPMA’s website: http://www.ipma.co.uk/conferences.php
The PTI Group 20/F. Wellable Commercial Building, 513 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Our “Financing & Capital Raising Professional™ (FCRP™)” and “Environmental, Social & Governance Expert™ (ESGE™)” programmes seek to enhance candidates’ practical & international knowledge in raising funding for companies (bank financing, IPO, private equity etc.) and ESG respectively. Upon qualification, candidates can use respective professional designation, awarded by IPMA.
Tel: (852) 2815 9880 enquiries@gilespublications.com www.gilespublications.com
Tel: (852) 3511 9288 info@the-pti.com www.the-pti.com
Raise your colleagues’ ability to add value through practical & international knowledge by enrolling in our PDLCs.
The Vocational Language Programme Office aims at offering quality vocational English, Chinese and Putonghua training for working adults to meet their language needs at work. We have run various courses for public organisations and private corporations before, such as HKSAR Water Supplies Department, Hospital Authority and Pizza Hut Hong Kong Management Limited. With the support from the Language Fund, the QF-recognised Vocational English Enhancement Programme is on offer for enhancing the practical English skills of the Hong Kong workforce. Individual corporations can enjoy great flexibility by having the VEEP courses operated at their training venues and preferred schedule. On completion of the course, learners can receive 60% of the course fee reimbursement and obtain certificates issued by the Vocational Training Council and LCCI.
H.R. Solutions specialises in training in leadership, performance management, sales and general skills development including negotiating, project management, presentation skills and communication skills. We are official partners of Think on your Feet® and engage-universe, and accredited DISC and MBTI® facilitators. Based in Hong Kong, we work regionally with local languages delivery as required. Our workshops incorporate simple frameworks and processes to provide effective, structured learning, supported with tailored experiential exercises, cases and role-plays. Our long-term development programs combine classroom training with on-the-job learning, ongoing coaching and on-line resources as appropriate. We aim to ensure participants can apply the skills immediately in the workplace for better team performance and superior business results.
Vocational Language Programme Office, Vocational Training Council Room 437, 4/F, Academic Block, 30 Shing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2595 8119 vlpo-veep@vtc.edu.hk www.vtc.edu.hk/vlpo
H.R. Solutions (Int’l) Ltd. H. R. Solutions (Int’l) Ltd. Room 2802, Tower Two, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2573 0501 abrophy@hrsolutions.com.hk www.hrsolutions.com.hk
EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING / INSURANCE Hong Kong Adventist Hospital — Stubbs Road is one of the leaders in medical services, providing organisations with comprehensive health assessment packages to choose from. The hospital works closely with HR and Benefits specialists to design tailor-made programmes to satisfy your staff’s unique requirements. The checkups not only assess staff’s health status and identify the risk factors, it also provide preventive programmes to help clients fine-tune their lifestyles for healthy living. All the services are supported by experienced professional staff using advanced equipment in modern facilities.
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Hong Kong Adventist Hospital— Stubbs Road 40 Stubbs Road, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3651-8835 Fax: (852) 3651-8840 www.hkah.org.hk
HK CLASSIFIEDS Major Compare is a leading international employee benefits consultancy, risk management advisory and business insurance brokerage firm. They work with companies of all sizes both in Hong Kong and around the world to advise and implement customised employee benefit plans with the goal of retaining and attracting employees. Through industry specific due diligence Major Compare also help reduce HR overheads with policy management and by ensuring your company is fully and properly insured with the guarantee of the lowest premium(s). All services provided by Major Compare are completely free to their clients.
Major Compare 1/A, 128 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers is a leading international health insurance brokerage specialising in providing comprehensive coverage options to individuals, families, and companies throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Working with over 120,000 clients in 150 countries, Pacific Prime can deliver advice in more than 15 major languages. With offices strategically located in Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Pacific Prime is able to provide immediate advice and assistance to policyholders located around the world. Pacific Prime works with over 60 of the world’s leading health insurance providers, giving customers unprecedented access to the best medical insurance products currently on the market.
Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers Ltd. Unit 1 - 11, 35/F, One Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 3018 1353 www.majorcompare.com.hk
Tel: (852) 2586 0731 Fax: (852) 2915 7770 info@pacificprime.com marketing@pacificprime.com www.pacificprime.com
HR CONSULTING Based in Hong Kong and with overseas partners, we operate internationally. HRA provide human resource consultancy & recruitment support to construction, engineering, manufacturing and the oil & gas sectors. Our human resource consultancy services encompass the full range of HR functions including training, HR audits and outsourced HR support.
HRA Associates (HK) Limited 701, 7/F, Tower 2, Silvercord, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2735 9961 Fax: (852) 2735 9967 group@hrahk.com www.hrahk.com
HR TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS COL, based in Hong Kong with over 40 years of experience, is a leading IT services subsidiary of WTT. COL is the vanguard of HRMS providers, crowned Excellent HR Information System Provider of HR Excellence Awards 2014 by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM). COL offers a comprehensive IT services portfolio, including application development and implementation, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), IT infrastructure, etc. With domain expertise in business applications, we deliver the best practice Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions ranging from award-winning HRMS, web-based employee self-service portal to outsourcing services for MNCs, enterprises and SMEs.“Doc:brary” Document Management System is another flagship application in our HCM product portfolio that securely manages HR related documents including employees P-file, appraisal records, training materials, etc.
COL Limited Unit 825 - 876, 8/F, KITEC, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2118 3999 Fax: (852) 2112 0121 colmarketing@col.com.hk www.col.com.hk
COL is an Avaya partner, a Cisco Gold partner, an EMC Velocity Partner, a Juniper Networks Elite Partner, an Oracle Gold and ISV Partner, a TmaxSoft ISV Partner and a VMware Partner. COL was CMMI Level 3 assessed in May 2005.
With strategic offices in Hong Kong, China, UK and US, DaXtra is a world leading specialist in high-accuracy multilingual CV parsing, semantic search, matching and process automation technologies. Our solutions are compatible with most leading recruitment ATS and CRM systems and are designed to bring efficiency and automation, while dramatically reducing the overall ‘cost of hire’. Over 1000 organisations globally use DaXtra products every day – from boutique recruitment firms to the World’s largest staffing companies, from corporate recruitment departments to job boards and software vendors.
FlexSystem is a recognised leader in enterprise management software industry in the Greater China region. Over the past 28 years, FlexSystem has been delivering high quality application software and services to maximise the client’s operational efficiency in the accounting, order processing, payroll and human resources, manufacturing, workflow and business management. With its strong global network of regional offices and partners, FlexSystem serves thousands of customers in more than 36 countries, half of them are listed on 30 global stock exchanges, and 1 in 10 with presence on the Forbes 2000 list. Now and future, FlexSystem continues to keep up with technology development and create a complete platform of new generation enterprise resources management solutions.
Daxtra Technologies (Asia) Ltd. Unit 401, OfficePlus 93-103 Wing Lok Street Sheung Wan Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3695 5133 asia@daxtra.com www.daxtra.com
FlexSystem Limited Block A, 4/F., Eastern Sea Industrial Building, 29-39 Kwai Cheong Road, Kwai Chung, N.T, H.K Tel: (852) 3529 4123 Fax: (852) 3007 1424 infodl@flexsystem.com www.flex.hk
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HRM Essentials is an energetic and innovative company that focuses on HR solutions. Our customers range from trading to financial institutes. We provide on-premises and cloud solutions. Users can access their systems anywhere at anytime. • Unlike other solutions which are either too complicated or lack of focus. Our solutions are easy-to-use and powerful. • We invite users to participate in our development process. Users are happy and excited to see every release with the new features they requested. • We commit to provide excellent after-sales services. • Our solutions are budget-friendly. • Most importantly, we serve our customers by HEART.
HRM Essentials System Consulting Limited 23/F, Weswick Commercial Building 147 – 151 Queen’s Road East Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2111 2980 Fax: (852) 8209 3800 info@hrmessentials.com www.hrmessentials.net
Still not sure? Call us now and let’s talk.
SuccessFactors, an SAP company, is the leading provider of cloud-based Business Execution Software, which drives business alignment, optimises workforce performance, and accelerates business results. SuccessFactors customers include organisations of all sizes across more than 60 industries. With approximately 15 million subscription seats globally, we strive to delight our customers by delivering innovative solutions, content and analytics, process expertise, and best practices insights. Today, we have more than 3,500 customers in more than 168 countries using our application suite in 35 languages.
SuccessFactors 35/F, Tower Two, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2539 1800 Fax: (852) 2539 1818 info.hongkong@sap.com www.successfactors.com
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IECL has been training professional coaches and inspiring leaders throughout Australasia since 1999. We have had a permanent presence in Hong Kong since 2009, Shanghai since 2011, and established our first footprint in Singapore in 2015. Our vision is to develop the next generation of exceptional leaders. Everything we do focuses on people, development and measurable business results. IECL’s expert team are at the forefront of reshaping leadership development for the 21st century. We know leadership is no longer an individual activity—a leader’s success depends on others succeeding. This knowledge underpins IECL’s service to you: • Training and accrediting coaches • Enabling leaders through focused programmes • Providing expert coaches and facilitators
MDS Company Listing
Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (IECL) Suite 901, Level 9,The Hong Kong Club Building, 3A Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3125 7572 coach@iecl.com www.iecl.com
For over 20 years MDS has been the market leader in talent development, leadership training, sales effectiveness and executive coaching, producing great results for global companies in the Greater China and APAC regions.
Management Development Services Limited 1701 – 3 Kai Tak Commercial Building 317 – 319 Des Voeux Road Central Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
MDS is the certification centre and distributor of leading personality and leadership assessments for talent development programmes including the MBTI® and FIRO® , Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA360™) and GMI® , Strong Interest Inventory ® for career planning, Sales Performance Assessment™ (SPA™) for sales development, and TKI® for negotiation skills.
Tel: (852) 2817 6807 Fax: (852) 2817 9159 mds@mdshongkong.com www.mdshongkong.com
From MDS offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei we manage an outstanding team of international trainers and executive coaches delivering a vast collection of leadership and sales programmes including the Miller Heiman products. In 2016, MDS launched the Smith-MDS partnership with University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. The partnership draws on a world-class faculty, facilitators and executive coaches to deliver leading edge executive development solutions.
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ACT is a corporate L&D consulting and training company based in Hong Kong & Singapore with over 15 years’ experience in people training and development that partners with forward-thinking organizations and leaders who understand the importance of their greatest asset - their people.
Asia Corporate Training Ltd. 13B, Shun Pont Commercial Building, 5-11 Thomson Road, Wanchai, HONG KONG
The acronym for the company name, ACT, simply and powerfully represents the philosophy of taking ACTion: to understand how one’s belief will lead to specific behaviours which will result in specific outcomes. ACT believes that selfawareness of how we think and act is critical for personal growth, to translate into leadership effectiveness, contributing to greater corporate success as a result.
Tel: (852) 25756470 contact@act-asia.com.hk www.act-asia.com.hk
HK CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL / EMPLOYMENT LAW / TAX Excel Global Consulting is a leading business consultancy specialising in the enhancement of business performance through a unique approach to people management. Our goal is to deliver you the knowledge and resources to improve business productivity by creating better employee engagement within your organisation using customised human capital management solutions. With our support you’ll gain a committed, more innovative and highly motivated workforce primed to lead your business towards greater efficiency and productivity. With Excel Global your employees will gain greater job satisfaction in a solution-oriented work environment where engagement is productive, innovative and geared to better business performance.
Excel Global Company Information Level 8, Two Exchange Square, 2 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
WTS is a tax and business consulting firm providing assistance in the strategic planning and management process of intercompany assignments’ cost and compliance.
wts consulting (Hong Kong) Limited Unit 1004, 10/F, Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
Our Global Expatriate Service specialists advise on expatriate issues relating to corporate tax, personal tax, social security matters and process consulting across Asia. Our expertise therefore enables us to identify assignment related risks at an early stage and optimise tax and social security payments for companies and their employees while keeping the administrative burden to a minimum. In conjunction with our international network, we can assist you in almost 100 locations worldwide.
Tel: (852) 2846 1888 Fax: (852) 2297 2289 info@excelglobal.com www.excelglobal.com
Tel: (852) 2528 1229 Fax: (852) 2541 1411 claus.schuermann@wts.com.hk www.wts.com.hk
MANAGEMENT CONSULTING atrain is a premium consultancy in leadership assessment, talent management and organisation development. Headquartered in Germany, we have offices in Europe, United States, South America and Asia. 90% of our consultants are business psychologists; we bring together the best of business strategies and the psychological approach to develop solutions tailor-made to your requirements. We explore and research on innovative concepts, and help you to cultivate the company culture you envisage.
atrain Limited Unit 1201-3, 135 Bonham Strand Trade Centre, 135 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan Tel: (852) 2522 9018 info@atrain-apac.com www.atrain-apac.com
Our international presence and culturally diverse teams enable partnerships with multi-national corporate clients for their business growth and success. Put us to the challenge—you will not be disappointed.
The Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) was established in 1960. The HKMA is a non-profit making organisation which aims at advancing management excellence in Hong Kong and the Region, with a commitment to nurturing human capital through management education and training at all levels, the HKMA offers over 2,000 training and education programmes covering a wide range of management disciplines for approximately 48,000 participants every year.
Hong Kong Management Association 14th Floor, Fairmont House, 8 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong
Tricor Consulting Limited is a member of Tricor Group dedicated to creating value for clients and strengthening their organization capabilities through:
Tricor Consulting Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
• • • • • • •
Strategic Management—Shaping your future and making it happen Organization Structuring—Aligning organization structure with strategies HR Consulting—Maximizing performance and return on investment of human assets Talent Management—Cultivating talents to create competitive advantage Director Remuneration and Board Evaluation—Ensuring appropriate remuneration of senior executives and building an effective board Training Resources Consulting—Maximizing business impact of training with on-demand scalable resources Change Management—Partnering with clients to drive and enable organization transformation
Tel: (852) 2526 6516 / 2774 8500 Fax: (852) 2365 1000 hkma@hkma.org.hk www.hkma.org.hk
Tel: (852) 2980 1027 Fax: (852) 2262 7596 john.kf.ng@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com
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MICE VENUES / EVENT ORGANISERS
AsiaWorld-Expo is Hong Kong’s leading exhibitions, conventions, concerts and events venue, yet it is also an ideal venue for annual dinners, world-class conferences, cocktail receptions, media luncheons and sumptuous banquets. With Hong Kong’s largest indoor convention and hospitality hall, AsiaWorldSummit which seats up to 5,000 persons, together with a full range of meeting and conference facilities, award-winning chefs and attentive hospitality staff, AsiaWorld-Expo is definitely your choice for an unforgettable event.
AsiaWorld-Expo Management Limited AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong, China
Cliftons provides premium, purpose-built, training and event facilities and solutions, ensuring our clients’ programmes are delivered seamlessly and successfully around the globe. Over the past 14 years, Cliftons has grown to provide clients with the largest network of dedicated computer and seminar training facilities across the Asia-Pacific region. Encompassing over 150 state-ofthe-art training and meeting rooms within 10 CBD locations in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, this footprint of proprietary venues is supplemented by a global affiliates network that allows clients to manage all of their training needs around the world with a single point of contact.
Cliftons Training Facility Level 5, Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, HK
France Macau Business Association (FMBA), founded in 2008 by Hon. Chairlady Ms. Pansy Ho, is a non-profit organization with membership open to French and non-French professionals, entrepreneurs and corporations with interests in developing commercial and trade relations. FMBA’s objective is to promote and foster business relations between France within the European community and Macau within the Pearl River Delta. The association aims to provide members with platforms to exchange ideas and network, while providing support to new entrants to explore trade opportunities in Macau, contributing to the internationalization of Macau.
France Macau Business Association Alameda Dr. Carlos de Assumpção, N.263, Edif. China Civil Plaza, 20 Andar, Macau SAR
Tel: (852) 3606 8888 Fax: (852) 3606 8889 fnb@asiaworld-expo.com www.asiaworld-expo.com
Tel: (852) 2159 9999 enquiries@cliftons.com www.cliftons.com
Tel: (853) 8798 9699 Fax: (853) 2872 7123 info@francemacau.com www.francemacau.com
RECRUITMENT / EXECUTIVE SEARCH Headquartered in Switzerland, Adecco is a Fortune Global 500 company with around 5,000 offices in over 60 countries and territories around the world. We possess the skills and global intelligence to develop human resource strategy for the highest levels, yet remain close to clients, local markets and needs. Adecco Hong Kong has over 30 years of experience in the region, with a comprehensive service offering that includes permanent placement, temporary & contract staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, HR consulting & assessment services, employment contract services, recruiting projects & overseas search, payroll outsourcing & administration services, and training.
Adecco Personnel Limited 12/F, Fortis Tower, 77-79 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Established in 1996, Frazer Jones is a Human Resources Recruitment Consultancy. Contact us to find out how we can assist you in your next Human Resources hire or if you are looking for a change in your HR career. As part of The SR Group, Frazer Jones has wholly owned offices in Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Dubai, London, Düsseldorf and Munich and has access to the best HR talent around the world.
Frazer Jones 1918 Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Randstad is a Fortune Global 500 Company and the second largest recruitment & HR services provider globally, with operations spanning across 39 countries with over 29,700 corporate staff that help talented people develop their career potential and provide companies with the best people to reach their business goals. Founded in 1960 by Frits Goldschmeding, our Asia Pacific operations reaches across Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. Randstad Hong Kong was established in 2009 and specialises in permanent and contract recruitment across specialized areas including Accounting & Finance, Banking & Financial Services, Construction, Property & Engineering, Information Technology & Telecommunications, Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain & Logistics.
Randstad 5/F, Agricultural Bank of China, 50 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tricor Executive Resources has for the past 28 years built an unrivalled reputation for integrity and professionalism in the executive search business. Our team of specialist consultants and researchers provide a range of practical and innovative solutions to help you search for the right talent to meet your business needs. We utilize in-depth research, intense resourcing and a highly focused approach in the identification of qualified candidates in the appropriate industry sector. Our clients consists of multinationals, publicly listed and private companies as well as family-owned and start-up companies.
Tricor Executive Resources Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
We also provide advice on HR best practices to enhance your human capital. Our HR Solutions can help drive your business performance through the effective use of talent. These include Compensation and Benefits Benchmarking; Soft Skills and Management Development Training; Performance Management Systems; Talent Assessment Centre; Human Resource Outsourcing; Career Counselling and Talent Transition Management and Employee Engagement Surveys.
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Tel: (852) 2895 2616 Fax: 2895 3571 hongkong@adecco.com http://adecco.com.hk/
Tel: (852) 2973 6737 shookliu@frazerjones.com frazerjones.com
Tel: (852) 2232 3408 www.randstad.com.hk
Tel: (852) 2980 1166 Fax: (852) 2869 4410 fiona.yung@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com
HK CLASSIFIEDS
RELOCATION / LOGISTICS Asian Tigers, has provided international relocation and moving service to the Hong Kong market for more than 40 years. We move people internationally, regionally, and even within Hong Kong itself. Our experienced, multilingual staff enables Asian Tigers to deliver low-stress relocation services. Perhaps you are responsible for coordinating your office move and would like to know more about ‘low down-time’ office relocations. Whatever your needs, wherever you are headed, Asian Tigers can help facilitate and streamline your relocation. Give us a call and find out how we can assist you.
Asian Tigers Mobility 17/F, 3 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Crown Relocations, a worldwide leader of global mobility, domestic and international transportation of household goods, and departure and destination services, has over 180 offices in more than 50 countries. From preview trip and immigration assistance to home and school searches, orientation tours, intercultural training, partner career programme, and ongoing assignment support, Crown offers the best relocation solutions to corporate clients and transferees across the world.
Crown Relocations 9 - 11Yuen On Street, Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories
Tel: (852) 2528 1384 Fax: (852) 2529 7443 info@asiantigers-hongkong.com www.asiantigers-mobility.com
Tel: (852) 2636 8388 hongkong@crownrelo.com www.crownrelo.com
SERVICED APARTMENTS / HOTELS Four Seasons Place, the epitome of luxury and elegance, Four Seasons Place creates a relaxed and homely living environment amidst the surrounding opulence. With 519 serviced suites designed by internationally renowned designers, guests can choose from a range of stylish accommodations from studios and 1/2/3-bedroom suites to penthouses that open up to spectacular views of Victoria Harbour. It also features a rooftop heated pool & jacuzzi, sky lounge, gymnasium, sauna and multi-purpose function room to meet business and recreational needs. Heralding a comfortable, hassle-free living experience, all guests are pampered with personalised hotel services from VIP airport pickup to 24-hour multi-lingual concierge services.
Four Seasons Place 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong
GARDENEast is prestigiously located at the heart of Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, boasting 216 luxurious units in 28 storeys.
GARDENEast Serviced Apartments 222, Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Each of our luxurious units is subtly unique. Spacious studio, studio deluxe, deluxe 1-bedroom, executive suite and twin-beds in selected rooms, with their sizes ranging from 395 to 672 square feet, are comfortably-appointed with an all-encompassing range of fittings and furnishings. The landscaped gardens offer a relaxing lifestyle, peace and tranquillity of green living and a diverse choice of dining and entertainment is right on your doorstep.
at the ICC megalopolis
Tel: (852) 3196 8228 Fax: (852) 3196 8628 enquiries@fsphk.com www.fsphk.com
Tel: (852) 3973 3388 Fax: (852) 2861 3020 enquiry@gardeneast.com.hk www.gardeneast.com.hk
The HarbourView Place is part of the Kowloon Station development, located at a key harbour crossing point. Located atop the MTR and Airport Express Link at Kowloon Station. The junction of major rail lines, three minutes to Central, 20 minutes to the Airport, a mere 30 minutes to Shenzhen and 60 minutes to Guangzhou. It is a place for the best view of Hong Kong and Kowloon and is an icon property at Harbour Gateway. Located next to International Commerce Centre, the fourth tallest building in the world, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong and W Hong Kong, guests can enjoy a premium luxury living with the large shopping mall Elements and Hong Kong’s highest indoor observation deck Sky100.
The HarbourView Place 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Conveniently nestled in the East of Hong Kong, Kornhill Apartments is one of the biggest apartment blocks in town, featuring a total of 450 units with a variety of unit configurations designed to suit every need imaginable.
Kornhill Apartments 2 Kornhill Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
Notable for cozy and contemporary décor, as well as superior amenities and services, the complex is located next door to Kornhill Plaza where you can relish a wide array of shops and entertainment choices.
Tel: (852) 2137 8101 Fax: (852) 2568 6256 kornhillapts@hanglung.com www.kornhillapartments.com
The apartments are an excellent choice for corporate clients who cater for visits by expatriate colleagues. Units include studio, one to two-bedroom suites and deluxe three-bedroom suites.
Vega Suites, is the stylish suite hotel in Kowloon East. Located atop the MTR Tseung Kwan O Station, Island East and Kowloon East are only 3 MTR stops away. The integrated complex becomes a new landmark creating a comfortable, relaxing and home like living space for guests. The allencompassing landmark development comprises two international hotels & luxury residence The Wings. Situated directly above the trendy PopCorn mall, connected to one million square feet of shopping, dining, leisure and entertainment. There is a lustrous selection of units – ranging from Studio, 1-Bedroom, 2-Bedroom to 3-Bedroom with flexible staying terms.
Tel: (852) 3718 8000 Fax: (852) 3718 8008 enquiries@harbourviewplace.com www.harbourviewplace.com
Vega Suites Atop Tseung Kwan O Station 3 Tong Tak Street, Tseung Kwan O Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3963 7888 Fax: (852) 39637889 enquiries@vegasuites.com www.vegasuites.com.hk
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V is a collection of award-winning hotels, serviced apartments and private residences in Hong Kong. Bringing our philosophy of eat, shop, live easy, each V is nestled in a plethora of restaurants, amidst excellent shopping hubs and surrounded by an extensive transportation network. V Wanchai and V Wanchai2 are minutes walk from HKCEC, whilst the Lodge connects to 5 railway systems. Each V is urban, contemporary, but calm and quiet. Our two Causeway Bay properties host penthouse and terraced apartments for families and elegance entertaining, whilst V Happy Valley features an outdoor water garden.
V Hotels and Serviced Apartments Unit 5702, Cheung Kong Centre 2 Queen’s Road Central Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3602 2388 Fax: (852) 2891 1418 reservations@thev.hk www.thev.hk
Each V carries a different design motif, yet shares one critical ingredient – we deliver a high standard of comfort and good honest service.
STAFF BENEFITS Atrium HR Consulting is a joint venture between Alliance Group International and RamsaySmith, bringing together extensive experience and a wealth of specialist knowledge. Atrium’s aim is to help businesses achieve the highest possible level of performance by maximising efficiency, cost savings and results. Atrium’s services are used and trusted by more than 25% of the Fortune Global 500. Building upon their current client base, resources and an established global infrastructure they work to deliver a professional customer-focused service around the world. Today Atrium supports clients across 180 countries with their recruitment, training, employee benefits and wellness programmes.
Atrium HR CONSULTING. 22/F OVEST, 77 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Contact person: Pauline Williams Tel: 852 2891 8915 info@atriumhr.com www.atriumhr.com
Nespresso provides a range of machines dedicated to professional use that meet the different needs and expectations of our customers. Zenius is the one of the latest innovation in the professional machine range by Nespresso and comes at an affordable price. It is intuitive to use, reliable and integrates the latest technological advances by Nespresso. Zenius is the ideal machine for small and big companies looking for quality and simplicity. At Nespresso we want to make it possible for you to make the same full-bodied espresso offered by skilled baristas. Your business can benefit from years of Nespresso expertise in premium Grands Crus coffees, innovative machines and excellent customer support.
Nespresso, Division Of Nestlé Hong Kong Ltd. Unit 505, Manhattan Place, 23 Wang Tai Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong
HireRight delivers global background checks and employment verification services through an innovative platform to help companies hire the right candidates, so they can grow successfully and efficiently—no matter their size or where they operate. HireRight offers a comprehensive screening solution that can be tailored to the unique needs of the organization, giving enterprises peace of mind about their people and processes. HireRight’s platform can be integrated with existing HR platforms, making it easy to use and giving candidates the best possible experience. HireRight is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with offices across the globe, including regional headquarters in London and Singapore. For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.hireright.com/apac
HireRight Asia Square Tower 2, #23-01, 12 Marina View, Singapore 018961
Korn Ferry is the pre-eminent global people and organizational advisory firm. We help leaders, organizations and societies succeed by releasing the full power and potential of people. Our nearly 7,000 colleagues deliver services through Korn Ferry and our Hay Group and Futurestep divisions. At Korn Ferry, we design, build, attract and ignite talent. Since our inception, clients have trusted us to help recruit world-class leadership. Today, we are a single source for leadership and talent consulting services to empower businesses and leaders to reach their goals.
Korn Ferry International (H.K.) Limited 15/F, St. George’s Building, 2 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 800 905 486 Fax: 800 968 822 CRC.HK@nespresso.com www.nespresso-pro.com
TALENT MANAGEMENT
Through our vision, research and tools across 80 offices and 3,400 employees, we convert potential into greatness. Our solutions range from executive recruitment and leadership development programs, to enterprise learning, succession planning, and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). Organisations around the world trust Korn Ferry to manage their talent – a responsibility we meet every day with passion, expertise, integrity and results.
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apacmarketing@hireright.com www.hireright.com/apac
Tel: (852) 2971 2700 Fax: (852) 2810 1632 General inquiry: kornferry.hongkong@kornferry.com Leadership and Talent Consulting: ltc.hongkong@kornferry.com www.kornferry.com
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