HRM 16.2 Are you fit for the future?

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ISSUE 16.2

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EDITOR’S NOTE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Sumathi V Selvaretnam

Dear HRM readers,

ASSISTANT EDITOR Sham Majid

I

JOURNALIST Naadiah Badib SUB-EDITOR Paul Howell PUBLISHING ADMINISTRATOR Ezzaty Nazurah Zainal SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amos Lee GRAPHIC DESIGNER John Paul Lozano SALES DIRECTOR Kristine Chan ACCOUNT MANAGERS Edwin Lim Shamaine Chua MARKETING MANAGER George Smith MARKETING EXECUTIVE Rafiq Jalil MANAGING DIRECTOR Joanna Bush PHOTOGRAPHY BY Frank Pinckers (pinckers.com) Ted Chen (tedchenphoto.com) PRINTED BY Times Printers Pte Ltd PUBLISHED BY

16.2

hope you’ve been keeping well!

January marked my return to the office as a working mother after six months of maternity leave. Having a flexible and thoughtful employer makes a huge difference for mothers making that transition back to work.

Personally, I benefited greatly from having the option of taking two extra months of maternity leave. Flexible start times at work also mean that I am able to get into the office early, and leave by 5pm to spend time with my baby.

We explore the topic of family-friendly workplace polices further in this month’s instalment of High Impact HR, where local parenting magazine, theAsianparent, shares how its supports working mothers in the organisation.

A new year often signals new opportunities. According to a survey by Careerbuilder, one in five US employees are determined to change jobs in 2016. Check out our Recruitment Special, for tips on strengthening your hiring efforts to net the best talent.

Our cover story this month features management guru Julian Birkinshaw, who will be speaking at the HR Summit in May this year. He offers an interesting perspective on why HR should not get too carried away with big data and data-driven decision making.

I wish you a fruitful read.

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Read something you like? Or something you don’t? Perhaps there’s some insight we haven’t considered?

Have your say on HRM’s news, features, and contributions by emailing: info@hrmasia.com.sg

ISSUE 16.2 HRMASIA.COM

1

CONTENTS 16.2 COVER STORY 12 Steering clear of

“analysis paralysis” While Big Data has become an ubiquitous proposition to HR, knowing how to effectively utilise and apply it in the real world is a vital skill for HR, argues Professor Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Deloitte Institute at the London Business School, and speaker at the HR Summit 2016.

12 FEATURES

38

18 Leveraging on a legacy

Levi Strauss & Co has long been captivating audiences with its iconic brand image for more than 140 years. Karthik Sarma, Vice President of HR, shares how its famed culture seeps into every layer of the organisation.

26 Racing for a good hire

Employers sometimes need to fill job positions quickly, but this always increases the risk of a hiring error. HRM learns how HR departments should approach the selection process to have a better impact on their workforce.

31 Attracting the right candidates

The era of scrutinising stacks of paper résumés is over. In its

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18

35

place, applicant tracking systems are fast-becoming the chief framework by which recruiters sift through candidates. HRM delves deeper into the musthave software for recruiters.

35 The complete package

For many employees, the start of a new year brings along new goals and ambitions. Rewarding them through both monetary and non-monetary means is essential for maintaining retention in a competitive talent market.

38 Leading from experience

54

Despite an extensive background in senior management roles, Andrew Tan, CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, does not forget his roots. HRM finds out how his experiences have had a large influence on his leadership skills.

44 Fusing technology into business blueprints

REGULARS

From cloud solutions to software-as-a-service platforms, HRM shares how HR technology is increasingly dominating the discussions of C-Suite figures.

4 News

52 Making a case for mothers

48 HR Clinic

The largest parenting website in Southeast Asia, theAsianparent, is staying true to its word by crafting child-friendly policies for its own staff. HRM reveals more.

54 HR Young Gun

Every month, HRM speaks to a young university talent hoping to carve out a career in HR upon graduation.

16 Leaders on Leadership 48 Twenty-four Seven 50 Talent Ladder 60 In Person 60 Resources 62 An HRD Speaks ISSUE 16.2

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NEWS

ASIA

HONG KONG

INDIA

WORK-LIFE BALANCE SPURRING RISE IN FLEXIBLE WORKING

DISPARITY IN ENGAGEMENT AMBITIONS

The demand for enhanced work-life balance is leading to a rise in flexible working.

This is according to research by Regus, which collated the views of more than 44,000 business people from over 100 different countries, including 349 business professionals in Hong Kong.

In the survey, 61% of respondents cited that the need to enhance work-life balance was leading to demand for more flexible working opportunities.

The chase for better work-life balance was most dominant in Hong Kong, with two-thirds of respondents (67%) hoping for improvements to their work lifestyle.

This percentage is steeper than those in other Asian nations, including Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The findings show that the demand for healthy work-life balance is proportionate to the work pressures employees encounter. Some 14% of Hong Kong employees in Regus’ corresponding overtime research claimed to be clocking in an extra 15 hours of work each week.

The surveys also reveal that close to half (44%) of organisations in Hong Kong are moving towards flexible working, in order to become more agile.

“This research confirms that flexible working boosts efficiency and cuts costs. Businesses can reduce underused office space and operate in a more agile way, making decisions on a needs basis,” said John Wright, CEO of Regus Asia-Pacific.

“While the drivers for flexible working may differ for businesses and employees, both stand to gain. The fact that businesses are already benefitting from flexible working to increase their agility is good news. In addition, helping employees to find a more satisfying balance between their personal and professional lives creates a healthier and more productive workforce.”

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There appears to be a stark difference between the employee engagement targets of Indian businesses and the actual output levels they are achieving.

According to a recentlyreleased report by Towers Watson, while as many as 86% of respondents think that employee engagement is a strategic priority in their firm, only 49% of firms believe steps toward the goal are actually taking place.

The report found that threequarters of the respondents believed that employee engagement schemes were directed from top management, including the CEO. “Human capital is clearly emerging as a strong competitive differentiator today and talent, engagement, productivity and profitable growth have never been more intricately connected,” said Vivek Nath, Managing Director, Towers

Watson India. “It is indeed time to put the employee rightfully back in the ‘employee engagement’ equation.

“Organisations that combine high employee engagement with enablement and energy will open the door to a significant performance lift. Our study clearly indicates that while there is broad agreement among leaders of the value of employee engagement and the need for measurement, there are significant gaps between obtaining data and knowing what to do with it.”

The study quizzed 133 senior managers and HR leaders of India’s top firms.

AUSTRALIA

EXODUS OF DISILLUSIONED STAFF A new report by Morgan McKinley Australia has highlighted the discontentment of Australian employees and shed light on their true sentiments.

Over 49% of departing professionals polled in the Job Satisfaction & Career Progression Survey Report 2015 said a lack of career advancement opportunites had been their chief motivation for departing from a position.

Another 13% cited company culture as their reason for leaving a job, while eight per cent attributed it to basic salary or a difficult boss.

When quizzed as to what is top of mind when considering career advancement, 55% revealed that the overall salary package was the most crucial factor, while 23%

expressed their wish for a broader remit in their job scope.

“Our survey clearly shows that Australians working in professional disciplines are highly sophisticated in their ambitions,” said Louise Langridge, Joint Managing Director, Morgan McKinley Australia. “At the same time, the Australian workforce is still characterised by its talent shortages.”

“Our data indicates that employers should be doing more to understand their employee’s career expectations and should engage with their employees on a continuous basis to discuss both opportunities and potential impediments to career progression.”

ASIA INDIA

ASIA-PACIFIC

DISAPPOINTED WITH PRIVATE SECTOR More than 70% of private sector employees regret being employed there, according to a TimesJobs.com survey. This comes after government employees received a 23.55% pay raise across the board last year.

The recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission for the Indian public service has raised eyebrows across the corporate sector as well.

“This considerable hike is going to put a lot more discretionary income in the hands of central government employees and will definitely lead to increased spending,” said Vivek Madhukar, chief operating officer of TimesJobs.com. “But the discontent caused in the private sector by this performance-indiscriminate hike to central government employees is palpable,”.

“And, Indian employers are having to face the brunt of this

NEWS

SHANGHAI MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN ASIA-PACIFIC FOR EXPATS

dissatisfaction with lowered motivation and performance levels.”

The TimesJobs survey polled more than 700 professionals working in the private sector from across the country. A sizeable 68% believed that the raise for government workers was “unfair”.

Another 47% of respondents felt the hike had no association to employee performance, while 30% believed the steep hike would eventually stretch the income disparity between the public and private sectors.

Shanghai is the most expensive city for expatriates to live in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to a survey by ECA International, the nation jumped from third place in 2014.

Within China, Beijing trailed behind as second in the region followed by Guangzhou and Shenzhen at sixth and seventh place respectively.

At ninth place was Hong Kong which scaled up 17 positions from 2014 where it was placed as the 26th most expensive location for expatriates.

Regionally, Hong Kong became the third most expensive city within Asia-Pacific. The rise in rankings was a result of the city’s strong dollar currencies during the past 12 months.

“In spite of the minor depreciation in the renminbi against the dollar over the summer, it has strengthened against most other currencies leading to Shanghai becoming the most expensive Asian city for international assignees,” said Lee Quane, Regional Director, Asia, ECA International.

HR Business Partner Congress The Only HR Business Partner Event to Combine Professional Education and Practitioner Expertise

24 – 25 February 2016 | Hilton Singapore The conversation about HR having a “seat at the table” is over. The door is wide open and the Human Resources function has its seat; increasingly one being populated by HR Business Partners that are aligned with business units rather than, or in addition to a centralized HR function.

But for many organizations that have filled these roles with HR generalists, long on skills in the HR function but short on experience in other areas of the business, these partnerships are proving frustrating for both sides. Now, more than ever, HR professionals need a whole new set of competencies, some related to talent and some related to business to deliver the results their organizations are looking for.

The brand new HR Business Partners Congress from HRM Asia is the only HRBP event that combines professional education with practitioner expertise and comprised of two day-long sessions, each focused in an area critical to this HR/Business Line partnership. NO matter your experience in the HR field, you will leave the congress with an arsenal of actionable strategies to deliver back to you organization, as well as personal development benefits.

To register, please visit www.hrmcongress.com or email us at info@hrmasia.com.sg

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HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES AND YOUR BUSINESS BOUNCE BACK

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

US

RETENTION UNDER PRESSURE A rising number of US employees may be changing their jobs in 2016.

According to a recent survey by career website AARP, four in 10 of experienced workers may try to find a new job this year.

Of this group, 62% are currently employed, and 66% of those have been in the same job for at least five years.

Getting a higher salary was the leading motivator for their planned job search, 74% of respondents cited.

Career growth potential (21%), better workforce flexibility (25%), more enjoyable work (30%) and better health benefits (28%) were other reasons to seek new roles in 2016.

Some 62% of these workers planned to rely on online listings for their search.

Other methods of job searching also include using personal contacts (40%) and company career listings (33%).

Some respondents were considering applying for roles in a different industry. Twenty-four percent

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CANADA

EMPLOYEES BONDING OVER “BLIND DATES”?

A Toronto-based accounting firm Freshbooks is taking on a different perspective when it comes to employee engagement.

An online article from CBS News revealed that that the company sets up what it calls “blind dates” for its employees.

The programme, which was launched in 2015, was developed after manager Mary Grace Antonio noticed that not everyone in the office knew

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reported that they would not expect to stay in the same sector if they had a successful job change.

“Things are so fluid that many of those likely to switch jobs this year say they do not expect to stay in the same industry,” said AARP Senior Vice President Jean Setzfand.

“An even larger group of job searchers do not know what type of business they will end up in at all.”

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each other. She wanted to foster a closer-knit community within the workforce.

In this scheme, Antonio plays the role of a “matchmaker” where she asks for volunteers who are then grouped together and sent on lunch or coffee dates.

She was quoted as saying that she tried to mix and match people who wouldn’t usually be working together.

This also means that top level executives can be matched with newly-hired college graduates.

The programme’s success was highlighted by a survey conducted by Antonio.

“After the first round, we sent out a survey to see how many people liked it and 100% of people who joined said they liked it,” she told media.

“Some said it felt awkward... like a real first date!”

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

UK

US

SEEKING OUT POTENTIAL

TECH SCHEMES LACK BUY-IN

Companies in the UK are in danger of letting key talent slip from their grasps by failing to notice their potential or doing little, if anything, to foster it.

According to recent research by Penna, a global people management business, a meagre 13% of employees described their company as doing a lot to recognise potential, with the end product being that precious talent has either gone to waste or departed from the firm (estimated at around 23% in the past 12 months).

Tellingly, 71% of workers polled cited that they would be more likely to remain with a business that recognised their potential, yet nearly a quarter (24%) had no idea whether or not their organisation believed they had what it takes.

One potential explanation is companies’ lack of formal processes for recognising potential, noted by over a third of the employees surveyed (37%).

When potential does get acknowledged, only 23% of identified employees revealed there had been any further investment in advancing their skills.

Nevertheless, a whopping majority (81%) of managers polled regard developing potential as fairly or extremely crucial, while half (50%) acknowledged that failing to do so could lead to employee disengagement, high staff turnover and increased recruitment costs (43%), as well as reduced productivity (34%).

Close to a third of managers (31%) believed they lacked senior management support in spotting employee potential; while a quarter believe that it isn’t deemed to be a business priority (25%).

The research though, highlights that many companies do not even possess a foundation for recognising potential.

Close to a third (30%) of managers confess that their company has no single definition of what “potential” actually is and no real way of evaluating it. As many as 79% of managers cited that they didn’t have proper assessment processes or tools in frameworks to spot potential.

“It is time that organisations recognised the importance of spotting potential and talent development,” said Penny de Valk, managing director of Penna Talent Practice. “By failing to do so they are jeopardising their greatest asset – their talent. Not only are they missing out on the opportunity to engage their most valuable employees, they also risk wasting existing talent at a time when it’s in short supply.

“Organisations need to take a more disciplined and systematic approach to identifying potential; many have future leaders sitting under their noses but just can’t see it or they go elsewhere to find it.

“Instead, organisations need to have a clear definition of what potential actually looks like, a clear way of measuring it, and to link this to appropriate development interventions to ensure potential is optimised.

“Given the criticality of recognising potential to ensuring competitive advantage, businesses can’t afford not to.”

Chief information officers (CIOs) have identified the prime reason that technology initiatives often flounder.

According to a survey by POPin, a mobile app, the chief cause for failed technology plans emanate from a lack of employee “buy-in”.

In the survey, 52% of respondents cited that technology schemes usually failed due to “slow” or “reluctant” adoption from end users.

In fact, only 23% identified budgetary issues and 17% cited lack of buy-in from senior management as the cause of failure.

Less than eight percent claimed that technology schemes flopped because of insufficient technology.

Worryingly, 78% of respondents highlighted that it takes workers some time to get to new technologies and ideas.

The survey also revealed that firms lack the resources for management to collect employee feedback and take action.

Only 25% of organisations polled claimed they had a framework in place that enabled executives to undertake immediate action to afford employees with the tools they require to perform their jobs.

Tellingly, 57% said they have only “some processes in store” but “could be more nimble in this area”.

GLOBAL

MOBILITY ASSIGNMENTS ON THE RISE Over half of the world’s companies (54%) are planning an increase in the use of permanent transfers this year. That’s according to Mercer’s Worldwide Survey of International Assignment Policies and Practices.

The top drivers behind the rise in international assignments are goals to provide specific technical skills that are not available locally (47%), to provide specific managerial skills (41%) and to fulfill specific project needs (40%).

In the future, 57% of companies expect the number of key or strategic assignments to increase, and 51% expect to deploy a higher number of younger staff.

However, firms continue to face several challenges when sending employees for overseas assignments.

Thirty-seven percent of them cited that the career aspirations of the spouse and family issues are the main barriers to employee mobility.

The cost of current conditions was ranked as the second highest obstacle (35%) to successful assignments, followed by hardship considerations (25%) and career management (23%).

“Companies are using a more varied range of assignments in order to respond to evolving business needs and changing patterns in the global workforce,” said Rob Thissen, consultant in Mercer’s mobility business, based in Dubai.

“Especially developmental assignments are a trend in our region, with many Middle Eastern multinationals sending staff abroad to acquire skills and learn from different (business) cultures.”

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7

INF GRAPHIC

How effective is your organisation’s career framework?

More companies worldwide are recognising the need to have a career framework for employees. Not only does this help to map out their talent’s job prospects, it also acts as a tool to create a positive impact on the success of the organisation.

HRM shares the highlights from Mercer’s 2015 Career Frameworks in Talent Management Survey

Biggest implementation challenges

Does your firm have a career framework in place?

12%

61%

Full framework

Lack of expertise in career development and rewards discussions

Incomplete framework

37%

38%

No framework, plans to implement

No framework, no plans to implement

The

BENEFITS OF CAREER FRAMEWORKS

43% 41% 31% 30% 28%

13%

37%

More focus on salary than career levels

TOP FUNCTIONAL AREAS TO REFRESH

Higher employee engagement

Sales

36%

Identifying key talents

Finance

29%

Lower risks of losing staff

HR

28%

Stronger employee value proposition

Marketing

28%

Workforce planning

Supply chain 25%

Sources: • Mercer’s 2015 Career Frameworks in Talent Management Survey • Some icon graphics are by Freepik.com and VectorOpen-Stock.com 8

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29%

No transparency with current and future job prospects

DID YOU KNOW

40%

of mature markers are less likely to have career frameworks

76%

of firms had positive return of investments on their career frameworks

63%

of firms plan to expand their career frameworks in 2016

NEWS

HR MARKET ROUNDUP

RECRUITMENT ALLIANCE EMERGES Frazer Jones, the global HR recruitment organisation, has announced their acquisition of Maximum Management Corporation, a long-established boutique HR recruitment company in New York.

It says the merger offers Frazer Jones its first office in the US and supplements its global offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia.

The two businesses will continue to trade under their individual names and will focus on further developing their global HR search and recruitment offerings.

Maximum Management will continue to be run by Melissa Brophy and Nancy Shield. This synergy will enable both companies to better service their international clients and senior HR candidates with global remits, allowing them to spot the very best talent, wherever in the globe they may be. ‘’Having worked with Maximum Management for a number of years, we are delighted that we are moving forward as one business,” said Darren Wentworth, global partner of Frazer Jones. ”Nancy and Melissa share our passion for relationship-driven recruitment as well as our commitment to providing the highest possible standards of engagement and delivery within the global HR recruitment market.

“It is fitting that we should mark our 20th year of business by establishing a unique foothold in the New York market.’’

Shield and Brophy say Maximum Management Corporation are “elated” to be part of Frazer Jones and able to better cooperate with its UK European, Asian and Australian clients.

“This enables us to provide global recruiting leadership which the market now demands, and solidifies our decadelong relationship with Frazer Jones,” they added.

MERCER ACQUIRES WORKDAY SERVICES PARTNER CPSG Global consulting firm Mercer recently revealed its acquisition of CPSG Partners (CPSG), a leading Workday services partner.

This acquisition will considerably expand the size and abilities of Mercer’s present Workday practice while providing a global distribution channel for CPSG. By acquiring CPSG, Mercer will be able to meet clients’ needs for cloud-based finance and HR services across a broader range industry segments and employer sizes with Workday Financial Management and Human Capital Management (HCM).

CPSG has assisted over 125 clients with operations around the globe to maximize the strategic benefits from Workday Financial Management and HCM. CPSG possesses a track record of delivering intellectual property and high-value services in order to help maximize the value of Workday for its clients.

“With the addition of CPSG, our successful and rapidly growing Workday practice will gain the scale to serve the largest clients and expand the scope of our services into the Middle Market as well as education and government sectors,” said Ilya Bonic, President of Mercer’s Talent business.

“We are excited to bring our consulting heritage, combined with cutting-edge technology deployment skills, to empower more Workday clients to better manage their most important assets – their finances and people.”

Rohit Mehrotra, CEO and Founder of CPSG Partners, added that in order to continue building CPSG, it was crucial that the organisation uncovered a company that believed in its talent model and work culture.

RANDSTAD SINGAPORE EXPANDS Specialist recruitment firm Randstad Singapore is aiming to further develop its Business Support division in 2016.

This comes in response to rising demands for quality talent in the corporate and secretarial support functions.

Under the expansion, the Business Support division will now be realigned into two specialist divisions: Corporate and Secretarial Support and HR. The newly-organised divisions will also receive investment to support their growth plans, with increased headcount.

The expansion will result in the Corporate and Secretarial Support specialist team concentrating on crucial roles such as executive

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assistants, personal assistants, secretaries, and corporate and administration support professionals, including legal support.

Meanwhile, the HR division will specialise in hiring HR professionals in the areas of learning and development, compensation and benefits, organisational development, talent acquisition and recruitment, along with HR business partners and generalists.

Spearheading the new divisions is Josh Border, Associate Director for Sales, Marketing, Communications, Retail and Business Support.

“This model will allow our clients to benefit from having a team of specialist recruiters who are committed to sourcing relevant high-

calibre talent for their businesses,” he said. “Similarly, our candidates will be able to work with consultants who are dedicated to their specific disciplines and industries – and gain access to a suite of quality jobs that will fit their career aspirations.”

Jaya Dass, Country Manager of Randstad Singapore, says her organisation’s longstanding commitment to service excellence means it is constantly sourcing out for opportunities to boost efficiency in all aspects of its business.

“This expansion represents a good step towards improving our client and candidate experience, and delivering on our speed-to-market promise,” she added.

COVER STORY COVER STORY

Steering clear of

“ANALYSIS PARALYSIS” Knowing how to effectively utilise and apply Big Data in the real world is a vital skill for HR, says Professor Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Deloitte Institute at the London Business School. We caught up with him ahead of his speaking engagement at the upcoming HR Summit 2016 Sham Majid sham@hrmasia.com.sg

1

You argue in your upcoming new book that the current obsession with big data and accelerating technological change is misplaced. Why? It goes without saying that technological advances, for example better analytical techniques and greater access to information, are a good thing. So, I am not in any way a “luddite” when it comes to technology. My argument is a different one; namely, that we run the risk of becoming overly-obsessed with information and knowledge for their own sake. Today, information is ubiquitous and search costs are tending towards zero. The net result is that many people get stuck in “analysis paralysis” or find themselves browsing the internet without any sense of direction. At the firm level, the consequences of this obsession with information are that we end up delaying decision-making (because there is more information we could gather) or that we end up making decisions in a very sterile way by acknowledging only the quantitative or science-based dimensions of knowledge.

So the argument in my forthcoming book, Fast/ Forward, is that in age of ubiquitous information, the scarce resource is actually human attention – the 12 ISSUE 16.2

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capacity to focus and attend to the most important issues. In a world where knowledge has to be quantified and built on scientific logic to be acceptable in a boardroom conversation, we are increasingly missing the “emotional” or intuition-based side of the story.

In short, the basis of competitive advantage is gradually shifting, away from information and knowledge per se, and towards decisive action and emotional conviction. These are the attributes that will separate out the winners from the also-rans in the years ahead.

2

How should HR deal with the endless data and technological changes in order to stay ahead of the pack?

There clearly are ways that data and analytics can be very helpful to HR managers. For example, there are stories written about Google’s highly-effective use of quantitative data to identify the key traits of a good boss, and many companies have experimented with more analytical approaches to identifying talent, and hiring and promoting the right people.

COVER STORY ABOUT THE SPEAKER Julian Birkinshaw is a Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Deloitte Institute at the London Business School. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management Research (UK), and a Fellow of the Academy of International Business. He is co-founder with Professor Gary Hamel of the Management Lab (MLab), whose mission is to accelerate the evolution of management.

He is the author of twelve books, including Becoming a Better Boss (2013), Reinventing Management (2010), Giant Steps in Management (2007), Inventuring: Why Big Companies Must Think Small (2003), and Entrepreneurship in the Global Firm (2001), and over eighty articles.

His main area of expertise is in the strategy and organisation of large multinational corporations, and on such specific issues as subsidiary-headquarters relationships, corporate entrepreneurship, innovation, the changing role of the corporate HQ, organisation design, and knowledge management.

With a PhD and MBA degree in Business from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Durham, Professor Birkishaw was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Stockholm School of Economics in 2009.

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COVER STORY My advice is: yes, you need to stay abreast of all these techniques, and to make sure you are using the data you have to help employees be as productive and engaged as possible. But, make sure you use the data to “inform” rather than to “drive” your decision-making.

There is a fundamental tension between “algorithm”-based decisions, where you can literally ask a computer to give you the answer, and “heuristic”based decisions where intuition, emotion, and gut feel play a major role.

As HR executives, you need to get the balance right, and typically, that means re-emphasising the heuristic-based side of the spectrum. This is your value-add.

3

How should companies “reinvent” their management techniques?

To reinvent management, you need to start by recognising that there is a problem that needs fixing. This means, for example, looking at how slowly you make decisions, how disengaged your employees are, and how internallyfocused people are on a day-to-day basis. These are all classic symptoms of an overly-bureaucratic structure, and the need to shake things up.

The next step is finding examples of organisations, whether in business or in other settings, that inspire you, that show clearly that there are alternative ways of working. For example, we can look at Handelsbanken in Sweden which got rid of its entrie budgeting process, or Valve in Seattle which operates without managers. Then, building on those types of examples, you need to put people to work in teams, to move towards practical small-scale experiments on different ways of working. Perhaps eliminate the budget process in one division; or try a more bottom-up way of allocating people to jobs; or maybe, try a crowdsourcingbased approach to decision-making?

Finally, once you have made some progress, you are then faced with the biggest challenge of all: scaling up the experiments across the organisation as a whole. Some firms have done this well, but it remains the most difficult problem.

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4

How can leaders and managers get the most out of their employees?

It is often unhelpful to separate out leadership and management. Leadership is a process of social influence – it is the things you say and do that inspire others to follow you. Management is getting work done through others, with an emphasis on the word “done”. They are complementary activities, and any midranking or senior “boss” needs to be both a manager and a leader to be effective.

So, how do you get the most out of your employees as their boss? Just like doctors, the first rule is “do no harm”. In other words, being effective is in large part about getting out of the way, and letting people take responsibility for their own actions.

If you ask people to think back to when they did their best, most fulfilling work, the vast majority identify some sort of challenging project where they were given a lot of autonomy and where they were able to work things out for themselves.

So “space” is a big part of it, but in addition, you need to give a clear sense of direction, as to why the piece of work is important. This is often called “starting with why”. Then, it is about providing the necessary support when required, in the form of resources and feedback, and giving praise and recognition when the work is completed.

5

How can HR complement these efforts?

The majority of leaders and managers know what they are supposed to be doing – they get the intuitive point that they should be providing interesting and challenging work for their employees and letting them get on with it. But even so, many of them don’t do it consistently. Partly, this is because they are very busy (it’s sometimes easier to just give a command than to explain “why”), but it is also because they lack the support structures they need to do their jobs as managers.

This is where HR comes in. If someone wants to become a better boss, they need personal coaching to help them change their ingrained habits (excessive micro-managing for example). They also need an opportunity

to share learning with peers, and they need to have role models to learn from. All these are part of the “personal development” agenda that all managers should have.

Companies also need to show that they are taking high-quality management seriously. This means designing compensation systems in a way that explicitly factors in employee engagement measures alongside performance-based ones. And, it also means putting those who are good at people management into senior positions. This sounds incredibly obvious, but many big companies continue to promote people who are good at delivering results, despite being bad at people management. This has to stop.

6

What constitutes “innovation” in an organisation? How can HR foster this?

Innovation is the exploitation of new ideas – and it applies not just to products and technologies, but also, to the development of new services, new business models and new ways of working internally.

HR can contribute across the board, in terms of helping to instil a culture that supports experimentation and wellintentioned failure. HR has a particular opportunity to be proactive in management innovation – in developing new and better ways of working internally. For example, devising superior ways of budgeting, crowdsourcing decisions to involve more people, evaluating and rewarding individual performance based on peer review: these are all examples of management innovation that HR departments in large firms have often been involved in.

7

What are you looking forward to in your presentation at the HR Summit in Singapore this year?

I am looking forward to sharing my latest ideas, the ones that are coming out in my new book Fast/Forward in late 2016, and I am also keen to hear about some of the latest thinking on people managementtype issues in Asia. I am always on the lookout for “management innovations”, wherever in the world I go to, and I am sure I will get some inspiration from my visit to Singapore in May.

COVER STORY

Catch Professor Julian Birkinshaw ‘LIVE’

3

TOP

TAKEAWAYS

at HR Summit 2016

In his HR Summit 2016 presentation, Professor Julian Birkinshaw will discuss: • A clear understanding of the potential and limits to investing in big data and data-driven analytics • The concept of a new organisation model, as well as when and how it will best be applicable to you and your company • A self-assessment of your own organisation - what organising model are you currently using, and what model could you / would you like to use?

17-18 May 2016 • Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre Join Professor Julian Birkinshaw in our C-Suite Exclusive Master Series Fast/Forward: The Twin Imperatives for Making your Company Fit for the Future “The current obsession with big data and data-driven decision making is overstated”, suggests Professor Julian Birkinshaw. The firms that succeed in the future will be those that understand the limitations as much as the benefits of information, and in particular it will be the ones that are able to foster a culture of decisive action allied to emotional conviction.

The author of Reinventing Management and Becoming a Better Boss brings you his latest arguments and disruptive thoughts from his impending Autumn publication – Fast/Forward: The Twin Imperatives for Making your Company Fit for the Future.

Professor Birkinshaw will discuss that to address the changing sources of advantage in the business world, organisations need to develop a new organisational model, the adhocracy, to complement the traditional emphasis in large firms of bureaucracy and meritocracy. For leaders wanting to build a company that is truly fit for the future, Professor Birkinshaw will touch on what this adhocracy model would mean for your organisation and for your particular style of leadership.

ISSUE 16.2

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LEADERS ON LEADERSHIP

How can leaders ensure they have quality conversations with their employees?

T

he quality of leadership is defined by dozens of daily interactions and their impact. None is more powerful than one-on-one conversations.

So, what delivers quality conversations? Authenticity. It’s easy to figure out why: people relate better to people who “keep it real”. It’s as true for CEOs and heads of state as it is for you and me. Leaders struggle to get things done if people don’t trust them.

Being your true self allows others to be theirs as well. When people feel safe to speak their minds, discussions become more productive.

Then, it’s time to listen. This is the easiest behaviour of all for reinforcing trust, yet it’s the hardest to remember.

Your undivided attention is the utmost gesture of respect. Complete focus is key to fully understand the person’s motivations and frustrations.

Be open with what you’re trying to achieve and invite their input and involvement. Often, they know more than you do about the situation on the ground. They have precious intelligence and perspectives to offer.

Keep listening. Solutions co-created with staff are smarter because they draw from a bigger picture.

Remain constructive when discussing problems. Embrace teachable moments. They are the positive side of failure. Show empathy by sharing your own experiences and lessons learned.

You can support without removing responsibility and accountability. And, in order to support employees, it’s critical to really know them. A great way to close a quality conversation is to ask, “What more can I be doing to help you?” Never leave it to chance that you already know.

A

STEVE MELHUISH Co-founder and CEO, PropertyGuru

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t PropertyGuru, what we value most is two-way communication between teams and their managers, and across countries, as part of an open, and collaborative culture. We believe that this is crucial to our success, and foster it through our values, which emphasise openness, inclusivity and teamwork. A key value we emphasise is respect, and every single employee – our “gurus” – can expect to be treated with equal dignity, from janitorial staff to the most senior members of the team.

From the first day gurus join us, our values and culture are impressed upon them. I am personally involved in the monthly inductions for new gurus to reinforce this, to emphasise that they always have access to senior management to ask questions, and to challenge the status quo.

We also formalise various channels of communication to engage in conversations throughout the year. For instance, we hold quarterly full-team

LYNNE ANNE DAVIS President and Senior Partner, FleishmanHillard Asia-Pacific

meetings and monthly town halls in each country, to give updates on the latest developments. Gurus also provide regular feedback about their managers in biannual upward reviews.

To hold senior leadership accountable, we organise quarterly fireside sessions, where gurus can pose questions without fear of repercussions. We also try to shine a spotlight on our unsung heroes through our monthly newsletter. We see in our biannual employee engagement surveys that this open culture helps to support a high level of employee satisfaction.

Aside from fostering our values and creating channels for quality communication, we hire managers and team leaders that can fit well into our culture. Managers are expected to have face-to-face sessions with their staff on a regular basis and have informal conversations that are not only about the work at hand, but also focus on the guru’s personal development and concerns.

HR INSIDER

AT A GLANCE

Total number of employees at Levi Strauss & Co.’s Headquarters for Asia, Middle East & Africa (Singapore): 150 and growing

Total number of employees (including retail and plant) in AMA: over 3,000 Size of the HR Team (Singapore): 9 (including regional teams for total rewards and talent acquisition) Key HR Focus Areas: - Driving a culture of performance and accountability - Employee engagement - Empowering people - Building a leadership pipeline 18 ISSUE 16.2

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HR INSIDER

LEVERAGING ON A LEGACY T

ake a stroll through Levi Strauss & Co.’s brand new headquarters at The Metropolis, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that you had just stepped into one of the brand’s retail outlets.

Several mannequins adorn the office, each having been fitted with a different pair of Levi’s jeans spanning different eras, while the walls have been plastered with different types of denim material.

Even the mobile phone cover of Karthik Sarma, Vice President of HR, Levi Strauss & Co., is not spared the iconic branding.

“It’s a personalised handphone cover with a denim graphic of our iconic jeans’ pocket,” says Sarma.

These are not a series of one-off or haphazard attempts to personify the company brand.

Rather, all these minute details have been and are part of an ongoing carefully-crafted strategy to embed the Levi’s culture into all aspects of the company, right down to every employee within its ranks.

HR at the core Well-known as the inventor of blue jeans, Sarma says Levi Strauss & Co. is a 162-year-old company with an “iconic” brand.

Levi Strauss & Co. has long been captivating audiences with its iconic brand image for more than 140 years. Karthik Sarma, Vice President of HR, Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMA), shares how its famed culture seeps into every layer of the organisation Sham Majid sham@hrmasia.com.sg

“We have also been growing and delivering business success in the last few years by connecting with our consumers and becoming an employer of choice,” he explains.

“We do this through a strengthened focus and thrust on empowering our people, driving a culture of performance and accountability, and enhancing employee engagement.”

Through the use of technology, Sarma says the organisation has enabled a higher level of empowerment.

“We have achieved this through selfservice for managers and employees as they can access information and make

decisions much faster now,” he says.

Sarma stresses that “HR is at the core of it all” when it comes to making Levi Strauss & Co. an employer of choice.

“Through technology and process optimisation, we have freed up HR’s bandwidth to focus on more strategic and business impacting priorities like business partnering, change management, scouting talent, developing leaders, and driving employee engagement actions and initiatives,” he elaborates.

“HR plays a key role in empowering employees, driving a culture of performance and accountability and having an engaged workforce. We believe that this makes Levi Strauss & Co. an employer of choice.”

Staying true to four key values Despite boasting a global footprint of 2,600 retail stores and having its products sold in more than 110 countries, Sarma says everyone at the Levi Strauss & Co. organisation has been guided by the same values since its founding in 1853. These are: empathy, originality, integrity, and courage.

“As much as we have a culture of performance and accountability, we are also a company which is rooted to

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HR INSIDER Three employee awards Levi Strauss & Co. has three important awards for staff who excel in their roles. They are: • Excellence Award – This is an annual award that recognises outstanding performance by celebrating the Levi Strauss & Co.’s teams and individuals who have: – Produced exceptional business results that drive key strategy – Made an exceptional community contribution that enhances the company’s reputation – Contributed to a “best-of-the-best” achievement that sets a new internal or industry standard • The Koshland Award – This award honours the memory of Daniel E. Koshland, a former company president whose personal and professional commitment to humanitarian ideals made a lasting impression on the Levi’s culture. It recognises exceptional contributions to the organisation’s success and reputation while modelling corporate values and behaviours.

• The Bob Haas Leadership Award – This award is named after Levi Strauss & Co.’s chairman emeritus, former CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., and former President of the Levi Strauss Foundation.

It honours his distinctive leadership and supports his unwavering “profits through principles” approach by recognising exceptional and innovative achievements in the areas of commercial, social and environmental sustainability its values. This manifests in the ways we behave and act collectively and individually,” he says.

“We are non-hierarchical, open and a very friendly office.

“You can see from our open office layout that everyone sits without offices, creating multiple opportunities for interaction and collaboration. As we drive a culture of performance, ‘how’ goals are achieved is just as important to us.”

Sarma says the organisation measures this and develops employees through its framework of success behaviours, which it calls “&CO. Expectations”.

“Having said all this, one shouldn’t forget that we make jeans, and that is fun,” he adds.

“We get to dress up in Levi’s every day and express ourselves through our brand and products.”

Fighting the talent war While Levi Strauss & Co. is a global entity that is instantly recognisable and has a unique corporate culture, Sarma admits the organisation is not immune to recruitment obstacles.

“Key challenges remain around getting great talent, especially great talent with relevant industry experience for key roles,” he explains.

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“To enable HR to focus more on the strategic levers, like performance culture, engagement, and empowerment, we have leveraged on technology and process optimisation to empower our employees and managers much more with selfservice and information access,” he says.

Sarma says the business is also refining its talent management agenda to build a talent bench for leadership roles through development and acquisition.

“Levi’s is an iconic brand and needs little introduction. As we grow and connect with our consumers, it makes us attractive to talent,” he elaborates.

“We have talent needs across the spectrum; for example, creative talent for merchandising, analytical capabilities for planning, business acumen for leadership roles, and customer service and retailing capability for our stores and retail management.

“Capability with experience across this spectrum is not easily available in emerging markets and that is a challenge.”

Graduate talent development is also a key component of the organisation’s recruitment blueprint, with Sarma highlighting that in some of the company’s larger markets, it offers internships and works closely with education institutions.

Plotting career maps Sarma says the Levi Strauss & Co. organisation believes it should facilitate its managers and leaders with the tools to manage their teams.

“Towards that, we have training programmes focused on first-time managers and leaders,” he says.

“For managers, we have a programme called ‘managing for performance’ and for leaders, ‘leading for performance’.

“Our leadership programme is built on learning and developing on the job and through experience, learning from others and from the company’s training programmes, with a 70:20:10 model.”

Training programmes are not solely reserved for managers and leaders.

Sarma says that for retail staff, there are two key training schemes, namely the Denim Leadership Training and the District Leadership programmes.

“All employees are encouraged to complete online training on ‘denim leadership’ – apprentice and expert modules,” he explains.

“This helps them to understand the great heritage of the Levi’s brand, the denim evolution, our products in various categories, our service approach, and how to be a stylist.

“Employees get a certificate once they complete this training which they can proudly display at their workstations.”

As for the District Leadership programme, Sarma says this consists of leadership training that is specifically targeted for district managers at the store level.

“This is to develop them as managers and leaders by going through a structured six-to-nine- month learning journey interspersed with classroom training, store level assignments, and group projects.

“At the successful completion, they formally graduate and get certified as a district leader,” he says.

“We also have regular training around compliance and values.”

Sarma reveals there are also mandatory trainings that all new hires have to complete to ensure the company’s

HR INSIDER worldwide code of conduct is adhered to.

“As we grow and have new opportunities, we look for talent within our talent planning process and provide them with appropriate opportunities connected to their individual development plans,” he adds.

“We also move people for their expertise and to help build capability.”

Levi’s facts • To date, the company’s water saving products have saved more than one billion litres of water. By 2020, the Levi’s brand aims to make 80% of its products using its water saving techniques, up from nearly 25% today

Engagement champions With engagement clearly being a key priority at Levi Strauss & Co., Sarma emphasises that the organisation “must engage the hearts and minds of our employees.”

“We enable our managers with tools and training to be able to drive engagement at the smallest operating unit in the company, where every team is the foundation,” he elaborates.

Hence, Sarma states that the company has a network of speciallytrained leaders and managers who have agreed to be “engagement champions”.

“Hearing our employees’ feedback and taking action is a key responsibility of managers, leaders and for us as a company in promoting employee engagement.

“Beyond this, we also have various other interventions which are local and specific, and some which are global and very deeply ingrained in our ‘jeans’,” he says.

One key example is community service, which Sarma concedes is “very close” to everybody’s heart.

• Levi’s not only invented the first blue jeans for men 142 years ago; it also invented the first blue jeans for women in 1934 , originally called “Harriet” • The Levi Strauss Foundation has donated US$300 million to various charity organisations • 80% of the garments for the Levi’s 2015 line were prototyped in its Eureka Innovation Lab, a research and development facility in San Francisco to innovate new products “We celebrate Community Day across all our offices; 2015 was the 15th anniversary of our global Community Day,” he explains.

“We have undertaken various initiatives around water conservation, giving back to society through team activities like painting and cleaning the homes of the elderly, and ‘Batam Build’, where our teams worked to build houses for the poor in Batam, Indonesia.

“We also have our ‘Run for Red Tab’ events which raise funds for the Red Tab Foundation, which is a platform for our employees to help their colleagues in need.

Having recently moved to a new office

in Singapore, Sarma says the open design actively promotes collaboration and access, therefore making it a fun and exciting workplace.

Rewarding for performance Sarma says the organisation has a number of ways in which it recognises employees for exceptional work.

“Our performance management process is robust in distinguishing and calibrating high performance and business impacting contributions,” he says.

“Our total rewards philosophy also focuses on rewarding for performance.

Beyond the regular performance management process, we also have enterprise-wide recognition for outstanding work and contributions by cross-functional teams through the year.” (see: boxout) Furnished with its rich heritage, iconic brand and strong values, Sarma stresses that Levi Strauss & Co. has worked hard to retain its employees and has had the privilege of strong employee loyalty.

“With growth and success, we are able to provide opportunities for our employees to grow with us across various international locations, leveraging our global footprint,” he adds.

“Our talent is always looking for new challenges and opportunities. We need to continuously engage them, provide developmental opportunities, and empower them to build their careers.”

WHO’S WHO IN HR

KARTHIK SARMA

VP – Human Resources, AMA

NASEEM KHAN

Director HR, ANZ & SEA

PEGGY NG

Director – AMA Rewards

LAURA CROSSLEY

Head, Talent Acquisition – AMA

CHIA YIN TAN HR Manager, Singapore

CALEEN KAM

Senior HR Executive, Singapore

ISSUE 16.2

ROY HAN

Senior Recruiter, AMA

HRMASIA.COM 21

Challenge the

Status Quo

Should you be Encouraging Start-up Behaviour to increase retention rates?

Are you embracing the upcoming Contingent Workforce?

Do you know how to Get Creative With Employee Engagement on a tight budget?

How good are your Conflict Resolution Techniques?

Do you know what the Future of Learning will be?

Are you open to embracing new Management Systems?

Is Your organisation Developing an Agile Workforce?

Do you Empower Line Managers to Lead by Example?

Are you Building a Future Ready Organisation?

Find out all the answers and more by joining Asia’s biggest and most empowering Human Capital management event of the year!

4,450

Minutes of learning experience over 2 days

1,280

Footsteps taken to complete a round of the Expo

24,100

Cups of coffee and tea consumed in 2 days

Expo space at Suntec in square meters

3,029

2,019 Digital Savvy

Presentation slides shown over 2 days

25,200

Disruption Proof

Fu t u r e R e a d y

17 - 18 May 2016 Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre

New ideas garnered at the event!

Digital Savvy

Disruption Proof

Fu t u r e R e a d y

17 - 18 May 2016 | SUNTEC SINGAPORE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE

Have you secured the right candidate?

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL ACCURACY OR SPEED? MAKING A CASE FOR APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS EMPLOYEE SALARY TRENDS ISSUE 16.2

HRMASIA.COM 25

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

RECRUITMENT ACCURACY OR SPEED?

RACING FOR A GOOD HIRE Employers sometimes need to fill job positions quickly, but this always increases the risk of a hiring error.

HRM learns how HR departments should approach the selection process to have a better impact on their workforces

Naadiah Badib

naadiah.b@hrmasia.com.sg

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N

ot all companies in Singapore are well-prepared to resolve significant business risks and threats when they arise.

This is especially prevalent among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to a survey by QBE Insurance Singapore.

Staff and talent concerns, including acquisition, training and retention, was rated as the top challenge faced by SMEs locally.

In fact, in a separate survey by recruitment process outsourcing provider Cielo, 89% of C-level executives stated that talent was a competitive advantage for their firm.

More specifically, 90% of respondents believed that quality hires should be the top priority for their internal

recruitment teams.

Still, only 55% found those recruitment efforts and performance effective.

Michael Stickler, Group HR Director, Citrix Systems, says most organisations have a heavy focus on filling open roles quickly.

In revenue-generating roles, a longer ramp-up time means a greater financial impact.

“It does impact managers and their teams in so far as the focus on recruiting is getting bigger and bigger,” Stickler explains.

“Managers can’t allow themselves to sit on a résumé for two weeks and then take another two weeks to schedule interviews, which has certainly been a ‘worst practice’ in many organisations in the past.”

RECRUITMENT ACCURACY OR SPEED?

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

On the other hand, Lee Yong Rong, Junior Talent Acquisition Manager at Givaudan, believes the need for quick recruitment comes from two key drivers: A recent survey by Accountemps has revealed that having a candidate work on a temporary basis initially the urgency to have someone hired, and can provide the greatest insight into whether the individual will be a good fit with the company culture. the fear of competition.

More than one-third (34%) of the chief financial officers surveyed believed so.

Due to this, hiring managers may Accountemps asked its respondents, “In your opinion, which one of the following provides the greatest naturally fear a bottleneck situation insight into a job candidate’s potential fit with the corporate culture?” when an employee – especially one in a Their responses were: critical business role – leaves.

• Having the candidate work on a temporary basis first: 34% “This fear may lead to a preference for • Asking open-ended interview questions: 30% someone who is immediately available • Checking references: 27% within the job market,” Lee says.

• Having the candidate attend a group lunch or social activity: 7% “The attraction of being immediately available weighs more heavily than other objectives within the recruitment process, are often left out when speed is the in-hand to approach our talent needs which can ‘blind’ hiring managers on overriding objective. methodically, cost effectively and in a what could be a real fit for the team.”

On the flip side, when a candidate timely manner,” he shares.

With the current competitive job is pressed to accept an offer in a short “We have a step-by-step approach from market, job seekers may also be faced period of time, there is often little time intake sessions to screening, to phone with more than one offer at a time. for them to acknowledge if it would be the interviews to face-to-face meetings and “Imagine when a candidate mentions right move from their own perspective. to the post-offer engagement process. there could be other pending offers,” Lee “The retention rate of this hire may be This ensures that we delight both hiring says. “It can feel important to questionable in the coming managers as well as future employees.” get the offer done right away months and may eventually Rolls-Royce on the other hand, takes so that you do not lose the restart the whole recruitment a different approach. potential talent,” she added. cycle,” Lee shares.

Brown states that the company uses “Hence, the timing of the “This can prove a waste of branded advertisements, specialist job offer becomes crucial.” time and resources for each of boards, talent pools and head hunters. can also mean a candidate’s the organisation, its internal It also takes advantage of industry and fitness for the specific role is Effects of a speedy hire team and the candidate.

This, university events, and has a robust not adequately considered Recruitment practices again, ‘pushes’ the hiring internal mobility framework. may also affect long-term manager to get in someone “Outsourcing of the talent acquisition partnerships with governments, quick, repeating the same vicious cycle.” function also helps to bring excellence universities and technical colleges, and to the talent identification, engagement as a result, companies’ relationship with Selecting talents appropriately and selection process,” he says. their stakeholders would begin to sever.

Tellingly, employee referrals have Lee says a comprehensive hiring Stephen Brown, Head of Talent and proven to be a common recruitment process helps to ensure a right fit as Learning Development, Asia-Pacific, method among firms. much as possible.

Rolls-Royce, warns that recruitment This was especially evident in SMRT “The most important initial step will practices such as these can have when it enhanced its employee referral be a detailed briefing discussion together detrimental effects on an organisation’s scheme in December 2015. with the decision makers of the role, relationships with its stakeholders.

The company is now offering staff such as the HR department and the “The management of teams, a cash reward of up to $3,000 for each recruiter,” she says. deliverables and projects can be affected successful new hire referred. Thus far, a “This session ensures that everyone and employees may become overworked total of 700 new hires are expected. involved is aligned with the same set of and disengaged by change,” he shares.

Citrix has taken a similar approach. hiring expectations ranging from the A speedy decision can also mean a Stickler shares that the majority of its individual fit, to budget and expected candidate’s fitness for the specific role is current employees were either sourced timeline.” not adequately considered. directly or through referrals.

This approach also allows recruiters This is because factors such as the Agency hires and university recruitments to explore potential gaps and concerns, organisation fit and potential for are other ways Citrix has hired talents. especially if the role has been replaced the employee’s career development “HR and talent acquisition work handrepeatedly.

How do you evaluate potential hires?

A speedy decision

ISSUE 16.2

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New-Gen Recruiting 2016 Recruiting & Marketing Tie The Knot - Are You Ready?

9 - 10 March 2016 | Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel

Over half of global CEOs expect to add headcount in the next year, yet their concerns about the availability of key skills are at an eight-year high, according to PwC’s 2015 Global CEO Survey. To meet business growth, your recruitment strategy must continue to expand beyond a tactical, reactive function to a proactive, streamlined process to efficiently source, assess, select, hire, the best candidates in this competitive environment. In 2016, HRMasia brings to you our very first New-Gen Recruiting 2016, we bring together industry experts and practitioners who will share how they created the best frameworks, teams, and practices to compress the hiring cycle, improve outcomes and deliver high performing employees. We uncover the strategies, challenges and solutions, you take back the ‘how-to.’

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Featured speakers: Michael Wright Head of Talent Acquisition, APAC Group M

Adele Png Talent Development & Talent Acquisition Leader Philips

Julia Koh Deputy Director, Head of Talent Acquisition Asia GlobalFoundries

Paul Harvey Director Talent Acquisition & HR Ops, APAC & MEA Franklin Templeton Investments

Suzie Custerson Regional Head of Talent Acquisition, Asia Manulife Financial

Christine Vasco Human Resources Rohde & Schwarz

Ritu Chaudhari Talent Acquisition Consultant Hewlett-Packard

Rakesh Rana Senior HRBP & Talent Acquisition Leader –APAC Murex

Ben Roberts Chief Talent Officer Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi

Ben Roberts is the Chief Talent Officer, Worldwide for Saatchi & Saatchi based in Asia.

Ben has been with Saatchi & Saatchi for over ten years and worked in 4

Mark Hedley Global RPO Strategy Deutsche Bank

Chris Mead Head of Talent Acquisition, APJC Cisco

Contact: Azrielle Looi Hui Yi | Tel: (65) 6423 4631 | Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg

RECRUITMENT ACCURACY OR SPEED “This will potentially avoid us from repeating the vicious cycle of ‘hire and fire’,” Lee adds.

The right fit Corporate policies play a big part in ensuring that every new hire is a good fit.

For example, Stickler suggests that it is essential for a candidate to go through a formal interview in order to ensure that staff are able to fit in culturally.

Secondly, a peer interview may also be necessary in order to ensure team alignment.

Finally, certain roles should employ both technical tests and assessment tools.

“At Citrix, we believe that all of the above have some role to play and none of them is a single decision-making tool or superior to the other,” he explains.

“In the end, people decisions are made by managers with support from their HR leaders and the supporting tools help to

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

Social media recruitment on the rise Two-thirds of organisations are taking steps to leverage mobile recruitment in order to target more smartphone users, according to a survey by Society for HR Management.

Those steps include targeting mobile users through: • Career websites: 39% • Job postings: 36% • Application processes: 36% Recruiting via social media also continues to grow with 84% of firms using it currently and a further nine percent planning to use it. make an informed decision.”

As part of an effort to confirm that new hires are able to work effectively, Rolls-Royce has a global diversity and inclusion policy.

“Our ethics training is mandatory and it may also include case studies on this subject,” Brown says.

Givaudan highlights the need for onthe-job training checklist and conduct a

detailed orientation for new staff.

This ensures a smooth transition for new hires and also helps to equip them with the essential foundations to get started on their work responsibilities within a reasonable timeframe.

“All these greatly reduce the challenges of a new hire in adapting to the new scope and environment,” Lee concludes.

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APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

ATTRACTING THE RIGHT CANDIDATES

T

The era of scrutinising stacks of paper résumés is over. In its

he importance of a that handles recruitment place, applicant tracking systems are fast-becoming the chief high-quality applicant tracking electronically. framework by which recruiters sift through candidates. HRM tracking system (ATS) “The system has delves deeper into the must-have software for recruiters cannot be discounted in an automatic search this digital age. optimisation algorithm Sham Majid According to the through keywords to sham@hrmasia.com.sg Bullhorn 2015 North filter applicants,” Lai American Staffing and explains.

Recruiting Trends Survey, a whopping Defining an ATS “It can also be designed to coordinate 77% of recruiters polled believed they Gary Lai, Managing Director, Southeast recruitment efforts and to analyse required an ATS to perform their jobs Asia, Charterhouse Partnership, a candidates’ applications for data storage effectively. boutique executive search firm, says and mining. Such data can be further But, what exactly does an ATS entail? an ATS is an IT software application analysed to access the volume, types and ISSUE 16.2

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RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS

An ATS with a human touch Suzanne Lucas, who had spent a number of years in corporate HR, argues that an applicant tracking system requires a human touch.

In a recent blog post, the US-based HR leader-turned-consultant says applicant tracking systems are only useful when operated with a human touch. She says that while recruiters, hiring managers and HR generalists are keen to know as much as they can about candidates before affording them an interview, they usually offer candidates very little information about themselves in return.

“We communicate when we need to know something, but not when they need to know something,” she writes. “We’ll contact a candidate to set up an interview, but we’ll rarely contact a candidate to say, ‘we’re not interested’.”

Lucas also says that “when we reduce people to checkboxes and keyword searches, we often skip over people who can do the job, but may not have every checkbox filled in.

“Additionally, when we rely on computers to screen our applicants, we may accidentally reject qualified people just because the keywords are so specific.”

She points to a recent example.

“I recently received an email from a woman who applied for a job as an ‘undergraduate advisor’. The job posting required three years of experience. She had five years of experience as a ‘graduate student advisor’. She was certainly qualified, but the recruiter didn’t pull up her résumé because she was looking for something specific. When the candidate reached out to the hiring manager and shared her qualifications in person, the manager quickly pulled her résumé out of the system, interviewed her and hired her,” she wrote.

“But the computer? The computer rejected her.”

Source: Why Applicant Tracking Systems Need a Human Touch, which appeared on the Cornerstone website

patterns of recruitment to better manage human capital.”

Binayak Bagchi, Director HR – AsiaPacific, Restorative Therapies Group, at Medtronic, says an ATS is typically a preset, work flow and rule -based software application that sits on top of a company’s people data management system.

“An ATS interfaces with the job applicants, internally or externally, usually through the company career website page and is accessed through a browser,” says Bagchi.

Gary Chan, Head of Talent Acquisition, Asia-Pacific, Hitachi Data Systems, says that while an ATS is a platform to capture all job applicants’ details and manage the entire recruitment process, it also serves other functions.

“It can also be tied to other programmes to post job ads (both internally and externally), as well as to manage recruitment agencies when they are given support roles,” says Chan.

Sketching out the system Bagchi says an ATS is made up of several distinctive functions.

An effective version could be a market product or also a custom-made third party application developed for a specific company requirement.

“The most usual feature of a good ATS application is an ability to track and manage multiple users,” he explains.

Chan says other unique aspects of a strong ATS include facilitating a recruitment workflow, through a stepby-step management of the selection process, offering letter generation, and candidate searches.

No assurances According to a 2015 report entitled Measuring Up, from Futurestep and HRO Today magazine, “an increased quality of candidate pool” was the most desired metric businesses were not then capturing.

However, while enhancing the quality levels of candidates remains a sought-after trait for organisations, Lai warns that an ATS is not a bulletproof framework.

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APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS “No ATS can guarantee a perfect hire,” he states.

“It can only enhance the efficiency to which a potential suitable candidate can be brought in for interviews.”

“This allows companies to lessen the amount of manual labour required to sieve through stacks of physical or electronic résumés, most of which may not be relevant for the role.”

“No system in the foreseeable future can replace meeting a candidate in person to have a more in-depth discussion on their experiences, motivations and to also observe their body language.”

Likewise, Bagchi reiterates the belief that an ATS cannot garner a perfect recruit.

“What it can do, however, is make the hiring process smart, fair, quick and web-enabled,” he elaborates.

“The success or failure of an ATS depends on how smartly it is configured and used – both by the HR users as well as by the hiring manager.

User awareness and training plays a big role in it.”

From Chan’s perspective, an ATS is a tool “to track the process only.”

“There is a keyword search function whereby recruiters can search for relevant profiles from previous applications, but the search function is not advanced and effective at times. To get the job done, the screening of calibre still needs to be done by recruiters outside the system,” he explains.

Bringing HR into the fray So, where and how does HR come into an ATS’ eco-system?

Bagchi stresses that a key aspect of impactful ATS use is when the key HR and business leaders are involved, from the initial design right up to the implementation and user-awareness phases of the system.

“HR needs to play an exemplary role in teaching the business manager to ‘fish’ with the system. Change management is a common challenge in implementing an ATS in a company,” he explains.

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

“The more data one inputs, the higher the likelihood one can search for the best fit of the applicants” Gary Chan, Head of Talent Acquisition, Asia-Pacific, Hitachi Data Systems

“A key to the successful deployment and use of an ATS is to ensure that the recruitment work flow of the company is up to speed with the changing market trends and external talent expectations, and that the same is mapped and managed well through the system.

“The other notable aspect for HR to skilfully use an ATS is to play a consultant role for the hiring managers and to focus on driving a robust, fair and quality hiring process of top talent fits.”

Chan also highlights that HR should utilise an ATS consistently; otherwise, the data captured will not be adequate or current.

“The more data one inputs, the higher the likelihood one can search for the best fit of the applicants,” he says.

“So, all users should make it a habit to enter as much detail as possible regarding any profile.”

Lai says HR should apply an ATS as an IT tool to enhance their daily activities, so they will have more time to focus on greater human capital strategic planning.

In fact, he discloses that Charterhouse Partnership uses its own ATS for the company’s recruitment needs.

“Only qualified candidates are uploaded into the system, which is then automatically reviewed on a regular basis,” he says.

“This process ensures that the candidates are kept in touch with and

for us to continue to be updated on their movements.”

The human element While the advantages of an ATS are obvious, Lai cautions that “even the best ATS can only filter to find a suitable candidate based on the keywords in the résumé.”

“However, résumés are put together in writing by individuals and can be ‘catered’ to the job requirement. As such, the traditional recruitment strategy of speaking with the candidates still holds relevance,” he says.

“An over-reliance on such IT systems may make HR complacent and neglect the necessity for human interaction with potential and current employees.”

Bagchi fully concurs.

He says the positive aspects of the traditional recruitment process – the “human touch” should never be forgotten or replaced completely by a cut and dry, systems-driven process.

“The advantage of the ATS is that you can do the above with a handful and targeted set of aspirants,” he explains.

“I cannot think of any disadvantages of an ATS, unless it is badly designed, badly implemented or badly used.”

Chan also concedes that information now moves a lot faster, particularly through social media.

“One needs to be at the forefront of these digital trends to come out on top in today’s talent war,” he says.

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The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore | 4th March

Reserve Your Tables Now! Don’t Miss The HR Night Of The Year! HRM Awards celebrates 13 years of recognising HR’s best and brightest people and practices in 2016. Book your tables now for the gala dinner and awards ceremony, featuring star-studded celebrity hosts, comedians and world-class entertainment!

Special Performance by Stand-Up Comedian Superstar Rishi Budhrani

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GLOBAL HR SEARCH & RECRUITMENT

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To book your tables now, please contact Cheryl at +65 6423 4631 or email cheryl@hrmasia.com.sg

EMPLOYEE SALARY TRENDS

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

THE

COMPLETE PACKAGE For many employees, the start of a new year brings along new goals and ambitions.

Rewarding them through both monetary and nonmonetary means is essential for maintaining retention in a competitive talent market

Sumathi V Selvaretnam sumathi@hrmasia.com.sg

T

he new year is off to a cautious start, with salary budgets expected to increase on a more modest note than in recent years.

Salary data published by recruitment firm Hays suggests that most Singapore employers (46%) will increase salaries by between three and six per cent this year.

Randstad’s 2016 market outlook revealed that employees in the accounting as well as marketing and communications industries could potentially see salary increases of up to eight percent. “In addition, very technical niche industries with limited talent pools, including life sciences, aerospace and risk and compliance, will be looking at salary increases in an effort to retain skilled employees,” says Jaya Dass, Country Director, Randstad Singapore.

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RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

EMPLOYEE SALARY TRENDS

Creative perks Many organisations across the world are putting their own spin on employee benefits and coming up with unique offerings to attract and retain the best talent. Here are a few: • Generous parental leave Full-time employees at Facebook receive four months of paid parental leave regardless of gender or location.

• No official work hours Employees can go on leave whenever they want and for as long as they want. Naturally, employees must be able to complete the work that is required of them.

• Death benefits Spouses of deceased employees receive 50% of the employee’s salary every year for 10 years.

Children also receive a $1,000 monthly payment until they reach 19.

• Eat all you can Some employers stock up a pantry full of healthy and delicious foods, drinks and snacks from around the world, free for employees to enjoy.

• Ultimate Flexi Benefits Every employee has unique needs and wants. Some companies offer a fixed dollar amount for an employee to enjoy in whatever way they deem fit, whether it be a day at a spa, a gourmet meal, or a new electronic gadget.

According to Mike Tang, Director, Executive Search and HR Consulting, Recruit Inc, high growth sectors such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, info-communications and information technology, as well as high-end electronics manufacturing will also see higher increases due to talent shortages and business growth.

Recent market research seems to suggest a sizeable disconnect between employer and employee expectations when it comes to salary increases.

According to the 2016 Hays Asia Salary Guide, just 18% of employers in Singapore plan to offer a wage increase of at least six percent. However, over 46% of employees are expecting just that to happen. That gap could cause retention issues this year.

“With employers cautious about salary increases, retention strategies should come into focus over the next year, particularly in light of our research showing a high level of candidates either actively or passively looking for a new job,” says Hays.

Health is wealth Non-monetary rewards are just as important as financial motivators when it comes to the long-term retention of employees.

The Randstad survey showed that in Singapore, work-life balance is ranked as the second most important driver of, just behind compensation and benefits. It has been increasing steadily in importance over the past few years.

“Candidates are no longer just looking at salary but looking for additional leave, medical and dental benefits, flexible leave systems as well as workfrom-home flexibility,” Dass says.

According to the Towers Watson 2015 Asia Pacific Benefit Trends Survey, health benefits are among the most valued non-financial benefits. Over 50% of employees in Asia-Pacific said that these were an important reason to stay with their current employer.

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EMPLOYEE SALARY TRENDS Asian employers are taking a more proportion of a company’s benefit cautious approach. In Asian cultures, spend. The survey found that 41% of the the approach to work is more based on firms participating spend more than the function and a collective view of 20% of payroll on benefits. Two in five driving outcomes, says Dass. Hence the spend more than 25% of that share on concept of variable pay as a priority is health benefits specifically. less well-received. Also, in Singapore, Stress has been identified as a top there are expectations of job security lifestyle risk faced by Asia-Pacific and stability, and salary is a larger drive employees. In response, one in four of that,” she explains. employers plan to offer interventional “Variable pay components often gives benefits on this issue, according to the rise to the perception that job security survey by Towers Watson. and earnings can be compromised.

Randstad for example, has taken There is a general avoidance of lowmental wellbeing into consideration based, high-variable salary component and offers employees professional jobs unless the nature of work is more and confidential counselling through flexible or short-term such its Employee Assistance as in retail or freelance Program, shares Dass. sales.”

Corporate health and However, this view wellness offerings are is gradually changing. important because they “Employers have been help to foster a culture increasing the use whereby employees can opt are among the most valued non-financial benefits of variable monetary to live a healthier lifestyle,

Health benefits

Towers Watson 2015 components by rather than being forced Asia Pacific Benefit tying a larger share to do so,” says Finian Toh, Trends Survey of compensation to Associate Director- HR performance-based Practice, Kerry Consulting. incentives,” says Toh “Such programmes improve from Kerry Consulting. “Many of these employee health and also help to programmes are now being adjusted to support office camaraderie.” individual performance indicators to Some unique offerings include better reflect each employee’s direct companies organising classes on contributions.” topics ranging from public speaking to kickboxing and parenting, shares Toh. The case for flexible benefits “In particular, one employer organised It is often difficult to create a onea 10-week weight loss challenge where size-fits-all benefits package for a teams competed to win weekly prizes multigenerational workforce. This is and, at the end of the competition, a where the provision of flexible benefits grand prize.” can make the difference.

“Different age groups at different life Variable pay for top performers? stages value different needs, such as In the US, employers are looking at health and fitness, medical insurance prioritising variable pay to reward their and family care,” says Tang. top performers.

Offering flexible benefits not only “The work climate or landscape in the caters better to these individual needs, US tends to promote remote working, but it also optimises the benefits as well as a more individualist mindset budget and helps develop a stronger to producing outcomes. In such a work level of engagement in the workforce. environment, variable pay is wellSmaller setups such as small and received and understood as a direct medium enterprises (SMEs) have more driver of performance,” says Dass.

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL

flexibility to enhance their benefits programme, and are able to build a more customised structure, says Tang.

“Flexible benefits can also be used to retain talents in niche and demanding industry sectors such as business startups and fast moving industries.

“More multinationals are adopting flexible benefits in response to the needs and expectations of their multigeneration workforce, offering partial flexible benefits to all or specific groups of employees. The changes may be slower for multinationals given the financial impact and profile of their existing workforces,” he adds.

The administration of such benefits is becoming increasingly outsourced to either HR shared services teams or external vendors.

What if you can’t raise salaries?

How can you raise motivation levels at the workplace if a salary raise is not on the cards this year?

Flat pay is a key driver for staff attrition and this is no surprise as the annual Randstad Award survey has shown that salary is consistently the number one concern for Singapore employees, says Dass.

“Flat pay gives employees the perception that their work is not being recognised and is a major demotivator,” says Dass. “Organisations looking to retain staff that have flat pay must look to increase incentives in other areas. For example, sales roles may receive a better commission structure whilst back-office roles could receive additional benefits, such as leave.”

According to Robert Walters, the hiring landscape in 2016 will be candidate-driven as organisations vie for the best Singaporeans professionals.

“To gain an edge in talent attraction and retention, companies need to look beyond offering attractive salary packages. It is essential to constantly assess interview processes, as well as training and development programmes for stronger employer branding.”

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LEADERS TALK HR

LEADING FROM EXPERIENCE Q

Who inspires you?

Despite an extensive background in senior management roles, Andrew Tan, CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, does not forget his roots. HRM finds out how his experiences have had a large influence on his leadership skills

Q

How do your employees

I’ve worked in the public describe you? sector for over 25 years Probably as intense. I am and it has been an exciting and a person who looks at the bigger fulfilling journey thus far. The picture and who pays attention to role of government has never details. I believe in straight talk been more challenging as we and being close to the ground. This Naadiah Badib naadiah.b@hrmasia.com.sg face rising public expectations, allows me to know what people a more globalised world, rapid actually do on the ground, focus technological change, and growing on outcomes rather than inputs or social divides. The chance to make a difference to the processes, help people to get their jobs done well, and to lives of people, society and the economy keeps me and provide the support that staff need. my colleagues going.

Q

What is your leadership style?

I would describe it as ‘situational’ as it varies from organisation to organisation. Every organisation is different in terms of challenges, organisational structures and, people and culture. Hence, you can’t adopt a onesize-fits-all approach to leadership. You have to adjust your style to suit the organisation and vice-versa, but you still need to stand for something. Every organisation looks to its leaders and senior management to set a clear direction; not just broad directions, but also, good strategies and – just as importantly – good execution. It is not easy to align all these together, but organisations do. You also need to stand for certain values such as being fair, objective, and transparent, which is particularly important for public sector organisations.

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Q

You have held a number of roles with government agencies. How did you find yourself working in this line?

We are essentially generalists and deployed to wherever the government needs us. It is a unique feature of the Singapore system where both junior and senior officers are rotated across the agencies initially in their early careers for exposure, but later on, they are placed wherever their skills and expertise can best make a difference. It has worked well for us because it encourages a whole-ofgovernment thinking and allows officers to bring different perspectives to bear on a problem.

Every agency has brought new learning opportunities for me. I have worked across the defence and security, information, environment, and transport sectors. I have also had the opportunity to set up a government think

LEADERS TALK HR

BIO BRIEF

Andrew Tan was appointed the CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) in January, 2014.

In his role, Tan is responsible for regulating, developing and promoting Singapore as a premier global hub port and an international maritime centre.

He also plays an integral part in advancing and safeguarding the nation’s strategic maritime interests.

Apart from his current position, he is also Singapore’s representative to the International Maritime Organisation.

Prior to Tan’s appointment, he was CEO of the National Environment Agency from 2009 to 2013. He was also a founding director of the Centre of Liveable Cities between 2008 and 2010.

Collectively, he has worked in several government agencies including the Ministry of Information and the Arts, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, and the Ministry of Transport.

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LEADERS TALK HR

tank, the Centre for Liveable Cities, and have worked on the memoirs of the late Lee Kuan Yew.

Q

How has your work in the government sector helped hone your skills as a leader?

Being in government is very different from the private sector. In the private sector, the bottom-line is key. But for government, you are dealing with people of different needs, from getting them to change their behaviour to making wise decisions. At the societal level, this fosters a closely-knit and cohesive community, particularly in a multi-racial society as Singapore, and

Morale booster The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) places a large focus on employee engagement.

According to Andrew Tan, CEO, MPA, the organisation’s staff engagement framework is structured around four key engagement levers, which are: • WeShare This is about developing a strong organisational culture through regular communication between senior management and staff. Here, both formal and informal platforms are available including work plan seminars, town hall meetings, intranet, CEO’s message and newsletters from various divisions.

• WeChat This leverages on several platforms to facilitate feedback and dialogue within MPA. These include walking the ground, dialogues and tea sessions with all levels of staff. Such platforms allow senior management to address problems and challenges faced by employees. They also give senior management the opportunity to encourage staff and to recognise their efforts.

• WeCelebrate In addition to the four major festive celebrations, ground-up initiatives are planned and executed by staff from cross-functional teams. Apart from getting together, these events allow colleagues of different ethnic groups to appreciate the different cultures. Various events like lunch outings are also organised by the staff engagement committee.

• WeAppreciate This is another platform where we show our appreciation to staff through various corporate awards, including long service awards, meritorious awards and other public service awards. Those who have done MPA proud are also recognised during an internal “Appreciation Hour” event. At this event, staff will personally receive a plaque and recognition from management.

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it creates an enabling environment for businesses to flourish.

From all this, you develop a sense of humility and empathy. This is because you need to be aware of what you can and cannot influence, and because you are essentially dealing with the lives of people.

Both aspects are important for leadership. But there is one more aspect: the survival instinct. As a small country, we need to be nimble and adaptable to changes around us, and every public officer in Singapore knows that nobody owes us a living. We have to make ourselves relevant to the rest of the world. So as leaders of public sector organisations, we have to make sure that our agencies remain attuned and abreast of the changes around us.

Q

What are some key changes that you have made since your appointment at MPA?

Q

What is one unique aspect of MPA’s culture that not many know about?

Q

Are there any programmes that help employees’ career progression at the authority?

Working with my team, I have sought to raise the overall profile of the maritime sector through greater publicity, outreach and awareness, fostering a stronger maritime identity, while at the same time, ensuring our port operations are safe and secure through our Safety@ Sea efforts, building up the future pipeline of maritime manpower through our tripartite efforts, encouraging MPA’s stakeholders to leverage more on technology, as well as putting in place a multi-agency planning framework for the Next Generation Port at Tuas which seeks to be more efficient, intelligent, environmentally sustainable and community-oriented.

MPA’s culture is based on a strong “can do” spirit that is motivated by the firm belief that only through close partnerships between the industry, government and unions can we achieve the aim of making Singapore a global hub port and international maritime centre

Apart from job rotations, cross-functional projects and international exposure, we also have inservice sponsorship programmes to support officers who are interested in pursuing a degree or master’s programme. We also introduced the progressive wage model to certain job types including our vessel traffic management officers and hydrographers. This encourages them to upgrade their skills with a clear competency roadmap so that they can progress to their full potential.

LEADERS TALK HR

Q

On top of being the CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority, you are also a member of several boards. How do you manage a good work-life balance?

One has to keep to a disciplined schedule, yet at the same time, also ensure that you have time to devote to your staff, colleagues and family. Thus, good time management is critical. You also need to entrust and empower your officers to do the right thing, knowing what the broad directions are, giving them guidance while not sweating over the small things. At the corporate level, I have also found it useful to organise tea sessions and various other activities to interact with staff.

Q

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt throughout your career?

differentiator between an average organisation and one where you can encourage people to go the next mile.

Q

What is the most rewarding aspect of your role at MPA?

What is most rewarding is seeing the organisation grow and develop, with people rallying around our efforts to develop Singapore as a global hub port and international maritime centre. The authority works closely with industry stakeholders to achieve this objective.

It gives me and my colleagues great satisfaction to see us growing our maritime cluster year-to-year and finding so many passionate people in the industry who are working with us to realise that objective.

The most important lesson throughout my career has been the need for passion, as it makes the difference between being average and extraordinary.

In the Maritime and Port Authority itself, passion is what drives and motivates us to ensure that the maritime sector in Singapore continues to grow. It is not just about the port but it is also about how we are able to grow a maritime cluster around the port.

Singapore has been a port for the longest time and the sense that we play an important part in the entire global trading system puts in perspective all the things we are doing, and gives us a sense of greater meaning.

In today’s context, especially within the younger generation, people assume that they are looking for any simple and ordinary job when actually they are looking for a chance to make a difference. Enabling them to do just that, is where passion is a key

ME MYSELF I I like: Good conversations with interesting people with insights.

I dislike: Any form of complacency. If it ain’t broke, don’t touch it.

My inspiration: Reading up on the successes and failures of others. You can learn lessons either way.

My biggest weakness: Multi-tasking.

In five years’ time, I’d like to: Reinvent myself.

Favourite quote: “The buck stops here.”

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Learning & Development 2016 Evolving Roles, Enhancing Skills | 23-24 February 2016 | Malaysia

The L&D function has not traditionally been viewed as a business due to lack of buy-in from key stakeholders, inadequate business knowledge and limited analytical capability among L&D leaders. However, in an increasingly cost conscious business envronment, their knoweldge and skill base are under immense pressure to be constantly expanding and evolving.

Join our Learning & Development 2016 Congress, a jam-packed two-day event to explore the ever changing landscape of our current and future organizational learning landscapes in Malaysia and how you can align your L&D programmes to your business and employees’ needs. Learn from our top thought leaders from L&D space from across industries how they built their L&D capability, as well as innovatively structured their L&D activities and maintained connections across their organisations.

Why Attend • • • • •

ELEVATE L&D as a strategic priority and evolving to become a strategic business knowledge partner LEARN how to run the L&D function as a business to effectively and efficiently allocates resources to improve individual and organizational performance ALIGN corporate training with business strategy more effectively for better ROI MEASURE ROI to drive value of the organizations’ L&D function EXPLORE innovative methods to keep up with the learning needs of the increasingly agile and mobile workforce

Featured speakers:

Khairirah Adam Learning & Development, Group Talent Management Axiata

Grace Teoh Learning & Development Specialist BD Agriculture

Khairudin Affendi Mohamad Assistant Director, Human Resources Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad

Heng Huo Foong Learning, Development & Recruitment Manager BP Global Business Services

Ng Kam Loong Regional HR Director APAC Teleplan

Prakash Santhanam Senior Manager, Learning & Development AIG

Bhuvanes Krishnasamy Head of Human Resources Sunway Property

Who Should Attend

William Loke Training Manager – Human Resourcew Department Sodexo Malaysia

Haslini Mohd Khan Former Exeecutive Vice President – Learning Maybank Group

Daniel Ch’ng Global Chief Learning Officer Ogilvy Public Relations

Lai Tak Ming Director, Group HR & Admin Gamuda Berhad

VPs, Heads, Directors and Senior Managers in charge of: Learning & Development, Leadership Development, Training, Organisation Development, Learning Management, Human Capital, People Development, Employee Development and Engagement, Career Planning

Media Partners:

Contact Me to Register: Karen Soh | Tel: (65) 6423 4631 | Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg

HRM CONGRESS POST EVENT REPORT

HRM CONGRESS HIGHLIGHT

Building a great culture B

ack by popular demand, HRM Asia’s Organisational Development Workshop on 2 – 3 December 2015, held at the Holiday Inn Orchard, was a highly engaging event with a lively group of senior HR leaders.

This 2-day event was facilitated

by Arthur Carmazzi, the founder and Chief Awesomeness Officer of Directive Communication Psychology, who is ranked as one of the Global Top 10 most influential Leadership Gurus. With 21 years of experience, Carmazzi specialises in psychological approaches to leadership and corporate culture transformation. He is also the developer of the CBCI (Colored Brain Communication Inventory) and HDMA Emotional profiling tools used for “Psycho-Productivity” management.

The many fruitful discussions and hands-on activities on culture changes in teams and the organisation enabled participants to understand how emotions, cooperation and commitment of their staffs could affect organisational culture. The discussion highlighted how the culture of the company can help to improve the productivity of the employees, bring the best out of everyone and improve the overall performance

of the organisation. Carmazzi also brought out the point of using organisational development to enable an organisation to better respond and adapt to industry and market changes and technological advances. This was in line with many organisations who are facing tough competition in a volatile business environment and are focusing on creating unique competitive advantages. Much emphasis was placed on employee communication increasing understanding between the organisation and employees, and aligning all employees to shared goals and values thus enhancing the company culture. Carmazzi introduced his CBCI and emotional profiling tools for delegates so they could coach their managers and leaders to better understand employees.

Ranked as one of the Global Top 10 Most Influential Leadership Gurus Arthur Carmazzi Founder and Chief, Awesomeness Officer, Directive Communication Psychology • Best-Seling Author of “The 6 Dimensions of Top Achievers”, “The Colored Brain Communication Field Manual”, “Identity Intelligence”, “Lessons from the Monkey King” and “The Psychology of Selecting the RIGHT Employee” • 21 years of experience specialising in psychological approaches to leadership and corporate culture transformation • Developer of the CBCI (Colored Brain Communication Inventory) and HDMA Emotional profiling tools used for “Psycho-Productivity” management

The theory would be very useful for delegates when introducing initiatives to improve their organisational health, culture and performance. Lastly, the delegates discussed the steps and actions to take for changing organisation culture and formulated an actionable blueprint for their own organisations.

UPCOMING CONGRESS The 2015 Organisational Development Workshop concluded a big year for HRM Asia’s Events team, but they are already working towards an even better 2016. Mark your calendars now for these upcoming seminars and congresses: • Strategic Workforce Planning Congress & Workshop 17 – 18 February 2016 • HR Business Partner Congress 24 – 25 February 2016 • New – Gen Recruiting 2016 Congress 9 – 10 March 2016 • Staffing & Outsourcing Law Congress 22 – 23 March 2016 • Big Data & Human Capital Analytics Congress 12 – 13 April 2016 • Predictive Talent Analytics Masterclass 20 – 21 April 2016

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HR TECH

FUSING TECHNOLOGY

INTO BUSINESS BLUEPRINTS From cloud solutions to softwareas-a-service platforms, HRM shares how HR technology is increasingly dominating the discussions of C-Suite figures

Sham Majid

sham@hrmasia.com.sg

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H

enrik Petersen, Sales and Marketing Director of Deskera, maker of cloud enterprise software, says that whether a company is a publicly-listed or privately-owned, it will have multiple stakeholders who expect it to utilise resources effectively while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.

“The mounting pressure from stakeholders means your company needs to effectively leverage the best talent available to deliver better business results as efficiently as possible,” explains Petersen.

He says HR technology can provide a supporting framework to help a company align its people management through

better hiring and performance appraisals.

“Processes can be automated and simplified to improve both employee and HR staff productivity, through employee selfservice and mobile apps,” says Petersen.

“A solid HR technology framework will ensure compliance with current and new regulatory requirements. For example, if new payroll rules are implemented, your payroll software should automatically be updated to support the new requirements.”

Peter Lee, Director of software firm Info-Tech Systems, says HR technology helps businesses manage their globalised workforces by guiding corporate strategic decision-making, while staying within laws.

HR TECH Deskera’s framework The Deskera HR Management System includes the following apps: • Payroll Management – Fast, accurate and efficient payroll processing that helps an organisation save time and stay compliant • Recruitment Management – Hiring top-quality talent with streamlined recruiting and onboarding experiences for recruiters, candidates, and hiring managers • Performance Appraisals – Automated performance appraisals to align a company’s workforce with organisational goals • Timesheet Management – Automated timekeeping and scheduling tasks with detailed reporting • Employee Self-Service – Empowering employees to take control of personal information and handling day-to-day operations, by automating tasks to save time and effort • Personnel Administration – Achieving effective personnel management and employee tracking through a comprehensive line of employee administration features

Merging technology with strategy According to Information Services Group’s (ISG’s) second annual survey, Industry Trends in HR Technology and Service Delivery, HR organisations continue to shift their management systems to cloud-based systems. They are seeking out enhanced user experiences and more robust alignment with their businesses.

The survey revealed that more than 70% of respondents cited that they already have implemented or will move to a HR software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform in the next two years.

“When it comes to HR technology and service delivery, HR organisations are shifting their focus from cost savings to strategic business alignment, process improvement and employee engagement,” says Debora Card, a partner with ISG HR Technology and Delivery Strategies.

“We’re seeing signs that enterpriselevel HR decision-making is becoming increasingly data-driven, and we therefore expect HR analytics will continue to grow in importance.”

Petersen explains the first advantage of incorporating a cloud-based HR application is that it does not require any expensive consulting to get started.

“Your company and HR executives can focus all their efforts on the HR strategy and business processes, instead of worrying about IT hardware and software installation,” he says.

“For growing companies with limited resources, it is usually best to break the HR project down into smaller projects (see: boxout),” he advises.

Depending on the maturity of a company’s HR strategy and general business priorities, the implementation priority may also differ.

“Some companies start with business compliance to meet new regulatory requirements, for example, the itemised payslip requirements being implemented in Singapore by April this year,” Petersen elaborates.

“Other companies start with productivity and focus on removing manual data entry tasks to ensure HR executives have more time available to focus on increasing business value.”

Meanwhile, Lee says businesses should engage the help of an HR partner who can look specifically in terms of consumer-

designed and intuitive tools for all users.

Company gains From Petersen’s perspective, organisations can amass a multitude of benefits by incorporating HR technology into their business strategy.

Firstly, he says companies can achieve productivity improvements and avoid compliance issues.

“Avoiding compliance issues is critical because they can be costly and can impact your ability to secure work passes and attract new talent,” he says.

“When new CPF rules are introduced, the payroll software helps ensure that calculations and reports are made in accordance to the new regulations.

“HR executives often spend a significant amount of time keeping records updated.

HR technology can help remove many of the manual data entry tasks, which frees up your HR team to spend more time on delivering real business value.”

For example, Petersen explains with employee self-service applications, workers can update their HR records, view leave balances, and manage medical leave online.

“HR technology provides a strong framework to help your company with recruitment, and implement performance appraisals and employee development programmes,” he elaborates.

“This can help your company leverage employees more efficiently and deliver ISSUE 16.2

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HR TECH productive collaboration, and avoid legal issues.

Breaking down the HR project Henrik Petersen, Sales and Marketing Director, Deskera, explains that for fast-developing firms with restricted funds, it’s optimal to dissect the HR task down into small assignments.

A firm could sort the assignments into the following groups: • Increase business value – Attract, hire and retain the best talent – Leverage people for maximum results through performance appraisals – Skills and capability development • Improve Productivity – Process automation – Employee self-service • Business Compliance – Correct record keeping and employment contracts – Payroll and reporting

increased business value by keeping employees focused on tasks that deliver measurable business results.”

Lee adds that HR technology services

provide businesses with a competitive advantage, by helping pull in the best talent, increase retention, streamline organisational processes, stimulate

HR technology offerings Petersen elaborates that the Deskera HR Management System offers a complete suite of HR tools to help companies with their most important assets – theirs employees.

The suite comprises of payroll management, recruitment management, performance appraisals, timesheet management, employee selfservice, personnel administration and other applications.

Meanwhile, Info Tech’s integrated HR system includes a time attendance system, payroll and HR software , a web-based online leave module, e-mail payslips, an online portal for employee self service, and project costing software.

All of this is fully integrated with fingerprint and biometric time recorders.

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Contact Me to Register: Karen Soh | Tel: (65) 6423 4631 | Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg

HRCLINIC How effective is a “working interview”?

T he conditions a working interview provides can be really effective in assessing a candidate, as compared to traditional interview methodologies.

It may not always be easy to replicate the “real” work environment but what a working interview provides is a real-time opportunity to explore both functional skills and leadership traits, in a dynamic environment where both can be observed together.

In a traditional interview process, you typically assess skills and leadership traits through an isolated line of questioning. A candidate with minimal qualifications and exposure to the field can perform well in such a setting with the right level of preparation and training. It also demands a high level of proficiency from interviewers to make the right judgments and it takes time to build such a proficiency.

Therefore, the closer we can get to creating a “real” work environment during the interview process, the better.

Recruiters can use that platform to observe the candidate demonstrating their functional capabilities as well as

SEVEN

their personality and ability to interact with others.

Most of us already use various aspects or adaptations of a working interview approach. We see it in the following forms: hiring on the basis of an internship, assessment during a probationary period, and inviting prospective employees to certain meetings. A careful consideration to including more elements of this working interview approach in the hiring process, and allowing more opportunities to observe the candidate in such an environment, can really help to increase the effectiveness of hiring decisions.

On a lighter note, a “working interview” is to an employer-employee relationship, what “dating” is to a relationship of marriage; it’s really effective in assessing the “fit” at a point in time.

8.00 AM Clearing “overnight” emails is the routine to start the day. This is to ensure all important issues from the day or week before, are handled before new happenings arise.

10.00 AM

Bernadette Gian Learning and Development Specialist, Rohde & Schwartz

Meetings with heads of the departments, managers, team leaders or young talents to discuss ongoing Learning and Development activities. I also update them on any issues to resolve for the department and discuss their plans for future projects.

12.00 PM This is where I will spend some time to recuperate

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Atul Gaur

HR Director – Global Travel Retail, Diageo

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

after an eventful morning over lunch, either alone or with peers. I try to catch up on reading or happenings that are not job-related.

It is also a good time to run some errands (if any) for the family.

We update one another on the events happening in the different markets and also work to come into alignment together. This ensures consistency in the messages being delivered to the employees.

1.00 PM

Last minute meetings on any urgent matters take place now, as this is usually the available time slot with the important meetings for the day already over.

I will spend this time catching up on work and updates on the office news through the intranet.

Sometimes, I will read or research on topics related to my current projects.

3.00 PM Conference or video calls with counterparts in Germany will usually be scheduled around this time.

5.00 PM

6.00 PM Time to end the day by listing out the outstanding activities and the things to do for the following work day.

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TALENT

LADDER

Jacques Palluel

Clement Quah

Susan Chen

Schneider Electric has announced the appointment of Jacques Palluel as its HR Director, Global Supply Chain Projects.

In this post, Palluel will be driving global HR projects and organisation design for the global supply chain organisation. He will also support the global logistics and network design global team as an HR Business partner.

Palluel, who has worked at Schneider Electric most of his career, first joined the company as an intern in France.

Before moving to Singapore in 2011, he worked at the company’s global headquarters in Paris and has since worked in both the central HR team and business unit.

“The company has grown and changed significantly since I first joined,” Palluel shared.

He brings with him 10 years of HR experience, with a strong background in compensation and benefits, as well as project management.

Palluel has also tried to alternate project roles with HR business partner responsibilities.

On his new position, he hopes to contribute to the organisation’s growth.

“I hope that I can find, develop and recognise technical experts to give Schneider Electric a competitive edge,” he said.

“I also look forward to simplifying the way we operate and provide the HR Business Partners in our 250 factories solutions to the problems they face everyday.”

Gumi Asia has recently appointed Clement Quah as its senior HR executive.

His new role will allow him to oversee the HR planning and talent acquisition areas across all corporate functions regionally. This includes marketing, art, mobile and IT infrastructure development.

Previously, Quah was a consultant in the IT division of recruiting agency Search Asia.

“It was an eye-opening experience working in an agency. It definitely helped in the development of my confidence and communication skills, especially towards people who are involved in senior management,” he shared.

“I’ve always been quite a big fan of games since I was young, and when the opportunity to join Gumi Asia, one of the biggest mobile gaming companies in the region, came along, it was pretty hard to pass it up!”

Quah brings with him about three and a half years of experience mainly in the talent acquisition and employee engagement fields.

He hopes that his position will allow him to scale greater heights.

“I am looking forward to making significant contributions to the organisation, working with the management team to take the regional company to the next level by attracting and developing world-class talent,” he said.

“At the same time, I do hope that we are able to continue developing and growing mobile gaming developers and professionals in the region.”

Susan Chen takes on a new role at Viva Generik as its Chief HR & Organisation Development Officer.

Her new appointment will allow her to work closely with the executive leadership team to deliver targeted growth and regional expansion through scalable endto-end HR practices.

Additionally, she will also be responsible for developing and leading internal HR transformation.

Prior to this, Chen was the Regional HR Director at Visa Worldwide, a position she held for slightly more than a year.

While she enjoyed her time there and felt that the industry was exciting, Chen wanted to develop her career further in an emerging market and seek the opportunity to be an integrated business partner.

Chen has gathered a total of 14 years of work experience. Eight of which were spent in various HR leadership roles in multiple countries including the UK, Norway, Singapore and now Indonesia.

Her areas of expertise spans across a wide range of HR mangement such as employer branding, talent management, executive leadership development and competency development.

Furthermore, Chen hopes that her role will allow her to develop the organisation further.

She said, “I hope to be an integrated partner in the company growth and deliver on pre-IPO expansions, as well as successfully leading the HR team to become true business partners.”

HR Director, Global Supply Chain Projects, Schneider Electric

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Senior HR Executive, Gumi Asia

Chief HR & Organisation Development Officer, Viva Generik

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MyHRM Communities HR Expert Panelists For The Month Of February

Preeti Subramanian Regional Manager Total Rewards, ZALORA Group

Tina Sharma

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A. Mateen

Senior VP HR, DHL Express Asia Pacific, Deutsche Post DHL

HR Expert Panelists For The Upcoming Months

Gaurav Sharma

Pauline Chua

HR Director, Coca-Cola Singapore

General Manager Human Capital & CSR, Fuji Xerox Singapore

Mark Leong

Dheeraj Shastri

Talent Partner APAC, UBS

Global Analytics, Abbott Laboratories

Stéphane Michaud, PhD

Regional Manager, Strategic Planning & HRD Consulting, Mitsubishi Corporation

Aditi Singh

HR Manager Talent Management, ZALORA Group

William Chin

Staffing Director, Qualcomm Asia-Pacific

Vineet Gambhir

Vice President & Head of Talent APAC, Yahoo, Inc.

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hrmasia.com

HIGH

IMPACT HR

MAKING A CASE for mothers The largest parenting website in Southeast Asia, theAsianparent, is staying true to its word by crafting child-friendly policies for its own staff. HRM reveals more Sham Majid

sham@hrmasia.com.sg

“M

others are an underutilised resource in this region.”

So says Rico Wyder, Singapore Country Manager for theAsianparent. Having family-friendly policies means his organisation can attract a larger pool of possible candidates for every position.

“If we want to increase Singapore’s birth rate, our workplaces, employers and colleagues need to become more family-friendly,” he explains.

“It’s about finding the right balance; if businesses don’t start supporting mums at work, we will continue losing women from the workforce, or worse still, some women may simply refuse to have children.”

With a significant 66% of theAsianparent’s readers being fulltime working mothers, Wyder admits the company understands their hardships and bears witness to the challenges they face.

“Though Singapore has policies in place to aid population growth, there are gaps in enabling mothers to get back to work,” he says.

“As Singapore’s top parenting company, our value of ‘for mums by mums’ drives us to reach out and to set a good example.”

Spelling out the policies

A mother enjoying some quality time with her children at work 52 ISSUE 16.2

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So, just what are some of theAsianparent’s child-friendly policies?

Wyder says the company offers flexible schedules to parents, whereby they can choose to start earlier in the day and to also go home earlier.

In addition, theAsianparent also offers work-from-home options for employees who are unable to travel to the office at all.

“We also have free daily lunch in the office, and kids are invited to join their parents for lunch at work,” Wyder states.

The organisation has also allocated a lockable room in which breastfeeding mothers can pump in a safe, healthy and positive environment.

“If day care falls through, employees can bring their kids to work, and both the parent and kid usually work in the conference room,” he adds.

People-friendly Wyder makes it clear that theAsianparent “is an advocate for employers helping mothers to get back to work”.

“As a parenting company, we want to walk the talk, and lead by example,” he stresses.

“We now have concrete policies set in place which we can show and discuss with our partners and clients. We hope to inspire other companies to adopt some of these policies.”

Nevertheless, Wyder says that ultimately, it’s not about “familyfriendly” policies so much as having “people-friendly” policies that allows the business to adapt to people’s lifestyles, and not the other way around.

Overcoming obstacles Rico Wyder, Country Manager (Singapore), and Regional Vice President of Product, theAsianparent, says the organisation encountered several challenges when implementing its child-friendly policies. They included: • The upfront investment costs in creating baby and breastfeeding rooms in all regional offices; • Having to provide the same benefits across the regions so that working environments were similar and that benefits were fair; and • Making sure that teams had sufficient face time with each other throughout the day, especially across different time zones.

Within local offices, teams now have a set number of hours together.

Employees enjoying free lunch at theAsianparent’s office

“As a parenting company, we want to walk the talk, and lead by example” Rico Wyder, Singapore Country Manager for theAsianparent “People are different and work well in different environments, and we accommodate this by ensuring we have internal communication channels over cloud,” he says.

“We also have meeting rooms so that people have a space that they can go to think and work individually or together.”

Better content creation?

Wyder says employees of theAsianparent are a lot more engaged in the office as a result of having the flexibility to manage their responsibilities and time.

“Since we allow employees to set their own working hours, parents in particular are able to manage their time a lot better,” he explains.

Wyder also says another interesting side effect is that non-parent employees get to better understand parents (and the website’s target audience), since they get to see first-hand what it’s like to manage a family.

“They get to interact with and see their colleagues and mums in action,

which can inspire new content ideas,” he says.

In fact, during the firm’s hiring process, Wyder says theAsianparent screens its candidates and only hires people who are parents or who one day wish to become parents.

“We’ve had to turn down some great candidates because of this, but we feel it’s worth it,” he states.

“Implementing these policies is easier when people have a deeper sense of empathy for our users.”

Flexibility with accountability While the policies designed by theAsianparent do facilitate a flexible working environment, Wyder says it is crucial to have very clear expectations about the working arrangements.

“Just because there is flexibility doesn’t mean that there isn’t accountability,” he highlights.

“We want to ensure that the team is accessible and have enough face time with each other for projects that require collaboration.”

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HR YOUNG GUNS

HR FROM THE CLASSROOM Every month, HRM speaks to a young university talent hoping to carve out a career in HR upon graduation What attracted you to HR? Why are you studying it?

The top three things you want from your HR career?

My role as a National Serviceman shaped my first impression of the importance of HR. In the Singapore Armed Forces, I was a payment specialist – much like the payroll executives we see in corporations.

My stint in the army allowed me to meet inspiring HR professionals, both military and civilian personnel, as well as to collaborate closely with external vendors such as Accenture to achieve HR-related objectives.

A subsequent job at a local bank allowed me to truly appreciate how companies have to differentiate themselves through their people.

As banks generally offer similar services, their various touchpoints with customers are crucial to success and towards gaining a competitive advantage. HR paves the way for effective people management which then translates to customer service.

I would like to see myself contributing to the HR ecosystem in Singapore through regular participation in symposiums and sharing sessions.

I also hope to mentor the next generation of HR professionals and to ensure a steady pipeline of talented and motivated people into the industry. Lastly, I aspire to play a key role in aligning HR policies and strategy with the overall company direction. It sounds simple, but it can be difficult to do as there are no onesize-fits-all solutions.

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

I’ve had the privilege to work with and to learn from specialists and experts in several HR functions in my time at SMU. But one aspect has particularly stood out for me: compensation and benefits. In the summer of 2015, I secured an internship at the consulting arm of Ernst & Young in talent and rewards. The internship programme was as rigorous as it was enriching, and I gained many insights in consulting and rewards management. I have also had the opportunity to learn from leading industry practitioners. Consequently, my current interest lies in the rewards management function of HR.

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What challenges do you anticipate?

As I’ll be joining a local small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) upon graduation, a clear challenge will be to overcome the limitations in resources that most SMEs face. By embracing flexibility and creativity, I hope to enable sound people management strategies which are effective and realistic. Another challenge will be to shift the common perspective that HR is a purely transactional function to an understanding that it also has a more strategic role. This is particularly challenging for SMEs given that sources of talent can be limited or exceedingly costly.

Your HR career five years from now?

I wouldn’t limit myself to a pure HR function for the mid to long-term future. While getting a good grasp of HR proficiencies is important upon graduation, many of the skills learnt as of HR professional can also be used elsewhere. Managers in various departments should appreciate the value of an employee value

Sum Yuheng National HR Scholar, Final-Year Business Management student, Majoring in Organisational Behaviour and HR, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University

proposition. While HR can shape these concepts, it is ultimately down to line managers or supervisors to engage employees in order to retain and motivate them. I can foresee myself in a consulting or enabler role to drive better attraction and retention projects in companies. The future is still fluid, at least to me, and as previously stated, I could also be in a rewards and compensation function in five years’ time.

Hobbies or inspiration?

I like travelling, photography, reading and performing onstage as a musician.

Global leadership: Adopting a global mindset

By Sum Yuheng

I

nnovation, growth and globalisation are the buzzwords of today.

Companies enthusiastically embark on new ventures, technology, and business models in order to capitalise on an increasingly global economic world.

Organisations are faced with a changing leadership challenge as they move out of their home countries and into new and emerging markets.

In the recent inaugural Asia-Pacific CHRO roundtable session conducted by Ernst & Young in Shanghai, one major issue on the agenda was that of global leadership and adopting a global mindset.

When addressing these issues, common questions asked by senior management are “How do we deal with the complexity of having diverse leadership styles?”, “Are we able to effectively establish a leadership model for our 100,000 employees worldwide?” and “How do we develop truly global leaders from within the company?”

One question in particular that pops up on many occasions is how a company would define a global mindset.

A common answer is “think globally and act locally”. However, the fast-paced world we are in today has encouraged corporations to shift towards thinking and acting both globally and locally simultaneously.

Companies have to define what it means to be global and the type of leadership required for success. At the same time, HR has to consider how to go about effectively implementing and sustaining a global management model.

Identifying a global leader There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to finding a successful global leader. The reality of a globalised world and diversity across multiple

regions means that it is more effective to identify a specific list of key competencies for all leaders, while at the same time, maintain a broader category of culturally and contextually adjusted competencies.

In a March 2015 article, the Human Capital Leadership Institute listed ‘cultural adaptability’ as a crucial factor in the success of any global leader. More importantly, it is a leader’s ability to understand their own culture, viewing it through the lens of another and ultimately considering the impact differing cultures have on the workplace that truly defines adaptability.

Being mindful of certain characteristics that might undermine the effectiveness of a global leader is also paramount. “Direct” and “authoritative” personalities may be favoured in one country but may be deemed rude or stubborn in another. It would follow that such characteristics would not be useful in a global competency model, but rather, used as discretionary characteristics, given the appropriate culture or country.

Getting it right HR’s evolution from an administrative function to a strategic centre has paved the way for a larger role in creating and implementing a global leadership model. HR leaders have to possess the necessary understanding of both business and organisational behaviour to help companies address the complex nature of global leadership. Naturally, the responsibility of employee attraction, retention and engagement across multiple regions and cultures falls to HR. HR can create a standard platform for global leaders to engage and communicate with one another.

For example, HR can bring together leaders from several regions for a standardised training programme, instead of conducting these programmes separately in each of their home countries.

Another would be to launch cultural awareness initiatives that allow for better integration of a diverse demographic. One challenge in particular is establishing a common development model which can enable the convenient mobility of personnel across regions in order to gain new experiences and knowledge.

Nevertheless, it is important to maintain a certain degree of flexibility due to differences in culture and labour laws.

Ultimately, such models and programmes should be kept in alignment with the overall company’s strategy. A global leadership model must be designed in a way that not only supports, but also enhances the company’s rewards programme, talent strategy and training infrastructure.

Investing in cultures Investment in cultural awareness, communication training and identifying global leadership competencies are some of the various ways companies and their HR leaders should be looking at when expanding.

More specifically, because successful leadership models are contingent on a company’s culture and values, HR professionals should engage in efforts to identify key traits and decisionmaking processes which will have a positive impact.

Lastly, the HR department should position itself as a partner in enabling better mobility and integration across a global workforce.

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SME SPOTLIGHT

Gunning for healthier goals Laying out health activities is a key strategy that Ayam Brand adopts to ensure happy and engaged employees

Naadiah Badib

naadiah.b@hrmasia.com.sg

H

ealth and wellness is a strong core in Ayam Brand’s workforce.

Not only is this ideal emphasised through the company’s products and branding, the organisation also implements several programmes to promote a healthier lifestyle among employees.

With approximately 60 staff in its Singapore office, Ayam Brand stresses the importance of such schemes, as part of an effort to improve efficiency and reduce absenteeism.

“Healthy and happy employees are the main factor behind our employee’s morale, efficiency and productivity,” Roy Teo, Managing Director of Ayam Brand Singapore, shares.

“To achieve this goal, we decided to offering health programmes for our employees.”

As part of its Workplace Health Programme, Ayam Brand has partnered with MyKenzen Nutrition Services to manage employee health since 2012.

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Creative fruit dish competition

Encouraging better lifestyles One example of this agreement is the eight-week long “Steps” challenge where employees are challenged to clock in at least 10,000 steps a day with the help of a step tracker provided by the company.

So far proven to be a successful approach internally, Teo shares that Ayam Brand’s staff averaged 13,000 steps each at end of the task in 2015.

“This was 30% above the initial target, and included one employee who covered more than 28,000 km,” he adds.

“Employees are also able to keep the

tracker to monitor their personal fitness after the challenge.”

As a food production company itself, some of their programmes are centered upon nutrition and diet.

Employees are encouraged to attend cooking classes in which Ayam Brand products are used to create healthy meals.

“These sessions teach them how to prepare healthy and simple meals for themselves and their families,” Teo explains.

A weekly fruit giveaway is also a popular programme.

SME SPOTLIGHT Over the course of eight weeks, fruits are provided in a special pack according to recommended serving portions.

Similarly, employees are able to share and learn healthy recipes from colleagues during nutrition campaigns held within the office.

In November last year, the company held an internal competition where staff had to come up with creative ways to eat fruits.

Here, they were able to share various ideas and encouraged each other to eat more healthily.

Other regular sessions organised also include health talks and exercise classes, such as piloxing and yoga.

“These health programmes are open to all employees and the management team participates actively in them as well,” he adds.

Tighter workforce These methods have deemed to be helpful in reinforcing its organisation culture as approximately 97% of staff

“Healthy and happy employees are the main factor behind our employee’s morale, efficiency and productivity” Roy Teo, Managing Director of Ayam Brand Singapore commented that they felt healthier in its post campaign survey.

“Through these programmes, employees gain valuable knowledge on how to take care of themselves better both physically as well as mentally,” Teo says.

Not only has the health programme fostered a better lifestyle among

Putting employees first At Ayam Brand, employees are the first priority.

As it currently has a small workforce in Singapore, Roy Teo, Managing Director of Ayam Brand Singapore stresses the importance of treating these people right.

One of the key strategies is its staff programmes, including the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run, in which CEO François de Moulliac also took part alongside a group of staff.

“We treat all our employees fairly and equally, while providing a caring environment for every staff member to excel and enjoy their work,” Teo explains.

Mystery box challenge during staff cooking session

employees, Ayam Brand has seen a positive impact on its workplace cohesiveness.

The schemes require a lot of team challenges and collaborations, and staff have been able to build stronger relationships with colleagues from different departments.

“We strive to provide employees with a work environment that empowers them to achieve their full potential in not just their area of work, but also their physical and physiological well-being,” Teo adds.

Long-term employment Positive work relationships and a healthy environment are just some of the factors that have led several of Ayam Brand’s employees to have remained with the company for many years.

In fact, a large proportion of them have stayed for more than a decade.

Long-term staff are highly valued in the organisation. Ayam Brand says they provide a rich vein of expertise and experience which are essential in managing and developing its quality brand.

With Ayam Brand’s strong emphasis on the career development of staff, most of its long-term employees have progressed from lower-ranking positions and currently play key roles in the progression of the company.

The workforce’s management and HR policies are the key reasons that attributed their long-term employment, Teo suggests.

“Our HR practices ensure employees are treated fairly and have equal career opportunities regardless of gender, race, nationality or age,” he says.

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Digital Savvy

Disruption Proof

Fu t u r e R e a d y

17 - 18 May 2016 | SUNTEC SINGAPORE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE Choose From 6 Dynamic Streams and Cost Options!

Arthur Fong Managing Director, 3M Singapore

Anna Lim SouperChef & Executive Director, The Soup Spoon

Tan Kok Yam Head, Smart Nation Programme Office, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore

Jassy Tan Divisional Director - Human Resource, F J Benjamin (Singapore)

Julian Birkinshaw Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship & Director of the Deloitte Institute at the London Business School

Josephine Chua Director of Human Resources and Quality, Ramada and Days Hotels Singapore At Zhongshan Park

Vandna Ramchandani Head of Recruitment, Philanthropy & Engagement, Asia Pacific, Bloomberg

Ellen Mai Senior HR Director (Greater China), LVMH Watches & Jewellry (CHN)

JPS Choudhary Regional HR Head, Africa, Middle East & Asia Pacific, Vodafone

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Global Management ThoughtLeader, Best Selling Author and World-renowned Leadership Coach

Sue Olivier Regional Director Talent Development, Asia Pacific, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific

Stéphane Michaud Ph.D Regional Manager, Asia & Oceania - Strategic Planning & HRD Consulting, Mitsubishi Corporation

Previous attendees are eligible for Loyalty Discounts of up to S$400, email us at info@hrmasia.com.sg to enquire!

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John Bunch Advisor to CEO and Holacracy Implementation Lead, Zappos (USA)

Whitney Johnson Expert on Innovation and Personal Disruption & Author (USA)

Mark Leong Talent, Leadership & Management Development Lead, Talent & Development, APAC, UBS

Philippa Penfold HR & Talent Director, APAC, GroupM

Alex Teo CEO, Zero Spot Laundry Service

Matt Kaiser Employer Branding and Digital Recruitment Specialist, Ericsson

Vikram Cardozo Senior HR Director, GE ASEAN (MY)

Dan Spencer Chief Talent Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi Asia Pacific

Ng Ying Yuan Director for Human Resources and Organisation Development, Economic Development Board (EDB)

Moira Roberts Moira Roberts Head of HR Singapore and Regional Head of Talent & Development, APAC, UBS

Syed Ali Abbas Former Chief HR Office, Pacnet at Telstra

Chan Chong Beng Chairman & Co-founder of Goodrich Global and Chairman of Workforce Advancement Federation

Neal Cross Managing Director & Chief Innovation Officer, DBS Bank

Arthur Carmazzi Author and Global Leadership Guru

Casey Teh Managing Director, Simmons (SEA)

Timothy Lynch Regional HR Director - APAC, The Boeing Company

Kevin Mulcahy Workplace Futurist & Author (USA)

Susan Chen Former Regional HR Director, US MNC and Chief HR officer, Viva Generik

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IN PERSON NARELLE BURKE

Regional HR Director, Asia-Pacific, TNS

How many years HR experience?

I have over 15 years of experience managing international teams including for cruise ship companies and national sporting teams. For me, it’s all about the experience and how I can add value to the organisation and its people.

Why HR?

I started by mentoring and coaching people in high school and eventually became a teacher. Through some part-time jobs during university, I found that I was good at sales and ended up in HR by accident through a series of business training roles.

Why TNS?

I met up with the CEO and members of the management board and was impressed with their innovation and focus on transformation. It is a great opportunity to be a part of the journey with the leadership team driving the transition from a traditional market research agency into an integrated marketing consultancy.

Biggest achievement?

It is having a small part in helping people to achieve their full potential. I have the privilege of being a part of people’s careers, seeing them grow to take on bigger roles, and watching them evolve into real business people and often lifetime friends.

After hours?

I love life! I work hard during the week and almost always finish early on a Friday for date night with my hubby. We enjoy doing a range of activities from travelling to live music.

Family?

I’ve been married for 10 years to my husband, Mark.

We don’t have our own children but we do chat with our families, nephews and nieces regularly. Our families keep us grounded and, my nephews and nieces provide plenty of entertainment. Their stories of mischief are priceless!

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BOOK REVIEW

Navigating the waves of change A

ssisting and leading employees through change within an organisation is no easy feat.

To ensure a smooth transition, top-level managers ought to remain competitive and provide job security to employees and, returns to shareholders.

Bill Pasmore’s Leading Continuous Change provides a practical guide for HR professionals to do just that.

A unique addition to any business library, the book details a four-part model and four key mindsets that allow leaders to counter multiple changes simultaneously, without drowning in the churn.

The model covers a range of topics from proactive management to remedial acts.

One of the topics include “Discover” which identifies external pressures for change. This helps leaders to take a step back and view the bigger picture in order to select the most impactful option to overcome an issue.

Real-world experiences, diagrams and detailed advice are offered at each phase of this model. This makes it easier for readers to grasp the topic at hand and apply the learning efficiently in their workforce.

Comprising of eight main chapters, Pasmore takes readers through a cycle of understanding, recognising and overcoming the different levels of change management.

Ultimately, Leading Continuous Change draws on Pasmore’s work and personal experiences, as well as research.

This book is especially suited for professionals to navigate their way through change and lead their organisation through success under transformation.

Title: Leading Continuous change Author: Bill Pasmore Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Price: $35.50

TALENT FEATURE

Don’t doubt Singaporean job loyalty Employees want to stay over five years, so it’s up to bosses to look after them, writes Ash Russell, Senior Business Director of Hays in Singapore.

A

lmost 60% of Singaporeans want to stay with an employer for more than five years, according to a Hays survey of 1,183 Singaporeans. With employees ready and willing to remain loyal, the onus is on employers to look after their staff, since loyalty and continuous skills and career development should be mutually inclusive.

The survey found that 59% of Singaporeans believe in job loyalty and are prepared to stay more than five years with an employer.

Over a quarter (30%) said they’ll stay up to five years, meaning they’ll have at least two jobs for each decade of their career. The final 11% like to change employers every one to two years.

Most Singaporeans at heart do believe in job loyalty. The job for life mentality is long gone, but so too is the mindset of job hopping regularly. Today almost 60% of us want to stay with our employer for five years or more suggesting that, for most of us at least, stability, security and loyalty are important.

Given this, it’s up to employers to ensure they create the environment in which employees can remain. After all, people want to stay with their employer long term, but they also want their careers to continue to develop and thrive.

This means employers need to provide all staff with ongoing training and development, regular reviews and promotional opportunities. They also

need to deliver what they promised in the recruitment process so that the reality of working at their organisation matches what they promoted when they were attracting top talent.

As long as employees are offered stimulating work and their career continues to advance, most will stay. A lack of career progression is the number one reason people come to us looking for their next job, so we can’t emphasise enough the importance of putting career development plans in place.

While long tenure has obvious benefits for employers, there are also benefits to be gained for employees. Apart from demonstrating loyalty – which is a quality that w ill serve you well when you do eventually enter the job market again – long-term employees are usually rewarded through additional benefits and internal promotions, while their opinions are valued and sought out by others in the organisation.

But it is also important to recognise when it’s time to move on. If your current employer is not offering you opportunities to develop and advance your career, and you feel stale and bored in your existing role, it might be time to explore your options in the job market. Loyalty is a noble quality, but it should not be at the expense of your own career advancement. Employers need to make sure the two go hand in hand.

Ash Russell Senior Business Director, Hays Singapore

Hays is located in Singapore at Level 27, UOB Plaza 2, 80 Raffles Place. www.hays.com.sg

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AHRDSPEAKS Understanding the forces that prevent change

M

ost HR professionals have seen a perfectlyplanned change go awry because of unexpected forces working against it. Kurt Lewin’s Field Force Analysis explains that the driving forces for change and restraining forces against change occur simultaneously. The restraining forces often feel like the proverbial brick wall.

No matter how hard we drive forward, there is something blocking progress. Identifying and managing restraining forces before and during a change can increase the likelihood of success.

Though designed as a framework to assess organisational design choices, one of the most useful

frameworks I use to identify and understand restraining forces is Jay Galbraith’s Star Model. The Star Model has five components; Strategy (direction), Structure (power), Processes (information), Rewards (motivation), and People (skills and mindsets). It applies a systems view of an organisation with the primary focus on the interconnections between the components. Understanding where a change will create an imbalance in the system offers deep insights for what parts of the system need to be altered to achieve a new balance aligned to the change.

Such insights provide a sound and simple way to communicate

the efforts needed to ensure a change’s success.

All organisational systems are designed to produce their current outcomes. Usually, the motivation for change is the desire for a different outcome. Change management plans rarely seek to recreate a new balance and are often limited to driving force activities which only exacerbate imbalance.

A change can be achieved more quickly and with less pain if we design a plan that, having considered the organisation as a system, includes activities that recreate the desired new balance by addressing both the driving forces for change and the restraining forces against it.

Opportunities for Life

Philippa Penfold HR and Talent Director, Asia-Pacific, GroupM

RGF HR Agent Singapore Pte Ltd EA Licence No. 10C2978

Compensation & Benefits Manager

Assistant Manager – HR Generalist

• European MNC • Covers SEA region

• Local/regional coverage • Active interaction with business

Our client who is in the power industry is currently seeking a dynamic Compensation & Benefits Manager to join the HR team.

Our client, a large established Japanese multi-national organization is currently seeking a HR Generalist Assistant Manager.

You are part of the COE team and heads the C&B team with one direct report.

Your role will be to devise and manage the implementation of compensation, benefits, rewards and recognition programs to achieve the overall objectives in attracting, motivating and retaining employees. You will take the lead to oversee comprehensive reviews and comparison of base salary and incentives.

The role reports directly to the HR Director where you will be responsible for the full spectrum of HR functions. You will be involved in Talent Acquisition, Compensation & Benefits, Payroll, Performance Management and Learning & Development. You will work to identify any needs, streamline and improvise HR processes where needed and suggest ideas to refine or create new HR Policies.

You will be a graduate in HRM with more than 8+ years strong C&B knowledge and experience. You hone exceptional skills in establishing operational guidelines, systems and processes for assessing program performance and the ability to design benefit plans. Management experience would be beneficial. Ideally you should have experience of working in a manufacturing environment.

Ideally you should hold a Diploma or Degree in Business, Marketing or Human Resources with a minimum of 5 years of HR generalist experience in an MNC setting. Prior experience in streamlining HR processes would be beneficial. You should have superior communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to engage all levels of staff particularly senior management

To submit your application, please email your resume in word format to Li Li Kang at lili.kang@rgf-executive.com.sg

To submit your application, please email your resume in word format to Grace D’Castro at grace@rgf-hragent.asia

EA Personnel Registration No. R1108467

EA Personnel Registration No. R1108252

RGF is the global brand of Recruit Holdings, the world’s fourth largest HR and recruitment services company and the largest in Japan, generating over US$13 billion in annual revenue. For more than 50 years, RGB provides comprehensive HR and talent acquisition services which include retained and contingency executive recruitment and market mapping, senior to staff level specialist and contract recruitment as well as payroll services. RGF operates in more than 45 locations across 26 cities in 11 countries and markets in Asia with in-country specialist consultants.

Winner, The Executive Search Company of the Year 2015 and for the second year running, The HR Recruitment Company of the Year 2015.

SINGAPORE VIETNAM INDIA INDONESIA MALAYSIA PHILIPPINES THAILAND CHINA HONG KONG TAIWAN JAPAN

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RI ASIA

www.rgf-hr.com.sg

MICHAEL PAGE

Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, APAC

Regional HR Manager

Senior C&B Manager

› Attractive career growth plan › Expanding business

› Strong visibility to the business › Team leading role

› Reputable multinational › Attractive remuneration package

Our client is an eCommerce leader with strong growth plans across Asia Pacific. They are looking for a Talent Acquisition Senior Manager who will identify and develop talent in the Asia Pacific region. You will lead, manage and enhance Talent Acquisition initiatives and provide consultation, advisory, support and guidance to the business leaders. You will develop recruitment strategies that are aligned with the company’s business plans and evaluate the effectiveness of the organisation’s hiring process. With at least 6 years of experience in a fastpaced environment, you are a proactive and energetic professional looking to join a rewarding team.

Our client is a reputable pharmaceutical company with a strong footprint across South East Asia. Reporting directly to the General Manager for the business unit and with a dotted line to the Regional Head of HR, you will be tasked with all human capital initiatives across South East Asia while leading a small team. You will support business growth by providing advice to the business leaders and to keep the organisation abreast of the latest processes and policies. In addition, you must possess the operational horsepower to deep dive in areas such as HR operations, talent management and talent acquisition.

Our client is one of the world’s most reputable and successful global corporations in the media industry. As part of its ongoing commitment to improve its business here in Asia, they are now looking to recruit an experienced HR professional to join their team. You will play a key role in developing and implementing compensation strategies that are aligned with the business needs. You will be the key focal point to lead annual salary reviews and develop compensation plans that are both equitable and competitive, and that will encourage employee retention. We are looking for a proven leader and effective communicator who possesses strong influencing skills.

Please contact Domi Di Marco (Reg. no: 1439720) quoting ref: 2719290 or visit our website.

Please contact Eugene Wong (Reg. no: 1331128) quoting ref: 3101500 or visit our website.

Pease contact Rena Lee (Reg. no: 1325462) quoting ref: 3115010 or visit our website

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

Get Connected. Stay Ahead.

Specialists in human resources recruitment

Human Resources

#15564 | Michael Page International Pte Ltd (EA Licence No.98C5473) is part of the PageGroup.

Registered Office: One Raffles Place, #09-61 Office Tower Two, Singapore 048616

WORLDWIDE LEADERS IN SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT

www.michaelpage.com.sg

Head, Learning & Development

Regional Human Resources Director

HR Business Partner

› Transportation industry › Leadership and strategic role

› Global US MNC › Operational and strategic focused

› Healthcare and Life Sciences MNC › Hands-on HR advisory role

A respectable establishment, our client has an immediate need for a highly experienced and dynamic Head of Learning & Development to lead the function to the next level.

A leading US MNC with global presence, our client has an immediate need for a consummate, dynamic and commerciallyattuned HR Professional to lead its people agenda for assigned region.

A leading player in its fields, our client has an established presence in Singapore and globally. It now seeks a dynamic and consummate HR Business Partner to be part of their Singapore operation.

You will implement HR strategies by establishing country and department accountabilities in areas of talent acquisition and management, succession planning, compensation & benefits, learning & development, employee relations and labour law compliance. Partnering closely with the leadership team and division heads, you will drive change and ensure strategic alignment of HR directives across the business. You will lead a team responsible for HR service delivery for selected countries.

You will partner closely with Business Heads to ensure HR goals are aligned with the organisational plan for the assigned business units. You are responsible for the development and application of policies and programs in the area of recruitment, HR planning, compensation & benefits, talent development and management, performance management, employee and labour relations.

Degree qualified with professional training certifications, you have minimum 12 years of relevant experience in MNCs and Singapore Inc. Ideally, you have spearheaded an establishment of learning academy in a leadership capacity, and drive development of creative programmes to support continuous growth. You are a leader who works effectively to build strong alliances with local and international stakeholders, develops others, and operates in a collaborative style.

Reference number: MH/JD52765 Contact person: Maureen Ho (Registration Number R1105976)

Degree qualified, you have minimum 8 years relevant experience in HR leadership capacity within MNC. Demonstrated ability in stakeholder management and dealing with ambiguity in a highly matrix work environment is mandatory. Those with change management, merger & acquisition HR related experience and strong project management skills are preferred. You are a hands-on leader with coaching and mentoring skill, and possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Reference number: MH/JD52920 Contact person: Maureen Ho (Registration Number R1105976)

Degree qualified, the successful candidate should have at least 10 years experience as HR generalist including 5 years HR business partnering experience with MNCs known for HR best practices. Preference will be given those with experience as site HR in a manufacturing environment. You possess high adaptability, are hands-on and possess excellent interpersonal, communications and influencing skills and ability to work in a diverse culture environment.

Reference number: MH/JD51255B Contact person: Maureen Ho (Registration Number R1105976)

1143/11_15

You will drive the development of strategies and initiatives to position the academy as a global centre of learning. You will develop strategic relationships with world class training institutions and stakeholders, professional groups and accrediting bodies. You will oversee the overall planning and designing of training programmes locally and external stakeholders. You will identify and strengthen core staff competencies, develop and drive various initiatives to drive thought leadership.

Your Human Resources recruitment specialists To apply, please go to talent2.com and search for respective reference number.

For a confidential discussion, you can contact Maureen Ho for the relevant position in our Singapore Office on +65 6511 8555  linkedin.com/company/talent2

Talent2 Singapore Pte Ltd. Company Reg. No. 200909448N EA Licence No. 10C4544

An Allegis Group Company

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Headquartered in Singapore since 2003, Kerry Consulting is Singapore’s leading Search & Selection firm.

Our consulting team is the most experienced, and amongst the largest, in the ASEAN region.

We offer positions in the following sectors: Banking & Financial Services Commerce Finance Energy & Commodities Engineering & Supply Chain Healthcare & Life Sciences Human Resources Legal Sales & Marketing Technology

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www.kerryconsulting.com | Returning the Human to Resourcing

Senior Recruiter, Biopharmaceutical

Junior Human Resource Business Partner, Technology Industry

Biopharmaceutical Industry New Position Fast-paced Organisation

Highly Visible Brand Strategic HR Function Excellent Organisational Culture

This leading, growing US multinational organisation is seeking a Senior Recruiter—a newly created position— to join its Talent Acquisition team based in Singapore.

This market leader in the telecommunications sector has a significant presence in Singapore. It is now seeking a Junior HR Business Partner to support multiple business units across the full suite of Human Resource functions.

Reporting to the Talent Acquisition Manager, APAC, you will be responsible for the full life cycle of recruitment for positions based in the commercial and manufacturing site. You will need to be innovative and forward-thinking in providing solutions for the acquisition of talent.

You should also be familiar with social media and its application in talent acquisition. In addition, you should be able to work across all levels of the organisation and be familiar with roles in a typical manufacturing site.

A technical understanding of manufacturing processes or prior work experience in a manufacturing plant, as well as experience in recruiting for Corporate functions such as Finance, Supply Chain, and Facilities, will be highly advantageous. Ideally, you will have a minimum of 8 to 10 years of work experience, including at least 4 to 6 years of experience as an in-house recruiter. Relevant experience in the full life cycle of recruitment is a key requirement of the job.

To apply, please submit your resume to Joy Seow at js@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number JS9500. We regret that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Reporting to the Senior HR Business Partner, you will be a business partner to a headcount of around 300. You will support their HR needs, including recruitment, compensation, and L&D. You will also develop strong business relationships and support your stakeholders via day-to-day responsibilities and strategic advisory and planning.

You will have at least 4 years of full spectrum HR experience, preferably in a business partnering capacity. You will need to possess strong communication skills, be versatile in stakeholder engagement, and be able to thrive in a dynamic environment with a fair amount of ambiguity.

You will also be passionate about what you do, intelligent, and willing to learn.

Reporting to the HR Manager, you will support the ASEAN team based in Singapore. You will have at least 6 to 8 years of experience as a HR generalist/HR Operations, with exposure to talent acquisition, C&B, and business partnering. Ideally, you would have worked in a FMCG environment.

On top of that, this position calls for strong interpersonal skills.

To apply, please submit your resume to Joy Seow at js@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number of 9640. We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Reg No: R1107886

Reg No: 03C4828

Newly Created Role Excellent Career Opportunity Southeast Asia Focus

Senior HR Manager (HRBP), SGX Listed Organisation

Established European MNC Highly Visible Role Excellent Work Environment

SGX Listed Organisation Senior HR Leadership Role High Visibility to Top Management

This is a European MNC in the Oil and Gas (O&G) industry. Despite falling oil prices, it has proven to be resilient and profitable due to a strong business model. It is now seeking a C&B Analyst to support its Singapore operations.

This leading player (SGX Listed) in the property development industry is a well established and well regarded organisation with a strong SEA and ANZ presence. It has strong commitments in the region and continues to expand in APAC.

Reporting to the Regional HR Manager, you will be responsible for the full suite of compensation and benefits, including benchmarking, salary proposals, and evaluation. You will also be exposed to elements of HR projects as and when needed.

In this highly visible role, which sits within a matrix structure, you will need to adopt a strategic yet hands-on approach. You will be fully responsible for all aspects of HR, and you will oversee and drive HR best practices and a defined talent strategy across Asia. The broad remit will require your focus around building and developing a strong team and HR capability in a demanding, ever-changing environment.

Great results, high calibre people and a solid foundation to build on make this a very attractive opportunity with a lot of potential.

Reg No: 03C4828

This leading FMCG organisation is seeking a HRBP with strong end-to-end HR Operations experience.

Learning & Development Manager – South East Asia

C&B Analyst, Oil & Gas Industry

To apply, please submit your resume to Junchen at jc@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title.

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

HR Operations Talent Acquisition C&B

To apply, please submit your resume to Junchen at jc@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title.

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Reg No: R1107886

You will have at least 3 years of C&B specialist experience, preferably in a large MNC. This role requires you to be comfortable with running a C&B function independently. Additionally, you will be someone who is thorough in your work, energetic, and intelligent.

HRBP, FMCG

You should be a results-oriented, high calibre HR Leader with a successful track record in a senior regional capacity in Asia. You should also be strategic in your mindset and tactical in your delivery. Strong interpersonal and communication skills, as well as the ability to be a team player, are critical success factors for this role.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at finian@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT9341.

This high profile industry leader with a significant global footprint is poised for continued growth in the region. In preparation for its growth plans, it is now seeking a dynamic recruitment professional.

Reporting to the SEA HR Director, you will focus on developing and implementing the learning and development strategy, as well as managing its processes. You will create a learning environment that provides a platform for employee overall development and aligns with business performance. You will also manage effort to develop cost-effective L&D options to meet specific business needs of the organisation, including training budget support and recommendations. In addition, you will take on a hands-on approach and execute plans through a wider network by working closely with the HR Team as well as business and function leaders across all levels.

You should be experienced in running a training/L&D function in a managerial capacity. You should also be competent to deliver the L&D platform using various technology tools and possess demonstrated success in developing and implementing learning and development strategies aligned to business strategy and organisational capability requirements. On top of that, you need to be comfortable with working in a client-focused and people-centric environment, where you have to keep a balance between the interests of the client and the firm.

To apply, please submit your resume to Finian Toh at ft@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number FT9297.

Reg No: R1104310

Reg No: R1104310

Licence No: 03C4828

ISSUE 16.2

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YOU KNOW HR WE KNOW HR CAREERS Regional Human Resources Manager

Head of HR (Singapore & Malaysia)

A global leading engineering company is looking for a Regional Human Resources Manager. You will be responsible for delivering across the full spectrum of HR with a primary focus on recruitment and selection for both technical and corporate roles in the region, as well as campus outreach, employee life-cycle and other administrative support. You will need at least 6 years of experience in HR preferably with regional exposure. You will be rewarded with attractive remuneration and career progression in a growing organisation.

Contact Kelly Shia (Registration ID No. R1552203) at kelly.shia@hays.com.sg or call +65 6303 0721.

On the back of promising growth, an established food & beverage multinational with a strong regional footprint is looking for a Head of HR to lead people development in Singapore & Malaysia. You will be instrumental in overseeing the full spectrum of HR and spearheading talent development and retention projects to support business growth. With over 10 years of commercial HR experience, you will be an exceptional relationship builder and be versatile in handling corporate and line requirements.

Contact Sean Wong (Registration ID No. R1101782) at sean.wong@hays.com.sg or call +65 6303 0721.

Assistant Director for Alumni Career Development

Senior Manager, Strategic HR Planning (Healthcare)

A leading international education body is currently looking for an Assistant Director to play an ambassador role for alumni seeking career support. You will be adept at interacting and working with a diverse base of stakeholders across different cultures, and possess ideally a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience in HR or executive education in a fast-paced environment. You will gain the opportunity to work alongside bright minds in a dynamic environment.

Contact Kelly Shia (Registration ID No. R1552203) at kelly.shia@hays.com.sg or call +65 6303 0721.

An established healthcare entity in Singapore has created a new role of Senior Manager, Strategic Planning to lead transformation within the HR division. You will examine the existing HR framework and conceptualise and implement change in the form of HR initiatives such as employee relations, business advisory and organisational development. With over 10 years of strategic and operational HR business partnering experience you ideally will have been involved in HR transformation and project work.

Contact Sean Wong (Registration ID no. R1101782) at at sean.wong@hays.com.sg or call +65 6303 0721.

hays.com.sg

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EA License Number: 07C3924

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