Human Resources Magazine, Malaysia Q3 2015

The smart HR professional’s blueprint for workforce strategy

humanresourcesonline.net

RM12 / Q3 2015

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Q3 2015 « CONTENTS

COVER STORY 26 Who is the real YOU?

Akankasha Dewan finds out how companies such as Unilever and Ericsson steer clear of the trap of over-promising what their employer brand stands for.

Features 12 Q&A

Nora Abd Manaf, group chief human capital officer at Maybank, predicts HR’s role evolving to become a “chief resourcing officer” in the future.

16 Are you moving with the times?

Jerene Ang explores the top reasons for relocation and repatriation, and the factors mobility managers consider while selecting the perfect candidate.

20 Turning up the heat on training As the ROI measurement of corporate training processes gets increasingly complicated, Akankasha Dewan goes behind the best practices of highimpact learning organisations.

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Opinion 32 Learning & Development

John McAlpine, MD and head of HR for Australia/New Zealand and SE Asia at J.P. Morgan, shares the strategies to maintain a reputation as an employer of choice.

34 People Issues Government funding can help implement wellness programmes, says Chin Ai Li, HR and people development manager at Julia Gabriel Education.

35 Unconventional Wisdom

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Find out how DBS Bank got its long-time bankers to think like a start-up, in this case by Laurence Smith, MD of HR and group head of learning and talent development.

36 Upwardly Mobile

Caroline Palmstedt, talent management lead APAC at Monsanto, shares the neuroscience behind the success and failure of organisational change.

40 Last Word

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36

Akankasha Dewan debates if higher pay is worth foregoing strong bonds with colleagues.

Any suggestions or tip-offs for Human Resources?

Email aditis@humanresourcesonline.net Q3 2015 « HumanResources Malaysia «

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EDITOR’S NOTE

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Time to get pragmatic More and more, we see companies doing away with things that were typically associated with HR, but which just no longer work very well.

A case in point is Accenture’s recent announcement on abolishing the annual performance review and replacing it with a more fluid system of timely, assignment-based feedback.

“We’re going to evaluate you in your role, not vis-à-vis someone else who might work in Washington, who might work in Bangalore,” Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme, said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Nora Abd Manaf, group chief human capital officer at Maybank, describes the change phenomenon we’re currently witnessing as “hyperconnectivity”.

“When people are hyperconnected, you can’t box them in,” she pointed out in an exclusive interview this past quarter, a must-read in this edition of Human Resources.

“If things have changed and we have not started thinking about how to get around this, we are not doing the organisation justice.

“Most of us in the HR fraternity have not yet got our heads around the big changes happening out there in the environment.”

As a result, in her leadership role managing HR for one of the region’s largest banks, she constantly strives to keep pace with the constant changes by pressing her team to innovate new ways of working.

Maybank, for example, was one of the first few organisations in the region to move away from performance ratings to having genuine conversations about performance.

“This is the second year of the no-rating policy and we’re still learning, but we don’t label people anymore, we assess and provide feedback,” she told us. “If you give people a rating and label them, that is the start of all evil. Because then everybody fanatically wants to defend a particular number.”

Head to page 12 for that fantastic interview.

In line with the theme of hyperconnectedness, our cover story this quarter is a feature on employer branding.

Despite the always-on nature of today’s workforce, be it through social, mobile or digital, how can companies avoid falling into the trap of over-promising or exaggerating the type of environments and benefits they offer to staff?

Tricia Duran, HR director for Unilever Asia, told us: “Employer branding, at the end of the day, is about a combination of magic and logic.”

At Unilever, the onus of creating this fine balance rests with the HR team. However, it works closely with their colleagues in marketing, leveraging them for “their creative vision and understanding of digital and consumers”.

As we dive headfirst into the last quarter of this year, the momentum from us at Human Resources remains strong, with a host of new events planned for you, and content in line with what’s most relevant to you.

In the meantime, enjoy this issue.

Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee using Nikon D810 – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

HumanResources

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Aditi Sharma Kalra Regional editor Q3 2015 « HumanResources Malaysia «

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News from humanresourcesonline.net

SIGNS YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE UNHAPPY IN THEIR JOB Do your team members prefer to eat alone rather than with each other? Do they work the bare minimum number of hours before rushing out at 6pm?

These are the signs of a disengaged employee, and if you don’t take corrective action, they may put in their papers sooner than you realise to work for themselves.

New research by the Association of Accounting Technicians in Britain found that more than one in four British workers want to leave their job (27%), and are displaying signs of potential attrition.

The survey uncovered a surprising list of signs that showed employees disliked their job: • Get anxious about work on a Sunday night.

• Have lunch on their own to get away from colleagues.

• Work the minimum number of hours required.

• Are constantly looking at the clock.

• Often moan about their job to friends and family.

REASONS WHY STAFF ARE WASTING TIME AT WORK If you’re wondering why your employees are not contributing effectively to the business, it may be because they are wasting their time on administrative tasks.

A survey by ServiceNow found that nine in 10 managers were spending time out of their core job roles, providing status updates, filling out forms, requesting support and updating spreadsheets.

Fulfilling these tasks takes an average of more than two days a week, with 20% of staff saying they spend three or more days on them. As a result, half said they lacked time for more strategic initiatives.

The report hinted this lack of time could be attributed to the inefficiency of tools used in the work environment to fulfil these tasks.

More than 80% of those surveyed relied on manual tools such as emails, phone calls and personal visits.

FEMALE BOSSES DRIVE HIGHER LEVELS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT A new report by Gallup found employees who work for a female manager in the US are six percentage points more engaged, on average, than those who work for a male manager (33% to 27% respectively).

Female employees who worked for a female manager were the most engaged at 35%, while male employees reporting to a male manager were the least engaged at 25%. The survey also delved into how exactly female managers were increasing the engagement levels of staff.

Employees who worked for a female manager were 1.26 times more likely than employees who worked for a male manager to strongly agree “there is someone at work who encourages my development”. Overall, female managers were found to be more engaged than male managers (41% versus 35%).

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WANT TO EARN MORE? RE? HAVE MORE SEX A little more activity in the bedroom may just make ake you one of the highest-earning members in the boardroom. droom.

This is what Dr Nick Drydakis, of Anglia Ruskin University, found in a new study with 7,500 respondents. ondents.

The study concluded people who have sex two wo or three times a week, regardless of their physical al or mental health, earn 4.5% higher wages than people ple who have sex less often.

“Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory claims the he happier and more fulfilled individuals are in their lives, ves, the more productive and successful they will be in their work, translating to higher wages,” Drydakis said.

“In the absence of these elements, people mayy become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety andd depression – all factors that can affect their workingg life,” he added.

The report added that sexually active employeess who are health-impaired earn 1.5% more than peoplee with similar symptoms who are not sexually active.

» HumanResources Malaysia » Q3 2015

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THIS ARTICLE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY TALENTCORP

LIFE AT WORK AWARDS RECOGNISES CHAMPIONS IN DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Maybank Group, IBM Malaysia, IHS Malaysia, Shell Malaysia and KPMG Malaysia were recognised for their diverse and inclusive corporate practices at the prestigious Life at Work Awards 2015 on 9 September.

Now in its third year, the Life at Work Awards was organised by Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) and global human resources specialists Towers Watson, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. The awards pay tribute to employers with leading workplace strategies that enable employees to achieve greater success in their corporate and personal lives, and demonstrate a company’s drive and commitment to championing diversity and inclusion.

The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) chief executive Dato’ Sri Idris Jala, who is also a board member of TalentCorp, presented the awards to the winning employers.

“Diversity and inclusion are some of the fundamental values that correlate with improved business performance. I am confident that our Life at Work Awards winners are not only employers of choice for talent, but also high-performing organisations,” Dato’ Sri Idris Jala said.

“I call on more Malaysian employers to champion progressive workplace strategies to attract and retain quality talent, in addition to ultimately strengthen Malaysia’s competitiveness.”

The awards heralded Maybank Group with the title of best Malaysian organisation. To respond to the changing needs of today’s workforce and to better retain talent, Maybank has formalised flexible work arrangements (FWA), providing options for staff to work on fixed flexible schedules, flextime, part-time and flexible work locations.

Maybank also tracks the diversity metrics in its succession pool, resulting in an increase in women serving in senior management positions from 11% in 2008 to 35% in 2014.

IBM Malaysia took home the award of best international organisation.

IBM has emphasised the development of female talent in IT, technology and finance, with women ambassadors appointed to drive these initiatives.

The global IT firm also created the Business Resource Group and Women in IBM Network Group (WINGs) to inspire and enable women to achieve their full career and leadership potential. IBM Malaysia also recently announced the appointment of its first woman managing director.

Life at Work Awards also presented the title of best initiative to Shell Malaysia’s Shell graduate programme. The oil and gas giant has revised its Shell graduate programme to be more female-centric by prioritising female candidates in its selection process, as well as creating a recruitment toolkit for diversity and inclusion recruiting excellence.

Datuk Johan Idris, managing partner of KPMG in Malaysia, was presented with the award of CEO Champion by TalentCorp. “Diversity and inclusion has always been an integral part of KPMG’s DNA which started with our founding partners of the firm. My role as the managing partner of KPMG in Malaysia is to ensure we sustain the momentum and we did that by appointing for the first time, two women partners to be heads of business units,” Datuk Johan Idris said.

“They have achieved this through their own strengths and merit and our environment helps empower them in making business decisions and to give them opportunities to excel in what they do. On our people agenda to further enhance

employee engagement and to strike a healthy work-life balance, we have also formalised a FWA and most recently announced an unprecedented one-week office closure, which is paid time off firm-wide for all our people to rejuvenate and spend quality time with their family and friends.”

Having piloted a career comeback programme to encourage women to return to the workforce, IHS Malaysia was hailed as the best lean organisation.

SunEdison Kuching also received a special mention during the awards for its outstanding work-life benefits, particularly in providing four weeks of paternity leave and four months of maternity leave to its staff.

Clare Muhiudeen, managing director of talent and rewards for Asia Pacific at Towers Watson, added: “This year’s winners are employers that have taken the extra step to implement successful programmes to promote work-life integration or parent-friendly work environments to better meet the needs of talent, especially high-performing women.”

TalentCorp urged companies wishing to implement or enhance flexible work arrangements in their organisations, or those interested in recruiting or have recruited a woman on a career break, to step forward and share their workplace practices.

For further information on diversity and inclusion in the workplace and best work-life practices, please visit www.flexWorkLife.my.

Q3 2015 « HumanResources Malaysia «

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WORK LIFE » People GET INTO THE BOSS’S HEAD

Wataru Nishioka Chief executive officer Canon Marketing Malaysia

What attracted you to work at Canon?

I had heard many good things about Malaysia and the Canon office here. Like every Canon office, the working styles are very different in each country as each local office is mainly staffed by the locals.

How has your experience been here to date?

Personally, I find our staff are very friendly, knowledgeable and they share a common passion for food! I have now been here for two years.

Having worked in Canon Japan, US, Europe and Thailand, the Malaysian office offers a different perspective and work culture. We can put our best foot forward while embracing “Kyosei”, which means to work and live together for common good.

How does the company engage the staff?

It is very important to constantly engage with our employees, and provide them with a promising working environment. We have implemented a “morning greeting”, where at 8.30, a team will be assigned to visit and greet colleagues from every department on every floor, on a rotation. We have seen great outcomes from this, especially in staff interaction. We have also added an element of fun by introducing a monthly thematic challenge. This has further encouraged creativity and strengthened work relationships. For instance, it was nice to see staff distributing home baked cakes, handmade flowers and sharing well wishes during the Mother’s Day thematic challenge.

workforce. Japanese leaders give priority to harmony and effective delegation, to make the organisation a strong team. So, my teams are encouraged to embrace this guiding spirit and reflect the qualities of true Canon employees.

How do you help low-performing or unmotivated employees to perform better?

I believe that strategic thinking, consistency, accuracy and motivation are traits that drive teams to achieve outstanding performance. I aim to inculcate a culture where superiors are to be respected and juniors educated. When an employee is not performing up to par, managers will have to step in to guide them to the right path and instil positivity in the employee’s mind.

The HR department plays a pivotal role as well, through team-building activities, motivational talks, company dinners and outings.

Your role is no doubt a stressful one. How do you cope with a bad day at work?

I maintain a positive outlook. No matter how tough and stressful things may be, I take a step back to assess the situation and decide on positive actions to make situations better. When I face an especially challenging day, I leave it for a day before I take action. Time is money, but it is a medicine too.

A game of golf helps and I also spend time to unwind in the evenings with my wife over a meal or just to relax. Listening to jazz piano music helps me to concentrate on what I have to do.

Do you think HR leaders have the necessary skills and vision required to make it as a CEO? Definitely. A good HR leader must possess the ability, knowledge and skills to better manage and understand the needs of employees. Besides that, finding a system that works for every individual and to bond everyone together is not an easy task.

There are a few qualities a CEO must have and one of them is people management skills. This is highly required in every leader and is essential in a good CEO as employees are now striving for better work-life balance. With an HR background, the CEO will be able to accommodate to this changing work trend without compromising on the business and the employees’ quality of work.

In addition, HR leaders must also gain knowledge and training in the management of business, strategic planning and other related fields such as marketing and finance that will equip them for the role of CEO. How do you think the HR function can become more strategic and a better business partner?

Effective HR management can be seen through the retention of talent/employees. First and foremost, employing the right fit for the company is important. Placing the right staff in the right position is more challenging than just completing the recruitment process.

These people must share the same goals, be highly motivated and be team players. They must be eager to learn and adapt. When these people meet the criteria, half the battle is won.

Next, it is all about growing this talent to its maximum potential. HR will need to assess its progress in the company and fully utilise employees’ expertise, while providing ways to improve in areas in which they are non-performing.

Employees’ morale should be continually addressed which will then help propel the company’s business further.

How do you manage a large global workforce?

It all comes down to ensuring our employees’ voices are heard. Running a nationwide workforce is no easy task. As a CEO, I make it a point to listen to what they say and to do my best to provide them with a positive working environment. It also helps to motivate them as people do burnout. A little nudge is necessary from time to time.

We have a “Breakfast with CEO” where staff can ask me questions directly. They can also write to me anonymously via Gmail.

Canon has a guiding spirit called the San-ji (three selfs) consisting ofthree elements: selfmotivation, self-management and self-awareness.

It is the core of my secret in managing a global 6

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People WORK LIFE

SpacialAwareness

HOW GOOGLE’S OFFICE IN MALAYSIA SUPPORTS PEAK PERFORMANCE “Google is for the most part an unconventional kind of company, and we intend to stay one,” says Zeffri Yusof, who heads communications and public affairs for Google Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

One look around the office in Kuala Lumpur and you tend to agree. The colourful workspace is characterised by the subtle merging of work and play areas, and the use of localised markers such as the naming of meeting rooms.

As an organisation grounded in data, the approach to setting up the office is no different. “We tackle the workplace like our engineers tackle computer science – with data and a willingness to try new things and think outside the box,” he says.

“Investing in ‘Googlers’ drives business outcomes that we care about: innovation and retention. And we know that happier employees are more productive, and more likely to stay at Google,” he adds.

To drive that blend of productivity and happiness, Google offers employees a host of on-site facilities. A wholesome breakfast and lunch is served daily at the locally named cafeteria, Gerai Gugel, along with free snacks and beverages in micro-kitchens.

There are cosy nooks and corners for Googlers who need isolated personal space for creative work, and attractive meeting rooms of various designs and sizes to cater to big and small meetings.

“We work hard to create the healthiest, happiest and most productive work environments possible that support peak performance and inspire wellbeing.”

With Googlers typically spending half their day at work, the workplace aims to be a home away from home, equipped with facilities for relaxation and leisure.

This includes a recreation area with indoor games such as foosball, arcades, ping pong, and pool. An on-site massage therapy service and massage chairs are also available to help Googlers relax.

Yusof ties in all of these elements together: “Fun, friendly colleagues, a strong, yet adaptive culture and a supportive environment that values life as much as it does work, nurtures and encourages performance and productivity.”

He adds, that with Googlers having the opportunity to be involved in developing innovative products and services, having an engaging workspace that takes away worries and offers a stress-free, easy exchange of information, is key to making a positive difference in people’s lives every day.

For other companies looking to redecorate their offices, the key lesson is to build workspaces according to how you want your people to behave and interact with each other.

For example, spaces that spark conversations between colleagues and teams about work and play tend to foster collaboration. In the case of Google, the delicious, healthy and free lunches and welcoming eating spaces promote employees across the organisation to come together.

“Micro-kitchens are ‘watering holes’ where people gather to discuss ideas or just take a break. Regular Friday office get-togethers and activities foster camaraderie beyond work,” he explains.

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WORK LIFE » HR by numbers

Beware sacking Gen Y Recently let go of a Millennial employee? Get ready to hear negative comments on social media networks, review sites and within your industry.

That is according to a new survey of 1,300 job seekers and 218 HR and talent acquisition professionals.

Among those who were terminated, Millennials were more inclined than Baby Boomers to both hold and share negative opinions about former employers.

58%

of Millennials reported their perceptions of their past employers’ brands were negatively impacted after their termination.

64%

was the number of Baby Boomers who had been laid off or terminated once, 2.5 times higher than the number of Millennials (26%).

73%

of fired Millennials shared their negative views on social media, review sites, and with personal and professional networks.

62%

of potential job candidates visit a company’s social media properties to learn more about its culture.

Source: 2015 Employer Branding Study by CareerArc

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People WORK LIFE

snapshot

15 minutes with ...

Phor Hooi Khoon Senior HR director Agilent Technologies YOUR CAREER HAS SPANNED THE TECHNOLOGY SPACE, WITH SEAGATE, DELL AND INTEL BEFORE AGILENT – WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THIS SECTOR? The speed! I’m the kind of person who likes to work fast, so the speed of change makes me feel challenged.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO START YOUR CAREER IN HR? Since my second year of university, I enjoyed working closely with people and guiding them to resolve their issues. I was also very active in extra curricular activities, as the leader of St John Ambulance, which further developed my passion for working with people. So my career started in HR because I saw the value of serving people.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR FIRST JOB? I started at Seagate in the specialist role of a staffing administrator, and was hungry to learn. Because Seagate was highly labour-intensive during that time, I was also extensively involved in recruitment, including working through weekends for walk-in interviews. I would conduct orientation sometimes for up to a 100 people in a day. Besides recruitment skills, I picked up project management skills and people management skills. I absorbed as much as possible, whether it was within or outside of my job. Everything was new for me to learn.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST HR ACHIEVEMENT? When I joined my last employer Dell in 2007 the company was not an employer of choice in Malaysia. I realised we had an opportunity to change this perception and spoke to my general manager to get the directors involved in the people agenda.

I strongly believe the people agenda is not for HR to own, but for everyone. We organised a directors’ summit to chalk out the strategic plan for Malaysia that covered the people agenda. This was the first time the people agenda was not led by the HR team.

When we participated in the MIHRM awards for the first time in 2011, we actually won the Grand Gold Award. The key differentiator was that everyone was engaged and willing to help drive the change.

HERE AT AGILENT, WHAT IS YOUR REGULAR WORKDAY LIKE? I have two main focuses: one is within the HR team, and the second is with the business.

"In HR we need to listen to what others say, to understand business challenges and support the needs of business leaders better."

For the former, I am a strong believer of HR putting its house in order to serve the customer better. So I spend time on making everyone more collaborative and developing the HR team members, while making them feel proud to work at Agilent.

For the latter, we look at how we can transform our people and processes. We are essentially a new company, in that we split from the old Agilent a year ago to focus on life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemicals, so we want to be a strategic site to support the company’s vision.

I also spend time talking to the business leaders, employees and HR team members. This is because in HR we need to listen more to what others say, to understand business challenges and employees’ concerns so that we can better partner with business leaders in supporting their needs.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE HR INDUSTRY MOVING FORWARD? As HR functions march towards the HR-shared services model, this will free up some of the leader’s time for more critical pieces. Another trend we’re heading towards is collective leadership in HR. HAVE YOU HAD A MENTOR IN YOUR CAREER? The first leader who made me think differently was my HR big boss in Seagate. I was so focused on my job as the HR administrator that I was shocked when my VP of HR at the time, based in Singapore, visited Penang and asked me if I had ever thought about changing roles.

As a fresh graduate, for me it was about doing my best and getting promoted from one level to the next. So when he asked me this, I got worried he would ask me to leave the company.

Instead, he said I had done very well in staffing, which is essential to managing HR, but it was now time to think of the bigger picture.

That was a breakthrough for my second career in Seagate in moving to the C&B side.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO TODAY’S FRESH GRADUATES? Work hard and smart. There is no shortcut for us to learn certain things. The second thing is to be open to change and to come with an innovative mindset.

YES, we recruit there.

Your single point of contact for all of your hiring needs globally

www.npaworldwideworks.com Q3 2015 « HumanResources Malaysia «

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WHITE PAPER » Leadership

SEVEN STEPS TO BUILD A CULTURE OF EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION

Global – Employees have cried themselves hoarse saying it – regular doses of appreciation and thankyous can often motivate them much more than a pay rise. Power2Motivate, in a new white paper, lists the seven components of a recognition culture.

1. Make it tangible: Recognition through praise or thanks in front of peers is a powerful emotional motivator for employees, but that feeling can be made more memorable with a certificate, for instance.

Tyre company Goodyear expanded its length of service recognition programme to a virtual “store” where points could be redeemed for different products to an enthusiastic response from employees.

2. Make it timely: Waiting to recognise an employee’s good behaviour just once a month or even once a year may lead to a missed chance to provide them instant gratification when they would prefer it.

When energy retailer Lumo Energy launched its recognition programme, it wanted to have awards and nominations available 24/7.

“You might recognise something as you’re walking out the door at 5pm,” said Kerrie Erskine, Lumo’s remuneration and benefits manager.

3. Focus on values, not just performance: Values can be brought to life by being turned into recognisable and repeatable behaviours that can be identified easily, and then rewarding the good behaviours.

Said Natalie Inglis, Goodyear’s senior C&B manager for ASEAN, Taiwan and South Korea: “We’d had posters on the walls for years, but I don’t think many people stopped to read them.

“Now we’ve based our recognition programme on our shared values, and people are more aware of what behaviours are expected.”

4. Be completely transparent: It’s only fair to ensure all staff, in all departments and locations, can access the same programme, not just to have everyone working towards the same values, but to keep costs and management time to a minimum.

5. Build advocacy at all levels: If senior executives fail to see the value in the programme, it will become very difficult to build a recognition culture.

Middle management, with direct responsibilities for the teams being rewarded, will also have a major impact on whether the programme is effective, especially if they lead by example.

How to provide a good culture 1.

Let employees choose their rewards

2.

Provide instant gratification

3.

Turn values into repeatable behaviours

4.

Opt for online, peer-to-peer recognition

5.

Lead by example

6.

Make things competitive

7.

Monitor the return on investment

Source: Power2Motivate

6. Make it fun: Gamification tools can tap into different types of human motivation – competition, sense of achievement or instant gratification.

“We allocate part of our budget to serial cards as spot prizes for games and competitions. Staff type the barcode in and a random number of points are added to their balance,” said Padam Chirmuley, Stellar’s group GM of HR. 7. Measure and manage: Key performance data must be captured in the form of metrics such as number of points redeemed, the number of peer-to-peer nominations, and the number of people logging into the programme.

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SPONSORED RECRUIT CONTENT HOW TO THIS ARTICLE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY MERCER MARSH BENEFITSTM

A QUICK FIX TO EMPLOYEE BENEFIT COSTS IN MALAYSIA Across Asia, employers are experiencing health and benefits programme cost increases as high as 45%1 annually in some markets, impacted by high inflation, even higher medical cost inflation and health and benefits premium increases.

Many employers are also balancing differing employee demands that come with having a multigenerational and ageing workforce, and managing other challenges, such as an increasing incidence in chronic disease, changing local healthcare regulations, and a demand for more competitive benefits.

Despite a backdrop of increasing costs, a high percentage of employers across Asia are not investing aggressively enough in health management programmes, don’t understand the root cause of health issues, or are able to draw a meaningful parallel between employee health and overall operating costs.

Given such a complex operating environment, are there quick fixes employers in Malaysia can institute to manage healthcare costs in the short-term to address local cost drivers and challenges, and how can they ensure long-term programme sustainability?

In Malaysia, employers are facing steep cost increases in providing medical care to their employees. New medical technologies, changes in healthcare legislation, and an increased prevalence of lifestyle-related health conditions are all contributing to significant increases in the cost of keeping employees healthy and productive.

With recent changes to private healthcare legislation now is an appropriate time to review existing programmes and adopt a holistic approach to employee health benefits design – one that not only addresses the cost side of the equation, but which also helps achieve a healthier and more productive workforce.

A closer look at the key cost drivers in Malaysia reveals that advancing medical technologies, a changing regulatory framework, a lifestyle leading to chronic diseases and an ageing population have the biggest impact on benefit programme costs. Let’s take a look why.

Advancing medical technologies Advances in medical technologies are resulting in new types of treatments that yield greater success rates, entail lower risks, and enable quicker recoveries.

Additionally, minimally invasive surgeries and robotic surgeries are increasingly favoured over traditional open surgeries.

However, these new technologies and advanced techniques are much more costly than traditional procedures and are passed onto the employer, increasing premiums year on year.

The changing regulatory framework Amendments to the Malaysian Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 have already resulted in medical care cost increases. For example, consultations with general practitioners, which used to cost between MYR10 and MYR35, now cost between MYR30 and MYR1252, and this trend is expected to continue.

Lifestyles that lead to chronic diseases Chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, which used to be characteristic of the older generation, are increasingly prevalent among younger employees in Malaysia. Many chronic diseases are the result of individuals’ lifestyle choices, but are exacerbated by workplace conditions such as stress and sedentary jobs.

In 2011 the National Health and Morbidity Survey found that 27.2% of Malaysians aged 18 and above were suffering from obesity. Employers feel this cost not only through the increasing utilisation of benefits and rising claims, but also through increasing absenteeism.

Ageing population Malaysians aged 65 years and above are projected to increase three-fold from 2010 to 2040. In 2030, when 15% of its population reach aged 60 and above, Malaysia will become an “ageing nation”3.

Employers will inevitably be impacted by increasing medical costs resulting from the care of a more elderly workforce.

Opportunities for employers Despite multiple cost pressures there are still many opportunities for employers to achieve short and long-term savings, including programme realignment, targeted disease management, effective vendor management, funding arrangements and claim and service audits to quickly tackle rising costs.

A more sustainable benefits programme can be achieved with an on-site clinic and services, fostering a healthier workforce, and understanding which initiatives are driving real return on investment through a data-driven approach to benefits design and management.

1

MMB Asia Total Health and Choice 2013-2014 Survey The Star Online: APHM-Healthcare Costs May rise, Dec 2014 3 Sun Daily, Malaysia, Mar 2015 2

This article is contributed by Ho Mun Kiat, Leader of Mercer Marsh Benefits in Malaysia

Ho Mun Kiat is the Leader of Mercer Marsh Benefits in Malaysia.

He can be reached at +603 2302 8585 or MunKiat.Ho@marsh.com

For greater insights into immediate (quick) and sustainable (longer-term) opportunities for employers, log onto http://bit.ly/MMBQuickFix.

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PROFILE » Nora Abd Manaf

Nora Abd Manaf Group chief human capital officer Maybank Banking on a new way of working

By ADITI SHARMA KALRA

Q What got you started in HR?

Illustration: Kimberly Ong - kimberlamb.com (hello@kimberlamb.com)

I would be lying to you if I said it was passion from the beginning, or that it was planned – because it wasn’t. I qualified as a chartered accountant, and soon started working with Intel. But I suppose I was always more right-brained than left-brained.

I got into HR thanks to an offer by the deputy chairman of one of our client companies for an HR role, requiring localisation of workforce. That opportunity presented itself because I was in a job that I was blessed to be in, thanks to the postAsian economic crisis in 1998, where the demand for corporate training took off.

That was my entry into corporate consulting. I did some soul searching, and the right-brain in me made the job proposition sound very interesting. For the longest time, HR had this not-so-attractive reputation and I was guilty of that as well.

So I wanted to change my own impression.

Q So it was a personal motivator?

Yes and that is reflected in what I do.

I speak at a lot of conferences, not to promote myself, but to confront issues the HR community faces. We can’t demand how people look at us just by changing our names from personnel and admin, to human resources to human capital. How people perceive us is a result of how we behave and what we bring to the table.

Q You have always been part of this industry, even before joining Maybank in 2008. What is the charm it holds?

The entry into this industry was also

not by design, but more about where I was in my life at the time. I was in telecommunications then and enjoying it.

I was supporting the company in various joint ventures, learning like crazy, and having frank, and tough conversations with the CEO. But we go through different stages of life. At that time, an offer from the BFSI sector, along with a package that would have helped me when I was just starting a family, getting a new house, was something that pulled me away. Not very noble, but those were my priorities then, but I stayed in Standard Chartered Group for nine-and-a-half years, which says a lot about what the organisation offered me in terms of development and growth, and I suppose what I contributed back as well.

Q I am glad you say we can put our personal aspirations forward as much as our professional ones.

Maybank had a transformation mandate underway when you joined, driven by business expansion. What were the first 100 days like?

I got a call from the CEO telling me how the expansion was about carving a name as a leading institution in the region, besides just being a country champion.

The transformation programme was launched a few months before I joined. He said he needed to attract the right people to drive it, but because we were not very attractive as an employer back then, it was a catch 22 situation.

So the first 100 days were pretty scary because everything was banking

VITAL STATS Nora Abd Manaf has led Maybank’s people transformation programme since 2009, and is responsible for the human capital centre of expertise which develops and implements group policies.

Before joining Maybank, she was with Standard Chartered Group for more than nine years. She has worked with several MNCs and large local organisations across sectors, including at Maxis and Intel.

on us, the Executive Committee (ExCo) members, to lead the transformation. But that was also good because we attracted others who engaged with us on values rather than the brand.

My challenge was in getting the right leaders on board so they could then pull the right people in. I went into this organisation thinking I knew it all from an MNC standpoint, but it really is tougher because Maybank started from scratch, taking on the financial giants who had been operating in Malaysia for 100 years before us. When I spoke to Maybankers in 2009, I used a football analogy – we were champions of the Football Association of Malaysia league, and now we wanted to play the Premier League, so we had to do some things differently. We had some great players, some that would not make it, and we had to import some players. We knew that for things to move at the early stage, we ExCo members needed to drive things ourselves, starting with communication in the remotest branches where no other management team member had been before.

That’s why we chose humanisation as our mission. We felt like we were making a difference to the people in the remotest branches, to make them believe we could play in the EPL. In that sense, for me it became more than a job, it was a calling.

Q Where do you stand today on your number one human capital challenge?

I feel like most of us in the HR fraternity have not yet got our head around the big changes in the environment. For example,

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PROFILE » Nora Abd Manaf

I questioned my team about the last time we approached training differently. If you Google how credit decisions are made, you’ll get plenty of information immediately, much of which is the syllabus for a basic 101 class. Courseware hasn’t changed much to reflect this fact. Those are the kind of things I’m grappling with.

I hate it when people look at HR as a back end function. Organisations with great strategies won’t be able to execute them without the people, so why would people come last? I want HR teams to look at every aspect of what we do and understand how to leapfrog to leave the competitors behind.

Another example is in recruitment and sourcing, where I visualise we are going to be using people based predominantly on skills. So job titles will be very different.

Think how consulting firms pull teams together to deliver on an outcome from a people database based on their skills and experiences.

The one word that describes the current environment is hyperconnectivity.

When people are hyperconnected, you can’t box them in. If things have changed and we have not started thinking about how to get around this, we are not doing the organisation justice.

Besides this one big issue, I also face the challenge of productivity like many others. But, quoting Einstein, how can we expect different results when we are doing the same things over and over again?

The good thing is we have invested in the selection of our ExCo members. Every organisation needs a core team that not just works well together, but is made up of like-minded experts who are open to trying new things, and trust each other to do that.

Last year, for example, we were one of the few organisations that have done away with performance ratings. When I presented this idea to the ExCo, the CEO said: “I don’t understand fully, but let’s do it, I trust you.”

I told them, even as far back as when I first joined HR, people have been talking about the issues in performance management, central tendency or ratings, and not about having good conversations.

When it comes to ratings, very few, if any, are trying anything different. So I showed them three organisations that have done away with ratings and moved purely into conversations. I told them, we will be trying something different, which will require us to delve into how agile we are in learning.

To be confident yet humble to admit if any part doesn’t work and quickly enhance it.

We don’t have full consistency and the perfect culture yet, but we have data to show our accelerated progress, and more importantly, enough mass in the workforce now who can walk the talk.

This is the second year of the norating policy and we’re still learning, but we don’t label people anymore, we assess and provide feedback. If you give people a rating and label them, that is the start of all evil. Because then everybody fanatically wants to defend a particular number.

What should go into the database is the narrative about the performance.

To support this, the system disallows the manager to proceed to the next field if the comments sections are left blank. It will keep prompting them to put in important messages about the person’s performance.

This initiative was a calculated risk we took in a time when people want perfection and answers. It takes an authentic team to say: “We don’t know everything, but if we find something that is not working well, we’ll change it immediately.”

All along we were, and are, tracking the change initiative, we are a bank after all! Tracking is a discipline in Maybank now, especially during the transformation,

you have to track and be able to defend, inspire and communicate traction.

Q How did you show value on this new way of measuring performance?

We had validations from people who turned around after being branded as non-performers, following their managers having a real performance conversation with them. In the second year, we have ironed out some kinks from a process perspective, but now the focus is on cracking the nut on its link with rewards.

For an organisation with 47,000 people, it’s tough, compared to the earlier organisations that have attempted this.

Q How big is your HR team to help support such a large workforce?

We are a very productive team especially from an Asian standpoint, with a ratio of 1:150 for each employee, while Asia’s average is about 1:60. So we are lean in that sense. The group team sits in Kuala Lumpur, while country HR heads double up as industrial relations and local law experts. We also set up an HR shared service centre in 2009, but we are getting quite a reputation for it being more than that. Because shared service centres typically are like BPOs in terms of the employee churn and how low they can bring down those costs. But for us, the centre in KL is built on humanising the customer (staff) experience, together with speed and low cost.

Q You’re at a stage where Maybank is one of the most coveted employers in Malaysia as well as the rest of ASEAN. How do you ensure your brand promise remains authentic in really providing what employees expect before joining?

Humanisation is not just a word, but we really have to act it. You can’t tell people to do unto others when things are not done unto them.

We have a number of pillars of humanising from a staff’s standpoint. We pride ourselves on authenticity. Not for a minute do we say we are consistently perfect on all points as an employer, but we say you can check if we are really acting on these five pillars at any time.

Respect is the first one. If at any point of time anyone feels disrespected, it’s not what we intend, so they must make a noise about it – that’s what I tell them during induction. Within that pillar, we define what respect means to us, by giving

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Nora Abd Manaf « PROFILE trackers of what we do to make sure they are being respected.

An example of the tracker is an email address we’ve set up which goes direct to my team member managing employee engagement. No one else has access to it and there will be no repercussions for people to be afraid.

Another pillar talks about fairness and transparency. We show, for example, how many applications we have received for internal job ads, and we actually have a target of filling eight out of every 10 vacancies internally rather than externally.

When we make that commitment, we open ourselves to being audited again.

We spend more than 100 million ringgit every year to train employees to show that we mean what we say. For any other aspect as well, I’ll have the data to show what we are doing.

We are not perfect, but we know where we are going and many organisations cannot give you that.

the intended outcome is and they can influence it. That’s my calling every time when I speak to a candidate: “Now that you’re clear in terms of what we want to be, you know where we stand, come join us.” More often than not, they love it.

Q How do you see your role evolving

in the next one year? What will your job description look like?

There are many fancy titles out there right now, some of which are very progressive.

Like me, they are trying to figure out that something needs to change in the world of HR. Because the landscape has changed and most of us are just living on borrowed time.

For me in HR, everything else pales in comparison to resourcing – so maybe we will become chief resourcing officers! When I say resourcing it’s all encompassing, putting people in the right role and knowing how to do that in a connected world where long-term maybe just a month.

Q So everything you do for employees Maybe it could be about across functions, translates into understanding and bridging expectations these pillars? across the organisation, because there is fastjobs-v2.ai 1 09/07/2015 4:33:13 PM Yes, and we make sure they know what disconnect right now in terms of what is

Part-time Temporary

Contract Non-executive

needed and what HR leaders are doing – so maybe, chief bridging officer?

We have to also understand what people governance is going to look like in the future. I am one of those who does not switch off, I work 24/7. When I first graduated, my lecturers told me to leave my personal stuff behind when I enter the office. Today, that notion is ridiculous.

Because if you’re a mother, you don’t have a switch which says you are no more a mum when you enter the office.

This is even more prevalent now because you have to stay connected. We need to think many things through. An example is - what really are the working hours of today and the future?

If a manager can expect, and encroach in a staff’s nine to five, which is 9pm to 5am, to respond to work needs, why is it that family crises cannot encroach into 9am to 5pm?

So my team is working on this – how we will govern in the future. People will baulk and say this is going to be very disruptive, but disruption is now the norm.

Before all of us are out of a job, doing everything that nobody wants, think of the next two to three steps you need to do.

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FEATURE » Relocation & Mobility erely relocating employees to fi ll a business need is no longer enough.

To thrive, fi rms must also relocate for career development. Mobility managers are gradually moving away from traditional mobility policies which moved employees solely based on roles and budgets.

Jeslyn Ngan, manager of global mobility for Asia Pacific at Mondelez Asia Pacific, says: “In recent years, companies are more focused on business delivery as well as results, hence, attention is being paid to acquiring the right candidate instead of the monetary value of the relocation eventually.”

Emerging mobility trends With more people willing to relocate in search of their dream job, how do organisations select employees for overseas assignments? Jerene Ang explores the top reasons for relocation as well as repatriation, and the factors mobility managers consider while identifying the perfect candidate.

True enough, per a survey by Brookfield Global Relocation Services, which showed a rise in organisations using international assignments to build international management experience

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Relocation & Mobility « FEATURE for leaders (17% in 2009 to 23% in 2015).

Anika Grant, managing director of human resources for ASEAN and Asia Pacific at Accenture, agrees: “In the past five years, we have seen mobility evolve to be more of a tool for talent and leadership development rather than just a way to fi ll a business need.”

She states the ideal situation is when both the concepts of talent and leadership development, and the business, come together and the organisation is able to “infuse the right talent to fi ll a gap, while providing a potential leader with a growth opportunity”.

Jacob George, president of Asia and Middle East at SIRVA Worldwide Relocation & Moving, observes that the notion of capturing mobility in terms of policies based on the duration of the assignment is quickly going away and mobility today revolves more around the assignee.

“Today, it is more of an à la carte menu of creating what meets their need, rather than fitting them in a box. Outside of immigration and tax, everything is flexible and tailored.”

Also, he recommends a policy that supports relocation across generations, by fi rst understanding their dynamics, then tailoring a programme to support their needs.

What’s happening now?

Analysing these emerging trends is interesting, but what are companies focusing on?

A recent Cartus study shows that companies are evenly divided in their options. While 41% of them offer ad hoc solutions, another 39% offer tiered programmes, while 38% of companies provide lump sum options to employees.

Grant shares that Accenture’s current approach is on tailoring the mobility policies by taking “approaches different from the more ‘traditional’ relocation programmes in order to fi nd the right answer”.

With emphasis on tailored policies, who in the fi rm is responsible for creating them?

Ngan reveals that Mondelez’s mobility policy is jointly owned by the global mobility team and the global rewards team.

Accenture takes a slightly different approach with its mobility programme being managed by the procurement team. Grant notes that mobility is a “shared service” as it contains “significant inputs from human resources, fi nance and employee tax and immigration”.

“It is therefore owned by several stakeholder functions providing an end-to-end service for

our employees who have chosen to relocate either on short-term or long-term assignments around the world each year.”

A survey by Mercer in 2013 showed the biggest reasons companies offer international programmes are to provide technical skills not available locally (47%), provide career management and leadership development (43%), to ensure knowledge transfer (41%) and to fulfi l specific project needs (39%).

Richard Tan, vice president of Pan Pacific and PARKROYAL Serviced Suites, agrees one of the main reasons companies relocate employees is the shortage of skills as well as “a need to provide cross nationality exposure and job rotation within the company”.

Mondelez’s Ngan, on the other hand, notes that one of the main reasons it relocates employees is business needs, “where a vacancy is created or in most cases to backfi ll”.

Nevertheless, “there are also instances where assignees are relocated specifically for career development purposes”.

“In the past five years, we have seen mobility evolve to be more of a tool for talent and leadership development rather than just a way to fill a business need.”

– Anika Grant, managing director of HR for ASEAN and Asia Pacific, Accenture

Similarly, Grant notes that at Accenture, not every location in which it operates has the necessary skills to deliver its full services. As such, there is a need for its global relocation programme to “assist in fi lling the gaps in the short to medium-term, and also to build a capability for the longer term”.

“We also relocate those employees that will be able to assist in developing strategic initiatives and building new and emerging markets for Accenture.”

“We balance the business need with the talent need, and use mobility as a way of building the next generation of leaders.”

Reading into repatriation Repatriation is one of the ways companies can bring back employees who have gained sufficient experience and exposure abroad.

Building a global mindset is one of the key

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FEATURE » Relocation & Mobility capabilities in repatriation, and Grant states that opportunities for overseas assignments is the best way to build that mindset. Th is is done by typically giving people an experience overseas before bringing them home to step into a larger leadership role.

Tan also observes talent is usually posted overseas for a short rotation or simply to gain exposure and thus, reverse relocation happens often. He adds that an attractive relocation package is crucial in attracting them to return.

On the other hand, Ngan is of the opinion that “it is only right for them to repatriate home upon completion of assignment”, unless there is a strong business need to remain in the host location, in which case, she recommends offering a local instead of an expatriate package.

She also notes that assignees now are rather particular about the positions they are offered upon repatriation, hence, the challenge is more about how their career is planned in the early stages rather than using monetary offers to attract them to return home.

“People moving into countries with a high cost of living tend to set a higher standard for their next move and more often than not, try to avoid moving backwards.”

– Jeslyn Ngan, manager of global mobility for Asia Pacific, Mondelez Asia Pacific

However, according to a 2013 Cartus survey, 58% of companies did not offer formal epatriation integration programmes. Of those offering them, only 33% typically offered such programmes for long-term assignments.

In addition, the “2015 Global Mobility Trends Survey” by Brookfield Global Relocation Services found that most of the repatriation discussions only happen less than six months before a candidate returns (52%).

It seems there is a gap in the intentions of organisations and what they actually do in terms of what the research shows.

Factors considered in relocation The “2015 Global Mobility Trends Survey” also found that when selecting candidates for international assignments, mobility managers consider if they are a high-potential employee

(85%) and their willingness to go on an assignment (77%).

They also identify if the candidate has specific or rare skills (65%), their inclination towards cultural adaptability (31%), and if they have previous assignment experiences (31%).

Tan notes that factors considered when relocating employees are “largely skill-based – that is, aiming to fit the role that is experiencing a shortage”.

Ngan agrees and adds it also expects them to be mature and able to deliver business results, while Grant says the company looks for high performers or employees with high potential.

Apart from that, they also look for the traits of adaptability, perseverance and an open mind, which “ensures that they are best suited to handle the inherent differences in both cultural and business environments in their new host country”.

Some of these skills sound like they can be learnt, but what about the others?

Grant reasons that at Accenture, the primary objective of globally relocating an employee is to fi ll a need in terms of a job requirement or skill that may not be present in a particular host country’s workplace.

“It’s not often that we relocate employees without the necessary skills to perform the task at hand, due to the nature of our business, which comprises substantial project work on tight delivery timelines.”

However, she states it encourages the sharing of skills during assignments as it will help the company “remain innovative and competitive on both the local and global scale”.

“We encourage and support our relocated employees to share their skills while on an assignment with their local counterparts, since this initiative really helps to facilitate a unique transfer of information from one part of the world to another.”

Other than skills, Ngan reveals that a candidate’s “family situation” is also considered when short-listing candidates for relocation.

Watch out for the challenges Speaking of family, 61% of the respondents from the Cartus “2014 Trends in Global Relocation: Global Mobility Policy and Practices” survey listed the inability of the candidate’s family to adjust as the second top reason contributing to assignment failure.

Additionally, 76% cited family or personal

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Relocation & Mobility « FEATURE circumstances as the top reason why employees turn down assignments. Acknowledging the challenge, Grant says it is crucial to ensure the candidate’s family is happy and settled.

“If someone is moving with their partner or family, we also recognise that ensuring the family is happy and settled will be critical.

Often, an overseas assignment fails not because the individual on assignment is not successful, but their family is not able to successfully integrate into the new environment.

“If the assignment is a temporary move, ensuring smooth integration back into the home country is something that requires a proactive and thoughtful approach.”

Cartus’ “Trends in Global Relocation: 2014 Biggest Challenges” survey listed the top three challenges for mobility managers as controlling relocation/assignment costs (77%), housing (47%) and fi nally, complying with laws and regulations (45%).

Ngan agrees, observing that “people moving into countries that have a high cost of living tend to set a higher standard for their next move and more often than not, they try to avoid moving backwards”.

Th is, in turn, affects the cost of relocation packages organisations offer to candidates.

Th is view resonates with Grant, who adds, “Particularly in the Middle East and parts of Asia, it has proved challenging to balance the cost of the mobility assignment against ensuring a suitable cost of living, while having a compelling proposition to our people”.

In the same backdrop, Ngan feels that “relocating to emerging markets, especially to Southeast Asia countries”, is a challenge because of their immigration policies.

Here, Tan observes that with the increasing difficulty to attain Employment Passes (EPs) in Singapore, mobility managers face a challenge with “visa requirements as the policies typically help to protect locals”.

Other challenges which result in potential candidates turning down assignments, he points out, could be “unattractive packages” and “lack of career development plans for these mobility candidates”.

Adds Ngan: “Businesses demand people of a certain skill set and are willing to pay everything and anything to have that candidate on board.

“However, they eventually do not have a plan for them after two or three years.”

“Today, it is more of an à la carte menu of creating what meets their need, rather than fitting them in a box. Outside of immigration and tax, everything is flexible and tailored.”

– Jacob George, president of Asia and the Middle East at SIRVA Worldwide Relocation & Moving

What comes next?

Repatriation, identification of mobility skills, and linking the strategy to career development are all current areas of focus, and the interviewees go on to provide their views of further evolution in the function.

Ngan feels the mobility function will not deviate too much from its current stance, because “we are already a part of the new world where organisations go through a thorough thought process before deciding to relocate their people due to business requirements”.

Tan also feels there are some aspects of mobility that will not change.

“Mobility has and always will be highly dependent on the specialised skills needed for the particular role. Cross country exposure will continue to remain necessary to provide overseas experience of its employees as part of their job development.”

That said, he also notes mobility will not remain completely stagnant in the future.

“We will see an increase in job rotation assignments to gain overseas experience more than permanent relocation.”

Grant identifies two key mobility trends for the future.

“Firstly, there is a need to be more proactive and to use mobility as a way to build the next generation of leaders – leaders who can navigate ambiguity, are comfortable with change and inclusive in all senses of the word.

“Secondly, we are seeing more ‘global citizens’ – people, like myself, who have lived and worked in multiple countries and are prepared to move on their own initiative, actually preferring that to a formal assignment in order to have more control over timing and ensure a truly ‘local’ experience for them and their family.”

She notes in both cases, a global experience will be very compelling “career capital” for the future.

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As corporate training processes get increasingly complicated, keeping them relevant and delivering them effectively becomes a massive challenge for L&D heads.

Akankasha Dewan explores the best practices of high-impact learning organisations, and the ways they bring clarity to the training processes.

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ver the past few years the learning and development (L&D) industry has absorbed tremendous amounts of new information with regards to training needs and modes (e-learning, experiential learning, social media, gamification, etc) which has resulted in training departments now awash in content.

The key to training success today not only involves developing great content, but being able to defi ne and deliver it in a way which leads to continuous capability development.

“The continuous war for talent, the advent of digital and social media, and a range of advancements in technology have changed the face of corporate training in the past few years,” says JPS Choudhary, head of HR for Asia, Africa and Middle East at Vodafone Enterprise.

Some of the major shifts include “moving from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ mass approach to customisation of training to suit individual needs” and a “more structured, long-term strategic approach to employee learning rather than just-in-time training”.

But this shift defi nitely hasn’t been easy – mainly because of the rapid speed at which it has happened.

Today’s shorter product cycles, combined with rapid advances in technology, mean that skill requirements are changing quickly, and companies are having a hard time structuring their training programmes.

“Our biggest challenge is that the industry is changing rapidly every day – no one day is the same,” says Charissa Chan, area director of HR and training for Hotel Jen. Because of this, she adds, L&D leaders may be aware of the direction their company is headed towards, but to connect that with day to day training structures and operations could be difficult.

And even if companies are good about training their employees, the return is shorter lived because needs are changing so much more quickly today – resulting in training that often lags in efficiency.

The 2015 Emerging Workforce Study commissioned by Spherion Staffi ng found that among 225 employers, 77% have put more training and career development opportunities in place this year, compared with last year.

In addition, only 24% found the cost of training staff for the future extremely/very challenging.

Employees, however, clearly don’t feel the same.

Th irty-one per cent of staff in the study felt they had not been adequately trained by their employer and only 33% felt the development opportunities they were provided with were excellent/good.

As such, 35% of them stated they worried about falling behind when acquiring new skills for the future and 29% felt their current skill sets were outdated, leaving them at risk when it comes to career development.

“Workers and employers must take joint responsibility for closing the skills gap,” said Spherion division president, Sandy Mazur.

“Workers should understand where businesses are headed and what skills they’ll need to help close the gap, while employers should examine their workers’ skill levels to focus on training that will be helpful and useful for them.”

In such a situation, what more can be done to ensure training remains essentially relevant and hits the nail on the head with what is really required?

Clarity in relevant learning outcomes Laurence Smith, the managing director of HR at DBS Bank and group head of learning and talent development, believes a key tenet of making sure training leaders get optimal returns on investment on their L&D programmes is having clarity on what they really want to do.

According to Smith, L&D heads need to ask questions such as “what exactly they are trying to achieve?”, “where they are today” and “how they will know when they get there?”

“I fi nd that L&D often rushes to solutions and does not spend enough time with the customers and stakeholders to deeply understand the real problem we are trying to solve,” he says.

“L&D should use a human-centred design approach of looking, understanding, and making before rushing to the solution. In other words, fall in love with the problem – not the solution.”

But failing to take time to understand the real objectives behind training sessions is precisely what L&D leaders are often guilty of doing.

A 2011 study of companies by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the United Kingdom and by SHRM in the United

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FEATURE » Education States and India found that training and development specialists were more likely to spend their time delivering courses at training facilities than building relationships with senior and line managers.

Terming it as an “order-taking mentality”, Smith adds a lack of clarity on real objectives and measures of training success exists because of “some L&D teams where they simply deliver what the business wants without engaging in real dialogue and also a lack of commercial acumen or business savvy to engage those leaders”.

At Vodafone, however, Choudhary reveals how setting clear learning outcomes for each seniority level in the organisation helps in achieving training goals.

“At Vodafone we follow a leadership capability building path that is followed from front line managers (fi rst-time managers) all the way to business and functional leads, including the senior leadership team,” he explains.

“Every leadership journey has a welldefi ned and structured learning path which has a blend of self-faced learning – face-to-face sessions and workplace projects. Such holistic training focuses on certain aspects of people development, coaching and raising overall team performance.”

To make it easier for training leaders to set these learning outcomes, Chan adds it is imperative they are aware of the needs of their employees by analysing training gaps on a dayto-day operational level.

“Anyone working in the corporate environment should take time to visit the field and see what’s actually going on over there,” she says.

Th is will also aid in making sure the training provided is aligned not only with the needs of the business, but also with the needs of employees themselves – an alignment which is easier said than done.

A Cegos Asia Pacific survey on major learning trends across the region recently found “a lack of dialogue in some organisations between professionals and the learning community” and concluded that some training provided may be “considered irrelevant, out-ofdate, or simply not required”.

“Th is is particularly true in our survey of participants from India and, surprisingly, Singapore,” the report stated.

“L&D leaders can also do a pre-training

assessment – send across a few questions to the participants, and ask them to list their learning expectations. And based on that, you can modify what you already have and modify it to tailor to the actual needs of the participants who are attending the workshop,” Chan explained.

Clarity in measuring effectiveness of training programmes But to really ensure if the type of training provided is in fact relevant and useful, it remains imperative for L&D leaders to spend time in measuring its effectiveness, according to all interviewees.

“In order to work on return on investment and help employees shape and defi ne their careers, it is imperative for L&D to measure the impact of its learning solutions,” Choudhary says.

“The measurement needs to move much beyond the traditional smiley sheets which are mere reflections of the ‘recency’ effect where people tend to best recall items at the end of their learning.

“With today’s challenging economy, L&D budgets are receiving more scrutiny than ever. Participant feedback forms administered immediately after a learning programme are no longer enough, and L&D professionals need to look for more solid evidence to justify the investment in their programmes.”

Th is is precisely because measuring the returns on investment on these programmes is, however, easier said than done.

According to Choudhary, L&D programmes often provide more long-term value rather than short-term effects, making their ROI difficult to defi ne.

In addition, evaluating effectiveness is also particularly challenging when the targeted outcomes involve softer skills such as collaboration, decision-making, innovativeness and the ability to think strategically – all of which are common learning objectives in many organisations.

“It can be difficult to assign a monetary value to such skills, or to show a correlation between the learning initiative and the acquisition of the targeted skills,” Choudhary says.

Th is has disastrous consequences as L&D budgets, when they lack clear and measured deliverables, can be soft targets for cost-cutting.

“Given the challenges of shrinking OPEX

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Education « FEATURE (operational expenditure), L&D professionals are relentlessly working to put a dollar value to evaluate learning and effectiveness.

“However, this has so far been done with varying degrees of success: it is ultimately the learning journey that will need tools and technological support to build on.”

Smith agrees, and adds that concentrating equally on both the pre and postimplementation of training programmes is key to measuring their impact.

“It is usually the time spent in these two before and after phases that actually indicates how much impact will be derived. L&D typically spends the vast majority of design time and effort on the course itself rather than really understanding the objectives and ensuring real outcomes,” he says.

But time, Choudhary identifies, is also a fundamental problem when it comes to evaluating training outcomes.

“Investing time is the most common barrier to evaluating and measuring the impact of L&D programmes, due to other business priorities which take precedence,” he says.

He adds that as learning is a long-term process, it also takes time for an incumbent to transition from learning knowledge to practising skills and then attaining new capabilities, ensuring a “long wait” to calculate the learning impact.

A third factor impeding the evaluation of learning outcomes is “the lack of technological capability and qualitative and analytical data that can correlate L&D’s impact to business imperatives”.

Clarity in using the right data and mode of learning Shelley Perkins, vice-president of human resources for Asia Pacific at FRHI Hotels & Resorts, identifies, however, that data such as profitability, retention and engagement can, in fact, be used to measure learning effectiveness.

“I’m a big believer in evaluating performance post-learning, and what we do is that we follow up with the supervisor and leader of the employee and ask if there’s any change in performance or understanding as a result of the training,” she says.

She also adds that she ties in metrics such as guest satisfaction rates to measure if training of staff has really been effective.

When it comes to service training, for

“Every leadership journey has a welldefined and structured learning path which has a blend of self-faced learning – face-to-face sessions and workplace projects. Such holistic training focuses on certain aspects of people development, coaching and raising overall team performance.”

– JPS Choudhary, head of HR for Asia, Africa and Middle East, Vodafone Enterprise

example, she adds the company is particularly vigilant about guest data.

“We measure everything related to the guest experience.

“For instance, we recently had problem resolution training cascaded through the organisation and we’ve been monitoring our guest satisfaction scores on problem resolution.

Thankfully, we’ve seen an uplift in scores following the introduction of the training.

“Essentially, we will tie data to the training programme and, if there’s no change in guest experience, then we will have to re-look into the effectiveness of training,” she concludes.

Guest satisfaction was also, Perkins explains, the main driver in formulating how training within the company evolved over time.

“Training in hotels has been evolving to on-the-job training, in-the-moment training, sound bites through the day, and opportunities to demonstrate learning. It’s a little bit more out of the classroom and onto the floor.”

Indeed, all interviewees unanimously agree that today’s corporate learners have little appetite for classroom learning, where employees spend days outside of offices attending long workshops.

Structuring the training in the right way is important, Perkins adds, because it forms a significant part of companies’ employee value proposition today.

“Today’s generation will ask you about learning opportunities as part of the interview and what they will learn.”

Clarity in communicating training needs and content Because employees themselves are so willing

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FEATURE » Education

A ticking time bomb: Measurement of training impact needs to move beyond the traditional smiley sheets.

and eager to learn, they themselves should be accountable for what and how they are learning – something which is often forgotten in the design of the training programme.

Employees are, Smith explains, “the most interested in their own career, but are often ignored in this process other than the annual performance review and a one-off development plan creation”.

Choudhary agrees, adding the accountability for employee learning needs to be shared between line managers, the employees themselves, and the learning specialist – with each playing a very important role in the process.

“The line managers need to provide the adequate level of learning guidance to the employees, providing the basis for exhibiting various competencies while at work, and advising on the desired behavioural aspects and career aspirations. It is imperative that line managers provide the right inputs to the

employees on their work strengths and areas to develop,” he says.

He expands that learning and development teams ultimately play a critical role in understanding the capabilities and skills needed for various career levels in the organisation, each of which is required to tackle current and future business challenges.

“They need to act as catalysts in helping employees shape and defi ne their careers with the timely provision of impactful learning solutions.”

Chan agrees, saying it is imperative for all parties to play an equally important role in the process – along with the right attitude.

“I think everybody plays an equal role in the training process, including the learners themselves. Without the right attitude, desire and willingness to learn, the effectiveness of our training sessions won’t be there – no matter what we prepare for them or to what lengths we go to.”

But Smith warns even if all such parties are part of the implementation and execution of the training process, the effectiveness of L&D policies get compromised if leaders are not able to clearly voice their priorities.

“I usually fi nd that L&D people are incredibly weak at communicating their own successes,” Smith observes.

“Work with the business sponsor to measure the impact in as many meaningful ways as possible and then make sure it gets written up and communicated, preferably by them.

Building a portfolio of success stories makes it easier for other stakeholders to reach out and engage you.”

Perkins adds another way of effectively communicating training priorities is to customise messages to suit the demographic traits of the audience.

She says “large multinational corporations do have to have the understanding that the training and delivery does need to be tailored to different markets – the way they deliver training in China is very different to the way they deliver it in San Francisco, for instance”.

Seniority levels of trainees in question should also be taken into account when designing training programmes.

“We absolutely tailor our training programme and we defi ne our audience at the beginning of the process. You’re not going to get a manager to sit in a three-day service delivery session, for instance,” she says.

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SPONSORED RECRUIT CONTENT HOW TO

THIS ARTICLE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY SEGI UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGES

INVEST IN TALENT DURING TOUGH TIMES As people transition through various stages of education into the workforce, they face competition to secure gainful employment and career opportunities.

Hence, there is no denying an up-to-date or a higher qualification is important and necessary when it comes to employment. A higher qualification level not only empowers people with knowledge, but also equips them with specialised skills.

For example, employees with a Bachelor Degree should consider upgrading to a master’s qualification because it will not only land them a better job, but also advance their progression on the career ladder.

However, common challenges such as time constraints, financial issues and family responsibilities restrict the employees from doing so. Upgrading an existing qualification can be challenging, but it’s definitely a challenge that provides great rewards in the future.

SEGi University and Colleges A big percentage of today’s higher education providers are flexible and offer several options, one of them being the widely recognised SEGi University and Colleges (SEGi).

Established for almost 40 years, SEGi has equipped graduates from diverse backgrounds with exceptional foundations for career achievement and personal success. SEGi first opened its doors as Systematic College in 1977 and has since flourished by adapting and catering to the increasing demands of higher academic and professional qualifications in Malaysia.

Being one of the largest private higher education providers with five major campuses located in Kota Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, Subang Jaya, Penang and Sarawak, SEGi provides programmes tailored to meet industry and student needs.

SEGi offers a wide range of programmes to highlight the best qualities of their students and enrich their minds through excellent education – from pre-university to postgraduate level – and choices of programmes such as engineering, business, creative arts and early childhood education.

“Our business faculty has one of the widest range of bachelor and postgraduate degree programmes, with qualifications from Malaysia, Australia and the UK,” said Hew Moi Lan, Group CEO of SEGi. “Students are able to obtain double awards from both SEGi, as well as from our partner universities. Our collaboration with top 100 companies and employers in Malaysia through the M100 project also ensures our students receive leading-edge and industry relevant training.”

SEGi’s Talent Enhancement Programme The university also has a special programme for high-achieving Bachelor Degree final year students called the SEGi Talent Enhancement Programme (STEP), where students receive relevant training and experience similar to a management training

programme. Upon completion of the STEP programme, graduates will become a valuable asset to the employment industry.

This programme is imperative as today’s employers are looking for graduates who are not only academically qualified but who also demonstrate strong people skills and make active contributions to the growth of the organisation.

“The STEP programme is relatively new and was only launched in May this year,” Hew said. “To date, we have close to 1,000 companies signed up as our Valued Corporate Partners. They are involved in curriculum design, industry teaching, internships and job placements.”

SEGi’s Professional and Continuing Education SEGi also recognises the need for high competency in the employment industry with a new breakthrough method known as PACE or Professional and Continuing Education.

PACE, by SEGi, enables working adults to upgrade their qualification level while accommodating to their work schedule, hence, fulfilling work-life balance.

PACE partners with a consortium of global universities from the UK, Australia and also SEGi University Online to offer a wide range of qualifications that include executive diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, master’s and doctorate levels.

This programme is unique because it provides students with flexible study options, which blends online learning with classroom sessions that cater to working adults. Besides getting to select the best mode of study, which consists of parttime classes, supported learning and independent learning, it also provides flexible payment modes that eases the financial burden.

Students will even have the chance to network with like-minded fellow students, whether in person or online, which can help with future career prospects.

As part of Malaysia’s economic growth as a premier higher education provider, in addition to offering quality employees and employers in the industry, it makes SEGi an ideal base for kicking off a successful career and becoming a future leader.

This article is contributed by Hew Moi Lan, Group CEO of SEGi Malaysia

Contact SEGi to discover how it can assist in producing stellar employees today: http://www.pace.edu.my

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FEATURE » Talent Management

Firms today have realised the importance of having a good employer branding strategy, but often fall into the trap of over-promising or exaggerating the type of environments and benefits they offer to staff.

How can HR leaders portray an authentic and accurate picture of their employer brand?

Akankasha Dewan explores.

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Talent Management « FEATURE here perhaps exists a solid philosophy behind why companies today want to become employers of choice – and not of chance.

As various studies have shown, employees whose talent and behaviours align with business objectives help significantly in boosting organisational growth.

That is something which Tricia Duran, HR director for Unilever Asia, stresses upon.

“In order to double your business, you need to have the best people. But in order to have and to attract the best people, you need to have a great employer brand.”

While having a great employer brand helps companies to attract the best employees, it remains important to remember it also helps employees to fi nd the best employer.

Why employer branding is important According to LinkedIn’s “Winning Talent” research, 53% of people surveyed said they would entirely rule out accepting a job offer from a company with a reputation for having poor job security, dysfunctional teams or poor leadership at its helm.

In fact, negative opinions from current or previous employees of the company in question and a poor reputation among industry peers rounded out the top five factors that put people off an employer.

“In Singapore, one of the biggest HR challenges is the war for talent.

“It’s genuinely here in this country because you have about 7,500 multinationals based out of here. Seventy per cent of them have regional offices here and we’re all looking for the best talent,” Duran says.

“Companies are quite discerning about who they want to bring in, but so are the employees.”

Matt Kaiser, global employer branding and digital recruiting at Ericsson, adds, however, it is essential for companies to have a clear employer branding strategy today because candidates today have access to a clutter of information regarding what an organisation stands for and the type of working culture it provides.

“In today’s world, candidates are inundated with marketing and recruitment messages from various online and offl ine channels.”

“Employer branding helps to ensure that your message reaches and engages the right audience,” he says.

Ng Ying Yuan, director of human resources

and organisation development at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), takes pride in revealing the company has always been “very clear” about its employee value proposition for the talent market.

She adds that any prospective talent who joins EDB will “be developed as a leader of the future”, “receive global exposure”, and “have the opportunity to lead and drive change for Singapore’s economy”.

“In today’s world, candidates are inundated with marketing and recruitment messages from various online and offline channels. Employer branding helps to ensure that your message reaches and engages the right audience” – Matt Kaiser, global employer branding and digital recruiting at Ericsson

“EDB has established a very strong track record in building leaders for the public as well as private sector.

“The nature of our work requires our officers to work closely with multinational companies from around the world, and also be very plugged into global industry trends,” she says.

“In addition, as the chief architect for Singapore’s economy and as Singapore’s lead industry developer, all EDB officers build tremendous experiences in doing work that has impact at the national and global level.”

But developing such a “clear” employer branding strategy is, as observed, easier said than done.

The role of HR in crafting employer brand strategies With little consensus about who owns the process, and who is accountable for results, employer branding is suffering from an “identity crisis”, says a new study from Universum.

Polling more than 2000 senior executives worldwide, it found that CEOs are at odds with members of the talent management team over the role of employer branding.

While more than half (58%) of HR executives said HR owned employer branding, only about a third of CEOs agreed.

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FEATURE » Talent Management Overall, just 34% of respondents listed HR as being primarily accountable for employer branding, making it a function that plays a “relatively passive role” in the process.

The marketing and corporate communications functions each tied at 30% to emerge as those believed to be primarily responsible for the task.

While all three HR leaders interviewed stated a collaboration between HR and other functions is required to develop a solid employer branding strategy, all believed the HR function should be primarily accountable for leading the process.

“HR should certainly take the lead to manage the process, but I would stress that determining the employer brand should be a collaborative effort between all segments of the organisation,” Ng says.

“HR should certainly take the lead, but determining the employer brand should be a collaborative effort between all segments of the organisation. It should be driven by the aspirations of all staff members, and also guided by the vision and wisdom of its leaders.”

– Ng Ying Yuan, director of HR and OD at the Singapore Economic Development Board

“The organisation’s employer brand should be driven by the aspirations of all of its staff members, and also guided by the vision and wisdom of its leaders.

It should not be the responsibility of any sole division,” Ng adds.

Duran agrees with the approach, and adds HR can benefit greatly from the expertise of various other functions while crafting an employer brand.

“HR, of course, has to be a consistent presence throughout the process,” she says.

“You could have a debate about who owns the employer branding process in different companies, but in Unilever we don’t really.

“We have decided that HR is in charge of employer branding.

“What we do in HR is that we create a strategic intent linked with the business purpose and vision.”

She explains her team leverages on the company’s marketers for their creative vision and their understanding of digital and consumers and partners with them.

“For example, I would have a partner in marketing who would help me, and a partner in market research,” she says.

“Employer branding, at the end of the day, is about a combination of magic and logic.

“It is about policies and principles around the brand, but it is also about inspiration and creating a culture to share with the external world,” she adds.

Measuring the effectiveness of employer branding strategies But measuring the effectiveness of such “magical” employer branding strategies has often been identified as a challenge for HR leaders today.

According to the report by Universum, most KPIs used by companies today were identified as inward facing: average retention rate (used by 46%), new hire quality (45%) and employee engagement levels (45%).

External indicators such as rankings and brand perception were only used by one-fi fth of survey respondents.

“What is perhaps most startling is that many important KPIs – such as average retention rate – are being measured today by less than half of respondents,” the report stated.

Kaiser observes, however, that both types of indicators are key when it comes to effectively measuring an employer branding strategy.

“The internal factors indicate the ‘health’ of your employer brand.

“These are metrics that only you and your internal stakeholders see (i.e. employee engagement rates, attrition, employee referrals, sourcing channels, career site traffic, LinkedIn’s Talent Brand Index),” he says.

“The external factors indicate the visibility of your employer brand.

“These are metrics that are visible to candidates you want to recruit (that is, employer awards, company awards, social media engagement and sentiment, employer reviews).

“At Ericsson, we focus on both internal and external metrics to ensure our employer brand is healthy and visible.”

Ng adds companies can conduct specific research on their own to see how current employees view the nature of the organisation

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Talent Management « FEATURE they’re working in. These include perceptionbased studies.

“Another more indirect, but extremely relevant method would be to track the quality of the hires when they start work and how well they fit within the organisation.

“Th is provides the organisation with very good insights on whether the employer branding was done right to attract the right talent,” she says.

Mistakes in crafting an employer brand Keeping track of how well a company’s employer brand strategy is performing is essential, Ng adds, especially because it is easy to overpromise or exaggerate the nature of employer brands.

“It is critical to be mindful of not branding the organisation in a way that it is not.

“While it is valuable marketing advice to think of brand stretch, employer branding must be an authentic exercise so as to help the organisation identify and attract the right candidates, and also deliver on specific employer value propositions that the organisation is capable of,” she says.

She reveals that when EDB was developing its employer brand, the company conducted extensive interviews with staff, clients and stakeholders so as to determine what the fi rm’s key employer brand pillars were.

“Th is has helped us to reach out to the right target audience to recruit from, and also made us very sharp in determining what we should be to our talent.”

Being inauthentic about what the company can offer to its employees is, in fact, one of the gravest blunders fi rms can make when developing their employer brands, per Duran.

“The biggest mistake is pretending to be who you are not – putting out there an image that doesn’t resonate when you actually come in and join the company,” she says.

“An employer brand always needs to be founded on authenticity, about who you are as an organisation, and what your people are, and what the values you stand for are.”

Unfortunately, she adds, that from what she has encountered, companies try to put an image based on what students want to see or want to hear.

“Th is is probably an overpromise in terms of advertising, and in terms of what the actual real experience is. That is a true problem

“The biggest mistake is pretending to be who you are not – putting out there an image that doesn’t resonate when you actually come in and join the company.

An employer brand always needs to be founded on authenticity, about who you are as an organisation, and what your people are, and what the values you stand for are.”

– Tricia Duran, HR director for Unilever Asia

encountered in what we have seen,” she says.

“That’s the thing about employer branding.

If your brand is authentic and true to what it really is, then your job, as employer branding strategists, is made easier.

“Because then what you just need to do is to invite people in and make them aware that you exist. Make them join you for a little bit, as an intern, or for one of your events, and then the culture just shines through.”

Expounding on the issue, Kaiser adds the two biggest challenges he has observed which companies face in crafting an employer brand strategy are getting buy-in from key stakeholders and measuring the effectiveness.

“You need to conduct research to support your ideas and strategy (the why behind the what). You also need to determine what success means to you and your organisation and demonstrate how your strategy is making an impact,” he says.

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FEATURE » Talent Management

CASE STUDY: UNILEVER ASIA Developing a solid employer branding strategy is no easy task, but companies also have to keep in mind needs of candidates across the region. Akankasha Dewan speaks with Tricia Duran, HR director for Unilever Asia, on how the company creates an overarching employer branding policy which still remains geographically relevant.

Creating a strong and effective message about your organisation, its culture, its people and its opportunities is of paramount importance. But to do so, companies need to include elements in their employee value proposition which candidates from each country can relate to.

Developing a ‘glocal’ employer branding strategy “Unilever is a global organisation and at the end of the day, we work towards a global standard,” says Tricia Duran, HR director for Unilever Asia.

“Saying that, however, the implementation and activation of our policies are based on what works locally in terms of culture. We mainly look at what is the right thing for the right kind of organisation, and then tailor it according to the country involved.

“So we’re global and local at the same time. Almost ‘glocal’ in a way.”

Duran explains that Unilever, as a brand, stands for the company’s vision and mission – which is to double its business while halving its environmental impact.

“For an employer branding strategy, we simply need to take what Unilever stands for and then translate it according to the consumers we’re speaking to. Th is is because the people we intend to recruit and bring into the organisation are consumers themselves,” she says.

“Eventually, it’s really just about bringing to life what Unilever stands for, in a very Singaporean way, and tailoring it to the consumers we’re speaking to, or the talent we wish to attract.”

But that is just one one part of the process.

After analysing what the prospective talent wants, her team sees if the company can provide those offerings.

“What we do in Singapore is that we take the desired attributes of the employee and ask ourselves if we can resonate with those characteristics,” she says.

The FMCG company then creates programmes which informs candidates about the offerings it provides.

“For example, we segment the population we are targeting according to things like awareness about our industry and company.

“And then you have a series of activities which is just about awareness – ranging from what’s going on in the FMCG industry, to what are Unilever’s brands.

“These include informative forums to drive simple awareness, or more hands-on activities such as internship schemes or competitions.”

Unilever’s internships Currently, Unilever has about 60 students who work with the fi rm as interns on a project for three months during the summer.

“After these students come and join us as interns, for example, they see for themselves what Unilever is about as an organisation. They tend to see Unilever in its most authentic form.

“That’s how we turn them into advocates. They go back to school and share what they have observed.

“They also go back and write on their Facebook pages, and tweet to their friends about what they have experienced while working with us.”

But the question arises whether such exposure gets risky at times, as students get to know both the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation.

Duran explains, however, the process is about dealing with high risks and high rewards.

“On the one hand, you bring students in and they see what they see, but on the other hand we’re very confident because what we put out at schools and what we advertise is genuinely who we are.

“What they learn from the internship is fi rstly, about our profession and about the work we do.

“But at the same time, they learn about our culture.

They can determine for themselves if we are fun and friendly, if we have a sense of purpose, if we have inspiring leadership or if they think we are stable – whatever is important to them.”

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OPINION » Learning & development

How to become an employer of choice JOHN MCALPINE

If building a solid employer brand is your priority, here are some strategies to ponder.

Managing director and head of HR for Australia/ New Zealand and SE Asia J.P. Morgan

Learning ladders: Targeted learning programmes work well for graduates.

Being a large, global and professional organisation, this makes us unique and attractive to prospective candidates. The culture provides lots of opportunities for people because of our strong global brand. They have the opportunity to be brand ambassadors across the organisation. It’s not an expectation, but the result of the employees’ experiences here. .

Additionally, not only is the culture in the bank very open and collaborative, but it is also home to a lot of great talent.

One of the things we do to retain our talent is invest in targeted learning and development programmes across the organisation, so the graduates joining us are able to join these highly intensive programmes.

We also invest in technology, be it in the way we work or the way we communicate, and we are constantly upgrading. This might come in the form of client-facing technologies such as J.P.

Morgan Markets or our remote working technology that allows staff to access their desktop from anywhere.

Another aspect embedded in the organisation is the ability to develop a local and global network to travel and attend different forums across the firm.

From an HR perspective, both regionally and globally, we have a really strong team, which can be credited to our candidate-centric approach which helped acquire this talent.

This also enables us to ensure we are building programmes that graduates will actually find beneficial to their careers.

Creating a candidate-centric approach The candidate-centric approach starts by understanding what candidates are looking for and then building a branding strategy.

Complementary to this, we spot trends. That means to

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Learning & development « OPINION

analyse what our potential candidates will look for every year.

Armed with this knowledge, we identify the best medium to communicate with them. Here, we use lots of different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, all of which are supplemented by our strong internship programmes.

Over the years, the electronic channels have proved to be more and more successful.

From where we were to where we are, it has been a matter of keeping up with the trends, with how our candidates are thinking and viewing the world in terms of whatever they do.

Regardless of the medium, what is important is ensuring that you have clarity and consistency in terms of the message.

It is also important the message is constant in terms of whatever communications we are using across the organisation such as in our media engagements or marketing efforts.

Measuring the effectiveness The recent Universum ranking was a good measure for us in terms of identifying our attractiveness as an employer in Singapore, where we were ranked an ideal employer by Singapore’s business students.

We really do read into those results to help us develop our strategy as we move forward into next year’s programmes.

With some of the other mediums used, we also

track web analytics, our social media engagement and the event participation.

Globally, as an organisation, we have our employee opinion survey that we look at.

With regards to who should be responsible for formulating an employer branding strategy, I believe there should be a partnership between marketing and HR divisions in companies.

While our HR division contributes significantly to formulating the strategy, we adopt a collaborative approach when we actually execute programmes in place.

From an HR perspective, we look at the various sourcing strategies and build strong relationships with the schools. Then we work with the marketing division to help us cultivate them in the most effective way.

Whether it’s from an HR perspective or marketing, or from the business, our message has to be consistent and it has to have clarity in terms of the way we approach it.

As a firm, we have been in Singapore for more than 50 years, so we are demonstrating a commitment to all the countries that we are in. What we need to really do is just continue to attract and retain the best talent.

This requires consistency in terms of the way we go about building a stable workforce – diverse, inclusive and with people from different backgrounds.

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OPINION » People issues

Working well through wellness policies How to make use of funding to help implement wellness programmes for a better team environment.

CHIN AI LI HR and people development manager Julia Gabriel Education

life. Thus at the HR level, we are constantly looking at appropriate training for our employees.

All thumbs up: Activities with colleagues' families can support team bonding.

Our HR department looks after the welfare of staff in all of our three brands and we believe whatever we implement at the HR policy level is for their benefit.

Studies have shown that the total cost of turnover can be as high as 90% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary, including the cost of recruitment and new hire training. High turnover can affect the reputation of an organisation as well as the morale of the existing employees. This is especially true in education where customers develop a strong bond with teaching staff.

With our unique teaching methodology, that of inspiring learning within a positive, engaging and enjoyable environment, we have an intensive on-the-job training scheme across our seven centres.

I see successful employee retention as an indication of how happy my employees are; the happier they are, the longer they will stay in the organisation.

Current business and HR scenarios We pride ourselves in having a high retention rate as the policies we implement relate closely to our company values – respect, relationships, passion and excellence.

For example, our company places a high importance on nurturing relationships. We listen, take time to care and build positive relationships with our employees. We look into their needs to the best of our abilities.

With the workforce comprising mainly women, they may request for arrangements such as part-time or working from home at different stages of their lives. We try our best to accommodate their requests. This in turn helps to achieve worklife balance that they value.

Being educators, we are inspired by progression. We are constantly learning and evolving to become better educators, parents and people in general.

We do not strive for perfection, but rather pursue excellence.

We want to empower every learner to succeed in school and in

A recent case study Recently, we won a bronze award at the Singapore HEALTH Award 2014. This recognised our efforts in promoting workplace health in one of the initiatives we implemented two years ago.

Our aim was to take care of employees’ wellbeing by encouraging them to lead a healthier lifestyle so they will enjoy a better quality of life.

This initiative was implemented upon hearing our employees’ needs and feedback. They expressed an interest in group activities to promote bonding with colleagues, which could be extended to their families.

Keeping that in mind I started exploring the possibilities. It was a challenge trying to meet employees’ needs while being mindful of feasible budgets.

It was then I chanced upon the Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) grant, offered by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), providing financial support to help organisations start and sustain workplace health programmes.

For a start, we planned a series of health-related lunch talks and fitness exercise classes such as Zumba and yoga.

Not only did the weekly classes promote a healthy lifestyle, but at the same time provided time for colleagues to bond through exercise.

Thereafter we organised a family day where all employees and their family members came together to enjoy a day of bowling together.

We received positive feedback after the event that it strengthened our employees’ relationships and helped those from different departments get to know each other better.

On top of the weekly classes and the new company wide events, we also planned departmental team-building activities, which provided the opportunity for employees to learn how to improve their productivity and motivation as a team.

These activities included drumming, ice skating, paintball, belly dancing, painting, ukulele and cookery. These proved to be useful, especially for new hires.

Executing all the activities was not as easy as I initially thought. A lot of time was spent on co-ordination – getting people to sign up and attend, and getting them to put in the effort to exercise.

Having said that, I was fortunate to have the support of my HR team together with the heads of departments in the implementation of these initiatives.

Because of our shared values that are a strong part of our company culture, our staff helped in making all this possible.

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»

Unconventional wisdom OPINION

How DBS develops futureready digital leaders LAURENCE SMITH Managing director of HR & group head of learning & talent development DBS Bank

The digital way of life cannot be taught in a classroom, so how do you get long-time bankers to come on board for it? Think like a startup.

Senior business leaders have been fully involved as challenge sponsors and speakers, with group CEO Gupta, group head of HR Lee Yan Hong, and head of innovation Neal Cross, the judges in the finals where nearly 100 senior leaders, partnering with 20 start-ups from across Asia, competed for the grand prize.

Digital deep dive: The programme got leaders to develop app prototypes.

“In the next five years, our industry is going to go through cataclysmic disruption. Within the next decade, there will be banks that will make the transition and banks that will die.”

– DBS CEO Piyush Gupta, keynoting at the SMU Digital Banking conference.

DBS must transform itself to be as agile, innovative and fast-tomarket as the famed “GAFA” companies of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (and in Asia you can add Alibaba).

While simultaneously living with the reality of being a tightly regulated industry, DBS must also compete with hundreds of innovative fintech start-ups that pick off some of the most profitable areas of banking.

Future leaders must be deeply immersed in the digital world so they really understand both the opportunities and threats, and move faster than the competition. But how do you “get digital?”

Digital cannot be “taught in a classroom” and long-time bankers, especially who have grown up in an industry defined by branch banking, may even see digital as a threat, while others believe that regulators will always protect the industry.

Doing digital right The DBS learning and talent development team (LTD), in partnership with DiG (DBS Innovation Group), has created an innovative programme that has had a dramatic impact on the digital mindset and capabilities of leaders across DBS. The famed #DBSHackathon series has changed the mindset of hundreds of leaders across the bank and is the first phase of an integrated programme designed to develop a digital mindset in every DBS employee before the end of 2016.

Over the past six months DBS has run four five-day programmes, each beginning with a digital master class, and then leveraging human-centred design and “lean start-up” thinking in a hackathon with real start-ups, to develop app prototypes that solve real business challenges.

When bankers think like a start-up This formula has proven extremely successful and far exceeded our expectations. While the original objective had been to help employees develop a digital mindset, we found it to be both an extremely powerful form of “action learning” and a way in which employees have to live our values to succeed in the extremely competitive hackathons.

In addition, by giving them real business problems to solve – and having them work with a start-up for a 72-hour hackathon – we have produced 50 app prototypes, several of which are now being built as actual new products for clients.

So what started as a way of “training” to be more digital has ended up as a very powerful product ideation process and, in fact, two of the prototypes have already been built into full apps and are about to be launched, with another eight under review.

Talent from one of the winning teams described the experience as “mind-changing”. One said he never realised he had been seeing the world in analogue until he “saw it in digital”.

Like black and white TV, once you’ve seen colour TV, you can never go back. So this formula of making senior bankers act like a start-up for 72 hours has had a real long-term impact and helped them pass the tipping point of “getting digital”.

Moving forward, other developmental activities will include rolling out a three-day “digital mindset boot camp” across the region, as well as leveraging one of the apps that enables employees to create digital challenges for each other and compete on a gamified leader board to get points on the bank’s innovation index.

Young talent who have been through the boot camps and hackathons will be empowered to reverse-mentor senior leaders and even help them get more points on the digi-challenge app than their peers, adding an element of fun and competition to the learning.

“Getting digital” is one of the bank’s top three strategic priorities and the #DBSHackathon series is just a part of the solution, but one that has already had a big impact on the way people think.

That effort was recently recognised by the CEO – jointly awarding the HR and innovation teams with the CEO’s innovation award.

Q3 2015 « HumanResources Malaysia « 35

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OPINION » Upwardly mobile

Can you change with the times?

Reasons why organisational change can impact employee engagement and retention negatively.

CAAROLI LINE NE PALM PA LM MSTED STEDTT Talent management lead for Asia Pacific Monsanto

Address the 1% challenge: Less than 1% of all managers have the ability to deliver goals and address people’s needs at the same time.

While most change projects focus on structural and process orientated strategies, few invest in the human side of change and its potential impact on employee engagement. To leaders and HR practitioners, low engagement ratings are inevitably expected as a result of change.

To companies focusing on the employee impact of change, at its launch, there are gains to win. Neuroscience is offering insights of how the brain’s response to change can help employees accept organisational change faster, with higher engagement, impacting business results and retention positively.

According to a study by Corporate Executive Board, CEB (2013), there are three areas for concern in managing change: 1. Employee performance during change 2. The disengaged stay 3. High potentials more likely to quit CEB found that disengaged employees are 36% more likely to stay during periods of change, while 25% of high potentials are more likely to quit. This is alarming to change projects requiring high performing talent. Moreover, organisational change negatively impacts commitment. It is not hard to understand the challenges HR practitioners face in managing this.

Anticipation of change does more harm than good CEB’s analysis in 2013 found that the mere anticipation of change impacted performance and retention more than the actual change did. In other words, expectation of change is more damaging than change itself. This calls for actions and attention to talent performance and retention strategies.

Change craving talent development During pressure to deliver change results, most change leaders tend to focus on result optimisation rather than coaching and developing their teams to manage as well as contribute to the

success of change. Leaders who coach talent for development and recognise employees who need to cope with change, will undoubtedly be more successful in achieving change goals as well as building a culture of recognition and development.

The 1% challenge The Management Research Group investigated managers’ ability to deliver goals and address people needs at the same time. They found that less than 1% of managers (0.7%) demonstrated both capabilities at the same time. A resounding 99% of managers lacked the combination of simultaneously demonstrating people skills and goal-focus skills.

Neuroscience explains part of the 1% challenge; when the brain focuses on the goal, brain regions for people focus are switched off. In other words, the more we focus on the goal, the weaker our people skills are likely to be. This is important for change leaders helping employees - making time for the people aspect of change seems a worthwhile investment.

However, the brain is capable of doing both in the right contexts (Spreng & Schacter, 2011) by activating its reward centre. Helping leaders help their brains to manage both goals and people simultaneously, is a key leadership development area, creating an opportunity for HR practitioners to add value.

Brain response to change Neuroscience research shows that commonly the brain perceives change, big or small, as a threat. Subconsciously, it is evaluating each piece of information as either a threat or a reward – up to five times per second! (Gordon, 2008).

In a threat state employees become disengaged, inward looking and potentially defensive. They focus on problems rather than solutions, perception is decreased and the ability to listen to others is reduced. A threat response impacts decision-making hurts collaboration and decreases the ability for someone to evaluate feedback in a positive way (Dixon, Rock & Ochsner, 2010; Rock 2008).

In a reward state, employees become engaged, collaborative and solution focused. They will try out new behaviours, and if successful, the brain’s reward centres fire off, re-enforcing new behaviours. Further, a reward state enables innovation and creativity, frequently required during change.

One of the most common triggers to brain threat response is uncertainty. Crucial to managing change with employee engagement and retention is to provide certainty at all times, requiring transparent communication throughout change.

People asset is the hidden asset Leaders managing change create additional value to their organisation by paying attention to the hidden asset on the balance sheet, the people asset.

By focusing on employees’ journey of coping with change, and continuous efforts made on talent development, the positive impact to change outcomes can be considerable.

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28/9/2015 5:23:28 PM

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CAREERS » Personal development

uptheranks Tracking HR’s industry moves Who: Chua I-Pin From: CA Technologies To: Polycom Polycom has appointed Chua I-Pin as MD for Southeast Asia, effective 20 May 2015.

He will be responsible for driving growth, along with making Polycom’s vision as the “workplace of the future” a reality in the region.

“I am delighted that I-Pin has joined Polycom’s strong Asia Pacific leadership team to further boost our operations in the region, and provide a greater focus on responding to and addressing the business needs of our customers in Southeast Asia,” said Geoff Thomas, president of Polycom Asia Pacific.

“The SEA region is a strategically important market for us as we forecast new opportunities, particularly in emerging markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.”

Chua was previously the area vice-president for Asia South, at CA Technologies.

“Better productivity and team collaboration across borders continues to be a priority across several industries,” Chua said.

“There are great opportunities across multiple verticals in SEA for Polycom and our partners, as organisations look to implement smarter and more efficient ways of working.”

personalgrowth WHY HR SHOULD TAKE UP MENTORSHIP ROLES Mentorship within the HR function can come in a number of forms, each one helping to raise the level of intelligence for the team, writes Aditi Sharma Kalra.

The queen of talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, believes nobody “makes it in the world without some form of mentorship”. Bill Gates has often credited Warren Buffett as his mentor, acknowledged with a right-back-at-you by Buffett himself.

Research by Penna in the middle of last year found that one in every five employees in the world is currently not mentoring others or being mentored – but they would like to be.

Here’s an opportunity for HR to run with and to build a stronger team within itself.

At its base, mentoring is about sharing experiences and expertise – but it helps to keep in mind the mentor and mentee need not have identical skill sets.

Putting together a mentor-mentee team of an HR generalist and a

Who: Narelle Burke From: Nielsen To: TNS Narelle Burke has been appointed HR director at TNS for the Asia Pacific region, effective June 2015, based in Singapore, the APAC regional headquarters.

In her new role, she will lead the HR function across TNS’s 16 local markets after moving over from Nielsen, where she was HR director for Singapore and Malaysia.

“Narelle is an expert in identifying synergies across markets and driving integration forward,” said regional marketing manager Hannah Nicholl.

“With this in mind, her focus will be on defining the short and long-term strategies that will align market business plans and helped drive commercial success across the region.”

Speaking to Human Resources, Burke said: “We work in an incredibly complex and diverse region, which means that I’m always thinking about the next opportunity or challenge that may emerge.

“I want to make sure that all local HR teams are equipped to anticipate the changes as they take hold, and become more agile at supporting our leaders to attract and engage the right people to fuel growth.”

specialist, for example, can be a good way to fast-track learning within each of HR’s functional areas.

It requires no additional resources, albeit the time commitment, but most importantly, it can help to capitalise on the greatest asset any organisation has – its employees’ knowledge.

Similarly, the mentor-mentee relationship does not have to come with a senior-junior tag. Lateral mentoring within the HR team can be executed both ways, implying no one person is the mentor throughout.

This can help build an understanding of the framework that each HR representative works within, which can further help to promote collaboration.

HR mentoring across the spectrum of HR roles is typically possible for larger, geographically spread organisations.

However, a buddy programme can work just as well for companies with a smaller number of team members doing similar work across geographies.

Initiatives like this can help raise the collective level of HR intelligence across the organisation. Not only can they generate conversations, but also create an informal network of experts that newbies to the function can tap into.

Besides, the experience of being a mentor will instigate more patience and empathy – qualities that continue to be in short supply in today’s demanding work environment.

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28/9/2015 5:18:11 PM

Good reads to improve your business life

Pick of the month

shelflife

From Me to We: Why Commercial Collaboration Will Future-proof Business, Leaders and Personal Success Janine Garner Wiley $36.85

Kevin Kaiser, Michael Pich, I.J. Schecter Wiley S$47.81 In Becoming A Top Manager, Kevin Kaiser, Michael Pich, and I.J. Schecter explore the challenges managers in transition confront.

By introducing three fictitious managers on similar journeys, they highlight the intangible realities of operating as a leader, particularly emphasising the struggles in learning how to elevate one’s horizon.

The book begins with what it means to be an effective general manager today, which includes the willingness to lead, the openness to learn and an unwavering commitment to creating long-term value.

It emphasises that moving from a taskoriented role to a role of managing the tasks of others (management) and then to general management (where one is now responsible for managing managers) involves significant changes in scope and comprehension.

These changes require serious mental and emotional effort, and often entail the unlearning of years of lessons.

The structure of the book is divided by the different journeys of these three managers from past participants of the three authors’ executive education programmes – a broad mix of people from different backgrounds, industries as well as geographies.

Through this the authors isolate 10 key success factors they claim will help guide others in making a transition from functional to general management.

Factors which are synonymous with these principles include viewing questions to be more important than answers, trust is key, and understanding that learning comes from trust and fairness, among others.

Bookmark this!

“The general manager must actively look for ways to incorporate experimentation and learning through feedback into day-to-day business.

Only he or she is able to provide this space by encouraging learning, supporting experimentation and avoiding behaviours which hinder either one. Learning occurs when the GM builds experimentation into the business in such a way that potential losses due to failure are less than the expected value of the learning to be achieved.”

– page 9.

Bookmark this!

“Collaboration is so much more than the sum or its parts. The nuts and bolts of sending an email, being on social media, placing a paid advertisement or doing a mass mailing are no longer enough in terms of “engagement”.

What consumers and internal clients are asking for is that businesses understand them; that they speak to them as human beings, not numbers. They are demanding a customercentric approach to decision-making and new product development.

They want to know the depth behind the logo, the thinking and the rationale behind the leadership.” – page 5.

Photography: Fauzie Rasid

Becoming A Top Manager: Tools and Lessons in Transitioning to General Management

You might be a great leader today – in control of everything from your career to business, and occupy a huge corner office. n’t However, if you don’t collaborate with other businesses, you are unlikely to be successful five or 10 years down the road.

That is the basis of Janine Garner’s new book, From Me to We. Garner provides a savvy guide for leaders looking to evolve along with the changing business landscape.

Focusing on engaging and understanding the value of your team and entering the “we” space, the book acts as a cheat sheet for a smarter way of thinking that will put you on the path for commercial success in the future.

Ideas are illustrated with examples, and backed by sector-specific research and interviews with business leaders who have seen real-world results of effective business collaboration. Garner highlights seven principles which outline methods of realising change, providing readers a way forward that will future-proof themselves, their careers and their businesses.

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28/9/2015 5:22:11 PM

LAST WORD

Akankasha Dewan debates whether a higher paycheck is worth foregoing opportunities to develop strong bonds with colleagues.

Recently, social media has been abuzz with reports that about 64% of Singaporeans prefer a better boss over a salary rise. Frankly speaking, I am not surprised.

Having engaging relationships with bosses and colleagues that fulfil my psychological needs just seems to make more sense than a fatter paycheck.

Don’t get me wrong – I won’t mind making some extra dough living in the region’s most expensive country (Aditi, are you listening?).

But at the risk of sounding clichéd, let me share why I would think twice before leaving my work family for a job that pays twice as much.

What’s more tangible … really …

Yes, earning more will let me buy more Michael Kors bags. And yes, a material representation of my hard work will make me happy.

But, how long will that feeling last? A few days certainly. Maybe even a month. But after a while, my raised income will seem unsatisfactory, and I will feel limited by my desire to own more bags.

In other words: A rise in income will make me happier, but that initial thrill doesn’t last.

Compare that happiness to being emotionally connected at work. Surely a glass ceiling doesn’t exist here – the experiences I have, the stories I exchange and the skills I build don’t have a limit.

As long as I am emotionally engaged with my work buddies, I will keep growing and gaining more. Now, doesn’t that seem like a more attractive and long-lasting deal? Sorry Mr Kors.

Sense of self-worth The point of this exercise is to look at what will make me, the individual, happy.

When science sets out to answer this, it found that employees, specifically Millennials, would be happier working in an organisation that allows them to make a real contribution to it.

I feel ecstatic when I see how big a role my columns play in hitting our editorial target. Isn’t that a deeper level of happiness than being paid for doing work in an organisation to which you aren’t really making a significant contribution?

Sure, being highly paid for easy work would be perfect. But perfection is, undoubtedly, boring.

Instead, earning those bucks after facing the most daunting challenges, and learning new skills is much more fulfilling – all of which strong relationships with bosses and peers help with.

Solid relationships with bosses help in growing employees, with access to more challenging and rewarding work. Alongside, bonds with colleagues help gain feedback on how to perform better.

The human individual is born to evolve, and no amount of money can replace the thrill when one realises one’s sense of self-worth and potential.

Recognition And this is also why recognition for hard work is better when it comes from peers than via cash.

Man is a social creature, and even introverts can’t deny the pleasure they receive when they get a pat on the back for a job well done, especially coming from your colleagues – who are experts in your field, and can most accurately judge the difficulty with which you have accomplished it.

Additionally, we don’t just blindly seek out social connections at work. Close colleagues are ones we respect professionally and personally.

Surely, an opportunity to impress and be recognised by these people is quite valuable – perhaps even more than the opportunity to earn more.

In fact, a recent Kronos study found 40% of employees said a pay rise improved their motivation for up to six months.

However, 55% of employees said a “thank you” from their manager gave them high satisfaction at work.

At the end of the day, there is no denial that pay rises bring happiness, but perhaps not as much as the happiness one gains from relationships.

This isn’t a sobering fact, but one which is useful because few companies out there have the financial flexibility and willingness to give rises at regular intervals.

Nearly every organisation can do more to create rewarding workplace experiences. And they can do it without incurring losses. akankashad@humanresourcesonline.net

Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee using Nikon D810 – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

Relationships or pay rises?

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28/9/2015 5:43:25 PM

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