Human Resources August 2013

August 2013

The smart HR professional’s blueprint for workforce strategy

Banking on benefits Are C&B structures for the finance sector back to pre-crisis levels?

Page 18

Dell’s Angela Fox and Tiffany See on why gender diversity is the key to business success Page 14

Opinions Crafting a career Tips on designing the perfect career plan

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EDITOR’S NOTE

August 2013 « CONTENTS

COVER STORY 14 Q&A Angela Fox and Tiffany See, of Dell, discuss how they’re paving the way for women in a male-dominated industry.

Features 18 The future of banking bonuses The banking sector took a rough hit during the GFC, but will compensation structures ever return to pre-crisis levels? Sabrina Zolkifi finds out.

26 Laying the building blocks Amos Seah reports on how changes in relationships and structures in the workplace have impacted the role of team-building.

Opinion 34 Learning & Development David Sicari, head of learning and development at ANZ, explains how HR can get the most out of training vendors.

37 Unconventional Wisdom

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Diversifying your portfolio and stepping out of your comfort zone may be a good idea, says Peter Tan, director of human resources at DKSH Singapore.

39 People Issues Have you really thought about the future of your career? Kenneth J. Kominski, group director of human resources at COMO Hotels and Resorts, has the questions you need to ask yourself.

40 Upwardly Mobile

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ON THE COVER: Art direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Stuart Jenner – stuartjennerphotography.com; Hair and makeup: Parichat Naidu – parichatnaidu.wix.com/parimakeover

Gaurav Sharma, HR director for Singapore and Malaysia at Coca-Cola Beverages, reminds us why it’s important to cultivate a “we” mentality in the office.

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48 Last Word Sometimes it’s not you, it’s them. Rebecca Lewis says it’s what candidates ask in interviews that really demonstrates their worth to your company.

Regulars

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Ed’s note In the news Hot topic Suite talk Spacial Awareness HR by numbers

11 Snapshot 11 Widernet 12 White paper 46 Up the ranks 47 Shelf life

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EDITOR’S NOTE

EDITOR’S NOTE

HumanResources editor Rebecca Lewis deputy editor Sabrina Zolkifi journalist Amos Seah intern Cheryl Teo contributors Kenneth J. Kominski Gaurav Sharma David Sicari Peter Tan Stuart Jenner regional art director Shahrom Kamarulzaman senior designer Fauzie Rasid regional marketing executive June Tan

senior event producer Ang Yoke Han event producer Scarlett Hao head of event services Yeo Wei Qi executive - event services Renee Phua senior account manager Karen Boh account manager Ben DeRegt audience manager Manuel Almira

brand director Mike Parsons regional finance director Evelyn Wong publisher and editorial director Tony Kelly group managing director Justin Randles

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» Human Resources » August 2012

A question of culture At a recent job interview with a Japanese company in Singapore, a friend of mine, who is European, was asked whether she would mind “working with a bunch of Asians”.

Taken aback at such a direct question, she stumbled over her words as she tried to say something polite in response.

As she was thinking (read: panicking) the panel of interviewers then gave her the opportunity to ask them some questions.

Thinking this was a good time to brush past the awkwardness of the previous question, she asked one of the women on the panel what she liked most about working at the company.

The woman paused for five seconds, before looking my friend square in the eyes and saying, “I’m just not sure you’ll fit in here”.

Culture-fit is an odd phenomenon, but one that has become increasingly important, particularly in countries such as Singapore.

Indeed, more hiring managers and bosses are looking for people who can slot into the office culture seamlessly – basically, people who are a lot like them.

Perhaps it’s about whether they have the same sense of humour as the team they’ll be working with, or maybe it’s down to whether the interviewer can imagine having a beer with that candidate (I know one managing director who interviews all his candidates over a pint at a nearby pub for exactly this reason).

At the end of the day, a co-operative working environment can help companies curb problems before they begin, as well as make the office a generally nicer place to work in.

Although my friend’s experience wasn’t a good one, she can understand where the company’s HR team was coming from with its direct questioning, because she understands the importance of cultural fit (although, somewhat ironically, the company is looking for someone to help it better connect with European clients).

In my experience, it seems like companies in Singapore are doing more of these two things: Beginning to place more importance on cultural fit over qualifications gained, and asking questions which sound more like the type of things you’d hear on a first date.

According to professor Lauren Rivera, in the American Sociological Review, more companies

are making hiring decisions “in a manner more closely resembling the choice of friends or romantic partners”. These include questions such as: “Who would you want to play you in a movie?” and “If you could pick anywhere in the world to go, where would it be and why?”

Additionally, companies such as Glassdoor, which has collected thousands of examples of interview questions, has also found an unquestionable rise in questions about cultural fit.

It may seem trivial, but these kinds of personal indicators or leisurely pursuits are becoming increasingly crucial. And in an environment where job-hopping has become the norm, cultural fit is believed to be a strong predictor of employee retention.

Of course, as Rivera argues in her research, focusing too much on cultural fit often means the best person isn’t always hired for the job. But as more and more candidates cite company culture as their biggest priority over or on par with salary, what are companies to do?

These trends are no doubt being driven by millennials, who care more about culture than any preceding generation. They want companies with perks, who care about social responsibilities and who can be flexible and less hierarchical.

This is all well and good, but if you go back to my friend’s situation with the Japanese company, these cultural-fit needs present a modern predicament: How can organisations properly value cultural fit (and therefore diversity) if hiring managers are so often inclined towards hiring people who are just like them?

Enjoy the issue.

Rebecca Lewis editor August 2013 « Human Resources «

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News from humanresourcesonline.net

NO STOP-WORK ORDER DURING SINGAPORE HAZE

11 TYPES OF SINGAPOREAN COLLEAGUES

Singapore – As the city was shrouded in haze in June, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said there was “no hard line where we say everything comes to a stop”.

“I don’t think there is a single point where we turn action on or action off on stop-work because it will depend on what people are d doing, what thei their exposure is, what our assessment of the t situation is in the past 24 hours, and the outlook,” he said.

On 21 June, Jun Singapore’s PSI level hit an all-time high of 400, 4 crossing into the “very hazardous” range. range While hundre hundreds of companies grounded operations or took too measures to keep staff safe, the governm government decided not to issue a stop-work order order.

The Ministry of Manpower said during timess of haze, employers hhad a responsibility to protect ct employees’ health aand safety at work, and were expected to car carry out risk assessments to determine the impac impact of the haze on their staff.

Singapore – Are you an “ask-hole” or a “ball carrier”? RecruitPlus Consulting put together a list of the 11 types of Singaporean employees, including these two – describing someone who asks for favours all the time or who kisses up to the boss too much, respectively.

The “I-want-to-resign queen” has been expressing their desire to quit since 1998, while “the journalist gossiper” insists on sharing everything they know about their colle colleagues. “The vacationer” is always on urgent leave for something; “the serial stabber” loves to point the finger at co-workers and “the taiji master” is always dodging their work load.

Lastly “the foreign bimbo” and “the bi bimbotic intern” both use their annoying traits to gget what they want and “the smart alec” claim claims to know everything.

TThe most familiar one – “the workhorse” – is simply about to collapse at any moment from the stress of it all.

WAGE ALERT: SALARIES TO DROP ROP Singapore – Projected salary increases reases and variable bonuses for the rest of off the year are projected to drop, but thee good news is they will rise sharply in 2014.

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According to the 2013 Singapore HR Trends report by Towers Watson, the projected salary increase for the rest of the year will drop to 4.6% from 4.7% 4 7% in Q1 2013.

2013 When excluding promotion, the average salary increase will dip to 3.8% between April and December this year from 4.1% in Q1 2013, while variable bonuses will drop to 2.1 months (Q2 to Q4) from 2.4 months in Q1 this year.

Despite the decline, salary increment and variable bonuses in 2014 are expected to rise higher than the figures of 2013.

The report predicted salary increments (including promotion) in 2014 to be 4.9%, and 4.3% without promotion, and variable bonuses to be at 2.5 months.

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AUG LOOKS REALLY DO MATTER

Singapore – Image has a role in not just your our ability to gain employment, but in your responsibilities, bilities, promotion and pay rises once you’re hired. d.

According to the National Survey on Impact mpact of Image by the Association of Image Consultants International ternational (AICI)) Singapore Chapter, almost 100% of 311 local cal respondents agree image affects a company’s decision to hire. It forms two thirds of a man and woman’s positive image, mage, but grooming takes slightly more precedence than han clothes.

Across all management levels, image affects promotions to managerial positions (90%)) and salary increments (81%). While only three in 10 in lower management said image affected their decision cision to promote, 47% of senior management agreed. eed.

Looking unkempt, dressing inappropriately riately and having visible body piercings or tattoos aree the top three mistakes people make at work.

COMPANIES TAKE PRECAUTIONS AGAINST HAZE Singapore – After the PSI levels in Singapore hit a record high, hundreds of companies went to serious measures to protect their staff from the smog.

“We are keeping a close watch on the haze situation and on the health and safety of our staff. This is especially so when most are deployed outdoors at the stations, depots and interchanges for duties,” said Gerard Koh, vice-president of HR at SMRT, adding it also suspended any maintenance works and issued all staff with an N95 mask.

McDonald’s Singapore posted a statement on its official Facebook page: “Dear customers, due to the current state of the haze, and to ensure the safety of our McDelivery riders, we will be halting all McDelivery orders until further notice. We regret any inconvenience caused and thank you for your kind understanding.”

The Singapore Armed Forces also stopped all outfield training.

WHY MORE BOSSES SHOULD BE DEMOTED Australia – If a person has been promoted to a management position, but fails to deliver, why are they so often not demoted? Organisational psychologists say an alarming number of inadequate managers are left in roles they’re not good at simply because people are in denial about their actual abilities.

Organisational psychologist Peter Doyle told news.com.au people’s competence in technical skills often do not match their competence in managing people, and once they’ve moved up the chain it is hard to move them down.

“Their identity is inappropriately attached to the job title and status and so there’s a false fear … that stops people acknowledging they could step down from their position,” he said.

Peter Cotton, also an organisational psychologist, said poor managers were often left in their roles because the boss who promoted them was unwilling to admit they had made a mistake. When dealing with an inadequate manager, he said senior managers had to give them a chance to improve, but if nothing changed, they might need to step down.

GOOGLE SAYS ITS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ARE USELESS Global – Google is famous for its brainteaser interview questions, but the company’s HR head has admitted they are “a complete waste of time”.

In an interview with The New York Times, Laszlo Bock, senior vicepresident of people operations, said: “How many golf balls can you fit into an aeroplane? How many gas stations in Manhattan? A complete waste of time.

They don’t predict anything.”

He went on to say those questions “serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart”, and he would wo rather the company’s recruiters focus on conducting “structured behavioural interviews, where you have a consistent rubric for how you assess people, rather than th having each interviewer just make stuff up”.

Bock also said behavioural interviews were an another tactic Google employed, which involved the interviewer asking something like, “Give me an example of a time when you solved an analytically difficult problem” to gain a better understanding of the candidate.

Looks like it’s time to ditch those mind-bending interview questions!

THE MOST UNPRODUCTIVE TIME OF THE DAY Global – New research has pinpointed the exact time of day employees are the least and most productive at work.

According to a study by London Offices, workers are least productive at 2.55pm. Apparently, this is the time of day when staff are most likely to jump onto social media sites or start planning their evening. The report also found 10.22am to be when people are at their most productive.

Michael Davies, the London Offices’ spokesperson, told the Daily Mail it was important employees “maintain a steady work level rather than swing between extremes”.

The report also found 4.16pm to be the most stressful, likely because of the fact people were rushing to complete their work before the end of the day.

However, that surge in productivity doesn’t last long because employees were reported to mentally clock off work 18 minutes before they officially ended their day.

August 2013 « Human Resources «

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Hot topic WORK LIFE

WORK LIFE » Hot topic 4% in 2012. Besides competitive compensation and benefits, it is important to provide a collegial and conducive work environment coupled with challenging and meaningful work to attract locals.

To boost employee retention, it is also essential to understand the needs and wants of the different generations within the workforce to cater to their aspirations accordingly.

■ Daniel Tam HR director of wealth management Royal Bank of Canada At Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of the pledges under our corporate social responsibility commitment is that we will support the local communities in which we live and work.

This is not only a long-standing core value of RBC, but also an important component of our brand, driving our reputation and enhancing both client and employee loyalty. As a testament to this commitment, currently more than 90% of our employees are locals, and they bring with them invaluable knowledge and expertise of the Singapore market, as well as the wider Asia region.

This is highly valued by our clients when they seek out financial advice from us because they can be sure they are dealing with the right subjectmatter experts who have a deep and rich knowledge of the various local markets.

To ensure continued success in hiring the right people for the business, we’ve built a robust recruiting process through continued partnership with the business on how to make objective and holistic hiring decisions.

In collaboration with the business, we’ve embedded a process where a detailed and well-

Localising the workforce There have been several calls by companies and employees for a more local workforce. Amos Seah and Cheryl Teo find out what organisations are doing to keep Singaporeans at the core of their talent pool.

■ Gloria Chin HR director National Environment Agency The National Environment Agency (NEA) plays a pivotal role in providing a clean, liveable and sustainable environment for all Singaporeans. Thus, having a strong local workforce enables NEA to better engage and serve the needs of our key stakeholders.

Creating and sustaining a committed local workforce is also a sensible long-term HR strategy.

Currently, less than 1% of our workforce are 6

» Human Resources » August 2013

foreigners and NEA places a strong focus on grooming our young local talent who have a passion for the environment.

We collaborate with tertiary institutions to attract local talent and offer promising candidates the National Environment and Water (NEW) Scholarship. This is an initiative that aims to nurture young talent for the environment and water sectors.

Additionally, NEA proactively partners the community development councils, and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) where a majority of participants at their recruitment events are Singaporeans.

NEA also takes part in overseas recruitment trips organised by the Public Service Division and

Contact Singapore to recruit local talent studying overseas. The main challenge we face is the stiff competition for the limited pool of local job seekers.

With the rising expectations of the workforce, we need to ensure our commensuration and benefits are competitive to attract them.

To retain local talent, we pay special attention to engaging our multi-generational staff through a slew of comprehensive employee engagement platforms.

Additionally, good performers are recognised for their contributions through monetary and nonmonetary rewards.

Our staff retention strategies have been effective and our resignation rate was less than

defined job analysis is comprehensively put together to ensure efficient candidate assessments. This also helps create objectivity in the hiring decisions and reduces any potential bias.

To complement the process, we’ve also designed and developed the RBC interview reference guide as well as the RBC capabilities framework to further equip hiring managers and HR professionals with the relevant skills and knowledge to conduct effective interviews, and thereby good hiring decisions, within a guided framework.

However, one of the biggest challenges in recruiting and retaining locals is that increasingly, candidates and employees are looking at not just the monetary rewards, but also what the firm can offer them in non-monetary aspects.

To address this challenge, we have since implemented a six-month global orientation programme for all our new hires to ensure we proactively engage with them right from day one.

Just to name a few of our programmes, the RBC performance programme was designed to recognise outstanding performances in a formal and tangible way, while RBC recognition celebrates career milestones with our valued employees.

■ Pamela Dua Group human resources director Pico Art International Employing Singaporeans is beneficial in the long run because they are costeffective, and trained local talent are loyal to the company, especially when they are given many opportunities to grow within the company.

When a position requires continuity, Singaporeans will be preferred because their

families are here and thus there is less inclination for them to resign when they face a difficult situation.

In addition, employing Singaporeans is valuable simply for cultural reasons and harmony.

Singapore is a small country and the government encourages companies to expand overseas. A Singapore-born talent will appreciate this opportunity and have the correct knowledge and skills to start-up the overseas operations effectively.

We also feel employing workers through referrals is the most effective way. At an executive level, Pico hires fresh graduates through career fairs and internships. At a managerial level, hiring is done through word-of-mouth, an internal referral programme or job postings, which go up on various recruitment portals.

In terms of retaining locals, we need to understand employees go through different stages and it is important to understand employees’ needs at each stage to successfully retain them.

However, one of the biggest challenges we face in retaining locals is employees resigning because of their young children. We lost a very experienced manager once who left because she wanted to be with her children when they were growing up. Then, there are others who resign because they do not want to entrust their children’s lives to their helpers.

Another significant challenge of retaining locals is the possibility of them burning out, which I believe happens in most companies, but there are a few strategies we can put in place to overcome the challenges of retaining locals.

Young employees, who I believe want freedom, can apply for one to two months of leave (paid and some unpaid depending on their situation), depending on their length of service in the company.

This is because these young people like to travel, and we have had a few such cases every year.

Those married with children are not left out either; they are allowed to work from home up to 20 days a year and also when they have children taking major examinations.

In addition, they are allowed flexibility to work from home from time-to-time with the approval of their immediate managers. This is possible because some of them may have worked during the weekends because of an event or exhibition.

It is very important for employees of all ages to have adequate rest to ensure they do not get burned out. We also need to remind employees to take vacations. We do this quite conscientiously through their managers, who make an effort to plan the work of their team members to ensure rest.

I would advise HR professionals who are trying to build a strong local workforce to acknowledge the importance of understanding employees’ needs.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. You need to listen with your heart to understand their needs.

You need to plan the solutions with the staff and their managers for a work-life balance.

August 2013 « Human Resources «

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WORK LIFE » People

suitetalk

People WORK LIFE Get into the boss’s head

Philippe Collin Delavaud

CEO Singapore Sports Hub HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE? It is very project and achievement targeted, and very hands on. I need to start from zero and achieve something.

I also like to really entice and lead employees to see the achievements of the project as a personal goal. I build trust within the team and make sure each employee can trust one another.

HOW IMPORTANT IS HR TO ANY PROJECT? HR, for most projects, is key. Sure, you need financing, you need equipment and land to develop the project, but what truly makes a good project is human resources.

YOU WERE CEO OF CONSORTIUM STADE DE FRANCE. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE HR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRANCE AND SINGAPORE? There is low unemployment in Singapore, and from time to time a real lack of resources. Employees and managers know they can easily get a job at any company, but at the same time they are very dedicated to their job and

are willing to participate and support the company. In France, you have a lot to deal with because of the unions, the labour law and the mistrust you can often have between management and staff. All this is slowing the pace of development and increasing the cost, so Singapore is more efficiently organised.

SpacialAwareness

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST HR CHALLENGES WITH THIS PROJECT? We need to focus our energy on opening the sports hub on time, so I try to spend my time making sure each person is not taking the side road. I also have to check if people are creating synergy within the project. We’ve mobilised more than 10 companies for this project, so it’s important the key people are working together.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT? The best way is not to be part of the conflict, but to remind those involved there is only one objective, and we have to decide the best suitable way, and agree upon it.

WHAT DOES SOMEONE IN HR HAVE TO DO TO BE A CEO? I know a few cases of very good HR managers being very good CEOs. It’s really a question of will, and you need to want to move into the role. It’s a personal choice, and HR leaders have to select the type of industry or CEO position they can best benefit with their expertise.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A CANDIDATE? We look for motivation. Why are you applying for the job? Is it because you want a better salary or are you really interested? That’s what I check for.

A SPLASH OF PERSONALITY At Splash Productions, the office aims to be an expression of its staff.

“The more we express ourselves freely, the more cohesive the team is,” says Terry Lee, managing director of Splash.

While the office has caught the eye of many because of its unconventional interior, Lee says they simply tried to be themselves when designing the space.

“All we believe in is to be ourselves. We are happy with the label and we find that being so unconventional has helped us to do better.

“It makes our people feel comfortable and at ease in the environment. We decorated the place ourselves. It’s an environment which our people collectively built.”

All the meeting rooms, bar one, are not enclosed, promoting collaboration and interaction among staff. Lee adds the open environment keeps employees at ease. “Our people feel free to engage anyone and everyone. Same goes with our visitors and clients. Things get done swiftly. It is natural to feel empowered and responsible in this environment.”

One of the unique features of the office is the “green spot”, a mini forest the size of an average room, where plants have been picked by staff to create Splash’s very own forest.

“It’s a space in which they find is expressive of their own taste. This ease helps them express themselves freely; they are at home here. They’re not conscious they’re in a working environment – it’s an environment that works.”

When asked how this layout helps in attracting and retaining employees, Lee says the design simply grabs people’s attention.

“It helps us attract talent, makes them feel at ease and be themselves, so that they may be more inclined to stay longer and find out how well they fit in here.”

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August 2013 « Human Resources «

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WORK LIFE » HR by numbers

Good to be young Singapore – Job prospects are bright for young workers aged 25 and under, with only 44% believing it is hard for young people to find work.

However, despite a low unemployment rate and stable economy, mature-age workers (55 and above) do not enjoy the same good career prospects.

Although 75% of respondents believe it is good for businesses to recruit mature-age employees, almost nine in 10 people believe it is hard for mature-age workers to find a suitable job, according to the Randstad Workmonitor Report for Q2 2013.

80%

believe older workers often accept jobs below their education level.

43%

think young people do not accept jobs below their education level.

38%

feel temporary work is for young people.

Source: Randstad Workmonitor Report for Q2 2013.

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People WORK LIFE

snapshot

68%

believe it is beneficial for their company to actively recruit young people.

15 minutes with ...

Frieder Rummel

Director of HR – Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa The Hershey Company WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST HR JOB, AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS PROFESSION? My first HR job was the country HR manager job for Procter & Gamble in Austria. I moved into that from information technology, where I had done a lot of recruiting and training and I thought people have an even bigger impact on the success of an organisation than technology.

HOW WILL THE HR FUNCTION EVOLVE IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? HR leaders will strengthen their role as consultants to business leaders, and help drive change faster and more effectively.

BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCE, WHAT DO YOU THINK CAN BE DONE BETTER WITHIN HR? Leaders have to understand HR work is not an end in itself, but it is required to support the business.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR WORK? The wonderful team spirit that we have in our very diverse team at Hershey

widernet

Singapore, and that everybody always puts the team’s interests above her or his own.

WHICH HR FUNCTION DO YOU LIKE BEST AND WHY? Talent management because it is such a positive and rewarding subject; the business needs it and employees love it.

WHAT IS THE BEST CAREER ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED? Understand your talents and your passion, and then make sure your job addresses both well.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU FEEL HR CAN DO BETTER TO PLAY A BIGGER ROLE IN ORGANISATIONS? HR needs to find more effective ways to measure its performance and then act accordingly.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE A REGULAR WORKDAY AT YOUR COMPANY? 24/7 and often “on the road”, and a lot of flexibility for life balance, for example, leave the office in the afternoon, go running and have family dinner before evening phone conferences.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING HR CAN DO FOR ITS EMPLOYEES? Provide talent systems and a development culture which allows employees to pursue their personal visions and to live their dreams.

I CAN’T WORK WITHOUT ... having fun!

Perspective on regional HR

Working with diverse cultural attitudes Mölnlycke Health Care is one of the fastest growing healthcare companies in APAC, providing wound care and surgical products and services. It is both interesting and exciting to be in a regional role because all countries carry unique cultures and practices.

Some countries, such as China and India, cannot even be viewed as “one” country, as far as culture, workforce behaviour and experience are concerned. In China, for example, people from Beijing are more bureaucratic and regimental, while those from Shanghai are commercially savvy and more adaptive to changes.

I have to be acutely conscious of the different work habits when travelling to these various countries. As a multinational company, being culturally aware is one of our main strengths. In China, I can easily pop by someone’s office and ask if the person can spare a few minutes to discuss an issue. The casual request will usually be acceded if the colleague can spare some time at that moment.

This, however, is not acceptable in Japan.

My Japanese colleague will very politely turn down the request, and ask for an appointment to be made by sending them a meeting request

out initiatives. Reception towards global initiatives also varies from reservation to great excitement among countries in Asia Pacific. When we rolled out the Employer Value Proposition (EVP), our Japanese and Korean colleagues had to understand the “what” and “why” before they embraced it.

We incorporate feedback to assure we are successful locally. It is more challenging when we are working with people from these cultures who prefer to observe and listen. When it concerns our corporate values, such as learning, passion and integrity and culture, we are more “top-down” because it is the core of who we are.

It is a combination of the growth our company faces, and the many cultures which I am working with that makes my role so exciting. I am learning every day.

Get a grip: A fast-growing organisation needs all hands on deck when dealing with cultural sensitivities.

through Outlook. This practice is necessary even if it requires only a few minutes of their time.

Because of the background differences, we need to be more sensitive culturally when rolling

Quek Poh Meng

Regional HR director, APAC, Mölnlycke Health Care

August 2013 « Human Resources « 11

WHITE PAPER » Leadership

Leadership « WHITE PAPER

SECRETS OF BEST EMPLOYERS REVEALED

HOW PROTECTED IS YOUR IP? Global – Security breaches can take a very long time to be discovered, and when they are, the damage is often already done.

The 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report

by Verizon shows breaches are a multi-faceted problem, and any one-dimensional attempt to counter them is insufficient because this will fail to adequately capture their complexity.

Unfortunately, the bad news is everyone is a target. Victims of espionage campaigns range from large multi-nationals all the way down to those with no IT staff at all.

Security breaches may appear in the form of malware (40%), hacking (52%), phishing (29%), misuse by employees (13%), physical threats that involve proximity (35%) and even human error (2%).

Because of the numerous ways security can be breached and their intricate nature, it is important to understand your enemy and the type of business you run.

Organisations must also keep in mind not tailoring measures to counter security breaches can result in the company being inadequately protected in some aspects, while overspending on defending against simpler opportunistic attacks.

In the past year, phishing, which is prevalent for small and large organisations, jumped bribery

Singapore – A “best employer” is one who scores highly in employee engagement, employer branding, leadership and performance culture.

Based on Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers 2.0 report, companies who have been able to achieve higher levels of engagement, create a compelling employer brand, provide more effective leadership and deliver a high-performance culture are more effective than the average organisation.

The report described employee engagement as the state of emotional and intellectual commitment to a company which motivates employees to do their best. Therefore, a highly engaged workforce will reduce staff turnover and improve customer satisfaction.

According to the survey, employees who have spent two to 10 years in their organisation are 20% less engaged than those who have been with the company for less than six months (78% compared with 58%, respectively).

Only just over half of employees intend to stay with their organisation compared with an average 12 » Human Resources » August 2013

Contributor-level employees

Middle managers

Top leaders

63%

68%

84%

Level of engagement

and pre-texting to become the most widely used social tactic.

The report also found about 70% of breaches were discovered by external parties.

However, malicious insiders can be identified through some common behavioural characteristics, which they are most likely to exhibit before engaging in any criminal acts. One of these characteristics is bragging about the damage they can do to the company if they so desired.

Companies may also want to be wary of people who have recently been passed over for a promotion.

These toxic employees may also attempt to gain other employees’ passwords or obtain access through trickery or exploitation of a trusted relationship (often called “social engineering”).

In more than 70% of IP theft cases, insiders steal the information within 30 days of announcing

their resignation. Changes in the pattern or quantity of information retrievals in that time-frame are potential indicators.

In addition, more than half of insiders committing IT sabotage were former employees who regained access via back door or corporate accounts that were never disabled, making it extremely easy for them to breach the company’s security.

Commonalities found among security breaches

Percentage of breaches

Initial intrusions rated as low difficulty

78%

Driven by financial motives

75%

Opportunistic attacks

75%

User devices targeted

71%

Source: Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, 2013

Source: Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers 2.0, 2013

of 85% of employees who are employed with the best employers.

Aon Hewitt also described an employer’s brand as one that articulates the unique employee experience one has with a company. Organisations in Singapore identified pride in products, service and brand, careers and learning as the top employer brand themes.

Two-thirds of employees also said they were likely to recommend their organisation to a friend seeking employment, while three in five employees felt their company made good on its promises to its employees.

Another top driver highlighted in the report for improving engagement across the different groups (Gen Y, middle management and contributor-level employees) was leadership.

While only about three in five employees felt their leaders treated them as valued assets, nearly 80% of senior leaders felt they did so.

Additionally, 81% of senior leaders would appropriately share in the success of their organisation compared with only 66% of employees.

Performance culture was found to have an impact in creating a high-performance organisation, and those which had succeeded had clear accountability about their strategic goals, which were understood by their employees.

However, the report found employees generally did not feel their organisations recognised their contributions enough, with less than half feeling recognised fairly in terms of pay for performance and career opportunities.

August 2013 « Human Resources « 13

PROFILE » Angela Fox & Tiffany See

Angela Fox & Tiffany See « PROFILE

Angela Fox & Tiffany See Dell The female factor

By SABRINA ZOLKIFI

Art direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Stuart Jenner – stuartjennerphotography.com; Hair and makeup: Parichat Naidu – parichatnaidu.wix.com/parimakeover

Q When it comes to diversity, what is one important thing HR has to keep in mind?

F: There needs to be an overarching strategy framework that will support diversity and inclusion. To me, it’s not something that’s wholly owned by HR; that’s the mistake some companies make. It needs to be owned by the whole company.

S: If you don’t do that, you’re not going to see any progress. Within our HR function, there is a diversity and inclusion team that sits on the global HR leadership team, and they have representation here in Asia. The way we’ve got it structured is each one of Michael Dell’s (founder and CEO) direct reports is an executive sponsor for an employee resource group. We’re fortunate in that we haven’t had to influence senior leadership as to why it’s important; it’s just been accepted it makes business sense.

Q How has Dell’s diversity practice evolved?

S: Our structures have definitely gotten better over time. When I started 12 years ago, there was one person who was in diversity and inclusion and that was pretty much it. Can we do more? Yes. We need to do better now in gender representation, and get that balance, but I think we’re on the right track.

Q Speaking of gender, what are some of Dell’s best practices?

F: We have always looked at succession planning and looked at female representation, but the diversity and 14 » Human Resources » August 2013

inclusion councils and the formality around that is more recent. We’re always looking at how we’re supporting the promotion of individuals through the ranks, how we’re looking to support the promotion of Indian professionals to lead India, or any country for that matter.

Q Why do you think conversations about gender equality are still necessary?

S: I got that question two weeks ago!

F: The way (women’s rights advocate) Beth Brooke positioned it, which really resonated for me, is by calling women the third billion.

She said the economic view, the impact and influence women will have over the next 10 years is massive – over a billion women will be coming into the workforce, making decisions and having influence. So she views women as an emerging market.

What business leader would not have China and India as top priorities from a business perspective? So why then is it businesses don’t have women as a top priority when they represent as much buying power and as much economic impact in the next decade as India and China?

Q Is this a perception you share?

S: I had a big “aha!” moment about this back in 2007 when we were building our consumer business. Before that, we looked at diversity as a metric, but as the company geared more towards the consumer we realised we needed to look like the customers we were selling to.

The consumer leader at that time was very passionate about making sure we

VITAL STATS Angela Fox (left) is the VP of infrastructure and cloud computing for Dell Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) and the co-chair for its diversity and inclusion council.

Tiffany See is Dell’s APJ executive director for human resources. Fox was a foundation member of the APJ diversity council, and was involved in launching the Australia and New Zealand diversity council.

See has been with Dell since 2001, and has championed Dell’s global Women in Leadership programme.

August 2013 « Human Resources « 15

PROFILE » Angela Fox & Tiffany See

Angela Fox & Tiffany See « PROFILE

had representation from a culture and gender perspective in his sales team so we reflected the markets we were selling to. When he said that to me, it just made sense. It’s no longer a metric conversation – it’s something that makes business sense.

or the people I manage might react to me in that way. It’s an emotional bank; as awareness grows, you get consciousness and that will then drive change.

Q What are some of the programmes you have tailored for women at Dell?

F: One of those enterprise resource groups is called WISE or Women in Search of Excellence. That is a team whose interests align to women’s interests. It’s not exclusive to women, but it is predominantly women. Those WISE chapters exist around the world, and for us in the region, we’ve got it in 12 countries, including Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Q So, what do you think is holding women back from being recognised as an asset?

F: The irony is, sometimes as women, we’re our own worst enemy. Women don’t acknowledge there’s a problem or they don’t want to buy into it because of, perhaps, social pressures. It’s not just resistance by males; there’s an inherent resistance in women who are signing up to fight the fight because they feel it’s too confrontational.

S: Over the past two years I’ve seen a change in this, and not necessarily for the better. I’m now seeing so many more opportunities in the market and women have a lot more choices. That makes it a lot more difficult for us from a recruitment perspective because it’s not just about competition from other companies, but rather there’s been a shift in lifestyle so there are women who feel they don’t have to work.

Q What does WISE advocate?

F: It’s about women coming together to share common challenges they have, to network, to focus in their particular culture and/or country on some of the initiatives they feel passionate about. We don’t take a prescriptive approach and say this is what it should be – those women and people come together and they determine the priorities of the chapter in their particular country.

women back?

S: It goes back to the fact that women have so many more choices in terms of work and lifestyle here in Singapore.

targets and quotas is that quotas are generally operational.

S: Quotas make it so it becomes something like, “This job has to be filled by a woman”.

F: Some companies may choose to do that, but we don’t.

Q Do you think imposing quotas is the

Q How does Dell make sure it has

way to go?

F: The debate on the quota is not going to go away. Some people believe very strongly in it, but others would say it degrades what we’re trying to do.

S: I’m in that camp. As a woman, I wouldn’t want to be given a job to meet a quota. I want to make sure I earn it on merit.

diversity without relying on quotas?

S: We don’t have targets, and I’m a firm believer of staying away from it. We definitely do not have quotas because those go against meritocracy. What’s more important is making sure you’ve got people in the pipeline, so when it comes, the opportunity is there for the best person for the job.

F: We have to set people up to succeed, and that’s not going to happen if you’re not picked for the right reasons.

We need to support people, make sure they’re in the pipeline and make sure they’re supported in terms of mentoring and coaching.

Q Is that what’s holding local

Q It’s a very fine line separating quotas and metrics though.

S: We have aspirational targets, but we don’t have any percentage requirements on women. We don’t have targets within the company when it comes to this. It’s just a matter of making sure there is diversity across the groups.

Q What’s an aspirational target?

F: The difference between aspirational 16 » Human Resources » August 2013

Q What happens if those processes are not in place?

F: If you have people in roles they are not capable of doing, then the reality is they’re

Q What were some of the priorities of the Singaporean chapter of WISE? S: We’ve got a lot of focus about how we can continue to attract women so our female population is representative of society. We want to make sure we’re encouraging and supporting them to move through the ranks and aspire to those senior leadership roles.

Q What is the female representation at Dell?

S: In Singapore, 13% of our executives in Singapore are women. Angela is the only one in a business role; the other three include myself and two in legal. The rest are in support roles, so that’s where our focus is going to be. We want to move more women into the more business executive roles.

Q Dell has the luxury of already having senior buy-in when it comes to diversity programmes.

S: Michael chairs our global diversity and inclusion council, so this is on the agenda at the senior level, and they are regularly meeting about diversity and inclusion.

F: It’s about setting the tone and letting people know their perspective is valued.

By focusing on it, you start building an underlying framework that helps get people comfortable coming forward and putting forth their perspectives.

Q How have the employee resource groups impacted the HR strategy?

S: I would say it’s the other way around. The strategy has shaped those groups, rather than the groups shaping the strategy. It’s all embedded in the people strategy.

Q What do you think is the biggest advantage of having employee resource groups?

F: There has been a lot of research that companies perform better when they are drawing on the total population. There is more innovation, there is more satisfaction, and you can track companies that drive these initiatives through business success, because it’s a known fact that when you draw upon the insights and differences in perspectives from broad audiences, you get a far better outcome, be it with women or otherwise.

not going to succeed, and that in turn will impact the brand.

Q Do you think it’s a cultural thing that women are hesitant to step forward?

F: I think it’s a gender thing.

S: There’s been a lot of research that came out about this. There are differences and, as a woman, you need to be aware of those so you can counteract them.

Self-promotion in women is not exactly acceptable.

F: Think about the reactions you get when you see a woman doing what the male does. You might think she’s pushy, and part of that is your own conditioning. We need a mindset shift.

Q How does having employee resource groups for women help?

S: Women are much more aware these days and the good thing about that is their managers, who are generally men, are more aware of it too. That helps managers realise they might have to manage differently to get the best out of their team.

F: It sounds like a simple thing, but we need to make sure the guys are also having an “aha!” moment, and understanding why my colleague or wife

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August 2013 « Human Resources « 17

FEATURE » Compensation & Benefits

Compensation & Benefits « FEATURE

The compensation landscape at financial institutions has undergone dramatic changes post-GFC. Sabrina Zolkifi investigates whether rewards structures will ever be the same again.

hroughout the global financial crisis (GFC) and the years that followed it, there was no doubt banks and its employees were some of the hardest hit.

Even years after the 2008-2009 GFC, banking and finance employees remained collateral damage; banks continued to haemorrhage headcounts as they struggled to keep the firms afloat. At the end of 2011, global banks reported more than 200,000 job cuts, more so than the 174,000 jobs slashed in 2009.

Deutsche Bank AG’s co-CEO Anshu Jain perfectly summarised the severity of the banking sector when he said at the Wirtschaftsrat Deutschland Economic Conference in 2012: “The contract between banks and society was broken during the crisis.

Banks are now viewed with suspicion.”

Within Asia, banks that were streamlining their headcount towards the end of 2011 included Credit Suisse, which saw 3,500 jobs lost, and Nomura Holdings, which axed 1,000 employees.

Unfortunately, banks continued to shed numbers even in 2013, when HSBC announced it was cutting 14,000 jobs by 2016, bringing the bank’s total global redundancies to more than 56,000.

Employees within the banking and financial sector who managed to hold onto their jobs, however, had to contend with lower base salaries and bonuses – if they were lucky enough to even be on the receiving end of one.

But as we progress into the second half of 2013, are banks in the region finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? Or has the face of banking compensation changed for good?

“Overall, banking bonuses have changed dramatically since the GFC due to increased public awareness, regulators, and in terms of quantum and how we pay out,” says Li-Ki Khaw, head of HR at the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).

“The reality is the banking industry faces increasing competition and regulation, which makes bonus payouts hover at cautious levels.”

But it is also because of that, the industry’s HR has to further align itself and its structures to focus on rewarding performance.

Banks play bonus roulette According to a survey by eFinancialCareers, local finance professionals received bigger bonuses last year, though there was a

18 » Human Resources » August 2013

catch – they had to be in the top 31% of the organisation.

“You started being really selective and acquired better assessment criteria to really make sure your top performers are being remunerated well during the downturn, but obviously, that came as a cost to the ones who were performing at a mediocre level,” says Roland Muller, regional head of HR for private banking in Asia, and Singapore’s country head of HR at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Khaw says companies trying to find the sweet spot between managing costs and providing competitive remuneration to employees need to focus on their compensation and benefits budget to ensure it reflects their long-term business strategies and is focused on pay for performance.

“Manage the internal employee environment in regards to this,” she says.

“Link the external environment to your employees so they understand the business challenges, and provide the ‘why’ to management decisions.”

She adds while pay and benefits are a given component and need to be comparable, HR still needs to balance that with business sustainability and affordability in the long-term.

Muller says another thing banks have to keep in mind is the crisis has caused “a lot more regulatory pressure”.

The dollar directive In July 2011, the European Commission proposed the Banking Standards’ Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV), which is expected to come into effect on 1 January 2014.

Under this framework, the basic fixed pay to variable ratio will be capped at 1:1, meaning the maximum bonuses one can receive will be equal to their fixed salary.

However, this ratio can be raised to a maximum of 2:1 if there is majority approval from shareholders.

Currently without the CRD IV in place, Muller said it is widely accepted in the industry that bankers who deliver on their performance targets may be entitled to bonuses multiple times their salary.

“The CRD IV will really curtail the payouts you can give to people.”

According to the recent Mercer Global Financial Services Executive Pay Survey report, two thirds (63%) of organisations surveyed said

August 2013 « Human Resources « 19

FEATURE » Compensation & Benefits the framework would reduce their ability to pay for performance.

Although 53% said they would maintain total compensation levels regardless of the cap, three quarters of companies also said they were looking at creative compensation alternatives to better manage costs.

The report suggested that while there had yet to be any direct impact on banks in the region, “there may be ripple effects of compensation structure changes at the corporate level of the global banks operating in Singapore and elsewhere in ASEAN”.

Muller agrees, adding it may create “some imbalance from a competitive perspective”.

“Obviously we’re not just competing with European banks here in Asia; we’re also competing with local and American banks.”

Riding the wave Leaders have always recognised communication as a key asset during times of crisis, and it was no different when it came to allaying the fears of employees during and post-GFC.

“Compensation and benefits is a very emotional subject and it is critical leaders at different levels play a key role in cascading and connecting the dots on the external environment, and how it impacts internal decisions.”

Li-Ki Khaw – head of HR at ANZ Group

“Compensation and benefits is a very emotional subject and it is critical leaders at different levels play a key role in cascading and connecting the dots on the external environment, and how it impacts internal decisions,” Khaw says.

Muller shares the same sentiments, adding that during times such as the GFC it is “really, really, really important” for leaders to stay close to the ground and keep employees engaged.

Muller was previously with Credit Suisse from 2007 to 2010, and then with HSBC for a year before joining ABN AMRO in late 2011.

20 » Human Resources » August 2013

During his tenure at Credit Suisse, where he was the head of strategic recruiting for private banking in APAC, he saw “different degrees of nervousness”, which was more pronounced among those in support functions.

While it is admittedly a challenge to maintain engagement levels during times of a crisis, Muller says sometimes the biggest investment you can make in your staff is non-monetary.

“When was the last time you had a town hall, or had an office gathering? There are multiple things that won’t cost you anything, but would go a long way.”

Khaw adds it’s also critical to use the right channels when it comes to communication strategies, particularly during more turbulent times.

“There must be the right mix of written and face-to-face communications,” she says.

“Senior leadership sets the tone with the facts and rationale for decisions through bank-wide communications.

“For the message to be ‘brought in’ at an employee-level, line managers must be engaged with the same facts and rationale, and communicate consistently to the individual employees where necessary.”

Taking a page from the banks While the economic situation now may not be as severe as during and directly after the GFC, both Muller and Khaw have advice for companies who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Khaw says leaders should focus on the broader benefits within the compensation and benefits suite, and think about the employee value proposition more broadly.

“Over the years, ANZ has built up a very strong culture and appreciation for work-life balance, which is institutionalised through our HR policies, practices and tools,” she says.

Muller adds it is important for leaders to be constantly in conversation with the staff in times of crisis.

“I know I repeat myself, but you have to stay close to your staff,” he says.

“Don’t let them just wait around, anxious, because clearly there are no longer folks where there used to be, and the employees are going to be thinking, day in and day out, if they’re going to be OK. “Stay close, communicate, and from a payout perspective, differentiate between your top, middle and bottom performers.”

With Singapore’s inflation expected to increase 1% this year to 4.5%, what do employees and companies think of compensation and benefits in 2013? Sabrina Zolkifi reports.

THERE IS A SLIVER OF A GAP between employees’ expectations and what employers are rolling out when it comes to salary in Singapore.

Just under half of employees in Singapore (44.4%) surveyed for Ambition’s Market Trends & Salary Report 2H 2013 believed their salary levels were not in line with the market rate.

On the other hand, 51.1% of employers said their company’s salaries were in line, although 16.7% were not sure. Of those who said the salaries were in line, 44.9% were of director-level or higher, while 70.6% of employees who believed otherwise were junior management or below.

The survey, which polled 1,400 respondents, also found 63.2% of employees were disappointed with their bonus payouts this year.

EMPLOYER BONUS PAYOUTS FOR 2013

10.7%

received bonuses below 5%

36.7%

received bonuses of 6%-20%

25.8%

received bonuses of 20%-40%

10.5%

received bonuses of 40% and above

HAVE YOU SWITCHED JOBS AFTER RECEIVING YOUR BONUS PAYOUT IN 2013?

No Yes 10.2% In the process of

74.1% 15.7%

Source: Ambition

WILL EUROPE’S REGULATIONS AFFECT ASIA? Next year will be a nervous time for banking and financial services firms across the world – particularly so in Europe, as new regulatory frameworks are expected to be implemented in January.

According to Mercer’s Global Financial Services Executive Pay Survey, executive salary regulations in Asia have predominantly been principles-based, with more guidelines than instructions.

“It is notable that in 2013, few expect to do much more than raise base salaries,” the report said.

Use of differ different structures for executive compensation

Emerging markets 2013

Emerging markets 2014

Not ot imp impacted

75%

63%

Raising base salary for impacted employees Raisi

25%

25%

R Raising allowances and non-core compensation for impacted employees

0%

13%

Increasing the vesting period for deferred compensation to five years

0%

13%

Introducing new long-term incentive programmes (five years +)

0%

13%

Source: Mercer

August 2013 « Human Resources « 21

FEATURE » Compensation & Benefits

Compensation & Benefits « FEATURE

CASE STUDY: DENTSU NETWORK ASIA Ujjwal Sarao may be new to Dentsu Network Asia, but she’s brought decades of experience with her to begin the restructuring of the company’s compensation and benefits package. Sabrina Zolkifi reports.

“Compensation and benefits have come a long way from what it used to be in the past to how it’s treated nowadays,” says Ujjwal Sarao, regional head of talent for Dentsu Asia.

Having been in the HR industry for two decades, Sarao says one of the biggest differences she’s seen in terms of compensation and benefits is the relationship it has with managers.

“Earlier, managers were given a lot of rules with compensation and benefits, and they were needed to work within those rules. The change I’ve seen is managers are now provided with a set of tools, instead of rules.”

She likens compensation and benefits experts to carpenters. She says these “carpenters” have to design a toolbox filled with tools that managers will need to help them adapt compensation and benefits structures to specific situations or employees.

“Of course, you’ll need to have guidelines which have to be set by the compensation and benefit expert, and they will have to guide their managers on how to use these tools,” she says.

“But what this means is they’re no longer restricted to only incentives and bonuses because employees are no longer looking for just fixed pay and benefits.”

If an organisation’s total rewards strategy was to be broken up into four equal components, it would include salary, benefits, L&D and talent management, and work environment.

“Employees are not only looking for compensation in the terms of hard cash, they are also looking for intrinsic compensation,” Sarao says, adding employees are starting to be more aware of their role and value within the organisation.

This is why Sarao believes a pay-for-performance structure is gaining traction.

After her transition into Dentsu in May, Sarao has begun implementing a pay-for-performance structure which is tied strongly to the business goals. However, this is currently only being offered to the region’s senior leadership team because they are in the best roles to understand the importance of linking pay with performance.

Dentsu’s senior leadership team, which currently has about 25 people, is spread across the region, and Sarao says the response to the new pay-for-performance structure has been very positive.

The previous compensation plan available at Dentsu was more subjective, and the company wanted to have more measurable deliverables tied to variable pay.

22 » Human Resources » August 2013

“The current business strategy for the next three years will have various components which complement the variable pay strategy,” she says. Employees were already expecting changes within the organisation because of a leadership reshuffle before Sarao’s appointment, which she says helped cushion the blow of a compensation restructure.

“People are now sending in their KPIs which are in line with the new pay-for-performance plan. That’s still going on, so by the time we look at our performance evaluation in December, it should be in fairly good shape,” she says.

“There will be teething issues in the first year, but I think 2014 will be a good year for us.”

Sarao says there were many questions from employees when the plan was first introduced. “People were very clear on the business strategy, and they wanted to be clear on what they had to deliver on.”

Additionally, because it was the senior leadership team that was involved in the pay restructure, Sarao says they were also aware of how to deliver the results needed according to their teams, and understood the gains would be something they would be able to share with the organisation.

She says it also helped the senior leadership team was an engaged one, which worked to its advantage when rolling out a new structure.

“You need to walk the talk and be role models when you are starting a new system, and because the senior leaders are part of defining the business strategy, it was easier to align them to it.

“And once they’re on board, it will be easier for them to explain the structure to their teams once (the whole organisation) is on the pay-for-performance plan.”

The new system for the senior leadership team will be fully launched by the end of the year, and Sarao expects the rest of the company will be pulled into the programme in 2014.

However, she is not ignorant to the fact any new structural change within an organisation may result in resistance.

“There is scepticism because employees may feel some things (with regards to performance) are not measurable.

People will wonder how we will identify performance and what is measurable – some of those factors are beyond their control,” she says.

HR needs to be aware of this potential friction, and be “committed to the plan”.

“There needs to be a commitment from the top to the plan, and for any plan to succeed, you first need to take small enough steps to ensure the plan can move forward.”

But at the same time, leaders implementing the changes need to have long-term visibility and goals, as well as making sure the plan continues to receive funding and remains sustainable.

On top of that, clear objectives need to be set and delivered, Sarao says, again reiterating changes such as these have to be from the ground up.

“You really need to understand and listen to the staff and see what it is that will make them happy. In the past, you will be spending that money in areas that may not have an impact on the employees.

“You need to get that information and apply the same money more wisely. Money is an important factor, but the employees working in organisations today look at the emotional rewards,” she says.

“People are looking for learning and development, and they’re looking for recognition. Show employees they have a future, and that they will grow with the organisation.

“These are non-monetary rewards, but it goes a long way when you have to implement a pay freeze, or are in a position where you are not able to give a base salary as high as another company.”

But by understanding what different employees want, that also results in the challenge of ensuring the compensation strategy has the same beneficial effect in every part of the organisation.

“There is scepticism because employees may feel some things are not measurable.

People will wonder how we will identify performance … some of those factors are beyond their control.”

This is where a flexible benefits plan comes in, referring once again to the tool box Sarao mentioned earlier.

“It had a lot of components, be it those to do with leave, child care subsidy or medical benefits,” she says.

This tailored structure leaves more of an impression on employees than bringing home hard cash.

“Rather than giving them a lump sum, we made sure that flexible benefits we did offer them were quite comprehensive. And despite doing that, the impact on our bottom-line remained the same.”

Aside from implementing pay-for-performance at Dentsu, Sarao is also looking forward to working on the company’s long-term retention, which ties back to compensation.

“Your fixed salary should be comparable to your previous company’s – that’s really important.

“However, your variable salary should be tied to your current company and individual performance, including your KPIs.” Sarao says for pay-for-performance structures to really succeed, performance has to be defined clearly.

“Judging performance has to be very clearly defined and understood; they need to be absolutely aligned to the goals.

This one needs to be driven from the top, and it has to be a part of the KPIs,” she says.

Sarao expects compensation and benefits structures to keep evolving to keep up with the changing employee mindsets, particularly around retirements.

“We used to only look at things that were legally required, but as an organisation, this is now getting more and more important, so we see a lot more people asking about retirement benefits – even the younger employees.”

She adds talent management will also continue to shape compensation and benefits structures.

“I’ve always felt that if you keep your workforce energised and engaged, that can make up for them not getting some of the benefits your competitors may be offering.”

August 2013 « Human Resources « 23

SPONSORED RECRUIT ADVICE HOW TO Compensation & Benefi ts « FEATURE

FEATURE » Compensation & Benefits

CASE STUDY: INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP SINGAPORE

THIS ARTICLE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ACCUMBENS NETWORK

Frances Chee, of InterContinental Hotels, talks about the art of handling C&B, and why it’s not always as easy as expected.

Managing compensation and benefits “is an art, not a science”. That is the belief of Frances Chee, director of compensation and benefits, at InterContinental Hotels Group of Singapore.

“There is no right formula for everything,” she says. “It is more than just reading spreadsheets; it’s about putting meaning into the numbers, and identifying anything that sticks out like a sore thumb.”

The success of compensation and benefits structures depends on HR’s ability to translate the cold hard numbers into relevant visuals so they can be easily understood.

“There’s more to it if you know how to appreciate how these numbers come about, and understand how they will impact the business at the end of the day.”

By understanding the numbers, the hotel has been able to tailor its C&B offerings. This is why Chee says the hotel provides three basic packages: healthcare, life insurance and pension funding. She highlights the healthcare coverage provides more than 10 times that of other companies, but to manage costs, sacrifices have to be made. For example, she says some organisations can “do away with” the company dinner and dance.

“It is a matter of measuring what is core to your business and what you need to do to survive as a business.”

Competitive international compensation and benefits packages are also created to target the significant pool of foreign talent, despite the hefty cost incurred.

As one of the basic perks, pension schemes are offered in the hope of gaining a “life-long relationship” with employees.

Because most foreigners are not entitled to CPF, this serves as an attractive perk. The scheme also remains consistent and transferable to wherever they are stationed, and can be adopted for different job functions.

“We don’t wish to lose talent to external competitors.

To us, pension is something providing assurance that I look after you as an employee on a life-long basis.”

Even then, these perks aren’t attractive to all, particularly younger generations who aren’t concerned about pensions.

Chee describes her job as a thankless one due to everyone’s entitled mindset. “No one will ever tell me, ‘Thank you Frances, for paying me well,’ but as an employee

myself, why would I thank my boss for paying my salary?” she asks, humorously. Plus, employees don’t only look at salary, but also the other benefits provided.

“Will increasing your salary make you a happier employee?” Chee asks, adding monetary perks are not viewed as attractive by everyone.

“Some may be looking at courses, career development, or maybe pursuing a Master’s and asks us for sponsorship.”

At the end of the day, there will still be a “bottomless pit” of challenges where anything can “pop-up”.

It is common for employees to demand more, and Chee says she encourages them to speak up because it keeps her on her toes. “If there is anything they are unhappy about, I am more than happy to engage in a meaningful discussion with them.”

However, because younger generations are more informed about what they are entitled to, they speak up about it, but the problem is they are not always exposed to the right information. This is when communication comes in.

Chee says an employee’s level of happiness can be measured in many different ways, and it is the entire employee experience that affects this. Chee jokes she is still looking for the “golden manual” to successfully pacify everyone’s constant demands.

For now, she has biannual surveys to fall back on, which are conducted to measure how staff feel about their C&B packages. “I will never get good scores for that,” she says, comparing the results with other areas in the survey scoring an 80% to 90% in staff satisfaction. However, according to survey provider TNS, its employee satisfaction score of 70% is much higher than the market average of 40% to 50%.

Chee says she always has to be prepared for change and is also looking to become more creative in her approach.

“We want to be creative, while not incurring more costs, and yet still meet the business and employee needs.”

But because employees’ needs can change over time, she says it is the “constant feedback” which helps her.

Learning from past mistakes, Chee says she should have been more “proactive”, rather than “reactive” to change.

She says there should also be more avenues for sharing of best-practices, not only within the organisation, but also among other businesses across the industry.

“It is more than just reading spreadsheets; it’s about putting meaning into the numbers, and identifying anything that sticks out like a sore thumb.”

24 » Human Resources » August 2013

CSR: NICE KNOWING YOU, NOW IT’S TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW When the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) was first coined in the late 1960s, it was understood as a form of corporate self-regulation to ensure the positive impact of business activities on employees, environment and other public stakeholders. It encompassed everything from employee engagement programmes to energy savings and volunteer work with social welfare organisations.

Over the decades, companies have become more innovative in their approach to CSR, recognising the potential for large businesses to give back in a big way.

GE is among the great pioneers of this, with its GE Citizenship programme that focuses on volunteerism, education and health. Corporations like Diageo and Starbucks have differentiated their brands by sharing their social responsibility stories with consumers and, in so doing, gaining their loyalty and favorable sentiments.

PR agencies have proliferated CSR practice areas to engage clients in activating strategic CSR programmes, emphasising a research-based approach to identifying social causes and aligning these to their client’s corporate mission and vision.

Rather than just planting a tree, a pharmaceutical company might look at ways to advocate anti-forfeit drug policies and support partner distributors in emerging markets where they are operating, for example.

Today, two recent trends are forcing companies to look at CSR efforts in yet a new light. The first is growing public scrutiny of businesses, as evidenced by Occupy Wall Street and scepticism towards the financial sector thereafter.

“As a first step, I propose dropping the term ‘CSR’ completely.

Corporate social responsibility inherently suggests a top-down approach led by the decision makers of the company and trickled down to operations staff.”

The second is the rise of current-day terms like ‘social impact’, ‘social enterprise’ and ‘triple bottom lines’ – opening the door to deeper dialogue and more meaningful partnerships across sectors to catalyse social change. These trends are challenging companies to establish a new rationale for their CSR efforts – one that prompts a more human approach to understanding what is socially responsible.

As a first step, I propose dropping the term ‘CSR’ completely. Corporate social responsibility inherently suggests a top-down approach led by the decision makers of the company and trickled down to operations staff.

In fact, the impact of the same efforts would be far greater and resources lent more efficiently if employees at every level were asked what they cared about, inspired to think about a solution and empowered to take action. Indeed, companies are best positioned to drive these efforts by leveraging its pool of talent, leaders, organisational management and capital resources.

The challenge is thus one of authenticity. If employees are to take ownership of corporate acts of social responsibility, then empathy must be the basis of their actions.

What’s more, if companies are to tell stories of acting socially responsible, part of the story should be that their employees are incentivised by opportunities and rewarded for volunteering their time and skills.

By fostering a culture of social responsibility, corporates would serve the dual purpose of engaging employees in a meaningful way and imbibing a human approach to its corporate values.

This article is contributed by Solonia Teodros, CSR Engagement, at Accumbens Networks

Accumbens Networks is an integrated consumer engagement agency, which designs and deploys consumer engagement campaigns for various leading brands. Accumbens Networks marries the art and science of consumer branding, based on behavioral insights and innovative technology for data analytics.

Discover the art and science of building a social innovation strategy to engage employees and customers. Register for our high tea cum networking session @

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For more information, visit www.accumbensnetworks.com August 2013 « Human Resources « 25

FEATURE » Team-building

As the demand for engagement and productivity in the workforce increases, Amos Seah finds out how team-building still serves its function today.

26 » Human Resources » August 2013

Team-building « FEATURE ccording to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

This quote applies directly to how important teamwork is in an organisation, as it is the sum of individuals of the different teams within it.

Team-building activities are important when it comes to engaging workers, while also improving team performance in an organisation.

Some of these activities include exercises or group-dynamic games that train employees to work towards achieving a goal together.

Effective team-building can be defined by four stages, according to a group development model first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. These four stages are “forming, storming, norming and performing“.

While being geared towards training staff to demonstrate better teamwork, team-building activities ultimately aim to create a more productive workforce.

“Collaboration” is a word often used at ANZ, says David Sicari, head of learning and development at the bank.

“It is about connecting and working as one for our customers and shareholders … to get teamwork we need to think about team-building,” he says.

It is about “bridging mindsets of people across different geographies and ideologies, and bringing them together to build a stronger team”, says Lee Jin Hwui, deputy director of human resources development at LTA. Team-building creates a more trusting and cohesive working relationship among team members to jointly achieve organisational goals.

It’s also the informal setting of a team-building activity that gets people to “understand each other’s perspectives better”.

According to Michael Yeong, senior vicepresident of group human resources at Cerebos, team-building happens when there is an emotional attachment to the organisation.

This happens when everyone supports one another to work towards a common goal.

This is comparable with how marketers would say their consumers have to establish an emotional attachment to their brands, Yeong says.

Additionally, in light of the tight labour market, more employers are looking at different ways to engage their workers and reduce manpower attrition.

Lee considers team-building as one of the various engagement strategies used to ensure an engaged and productive workforce. It’s not just monetary gains that keep employees happy, he says.

“Team-building provides a more conducive work environment; one which employees look out for as well.”

Sicari explains the feeling of belonging is what brings about engagement and eventually happier workers who are more productive.

“A great side effect to team-building is it supports people to feel as if the discretionary effort means something to someone,” he says.

Where and what?

Outdoor activities are the first to come to mind when talking about team-building.

Such activities can include outdoor games or even “adventure quests”, providing what HR terms as “experiential learning”.

“Because these activities are experiential in nature, we will derive a lot of learning from them,” Lee says.

According to Yeong, participants learn the most from sharing their experiences after such activities.

“You go through this activity, you experience it, and most importantly, attend the feedback sessions. That’s the point where the instructors talk about trust and communication,” he says.

Outdoor team-building can also come in the form of sporting events such as marathons.

Employees at Cerebos have taken part in marathons as part of fundraising events, also serving as a character and team-building function.

But not all team-building efforts have to take place outdoors and they can be just as effective indoors.

“Team-building does not always mean going out on a camping trip or raft building, it can also be about solving common challenges and working together to gain critical experiences and deliver results,” Sicari says.

Apart from games, indoor activities can also include planning activities for a charitable cause, or even simple dialogue sessions.

Even though team-building activities benefit from the integration of staff from different departments in the company, they are not necessarily held at inter-company or divisional levels.

August 2013 « Human Resources « 27

FEATURE » Team-building A company can choose to organise a teambuilding activity exclusive to certain groups of employees, based on seniority, job function, experience and even geography.

A more homogeneous group of participants will be able to relate to each other better and, says Lee, “be more willing to share the challenges they face”.

An example given by Lee was an annual corporate retreat which only managerial staff of deputy director-level and above took part in.

“The greatest challenge for HR professionals is how we can move away from team-building being just another activity where people have fun.”

Lee Jin Hwui, deputy director of human resources development at LTA

During the retreat, managers came together to discuss key challenges and plan the way forward for the future.

In comparison with company level activities, in this case, participants in this retreat would have had more productive discussions with their fellow colleagues on leadership topics.

Reaping the benefits While team-building activities can be fun to take part in, the key challenge lies in ensuring they pay off. What makes a raft-building exercise more than another memory to recall during dinner at the next event?

According to Sicari, it is the everyday application in team-building which is often overlooked.

Essentially, most companies will have a system to measure the effectiveness of their team-building activities.

This can be measured via surveys such as the biannual engagement surveys conducted by LTA, for example. Individual key performance

28 » Human Resources » August 2013

indicators can also be used to measure productivity of workers.

“The greatest challenge for HR professionals is how we can move away from team-building being just another activity where people have fun,” Lee says.

On the basis of having fun, team-building activities should involve discussions on key workplace challenges, and have employees work with each other and understand each other better.

Employees have to understand that through these activities, despite the challenges and conflicting perspectives, they are “all moving towards the same direction together”.

While most business leaders tend to jump into team-building, it is important for them to first think through how exactly they want these teams to be built.

“A key challenge is not so much finding the right activity or event, but catering to all the individual needs,” Sicari says.

He says planning “four to five steps ahead” helps to equate individual learning to a team outcome for such team-building events.

Building for the future “I believe that teamwork and the need for teambuilding will become a growing aspect to the engagement of employees and a competitive advantage for organisations,” Sicari says.

With about 40% of the Singaporean workforce consisting of Gen-Ys, leaders need to ensure they are up to date in their engagement strategies.

Lee identifies altruism as a trait which appeals to the new generation, suggesting corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities will be effective as team-building activities in the future.

“It’s not just about making money, but also about how they can make a difference to society through their work,” Lee says.

“It’s really about that feel-good factor … that they have collaborated to create something better, beyond that of their own personal gratification that really helps to bond people together.”

Ultimately, team-building is a constant process, and not just a one or two-day activity.

Lee foresees team-building in the future as “a norm integrated within daily activities of work teams”.

In fact, bonding within an organisation can “be derived from the daily activities we do, rather than through a special day set aside”.

FEATURE » Team-building

Team-building « FEATURE

CASE STUDY: CEREBOS Team-building is much more than just outdoor fun according to Michael Yeong, senior vice-president of group human resources, at Cerebos Pacific Limited. By Amos Seah.

Team-building is a topic close to the heart of Michael Yeong. In fact, he was part of the pioneer batch of trainers for one of the first outdoor team-building activities ever introduced to Singapore.

Cerebos is known for its initiatives to promote health and wellbeing, and has had its employees actively taking part in the Singapore Marathon to raise money for charity for years.

In the late 1980s, Yeong was part of Project Miracle, an outdoor programme used “to let employees experience what team-building is all about”.

“It was a great thing,” he says. However, he felt something was missing and questioned the effectiveness of such activities used for team-building.

He says it is a huge challenge to transfer what you learn during an outdoor team-building activity to the office.

“What you learn is effective during the team-building event, but to make it happen [in the office] the culture must change first.”

The spider web problem Yeong highlights that employees may learn lessons from team-building activities such as Project Miracle during the programme itself. However, problems arise once work starts in the office, or at most, the first few days after thee team-building activity.

To give an example, he mentioned a game which participants at Project Miracle took part in called “the spider web”. ove For that particular challenge, participants had to move from one point to another without making any contact with a “web” obstacle in between.

Anyone who touched the web would have to go backk to the starting point to begin again. Therefore, the game became rigorous because it could drag on for hours.

While it might have been easy to get away with an me accidental touch when a trainer was not looking, the game ultimately boiled down to a question of honesty.

When everyone got back together after the game, Yeong asked if anyone touched the “web” without beingg caught.

Linking the idea back to work, he equates this to: “If you were in the production line doing this, would you admit to the mistake that you have made? he “Because there will be a safety flaw as it goes out to the production line to the consumers.” n Your employees may admit to their mistakes or learn

30 » Human Resources » August 2013

their lesson about honesty out in the “field”, but they’re likely to behave differently in a workplace setting where performance and productivity is measured.

“The problem comes when you are back in the office and you have admitted to your mistake. Your supervisor will go ‘again?’ and look at the number of rejects you have had.”

He explains the key performance indicator and resultorientated culture at the workplace is the differentiating factor separating the spider web game from work in reality.

Changing from within “These team-building events which I drove 20-30 years ago won’t work if the culture of the company can’t change,” says Yeong, adding Cerebos adopts a different focus for its team-building today.

“When someone proposes a team-building activity, I ask them, ‘what is the culture you want to create?’“ In 2012, Cerebos participated in the Singapore Marathon, raising a record amount of $275,261.60 for The Straits Times’ School Pocket Money Fund.

“For every kilometre they run, we donate $100,” he says, adding this has equated to millions raised over the years.

What is important to realise is team-building has to start from building the character of individual employees within the company.

And, in addition to the marathons being “good for the society”, they also bring about character building.

Employees will naturally feel better about

themselves because they are given the chance to “help out these school children, thus building character”.

“Through our activities and marathons, we believe in promoting resilience and commitment.”

He also mentions taking walks with his staff to create team bonding and adds staff gained additional respect for their CFO after watching him cook at the winning hut, post-marathon.

“Working relationships improve when the staff and boss know each other better.”

However, he’s quick to point out a company shouldn’t expect any miracles from one single team-building event.

“It’s an ongoing thing to create something that will continue to sustain the bonding relationships between each other.”

Leadership is important While a company can try to build the character of its staff, it isn’t as easy to train up a leader.

“Anybody can be a generic leader, but only one can be a good one,” Yeong says.

“What you learn is effective during the team-building event, but to make it happen [in the office] the culture must change first.”

Nevertheless, the secret lies within finding the right one, rather than training one up. A good leader is important when it comes to team-building because they are the ones who “inspire the company about the direction in which they are going”.

For a product development company such as Cerebos, employees from various departments have to work together to perfect a single product, and getting these departments to work together is the leader’s task.

Yeong says leaders should “harness diversity and get them to be open and candid with each other; train them to understand their role and responsibility”.

“Acquiring good leadership is something Cerebos is working towards.”

Yeong mentions team-building events can also include coaching programmes where all the managers sit together to share their vision and have a discussion about it.

“With many other companies holding outdoor sports team-building activities, it is also important for a leader to be visible, and for staff to be able to question and be willing to speak to him.”

In conjunction to the marathons, Cerebos holds dialogues, where employees are able to communicate and connect with management.

The company organises sessions where employees are given the opportunity to engage in discussion with both HR and the CEO of the company.

“It’s basically about pushing the senior management out to be visible,” he says.

Trainings. Teambuildings. Conferences.

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August 2013 « Human Resources « 31

FEATURE » Team-building

Team-building « FEATURE

CASE STUDY: LAND TRANSPORT AUTHORITY Lee Jin Hwui explains how HR can effectively implement team-building activities by involving different functions within the organisation. By Amos Seah.

When it comes to offering unique opportunities for staff team-building, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) makes it a priority to offer a wide range of activities every year.

Lee Jin Hwui, deputy director of human resource development, says the first example of this which comes to mind was an activity held last year inspired by the reality game show The Amazing Race.

In the game called “The Incredible Race”, participants were tasked to search for clues within the Singapore Zoo. Teams were required to strategise and plan their route to complete the race in the shortest time.

Clues in the game were also themed after lessons related to team-building.

Another outdoor activity conducted by the company included “The Rafting Challenge”, where employees had to work in teams to design and build a raft in the shortest time.

To make things more challenging, participants had to work under environmental constraints and with limited

32 » Human Resources » August 2013

resources. Lee also cites a sand castle challenge where team members had to work together to construct a model using sand and water.

The challenge aimed to foster interaction between team members, relating back to “real-work” situations where different divisions had to work together to complete a task.

The company also conducts indoor team-building activities which can prove to be just as challenging.

In “The Trebuchet Challenge”, teams were tasked to design a trebuchet according to given specifications.

“Each team had to source for opportunities to earn more investments and more raw materials in order to build their trebuchet,” Lee says.

Cooking challenges can also foster team-building with employees working together to whip up a three-course meal within an allocated time.

Value-added activities As well as trying to think outside of the box, LTA involves itself in corporate social responsibility activities as part of its team-building efforts.

Currently the organisation has two adopted charities – The Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD), and Metta School.

As part of the LTA Care-Givers Programme, monthly outings are organised with the two charity organisations.

In fact, LTA was the first statutory board the Comcare Connection programme when it was first introduced to Metta School in 2007.

The Comcare Connection programme, which was organised by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), aims to match voluntary organisations, with statutory boards which can be of assistance.

“We sent groups to Metta School to plan activities for the students there.

The entire process from planning to execution is part of team-building.”

Through monthly field trips organised by LTA, volunteer staff would assist students with independent living skills, such as grocery shopping and taking public transport.

At the end of the day, the organising team will come together to discuss and plan activities for the upcoming financial year.

Lee mentions LTA expanded the programme to include SPD in 2009 because of the increase in staff volunteers.

He says team-building is one of the company’s platforms used to inculcate the core values.

These seven core competencies include drive for results; think strategically; innovate and make continual improvement; focus on customers and stakeholders; build organisational teamwork; develop yourself and others and communicate effectively.

LTA strongly believes every leader should adhere to these competencies.

Measuring effectiveness Every HR leader has to ensure each team-building activity is effective and worth the investment.

For Lee, it is the assurance “that team-building goes beyond just having fun, but also having very tangible outcomes for the organisation”.

The organisation uses employee engagement surveys as a measurement to how effective team-building efforts are, and Lee is proud to say the results have been promising.

The 2013 survey revealed a record-breaking 80% score in engagement, a 7% improvement from its 73% in 2010.

Because of LTA’s huge manpower strength, the surveys are held every two years instead of annually.

Nevertheless, Lee believes in the reliability of the surveys because they are kept strictly confidential, where workers feel secure to express their honest views.

“Team-building is an important driver helping us to move forward as an organisation … our people have been very engaged as a result.”

Collaboration and diversity The secret to LTA’s team-building success could very well be attributed to the company’s willingness to collaborate.

“At LTA, we are moving beyond the traditional concept whereby team-building is planned with HR only,” says Lee, adding team-building activities are organised by different departments at a cross-functional level.

Lee shares LTA also leverages on team-building as a platform to bring different functional areas together.

He refers to them as cross-functional or inter-division team-building.

He says such activities bring the different employees together and they have fun while working together in the various team-building activities.

Additionally, different perspectives or challenges faced by the different functions or divisions will be discussed, allowing them to gain useful lessons which they can apply at work.

HR facilitated the pairing of the different divisions for such activities based on the survey, which uncovered any division preferences among each employee.

The organisation also gets help from an approved list of vendors to decide on the types of activities to be organised.

However, Lee is well aware he shouldn’t be complacent. In fact, the key challenge he faces is ensuring the next activity is just as good, or even better, than the previous one.

“It’s really about how we can meet the rising expectations,” he says.

He highlights it’s all about ensuring employees remain interested and enjoy something new each time.

“Last year was interesting, but we want to make the next year better … we want to make every year’s team-building a unique experience,” he says.

Lee always returns to the idea of collaboration when asked about how he can ensure the most effective teambuilding activities each year.

“We (HR) are definitely not the only ones with all the answers, which is why we involve our learning and development team and representatives of the various groups.”

Such collaborations also create more positive results because of the mix of ideas generated by individuals of each different specialities and sectors.

“Cross-functional team-building programmes build greater bonds among members across the different teams, and can also develop a better understanding with the variety of perspectives across functions.”

Preparing for the future For one to improve, one must learn from past mistakes. If given the ability to travel back in time, Lee mentions he would have started the idea of cross-functional teambuilding events earlier.

The idea of cross-functional activities was only a recent idea and would have been beneficial if they had been introduced earlier.

If they were implemented earlier, LTA “would have reaped the rewards a lot faster”.

“LTA as a whole, being so diverse, would be more cohesive, with everyone understanding each other’s perspectives better … things would run a lot faster and better,” he says.

Lee has also learnt it is essential to always listen to his customers or staff and the various members of groups at LTA. “Never assume what they want,” he advises, adding that striving for co-ownership is important.

As a result of mixed perspectives from HR and employees of different functions and levels, a “win-win” situation is formed.

August 2013 « Human Resources « 33

»

Unconventional wisdom OPINION

How to make change happen Are you confining yourself to a single industry? Peter Tan explains how HR practitioners can diversify their portfolio.

Be frank and open: When meeting with a new potential employer of a different industry, always be frank about what you understand and know of the industry. Reading about the industry online, on published documents or via recommendations from people you know are good sources. You need to openly inform any new employer of how much you know or don’t know.

PETER TAN Director of human resources DKSH Singapore Pte Ltd

Be proactive: Initiate conversations with search companies about your interests. There could be certain roles that may interest you, or employers who might be keen to speak with you.

Keep an open mind, attend interviews and speak to the hiring manager. Every interview or chat you have gives you a better insight into the industry.

Break out of the box: Don’t confine yourself to one role for the rest of your life.

Some HR practitioners like to try getting into different industries to practise their HR technical skills. Some of us, like myself, have been lucky to have had this opportunity, but others may have struggled to move out of their current industry.

We are aware employers prefer to engage those within the same industry because it makes it easier for the new person to quickly and steadily take up the reins without much adjustment. However, HR practitioners can move from industry to industry without any fear or apprehension and get on with the job by following these rules.

Being open-minded: Have an open mind when there is a job opportunity in another industry. Yes, in some cases, there will be a small pay cut while also losing your seniority. Evaluate your current role, and business environment of your industry. Will you witness the “sunset” of your industry in the near future? Can your current role be easily replaced by another less expensive person?

How is your role going to evolve in the next two years?

Networking: Do not confine yourself to HR or non-HR networks within your industry. Casting a bigger net will not only give you job opportunities, but also enable you to learn HR or business practices which you will not hear or experience in your current industry.

Internal review: Before taking on challenges in a new industry, always take account of your personal situation. Are you capable of taking on the challenge of a new learning curve? Are you capable of being branded as “less senior”? Most importantly, do you have the family support to take up the job? With this, you’ll find it much easier to assimilate and function well in the new industry.

Be realistic: Salary differs across varying industries, so when moving to a new industry, don’t expect or ask for a huge pay rise. Some hiring managers may view your current experience as irrelevant and may not be willing to give you the salary you expect. Take that first step into a new Industry, gain new experiences and the pay rise will come.

Be a risk-taker: People naturally fear the unknown and venturing into a new industry means taking some risks – the potential to fail to adapt easily, or the new industry not suiting you. Risk is unavoidable, but the ability to overcome these risky challenges is of paramount importance.

Do your homework: If you are keen to move into a particular industry, you will need to do some homework about it. Don’t decide to shift before doing your research, then regret the decision later.

Adapt mentally and emotionally: Get yourself prepared when moving into another industry. New colleagues, a new environment and new things to learn can be difficult to adjust to. Adapting is critical to your success.

Be positive: Nothing is easy. Ensure you remain positive, even when others around you may give you negative vibes. If this is what you want in your career, then go for it.

Don’t give up: Once in a new industry, don’t give up when it gets tough. Rome wasn’t built in a day and perseverance is key.

Don’t return to your comfort zone: Ex-colleagues will contact you and try to convince you to return to your previous job. You may be tempted to head back to familiar waters, but weigh up how far you have come. Taking a backwards step is easy, but is that what you want when you’ve done so much to get into this new industry?

August 2013 « Human Resources « 37

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People issues OPINION

Have you hit a dead end?

Having a clear vision of your future may be more important to your career than you think.

Here are some questions you should start asking yourself.

KENNETH J. KOMINSKI Group director of human resources COMO Hotels and Resorts

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COMO Hotels and Resorts in Singapore, I’ve had more than 20 years of experience working with prestigious international hotel brands across the globe, focusing on human resource leadership. This has included development strategies, learning and development and talent management.

During a recent round of yearly career conversations, I had a chat with one of our managers. As I always do, I asked him about his thoughts on life and his career, and what his future might hold.

“I’ve never thought about it to be honest,” he said. It was a response that made me sit back in my chair. I was puzzled that someone could simply never think about what they want from life, whether it’s having kids or becoming the leader of a nation.

All too often in our busy schedules, we don’t take time to project our thoughts into the future, to create a vision of the life and career we dream to have. Recently, I happened to see a keynote introduction video for the 2013 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. In it I heard a phrase that has remained with me: “Designing something requires focus.”

If each of us were to spend time envisioning our futures and bringing to mind our aspirations, maybe we could design something great. What is it in life we want? What do we best know? What kind of impact do we want to make? What do we need to bring happiness to us – a partner, children or to be an inspiration to others?

Have you asked yourself these questions? Are you taking

time to visualise and focus on your career? Are you designing a future that is promising, will challenge you professionally and prove satisfying? If your answers to these questions are no, then it is never too late to begin changing.

My advice is to take the time to write down where you are and where you wish to be in five years. Focus on your career: do you have the skills, competencies and knowledge necessary for your current role, and the role you aspire to fill? What will it take for you to reach the next level? Most importantly, what are you prepared to do to develop your professional toolkit?

Only by identifying these objectives will you move out of that “dead zone” occupied by the manager I cited at the beginning of this piece.

Reflecting on my career, I think back to when I started in hospitality as a steward (dishwasher) before I became more interested in the things around me. It was then I had a vision to become the owner of my own restaurant.

As I grew older, all of my efforts were focused on learning as much as I could about restaurant ownership and management.

However, I hadn’t addressed the most important questions such as, “what do I want my career to have, include or be?” or “what don’t I want my career to have, include or be?”

As human resources professionals, I encourage you to first do this for yourselves. Only then can you convince future employers or employees.

By putting time and effort into designing a career and life plan, you won’t be asking “what if?” when you come to retire.

August 2013 « Human Resources « 39

OPINION » Upwardly mobile

It’s not always about you!

Networks and connections play an important role in this globalised business world, but how should one foster a “we” mentality in an organisation?

GAURAV SHARMA HR director, Singapore and Malaysia Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages

Picture this. You are attending a corporate function and know nobody in the room because you are the only representative from your company.

Sound familiar?

In this situation two distinct possibilities arise: either you resign to a quiet corner to respond to your BlackBerry messages, or you engage other people by striking a conversation about the weather, cost of living or children’s enrichment classes.

Depending on which option you favour, it tells us something about you.

In the world of human resources, we often refer to this as the “people versus logic” scale. These behaviours can also be discussed in the context of the “me” versus “we” approach.

So what is a “me” approach compared with a “we” approach? Again, imagine a work scenario where you are meeting a new team member for the first time. How would you start the conversation? Do you Get it together: Move into the “we” zone by building a rapport with your co-workers. start by sharing the school, polytechnic or university you are both alumnus of, or do you start by talking If you answered “we” to the previous questions, then read about common hobbies or activities you enjoy doing? Perhaps you on to understand how we can support and foster this in the talk about the latest movie you both saw. continually evolving multicultural workplace.

Either way, when striking this first conversation, you try to Every organisation comprises stakeholders, both internal and ascertain different ways you may be connected to them. This is external. Stakeholders are rarely a homogenous group and often the first step in assessing how both of you will invest further to display significant diversity in terms of experience, education, build rapport. This network between team members, created by gender, age and nationality. individuals of the team by finding common connections and building To create a “we” organisation, we need to build a network of rapport with each other, is what the “we” zone is all about. common connections with these diverse stakeholders. Our ability If you are unable to find a common connection with the new to connect with them depends on our flexibility, our ability to draw team member, then it’s likely you will have to try harder to develop from our past experiences, our knowledge pool and our capacity a rapport. If there is no relatedness, then often each of you for understanding different viewpoints. will remain in your own individual space until the connection is Similarly, individuals who have worked across multiple created. This individual space, where the team members remain geographies or functions, and have experienced different cultures isolated of a connected network, is what we call the “me” zone. and ways of working, will be at an advantage in creating a “we” The “we” zone is all about collaboration and teamwork, organisation. whereas the “me” zone is about independence and individualism.

Take some time to consider these approaches within the We know organisations are made up of teams working context of your own organisation. Do you want to create a together to achieve a common vision and mission. So which zone collaborative, team-oriented work culture capable of achieving do you think would be more favourable for an organisation to your organisational vision? achieve its common vision?

How strong is your talent development practices in terms Which zone will ensure an inclusive culture where teams of providing opportunities for moving laterally across functions work collaboratively and not independently? More importantly, and across geographies? Does your company culture encourage what kind of an organisation would you as an employee want to employees to build common connections with stakeholders? be part of – a “me” organisation or a “we” organisation?

Most importantly, how big is your “we”?

40 » Human Resources » August 2013

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August 2013 « Human Resources « 43

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August 2013 « Human Resources « 45

CAREERS » Personal development

uptheranks

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Good reads to improve your business life

Tracking HR’s industry moves

Pick of the month

Who: Veronica Tan From: Jones the Grocer International To: Hill + Knowlton Strategies Asia Veronica Tan joins Hill + Knowlton as its regional director for HR in Asia. Tan was previously the general manager of HR at Jones the Grocer International, and has 20 years of experience in the field. In her new role, Tan will support H+K’s global talent initiatives and processes and oversee the effective implementation of performance management and staff development programmes across the region.

“I am looking forward to my active function here at H+K to help our teams connect with the brightest minds and pave the way for our consultants to grow together with the business,” she says. Tan is based in Singapore and reports to John Morgan, president and CEO of H+K Strategies Asia.

Who: Mark Lim From: C-MAR Group To: KS Drilling Mark Lim joins KS Drilling as corporate HR manager.

Previously from C-MAR Group, Lim has nearly five years of experience in the drilling industry. His current role focuses on the HR aspects of drilling operations. As the company undergoes tremendous changes, such as relocation and the acquisition of new facilities, his biggest challenge is the alignment of compensation packages and the implementation of policies to ensure compliance.

Unlike most drilling contractors, which have a single drilling operation such as either offshore or onshore, KS Drilling has a combination of both.

As such, another challenge for Lim is to align the compensation for employees of both operations to minimise changes to their current compensation, while still keeping their compensation packages competitive.

Lim’s key responsibility is to build a strong HR team to support the two segments of the drilling operations.

Who: Billy Lee From: PPL Shipyard To: Hyflux Billy Lee first joined Hyflux in June 2010 as its HR executive and was promoted to senior HR manager in May 2013. Previously a senior HR assistant with PPL Shipyard, Lee’s current key responsibility is being the HR business partner for the major business units at Hyflux.

Lee is tackling HR challenges and formulating strategies for the construction of its second seawater reverse osmosis desalination in Singapore. He believes developing successful and long-term strategic relationships between HR and the business units will allow him to understand the business well enough to hire suitable talent. He also believes in job rotation and staff redeployment within the various business units to ensure job scopes are redesigned to fit the career path of each employee.

Lee feels the biggest challenge for HR is adding real business value to the company. He believes human capital is an asset in every organisation, and every company needs to take steps to retain its workforce. He says this can be achieved through an increased emphasis on training, engagement, job rotation and investment in areas that will optimise productivity and efficiency.

46 » Human Resources » August 2013

LESSONS FROM AN INTERN Cheryl Teo shares what she took away from her stint as an editorial intern for Human Resources magazine.

Although it is the responsibility of an employer to orientate new hires properly, as an intern you become aware there are things you can do yourself to help facilitate the process. Here is what I learnt: 1. Create a new comfort zone Like a fish out of water, I was struggling to understand the HR industry. It didn’t help that I had no journalism experience and had to get used to tweaking my writing style.

Lesson learnt: Do your homework. Read up more and research about the new industry you have just ventured into. Get out of your comfort zone and create a new one for yourself.

2. Your voice is your greatest asset After sitting at my desk and wondering for the umpteenth time about a particular problem I was facing, I finally decided to just open my mouth and ask. I had my answer in five seconds and felt silly for waiting so long to ask.

Lesson learnt: Asking is not a sign of weakness. As long as the questions are appropriate, it will help you become more efficient and shows your employer you care about the work you’re doing. In addition, lunch is a great opportunity to find out more about the company’s culture. Talk to your colleagues and ask about their experiences to help you get a better idea of your working environment.

3. Persevere Starting a new job is definitely daunting and you are bound to make mistakes. It doesn’t help I have a perfectionist streak and I often start telling myself the 101 reasons why my articles suck, five minutes before deadline.

Lesson learnt: Keeping your head up and telling yourself you can do it may be clichéd advice, but it works. Just remember – you are stronger than you think.

4. Set goals for yourself One important thing I’ve taken away from this internship is it’s nearly impossible to come into work feeling motivated and engaged every single day.

There are bound to be days you just don’t feel so good, or personal problems may crop up, and so on.

Lesson learnt: By setting goals for yourself, you create landmarks of your working life which spur you on and gives you that boost to get through another day at work. Setting goals also allows you to chart your own development to then know when you have to put in more hard work, or when you can pat yourself on the back for something well done.

Leadership-driven HR David S. Weiss Jossey-Bass S$65.22 This book emphasises the need for HR to transform to become leadership-driven, with author David S. Weiss explaining how this builds the foundation needed to achieve goals such as better customer satisfaction.

It also details the importance of HR having the mentality of “building leadership capacity”, so it becomes the centre of

Strategic Speed Jocelyn R. Davis, Henry M. Frechette, Jr. and Edwin H. Boswell Harvard Business Press S$50.81 Organisations have a need for strategic speed when it comes to leaders being able to achieve better results faster. r rs In this book, the authors explain how leaders must c ctors focus on specific people factors and apply critical leadershipp practices to drive this strategic speed.

Explaining how strategic speed can be achieved by focusing on people, the book acknowledges processes and technologies may appear more “manageable” than people – being they’re somewhat easier to arrange and adjust – but explains which tools an

eexcellence ex xc to build th bbusiness and assist th the leaders in fulfilling these leaders important roles.

The book explains how HR can guide leaders to accelerate the bridging of cultural differences among workers with different values, as well as emphasising the importance of executing changes.

All change requires everyone in the company to be involved, and Weiss shows how HR can guide leaders to do this.

For example, Weiss explains how different platforms of communication can be used to influence people to accept change, instead of simply through verbal communication which may not be effective.

With step-by-step explanations and information broken down into clear sections, this book is easy to digest.

Bookmark this!

HR is experiencing an exciting time of dramatic change that will affect public and private sector businesses, customers, citizens and the HR profession. HR needs to look forward to the new reality and shape its own future so it can deliver value for the business – page 259.

organisation can use to mobilise people, equipping them to think and behave in speed-promoting w ways.

For example, it explains why it is essential for an organisation to bbe aware of both the weaknesses of tthe h employees and of the business uunit. n Additionally, the book brings to lig h the fact people have different light pe rc perceptions of speed, and leaders will nee ed to use these differences to their need adv a advantage to achieve true strategic spee ed within increasingly speed global organisations. o Bookmark this!

We believe cultivating experience is something different: a practice based less on articulating one’s own point of view and more on making others’ points of view visible, keen and valuable – page 134-5.

shelflife

From smart to wise Prasad Kaipa and Navi Radjou y Jossey-Bass, S$38.47

There is a fine line separating bbeing i smartt andd wise – have you identified it?

While being smart can take you places, Prasad Kaipa and Navi Radjou argue you need to also be wise to cultivate “a broader perspective” and respond to external events with “discernment, flexibility and authenticity”.

This book also explains how to use this new-found wisdom to your advantage.

Among other leadership topics such as shifting perspectives and honing one’s logical decision-making skills, it touches on gaining role clarity, or the ability to “perform a chosen role convincingly and with enthusiasm, without losing sense of who you are behind your role”.

A leader with role clarity is someone who is clear-headed in making decisions and not basing their responses on emotional or personal judgments. A leader who is able to do this understands their job is a role, and realises they can step out of it whenever they need to.

“You will put your ego aside and begin to pay less attention to your own title and perks and more attention to the needs of others in the organisation,” the authors write.

This and other insights will help leaders shift from being merely smart to wise, and ultimately able to make decisions benefitting them and the organisation. The book uses several case studies to drive home learning points or different perspectives to a problem.

Bookmark this!

Whatever role they choose to perform, they project their authentic self – the true essence of their being – through that role and show genuine enthusiasm and determination to get the best job done. In artistic terms, wise leaders bring credibility to their professional role by projecting personal charisma and energy – page 97.

August 2013 « Human Resources « 47

LAST WORD

How do I pick the right candidate?

Hopefully with the candidate asking you the right questions to prove they have done their homework on your company, says Rebecca Lewis.

At the end of an interview when you ask, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do you have any questions for us?â&#x20AC;? how often do you actually get candidates responding with thoughtful, serious questions?

Not often? I thought so. See, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the problem: I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think candidates generally care about what your responses are.

All they care about is coming up with at least one question (and usually, not a very good one) so they look like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve at least thought of something.

Good candidates will come up with one or two queries, but great candidates will ask a handful of questions which proves theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re evaluating you as much as youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re evaluating them.

This is an important part of allowing you to do your job in making sure youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found the right candidate.

Maybe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been too long since anyone has asked you a decent question, or maybe you work in an industry where the only question you get asked is, â&#x20AC;&#x153;How much do you pay?â&#x20AC;? but just in case youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve forgotten what a good candidate question looks like, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my two cents. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What do you expect of me in my first three months on the job?â&#x20AC;?

If theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a truly great candidate, they will ask a question like this. While other newbies may be happy to settle with â&#x20AC;&#x153;getting to know the companyâ&#x20AC;? for a couple of weeks, the best people want to start working â&#x20AC;&#x201C; right now. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What can I do to help drive your results?â&#x20AC;?

This not only shows a candidate is interested in helping you and the company succeed, but that they care about the specifics.

This is a good thing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be paying them for.

Make sure to give them as much detail as possible about what you are really hiring them for

48 Âť Human Resources Âť August 2013

and how they can help you achieve the organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall goals and targets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can you tell me the qualities of some of your best-performing employees?â&#x20AC;?

New employees want to know how they can impress you, sure, but they also want to know theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to fit in with the company culture â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and its best employees.

Every company is different, so a great candidate will be keen to know whether they have the attributes of your top performers already, or whether theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re capable of striving towards them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Is this a new position? Or if someone left this position, why did they leave and where did they go?â&#x20AC;?

On the surface it may seem like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re prying, but great candidates are interested in their own development and career growth and have every right to ask why the job theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re applying for is available, and where it can take them.

Tell the truth. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing worse than getting a great candidate on board only for them to leave three months later when they find out the company wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t up front about the more challenging aspects of the role. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How is the company dealing with â&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;?

This is a candidateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opportunity to prove they have done their research.

Perhaps your organisation has recently merged with another, or a competing company has launched a new product that may be a threat to you. Whatever the case may be, a great candidate should be up to play with any big news about your organisation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and they should be asking you how youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re dealing with the situation.

rebeccal@humanresourcesonline.net

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