Human Resources Singapore, May 2015

May 2015

The smart HR professional’s blueprint for workforce strategy

humanresourcesonline.net

Family/Friends

Flexibility

Future

OFC_COVER_MAY15_sub.indd 1

19/5/2015 12:56:23 PM

MPS_HumanResourcesAd2_FA.indd 1

4/8/15 5:46 PM

May 2015 « CONTENTS

COVER STORY 12 Q&A Len Jillard, CPO and corporate VP at McDonald’s APMEA, enlists family/ friends, flexibility and the future as the components of an EVP that can cater to each generation’s needs.

Features 16 Housing your talent needs Akankasha Dewan explores the various elements to take into consideration to ensure travelling employees can build a cosy home away from home.

28 Is it time for an HR upgrade?

In this ever-changing job market, Jerene Ang delves into how HR leaders can develop their own careers and skill sets to ensure they are at par with environmental changes.

Opinion 36 Learning & Development

16

As corporate landscapes in Asia shift, what does the future look like for the HR industry? Gary Lee, head of learning and development at Soo Kee Group, shares his views.

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

40 Unconventional Wisdom Art Direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee using Nikon D810 – www.elliotly.com

How can companies leverage the hidden potential of their aged employees?

Simon Chong, senior HR manager for MAN Diesel & Turbo Singapore, writes.

28

36

42 Upwardly Mobile Srikanth Chandrashekhar, head of talent management for Asia Pacific at Pall Corporation, expands on the areas HR leaders should focus on to lead transformation.

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

40

42

Regulars 3 Ed’s note 4 In the news 6 Suite talk 7 Spacial awareness

8 HR by numbers 9 Snapshot 44 Personal development 46 Shelf life

Any suggestions or tip-offs for Human Resources?

Email aditis@humanresourcesonline.net May 2015 « Human Resources «

1_Contents_MAY15_sub.indd 1

1

19/5/2015 1:05:18 PM

YOU COULD WATCH

120 YOUTUBE VIDEOS

ON EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

OR YOU COULD

TALK TO US We don’t just talk business, we mean business.

Power2Motivate is used by many of the world’s most recognised brands like Colgate-Palmolive, ANZ and LG. These companies trust Power2Motivate to provide world-class employee recognition programs that drive behavioural change and improve performance right across their business.

Talk to us today on 1300 366 768

www.power2motivate.com.au

EDITOR’S NOTE

regional editor senior journalist journalist sub editor contributors

Aditi Sharma Kalra Akankasha Dewan Jerene Ang James Foster Gary Lee John McAlpine Simon Chong Srikanth Chandrashekhar

regional art director

Shahrom Kamarulzaman

senior designer circulation executive regional directors

Fauzie Rasid Deborah Quek Karen Boh Yogesh Chandiranani Jaclyn Chua Naomi Cranswick

regional producers

Darren Beck Sharissa Chan Nikita Erpini Kenneth Neo Jenilyn Rabino

regional head of event services regional finance director group editorial director group managing director

Yeo Wei Qi Evelyn Wong Tony Kelly Justin Randles

SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE!

Human Resources is published 12 times per year by Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd. Printed in Singapore on CTP process by Sun Rise Printing & Supplies Pte Ltd, 10 Admiralty Street, #06-20 North Link Building, Singapore 757695. Tel: (65) 6383 5290. MICA (P) 178/08/2010. Subscription rates are available on request, contact the Circulation Manager by telephone: (65) 6423 0329 or by email to: subscriptions@humanresourcesonline.net COPYRIGHTS AND REPRINTS. All material printed in Human Resources is protected under the copyright act. All rights reserved. No material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the prior written consent of the publisher and the copyright holder.

Permission may be requested through the Singapore office.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in Human Resources are not necessarily the views of the publisher.

Singapore: Lighthouse Independent Media Pte Ltd 100C Pasir Panjang Road, #05-01, See Hoy Chan Hub, 118519 Tel: +65 6423 0329 Fax: +65 6423 0117 Hong Kong: Lighthouse Independent Media Ltd 1F Wui Tat Centre, 55 Connaught Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: 852-2861-1882 Fax: 852-2861-1336

To subscribe call: (65) 6423 0329 or go to: subscriptions@humanresourcesonline.net

Talking about talent This past month has seen a flurry of activity at Human Resources, as we have just wrapped up our signature conference, Talent Management Asia.

Held for the past three years in Singapore, the two-day event saw talent leaders across the region come together for the foremost HR challenges.

This year, we spread our wings to Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, making it the region’s largest talent conference, and packing in six solid days of learning and brainstorming.

As I pen this note, I can’t help but reflect on the days that have passed. Besides the perks of travelling to and hosting the event in three cities, the conferences unearthed some real treasures for us.

Louis Carter, one of the world’s leading leadership development specialists, got us thinking when he asked – why are we here?

“To make a dent in the universe,” was the unlikely answer that none of us were coherently able to express. Every one of us, he affirmed, must start by asking – why are we doing what we are doing. Infusing this sense of meaning into what we do is the basis of result-oriented organisations.

To make a difference to others, he suggested trying to feed-forward instead of feedback. “When you do that, people begin to listen! No one wants to know how lousy they did.”

Purpose was also the defining feature of a presentation by Jagmohan Singh, who heads HR for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders. The company’s business model is to save lives, he put simply.

Working in harsh conditions with extreme weather and insecure environments, managing aid workers at MSF is an altogether different way of life.

With more aid workers being kidnapped these days, the talent challenge for it lies in setting up crisis management systems to bring back the worker as well as offer psychological support.

“Being in this industry, we can’t afford high remuneration, hence, we highlight non-monetary benefits such as the experience,” he shared.

Back in a typical environment, Shalini Bhateja, the director of talent management at Schneider Electric, pointed out that companies tend to reward people for their success by continuously promoting them – up to a point where they fail.

Explaining that only 29% of organisations today have high performers with the potential for critical positions, she made a case for businesses rethinking the way they evaluate “potential”.

“If we don’t do anything today, nothing will change, and three years from now, when the role is open, the person will still have the skill gaps,” she said.

There were many others I could mention here – Shelley Alexander of FRHI Hotels & Resorts, who said: “If you’re not friends with your marketing department, you have to be.” There was Charandeep David, who heads L&D for Aircel Academy in India, who showed real returns on how much each training dollar invested had generated.

All in all, a fantastic month of learning. Do visit our website for some more of the insights.

In the past month, we also caught up with Len Jillard, who recently moved to Singapore to head the HR team at McDonald’s for the APMEA region.

For the company, which has recently announced a worldwide business restructuring, Jillard is clear the employee value proposition is underpinned by family/friends, flexibility and future – each of which is adjusted to the needs of the four generations in the workforce.

Happy reading, and we look forward to meeting you at our upcoming conferences.

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

HumanResources

Aditi Sharma Kalra Regional editor May 2015 « Human Resources «

3_Ed'sNote_MAY15_sub.indd 3

3

20/5/2015 6:27:23 PM

hrbulletin

News from humanresourcesonline.net

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN TRAVELLING FOR BUSINESS Business travellers are increasingly mixing business with pleasure, creating a nightmare for HR professionals.

Binge drinking is a favourite of Americans travelling for work, with men being more likely to indulge (33%) than women travellers (24%).

The survey by On Call International also found one in 10 business travellers admitted they had “picked up” a stranger at a bar, while on work-related travel. Here also,, men were more likelyy to be promiscuous (14%) compared red with only 8% of women.

Meanwhile, 2% of male travellers ellers claimed they had picked up a stranger in a bar “every timee they had travelled for business”.

However, these behaviours did id not stop at sex and alcohol. According to thee survey, 8% of travellers have lied to their employer yer about their activities while on a work trip. p.

DEMAND FOR FINANCE NANCE STAFF IN SINGAPORE PORE THE HIGHEST IN THREE REE YEARS Companies in Singapore are keenn to add additional finance and accounting, financial services andd IT professionals to their ranks in the first half of 2015 A new study by Robert Half stated 50% of firms planned to increase headcount in the next six months.

More than half of bosses stated plans to hire in the first half of 2015 – 52% in the banking and finance sector, 53% of employers in the commerce and industry fields and 50% of those in the technology industry.

The main reason for the increase in headcount was firms starting new projects.

Sixty four our per pe cent of bosses in the technology sector stated new initiatives was the top cause for the hiring outlook, followed by 59% in the commerce and o industry sector, and 54% in the banking and finance sector.

“Newly created positions are exciting roles for anyone seeking to make a name for themselves,” said Stella Tang, managing director of Robert Half Singapore.

SINGAPORE GETS ETS ANOTHER PUBLIC HOLIDAY AY FOR 2015 Adding to the 11 public holidays in Singapore this year, president Tony Tan declared Friday ay 7 August 2015 a public holiday in honour of the SG50 50 celebrations.

This will make for an extendedd jubilee weekend to celebrate the country’s 50 years of independence, over August A t 7 to t 10.

10 The announcement by the Ministry of Manpower stated the initiative would to participate in commemorating this special milestone “enable all Singaporeans Singa in our nation’s history”. h Locals can look forward to various special programmes over the jubilee weekend to be held h all over the island, such as the Marina Bay area, the Botanic Gardens and the Sports Hub.

ZZUCKERBERG’S UCKER SECRET TO HIRING G TOP TAL TALENT Want the best people to work for you? u? Then gett uld be willing to ready to hire only those who you would work for. This, Mark Zuckerberg says, s, is the secret to sifting out top talent during recruitment.

In a town hall with employees and partners, he was asked about how he recruits the best people.

“I would only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person,” was his response.

“This rule has served me pretty well.

“I think as long as you have that as your rule for picking the people you work with, you’re not going to go wrong.”

How do you know when it is the best time to delegate? This was another question posed to Zuckerberg.

As a general rule of management, he believes: “If you get someone who’s really good on your team, they’re going to need the ability to fully exercise their creativity and capacity, or else they will not have the biggest impact.”

At Facebook, he says he does this by keeping the team “as small and flexible as possible”.

Ready Software Ready Claim Ready Email Ready Timesheet

Ready Pay

Ready Leave

Ready Staff

Ready PayAdvice

Ready Asset-Audit

Ready Form

Ready Asset Ready Notice Board

Ready Software Pte Ltd, Tel: 68723287 Fax: 68725243 Email: sales@ready-software.com Website: www.ready-software.com

4

» Human Resources » May 2015

4-5_News_MAY15_sub.indd 4

15/5/2015 5:28:20 PM

WHY HR LOVES PERSONA-BASED RECRUITING

WOULD YOU HIRE SOMEONE WITH A ‘CUTE’ EMAIL ADDRESS?

Firms are now paying more attention to soft skills and personality types because technology offers a way for them in these areas.

Polling more than 2000 senior executives across 18 countries, Universum’s third instalment of the 2020 Outlook series found firms were prioritising things such as “personality” and “cultural fit” when hiring candidates – both of which were cited more often than degrees or grades.

Work experience, however, remained the top qualification (58%), followed by the personality profile (48%).

“In the last five years, incredible advances in technology have allowed C-level executives, talent managers and HR to build more nuanced profiles of prospective candidates and current employees than ever before,” the report stated.

“Nowadays, short, inexpensive surveys can assess qualities like creativity, patience, persistence and problem-solving. Some companies even use online games to test skills and fit.”

Cultural fit was also an important factor for many, with 39% of overall respondents saying it was an important qualification.

Have you ever looked at a resume and cringed at a weird email address? If yes, you are not alone, says new research from VU University, Amsterdam, which found that recruiters would not no hire someone with a “cute” email address or one with underscores.

They defined an informal email address as one that does not refer to the owner’s name, but b rather to a social, personality or mood aspect of the owner, such as those which include “Luv u” or “XOXO”.

The repor report explained the informal email addresses may ma have caused people to appear less honest and a humble, therefore lowering the impressions of the candidate due to this association with narcissism. narc “Recruiters should be aware of the “Rec inferences they make based on relatively basic characteristics, since these inferences resume ch not always be correct,” the report stated. might no

WHICH GENERATION SEARCHES FOR JOBS MOST FREQUENTLY? If you want to maintain your firm’s retention levels, clasp onto your Gen Y employees tightly. This generation is seeking new employment online more vigorously – more so than Baby Boomers and Gen X, says a new Hudson report.

Hudson tracked the job seeking activities online of nearly 8,000 US-based Fortunee 100 employees.

It generated a single metric for each respondent called a J-Score, J-S with a score of “4” indicating the lowest level of job seeking behaviour beha and a score of “70” the highest.

Gen Y were found to spend 100% of their time above the mean (10.32) J-Score, stood significantly higher than Gen X, who sto at 23.1% and Baby Boomers at 15.4%.

15.4 “If we simply compare by generation and by seniority level, the results align with the popularly held belief b that the younger or more junior the person, the more likely they are to be job hunting,” the report stated.

SINGAPORE’S LABOUR MARKET TO TIGHTEN ‘DRAMATICALLY’ Employers can expect Singapore’s local employment growth to slow dramatically in the next few years, dropping from the base of 95,000 last year to around 20,000 per annum in the last part of this decade.

With this in mind, the Minister for Manpower, Tan Chuan-Jin, stressed on the need for a lean workforce, while leveraging on technology to improve productivity.

The tightening of the labour market, started by the government in 2010, has moderated the growth of the foreign workforce from about 80,000 in 2011 to 26,000 last year.

“This is not because we have become manpower lean,” the Minister said.

Rather, companies have resorted to hiring more local workers instead of economising on manpower, leading to a locall employment growth of 95,000 in 2014, more than twice the 38,000 inn 2011.

While more jobs for locals was “a good thing”, ng”, Chuan-Jin warned companies this high rate of local hiring would not last due to the exit of Baby Boomers from the workforce.

“If businesses do not become manpower-lean, ean, if they do not become more productive, they will have great difficulties in finding enough manpower – be it local or foreign – to run their operations.”

May 2015 « Human Resources «

4-5_News_MAY15_sub.indd 5

5

19/5/2015 12:56:59 PM

WORK LIFE » People GET INTO THE BOSS’S HEAD

Puspita Winawati Singapore country manager Pocari Sweat

What has been your most memorable moment working here in the past four years?

I have been involved in the nutraceuticals (that is, nutrition and pharmaceuticals) business. Besides handling the Singapore market, I am also involved in developing new markets in other Southeast Asian countries.

Many working women are struggling to keep a balance between family and work, and that applies to me as well. Before I knew I was pregnant, I needed to travel overseas at least three times a month.

I was the first female employee in our company to give birth overseas, and I am truly grateful to my boss and colleagues for their support. Compared to other Japanese companies, Otsuka Pharmaceutical is one that supports women pursuing their career.

Having worked across Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, was it an easy transition in terms of management styles?

I feel very lucky for being able to experience working in three different countries. It definitely requires adaptation, but this has also helped to form my current working style.

In Japan, I learnt about teamwork. As the only non-Japanese in my division, I tried my best to gain a better understanding of the work culture, and realised that most of the Japanese have a strong sense of commitment towards their work and team.

In Indonesia, which is still far behind other advanced countries in terms of regulations and infrastructure, I learnt to handle matters with flexibility.

Each time there was a project, I would need to make a trip to the site to grasp the actual situation myself. Nobody can predict what will happen regardless of how well planned you are.

In Singapore, I picked up the ability to manage.

In our office, I could hear people communicating in English, Singlish, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tagalog and Indonesian.

Diversity is what I like about Singapore. While it helps to create new ideas and novel ways of thinking, it also pushes me to think of ways to maintain the motivation of a team made up of people from different cultural backgrounds.

6

With 70% of the company’s employees based out of the Japan HQ, how do you ensure cohesion with a vision?

Creating something new and bringing good health to the world are the key messages that every employee needs to understand and remember.

At the same time, our company supports the localisation of operations, and we are given the opportunity to explore new ways for our products to contribute to the local community.

I find this the right approach since the definition of a healthy lifestyle varies across countries.

With the company focusing on a health brand, how do you promote wellness internally for employees?

We seek opinions from healthcare professionals on the current health issues in Singapore, and share this knowledge with the team.

Learning more about health issues prompts us to think of ways to tackle these problems. This, in turn, gradually shifts our mentality towards living a healthier lifestyle.

Besides altering our mindset, we have also started participating in running events as a team.

believe that my job is to draw out the potential and strengths of individual members so they can contribute in different ways.

Have you had any mentor in your career?

For the past four years, I have reported to my Japanese boss, the president of PT Amerta Indah Otsuka, a subsidiary in Indonesia.

The most important thing he ever taught me was that I should always choose the harder and smarter option, not the easier and usual way.

He encourages me to do what other companies are not usually doing, and has given our team many opportunities to challenge new things. I am very thankful to him.

When you are having a tough day, what helps you de-stress?

Most of the time, I would go out and visit a place that I have never been to before. I am always curious about new things that I have noticed, even if they were minute changes in the environment.

How closely do you work with your HR team?

We do not have a HR team at our Singapore office, so we are dependent on the regional HR team.

They give us direction on HR policies and rules, while the local management has the authority to adjust them according to the situation here in Singapore.

Do you feel HR leaders can grow to become business leaders?

Yes, I strongly feel that HR leaders can become business leaders, especially for a company that places a focus on innovation.

The job of HR leaders is not just to hire new employees and conduct training. They also need a clear understanding of the company’s goals, and secure the necessary human resources to achievee these goals.

HR leaders are capable of changing the mindset, skills and knowledge of employees.

At the same time, they can also be involved in organisational changes to lead innovation.

How would you define your leadership style??

I am a strong believer of teamwork, not individualism. Our company’s achievement is our team’s achievement, and problems faced by our company are problems that our team needs to address.

I encourage my team to adopt a hands-on approach towards these issues, no matter what position they are in.

I also like to have diversity in my team. I try not to hire two persons of the same type, and

» Human Resources » May 2015

6_Suitetalk_MAY15_sub.indd 6

15/5/2015 5:42:27 PM

»

People WORK LIFE

Spacial Awareness

Giving you a competitive advantage Worldwide +

BREWING A BETTER CULTURE AT HEINEKEN

Talent Acquisition

+

Get your hires right the first time, every time.

Leadership Development

+

Transform your leaders.

Transform your business.

Succession ion Management Man anagement na t While designing its regional HQ in Singapore, Heineken Asia Pacific’s priority was to have a communication-friendly office. The company relocated to The Metropolis in January this year, to an office designed to facilitate better communication, said Yu Ping Yu, regional HR director of Heineken APAC. Communal spaces, as well as diner-style booths and round tables dot the office, offering a balance between openness and privacy.

Some interesting design aspects include a convertible ping-pong table, which doubles as a meeting room table, a punching bag and even a surf board table that exudes a “chill at the beach” vibe.

“Heineken Asia Pacific recognises many executives spend a lot of their time in meetings, and thus designed fun and cosy meeting rooms to keep productivity, creativity, inspiration and zest going,” Yu said.

As one might expect, the company offers employees a bar-style pantry, complete with a draught tap, foosball table and stocked fridge, serving as the location for townhalls or the monthly ‘Thirsty Thursday’ drinks sessions.

“This tops off our open-plan office theme, as it invites both executives and senior management alike to socialise and foster collaboration.”

Identify, accelerate, c an and develop op p your next ex generation g ti ti of senior n leaders. nior

www.ddiworld.com May 2015 « Human Resources «

7_SpacialAwareness_MAY15_sub.indd 7

7

19/5/2015 12:04:45 PM

WORK LIFE » HR by numbers

Branding crisis With little consensus about who owns the process, employer branding is suffering from an “identity crisis”, says a new report from Universum.

Polling more than 2000 senior executives worldwide, it found CEOs were at odds with HR about the role of employer branding.

Just 34% of respondents listed HR as being primarily accountable for employer branding.

58%

of HR executives believe that HR owns employer branding, while only about a third of CEOs agree.

30%

believe that marketing and corporate communications are primarily responsible for employer branding.

46%

of those in HR and recruiting said they expect/ prefer higher engagement from top management in the next five years.

KPIs

used to measure employer branding were mostly inward-facing, such as average retention rate (46%) and new hire quality (45%). HRMag@ft.ai 1 9/1/15 SIM-GE-265-T14

3:23 pm

Source: Universum

8

» Human Resources » May 2015

8_HRByNumbers_MAY15_sub.indd 8

15/5/2015 5:26:08 PM

»

People WORK LIFE

snapshot

15 minutes with ...

Sylvie Ackermann

Head of human resources goSwiff WHY DID YOU CHOOSE A CAREER IN HR? Interaction with individuals is my passion, and in HR, most of my days are filled with conversations with people. I am keen on resolving conflicts before they occur, and being head of HR allows me to take action when needed in order to avoid conflict situations developing further.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR WORK? We have a global team across five continents, and I enjoy building the organisation across cultures and continents, while meeting global citizens. This role gives me the opportunity to learn about different regions, various HR laws worldwide, and the differences in the countries when choosing the best working environment for individuals.

Something I feel strongly about is finding talent globally to support the company growth, while also supporting personal growth.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE A REGULAR WORKDAY AT YOUR COMPANY? Mornings I usually work with the Singapore team, while afternoons and evenings are dedicated to support the other regions.

With operations in five continents, there is something happening in every time zone, but fortunately our international team is used to time differences and finds ways to communicate across time and distance.

Currently, recruitment is a big part of my job because the company is growing extremely fast and we need to find the right talent to support it. This includes refining needs and job descriptions with recruiting managers, and briefing recruitment agencies. I am also involved in interviewing candidates, recommending the right people to management, and negotiating job contracts.

Career planning also takes a big part of my daily job. We are creating ways of rewarding good performance and highlighting exceptional team results.

WHAT IS THE BEST CAREER ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED? The best advice is what I would also like to pass onto my peers - go with your gut in your choice of career.

Try to follow your dreams to figure if they are right for you, and do not be afraid to change paths if you feel that you are not leveraging your full potential.

HOW DO YOU THINK THE HR FUNCTION WILL EVOLVE IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? Technology will play a big role in global HR processes, especially in growing companies that do not yet have all processes in place.

Most HR tools are often designed for bigger organisations and cannot be adapted to the needs of smaller, but global businesses – so there is a gap in the market for scaled down versions.

Companies need to align employees' needs with the needs of the business. People want to advance in their career much quicker than business needs allow, so HR needs to find a way to balance that.

May 2015 « Human Resources «

9_Snapshot_MAY15_sub.indd 9

9

15/5/2015 5:25:52 PM

WHITE PAPER » Leadership dership

HOW TO MAKE YOUR STAFF HAPPY EVERY DAY Global – Never underestimate the power of a simple “thank you” in keeping employees engaged.

While development opportunities, higher pay and better job security are good ways to boost engagement levels, a new study by Kronos revealed appreciating them regularly can help keep staff happy on a daily basis.

A US-based survey found that 40% of employees said a pay rise improved their motivation or general feelings of appreciation for

up to six months, while 30% said it made them happier for up to a month.

On the other hand, more than half said a “thank you” from their direct manager gave them high satisfaction at work.

This was nearly twice (28%) of those who said public recognition of a job well done would keep them happy, even if this recognition was tied to rewards such as a gift card or company award.

The highest sense of satisfaction, however,

was achieved upon receiving positive feedback from fellow employees at all levels, with 70% of employees saying it helps their morale, indicating that co-workers have as much power as managers to make fellow employees feel appreciated.

While half of respondents said positive feedback on their performance from their direct manager made them happy, a similar 49% also reported feeling satisfied upon receiving positive feedback from their co-workers.

INCOME NOT THE TOP PRIORITY FOR MILLENNIALS

Global – Contrary to popular belief, getting a high t p priority for job seekers in their salary is not the top f r Millennials. hunt for a new role – at least not so for Instead, creating an impact on the business was the top motivation for 23% of the 800 respondents polled in a recent report by Futurestep.

This was followed by “a clear path for advancement” (20%) and “development and ongoing feedback” (16%). Income only came in at fourth place with 13%.

When asked which factors would influence

What is the best way to recruit Millennials?

Social media

42%

Networking/word of mouth

28%

Online talent communities

19%

Job boards

5%

Mobile apps

4%

Job fairs

2%

Source: Futurestep

Millennials to choose one job over the other, 38% of respondents chose “visibility and buy-in into the th mission or vision of the organisation”.

Almost three out of 10 (28%) also chose a “clear path for advancement”, while 18% stated they would consider the title and pay of the company in question.

“This research demonstrates the changing priorities of today’s young workforce,” said Trish Healy, Futurestep vice president of RPO operations in North America.

10 » Human Resources » May 2015

10_WhitePaper_MAY15_sub.indd 10

15/5/2015 5:45:55 PM

THIS ARTICLE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ANNA TAN, WENTWORTH PEOPLE, ASIA

LEADERSHIP 3.0 IN A CHANGING WORLD What worked in the past will not work in the future. Our world is changing, evolving and transforming more quickly now than ever before. Technology enables us to do much more than we ever thought was possible.

This new world requires a new kind of leadership.

With new challenges, new solutions and techniques are needed to rapidly bring together the best minds within organisations – to innovate and create, and to be adaptive and agile. Customer demands and expectations now require faster responses and new product developments from companies.

Examples of global market leaders that failed to transform and adapt quickly enough include Kodak Film and Blockbusters who have now long disappeared.

Music, videos and books are now mostly delivered via the internet. Most of our interactions with each other have shifted and are now delivered through mobile device applications – including the merging of technology into wearable devices – integrating technology into our lives like never before.

Our world has changed significantly over the past 10 years and development continues at a breathtaking pace.

The message is clear: If you don’t disrupt your own business, innovate and challenge your current business model, someone else will steal your market share.

How can you better prepare your workforce, leadership and organisation to meet these challenges? Your advantage lies in adaptivity and agility. Companies that adapt and build flexible teams consistently outperform their peers.

Adaptive leadership

Technical leadership

You have to adapt, evolve and transform yourself. This will require a shift in your beliefs, values and identity as a leader. When you have mastered these new challenges they then become technical issues.

The first four steps 1. Review the KPIs of your workforce and leadership team. Do they encourage collaboration and shared success?

2. A shift of mindset is needed, aligned with a new set of purpose, identity, values and beliefs. Get external support and training to help facilitate the journey of mindset change.

3. Create safe environments where all views from your workforce are expressed; a culture where you can question the status quo.

4. Support an innovative and learning culture. Invest, nurture and cultivate.

The solution Traditional organisations

• Actively seek to partner and collaborate with other innovators.

• Are tunnel-visioned and stuck in their comfort zone.

• Seek improvement and do something different.

• Innovation is considered a nice-to-have, but not necessary.

• Willing to take calculated risks.

• Risk adverse, the need to maintain stability and status quo are of utmost importance.

• Continue to flog a dead horse to save egos and pride despite a dead business case.

VS

Adaptive organisations

• Value traditional ways of doing things – “if it’s not broken don’t fix it” mentality.

• Have stagnant internal systems, don’t like change which they see as a threat.

• Usually wait to adopt new technology and like to play it safe. Success is the responsibility of the CEO or equivalent.

• Allow constant learning from mistakes, try new ways, and fail fast.

• Terminate projects when the business case no longer stacks up.

• Embrace new technologies. If not an early adopter, they are likely to be a first or second follower.

• Creating an environment of curiosity and enquiry – everyone asks questions and listens.

• Success is a shared responsibility.

Know the difference between: Traditional leaders

Adaptive leaders

• Live in their comfort zone to maintain the status quo.

• Have a thirst of knowledge, constant learning and insatiable curiosity.

• Live in fear of the unknown and ignore the rapid change in the world.

• Have a desire to evolve, be more conscious and have a growth mindset.

• Live within their own model of the world and do not seek to expand it.

• Believe that “my win is your win”.

• Need to control/be in control.

Adaptive challenges • You are faced with new challenges/issues.

Traditional challenges • You know the problem.

• You know what to do.

• You use successful tried-and-tested solutions.

• You can remedy the issue.

“62% of top-performing companies say the most important factor to improve their organisation’s agility is the right leadership team.”

• You have limited or no prior experience of resolving them.

– Accenture, “Leadership Imperatives for an Agile Business” statistics, 2015 Wentworth People can help you become more agile and adaptive – ask us how

• Require new thinking, taking of risks, trying new ways.

• Require being agile to quickly learn and readjust as needed.

• You have to seek possible solutions outside your traditional realm of authority.

Find out more at www.wentworthpeople.com.sg or write to anna.tan@wentworthpeople.com

May 2015 « Human Resources « 11

11_BrandedContent_Wentworth_MAY15_sub.indd 11

19/5/2015 11:43:11 AM

PROFILE » Len Jillard

Len Jillard

Chief people officer & corporate VP McDonald’s APMEA Catering for change

By ADITI SHARMA KALRA

Art Direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee using Nikon D810 – www.elliotly.com

Q Having started behind the counter of a restaurant, what made you stay for another 43 years?

People ask me how I can possibly stay with one company for so long, certainly in today’s world that’s different and unique.

I describe my time here as many careers within one. McDonald’s provides different opportunities to try new things, as long as the individual is committed.

Each step of the way – development, coaching and mentoring has been first class. Anything you lack from a functional perspective, they shore up by training.

That’s so unique about the McDonald’s culture, that moving here from Canada has been a fairly easy transition.

There are nuances in culture and country, but it is still the same “McFamily”.

Q How did you get into HR from the storefront?

My background is from operations. While in university, I worked here part-time, mainly to continue playing hockey. It was great because McDonald’s provided me flexibility in my schedule, which no other part-time job offered.

After university, I went full-time as a restaurant manager, and soon moved to the training function in Toronto.

From there, I moved back into operations as an area supervisor, and later into the service side which deals with the owner-operators and franchises. That was a big step because from running corporate restaurants to dealing with independent business people required a different skill set to influence them.

VITAL STATS Len Jillard is a 43-year veteran at McDonald’s, starting out as a crew person at a store in Ontario.

He worked his way up, spending time in training, operations and management positions before taking up the role of chief people officer at McDonald’s Canada. In November 2014, he moved to Singapore to lead the HR team for the APMEA region.

I got an opportunity to move to Mexico as senior director of operations which I call my real-life MBA. This was right after the peso crashed, and to go in and help support the business that had been devastated overnight, was fascinating.

After three years, I moved back to Canada to handle a fairly large geography, and then moved on to become chief people officer, after the CPO retired.

I always had a lot of passion behind the people part of the business, understanding that nothing gets done if you don’t have the people motivated, trained and engaged to do the job.

I firmly believe in being an HR business partner. If you’re just going to be transactional, you aren’t providing the full value you can to the business. It’s very important that you understand and engage with the business and its leaders.

I got a call for this APMEA role last summer, so I talked to the boss, meaning my wife. She said it would be a good thing, and it has been very exciting.

The diversity, differences and the number of countries are in different stages of growth, and it is pretty cool to be part of that. Asia is positioned in a way for incredible growth in the years ahead.

Q What are the “McFamily” values that helped you make this transition?

The core values of McDonald’s align very much with my personal values, and that makes it easy to stay.

The commitment to our people is first and foremost. It’s not just about talk, but about living it in what we do daily.

It’s also very important that we operate our business ethically. Our approach is open and candid. There are things which can be done which might be easier, but that doesn’t make them right.

Giving back to our communities is important. I have gone through my career being involved with Ronald McDonald House Charities, and it’s an important thing for my wife and kids too.

Again, there’s that alignment with personal values, which makes our company values universal.

That doesn’t mean they are perfect, but what the values do is lead us. We expect them to be followed in actions and behaviours. They enable and empower people in our restaurants and offices to make decisions, using them as a filter.

In making the transition here, the people have been terrific – so welcoming, open and friendly.

However, it doesn’t diminish in any means the diversity and culture that exists in Asia. You have to be open and receptive to experience it, have fun with it and learn from it. On the personal and professional side, the growth in such a role is exciting.

There are nuances within each culture that you have to be aware of. I always ask questions to help me understand why they do things a particular way.

Q After having relocated here, what are your priorities for this region?

I have two goals, the first of which is under engagement and education.

The engagement piece is to really help people understand what it means to

12 » Human Resources » May 2015

12-15_Q&A_MAY15_sub.indd 12

15/5/2015 5:40:56 PM

12-15_Q&A_MAY15_sub.indd 13

15/5/2015 5:41:14 PM

PROFILE » Len Jillard

“It’s very important that we operate our business ethically.

There are things which can be done which might be easier, but that doesn’t make them right.”

be part of McDonald’s. I’m not sure they understand the opportunities available, and why I, for example, stayed for 43 years.

Engagement, on the other hand, relates to the customer. So we will look at how we engage employees there to embrace the brand, and how important what they do at the front of the counter is.

Tying in with that is education, which we have been working on in parts of the world, and Asia is starting to gain traction.

We have long been recognised for our development and training systems. When someone sees McDonald’s on a resume, they know the candidate is bringing in a skill set, particularly in retail and other customer-facing businesses.

They know our candidates are welltrained, know how to deal with customers and situations, and have a strong sense of teamwork, self-discipline and commitment.

They smile and enjoy what they do.

The education piece is how we provide more opportunities for them, whether they stay with us for a year or a career. Let’s train and teach them as best as we can.

If they stay with us, that’s great

because that will set the foundation for their future growth. If they choose to go somewhere else, that’s fine too, because we want them to look back fondly and say their best experience was at McDonald’s.

We are working with schools, colleges and universities towards accreditations to provide more opportunities for our staff.

The second big thing for us are the tools and experiences to ensure we are getting the best and brightest talent.

By 2030, the whole workforce dynamic will change so dramatically, so it is important to find individuals who are looking for growth opportunities.

Besides training and development, this will focus on opportunities to go down whatever career path they want.

families to learn about the career and development opportunities at McDonald’s.

Flexibility has different parts to it. For a mum, it means the ability to get her kids off to school and then come to work part-time, with flexible hours, and to be back home when the kids come home.

McDonald’s was also one of the first to begin hiring mature workers in the 1980s.

Career flexibility is another, where you’ve got to be able to do what you want to do. For example, at a recent golf tournament, I was talking to a young lady working part-time at our restaurant.

Waiting to tee off, I asked what she was studying at university, to which she replied, finance. I asked, why not join McDonald’s after you graduate?

She looked at me funny. I told her, we are a big company, we have lots of finance people and we need accountants, and requested her to keep my card.

The learning for me in that was that we don’t do as good a job as we could in explaining the opportunities that exist.

When it comes to the future, we’ve got the Millennials who are just looking for opportunities to build their career path.

In fact, 50% of all McDonald’s restaurant managers in Singapore began their career as a crew member.

What I find interesting about our EVP is that we can adjust it for the needs of all four generations that work at McDonald’s.

Q With such a vast mix of company owned and owner-operator stores, how do you plan to drive engagement?

Within the business, we have what we refer to as “plan to win”. It is a framework that provides consistency to our priorities, and cascade this down to what it means for the restaurant.

We spend a lot of time communicating how we’re doing to the franchisees and staff. We also have commitment surveys with the staff. We don’t just sit in the office reading reports. We go out visiting restaurants because that’s where it’s all happening. Even there, we don’t just meet the consultants and vice presidents, but the store manager and crew.

Q Will that focus on developing

Q How do you plan to communicate

careers define your EVP going forward?

Our EVP is underpinned by three things – family/friends, flexibility and future.

The first, family/friends, is a social component. Various activities are held to encourage bonding and for employees’

what the EVP offers to potential and internal candidates?

Externally, the recent Aon Hewitt recognition, as “best of the best” in Singapore, helped generate conversations.

One of our strengths as a company

14 » Human Resources » May 2015

12-15_Q&A_MAY15_sub.indd 14

15/5/2015 5:41:53 PM

Len Jillard « PROFILE is we are very humble. At the same time, we need to be more proud and loud of the great things we do.

Over time, you’ll see more proactive external communications. Internally, it is about reinforcing opportunities for staff and creating dialogues with them. I am very impressed with the way China and Singapore are doing that.

Q How do you guide the line or store managers to reinforce these?

It lies in finding out how often they talk to our staff about how we are performing on the business plan, and letting them know what’s coming in the short and long-term, and the role they can play.

Q A lot of companies this size try to get their employees together frequently. Do you do that?

We have a webcast coming up, featuring a quarterly update for the group. We also do town halls. Whenever I’m in town, we encourage the president or functional VP to set up a staff meeting. Inevitably, I get an email afterwards with specific questions.

Q I know it’s early days, but have you

12-15_Q&A_MAY15_sub.indd 15

identified any HR issues in this region?

I haven’t been shocked by anything. It is more about the degree to which a challenge is – for example, the staffing challenge may be a degree higher than what it was in Canada.

Different markets can have different staffing challenges for a multitude of reasons, but more often than not, it’s needing to get out there and letting people know what the EVP is.

Q How big is your regional HR team?

It depends on markets, since they’re closest to the customer. My team at the zone level is made up of 11 people, primarily in Singapore and Hong Kong.

We also leverage our global team in terms of policy design, while my team looks at a more strategic perspective.

You can’t paint Asia with one brush, so my team’s responsibility is to provide the markets with the tools they need.

Q Recently HQ announced new benefits for company-owned store employees. Do you have those planned for this region as well?

Each country and its needs are different.

What we do on an ongoing basis is assess what is happening in each market, what we need to address, and ensure we are a strong and committed corporate citizen.

We reflect on what needs to happen in each community. The teams here are very much on top of the particular issues in each market, and it comes back to the EVP.

Q The company is often questioned because of the nature of the fast-food industry. Is there something you do to educate your employees on wellness?

Here’s one of those opportunities we are getting better at – to educate our staff from a supply chain perspective, in terms of where we source our food, and the policies that exist within that.

More often than not, we meet or exceed government requirements. And we should be able to tell that through our quality story, not just internally, but externally as well.

A lot of our training covers awareness of the food safety perspective, both at the time of orientation and certainly through the business practices within the restaurant.

15/5/2015 5:42:13 PM

FEATURE » Top Serviced Apartments

An increasingly mobile workforce expects greater housing support from employers. How do companies zero in on the type of accommodation to offer? Akankasha Dewan explores the various elements to take into consideration to ensure travelling employees can build a cosy home away from home.

16 » Human Resources » May 2015

16-24_Feature_Talent_MAY15_sub.indd 16

19/5/2015 12:16:12 PM

Top Serviced Apartments « FEATURE he forces of globalisation have led to an undeniable and aggressive mobility revolution in the business landscape today. Driven by business and development needs, employees from all over the world are travelling across borders for varying periods of time.

According to the Brookfield Global Relocation Services’ Trends Survey 2013, companies are continuing to diversify their international programmes, with nearly all companies (96%) having long-term international assignments in place and most (86%) having short-term assignments.

While such opportunities are profitable for businesses, they only work if the needs of the travelling employees are supported and well met while they are away on company business – needs such as comfortable and convenient homes where this new mobile workforce can stay temporarily.

“Professionals on overseas work assignments seek accommodation that provides convenience in terms of location, facilities and services,” says Choe Peng Sum, CEO of Frasers Hospitality.

The need to cut costs Cartus’ fourth annual “Trends in Global Relocation: 2014 Biggest Challenges” survey highlighted, however, that providing accommodation for staff was, in fact, difficult for many HR and relocation heads worldwide.

Eliciting responses from 164 mobility managers based around the world, it found housing was the second top challenge encountered by such professionals – beaten only by controlling high relocation/assignment costs (77%).

Almost half (47%) of respondents stated lack of desirable housing and high rental costs were complicating the housing search.

May 2015 « Human Resources « 17

16-24_Feature_Talent_MAY15_sub.indd 17

19/5/2015 12:16:04 PM

FEATURE » Top Serviced Apartments But attempting to solve the problem by cutting down costs on accommodation is easier said than done, as highlighted by the Global Serviced Apartments Industry (GSAI) Report 2013/2014.

“Increased cost-cutting can cause an increasing ‘frizz’ factor for the traveller, in turn, reducing their effectiveness at work because they don’t have such a pleasant trip and feel undervalued,” GSAI said.

“Other journey-related costs such as breakfast and Wi-Fi can wind up making these cost-cutting initiatives counterproductive.”

So what can mobility managers do to ensure they provide employees with supportive forms of accommodation without exceeding their budgets?

Type and length of overseas assignments The first thing to look at, according to Yuen Keng Au, director HR for Central Asia at BD, is to analyse the motivations behind sending the employee overseas in the first place.

“Look at whether the person is being moved to fulfil a business need or an employee need.

That makes a lot of difference,” she says.

“If it’s a business need, the company should be willing to pay more in order to move and house the employee because the person is supposed to add value to the organisation.

With that, bosses are usually more willing to put in money.”

She adds the job profile of the employee being moved also plays a role in determining how much to spend on their accommodation package.

“If you are doing it purely for developmental purposes and for junior staff, then your package has to be very flexible. You can’t be paying tons of money to move the person,” she says.

Angela Li, lead of global mobility Asia at AECOM, agrees, and adds her company chooses the type of accommodation based on the duration of the assignment in question.

“Usually accommodation will be arranged in AECOM by different HR teams in different countries. It is all based on the project budget.

Senior employees will usually stay in hotels because they go on short-level assignments,” she says.

She adds, however, that when it comes to long-term assignments, it is better for employees to stay in serviced apartments.

“The main advantage is that serviced apartments are cost-efficient, especially since you can’t stay in hotels for months at a time.”

Deciding which features to offer Indeed, various research has pointed to the fact that serviced apartments are now an effective alternative to traditional hotels for companies looking to reduce their travel costs without compromising on the travelling employees’ safety and wellbeing.

“Demand for serviced apartments is stripping supply in many territories due in part to greater adoption of serviced apartments in corporate travel policies, but also to more apartment operators taking short-stay business (i.e. less than a week) away from traditional hotels,” the GSAI report stated.

For business users in particular, serviced apartments offer quantifiable benefits, the report added.

They provide a secure home-like environment making the traveller relaxed and therefore more productive. They also allow guests to customise the services they require, such as a laundry.

It is precisely such facilities HR leaders and mobility managers are looking for when choosing accommodation for their staff.

“There are a couple of main factors such as good service, spacious rooms, location of the property in relation to their office and facilities in the apartment (washing machine, cooking appliances, etc),” says Richard Tan, vice president of serviced suites, Pan Pacific Hotels Group.

Choe agrees, and adds it’s because of the availability of such a wide array of choices that serviced apartments are becoming more popular among companies today.

“With their priority focused on accomplishing their work assignment, living in a serviced apartment that helps them and their family settle in as seamlessly as possible into their new environment is of great advantage,” he says.

“HR and mobility leaders seek choice in selecting the right accommodation partner for their employees.

“This involves being able to provide the type of accommodation befitting the varying profiles and needs of their employees – from C-suite executives on long-term assignments to young business travellers on short to mid-length stays.”

He emphasises a particular feature to look out for when choosing accommodation for staff is a strategic location.

18 » Human Resources » May 2015

16-24_Feature_Talent_MAY15_sub.indd 18

20/5/2015 5:01:56 PM

FEATURE » Top Serviced Apartments This includes an apartment address within the key business district, surrounded by the city’s shopping, dining and leisure amenities with convenient public transport accessibility.

“It not only helps them reduce time spent commuting to work, but also enhances the whole experience of being in another country,” he says.

Business executives also seek serviced apartments that are well equipped with modern conveniences and efficiencies such as highspeed Internet connections, iPod docking stations, modern kitchen appliances and state-of-the-art home entertainment systems, he observes.

Additionally, having a comfortable workspace within the apartment and access to in-house business centre support provides professionals

with the flexibility of being able to work effectively from the comforts of their own home.

“Lifestyle facilities and value-added services that allow professionals to enjoy work-life balance without having to leave the premises is also a plus,” he says.

“These include 24-hour gymnasiums, swimming pools, sauna and steam rooms, outdoor recreational facilities and restaurants, housekeeping, room service, shuttle bus services, 24-hour concierge and security.

“Value-added services such as baby sitting services, family friendly activities and regular social and recreational get-togethers foster interaction among residents and make their stay abroad all the more meaningful and enjoyable.”

20 » Human Resources » May 2015

16-24_Feature_Talent_MAY15_sub.indd 20

19/5/2015 12:18:04 PM

EXPERIENCE GREAT WORLD, EXPERIENCE THE WORLD

GWSA_Top Serviced Apartments 210X280(H)FAC.indd 1

4/23/15 10:36 AM

FEATURE » Top Serviced Apartments Meeting employee expectations Au advises, however, the provision of such features should be made keeping employee demands and expectations in mind.

“If you’re taking a very high-level person over to another country then obviously even housing becomes an added perk, a benefit to the employee,” she says.

“If you’re moving a person overseas for development purposes, and this person knows they are coming for exposure – then usually they aren’t fussy.”

Her comments also encapsulate the obvious complexity involved in deciding which accommodation features to offer employees.

Knowing what employees themselves expect out of accommodation packages is crucial, especially because these expectations keep shifting over time.

In fact, Cartus’ survey revealed that altering employee expectations and attitudes, caused by factors such as changing demographics and a sense of entitlement, is the second biggest challenge that is faced by mobility managers today (45.2%).

The survey explained that employee demands and talent management goals are likely being intensified by the move to emerging market locations, where a more difficult assignment scenario can lead to increased employee demands for compensation or perks.

“This is why employee expectations are important. It really depends which country they come from. If they are coming from a very developed country then the expectations are high, but if they are coming from a developing country, then the expectations are quite low,” Au says.

Li agrees, and reiterates the situation can be very different from one country to the other.

“Even in Asia you have different tiers of countries. For example, you have employees living and moving within Indonesia and Singapore. So we have to make adjustments and correspond to different business expectations of each country,” she says.

Besides country of origin, the family status of travelling employees should also be taken into consideration when deciding the type of housing to offer staff.

“A lot of the junior talent are single, rather than with family – so they don’t need a huge house. If you get them a small apartment, or if they share apartments with other employees,

they don’t mind and are very accommodating.

They want the exposure and don’t mind housing,” Au says.

“But if you bring in a senior person, and the person is supposed to be turning around the business for you then they have expectations.”

Such expectations can range from the size of the apartment to proximity of grocery stores.

“At a higher level, people do expect conveniences. They feel they should be placed in locations that are a little more prime, where they are with their similar committee and similar status of people and it is convenient for them to get hold of home country goods and services,” she says.

She acknowledges, however, that most serviced apartments are already in prime locations, where service levels are good and pretty convenient.

“The only problem with them is that they’re expensive and the size is a little small – especially for those with bigger family sizes. They have difficulty trying to fit everyone in, and sometimes these issues make serviced apartments even more expensive for employers.”

Providing value-added services Despite such challenges, Au feels the value of staying in serviced apartments should not be overlooked as their facilities do serve as essential forms of support for relocated employees trying to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings.

“Initially, bosses do send employees to serviced apartments. This is because they want to provide staff with some basic conveniences while they start looking for a permanent house to settle in – they need time to make those decisions.

That’s why serviced apartments are probably the best option.”

Travelling schedules, therefore, of the individual in question, also matter when trying to decide the type of accommodation to allocate to them.

“Someone who travels all the time may not need a long-term apartment. The serviced apartments will give me the flexibility to live in for a couple of months before I go to another country. It can actually be cost saving if I travel 50% to 60% of the time and I don’t need a permanent house,” Au says.

Choe agrees, and states all advantages and disadvantages should be taken into consideration

22 » Human Resources » May 2015

16-24_Feature_Talent_MAY15_sub.indd 22

20/5/2015 5:05:01 PM

Now Defining Global Living in Singapore Our Serviced Residences in Singapore Ascott Raffles Place • Citadines Mount Sophia Somerset Bencoolen • Somerset Liang Court • Somerset Orchard

Ascott Raffles Place Singapore

Citadines Mount Sophia Singapore

From the spacious exclusivity of Ascott, to the vibrancy of independent city living at Citadines, or the pampering touches for the family at Somerset, there is a serviced residence designed to make you feel at home. Because life is about living.

Somerset Liang Court Singapore

Enjoy Ascott’s Best Rate Guarantee | www.the-ascott.com | +65 6272 7272

With three award-winning serviced residence brands, we welcome you to enjoy our renowned hospitality in more than 200 properties in over 80 cities spanning more than 20 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Gulf region.

FEATURE » Top Serviced Apartments when choosing the right type of accommodation for staff.

“Everything is taken into consideration when it comes to assessing value – from the proximity of the serviced residence to the office, to the size and space provided, the range of in-house facilities, value-added services offered and the length the team is willing to go to help the employees get comfortably settled abroad,” he says.

Tan agrees, and adds stepping into the shoes of travelling staff and imagining their day to day lifestyle may help employers in deciding which features to offer employees.

“Look at whether the person is being moved to fulfil a business need or an employee need. If it’s a business need, the company should be willing to pay more to move the employee because the person is supposed to add value to the organisation. With that, bosses are usually more willing to put in money.”

– Yuen Keng Au, director HR, Central Asia at BD

“Choose a location that is central and close to the office. Look out for facilities within the apartment as the assignee usually spends quite a lot of time in the apartment resting after a long day at work. Modern furnishing is important for a contemporary feel,” she says.

“Ensure that service is good for the accommodation as well, as the front desk has the largest contact with the guests throughout their stay.”

Crafting the perfect accommodation package Despite all these considerations, Au adds there is no one overarching solution to designing a perfect accommodation package. Customisation of benefits is integral, based on the needs of the employee in question.

“At BD, we follow a flexi-benefits policy. We do offer an overarching sea of benefits, but we allow them (employees) to make selections from the options offered,” Au says.

“Maybe the employee is single and so

conveniences matter more to him or her than the size of the house. They are willing to downgrade the size of the house, but prefer a better car, as compared to someone with a bigger family, who needs a bigger house, but doesn’t need such an expensive car.”

Employers should, therefore, allow staff to make a personal selection of choices as opposed to having fixed benefits.

“Essentially, you are providing a customised package for all – but if you do do that, it must be supported by good administration and good systems.

“The overall package is the same. However, the details of the variations we offer will change according to the needs of the individual and of his family.”

When it comes to selecting the accommodation partner bosses wish to use to provide housing for their staff, however, Choe believes the process can be made more streamlined and stable.

“In overcoming the increasing challenge of making relocation booking decisions, HR and mobility leaders need to have the confidence of choosing a brand that has the right credentials, not only in the country that they are looking at, but also globally,” Choe says.

A few key considerations to take into account include, first, a successful brand with a proven track record and a growing global footprint.

Such a brand demonstrates a strong demand for the services that they are providing, and also the fact they understand what it takes to meet the needs of the relocation market.

“Industry recognition and guest satisfaction are also important benchmarks to base your decision on, as these are votes of confidence that demonstrate commitment to service excellence which are critical to ensuring the successful stay of your assignee,” Choe says.

He adds accessibility to information and ease of booking through online websites are also tools of information that HR leaders can use in the process.

“These are designed to make your job easier,” says he.

“And it means the brand has a thorough understanding of the importance of meeting the needs of the customer, and is an extension of the level of service that can be expected on the ground, particularly if it also provides channels for feedback and enquiries that are responded to efficiently,” he adds.

24 » Human Resources » May 2015

16-24_Feature_Talent_MAY15_sub.indd 24

20/5/2015 5:05:11 PM

FEATURE » Top Serviced Apartments

HOTELS VS SERVICED APARTMENTS Akankasha Dewan summarises a few elements bosses can consider when providing accommodation for travelling staff.

For the thousands that have tried them, serviced apartments are increasingly being viewed as the more desirable short-stay alternative to hotels.

However, the hotel habit is not one that many travellers are willing to give up lightly. They’re convenient for sure. So how can serviced apartments measure up to the pleasure of renting a “home away from home” for employees? Here are a few pointers which may help.

POSITION IN CAREER Serviced apartments are often preferred by younger employees sent overseas for training purposes.

Not only are younger staff more willing to house together with other single employees, they are also less likely to be fussy about the quality of accommodation provided to them.

STABLE SUPPORT SYSTEM Of critical importance to the business traveller is booking an apartment which supports their travelling lifestyle.

Employers should look out for a location which is within the key business district, surrounded by the city’s shopping, dining and leisure amenities with convenient public transport accessibility.

LENGTH OF STAY For stays of a week or more, serviced apartments are significantly cheaper than hotels.

Serviced apartments also offer many modern amenities which the majority of luxury hotels do not, such as fully equipped kitchens with self-catering facilities, patios or lounge areas with living room furniture, etc.

26 » Human Resources » May 2015

26_Feature_TopServicedApartments_Infographic_MAY15_sub.indd 26

20/5/2015 5:06:09 PM

FEATURE » Leadership

In th this ever-changing job market, HR leaders spend mos most st oof their time trying to help employees develop while often overlooking their own career ttheir heir careers car de development. evelopme Jerene Ang delves into how HR leaders can de develop evelop their th own careers and skill sets to ensure they are at par with environmental changes. ar

28 » Human Resources » May 2015

28-32_Feature_Leadership_MAY15_sub.indd 28

19/5/2015 4:20:56 PM

Leadership « FEATURE hile many say HR is relatively slow to evolve, it has progressed greatly since the turn of the millennium.

Initially only known as the policemen of policy, HR leaders are now increasingly becoming business partners, playing significant roles in driving organisational objectives.

Part of driving organisational processes is ensuring the organisation has a solid succession pipeline, and as such, many HR leaders play a big part in developing their employees’ careers.

But how are they developing themselves to stay ahead of the trends?

According to a study by IBM in 2013 – “New expectations for a new era: CHRO insights from the global C-suite” – an area HR should be moving towards is using analytics to manage talent and working together with other functions within the organisation to find new value and capabilities in the organisation.

Peter Hatt, regional head HR, ASEAN at Standard Chartered Bank, believes that in the past three years, HR has helped leadership teams make better decisions by building capability around business intelligence tools, data insights and analytics.

“HR needs to continue on this journey using evidence-based data insights, including techniques such as predictive analysis to help line managers make good people decisions and help understand the ‘pulse of the organisation’,” he says.

Lau Yin Cheng, cluster director (for the HR and OD cluster) at Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), agrees and confirms HR has been working more and more with other functions in the business.

“HR leaders need to be able to pull together the various functions to better enable the business outcome, be it for organisational restructuring, being involved in mergers and acquisitions or a switch in strategy that requires new capabilities.”

Hatt observes another way that HR has evolved lies in the maturing of the HR business partner models which help drive sustainable business outcomes.

“HR professionals have been spending more of their time understanding the business needs to help shape the people agenda, spending less time on transactional HR activity, and are being an effective partner to the business,” he says.

Additionally, he notes the HR function increasingly leverages on technology to help

May 2015 « Human Resources « 29

28-32_Feature_Leadership_MAY15_sub.indd 29

20/5/2015 5:08:24 PM

FEATURE » Leadership

Practice until perfect: Exceptional HR comes from understanding your stakeholders.

drive scalable HR products and processes, including in the areas of performance, reward, talent and succession management.

“HR technology is a real enabler for organisations, allowing the HR function to reduce manual interventions and free up HR practitioners’ time to focus on driving sustainable business outcomes through the people lens.”

Think you’re competent enough?

To keep up with the pace of change in the HR function, what are some of the competencies HR leaders need to have?

According to another report by IBM – “Unlock the people equation: Using workforce analytics to drive business results” – less than 20% of organisations are currently able to apply predictive analytics to address people issues.

Moreover, it stated that more than 40% of organisations are presently limited to basic HR reporting capabilities.

On this, Shweta Shukla, Facebook’s head of HR for India and Southeast Asia, says that more important than metrics are the conversations they generate.

“In Facebook, we don’t conduct massive HR business metrics reviews every month,” she says.

“Instead, we have regular conversations with our leaders, where we bring in relevant insights valuable for them and which speaks to the current context.

“That’s a much better way of engaging your business because if you show things such as ‘attrition is 5%’ without any insight then what do you really want them to take away from this?

Otherwise we can get all lost in data and it can become an end in itself.”

She reflects that in her role as the head of HR, another skill HR leaders need is to be able to ask the right questions.

“A majority of the time, you play the role of a coach. I’m not saying you should have the answers to everything, but you should have the ability to ask the right questions and bring in insights from what you have learnt from other businesses.”

Another skill she brings up is to be solution focused – solving problems instead of throwing policies at them.

She thinks the more an HR leader is sought out to solve business problems, the better they will get at their jobs.

“It is very easy for you to fall into this zone if you keep throwing policies at people in response to their questions; it is the best way to get rid of people who are looking to seek your views,” she clarifies.

It goes without saying that to be able to ask business leaders the right questions and to solve problems, a deep knowledge of the business is needed.

“Most people working here are very smart. They know how to get their jobs done, but the part about being exceptional lies in understanding your stakeholders and knowing what they expect from you,” she says.

“It is fundamentally important for an HR business partner not to just understand the business, but also to connect the dots.”

In addition to understanding the business, she feels that an HR leader also has to be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

“What that means is, in every conversation you get different pieces of information about the business and its people. You should be able to connect the dots and go back to your business, show them the value and identify possible solutions.”

Hatt agrees and says: “Increasingly HR leaders need to think about their contributions at the franchise-wide level, not just their domain expertise.”

Lau also thinks it is important for HR professionals to know the business. He sums up what HR professionals need.

“One, know the business better than the business itself. Two, know the people better than their managers. And three, know yourself better than the others.”

30 » Human Resources » May 2015

28-32_Feature_Leadership_MAY15_sub.indd 30

19/5/2015 12:23:09 PM

Leadership « FEATURE According to Shukla, another skill necessary for HR leaders is objectivity and the ability to make tough decisions.

She is of the opinion that instead of being the most well-loved HR person, HR professionals should “put people and business objectives in the centre. Then, ask the right questions, instead of moving in any one direction”.

“As an HR business partner you have to be very objective because you are the voice of reason and rationality. Deep employee trust is only generated if you display objectivity in all your interactions,” she says.

If the competencies mentioned above look all too familiar, Hatt says: “I think the competencies required haven’t changed significantly. It is more that we just have to get better at them.”

Take ownership of your own career Now the skills and competencies are all laid out, what should HR professionals do to move up the career ladder?

IDA’s Lau advises: “My personal philosophy is that as an HR professional, focus on enjoying your job and delivering value, then the promotions and recognition will come.”

In his opinion, HR being a helping function, should “focus on what is in the best interests of the organisation and its people”.

When it comes to picking up the skills needed to be a good HR leader, his take is that the best approach is the “aspiration approach”.

On the topic of career progression for HR leaders, he says: “I feel it takes both sides, one is the individual having the interest and desire to contribute. On the organisation’s side, it’s really about creating the environment to allow people with the aspirations to want to learn.”

Shukla is also of the opinion HR professionals have to take ownership of their careers.

Hence, when she has discussions with people in her team about their career growth and development, she usually starts from their career goal and works backwards.

“We want everyone to have a career vision and a lot of conversations are centred around that. So most of my discussions are about the career goal they have in mind and then working backwards from there,” she says.

Hatt is also of the opinion HR professionals should be the drivers of their own careers.

Frustrated when he hears people

May 2015 « Human Resources « 31

28-32_Feature_Leadership_MAY15_sub.indd 31

15/5/2015 5:38:49 PM

FEATURE » Leadership complaining about their job, he advises: “If you don’t like what you are doing, then do something about it.

“We are in the driving seat for our own careers. The organisation can help you manage your careers and give you opportunities, but we must take ownership of our own careers – no one else can do this for you.”

Specialist or generalist?

Another hot question on the theme is the route HR professionals can take when progressing in their careers.

Shukla is of the opinion there is no set path to success and that being a specialist and a generalist can lead to success.

“My learning is that the decisions that we took, whether it’s about structure, or the people in it or introducing new programmes, it was about helping leaders make the right call at the right time by asking the right questions and putting the right data in front of them.”

– Shweta Shukla, head of HR at Facebook, India and SEA

“You can succeed both ways because gone are the days where you needed to be a generalist to succeed. Deep expertise is equally valued and functional leadership is very valued too.”

An often overlooked aspect about career progression, she points out, is leadership.

Her advice is to be very open about these things, “because at the end of the day, a lot of your growth is dependent on the leadership skills along with your subject matter expertise”.

Reflecting on her career, she says: “Every day I know that if I am growing, it’s not just because I understand my own discipline, but it’s also because I am developing my leadership skills. How am I connecting the dots, how am I influencing and helping my business leaders take better decisions.”

Hatt agrees and says: “There are many opportunities for HR professionals within HR and outside of HR. “You can have very successful and fulfilling careers going down the generalist route, whether it is being an HR business partner at a global,

regional or country level or becoming a country head of HR. “At the same time, you can have a very successful career going down the specialist route whether it is in talent acquisition, performance, reward and benefits, HR service delivery, employee relations, HR risk management, talent and learning or HR data analytics.”

He also feels it’s possible for HR professionals to take up C-suite roles later in their careers.

“In HR, we are in a privileged position in that we often get to see things at a macro and franchise-wide level,” he says.

“There are not many roles which can give you this opportunity and visibility and I think HR practitioners can gain valuable skills and critical experiences that are required at the C-suite level.”

Looking towards the future After this discussion about competencies and career paths, Shukla has some suggestions for the way forward.

Shukla points out the concept of knowing the business and being a business partner is expected to remain, with more to be done in that aspect.

“The concept that we need to partner with our business has not changed, but there is still room for evolution,” she says.

“My learning is that the decisions that we took, whether it’s about structure, or the people in it or introducing new programmes, it was about helping leaders make the right call at the right time by asking the right questions and putting the right data in front of them.”

In addition, she is also passionate about how technology will impact the culture of the organisation in the future, not just for tech companies, but also for financial services organisations as well as consumer goods companies.

“The significance of real-time communication is clearly evident as it directly impacts the quality of decisions being made by your workforce.

“Organisation structures and decisionmaking processes also impact how well an organisation is able to adapt to the digital, social world,” she says.

“There are increasing questions around work structures and decision-making hierarchies making their way into the digital transformation discussion. HR can play a very pivotal role in decoding these changes and helping organisations deal with it. The future belongs to those who can hack this.”

32 » Human Resources » May 2015

28-32_Feature_Leadership_MAY15_sub.indd 32

19/5/2015 12:29:47 PM

FEATURE » Leadership

CASE STUDY: FACEBOOK Shweta Shukla, Facebook’s head of HR for India and SEA, reveals, in this conversation with Jerene Ang, that opportunities for HR leaders get carved out based on the experiences they are looking for.

As a philosophy, the way Facebook grows careers in HR is no different from how it grows careers for the rest of the company, says Shweta Shukla, head of HR for India and Southeast Asia.

The fi rst aspect that defi nes an HR professional’s growth in the company are the experiences they gather, the depth of understanding of the business they are working with and their ability to navigate ambiguity.

“Opportunities get carved out for people based on the experiences they are looking for,” Shukla says.

The second aspect is strength alignment, where the idea is to understand where an employee’s strengths lie, and then build their role around them.

“We don’t let job descriptions restrict us from giving people the experiences they are looking for,” she says.

As a result, while each job has a core element to it, there is another part of the role where they can play around with different things in the form of short projects or rotations.

“Many organisations look at typical career paths to help defi ne how vertical growth can happen,” she says.

“Instead, we look at experiences, skills and strengths and how we can help people move closer towards their career goals. Our big message to everyone – make your experience at Facebook count and think about how it aligns with the broader objectives you have set for yourself.”

The HR business partner organisation Shukla is part of conducted a skills inventory a few years ago to identify the skills the team needed to progress by asking everybody to rate themselves on them.

“We then looked at the average team score and where these scores needed to be in order to be successful HR business partners.

“Those who thought they were good at something were encouraged to advise others in the form of global mentor roles.

“Th is really helped us crowd-source wisdom and build cross-border partnerships, and was most helpful to those who proactively used these resources.”

HR leadership, when a few years ago she was making the transition from an India-based role to a regional role.

She was provided with an external coach, someone who was a very successful business leader previously and is now a leadership coach.

“I wanted to talk to somebody who had gone through an interesting career journey. It was a pretty detailed assignment, where my coach reached out to my manager as well as my manager’s manager for inputs.”

Clearly, while the company believes that role-specific competencies are important, there is a broader aspect to the development of HR professionals – “which is about where employees want to be in their careers – their bigger goal in life and how they will get there”.

“Don’t get me wrong, we love career paths where you can get from X to Y, but sometimes they become too rolespecific. Th is limits what you learn as a professional.

“Our way of thinking can help you broaden your view, as you grow your career and not just grow in a role.”

Th is is backed by individual development plans that are run rigorously across the APAC region.

“It captures the kind of experiences an employee wants to gain, so they can speak to their manager as well as their L&D coach to identify their short-term and longterm plans.

“We defi nitely want to have more of those types of conversations within HR,” says Shukla about the way forward.

Personal story of development Mentoring and coaching (both external and internal) are encouraged for HR professionals at the company. Besides, this exercise drives home a point that has been well established – growth is self-driven.

She takes the example of her own journey towards

34 » Human Resources » May 2015

34_CS_Facebook_MAY15_sub.indd 34

18/5/2015 11:19:37 AM

AT689_CCL May OE AD-P3b FA OL Low Res.pdf

1

30/4/15

2:54 pm

OPINION » Learning & development

How HR can prepare for the unknown GARY LEE Head of learning and development Soo Kee Group

As corporate landscapes in Asia and the world shift, how can HR equip itself with the right skill sets to overcome the challenges of change? Gary Lee shares his view.

An even playing field: Newer technologies have impacted companies of various sizes with advantages and disadvantages.

36 » Human Resources » May 2015

36-37_L&D_MAY15_sub.indd 36

19/5/2015 12:59:20 PM

Learning & development « OPINION

Newer technologies have made certain industries redundant and created new ones. It has also evened the playing field for companies of various sizes and created new advantages and disadvantages for organisations.

For HR, the challenge is that employees have skills today that may not be relevant for tomorrow’s challenges. This is made harder with the fact that HR practitioners today have to prepare and plan for the unknown.

Some questions HR practitioners have about this include the following: • What does the future look like for my industry?

• What capabilities are required for organisational sustainability?

• What are my staff’s current skill sets?

• Are they prepared for tomorrow? If not, do we have initiatives to help them be better prepared?

An interesting phenomenon has surfaced in 2015 for the labour market in Singapore.

The newspapers report more job vacancies are available as companies struggle to fill manpower demands, while recruiters are claiming a quieter job market as compared to the same period last year.

Who is telling the truth about the current state of the job market?

“For HR, the challenge is that employees have skills today that may not be relevant for tomorrow’s challenges.”

Review interview procedures I do believe it is both as companies are taking much longer to fill positions, especially for mid-management and above. An average hiring period of about two months has lengthened to up to six months.

A suggestion I received from HR professionals I met at a recent conference was to promote from within rather than hire from external sources. There are merits to both approaches and it is important to have a balance between the two.

To manage change, HR may want to adopt mentoring and reverse mentoring for informal cross-learning so that knowledge can be shared within the organisation rather than sourcing for external providers.

Promotion from within will mean the existing organisational culture can continue to grow and it will take less time to immerse the newly promoted individual in the new role.

On the other hand, hiring from external sources can bring about expertise that was previously unavailable in the organisation. At the same time, this individual may not be a good fit with the culture and may cause more harm than good.

Another suggestion I heard involved reviewing interview procedures to better measure the fit of the candidate. Asking soft skill-related questions can help better indicate a person’s behaviour and language at the workplace, which serves as a more accurate determinant of a culture fit.

Increase engagement through transparency Many HR professionals understand the importance of staff engagement as part of talent retention.

But there remains little emphasis on it because it is difficult to measure the effects of staff engagement initiatives.

Some HR practitioners confuse engagement with happiness. As such, their initiatives are geared towards deriving staff happiness rather than engagement. So what can HR do instead?

Promoting transparency, and open, honest communication can increase staff engagement.

By using various communication media at a regular frequency and sharing information about the state of the organisation, and its future plans and profitability, employees will feel greater ownership about being an important part of it and thus be better engaged.

May 2015 « Human Resources « 37

36-37_L&D_MAY15_sub.indd 37

19/5/2015 12:33:42 PM

OPINION » People issues

How to become an employer of choice If building a solid employer brand is your priority, here are some strategies to ponder.

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

Learning ladders: Targeted learning programmes work well for graduates.

With J.P.Morgan being a large, global and professional organisation, this makes us unique and attractive to prospective candidates. The culture provides lots of opportunities for people because of our strong global brand.

They have the opportunity to be brand ambassadors across the organisation. It’s not an expectation, but the result of the employees’ experiences here. It is part of our DNA. Additionally, not only is the culture in the bank very open and collaborative, but it is also home to a lot of great talent.

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

We also invest in technology, whether it’s in the way we work or the way we communicate, and we are constantly upgrading. This might come in the form of client-facing technologies such as J.P. Morgan Markets or our remote working technology that allows staff to access their desktop from anywhere.

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

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

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

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

Complementary to this, we spot trends. That means to analyse what our potential candidates will look for every year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With some of the other mediums used, we also track web analytics, our social media engagement and the event participation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

38 » Human Resources » May 2015

38_PeopleIssues_MAY15_sub.indd 38

19/5/2015 12:26:41 PM

Singapore:

2 July 2015, InterContinental Singapore

Kuala Lumpur:

9 July 2015, Sheraton Imperial KL

Hong Kong:

29 July 2015, Hotel ICON Hong Kong

Asia’s Most Exclusive Recruitment Conference In its third year, Recruitment Interactive 2015 will once again bring you a line-up of recruitment superstars to share their insights into some of your biggest challenges through keynote presentations, panel discussions and interactive roundtables.

Take full advantage of this opportunity to learn from the best, and join over a hundred other business and HR leaders from across Asia Pacific as they gather together to map the route to attracting and securing the best talent.

• • • • • •

Adopting the talent pipeline approach Talent branding for hiring Catering to a candidate driven recruitment marketplace Technology & innovation Perfecting your talent acquisition process Recruitment outsourcing

Sponsors

Request Your Complimentary Invitation at www.recruitmentinteractive.asia

RI2015_Print Ad.indd 1

20/5/2015 7:28:06 PM

OPINION » Unconventional wisdom

Dispelling myths about the older workforce SIMON CHONG Senior HR manager MAN Diesel & Turbo Singapore

Older workers can be tapped on for their hidden potential, given their vast accumulation of experience, knowledge and skills.

The way to wisdom: Older workers can assume the role of mentors and teachers to transfer knowledge to younger colleagues.

There is a popular Chinese saying which advocates that having an elderly person in the household is akin to possessing a piece of treasure.

Here at MAN Diesel, we believe this saying extends to the workplace. Many may raise eyebrows at this.

The presence of older workers in the workplace is often associated with negative stigmas of ageing – decline in movement and intellect, loss of value, lack of productivity, or worse, disability.

As a company that has had a history of employing and reemploying older workers, with one third of our workforce aged 50 years old and above, I would very much like to dispel this myth for my fellow HR professionals.

Our hiring practices at MAN Diesel & Turbo Singapore are reflective of a strong family culture. Every individual is valuable to us, with a different set of skills to offer and a different role to play.

Integrating senior workers in our culture Older workers are very much a part of this family.

In fact, they form an unwavering pillar for the organisation, premised upon their vast accumulation of experience, knowledge and skills.

The younger employees join the company bright-eyed and

bushy-tailed, eager to start work straight away – but they begin from zero. As fresh entrants, they need coaching and guidance from senior employees – and that is where the older workers step in to contribute.

As such, the older workers in MAN Diesel often assume the critical role of mentors, teachers and advisors. They are an infallible part of the system that helps with knowledge transfer to their younger colleagues.

Beyond that, they have the ability to sharpen and perfect the skills of the younger workers due to their vast prior experience in the industry.

Take Yap Chee Siong for example, an assistant workshop manager at MAN Diesel who has been with us for more than 30 years now.

At 66, he mentors the younger engineers and on top of that, continually ensures his skills are up to date by taking part in company training and development opportunities.

His technical knowledge enables him to troubleshoot faster than a lesser experienced colleague, but he does not hoard his expertise to himself.

He patiently coaches the newer hires and, in fact, learns from them as well.

“By allowing me to guide the young engineers, I get a

40 » Human Resources » May 2015

40-41_UnWisdom_MAY15_sub.indd 40

19/5/2015 11:46:47 AM

»

Unconventional wisdom OPINION chance to practise, stay mentally sharp, and learn from their mistakes,” he says.

Indeed, we are encouraged by his thirst to learn and to continually upgrade himself. He has been a valuable treasure to the MAN Diesel family.

The importance of diversity The MAN Diesel company culture is centred on diversity and inclusiveness.

Inclusiveness is key to understanding how employees’ differences and similarities can be mobilised for the benefit of the individual, the organisation and even society as a whole.

We also recognise that different approaches are needed for different individuals with varying needs and expectations, and older workers are no exception.

It is important that we place value on differences, as opposed to just being concerned with having all of our employees “fit in”.

MAN Diesel exemplifies this as we have employees from 15 different nationalities, and our workforce is a multi-generational one – about 35% of the workforce is aged below 40, and 35% of our employees are aged 55 and above.

We have also continued to offer re-employment to older workers since 2009, and have retained eight employees above 61 years old.

This is because, despite their age, older workers continue to be an important treasure to the company due to their wealth of experience and the diverse perspectives and skills they can bring to the table.

Maintaining employee engagement levels It is important that we base our hiring practices on merit, so as to ensure a happy and motivated workforce. This has also translated into resignation and absenteeism rates being way below the industry average.

In 2012, MAN Diesel was the Special Mention Recipient for the Outstanding Leadership in Supporting Fair Employment Practices category in the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) Exemplary Employer Award 2012.

This award recognised and applauded outstanding organisations that have implemented fair, responsible and inclusive employment practices in the workplace. However, receiving this recognition was not what we as a company took the most pride in.

Instead, it was the fact our own employees had to first nominate us for this award that encouraged us. This internal affirmation from our own people assured us that we were on the right track and in the right direction.

We are confident that the way we respect all our employees regardless of differences in age or nationality has resulted in the strong family culture we enjoy at MAN Diesel today.

In particular for older workers, we have always and will continue to see them as an important foundational pillar for the company.

They bring with them a vast wealth of experience that their younger colleagues can tap on, and life lessons that even we, as senior management, can benefit from.

50 years of welcoming you to our world Discover how we support your team and prepare your people for every assignment In fifty years we’ve learned a lot about what makes relocations more successful for everyone.

With experienced and knowledgeable people on the ground in more than 60 countries we support your program and take good care of your people: • • • • •

Complete service to integrate with your HR strategy Relocation policy support and benchmarking Active relocation management Personal support for assignees throughout the process A personal service at origin and complete support to aid settling in at destination

Tel: +65 6861 6818 | singapore@crownrelo.com

Go knowing www.crownrelo.com/singapore

May 2015 « Human Resources « 41

40-41_UnWisdom_MAY15_sub.indd 41

19/5/2015 11:46:57 AM

OPINION » Upwardly mobile

How to become an HR leader 2.0 While we have been talking about HR transformation for organisations, true change starts from within.

SRIKANTH CHANDRASHEKHAR Head of talent management for Asia Pacific Pall Corporation

of your business can go a long way in engaging leaders within and outside, and not only helps you attract potential candidates, but it also transforms your image as an HR professional.

Tips to act: Use one of the many news apps on your mobile devices to read industry news, stock prices, analyst views, etc.

Internally, spend time with your sales intelligence team members.

Making your way: You don't need a CFA degree to read annual reports.

A few months ago, I was approached by a famous multi-billion dollar corporation for a regional leadership position in HR. Upon inquiring further, I was informed the HR team only consisted of recruiters and this position was being introduced to primarily enhance the hiring ambitions of the company.

After a brief discussion, I walked away from the opportunity disheartened because it was a sad moment for HR practitioners.

If a billion-dollar technology company thought that hiring people was the core to HR, then we HR people have been trying to scale Mount Everest in our shorts and a windbreaker.

But I have to admit that I do see reasons behind their view.

Frontline HR leaders in most organisations are guilty of playing catch-up with business strategy and their back office using an archaic HR model, rather than building an integrated HR group that possesses industrial knowledge, a mindshare of the business strategy and are innovators at heart.

“I have 15 years of C&B experience” and “I was a global HR business partner for 10 years for this Fortune company” seem to be a yardstick for functional excellence when our marketplace and businesses are being drastically reshaped.

I believe that while we have all been talking about HR transformation for organisations, true change starts from within.

So here are a few areas I thought I would share with you on what an HR leader 2.0 should be competent at.

What does your organisation do?

No single function in your company represents the brand and its people as much as you do. Understanding the macro economics

We have a free cash flow problem!

More often than not, the finance competency of an HR professional is directly proportional to their job level. The HR head usually talks business performance at the company’s annual HR meeting and I could’ve sworn I heard the heartbeat of the person sitting next to me during the Q&A. Understanding business performance and the ability to comprehend financial reports add a lethal edge to your thought process and outlook. You don’t need to think a CFA degree, just a basic programme will set you on the right course.

Tips to act: There are so many online resources to brush up your finance. And once you feel confident, start with your own company annual reports over the past few years.

Social media Have you thought about how social media platforms are impacting your function and your business?

It’s probably hard not to be involved with technology nowadays, but I would urge you to build a “technology mindset” within HR. Your business leaders are neck-deep in these changes and are looking at you for advice on people decisions.

Tips to act: Leverage the power of that iPhone. News apps, tech and business publications are a great way to stay informed.

If you’re looking to embark on social media for HR, invite the guys from LinkedIn, Glassdoor, etc. If you have some money in your budget, working with a technology/social media consultant is a great place to start building a roadmap.

These are some broad and generic areas for you to think about and I am sure that as you place them in the context of your own organisation, you will realise this is just the tip of the iceberg. I have been extremely fortunate that my formative years were spent being a part of a truly global HR organisation that was valued for developing the organisation through the use of technology and innovation in human resources.

Having said that, I probably wouldn’t be as competent today in the absence of solving those challenges I mentioned above.

I would consider my tenure a success if and when I have created a sustainable HR function that is considered a breeding ground for future business leaders and I wish godspeed to anyone trying the same.

42 » Human Resources » May 2015

42_Upward_MAY15_sub.indd 42

18/5/2015 11:01:57 AM

Download your FREE whitepaper at pageuppeople.com

Mobilise Now Southeast Asia May 2015

Call Us Now on +65 3157 5545

CAREERS » Personal development

uptheranks Tracking HR’s industry moves Who: Tadayuki Funakura From: Konica Minolta To: Konica Minolta Konica Minolta Business Solutions Asia appointed Tadayuki Funakura as its new managing director. He will take over from Ryo Maruhashi, who is moving on to assume the role of chairman.

Funakura has more than 30 years of experience in the industry.

Before this role, he was the general manager of the company’s sales division, playing a significant role in driving the strategic aspects of sales and growth in the region.

“Asia is a dynamic growth engine for Konica Minolta. As part of the transformation, I hope to bring the company to being more solution and service-centric with an ardent focus on customer centricity,” he said.

Who: Gayle Antony From: Nissan Motor Company To: Infiniti Motor Company Gayle Antony has taken over as general manager of global human resources at Infiniti Motor Company, succeeding Antonio Lasaga who has elected to pursue other career opportunities.

Reporting to the president Roland Krüger, she is based in the global headquarters at Hong Kong.

Her role covers all global HR matters, with a focus on talent acquisition and management to support the company’s growth plans.

She was previously the executive general manager of HR and information services and solutions for Nissan Motor Company in Australia.

“Gayle is a highly experienced automotive HR executive and I am looking forward to working with her. She will play a crucial role in strengthening our team even further,” Krüger said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who: Adam Cooke From: GroupM To: GroupM GroupM has promoted Adam Cooke to talent acquisition manager for APAC, where he will drive the internal adoption of technology to improve candidate sourcing and selection.

He will also be responsible for the delivery of the end-to-end recruitment service of business critical leadership roles, and the development of an internal talent marketplace of high potential staff.

“Adam had no serious recruiting experience prior to joining GroupM and he is a great example of how we hire for potential and culture fit, and then train for skills,” Michael Wright, head of talent acquisition APAC for GroupM, told Human Resources.

Previously a digital recruiter for APAC, he was focused on diversifying the talent pool and bringing to the business talent such as digital specialists and digital strategists across APAC. “When I started three years ago, digital was considered as the shiny new thing that our clients wanted specialists to work on. Now digital knowledge is a prerequisite in every business leader we develop or bring into the business,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

44 » Human Resources » May 2015

44_Uptheranks_PG_MAY15_sub.indd 44

19/5/2015 12:35:57 PM

Good reads to improve your business life

Pick of the month

shelflife

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bookmark this!

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

Only he or she is able to provide this space by encouraging learning, supporting experimentation and avoiding behaviours which hinder either one. Learning occurs when the GM builds experimentation into the business in such a way that potential losses due to failure are less than the expected value of the learning to be achieved – page 9.

Bookmark this!

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

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

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

Photography: Fauzie Rasid

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

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

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

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

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

46 » Human Resources » May 2015

46_Shelflife_May15_sub.indd 46

20/5/2015 5:19:28 PM

9 - 10 June 2015 Resorts World Sentosa Singapore

18 - 19 June 2015 The Mira Hong Kong

ASIA’S MOST INSIGHTFUL TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE Measuring and ensuring the success of training are among the most challenging tasks encountered by learning and development specialists and HR leaders across the region.

This 2 day conference is designed to help all managers and specialists to gain that fundamental edge in crafting a successful L&D program and achieving optimal ROI.

Hear from the senior leaders spearheading quality L&D programmes including: • Dr. Nitin More, Head of L&D APAC, Facebook • Elma Diala-Pangilinan, HR Business Partner & Head for Learning and Org. Development, Nielsen • Tan Ong Jin, Regional HR Business Partner, AXA

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Register Today at www.traininganddevelopment.asia

TDA2015_Print_Ad.indd 1

20/5/2015 7:42:57 PM

LAST WORD

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

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

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

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

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

What’s more tangible … really …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Relationships or pay rises?

Recently, social media

48 » Human Resources » May 2015

48_DailyGrime _May15_sub.indd 48

19/5/2015 12:31:41 PM

PD_AIA_AwardFlyer_1pp_FA_210x280mm.ai

1

7/4/15

10:56 am

Thank You For Making Us Your Preferred Partner Because of your unwavering support, we are proud to announce our latest achievements: •

No. 1 Employee Insurance Vendor for the 9th successive year

•

No. 1 Employee Healthcare Provider for the 2nd consecutive year

We thank you for motivating us to constantly innovate and allowing us to focus on our purpose – you. Your needs are at the heart of everything we do. You have inspired us to break new ground every day, and develop attractive employee benefits solutions that address your real life needs. It’s a feat that we couldn’t have accomplished without you.

aia.com.sg Note: Voted as human resource professionals’ “No.1 Employee Insurance Vendor” (2006 – 2014) and “No. 1 Employee Healthcare Provider (2013 – 2014) in Human Resources annual edition HR Vendor of the Year. From 2006 to 2007, the award was presented to American International Group, Inc. (AIG), when AIA Singapore Private Limited (then known as American International Assurance Company, Limited) was the wholly-owned subsidiary of AIG.

AIA Singapore Private Limited (Reg. No. 201106386R) Corporate Solutions, 3 Tampines Grande, AIA Tampines, #07-00, Singapore 528799