Human Resources Singapore, October 2015

October 2015

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A Place-and-Train Programme for Professionals, Managers, and Executives (PMEs) PROGRAMME CONCEPT

UPCOMING EVENTS

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Administered by the Singapore National Employers

Federation

(SNEF)

Hiring SMEs

Job-seeking PMEs

and

supported by the Singapore Workforce

SMEs and newly-hired PMEs

Development Agency (WDA), P-Max is a place-and-train programme which will (SMEs) to recruit, train, manage and retain

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encourage the adoption of progressive HR practices within SMEs, and to help

SME Briefing on SNEF P-Max Placeand-Train Programme

Complete respective workshops for

assist Small and Medium Enterprises

Upcoming dates:

PME (2-Day)

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 (2pm)

90% course fee funding from WDA

place job-seeking PMEs into suitable SMEs to retain PME(s) and complete six months follow up with SNEF

Scan the QR Code to find out more about the programme, available resources and upcoming events!

Receive a one-off Assistance Grant of $5,000 upon completion of programme

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October 2015 « CONTENTS

COVER STORY 16 Q&A Ron Garrow, chief human resources officer of MasterCard, talks about how he overcame an impending HR storm in the organisation, and helped to embed innovation into the firm’s DNA.

Features 20 The perks of temptation Akankasha Dewan explores which types of cash rewards work better, and the best ways of employing them to cut down turnover rates.

28 Do we still need expatriates?

With governments focusing on the “local core” of workers, Jerene Ang finds out how firms are getting the talent they need and if expats will be needed in years to come.

Opinion 38 Learning & Development Andrew McGregor, group talent development director at Dairy Farm Group, feels that instead of a “war for talent”, firms really are fighting a small skirmish.

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40 People Issues Cheong Meng Foong, group head of rewards at DBS Bank, shares her three top tips on creating an inclusive environment to meet the needs of its diverse workforce.

42 Unconventional Wisdom Teo Ee Mei, Pratt & Whitney’s regional head of HR, presents ways to attract and retain qualified aerospace engineers in the world’s fastest growing aviation market.

ON THE COVER: Digital Imaging: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com

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44 Upwardly Mobile Anuradha Naik, director, HR, learning and organisational development at Emerson Process Management, talks about the value of collaborative learning networks.

48 Last Word Instead of firing that difficult employee, try to put their problematic traits to good use, suggests Akankasha Dewan.

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Regulars 3 Ed’s note 4 In the news 6 Suite talk 8 Spacial awareness

10 HR by numbers 12 Snapshot 46 Personal growth 47 Shelf life

Any suggestions or tip-offs for Human Resources?

Email aditis@humanresourcesonline.net

October 2015 « Human Resources «

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EDITOR’S NOTE

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Aditi Sharma Kalra Akankasha Dewan Jerene Ang Anthony Wong James Foster Andrew McGregor Cheong Meng Foong Teo Ee Mei Anuradha Naik Shahrom Kamarulzaman Fauzie Rasid Sherlyn Yap Deborah Quek Karen Boh Yogesh Chandiramani Jaclyn Chua Naomi Cranswick Robin Yeo Jenilyn Rabino Darren Beck Sharissa Chan Nikita Erpini Kenneth Neo Evon Yew Yeo Wei Qi Evelyn Wong Tony Kelly Justin Randles

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Taking on tomorrow’s trends A chief human resources officer’s job is dramatically complex. Education, background, experience and talent may not prepare you for the all-encompassing, globally pressured war for talent that comes with HR leadership.

But a complex environment is exactly what the best CHROs thrive on.

“One of the things that attracted me to MasterCard was the presence of an impending HR storm,” said Ron Garrow, MasterCard’s CHRO, in an interview with Human Resources last month.

“Here was a company which was going to go from being seen as a credit card company, even though it didn’t issue credit cards, to a tech company in the payment space,” he explained.

“This meant the company was going to revisit all processes, including those of HR, completely.”

Based in New York, Garrow travelled to Asia last month and spoke exclusively to Human Resources, about how his team weathered this HR storm and came out stronger, despite some setbacks along the way.

In transforming its business and culture, MasterCard instituted a number of changes – eliminating the number of years of experience required from its job descriptions, greater emphasis on outreach to female students encouraging them to start a career in the tech sector, and a reverse-mentoring programme of younger employees sharing their learning with older employees.

Each initiative came with its own set of challenges, including in mindsets. Garrow highlighted a case where he believed the HR team could have moved faster, in hindsight.

He tells a terrific story, in turn inspiring CHROs and HR directors to build the impetus for change on all fronts. That interview is on page 16.

In another good read this month we ask: are expatriates still in demand?

Expatriates have typically made their way to our shores equipped with specialised technical or managerial skills hard to find in the local workforce. However, governments around the region are increasingly focusing on building those skills within their local workforces.

We spoke to leaders from BASF, Pall

Corporation, Digi and FJ Benjamin to analyse whether or not they are getting the talent they need from their current mobility arrangements.

“Expatriates do not come cheap and they will not have a long-term plan to stay in Singapore so there’s a high risk that after a few years they may decide to go back to their home country and we may in effect lose the talent,” pointed out Jassy Tan, divisional director of HR for luxury retailer FJ Benjamin.

Even so, these experts acknowledge the benefits that a diverse workforce brings, while affirming that two-way knowledge transfer is essential to the localisation of roles and skills.

In a world characterised by the scorching pace of change, no talent management process can remain static. Mobility, recruitment, mentoring, and everything else under HR’s umbrella, needs to be revisited every so often to incorporate contextual change.

CHROs must embrace the fact that few things matter more to an organisation than having the right people processes in place, and the skills for line managers to optimise them, given that tomorrow’s trends are already here.

Enjoy the issue.

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 October 2015 « Human Resources «

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News from humanresourcesonline.net

MOM TARGETS ‘STRONGER SINGAPOREAN CORE’ THROUGH SUPPORT FOR SMEs Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has launched the Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme to support SMEs in creating growth, and better jobs and careers for Singaporeans.

LED will be piloted for two years, effective 1 October 2015, with three key initiatives.

To tide over the tight labour market and current manpower wer policies, LED will enable firms to apply for temporary manpower policyy adjustments during the period of transition. tional projects” SMEs that propose to undertake “transformational own on the number may be entitled to measures such as: cutting down of work permit holders without affecting existing sting S Pass quotas; temporary foreign workers whilee recruiting and training locals; and pooling foreign gn sources of ee.. expertise to transfer know-how too the local workforce workforce.

Finally, a cross-agency taskforce askforce led by SPRING and WDA will integrate grate efforts of existing assistance schemes emes to help SMEs in a more co-ordinated ordinated manner.

NEGOTIATING WITH EMPLOYEES ON A PAY RISE Everyone wants to be paid more, but only 43% of staff have got around to raising the issue with their bosses.

The 2015 salary negotiation guide by PayScale found that among those employees who bring the topic up, employees with a higher salary are more likely to ask for a raise and get what they want.

While just a quarter of those earning US$10,000-20,000 a year got the raise they requested their bosses for, 70% of those earning more than US$150,000 a year won their negotiation to get a raise.

As bosses, here are some things to consider when negotiating pay with staff.

First, employees won’t bite on the first offer. They will ask for a couple of days to come back with an offer they think is reasonable.

Second, don’t forget to list the value of benefits provided to employees, such as holidays and health insurance, so they are aware of what at they are getting.

38 FIRMS ON MOM’S WATCH LIST FOR NOT CONSIDERING SINGAPOREANS FAIRLY Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has identified 38 firms for not doing enough to hire and groom locals. The Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say stated in a blog post that MOM would be scrutinising the employment pass (EP) applications of these firms more closely.

They will be asked to provide additional details such as the number of Singaporeans who applied and were interview interviewed, and whether existing Singaporean employees were considered.

These 38 firms are fro from the 150 companies the ministry has engaged with over m the past year. th Lim explained the purpose of this was to pu en enhance the Fair Consideration Framework.

Fr “We believe this will benefit our people with better be job and career opportunities.

It w will also benefit firms here with a more sustainable pool wi of talent as they restructure for future growth,” Lim said. fu

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HOW SINGAPORE’S EMPLOYERS CELEBRATED SG50 Employers in Singapore joined in the festivities to celebrate the nation’s 50th birthday, with some planning family treats, and others involved in charity work.

OCBC Bank’s staff in Singapore received an array of specially curated items totalling SG$5 million, for example, shares, the OCBC SG50 NETS FlashPay card with $100 in preloaded credit, subsidised rate tickets to Universal Studios Singapore, and more.

3M Singapore hosted a series of unique mass charity stair-climbing events across the country, seeking to raise $150,000 worth of health and safety products for needy elderly by accumulating six million steps.

At AkzoNobel, a two-day SG50 nostalgia-themed party in its regional headquarters, was marked with nostalgic delicacies such as satay, popiah, kueh pie tee and muah chee, in front of a special SG50 wall.

At Philips, staff got together to help raise funds for residents in Toa Payoh, and to match all proceeds to organise an outreach event, including lunch and goody packs.

» Human Resources » October 2015

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FOUR HIGH-PAYING CAREERS ATTRACTIVE TO SINGAPOREAN GRADUATES

THREE WAYS CO-WORKERS WORKERS MAY BE SABOTAGING NG EACH OTHER

Not all careers start and end with an MBA degree. GET.com identified four occupations that are continuing to perform well in Singapore, based on indicative data around salaries,, degrees and demand for the roles.

Piercing people with pins or blending herbs may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science with a focus on traditional Chinese medicine is one of the top jobs this year, with a median gross monthly salary for graduates at SG$2900.

With a median salary of $3475 for graduates, a bachelor of arts education onal Institute of degree from the National Education is another attractive profession for Singaporeans. poreans.

For graduates who enjoy teaching and prefer a steady job, ob, this degree ment track has a 100% employment record in the nation.

A degree in accountancy countancy and business from Nanyang ang Business School will give graduates uates a 98.2% shot at employment, although only 95.6% of graduates find ready, ady, full-time employment.

Ever have that nagging feeling that a colleague ue is trying to sabotage e. According to research from your career? Looks like you may not be alone.

The Creative Group, 31% of more than 400 advertising and marketing executives reported a co-worker has tried to make them look bad. ng co-workers.

It also identified three types of sabotaging First were the “credit thieves” who go around round stealing ideas and credit when initiatives succeed. A written record of one’s accomplishments as well as frequentt project status updates can be helpful in managing these hese staff.

Second were the “belittlers”, known for tearing others down to build themselves up. Deal withh them by standing up to them, refuting their criticism, and using facts where possible.

Third were the “sly sharks” who will leave you in the lurch by withholding important information.

In this case, make sure team responsibilities are clearly defined and hold regular check-in meetings.

ARE SINGAPOREANS REALLY HAPPY AAT WORK?

ITEMISED PAYSLIPS PS AND WRITTEN KETS NOW MANDATORYY WHEN HIRING IN SINGAPORE In order to protect the rights of both employers loyers and employees, Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has amended ed its existing Employment Act (EA) (EA).

Key changes include the requirement for employers to provide itemised payslips to all employees covered under the Employment Act, together with their salary payments.

MOM has announced it intends to effect these new requirements next year, on 1 April 2016.

At the same time, employers will be required by the Ministry to provide written KETs (key employment terms) to all staff covered under the EA with continuous employment of at least 14 days.

Employers, however, will have the flexibility to decide the form in which they will issue the payslips (hard copy or soft copy) as long as the required breakdown is reflected. They are also able to consolidate the payslips if payments are made more than once a month.

Similarly, employers will have flexibility in how KETs are provided as long as the required items are clearly accessible.

It looks like things have improved, with a jobsDB survey finding more than half of Singaporeans are, in fact, happy at work. This was a direct contrast to their counterparts Si in the region – with 62% of those in Hong Kong and 73% in Indonesia stating they are unhappy at work. un Polling 1,813 local respondents, the survey highlighted relationships with colleagues and bosses was the biggest factor contributing to workplace happiness in Singapore, an followed by a good salary and benefits. fo Despite being happy with their work, 64% of local respondents planned to change jobs within 12 months, with most citing low salary and lack of career growth as the job biggest drivers for quitting.

On the he flip side, the main source of dissatisfaction was the lack of career ggrowth and inadequate quate learning and development programmes. Many also reported the absence of work-life fe balance as a frustration.

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October 2015 « Human Resources «

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WORK LIFE » People GET INTO THE BOSS’S HEAD

Roy Bagattini Executive vice-president and president of Asia, Middle East & Africa Levi Strauss & Co. Before joining Levi Strauss & Co, you were working previously at Carlsberg. What attracted you to switch industries?

While these two companies operate in very different categories, one key dimension they do have in common, and something that really excites me, is the consumer focus. Having a deep appreciation and understanding of the consumer and what drives them, is critically important to both.

What specifically appealed to me about joining Levi Strauss & Co. was the opportunity to work with a globally admired iconic brand, Levi’s.

The company invented the blue jeans and has a rich heritage and an inspiring value system that resonated very strongly with me.

What are some of the people-related learnings that you’ve gained through your career?

When it comes to business success, I believe that people are truly our only sustainable competitive advantage. The reason I say that is because, in this day and age, often supposed competitive advantages aren’t ultimately that enduring as they can often be replicated.

People, on the other hand, who possess a deep commitment to your company and are aligned with its ambitions, are really the only true differentiators.

When it comes to business success, I believe that people are truly our only sustainable competitive advantage.

However, aligning people behind a compelling and inspiring vision is not enough on its own. I believe a key role for leaders is about empowering people and by that I mean creating the opportunities and conditions for people to make a difference.

There is also great value in getting to know your teams well because only then can you truly appreciate the diversity and the unique contribution that each individual can make to drive performance.

What is the toughest decision you had to make as a leader, and what did you learn from it?

Running businesses across different parts of the 6

world and in different markets often presents one with all sorts of diverse and challenging situations.

Invariably the toughest decisions I have had to make involved the restructuring and reorganisation of businesses in the interest of keeping them viable and healthy in the long term.

In making these tough calls, I think it’s vital to be mindful of how one goes about doing this as well as the principles one follows because these decisions have a profound impact on people’s lives and livelihoods and affects the entire organisation.

Transparency and operating with integrity and compassion throughout the process is critical to the outcome.

How do you engage and motivate staff?

I believe that as a leader one needs to be visible, available and accessible across and deep into the organisation. That’s much more than merely having an “open door policy”.

I believe that as a leader one needs to be visible, available and accessible across and deep into the organisation.

Another key element is communication – ensuring that all employees are kept well-informed of broader organisational developments helps them connect what they do for the bigger picture.

At Levi’s we also invest significantly in training and development ensuring that employees are wellequipped with the relevant skills and knowledge to delight their consumers.

It’s also important to recognise and acknowledge superior performance through both formal and informal processes.

Often small gestures such as a short phone call or a brief note is hugely appreciated by the employee.

To me, a key role of HR is to enable line managers, through coaching, to be outstanding people managers.

To fulfil this partnering role with line management, HR needs to have organisational credibility, and the best way to build this is through being actively involved in key aspects underpinning business performance.

They need to be at the table, a part of the core decision-making processes, involved in the strategic debates, discussions and performance evaluations. They need to be truly engaged with driving the business performance as opposed to a being a watch dog, or a monitoring or consulting function in the business.

With HR being more of a part of the business, do you think many HR leaders will be able to make it to CEO level?

I see no reason why HR leaders can’t become CEOs. Increasingly, today’s leading HR practitioners see the need to be more commercially astute and to have a full and holistic comprehension of the business.

Increasingly, today’s leading HR practitioners see the need to be more commercially astute and to have a full and holistic comprehension of the business.

This is important for HR’s credibility as it enables it to fully engage in all aspects of the business, not limiting its contribution to the conventionally defined role of HR. A thorough grasp of the business, together with their insights and expertise around people could, in fact, equip them very well for senior general management roles.

With people being a core part of your business, what is your view of human resources as a business function?

When we look at our human resources agenda, there are three core deliverables that our human resources colleagues facilitate and drive.

First, they ensure that we attract, retain and develop the best possible people that we can in the industry. Second, they champion a highperformance high accountability culture, and third, they facilitate a culture that truly engages and empowers our people.

To me, a key role of HR is to enable line managers, through coaching, to be outstanding people managers.

In some businesses, HR is expected to own these things.

In our business, we expect line managers to drive and take accountability for these strategies, and the role of HR is to ensure that line managers are sufficiently equipped and have the wherewithal to do this.

» Human Resources » October 2015

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People WORK LIFE »

SpacialAwareness HOW MILLWARD BROWN’S SINGAPORE OFFICE ENGAGES ALL FIVE SENSES OF STAFF

When renovating its office to embrace activity based working, Millward Brown Singapore designed to engage its employees’ five senses – sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.

“If you’ve heard of the saying, ‘happy people equals happy clients’, you would agree it is extremely important to have happy, engaged and productive employees,” said Sujatha Maniya, the firm’s HR director for Southeast Asia.

“We believe we have to push boundaries when it comes to offering value to our clients and our corporate values are strongly embedded in our design.”

As “bold” is one of the company’s values, it is used as a focal point of the office design. Bright, bold colours are used in high-impact areas of the office, stimulating creativity and engaging the sense of sight.

“Studies have also shown that focusing on natural light can help improve employee mood and productivity.” As such, the outside world is kept in sight, regardless of which part of the office an employee is sitting.

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While moving to an activity-based workplace meant that no one had their own desk anymore, and meeting spaces and workstations are typically shared, Millward Brown recognises that different work calls for different environments.It took into consideration the sense of sound, creating quiet zones for those in need of focus, for example when working on a client presentation.

“Every alternative work space and meeting room is multi-purposed built for group discussion, one-on-one catch ups, individual focus work, etc.”

With the addition of collaborative tools, writeable surfaces and different types of furniture, employees are encouraged to make optimal use of the space.

“It was not easy for our senior management team to give up their space, but by doing this they have embraced and endorsed the change in culture.”

To add more texture to the office space and evoke a sense of touch, accent colours were added to the carpets which connect with the walls, and textured wood and stone surfaces were used for walls, pillars and collaboration tables.

“Every piece of furniture was selected not just to match the design of the office or functionality, but because they were made from soft, plush materials.”

When it comes to the sense of taste, the office boasts a well-stocked pantry to keep energy levels up. Apart from standard biscuits, healthier options such as multi-grain bread, high-fibre cereal, and fruit and nuts can also be found there.

“The office pantry is also designed as an eat, work and play area and it has become the heart and soul of the office where everyone gathers, not just for training and meetings, but for interaction with colleagues and clients.”

When talking about the sense of smell, it is “not about having a recognisable perfume associated with a space, but giving your employees the option to define what the ‘smell of the place’ is like to them”.

“If you want the smell to stick, you have to give it an identity!

One of the reasons Millward Brown has been successful with the office transformation is because it has involved its employees in the process.

“We ran focus groups with our employees, took their feedback and managed the communication through regular meetings.”

As a result, “every individual feels they have played a part in creating this fantastic workspace”. “So remember to involve your people because you need their commitment to make it work.

“One other advice, as Alan Watts (British-born American philosopher) says, ‘The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance’.”

» Human Resources » October 2015

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WORK LIFE » HR by numbers

HR experts wanted HR generalists are the most soughtafter HR professionals at the moment, among more than half (55%) of those looking to hire HR talent.

Those with recruitment skills are second in demand, coming in at 24%, followed by those with benefits experience (16%), employee relations skills (13%) and training/development skills (13%).

However, only slightly more than a quarter (27%) of respondents stated their organisations were hiring for HR positions, in this new research.

“Larger companies employ more HR professionals so it makes sense they are more likely to report they are trying to fill HR positions, especially during a jobs recovery,” noted Jen Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workforce trends.

One-third of HR professionals on the lookout for a job wanted better career advancement opportunities.

89%

of executive-level, senior-level and mid-career-level HR professionals had some degree of faith they could find a new job, if necessary.

37%

of HR staff, who were already looking for or had planned to pursue a new job in the next 12 months, wanted higher salaries.

Source: HR jobs pulse survey report, summer 2015 by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

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People WORK LIFE »

snapshot

15 minutes with ...

Foo Chek Wee HR director ZALORA Group HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH HR? Before joining Zalora, I had more than 10 years of accelerated HR experience in companies such as American Express and Visa.

I was in an HR specialist role in the first three years of my HR career, where I took on learning and development and HR operations routes.

I spent the next seven years as an HR business partner, trying my best to deliver high-impact HR services.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB? Zalora is a young internet company backed with great funding, and aspires to become Asia’s leading online fashion destination for super smart people who are constantly breaking new ground for the company and their careers.

As an HR practitioner who has learnt much about HR functions in multinational companies, I work closely with my teammates and stakeholders to incorporate the best contextualised HR practices into Zalora’s working environment. What’s not to love about my work?

"In many companies, HR tends to contribute to CSR efforts in terms of co-ordination and logistics. This is unfortunate as HR can do so much more by leading such efforts. For example, HR can gather the feedback from the employee population on the value employees place in a particular CSR effort, or motivate employees to participate."

WHAT’S A TYPICAL DAY AT WORK FOR YOU LIKE? Zalora is comparatively a large organisation with more than 2,000 employees across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

We have big dreams and KPIs to fulfil and there are no dull moments when everything is ongoing.

WHAT IS YOUR TIP FOR INSPIRING AND UNITING EMPLOYEES? This boils down to having a positive work culture. Line managers at all levels serve as critical channels in enabling this to happen.

HR, specifically, is in a unique position to observe how the business is run and to provide line managers with feedback on how their behaviours have an impact on employees and the work culture.

More importantly, HR must have the courage in raising negative feedback to line managers.

WHAT IS YOUR TIP FOR INSPIRING EMPLOYEES? This boils down to having a positive work culture and line managers at all levels serve as the critical channel in enabling this.

HR is in a unique position to observe how business is run and provide line managers with feedback on how their behavioUrs have an impact on employees and work culture.

More importantly, HR must have the courage in raising negative feedback to line managers.

CSR EFFORTS HAVE BEEN A HOT TOPIC FOR MANY COMPANIES. CAN HR HELP IN THAT ASPECT? In many companies, HR tends to contribute to CSR efforts in terms of coordination and logistics. This is unfortunate as HR can do so much more by leading such efforts.

For example, HR can proactively initiate such efforts, or gather the feedback from the employee population on the value employees place in a particular CSR effort, or motivate employees to participate.

IN HONG KONG, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST HR CHALLENGE FACING MOST COMPANIES? Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading financial centres and has become more susceptible to the impact of globalisation and global competition since the 1997 handover.

From an HR standpoint, this translates into a need for local companies to glocalise their talent pool in order to compete with global competitors and collaborate with global partners.

Attracting and retaining the already limited talent pool in Hong Kong is the highest priority for most local companies. In response, local companies have to think outside the box.

For example, local firms can explore talent from other industries with transferable skills, the possibility of engaging seasoned talent with rich experience to aid in thinking diversely, or even different types of employment to staff (e.g. part-time or flexi-hour contracts).

HOW DO YOU THINK THE HR FUNCTION WILL EVOLVE IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? As outsourced HR service vendors mature and perfect their capabilities in providing impact and scale economies, the HR function is able to focus on human capital strategies and executions that have a direct impact and alignment to the company’s bottom line.

The aged question on what value HR brings to the business table has all along been questioned and debated since the human resources function was called the personnel department.

The next five years will be when we will see more local stories or evidence of how HR value is executed and brought to fruition.

I CANNOT IMAGINE HR WITHOUT … Highly competent HR team members that are always pushing the envelop in being more innovative, impactful and client-centric.

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WHITE PAPER » Leadership

TALENT SHORTAGE IN SINGAPORE RISES ‘SHARPLY’

Asia Pacific – Amid a tight labour market, employers in Singapore are facing increased difficulty in finding suitable applicants, according to ManpowerGroup’s talent shortage survey.

Polling more than 41,700 employers in 42 countries, the report found 40% of local bosses say they are encountering a talent shortage.

This was a “sharp climb” of 30% from last year – making it one of the “most notable increases” in the world.

“Close to two in three Asia Pacific employers with a talent shortage problem say this is having a medium (40%) or high impact (23%) on their ability to meet client needs,” the report stated.

“Singapore employers are particularly concerned about this issue, with 52% saying talent shortages have a high impact on client relations.”

Worldwide, the percentage of employers who stated they were facing difficulties filling job vacancies also rose from 36% to 38%.

This was the highest figure reported since before the global economic recession started in 2008.

Japanese employers continue to face the most severe shortages, with 83% saying they encounter difficulties.

Within Asia Pacific, the current proportion who reported talent shortages stood at 48% and was the second highest since 2006.

Besides Japan, a lack of appropriately talented candidates was most likely to be a concern in Hong Kong (65%), India (58%) and Taiwan (57%). The top jobs employers in Asia Pacific are having difficulty filling are sales representatives, Ten jobs APAC employers have difficulty filling 1.

Sales representatives

2.

Engineers

3.

Technicians

4.

Skilled trade workers

5.

IT staff

6.

Accounting and finance staff

7.

Management/executives

8.

Secretaries, PAs, administrative assistants and office support staff

9.

Sales managers

10. Drivers Source: ManpowerGroup 2015 Talent Shortage Survey

engineers, technicians, skilled trade workers with IT staff rounding up the top five.

This is followed by accounting and finance roles, management/executive roles, secretaries, PAs, administrative assistants and office support staff, sales managers and drivers.

The report attributed this rise of talent shortages in the region to a lack of technical competencies in the labour pool – 35% of employers identified this as a reason underlying the difficulties they were facing.

This was followed by a general lack of applicants (31%), experience (18%) and unrealistically high pay expectations (14%).

Opinions were, however, mixed among Asia Pacific employers when it came to how much difficulty they have to deal with when compared with 2014.

While hiring was most likely to be regarded as less difficult this year in Singapore (32%) and India (27%), 12% of employers in Asia Pacific admitted they are finding it harder to fill jobs and 55% reported the level of difficulty is unchanged.

Employers were most likely to report greater difficulties in Japan (30%), Hong Kong (20%) and Taiwan (20%).

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Leadership « WHITE PAPER

ARE SINGAPOREANS LOSING FAITH IN CEOS?

Singapore – They may be some of the most powerful people in society, but it looks like CEOs aren’t the most important members of a company today. That is, at least, in Singapore, according to a new Ketchum leadership study of more than 6,000 respondents across 12 countries.

It found that professionals in the country are looking more towards their peers, in other words, employees at all levels, for leadership instead of just those at the top of the hierarchy.

More than three out of 10 (34%) local respondents stated leadership should come mainly from the organisation and all its employees, slightly higher than those who still believed that leadership should be provided mainly by the CEO (29%).

The survey also found locals aren’t too confident about their leaders’ capability, with only 22% of Singaporeans saying they found their leaders effective – 2% lower than the global average of 24%.

“People expect organisations and leaders

to lead at the speed of now,” said Tyler Durham, partner and president of Ketchum Change.

“If we continue to view leadership as the responsibility of only a few people in the organisation, companies will never be fit for the future.”

If a CEO does wish to be more effective in Singapore, he or she should lead by example – Traits of effective CEOs globally, as recommended by employees Lead by example

63%

Communicate in an open and transparent way

61%

Admit mistakes

59%

Bring out the best in others

58%

Handle crises calmly and confidently

58%

Source: 2015 Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor (KLCM)

as stated by 59% of locals. Admitting mistakes (55%) was the second top trait locals believed an effective leader should possess, tied with being able to provide a clear, long-term vision, and communicating in an open and transparent way.

Beyond these attributes, Singaporeans also felt it was important for leaders to be intelligent (61%), friendly (48%) and likeable (46%).

Interestingly, male leaders globally were favoured over their female counterparts (61%), while Singapore (75%), China (75%) and United Arab Emirates (71%) were found to be well above the global average.

“In Singapore, male leaders are seen as better at demonstrating all but one effective leadership characteristics (handling crises) than female leaders; and female leaders in Singapore are seen as better at showing respect for different cultures at home and abroad compared to their male counterparts,” the report stated.

YES, we recruit there.

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

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PROFILE » Ron Garrow

Ron Garrow

Chief human resources officer MasterCard Weathering the HR storm

By AKANKASHA DEWAN

Q How has your journey been as the CHRO of MasterCard since 2013?

One of the things that attracted me to MasterCard was the presence of an impending HR storm. Here was a company which was going to go from being seen as a credit card company, even though it didn’t issue credit cards, to a tech company in the payment space. This meant the company was going to revisit all of its processes, including those of HR. It’s been great being part of a company that’s undergoing a major transformation, especially when you have a CEO that values HR and the people side.

Q How would you define the new

Digital Imaging: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com

workplace culture at MasterCard?

One of the things we’re doing is moving to an open space environment. Our people are connecting more, working in cross-functional teams. Three to four years ago, we didn’t even have tech hubs. Now we have over a 1,000 employees in tech hubs, whether it’s in Dublin or in New York. Innovation is being embedded in the culture, along with more connectivity and consumer thinking. Ultimately, it’s all about being consumer-centric.

Q How has your employer branding evolved to suit this new image?

When I joined MasterCard, we were a little over 5,300 employees, and today we have over 10,000 employees. Here was a company that wanted to be seen as an innovative company, but was seen as a credit card company, only working with the banks or the issuers. But it wanted to evolve to a company that had more

VITAL STATS Ron Garrow is the CHRO of MasterCard. He’s responsible for all HR functions, including cultural transformation, leadership capability and creating a company that is “most valued to work for”.

He has more than 27 years of experience in HR. Before joining MasterCard in 2010, Garrow spent six years at Bank of America as the HR executive for the chief financial officer and chief learning officer, among other positions.

stakeholders, including governments, telcos, transit authorities and merchants.

It was a company that traditionally hired bankers and consultants with 10-20 years of experience. As such, we targeted people who were 40-45 years of age.

To be innovative, we knew we had to drive positive energy across the company.

We had to ask questions such as, “how do we create affection for our brand?” and “how do we get employees to be always thinking about the consumer experience?”.

We realised the journey is about connecting people to priceless possibilities because as a company we’re talking about working on bigger issues, such as water scarcity. This is important because the next generation loves being part of something that’s greater than just doing their job. This is why our employee value proposition now involves connecting people to priceless possibilities. It’s not only around how you can be part of this cool tech company, but also about being part of something greater.

Q Indeed, Millennials are looking to drive change as one of their ambitions.

What I love about Millennials is they don’t seem to be intimidated by the hierarchy.

They want to be part of something greater, volunteer, get involved in impacting change, and that’s where we’ve had an advantage with the financial inclusion piece. When they are part of projects like the South African Social Security Administration Card, they get excited.

But what I’m worried about is the rapidity of their career development, and whether organisations are nimble and flexible enough to develop them.

Q How have recruitment practices changed to suit the culture shift?

The majority of the people we were recruiting earlier were experts in traditional areas – that is, banking and finance. Now, more than 60% of new hires are from non-traditional backgrounds. We also removed the years of job experience in our job descriptions, so as to just focus on the skills and capabilities of those we bring in.

That said, we have had to put more thought into how we develop such candidates’ knowledge about the payments industry. We’ve also been doing more campus recruiting, particularly in Singapore as it is our key office for APAC.

Q It’s a growing trend – hiring less for degrees, and more for personality or culture fit. Are degrees still important?

Degrees are important in some areas of specific expertise, such as law. But what we are looking for is if candidates are tech-sensitive, are able to think critically, and if they’ll be able to bring in a positive energy to the company. I see that playing an important part in the selection process.

I’ve seen some really smart folks in interviews, but if we don’t feel like they are a cultural fit, then we’ll pass.

Q With more than 10,000 employees on the rolls now, how diverse are teams?

We are definitely pretty diverse. We do need to focus more on the gender piece - increasing the number of women in the technology industry. For the past two years, our focus has been around this.

This doesn’t just mean roles in HR and

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PROFILE » Ron Garrow “HERE’S A GREAT EXAMPLE OF HOW I M ESSED UP HERE. I N 2011, OUR CE O WAS TALKI NG ABOUT HOW WE N EEDED TO FOCUS ON M ERCHANTS, ADDI NG WE ALSO N EEDED MORE TALENT WHO WERE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THEM. MY TEAM HAD STARTED RECRUITI NG I N THE AREA, BUT I HADN’T MOVED FAST ENOUGH. IF I HAD STARTED RECRUITI NG A YEAR EARLI ER, I WOULD PROBABLY HAVE HAD THE BUSI N ESS MORE PREPARED WITHOUT OUR CEO HAV I NG TO SAY SOM ETHI NG.” communications. We have to think about getting them to be really tech-sensitive.

We recently ran a “girls for tech” programme in India, which reaches out to schools and encourages girls to continue with their STEM-related studies. It also provides them with information on applying for such roles.

We’ve done this programme in Australia before, and this is the second time we’re doing it in India. This is also run globally in the US. These are the longer-term strategic things we’re into.

Q Another interesting programme is MasterCard’s reverse mentoring, what does that entail?

That is called YoPros (short for young professionals). Its mission is to build a global network of young professionals to both inform MasterCard’s business strategy and create an environment that fosters information-sharing and relationship-building among young and seasoned professionals. The YoPros, in partnership with communications and HR, came up with the idea that they could encourage younger colleagues to give reverse-mentoring sessions to older employees, such as me who may have accumulated valuable experience, but may not be familiar with social media.

These sessions are meant to be casual one-on-one meetings, with the YoPros connecting the pair. I have been matched up with a colleague called Rebecca, who is 24, to provide me with some help regarding social media.

So she got me comfortable with Twitter and LinkedIn. She has changed my whole perspective on the impact these sites can have.

Q What are some of the biggest challenges in this programme?

There are three main issues – the first being the scalability. There are only so many YoPros who can be involved.

It’s not like you can hire somebody as a reverse mentor. While we haven’t had any issues so far, we know that at some point, we need to keep the numbers in mind.

The second thing is around measuring the effectiveness. I’m not going to do forced measurement around it. It’s part of our culture change and I don’t want to over architect that.

That’s really the third issue about the programme – that we don’t want to over architect it. Sometimes mentoring programmes dictate you have to meet your mentor X times a month through a certain mode. For us, the process is very fluid. Sometimes it’s through email and sometimes, it’s face to face.

Every now and then I’ll send tweets out and Rebecca will send me an email saying “good tweet, good use of hashtags”.

Q That’s interesting because performance measurement is really in the news nowadays, with companies talking about letting go of annual performance reviews.

We’re not ready for the removal of the performance management process yet. What we did a couple of years ago was that we redid our performance management process according to two key things.

One is that in the beginning of the year, our employees will set their objectives with their manager. The manager will then coach employees against those objectives all year long, rather than quarterly conversations and things like that. We trained all our managers on this, and now it’s part of what we call programme managing at MasterCard.

Our expectation is with coaching against objectives all year round, at the end of the year, there are no surprises in the annual review.

There is a development conversation mid-year, not part of the performance process, but rather to talk with your

manager about what you are going to do in preparing for the next role.

For example, in a sales role, you may be having an off-year, and might not have met your objectives. But does that mean that you are not a long-term performer or don’t have potential? No, it does not, and that’s why we separated it.

Q How do you think training in general has evolved in the past few years?

It’s fascinating to watch it, especially because I used to be a chief learning officer. Of course, I’ve been out of the space formally for six years, but here’s what has changed.

People need bite-sized chunks of learning, and they still enjoy the classroom.

We do conduct classroom training at times. In today’s age, however, there’s a real convergence of communications and training, and that has to be conducted in real time.

The real question you have to ask yourself is “how do you have bite-sized chunks of learnings that are easy to find?”

It’s just really about how you shorten the learning and make the content simple and easy to navigate.

It’s got to be easy, but that’s the real struggle with corporate learning – leaders still want to throw in all content during training. But that definitely doesn’t work.

It should sound really sexy, but it’s not.

Q One of the other challenges employees report is that they have been given training that is irrelevant, or provided for the sake of it. What advice would you give to HR leaders to make training sessions more relevant?

That’s one of the nice things about MasterCard because we are not a big new-hire organisation. We don’t force employees to undergo training, especially if it is irrelevant.

There are times when we want everybody to go through certain classes or programmes. For example, for product and management training. But where we really have shifted our energy is towards creating the right content and making it easily accessible so that people can get it when they need it.

Because if you train somebody on something they don’t use for six months, it’s irrelevant. I grew up in the days where I used to be so proud of producing a catalogue and running all these classes, but it’s clear those days are over.

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Ron Garrow « PROFILE Q What skills do you think HR leaders require today?

I firmly believe that today, organisations have got to be consumer-driven in their HR efforts – you have to start thinking of your employees as your consumers.

You also have to be an upfront HR leader. Some of my peers won’t agree with me, but I feel very strongly that the 350 people on my HR team need to be available front and centre. Employees need to know they can have access to HR leaders and they also need to know they can trust them.

Also, I think it’s a given that you have got to know the business.

In my role, yes I’m the head of HR, and by all means, people will come to me with all the HR things. However, when I’m sitting at the table, I’m not talking about the latest HR programme or plan. Rather, I have to think about the business, what I need to do to enable the business, and better yet, how to anticipate where the business is going so that we are ahead of it.

Here’s a great example of how I messed up here.

In 2011, our CEO was talking about dealing with merchants, and how we needed to focus on merchants. He added that we also needed to get more talent who were able to deal with merchants.

My team had started to do more recruiting in the area, but I hadn’t moved fast enough on that.

If I had started recruiting a year earlier, I would probably have had the business more prepared without our CEO having to say something.

That’s the challenge we as HR leaders are facing.

Folks who are in HR need to focus on the talent management agenda.

They need to understand that cultural shifts are occurring and they need to be flexible. We’re an enabler of the business and that’s what we have got to be constantly focused on. I’d love to watch how HR is going to evolve over the next 20-30 years. It’s a cool space.

Q I know you’ve worked in countries such as Belgium as well. How do you think HR priorities are different in the west, as opposed to Asia?

There are interesting differences. In the west, what you’re still dealing with, from my viewpoint, is that they are trying to get leaders to operate differently.

They’re thinking about how to make coaching and the development of leaders better in their organisations. It’s a bit harder to change things in your western markets, such as in Europe and the US because of the way this model has worked for so many years.

In comparison, in APAC, there are a lot of emerging markets that are already dealing with this rapid change. The flexibility is there, and that is driving that fast pace of change. People are flexible and nimble. That is why leading change takes a bit more work in your western markets than it does in your emerging markets.

As far as what we are trying to drive from a company perspective, it feels pretty consistent across the globe because you’re trying to drive major core transformation across the company.

We’re also actually quite small in terms of headcount considering the scale of the business, so it’s easier to adapt and pick up on best practices from each other. So if we’re slightly slow in one area, it’s not for very long.

Q Are HR leaders today sufficiently skilled to become CEOs? I don’t think all HR leaders are cut to be CEOs. I’m not, that’s not who I am, but I do think that as organisations continue to evolve, it’s very clear that they will have to address people issues in order to formulate a company strategy.

That means talent management, talent development and organisational development are taken care of.

Given the fact these issues are key to a company, key to the future of any organisation, I do believe that we’ll see a trend where some heads of HR will step in as CEOs. I think we’re in our infancy though, to be honest with you, and I think it’s just going to take time as CHROs of Fortune 500 companies develop further and become more capable.

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Staff incentives « FEATURE

Having played an undeniably significant role in the attraction and retention of staff, cash rewards have always been vital elements of HR leaders’ toolkits. But with bosses today increasingly having to consider the ROI of these rewards, they often have to choose between providing bonuses or one-time pay increases for staff. Akankasha Dewan explores which types of cash rewards work better, and the best ways of employing them to cut down turnover rates.

ver the years, countless surveys have been conducted in an effort to determine what factors about work are most important to employees. But if there’s anything that we’ve learnt, it is that money will always make the world go round.

According to Resource Solutions’ Asia Talent Insights 2014, 43% of Singaporean professionals cited income as the most important factor when applying for a job.

Cash is still, and will perhaps always, remain king Career progression opportunities, benefits and work-life balance followed the list of those polled, which included 29% Singaporeans.

Just two out of 10 respondents said salary was the least of their concerns when looking for employment opportunities.

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FEATURE » Staff incentives The trend also echoed this year too.

Hudson’s recent survey found that a higher salary is the top priority for Singapore job seekers in 2015, voted by three-quarters of respondents. Better benefits feature right after, at 67%.

Surveying 519 professionals and hiring managers across Singapore, the report found that work-life balance, including flexible work arrangements, features only fourth in job seekers’ list of priorities (64%).

“I think cash is very important at all levels of employees regardless if one is at entry level or at the very senior level of the organisation,” says Carlo Felicia, the total rewards director for Asia Pacific at BD. “Compensation is fundamental because it provides everyone their livelihood so employers need to ensure that they provide competitive packages so their employees remain satisfied with their remuneration packages.

“If they do not, then they run the risk of associates leaving because other companies will offer better opportunities.”

Eliza Ng, director of human resources at Fuji Xerox, agrees with the possibility of a higher turnover rate if low salary packages are offered, especially among the younger generations.

“For generations Y and Z, most young people at the junior level are comparatively ‘shortsighted’ and they prefer to gain ‘quick money’.

“They will easily jump to other organisations, which can offer higher salary packages regardless of career paths/prospects, training opportunities, etc.”

Despite this, both Felicia and Ng reveal non-cash benefits such as career development and training opportunities are also critical experiential factors which staff expect from their bosses – something which the increasing prevalence of holistic rewards strategies point to today.

We all know cash or non-cash benefits are important, but now it is all about how to leverage the best of each to boost employee engagement scores to optimal levels.

Instead, companies now need to look at, as Ng explains, “what the staff need/want and how to balance the organisational cost and manage the staff ’s expectations”.

Bonuses or pay rises?

It is precisely because of the need to tread this delicate balance that employers are increasingly

turning to one-off bonuses at the expense of annual pay rises when attempting to maximise on their cash offerings.

A 2014 survey from human resources services fi rm Aon Hewitt found that companies were spending a record share of their payroll on performance-based bonuses, signalling a shift away from longer-term salary increases.

The 1,064 companies polled, in industries such as energy, consumer products, banking and accounting, devoted an average of 12.7% of their 2014 payrolls to so-called variable pay, which includes things such as bonuses paid out when employees or companies meet specific goals. The figures apply to salaried workers exempt from overtime pay.

More than 90% of those companies offered a variable pay programme, as opposed to 78% of the companies polled in a 2005 survey.

That year, variable pay accounted for 11.4% of payroll.

Of course, companies have long rewarded top executives and rainmakers with bountiful bonuses – and that continues to be true – but compensation experts say the prevalence and types of one-time rewards and perks have spread further down the ranks than ever before.

“Offering a bonus plan instead of increasing salary can avoid the increment of fi xed costs (including salary and other costs of which the amount depends on salary such as pension, life insurance, etc) , which is important to maintain the competitiveness in the market,” Ng says.

“If the KPIs of the bonus plan is related to the organisation’s revenue/profits, it can help to promote the concept of profit-sharing and thus build the corporate image.”

But as with any strategy, bonus programmes bring with them, their own share of weaknesses.

According to the 2013 Global Bonus Survey by eFinancialCareers, 46% of fi nance professionals in Singapore were looking to switch careers that year.

Th is was despite the fact that 42% of Singaporean employees in the fi nance sector saw an increase in their 2013 bonus as compared to their bonuses in 2012.

The survey, which polled more than 2,650 fi nance professionals in the UK, US, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, reported the percentage of fi nance staff planning on leaving their current roles was higher in Singapore than in the UK (38%) and US (35%).

One of the possible drawbacks of using

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Staff incentives « FEATURE monetary benefits to retain staff, Ng explains, is that increased salary levels are easily forgotten by the staff within a short period of time.

“There will be a lack of appreciation and the employee will no longer regard it as recognition or motivation,” she says.

On the other hand, the satisfactory increment rate can also increase the morale and loyalty of the organisation’s workforce.

“It is a ‘guaranteed’ income in the staff ’s point of view. Generally, most of the staff will choose the employer who can offer the higher ‘guaranteed’ package,” Ng says.

What to offer whom?

But meeting expectations of staff is, undoubtedly key, as dissatisfaction with compensation offerings can lead to a massive rise in turnover rates.

Unhappy with their annual bonuses for 2014, a survey of more than 10,000 white-collar employees by Zhaopin.com revealed that 40% of employees in China are looking to find a new job.

With bonuses falling below expectations, the overall satisfaction level of employees stood at 2.23, out of a maximum of five.

Only around 16% of white-collar employees had received their annual bonus, despite about 40% of them being promised one.

With such high stakes, it becomes imperative for bosses to make the right decision when choosing the type of monetary rewards to offer to well-performing staff.

But how can they make such a decision fairly?

“We see a significant differentiation depending on an individual’s position in the hierarchy; obviously we are dealing with people and as such we are talking about personal preferences and perceptions,” says Sia Li Chiang, compensation and benefits manager for human resources at JT International Trading.

“However, as a general statement, those individuals who spend a majority of their income covering their daily and monthly expenses tend to prefer a pay rise as the impact is immediate, whereas individuals with a marginally higher disposable income will often prefer the bonus. We have the option to use both tools and will make a choice as to which is the most appropriate depending on the situation.”

Accordingly, Ng reveals that at Fuji Xerox, both types of rewards are offered to staff.

“Which one will be offered to the staff will be

A pot of cash: A salary increase is easily forgotten, so is it worth it?

on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. It is because each staff have differing existing remuneration packages and each one will have different expectations, hence, it is not appropriate to say which one, bonuses or pay rises, works better in engaging and retaining employees.”

Existing remuneration packages is one factor, she adds, which HR leaders should take into consideration when deciding on which type of reward to offer. Others include the capabilities of the employee in question, including his or her academic background, working experience and professional qualifications.

Sia concludes by saying the most important element is essentially deciding on what the company is “trying to achieve via the reward, and which is the most appropriate tool to ensure the individual being rewarded will continue to perform at that level”.

Ensuring a fair and standard assessment process Felicia warns, however, of not underestimating the significance of providing equitable and welldeserving rewards.

“I would say that both have a positive impact in terms of engaging and retaining employees.

They should both be used in tandem to have maximum and complementary effect. I think the most important element is that employees feel the pay rise or bonus they receive is fair based on their performance,” Felicia says.

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FEATURE » Staff incentives

“Don’t ever reward poor performance and if anything, use the pay cycle as an opportunity to withhold adjustments to those with low performance.”

– Wilfred Chan, director of compensation and benefits for Asia Pacific, AECOM

A critical factor to achieving this sense of fairness and equity, he explains, is employee communication.

“Managers must be able to communicate clearly to the associate what they are receiving and why, that is, relate it back to the employee’s performance, competencies, etc,” he says.

Felicia adds the total rewards function must also educate and make employees aware of the chosen compensation and benefits process.

“We need to conduct C&B 101 sessions to show employees that our respective organisations conduct salary surveys, review job descriptions, create competitive salary ranges, etc, so that they appreciate the amount of data and analysis that goes into determining remuneration packages. Only when employees are aware and appreciate our C&B programmes will they ultimately be satisfied.”

Wilfred Chan, director of compensation and benefits for Asia Pacific at AECOM, expands on the importance of focusing on how well the employee in question is meeting his or her targets when deciding on their reward strategies.

“Leaders need to focus on the pay for performance aspect. If the company or the person is performing, we really need to provide those to the most deserving. Don’t ever reward poor performance and if anything, use the pay cycle as an opportunity to withhold adjustments to those with low performance,” he says.

“Back up the decision with data, using metrics such as personal performance, external and internal relativity.”

All interviewees agree that rewarding poor performance can, undoubtedly, result in disastrous consequences.

“HR leaders should ensure there is differentiation between rewards for solid or core performers versus the high performers,” Felicia says.

“There is nothing that would demotivate a star performer more than getting the same

pay rise, salary or incentives as an average performer does.”

To avoid such a situation, Felicia advises that HR leaders need to invest their limited rewards budget to those who make a significant positive impact and that they should get a proportionate amount based on their contribution “If we do not do this, we risk our high performers leaving for other organisations who can and do recognise and reward their contributions exceptionally.”

Ng isolates a few elements which can ensure such drawbacks can be minimised.

These include, fi rstly, fairness in defi ning and identifying high-performing employees.

Second, proper justification, such as concrete and proven evidence should be provided when assessing candidates for higher rewards.

There should also be consistency in rewarding a certain type of performance.

Leveraging on communication To maintain these frameworks, Chan reminds us of the importance of effective and clear communication between HR leaders and employees.

“Again, as we are dealing with human beings, there will always be some subjectivity involved in the process, as such it is important that your compensation and benefits framework is communicated and implemented based on transparency and merit,” he says.

But complete transparency and effective communication in the rewards arena can only come about, Felicia concludes, if a holistic approach is adopted towards structures of a rewards package.

“Employees look fi rst at the compensation package and then at the other equally important factors in order to decide whether they want to join, stay or leave a company,” he says.

“Employees want to see what they can learn, what they can contribute, what impact they will have from the work they do and the satisfaction they can derive from a job well done.

“Thus, we need to work closely with other HR functions and senior leaders of our organisation to develop a culture and work environment that clearly defi nes and delivers the value proposition that our employees will fi nd compelling enough to be worth their time and effort to work there,” he says.

24 » Human Resources » October 2015

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FEATURE » Staff incentives

CASE STUDY: PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL Chinmay Sharma, head of human resources for the Hong Kong, Macau and Asia HQ at Philip Morris International, talks about the importance of structuring effective metrics to pay for performance successfully, and how to decide which type of cash rewards to award to employees.

Faced with tight corporate budgets and fl imsy economic climates, employers are increasingly turning to bonuses and performance-based pay as a strategy for retaining top-performing workers.

Importance of bonuses and pay rises Human resource experts say this approach to compensation is attractive because it is flexible and allows companies to reward good work without creating additional fi xed costs.

“In Philip Morris International, bonuses and pay rises are strongly linked to performance and pay-at-risk (bonus/incentives) is linked to the level of the job,” says Chinmay Sharma, head of human resources for the Hong Kong, Macau and Asia HQ. “It works well for us in rewarding our people in a fair and consistent manner while helping the company achieve business results.

“Both bonuses and pay rises are purely linked to performance and, hence, I do not see one as more important than the other.”

He adds, however, that in the long-term pay rises play a greater role in retaining employees compared with bonuses.

“The decision regarding how much salary we put at risk (bonus) should be linked to the level of the job (higher at senior levels due to the impact on the overall company performance),” Sharma says.

Additionally, HR leaders should also look at the nature of the job role in question, and how important it is to the company’s business model.

Importance of developing a good performance management system But pay-for-performance is only as good as the metrics used to determine it – calling forth the need for a good performance management system.

According to Mercer’s 2013 Global Performance Management Survey, however, only 3% of companies worldwide believe their overall performance management systems provide exceptional value.

The study, which surveyed performance management leaders at more than 1,050 organisations from 53 countries, also found many aspects of these organisations’ approach to performance management were “ineffective”.

In such a case, how can organisations be trusted to have effective pay for performance measures in place?

“Rewarding and retaining high-performers is one of the most critical responsibilities of HR leaders. A fair and consistent performance management process is the key enabler towards that,” Sharma says.

“A robust performance management process and a supporting culture towards the same can address many people issues.”

To allow that, he says, performance should always get the priority. However, the criteria for assessing performance should be robust.

“Ideally, pay rises should have a longer term (three to four years) horizon with a performance track record, years spent at a job level and a future career plan of the employee being the key decision-making criteria,” he says.

However, bonus/incentives should be purely linked to performance in the short-term.

Adopting a holistic approach While the importance of pay can’t be overstated, Sharma admits it remains true that not everyone is motivated by pay. Some employees are motivated by praise, recognition or the opportunity for better assignments.

“While cash is still the most important element of C&B, the importance attached to it can differ based on career and life stage,” he says.

A fresh graduate will have different needs versus someone who is in a management position with a family to support. With the workforce getting more diverse, no single reward element will be a value driver in itself.

C&B elements around health and wellness, personal development, support for family, etc, are increasingly gaining ground.

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FEATURE » Expatriate management

Expatriates are typically needed for their specialised skills that are not present in the local workforce. With governments increasingly focusing on the “local core” of workers, Jerene Ang finds out how companies are getting the talent they need in this situation and if expats will be needed in years to come. lobalisation is inevitable, as Kofi Annan once said: “It has been said that arguing against globalisation is like arguing against the laws of gravity.”

With the world being increasingly interconnected, the challenge for a business to succeed in today’s context is it must ensure its employees are able to work on an international level.

As such, it is becoming increasingly common to see companies relocating their staff, either for developmental purposes or to fi ll the needs for certain skills yet to be present in the local talent pool.

According to Jobvite’s 2015 Recruiter Nation Survey, the top obstacle confronting 56% of the 1,404 recruiters surveyed is the lack of skilled or qualified candidates.

Being a region of many emerging markets, it is very likely Asia Pacific will see a greater inflow of expatriates to fi ll the skill gaps in the local market.

True enough. After speaking to HR leaders across the region in the past month about the talent challenges they face, we found the main reasons they relocate employees or bring in expatriates are to fi ll the need for certain expertise and niche skills not present in the country or region, as well as to develop a globally relevant talent pool.

Haroon Bhatti, chief HR officer of Malaysiabased communications provider Digi, reveals that when considering candidates, the company has always taken the best-fit approach, seeking the best person for the job

with regards to merit and skill sets, be it locally or from overseas.

“More than merit, when it comes to expatriates, we are very clear that it is to fi ll a needed skill gap. Th is helps us keep a check and balance of our talent pool within the organisation on the types of capabilities and diversity of experience brought into the mix,” he says.

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FEATURE » Expatriate management “Strong economies thrive on diversity; a diverse pool of expertise and experience means bringing best practices from around the world not just into Digi, but contributing to Malaysia and its economy.

“A great way to remain competitive in the global economy is building a local talent pool whose skills are globally relevant.”

Similarly, at FJ Benjamin, which specialises in luxury brand products, Jassy Tan, divisional director of human resources for FJ Benjamin (Singapore), reveals “there are some roles where expatriates play a key role”.

“For example, we carry Swiss-made timepieces so we need specialists who understand the European watch market, as well as the technical and operations of the timepiece industry. For such, we rely on expatriates with that relevant skill set.

“It is also important to note that not every expatriate is delegated at a high level – sometimes expatriates from junior levels are delegated to gain experience, which includes both in and out of various markets within Asia and around the world.”

– Jennifer Kwan, head of the regional transfer centre for Asia Pacific, BASF

“Besides this, as we carry luxury brand products, we have senior brand managers and heads of businesses who have the international experience and exposure in retail luxury products to run the business function.”

A similar situation can be seen at BASF. Being a multinational company, and one of the largest chemical producers in the world, expatriates are also needed for their expertise and specific skill sets.

Jennifer Kwan, head of the regional transfer centre for Asia Pacific at BASF, says: “In certain cases, the right specialists are even only available outside of Asia. One example is project engineers with extensive experience in building a particular type of new chemical plant.”

Also, at BASF, delegation is a key component of people development, giving employees the opportunity to broaden their exposure and gain international experience.

“The international exposure and experience of the expatriate – including delegations to and from every country within Asia and to other locations – are valuable to our business.

“From their delegations, expatriates gain a global perspective and new ideas in areas such as research, product innovation, technical improvements and new customer approaches.

“It is also important to note that not every expatriate is delegated at a high level – sometimes expatriates from junior levels are delegated to gain experience, which includes both in and out of various markets within Asia and around the world.

“In this context, legislated salary targets do not support the development of local staff.”

Having said that, what are companies doing to attract expatriates with sought-after skills?

Srikanth Chandrashekhar, head of talent management for Asia Pacific at materials science and engineering fi rm Pall Corporation, feels the challenge is not in attracting them, but more about managing the cost of hiring the expatriates and integrating them.

“For a country like Singapore, I would argue that not a lot needs to be done to relocate expatriates into Singapore. The multi-cultural vibe, a very large English-speaking population and an excellent standard of living and healthcare are all great attributes that attract people from all over the world.

“Having said that, addressing basic things such as shipping of goods, temporary housing when you fi rst get here, banking and tax assistance, and an induction tour of Singapore are great ways to quickly integrate expatriates into Singapore.”

Nowadays, with Asia Pacific’s economy growing at a faster rate than that of the West, as the Western job market gets more competitive, expatriates relocating to Asia are more often granted slightly cheaper local-plus packages instead of full expatriate packages.

Nevertheless, according to ECA International’s recent MyExpatriate Market Pay Survey, Singapore and Hong Kong have one of Asia Pacific’s costliest expatriate pay packages.

As a result, Tan says: “In our context, where possible we look to localise all jobs. If not possible, we will offer competitive packages, but on local-plus terms. Easily the cost of hiring an expatriate versus a local is at least three times more expensive.

“For expatriates, typically they will be

30 » Human Resources » October 2015

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FEATURE » Expatriate management

“Having a ‘local core’ workforce is very critical to any business since the success of an organisation will largely depend on their ability to compete with local as well as global players in any given geography.”

– Srikanth Chandrashekhar, head of talent management for Asia Pacific, Pall Corporation

provided housing, relocation packages, airfares, hardship allowances, tax equalisation and if they bring their family across, we will have to provide for the education for the children as well.”

Chandrashekhar agrees, and adds the cost of these expatriate packages relative to the cost of hiring local employees is also dependent on various factors.

“The difference is not a standard multiplier.

It depends on which country an individual is relocating from and going to, family size, nature of work, statutory laws, etc.

“In addition, what most companies don’t assess is the total cost of an expatriate assignment, including one-time costs, compensation as well as administration costs.”

The clampdown on foreign workers It has been established that expatriates possess skills that might not be present locally and are a valuable part of many workforces in the Asia Pacific.

However, governments in Asia Pacific – especially in Singapore – are increasingly focused on keeping a “local core” workforce instead of relying on expatriates.

With Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) launching new schemes to support companies in creating growth, generating better jobs for Singaporeans, and various quotas to keep the number of foreigners in check, what do these HR professionals think about this focus?

And, are they facing any challenges with acquiring the skills they need for their businesses to function?

Chandrashekhar feels that all organisations “should think global, but act local”.

“Having a ‘local core’ workforce is very critical to any business since the success of an organisation will largely depend on their ability to compete with local as well as global players in any given geography.”

Tan, while acknowledging the influx of foreign workers over the past decade has helped with the country’s economic growth, adds it is not without some negative effects to the local workforce.

“Employers who are seeking to reduce their cost of production will inevitably go for the cheaper foreign labour as an alternative, and where all things being equal, results in Singapore workforce wages being suppressed.

“Net result is unemployed locals who although have the necessary skills, are deemed to be more expensive by potential employers.”

She feels these measures by MOM are timely reminders to employers that the local workforce should form the core of our workforce.

Nevertheless, she reveals that with the recent clampdown on foreign workers, her organisation does face challenges in getting the talent it needs.

“In our context, the defi nition of ‘talent’ is our retail front end sales workforce. In our

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FEATURE » Expatriate management

“If expatriates play the important role to responsibly transfer these knowledge and skills to develop local talent, we will see a globally competitive workforce begin to emerge and I believe organisations will become more structured on how they will make this happen.”

– Haroon Bhatti, chief HR officer, Digi

industry, we require people good with good customer service, selling skills, etc.

“They are not the highly specialised skilled people, nor are they considered the unskilled group. So more likely they fall within the S pass category group. Th is is where the quota is most severely reduced.

“In this industry, the paradox that we face is that it’s not that there are no locals who are fit for this job, but it’s a question on their willingness to take on a retail job where they would be required to work retail hours and weekends.”

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the business, working hours and conditions cannot be changed and while more attractive salaries can be offered to entice these people into the workforce, there is a limit as to how much more can be paid while making economic sense.

As for the highly skilled specialised jobs, Tan reveals that locals with the relevant skills will be preferred over expatriates.

“Expatriates do not come cheap and they will not have a long-term plan in Singapore so there’s a high risk that after a few years they may decide to go back to their home country and we may in effect lose the talent.”

In order not to lose the talent and skills expatriates bring into the country, it is necessary for companies to facilitate the transfer of skills from these expatriates to local staff who will be their successors after they return to their home country.

Bhatti says: “If expatriates play the important role to responsibly transfer these knowledge and skills to develop local talent, we will see a globally competitive workforce begin to emerge and I believe organisations will become more structured on how they will make this happen.

“As part of the Telenor family, we have also seen the merits of building a diverse workforce.

“In recent years, we’ve seen this knowledge transference increasingly become a two-way street as Asian businesses continue to thrive and compete at the global stage, contributing ways and means of innovation to the group as much as vice versa.”

He believes that more of this will be seen in years to come and it will defi nitely benefit countries and their economies.

Sharing similar views, Kwan says: “Learning transfer between expatriates and local staff is two way: local staff and expatriates have a great deal to teach each other.”

She reveals that at BASF, part of its developmental programme places expatriates in the role of mentors to their local successors to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills.

At the same time, the expatriates will gain experience and knowledge from the local market.

Expatriates will always be needed Should this transfer of skills be successful, will expatriates still be needed?

Tan is of the opinion that for the highly skilled and specialised jobs, there will still be expatriates, however, in fewer numbers than in the previous few decades.

“Nowadays (local) workers are more skilled where in the past there was heavy reliance on foreign workers. With regionalisation, a lot of locals have foreign experience and exposure,” she says.

Similarly, Kwan is certain that expatriates are needed at BASF worldwide and at its global headquarters.

“They play a positive and important role in our highly international business. With the ongoing change of the general situation, however, the composition of the expatriate community and the number of expatriates in any given country may change.”

Echoing her view, Chandrashekhar says: “Expatriates will be needed, period.

The same as, ‘outsourcing’ will continue to take place.

“These are the realities of the marketplace and will take place across the globe. However, it is always good to keep such programmes dynamic since they need to be refreshed based on market and internal organisational requirements.”

34 » Human Resources » October 2015

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FEATURE » Expatriate management

CASE STUDY: BASF Jennifer Kwan, head of the regional transfer centre for Asia Pacific at BASF, calls out the methods to enable a two-way transfer of skills between expatriates and local staff in a conversation with Jerene Ang. Being a multinational company, as well as one of the largest chemical producers in the world, BASF requires staff with highly specialised skills and global experience Bringing in expatriates for their specialised skills Jennifer Kwan, head of the regional transfer centre for Asia Pacific at BASF, says: “In our business, specific skill sets and expertise are required in particular for roles in research and development and engineering.”

She adds that in some cases, these specialists are not even available within Asia and that the local operations will have to look outside the region for talent with the right qualifications and skills.

As a result, for these roles, the company typically brings in expatriates with the relevant expertise to fi ll the skill gaps in the local workforce.

“BASF offers relocation packages to delegates, including delegates to and from many countries within Asia as well as other locations, with benefits such as housing, spousal support and schooling support for children to delegates.

“We also provide intercultural training, before and during the expats’ delegation, to make sure they and their families are fully informed about and integrated into the new culture. Equally important, BASF also focuses on ensuring expats have a smooth transition and reintegration when they return to their home country.”

These expatriate compensation packages are usually determined by various factors, including where the expat is from and going, marital status and length of delegation.

“In general, the compensation package of an expat is more expensive than that of a local employee. We look carefully into each case before we decide to take or to send an expat on delegation.”

within the company and promotes cross-unit and country hiring of talent at the same time. We have had many successful placements to date.”

She notes that at BASF, not every expatriate is delegated at a high position. Sometimes expatriates from junior levels are delegated to gain experience, which includes both in and out of various markets within Asia and around the world Transferring skills is a two-way street As part of the fi rm’s development programme, expatriates are placed into the position of a mentor to their local successors.

“Mentors train the successors by sharing with them the knowledge and skills to prepare them for their bigger roles and challenges in future. At the same time, expats gain valuable experience and market knowledge from their delegations.

“In many cases, a specific written target for an expat is to develop a successor from the local talent pool, while at the same time gaining further local market experience as an individual development goal.”

If this transfer of skills is deemed successful, the company will be able to benefit greatly, not only having the talent with the right specialised skills available at their fi ngertips, but also one with the international experience necessary for the business to operate successfully on a global scale.

The challenge of finding the right local talent It’s never an easy task to get the right talent, and with governments increasing their focus on having a “local core” workforce, this task only becomes more difficult.

To make things worse, fi nding talent with specialised skills needed for their business operations within the local market is also tough.

As such, Kwan reveals: “Apart from hiring from the local labour market, BASF also has an ‘Asia Pacific internal job market’, an online hiring platform where employees can easily search and apply for jobs across the whole region.

“Th is increases the transparency of job opportunities

36 » Human Resources » October 2015

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OPINION » Learning & development

A talent war... or just a skirmish?

Talent management is the art of the staffing war, but it’s a war which must be fought on all known fronts.

ANDREW McGREGOR Group talent development director Dairy Farm Group

Don’t just point fingers at one another: It takes heroic actions and resolve to win a war, especially a talent one.

Although Sun Tzu is often quoted in strategy and HR for analogies of war to business, I suspect his definition of how the “war for talent” is being waged would fall short of his expectations.

Despite McKinsey’s gift of the phrase “war for talent” it has repeatedly struck me how freely the term is used, but how infrequently it would seem the users have understood the war they are fighting.

In fact, I fear Sun Tzu would be largely underwhelmed by our definition of a war and conclude we don’t appreciate what it takes to be sufficiently committed to victory.

However, most companies are fighting on such a narrow front and deploying so little resources to the cause, that they really are fighting a small skirmish at best.

A war is an event of scale demanding heroic actions and consuming significant resources. It demands a level of resolve and zeal that does not accept defeat as a viable outcome.

Yet so many “war weary” talent campaigners seem more comfortable bemoaning the strength of the competition and

lamenting the difficulties of war, than raising new forces, engaging guerrilla tactics or encouraging a resistance movement.

To win the war for talent means victory on both attraction and retention. Unlike military fought wars, the war for talent is one where conventional thinking need not be limited by an underpinning of the Geneva Convention.

The combatants in the war for talent are able to engage in the conflict on every known front through whatever means they can contrive – or at least where there are no known limitations, aside from those of imagination.

Or perhaps the problem is that you have blinkers on what good talent looks like. Maybe the soldiers you need don’t have the training, or you have decided that only elite forces from exclusive schools will do.

Perhaps these are true for your business, but I would wager that in most organisations, the source for talent has not been sufficiently dissected, understood and engaged.

Let’s think for a moment about the available resources –

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5/10/2015 8:21:29 PM

Learning & development « OPINION

a global population of almost seven billion. And there’s not one good one out there for your business?

For example, what lens have you given your talent acquisition team or have they interpreted one from the last series of expeditious placements they made for you?

What if they were tasked to seek out specific “nontraditional” recruits? While you reward them for the shortest possible time to fill, maybe if you change the reward and the specification, perhaps you would see something new.

One such case may be the recruitment of women to senior roles. Invariably it seems harder and slower to find the right woman for the job, but men are “a dime a dozen”.

If we settle for what’s easy, do we honestly expect to see the change we seek?

Similarly, as the population ages, are we seeking to exploit the knowledge and skills of the experienced veteran or myopically striving to appeal to the inexperienced (but high potential) foot soldier?

A skilful organisation will be doing both, and not because of its diversity agenda to have four generations at work, but because it makes good talent management sense to seek and utilise all available talent – and shortcut the development requirements of “green” recruits.

Alternatively, there may be ways to tap new talent pools by

reconsidering the work, rather than staying beholden to one type of job description.

An example is the path taken by IBM where it has successfully engaged thousands of staff who are able to utilise their autistic abilities to review codes for the tech behemoth.

By bringing a new lens to the nature of the work and understanding the unique capabilities of a discrete group of people, IBM has tapped into a new source of recruit. A battle won, but probably not the war.

Talent management is the art of the staffing war. But it must be fought on many and all fronts.

Successfully engaging in battle requires employers to look at the work and consider how it can be structured differently to present a different employment proposition.

It needs them to consider various working arrangements, appreciate different schools, backgrounds, abilities, generations, life-stages and work histories to find the most dynamic approach to talent and to create the most open and accommodating workplaces.

The key to this is creating the inclusion essential to leveraging diverse talent, and then to adopting the capacity to look across the battlefield, see the assets available and onboard them in a manner to ensure they are fighting for you, not against you.

October 2015 « Human Resources « 39

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OPINION » People issues

How the little things make a difference to diversity CHEONG MENG FOONG

Three top tips to create an inclusive working environment that meets the needs of a diverse workforce.

Group head of rewards DBS Bank

Put on your thinking hat: Instead of thinking about what types of benefits you can offer, turn it around and put yourselves in employees’ shoes.

DBS’ workforce comprises a

diverse, multi-generational team, with employees at different stages of their lives and careers. We welcome such diversity as it gives us an opportunity to help them get the most out of their careers and time at DBS. What does it take to create a working environment that meets the needs of such a diverse workforce?

Placing employees’ needs first It is important to understand there is no one-size-fits-all solution that can meet the needs of all our staff. Instead of thinking about what types of benefits we can offer, we put ourselves in their shoes. This allows us to better understand them, and create a flexible system to customise benefits for them, based on their different life stages and needs. For example, employees in their 20s are likely to be setting up their new homes, and can make use of banking privileges available to them to manage their money more effectively. Staff loans offer better terms than commercial loans, and this helps them in their early careers.

Another example would be working mothers in their 30s – they usually have to manage family life and career progression, so we have flexible working arrangements to help them.

Putting ourselves in the shoes of our older staff, some may want to slow down in their careers near retirement, so they can also tap into flexible working arrangements such as opting for a shorter working week or half-day shifts to suit their needs.

At the end of the day, many of our initiatives are applicable to all staff regardless of their life stages, but we do recognise that some are more relevant at certain stages than others.

Consider the current, but plan for the future We understand that employees have to juggle both family responsibilities and work commitments, and that can be challenging. We want to help them with long-term planning.

One of the areas we want to make a difference in is

healthcare and insurance. We have reshaped our medical insurance coverage to encourage medical portability so they can continue to be covered even if they’re no longer with the bank.

By taking care of our employees’ long-term health concerns, it’s a way to show we truly care. Of course, the bank has other initiatives to address present needs as well. We believe it’s the little things that add up. For example, we’re increasing paternity leave for staff from one week to two, so as to give new fathers more flexibility to be involved in taking care of their newborns.

To promote a more active work-life balance, DBS also practises 5@5, where office hours end at 5pm on Fridays, to remind employees it is time to leave work and spend time with their families, friends or on their individual pursuits.

As a result of such initiatives, we have won this year’s “Best Company for Mums” SG50 Special Award, organised by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) in partnership with the National Trades Union Congress, Women’s Development Secretariat.

Support from the top Support from the top is important in the implementation of any work-life initiative. Senior management must understand such initiatives create a win-win for both employees and employers.

We encourage our line managers to have regular conversations with staff to understand their needs. They are also encouraged to schedule meetings within core working hours so employees who choose to start work earlier can leave on time.

We want to create a great workplace where employees feel connected and valued, and one that encourages growth and progress. This will help build employee engagement which creates real business outcomes.

We have also signed the Employers’ Pledge of Fair Employment Practices by TAFEP, signalling our commitment to be a fair and progressive employer.

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HRM_final.pdf

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9/11/14 2:05:55 PM

OPINION » Unconventional wisdom

Winning the battle for aerospace talent across Asian skies The wonders of developing staff through opportunities for international exposure and continous training TEO EE MEI Regional head of HR Pratt & Whitney

It is no secret that Asia is today the fastest growing

aviation market in the world, mirroring its increasing importance in various aspects of global trade and commerce.

Airbus and Boeing project that in the next two decades, Asia will account for more than a third of all passenger traffic worldwide. These planes will need to be built, flown and maintained by an entire talent ecosystem – from pilots and aircraft technicians to air stewards and bag handlers.

For this reason, we believe the shrinking pool of qualified aerospace engineers presents a major long-term challenge the aerospace industry needs to address.

In Singapore, where most of Pratt & Whitney’s Asia operations are based, the government has long identified aerospace as a strategic hub industry, and has done its part to ensure the pipeline of young talent remains robust.

For example, all five of the country’s polytechnics and all but one of its five universities offer aerospace-related programmes, with industry collaborations being the norm rather than the exception.

Each year, hundreds of newly minted diploma and degree holders refresh the talent pool for aerospace players such as Pratt & Whitney.

The recently introduced “SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme” will lower the cost of onboarding new recruits, while also giving companies the opportunity to observe and assess hires at close quarters.

A two-way talent street While these initiatives are a step in the right direction, the onus of developing young talent cannot rest solely on the government.

Aerospace companies must do their part to grow and support the talent ecosystem; it is a two-way street.

The onus of developing young talent cannot rest solely on the government. Aerospace companies must do their part to grow and support the talent ecosystem; it is a two-way street.

There are many different ways that aerospace companies can contribute, regardless of size.

Those of us in the aerospace industry know just how valuable international exposure and a global outlook can be. An engine assembled in Connecticut might have parts manufactured in Brazil, Germany, Singapore and many other parts of the world.

To provide students with some measure of international exposure, we have participated in the overseas industrial training programme where students from Singapore are encouraged to perform attachments in overseas facilities for periods ranging from a few weeks to several months.

Flying places: Providing staff with a global outlook helps boost efficiency.

Participating students are given the opportunity to hone their technical skills and gain knowledge which they may not have access to in Singapore.

This hands-on approach to learning should not be limited to students as even teachers can benefit from being students.

With this in mind, we invited polytechnic lecturers to undergo the same training modules professional aircraft engineers receive, allowing them to draw from these experiences to help bring their lessons to life in the classroom, and hopefully inspire more students to consider an aerospace career.

Keep them, once you have them If the battle to attract talent to the aerospace industry seems challenging, the retention of skilled talent presents an all-out war.

We are at a point today where employees are more educated than ever, yet we’re also beginning to recognise the value of continuous education, formal or otherwise.

At Pratt & Whitney, we provide a wide range of internal courses to help employees remain industry relevant and to keep their skills sharp.

For example, at one of our facilities in Singapore, employees can choose from more than 180 courses to further develop their technical skills and expertise.

Collectively, our staff spent 21,000 hours last year on upgrading themselves, an average of more than 30 hours per employee.

To summarise, there is no doubt in my mind that, with the massive growth opportunities in aerospace ahead of us, winning the war for talent will make all the difference.

42 » Human Resources » October 2015

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5/10/2015 8:23:23 PM

Calling all mid-career HR Professionals

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OPINION » Upwardly mobile

Cookie-cutters no longer work in learning The value of collaborative learning networks, and how the L&D function can anticipate future needs.

ANURADHA NAIK Director, HR, learning and organisational development Emerson Process Management

The L&D function has evolved tremendously in the past few years, the reason being several factors such as the change in workforce demographics, which further altered the expectations of the business as well as the staff in what they want to learn.

The change in sophisticated technology has shaped the entire landscape of learning and development within companies.

Today’s employees have new expectations of on-demand learning opportunities. Innovation and engaging learning solutions today are on-demand - those which are fast to absorb and are available in the virtual space.

Another significant change in the past few years is the explosion of new learning offerings such as MOOCs (massive open online courses), digital learning tools, video learnings and

Every piece matters: As equal custodians of strategy, each worker can play an equal role in employee development.

44 » Human Resources » October 2015

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Upwardly mobile « OPINION

new cloud-based learning systems.

This has offered companies a collaborative learning opportunity to integrate in their learning management systems.

Today even the scope of L&D has changed in many companies.

Emerson’s various leadership programmes At Emerson, we have leadership development programmes targeted to all leadership levels within the organisation starting from a first-time manager to the executive leadership level.

We also run a leadership programme that targets all those staff who are individual contributors, but will soon become people managers.

In this programme they are taught to understand how a supervisor’s role differs from that of an individual contributor and what mindset change they need to have to embrace a different role.

We also run an accelerated leadership development programme for our high potential leaders who are to be groomed to become future Emerson leaders.

One fundamental element common to all these leadership development programmes at Emerson is that, “a leader teaches, coaches and guides another Emerson leader”.

This circle of collaborative learning is a fantastic model of co-development.

How Emerson measures the effectiveness of its learning programmes At Emerson we have a philosophy of the “new finishing line of learning”. What this essentially means is the learning starts once you have finished classroom training and are able to use what you have learnt to drive behavioural change.

This philosophy is at the core of our learning. It’s important to measure the effectiveness of L&D programmes as the value of the training will be measured by what one puts to work when one is back at work.

Millions of dollars are being invested in employee development and if there is no return on that, then it’s a sheer waste of the company’s resources, time and money.

We measure ROI both in tangible as well as intangible forms – in dollar terms and also in employees’ work satisfaction, engagement and climate.

Identifying future training needs of employees HR/L&D, line managers and employees have a part to play in evaluating the current needs and identifying the future needs.

We know that training needs get determined by the business strategy and the employee’s capability to deliver on such business goals.

As all are equal custodians of strategy, everyone has an equal share in employee capability development.

Business and L&D leaders have to continually reassess the learning needs and expectations and also reimagine the kind of learning experience they need to provide to staff.

We have to move away from cookie-cutter solutions and one-size-fits-all to really narrowing down on targeted development for every individual. When I say development, it is beyond training.

Capability development has a vast range of options from coaching and mentoring, to assignments and relocations. For every learning solution, there must be included measurement of impact and change.

Learning today has become a critical business priority for increasing skills, improving the leadership pipeline and keeping up with employees’ engagement.

L&D functions have to continuously transform themselves in building a learning culture that fits today’s times and meets today’s demand. Corporations and L&D must see a vision for the future.

We at Emerson see the vision of a collaborative learning network, where networks are not only the environment of learning, but they’re also the place where problems are solved, discoveries are made and new knowledge is created.

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CAREERS » Personal development

uptheranks Tracking HR’s industry moves Who: Sebastien Hampartzoumian From: Michael Page India To: PageGroup Singapore and India Sebastien Hampartzoumian, senior managing director for Michael Page India, has relocated to Singapore to head up both markets as senior MD for PageGroup Singapore and India.

In the expanded role, he will report to Anthony Thompson, regional MD of Greater China and Southeast Asia, accounting for a growing team of 180 employees.

With more than 15 years of experience within the group in India and Europe, Hampartzoumian will continue to be a member of the Asia Pacific board.

His move to Singapore is part of PageGroup’s plan to bring a depth of leadership talent to the expanding Asian businesses.

He is one of 37 people who have been transferred across the various offices in Asia Pacific this year, with the company strongly advocating nurturing the team organically.

“For more than 20 years, we have concentrated heavily on the development of local teams and management within Asia and we are proud to say that approximately 90% of our existing senior management in the region has been developed in this manner,” Thompson said.

Who: Puneet Arora From: GroupM Philippines To: GroupM Singapore Jon Thurlow, the CEO for GroupM Singapore, has stepped up to take on the role of COO at GroupM Asia Pacific, reporting to Mark Patterson, CEO of GroupM Asia Pacific.

Puneet Arora, previously the CEO of GroupM Philippines, has taken over to manage Singapore, alongside sub-regional responsibility as chairman of the Philippines and Thailand.

Kevin Clarke, CEO of GroupM Thailand, will report to Arora. Until Arora’s successor in the Philippines is announced, he will retain his responsibilities as CEO there.

Patterson said of the appointment: “Puneet has been an outstanding leader in the Philippines. It was our joint country of the year last year.

“He has a rich tapestry of experience across markets in AP in local and regional roles and performed well in them all and it’s a real boost for our business to be able to expand his role as we have now.”

personalgrowth WHY I WON’T REHIRE A FORMER EMPLOYEE Hiring boomerang employees is all the rage these days – but Akankasha Dewan wonders if they may be doing more harm than good.

Welcoming back ex-employees – or “boomerang employees” – is becoming a popular recruiting practice with a simple rationale.

Former staff members already understand the organisation’s work structure and culture, which makes them less risky hires.

But it’s undeniable that potential emotional and organisational pitfalls exist in this hiring scenario.

First, there are always questions to deal with: Why did he/she leave in the first place? Won’t he/she leave again?

Obviously, there was a reason the employee left the company, and even though the willingness of the employee to rejoin the same company suggests that he/she may have gotten over that reason, it doesn’t suggest the reason isn’t present anymore.

This reason to quit can take on any form – from annoying colleagues to a lack of a cultural fit to a shortage of career development opportunities.

Until organisations are clear these issues have been resolved, such employees will always be a flight risk. He/she has left before when things got too tough, what’s to say they won’t do it again?

It’s easy to counter that by saying that even if there’s a risk of the employee quitting again, the valuable and familiar skills they bring in make this risk a worthy one to take.

But the one thing they forget in such a scenario is things have changed. Their information is from a different time and context, when the

organisation was facing different challenges, and when the employee had a smaller breadth of experiences and skills.

By the time of the return, both the employee and the company might have changed, and that employee’s skills might not be suited for the organisation’s current set of challenges.

And this can only lead to the employee encountering difficulty fitting in, and perhaps also cracks in working relationships.

In such a situation, an objective and vigorous hiring assessment needs to be made to ensure the candidate is suitable for the role at hand.

It’s easy to rely on old and familiar faces to help overcome talent challenges – especially those whom we’ve had good working experiences with – but the easy way out isn’t necessarily the perfect way out.

Instead, ask yourself whether a fresh start with a new candidate, and a new set of skills and experiences might be better to boost your organisation’s growth.

46 » Human Resources » October 2015

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Good reads to improve your business life

shelflife

Workplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organisation Lau Putnam Laura W Wiley $$49.30

Leading with Strategic Thinking: Four Ways Effective Leaders Gain Insight, Drive Change, and Get Results Aaron K. Olson, B. Keith Simerson Wiley $42.25

With the increasing complexity in businesses today, coupled with the disruptive forces of ever changing technology and globalisation, strategic thinking is essential in every aspect of a business.

While there are a plethora of books out there about leadership and strategic thinking, few talk about integrating the two for successful business outcomes.

In this book, not only do the authors Aaron K. Olson and B. Keith Simerson merge strategic thinking and leadership in a compelling way, but they also redefine strategic thinking – expanding its relevance from only being limited to senior executives to being relevant across the entire workforce.

Avoiding the one-size-fits-all leadership

model, this book serves as a guide for both aspiring and seasoned leaders, outlining four general leadership types and demonstrating how each can achieve success.

It also highlights the three key activities that strategic thinking comprises – assessing situations, recognising patterns and making decisions.

Neatly divided into six chapters, sequenced to introduce broader concepts before providing useful tools, the book features practical cases, showing how real leaders deal with various situations organised around a conceptual framework.

Bookmark this!

“Making choices is fundamental to leadership (if not to life!). Too often, business texts and conventional wisdom make these choices look simplistic. The right choice can appear rather clear in hindsight. Few question the wisdom of famous decisions when reviewed after the fact.

But honest accounts of important decisions reveal the right answer was often not as clear at the time. In fact, sometimes the choices themselves aren’t clear.” – page 216.

Bookmark this!

“Culture may be the defining competitive advantage when it comes to accelerating business performance. Without a doubt, culture is also the defining competitive advantage when it comes to curating an effective workplace wellness initiative. For starters, it’s critical to clearly understand the culture of the organisation you’re working within.” – page 63.

Book photography: Fauzie Rasid

Pick of the month

Workplace wellness programmes have been around for years. However, evidence suggests the traditional model of encouraging wellness in the workplace is neither working nor reducing the amount organisations need to fork out for healthcare.

With 10 years of experience as a practitioner in workplace wellness under her belt, Laura Putnam brings a fresh perspective to the current state of workplace wellness.

By addressing the connection between wellness and culture, she shows how wellness can be creatively integrated into companies’ existing employee development strategies.

Stepping away from top-down compliance initiatives, she provides readers with the tools to start making a difference in staff’s wellness and happiness. Backed by real-world examples and case studies, the book serves as a guide to help readers create and implement an innovative wellness programme.

October 2015 « Human Resources « 47

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LAST WORD

Instead of firing that difficult employee, try to put their problematic traits to good use, suggests Akankasha Dewan.

Whether your company is a young start-up or a multinational corporation, you’ve surely run into an employee who drives you batty.

At that point, your leadership skills are naturally called into action as you deal with problematic employees who, with their difficult personalities, huge egos and quirky habits, disrupt the smooth functioning of your organisation.

While I understand certain grossly unethical habits should never be tolerated, firing difficult employees immediately might actually downplay your skills as a leader.

Not only does terminating employees frequently call into question your own hiring skills and ability to judge character, it also invokes the additional cost of replacing the fired employee, and training a new one.

In my opinion, the real responsibility of a leader in such a situation does not end at deciding whether the employee should be fired or not, but how to view his/her weakness as a trait that might actually help the organisation.

Increasingly, research has shown us that the personalities of employees are gaining credence over their skill sets. Bosses worldwide are acknowledging that working in different or creative ways has helped their organisation gain a competitive edge and helped boost productivity.

But what often remains forgotten in such instances is the possibility that certain traits, which are conventionally viewed as negative, also have that same potential in them to lead businesses to greater heights. For example, a study recently revealed that companies looking for a more creative workforce should let their employees cheat.

I am not encouraging leaders to retain employees with bad behaviours. Attempts to excuse poor work habits should not, at any cost, be made. But what can be attempted is to question if these habits are really “poor” and whether they can be leveraged upon to profit the company.

For example, here are three simple ways you can possibly put such problematic traits to good use: • Rather than terminating an employee immediately for his/her obnoxious or vain

“While certain grossly unethical habits should never be tolerated, firing difficult employees immediately might actually downplay your skills as a leader.” behaviour and tendency to show-off, leverage on such habits by sending that employee on a marketing/promotional tour for your company.

•

If your employee has been found guilty of using too much social media during work hours, assign him or her a position which enables them to make your company’s online presence much stronger. If they have been guilty of frequent trips outdoors during work hours, shift their role to one which involves travel and outdoor activity instead of a desk job where possible.

•

If an employee keeps turning up to work late in the morning, watch their productivity levels during the later part of the day. If they’re more productive post-lunch or early evening, give them more important tasks during that period, and send them for meetings/networking events which take place at night.

Traits of employees, good or bad, are part of the individual you hired, and by leveraging on the full potential and passion of your staff in the right way, you might be able to convert their weaknesses into strengths. 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

Don’t be so quick to fire difficult employees

48 » Human Resources » October 2015

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