Human Resources October 2014

October 2014

The smart HR professional’s blueprint for workforce strategy

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October 2014 « CONTENTS

COVER STORY 12 Q&A Telstra’s HR director Lynne Barry explains how the company has managed to offer every single employee flexible working options – and why it really works.

Features 16 Time out! Don’t burn out Employers don’t recognise the signs, and employees struggle to ask for help.

Sabrina Zolkifi delves into the world of the burnt out employee and what HR can do to prevent it.

24 Changing the perspective of payroll Payroll still suffers the stigma of being a back-office, low-profile function of HR. Akankasha Dewan finds out how the function can combat these unhelpful negative perceptions.

Opinion

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34 Learning & Development When people are at the heart of managing complex scientific instruments, learning has to resonate across all employees, says Teng Teng Lim, regional HR director at AB SCIEX.

36 People Issues It can cost thousands to recruit a new employee. Tracy Enright outlines the five mistakes you don’t want to make with your newest staff.

39 Unconventional Wisdom Does telling staff to go on holiday really boost engagement? George Avery, director of HR for IBM APAC, gives his perspective.

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40 Upwardly Mobile If you had a magic wand, what would you do? Ravi Bhogaraju, head of HR Asia, global business partner textiles at Archroma, explores how HR leaders can deal with new processes and changes to better drive business.

48 Last Word Can office relationships ever work? Rebecca Lewis says go for it – on one or two conditions.

Regulars

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3 4 6 7 8

Ed’s note In the news Suite talk Spacial awareness HR by numbers

9 Snapshot 10 White paper 46 Up the ranks 47 Shelf life

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EDITOR’S NOTE

editor deputy editor senior journalist journalist contributors

Rebecca Lewis Sabrina Zolkifi Aditi Sharma Kalra Akankasha Dewan George Avery Ravi Bhogaraju Tracey Enright Teng Teng Lim

regional art director senior designer regional marketing executive

senior event producer

Shahrom Kamarulzaman Fauzie Rasid June Tan

Ang Yoke Han

regional head of event services

Yeo Wei Qi

senior executive – event services

Renee Phua

senior account manager audience manager

regional finance director group editorial director group managing director

Karen Boh Yang Kai Lin

Evelyn Wong Tony Kelly Justin Randles

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Riding the wave of change Change is hard. Even the least change-resistant people can find it difficult to alter their behaviour or habits, even if it’s a positive change.

Example? Over the past two years, I have dropped 10 kilos and I’ve done it with a “slow and steady wins the race” mentality.

It’s also been slow because it really is hard.

In fact, making a change is so hard that millions of people would rather risk major health problems than change their habits. I used to be one of those who couldn’t be bothered. Over the years I started ignoring my waistline and focused on everything else in my life (mainly food, let’s be honest.)

But then I met Abdullah, my personal trainer, who taught me that making a change is supposed to be hard. Like a good mentor, he said if change were easy, we wouldn’t need drive to get anything done, and we wouldn’t understand the true benefits of a challenge.

Although I sometimes wish I hadn’t met Abdul (usually when I’m in the middle of chin-ups) there’s two things I like about his attitude. The first is he treats me no different than he would a man. I don’t think you can fully appreciate this unless you’ve been told you can’t do something because you’re the inherently “weaker” sex. Well, now I can leg press 260kgs, so there.

The second is he approaches change in the way that a good leader should – unapologetically and from the front. If something needs to be done, you just do it. You might hate it, but you’ll love it when you see the results.

In the spirit of our employee wellness feature (page 16) I wanted to share a few things I’ve learnt from Abdul we can apply to change our lives.

call. Before you know it, you’ve pushed yourself further than you thought.

Don’t stop old behaviours, just add a new one Abdul doesn’t believe in diets, he believes in new habits. Eat all the nasi goreng you want, just go for a run. If you’ve got faults as a leader, you don’t need to become someone else, just try doing something nice – like giving praise – sometimes.

Baby steps are the way to go This how you get small victories from the beginning. Don’t be all, “I’m going to run a marathon!” and then get upset if you fail to complete this over-the-top goal in one hit.

Anything worth changing is never, ever easy Change is turbulent, chaotic and full of opportunity.

The sooner you know this, the sooner you’ll feel comfortable making a positive change.

Enjoy the issue.

Beg for something to be easier, and it will immediately become harder This is because wanting the easy way out comes from a negative frame of mind. This is true for when you’re struggling to meet a deadline or to lift heavy weights (warning: Abdul will make them heavier just to spite your defeatist attitude.)

Photography: Stefanus Elliot Lee – www.elliotly.com; Hair & makeup: Vanida Yam Yen – vanidamakeover.blogspot.com

HumanResources

When you want to give up, just do ONE MORE Thinking of quitting because it’s too hard? Do one more repetition. Feeling defeated because you can’t hit your targets? Just make ONE more phone

Rebecca Lewis editor October 2014 « Human Resources «

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News from humanresourcesonline.net

CPF POLICIES WILL CHANGE: PPM LEE In hhis National Day Rally 2014 spe speech, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted vario various upcoming changes in the countr country’s local Central Provident Fund (CPF) system. Lee said he and his ggovernment would focus on three areas this year: Giving people full opportunities to achieve their potential, providing more assurance in retirement, and making Singapore a home for all ages.

Part of these changes include the implementation of the new Silver Support scheme which is targeted towards low income elderly Singaporeans. The scheme will give those with little or no CPF savings an annual bonus. The policy is similar to how the government helps low-wage workers supplement their salaries with workfare payments, according to Lee. In addition, he announced CPF members who are retired will be allowed to withdraw a lump sum from their minimum sum savings if needed.

However, he warned there might be a limit to this withdrawal.

“The amount they take out cannot be too excessive. For example, it can be up to 20% of the total that you have and it should be only during retirement, 65 and beyond, not suka-suka any time you feel you need money you run to HDB.” An advisory panel has also been set up by MOM to advise on CPF improvements, and the minimum sum will be raised from $155,000 to $161,000 for people turning 55 from July 2015.

YAWN! SINGAPORE – THIRD MOST SLEEP-DEPRIVED CITY Here’s another reason why you should let your staff sleep during working hours. According to recent data by Jawbone, Singaporeans are sleeping an average of six hours and 32 minutes daily, making it the third most sleep-deprived city in the world.

Jawbone’s study tracked sleeping patterns of people wearing UP, the company’s digitised wrist brands, worldwide from June 2013 to June 2014.

Tokyo was the city found to sleep the least, with residents sleeping an average of five hours and 44 minutes per night.

“Dubai has the most leisurely sleep schedule, with 10% of users still asleep by 11am,” the report stated.

Residents of Melbourne, Australia, were titled as the people who get the most sleep, with an average of six hours and 58 minutes. Their counterparts in Brisbane were also found to be early risers, with a majority getting up at 6:29 am every morning.

“The movement and sleep patterns of a city tell an amazing story about its culture and people.”

OCT

SINGAPORE ENTREPRENEUR WINS GLOBAL AWARD

58% OF BOSSES KNOW WHEN YOU ARE LYING

Singapore-based entrepreneur Grace Clapham has taken home the Inspirational Leadership Award at the global 2014 Talent Unleashed Awards. The awards were judged by Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, after combing through 600 entries from throughout the region to find the most innovative entrepreneurs.

Clapham beat 60 short-listed candidates to take home the award after being recognised for her achievements with her business community initiatives, including Creative Mornings Singapore, She Says Singapore and Secret (W) Business. She also set up an agency, Agent Grace, focused on Australian businesses entering Southeast Asia within the travel, fashion and lifestyle industries.

She is one of six winners going to the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa for a five-day entrepreneurship workshop.

In a tight labour market there’s a lot of pressure for candidates to stand out from the crowd, but is lying on a resume really worth the risk? According to HR managers, it’s not – them can ttellll when 58% off th h applicants are fibbing.

A survey by Harris Poll for CareerBuilder found while more than half of hiring managers spot the lies, 33% of them also claim to have seen a rise in lies on CVs in recent years.

Half of employers said they would automatically dismiss a candidate if they spotted false information on their CVs, while 40% said it would depend on what the lie was about.

Only 7% said they might overlook the lie if they really liked the candidate.

“Trust is very important in professional relationships, and by lying on your resume, you breach that trust from the very outset,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice-president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “If you want to enhance your resume, it’s better to focus on playing up tangible examples from your actual experience. Your resume doesn’t necessarily have to be the perfect fit for an organisation, but it needs to be relevant and accurate.”

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DON’T JUST USE THE FCF TO COMPLAIN: MOM

WILL THE JOBS BANK MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Singapore’s Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) began in August, as part of the government’s efforts to strengthen the local workforce. As part of the FCF, companies looking to hire will have to advertise available jobs on the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) Jobs Bank for 14 days before they are able to submit an Employment Pass application.

On its official blog, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) clarified the FCF is “not just about acting upon complaints”.

“The spirit of the FCF is fundamentally about changing attitudes and mindsets, while addressing the manpower needs of companies. We hope to see employers making improvements in the way they hire and develop Singaporeans,” said Roslyn Ten, director of the Fair Consideration Department (FCD).

However, when the FCD is made aware of a complaint, the ministry’s case officers will look into the company’s HR processes and evaluate its actions in context, adding they would not “presume these employers to be errant from the outset”. The FCD will also continue to work with companies to help them comply with the new policies and grow a “Singaporean core” in their workforce.

Companies that are also looking to improve their hiring and employment frameworks are encouraged to approach the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP), which promotes the adoption of fair, responsible and progressive employment practices.

Since August, employers in Singapore have been required to publish all available job postings for 14 days (for roles under $12,000) on the new National Jobs Bank before they are able to apply for an employment pass (EP).

While this is not the government’s first attempt at managing the local and foreign talent, this latest push puts more pressure on firms to build a more balanced workforce.

But do senior HR practitioners here believe the Jobs Bank will make a difference?

One regional HR lead believes it won’t have a meaningful impact. “It’s government lip service,” said the senior HR professional, who didn’t want to be named. “It’s not going to have an impact on anyone as long as the only requirement is to post it for two weeks.

The only impact that Singapore can have are the approvals of the EPs.” Another HR director from a global internet company sees the Jobs Bank as a sign of a more progressive Singapore.

“I see it as a positive because it’s forcing Singaporeans to look at opportunities that are available. I think it will be a little lax in the beginning, and when the enforcement happens, people will consider local talent even more seriously, seriously,” he said. Other HR leaders believe there is a bigger value in thee Jobs Bank.

“It’s important to not look at it as a one-off solution. It’s a very useful source ource of real-time data that can be used for or many things,” an HR director from the he technology sector said. ery “With the data, we can get a very good sense of the demand, the mismatch match within the labour market and how we can address it. Wee w will also see where are the jobs Singaporeans ans don’t want to fill.”

SINGAPORE – 52ND MOST LIVEABLE CITY Singapore has earned its place as one of the world’s most liveable cities, coming in 52 on The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking. It was ly, only 3.3% behind Hong Kong, which was 31st on the list of 140 cities. Globally, e.

Melbourne came first, followed by Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto and Adelaide.

Since 2009, the average liveability score across the world has fallen en by 0.7%, mainly a result of a 1.3% drop in the score for stability and safety. ety. The decline is also driven by unrest in the Ukraine and Middle East.

“Liveability trends tend to move slowly, so it is unsurprising to see little or no movement among the top ranked cities. But destabilisation has had a catastrophic impact for some cities with a possible knock-on effect in neighboring countries,” said survey eeditor Jon Copestake. the spectrum, the bottom On the other end of th five cities w were Damascus, Dhaka, PPort Moresby, Lagos and KKarachi. The rankings aare calculated on more than 30 factors across five tha bbroad categories: Stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. an

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HE HELLO … WHAT’S ALL THIS THI ABOUT KITTY? This was probably the biggest shock to any Hello Kitty fan fans around the world: Apparently, the Hello Kitty we all a know and lo love from our childhoods is not, in fact, a cat.

That’s right – she’s actually a little British girl called Kitty White, whoo is in th thee tthird hi grade.

Sa San Sanrio, rio the company which created the Hello Kitty character and mercha mer chandd has come forward to vehemently state she is not what she merchandise, appe appears ears to be.

Acc Ac According to the Los Angeles Times, Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist from thee Univer University of Hawaii, was contacted by Sanrio while curating a Hello Kitty retrospective v at the Japanese American National Museum, in a bid to set her straight after she – understandably – called her a cat.

“I was corrected – very firmly,” she said. “That’s one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl.

She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours.”

She apparently also has a twin sister and is a perpetual third grader who lives just outside of London. Who knew?

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October 2014 « Human Resources «

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WORK LIFE » People GET INTO THE BOSS’S HEAD

Robert Woolfrey Managing director APAC Millennial Media

How did you get to where you are today?

I have always believed in pushing one’s own limits to achieve more in life and business. Two years ago, I was Millennial Media’s first employee in Asia Pacific. While I was originally hired to cover Southeast Asia and build the team here, whenever I saw an opportunity to push the limits, enter other markets like Australia or India, I took it. Earlier this year, I accepted the role of managing director for all of Asia Pacific, including Japan.

Success is also achieved with the support and teamwork of your colleagues. I’m very thankful that that is at the heart of Millennial Media’s culture.

How would you define your leadership style?

In one word – passionate. I have been living and breathing mobile since its inception, and I am determined to give our organisation my best every day. I hold my employees to a similar standard as we work together to shape our own future and that of the industry.

Over the years, my leadership style has matured and I’ve grown into an individual that trusts in his team, believes in their capabilities and supports their decisions. If there is a requirement for me to get more involved, I step in to take a more hands-on approach, coach staff at the entry level, participate in brainstorm sessions, etc – whatever the need or hour it may be.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

One of the most satisfying things about my job has been the opportunity to watch people grow as individuals, as well as in terms of their own skill sets. For instance, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to mentor someone who has never travelled outside of Singapore and Malaysia, but now works across all of Southeast Asia and has travelled the region extensively. I love watching them take charge and achieve their potential. It is very satisfying.

Personally, I also enjoy being at the cuttingedge of technology and could not have found a better industry to support that. Mobile is at the centre of consumer behaviour and the thread by which all advertising is connected.

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What’s the toughest decision you’ve had to make as a boss?

One of the more challenging components of my job is to initiate change and restructure the business when the need arises. While change is inevitable, our industry’s high-growth trajectory means we have to continually grow and, at times, reinvent ourselves. When that means reassigning a certain project or diverting resources from another, there is bound to be some friction. That is because we empower our staff to take ownership at work and seek success for both themselves and the organisation.

How do you unwind?

Cooking and sharing a meal with my loved ones is my favourite way to unwind. I believe that a meal turns out well only when you put your heart into creating and executing the recipe. As such, cooking forces you to concentrate on the task at hand and, for the moment, let everything else go.

Barbecuing is one of my favourite pastimes, and I am fortunate to have a large terrace, which enables me to fire-up the grill whenever I want. My wife and I love entertaining whenever we can and it gives me the opportunity to hone my skills. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll become Singapore’s version of Bobby Flay!

How do you motivate stressed out staff?

I believe a leader needs to show their passion, enthusiasm and optimism for the job every single day – and even more so on the tougher days. Your vision has to shine through, and you should be able to articulate the end-goal at any given point. Each person needs to know how they add value and help the company inch closer to the collective goal.

I believe the team should miss every colleague who is out sick or on leave. That’s a test that everyone is aware of each individual’s value.

Can HR leaders really become CEOs? CEOs require a diverse range of skills that give them the ability to function in a complex environment. This includes a bias towards action, an ability to take risks, market and customer familiarity, an understanding of profit drivers, and a strategic long-term outlook. HR leaders need to demonstrate their business acumen and be trained to look at HR as a strategic business function that drives end results before they can sit at the table.

That said, CEOs need to have excellent talent management skills, which is a natural skill set of an HR professional. The innate ability to build relationships, cultivate and mentor people, be inclusive in their decision-making and create an environment of support – these traits are not only invaluable, but essential at the CEO level.

How can HR become more strategic?

HR needs a seat in the boardroom. Aligning more closely with the overall company vision and what needs to be done to get there is the only way the function can be more strategic. It’s not just about putting people in seats, but future-proofing the business by finding the right people.

HR managers need to understand the company’s business challenges, and the long-term direction so they can find the people with the right skills sets, education, intellect and outlook that not only satisfies where the company is now, but those that can help the company reach new heights.

What’s the best thing about HR in your company?

The honesty and integrity with which we deal with our people is what makes our HR policy stand out.

We truly care about our staff and are committed to their wellbeing throughout their time at Millennial Media. We want our team to be able to achieve their full potential and we stand behind them from g g the beginning.

How do you achieve that sort of attitude?

All our senior team members have an open door policy and we encourage our teams to identify problems and come to us before they escalate. By taking a genuine interest in people, we are able to foster the trust that is required for people to come up to us even in tough situations.

To keep the momentum going in the office, we also encourage members of the team to identify, engage and develop initiatives they would be interested in.

For example, a few members of the team get together regularly to put together an APAC company newsletter, which they called Synergy, to share updates with everyone. That is an example of a simple way of lighting up a colleague’s inbox and also contributes to staff wellness overall. They weren’t tasked with it, they just took the initiative and did it.

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People WORK LIFE

SpacialAwareness BANKING ON A NEW LOOK After 15 years at its old premises, Westpac Banking Corporation moved to its new location this year.

Now based in Asia Square Tower 2, the bank used the move as an opportunity to design and cultivate an environment which better supported employee performance and engagement and strongly reinforced its culture and heritage.

“We needed something that created an appropriate space for our customers, as well as recognising the energy and creativity needed in a growth business and the changing way people are working,” says Phoebe Ryssenbeek, head of HR, marketing and communications for Asia, at Westpac.

As Australia’s first bank, she says the company made a conscious effort to include accents of its heritage in the design; there are spaces within the office which represent the Outback, bush, beaches and cities.

“My favourite area is our reception, which represents the Outback – it feels like you’re standing in the red desert with clouds floating overhead,” she says.

Westpac’s Singapore office, which was designed by Realys Design & Build, was also engineered to facilitate an informal exchange of ideas and information. While there are still assigned desks, the space lacks office rooms; instead there are large communal areas and informal meetings spaces.

“We also have glass ‘ideas’ walls dotted around the office to allow people to scribble on the walls to map out ideas or work through problems together. And we have quiet spaces, small rooms that cannot be booked where people can retreat if they need to find some focus time.”

Lance Vassarotti, the project lead for the office move, adds: “We have also incorporated our corporate culture through other measures: from giving the better views to the teams that work the longest hours to installing an internal staircase and a central pantry area to encourage integration and co-operation.”

Ryssenbeek says the new space makes it easier for employees to get to know each other better, and that staff have embraced the new office well.

“Our first day here was like everyone’s birthday had come at once – so much energy and excitement … and we’ve maintained that new office energy ever since,” she says.

“I think the best response so far was from one of our employee’s teenage children who, when they paid us a visit, exclaimed, ‘Wow, this is a place where young people would want to work’. For a bank, we think that’s a pretty cool endorsement.”

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WORK LIFE » HR by numbers

Saying no to job hoppers The majority of employerss have admitted they think twicee about – or completely ignore – candidates didates whose resumes show definite signs gns of job hopping over the years.

According to a surveyy by Robert Half UK, leaders working in finance will remove a candidate from consideration if deemed a job hopper.

Phil Sheridan, senior managing director of Robert Half UK, K, said too much voluntary job hopping ng was a “red flag” for employers; and businesses “look for people who will be committed to the organisation, can contribute ontribute to the company, and help it reach its short and long-term goals”.

88%

of finance leaders would not consider a candidate if they were a “job hopper”.

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job changes in 10 years iss what most employers consider job hopping. opping.

93%

of small businesses are inclined nclined to “pass over” a job hopper,, compared with 84% of larger companies. anies.

Source: Robert Half UK

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People WORK LIFE

snapshot

15 minutes with ...

Thomas Schellerer

HR director for Asia Pacific Barry Callebaut WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST HR JOB? It was in logistics, but there was no HR person in the company. There were a lot of issues to deal with, including dealing with the workers’ councils, so I realised I enjoyed the HR parts of my work more than the technical parts.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT HR YOU LOVE THE MOST? It’s all about people and you are not stuck within one topic in the business. You are in operations, manufacturing, R&D, sales – you’re everywhere and that really makes it interesting for me.

DO YOU HAVE AN ASPECT OF YOUR JOB YOU DON’T LIKE? Maybe the administrative side, which has to be done, but you want to spend as little time on it by making the process as effective as possible.

ARE THERE ANY ODD MOMENTS IN HR? I think recruiting is the funniest. Sometimes people send in CVs with really funny information or sometimes you get information you really didn’t want to know.

HOW HAS HR HAS CHANGED? There was a time when everyone tried to outsource HR and questioned HR’s value in the business. The last 10 to 15 years has changed that a lot, and we see more MNCs realising one of the biggest challenges is making sure we have the right talent. It’s always nice when you hear the CEO say to run a successful business you need two things: Money and people.

WHAT'S YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE LIKE? I try to be rather hands-off. I start off trusting people, and I like to work with people I have a good relationship with – we don’t have to be friends, but there has to be trust. I’m open and flexible, and I don’t like to think I’m always right. I like my team challenging me because you need that.

WHAT'S THE BEST THING HR CAN DO FOR EMPLOYEES? We can help find out what the right job for them is, where they can perform and shine the best. We tell them when they are good, but also help managers tell their teams if they’re not working well. I’m a believer of not spending too much time in a position where you’re not happy.

IS THAT THE CAREER ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE SOMEONE? Yes, always try to do what you enjoy. We spend so much time at work with our colleagues so it would be dreadful to be in a job where on Sunday evening you think, “I don’t want to go into the office tomorrow”.

AND YOU SEEM TO BE ENJOYING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. Absolutely! Especially when you can work for a chocolate company – not many products get any better.

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WHITE PAPER » Leadership

WORKERS AND BOSSES DIFFER OVER RETENTION STRATEGIES

Global – It seems like HR leaders worldwide still need to work on their ability to find out what their employees really want from their organisations.

According to the Towers Watson Global Talent Management and Rewards Survey, 65% of employers are experiencing problems attracting top performers, while 64% are having trouble attracting high-potential employees.

The study covered responses from more than 1,637 companies across a range of industries in 26 markets, and was complemented by the Towers Watson Global Workforce study, designed to capture employee and employer perspectives on the emerging trends and issues shaping the global workplace.

Covering 32,000 employees worldwide, the Global Workforce study found 28% of employees were likely to leave their employer within the next two years.

In addition, fewer than half of employees think their organisation does a good job of hiring (46%) and retaining (42%) highly qualified employees.

When it came to understanding the top drivers needed to attract talent, employers and employees were “generally” on the same page, identifying similar fundamentals such as base pay and career development opportunities.

However, a few substantial differences were identified in both the reports, especially with regards

Top attraction and retention drivers Countries Percentage of employers screening candidates Employee view Employer view 23.38% Australia Career advancement opportunities Base pay/salary 23.38% New Zealand Base pay/salary Job security Singapore work Challenging Career18.78% advancement opportunities Organisation’s reputation asScreening a good Trends employer Source: First Advantage Employment Report: Asia Pacific

L&D opportunities

Source: Towers Watson Global Workforce Study and Global Talent Management and Rewards Survey

to job security and paid vacation time. While 41% of employees stated job security was a key reason for them to join an organisation, only 26% of bosses stated this was the case.

Employees also cited paid vacation time as a key attraction driver, reflecting the importance they place on work-life balance.

However, paid vacation time was noticeably absent from the employers’ view of key attraction drivers.

“With talent mobility on the rise, employers need to understand what employees value if they are to succeed in attracting and retaining employees,” said Laura Sejen, managing director at Towers Watson.

“Unfortunately, our surveys reveal a significant disconnect between employers and employees.

“While employers recognise the importance of pay and career advancement as key reasons employees choose to join and stay with a company,

they don’t place the same importance on another top attraction and retention driver: job security, or a key retention driver: trust and confidence in senior leadership.”

In fact, leadership was also found to be the top driver of sustainable engagement, but less than half of employees (48%) agreed senior leadership was effective. A direct relation was also found between employee engagement and effective leadership.

In organisations where employees perceived their managers (but not their leaders) to be effective, 23% of workers were found to be highly engaged. And in organisations where leaders (but not managers) were perceived as effective, 35% of employees were highly engaged.

“In today’s global workplace, leadership is a driver of not only sustainable engagement overall, as revealed in our 2012 research, but also all the components of sustainable engagement,” the report stated.

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Leadership « WHITE PAPER

THE MOST ‘CREATIVELY PRODUCTIVE’ COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD Global – In a newly developed index to measure a country’s creative efficiency, Singapore has just squeezed into the top 10 globally.

Developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Economist Intelligence Unit, the The creative productivity index Country

Overall

Input

Output

Japan

1

8

4

Finland

2

6

1

Republic of Korea

3

9

8

United States

4

3

3

Taipei, China

5

7

9

New Zealand

6

5

5

Hong Kong, China

7

2

2

Australia

8

4

7

Laos PDR

9

23

17

Singapore

10

1

6

Source: Creative Productivity Index, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Economist Intelligence Unit.

Creative Productivity Index found Singapore to be efficient at turning creative input into tangible economic outputs. The index measured the innovative and creative capacity of economies by relating creative input to output. It aims to give policy makers a tool to measure progress in fostering creativity and innovation.

Singapore came first on innovation inputs alone, thanks to its strong political institutions, protection of intellectual property and contract enforcement. However, it ranked sixth, behind New Zealand, for creative output.

“As countries seek to innovate to avoid middle-income traps, all governments – especially those with limited resources – need to be sure that their investments boost both efficiency and productivity, benefiting their economies and people, and move to a knowledgebased economy,” said Bindu N. Lohani, VP for knowledge management and sustainable development at ADB. Japan was rated as the most effective at turning creative input into output followed by Finland and the Republic of Korea. The United

States, and Taipei and China rounded out the top five countries respectively. The index used 36 input indicators to measure the capacity for innovation and eight output indicators.

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PROFILE » Lynne Barry

12 » Hum 12 Human u an an Res Resources Re o rce ou our c » Oc ces O October ctob tober er 201 2014 14

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Lynne Barry « PROFILE

Lynne Barry

Director of human resources, International Telstra A flexible approach

By SABRINA ZOLKIFI

Q How does flexibility and diversity play into Telstra’s HR strategy?

When I think of flexibility and diversity, the first thing I do is to go back to talent strategy because diversity and flexibility flow from there. But even before I can get to our talent strategy, it must be absolutely grounded in our purpose and values.

Q What’s Telstra’s purpose statement?

To create a brilliant and connected future for everyone, and that’s really about our customers, our community and especially about our people. Our five values are showing we care, being better together, trusting each other to deliver, making the complex simple, and finding our courage.

I’m always anchored in that as I create the talent strategy.

Q Tell us more about that strategy.

It’s really around our business strategy, so asking how we’re going to deliver better customer advocacy, how we’re going to drive business growth and value from the core, and how we’re going to build new businesses. Our talent has to play a huge role in this and when I think about our HR leadership coming together and creating our talent strategy, I see our programme has underpinned these pillars.

We can’t grow in Asia, and we can’t be a talent leader in Asia, unless we’re an organisation that’s embracing all of those things.

Q Could you share a little more about your talent programmes?

Because of the changing expectations of the talent in our region, and because

they’re digitally connected like they’ve never been before, flexibility is a value our people are expecting. It’s not just something women want and expect, it’s something all of our talent are asking for. If we can offer that, that’s a real advantage for us in the region.

What Telstra is committed to is that all roles can be flexible, and we call that All Roles Flex. That’s a commitment that’s saying it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, our commitment is to make sure we can offer flexibility, and listen to you to understand the flexibility you want.

We we will do what we can to give you that flexibility.

Q What flexibility do people want?

For the younger generation, it may be because they have personal commitments that are important to them.

It may be people who have got parental responsibility, or it could be someone who wants to spend a little more time in the afternoon with their children or parents at home. Working to understand our people is really important. We have many people working on an adjusting working structure.

Q Including you?

I start my day early at 6.30am and make sure I’m out of the office by 5pm and that’s because I want to spend time with my son. That’s something my business peers, colleagues and bosses are happy with. People are choosing hours which are right for them, as long as we know work is a verb and not a noun. That’s just one example of the kinds of things people are asking us for.

Q All roles being flexible is really

VITAL STATS Lynne Barry has been with Telstra, based in Hong Kong for six months. She was previously the director of human resources for Accenture in Asia Pacific. Currently the director of human resources, International, at Telstra, Barry oversees the HR functions across the business in Asia Pacific, Europe and the US. Her areas of speciality include human capital strategy and diversity, HR planning, as well as the full spectrum of end-to-end HR operations.

interesting, as many companies struggle with this.

I would tell those companies to get innovative with it. Like most employers, Telstra has people who need to respond to customers at certain times of the day. You just need to get creative about it.

When you let people tell you what sort of responsibilities are important to them, and when you can talk about that as a team, you will be able to find good solutions. You might think you need an employee at a certain time, but when you talk about you may see you can have someone coming in earlier to cover a certain period of time, so it doesn’t always have to mean more headcount.

Q Often in Asia, there is a lot of hesitation from employees about taking hours away from work.

First of all, you need to have the leaders tell them that’s not the case. You need to have leaders who are also working hours which are right for them. Me walking out the door at 5pm is not the norm, but it gives people permission to do the same thing and find the flexibility that fits them.

Q Flexibility is more than just hours?

It could be allowing people to work from home. Again, especially in Asia, there are people on my team who have a pretty horrific commute, sometimes up to three or four hours a day. If they can get that time back by working from home at times, we can ensure we’re equipping them to do that by staying connected, and it makes a huge difference to their quality of life.

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PROFILE » Lynne Barry Q Can you give an example of that?

I have people on my team whose parents live in another country. When they go for a visit, I tell them to spend another week there, get a bit more time with them, and work remotely or work from our offices in that particular city. What you get back from people when it comes to their loyalty, the feeling they’ve got control and the reduced pressure they put on themselves - that leads to engagement you can’t buy.

Q What is Telstra’s take on diversity?

What’s important is diversity across a number of spectrums. Gender diversity is really important across all of Telstra, but also across Asia. But it’s also about diverse thinking styles, diverse backgrounds, and making sure we’re embracing anybody who wants to join the organisation.

We’re broadening our definition of diversity, but we certainly have a lot of our focus at the moment on women and making sure we’ve got the right representation in our workforce and our leadership roles.

Q Can you tell us more about gender diversity at Telstra?

We’ve got a pretty good representation of women in the workforce overall – we’re not where we want to be in the leadership ranks in Asia, but we’ve made some pretty good progress in the past couple of years.

Q How do you keep pushing this forward?

Flexibiliy is one piece that’s really helping women be able to participate in our organisation in the way they would like to. We have been putting on increased pressure from a recruitment perspective to bring us more women candidates, which is proving to be quite successful.

Q Do you also have senior leadership buy-in when it comes to diversity?

Absolutely. When we have senior leaders – right up to our group executive level – moving throughout the region, we’re asking them to spend time with the women in those locations. The more we’ve done that, the more women are coming together and feeling like they’re part of a pretty strong network. If the CFO of Telstra is calling together all of the women in China when he visits so he can have a cup of coffee with them to talk about their careers, that speaks volumes of the seriousness in which we take our

commitment to women and to diversity.

The other thing we do really well is having several formal checkpoints throughout the year where we step back and really look at the talent in each of our groups. And that’s not just at a really senior level. Every time we do this, our CEO and senior business leaders ask if there will be an increase of women in our talent pipeline, and we absolutely have been delivering on that. That’s something I’ve just been so impressed with at Telstra – that commitment to talent management, and the talent management of our women.

Q How has all this impacted the business?

When I look at Telstra’s business performance and employee engagement over the past few years, they’ve been going up together. When you get under the covers of that, we are able to ask a couple of really specific questions around flexibility.

The first thing I want to understand is whether people feel like they’ve got access to flexible working arrangements.

The response to that has gone up consistently over the last three years, between both men and women, which is a great thing. We’re also able to measure, as the use of flexibility increases, that overall engagement increases. People who use flexible working arrangements are more engaged than people who don’t.

And people who use flexible working arrangements see a positive change in their ability to manage work pressure.

All of those things add up to more engaged employees.

Q Was there any hesitation when these policies were being rolled out?

I wouldn’t say it was hesitation, but I would say there was certainly a recognition that we had to allow our local leaders and our local HR teams to get this right in their markets. Our All Roles Flex policy started corporate-wide, but we first had to make sure we were obviously compliant with local labour laws. Then, we had to make sure we were bringing it to life in a way that made sense in those markets.

That’s where the trust value comes in. You get a little impatient in bigger organisations when you want to roll something out, but you really need to trust that your local teams know what’s going to work best for them.

“People are choosing hours which are right for them, as long as we know work is a verb and not a noun.”

Q You need empower local leaders.

Exactly. Empower them, trust them, and also make sure you know the role they want you to play. Some countries might need some help to communicate to our people that it’s non-negotiable. There are other countries who might want a little bit more permission, but there might be others who might already be ahead.

Q Have any markets been less receptive to flexible working?

They’ve all been quite receptive; I guess the challenge is when you have smaller populations and it becomes an issue of scale. In some markets, we have a small presence; in other markets, we may have hundreds of employees. In the smaller markets, it can be a little bit harder, and people may feel a little bit more in the spotlight about having flexible hours, but again, that’s about making sure it’s a focus on output and reinforcing this is a talent advantage.

Q How do you personally stay in touch with your regional team, and make sure they’re empowered and engaged?

We’ve got a pretty good rhythm going. I have teams in the US and the UK, as well as across Asia, so we always make sure we come together virtually as a group, and we flip our timings. On one week, our colleagues from the US can be a part of the conversation and on other weeks, our our colleagues from the UK can.

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Lynne Barry « PROFILE Q What are some development opportunities Telstra provides?

We have a leadership capability programme which was introduced after we did some fantastic work around understanding leadership capabilities.

A great example of one of those is our league programme which targets the level just before you move into the senior executive ranks.

Q Could you share a bit more about

Q Why is it important to have these constant conversations?

We’re really about sharing experiences from each of our locations and how we’ve brought our programmes to life. We’ve got a lot to learn from each other, so when the US talks to us about bringing their kids to work, for example, that might be something another location hasn’t thought about.

Q Is this sharing of best practices quite common?

Absolutely. People have a great hunger for that, and I think we do that really well internally. But we’ve also got some great external HR colleagues. Some of them are our customers, and have been sharing their own practices. Just this morning, a group of interns and graduates from one of our customer organisations came into our offices at Hong Kong and told us about their really innovative internship programmes, and to be able to partner with a customer like that and be able to learn from them, is something we put the highest value on.

Q Does Telstra have these external conversations quite often?

Yes, and it happens at a group level as well.

Being a really well externally-connected HR team and being able to connect with our customers is fantastic. I find that meeting with the HR directors of our customers is one way I can really stretch my thinking and see how I might be able to share what I’m doing.

the league programme?

We target about 30 people in that career level across the world and they go through a pretty intensive 12-month programme.

They will come together as a team three or four times during that period where they’ll have intensive sessions with our leaders, helping to build their own self-awareness and leadership capabilities. It also helps them in areas such as customer advocacy, thinking about critical strategic challenges, and how we’re going to deliver on our growth strategy. But we also want them to be working together on some real-life business problems.

Q How does that work?

We ask each group to assess a specific business problem and come back to us with their solution. That’s something they would work as a team, and it may be a process they would not have touched otherwise. That’s one of the really interesting things about the league – you can have an HR professional and a retail professional come together to solve a business challenge even though they may not have experienced that process.

Through that kind of action-learning approach, they’re learning to work across business units and borders and they’re learning to present to senior leadership in a really succinct way. You know a programme is successful when people are beating down the door to get on it.

Q How do people get into the league programme?

We have a couple of qualifiers, but also some really interesting assessments.

One of things that’s important to us when we’re thinking about moving people into leadership ranks is agility. We look for leaders who are able to move laterally into different roles and be ready to take on a challenge they may not have necessarily faced before. We want them to be able to deal really well with ambiguity.

In Asia, as we grow, we’re faced with situations and challenges which we have not faced before. We need to be able to throw someone into that situation and have them land on their feet, so we have some really interesting assessments around that.

Q Does the programme also give them a safe space to experiment and fail?

Yes, and it helps them find their courage, which is another one of our values. It’s important not just in the programme, but also across Telstra. We want people to know it’s OK to make mistakes and that it’s OK to call something out when you feel uncomfortable, and that may be a process that’s causing you pain. The league provides a safe environment, but Telstra as a company is a safe environment.

Q How would you describe the communication culture?

It’s very open. The way we communicate through our social networks is fantastic.

Our CEO is posting and sharing on Yammer all the time, and when that’s a part of the way you communicate, it helps you be more flexible. I don’t send email announcements out among my HR community, instead I post something on Yammer and get real-time feedback. One of the really interesting ways of using Yammer that I and other leaders do is called a Yammer jam. In HR, myself and another HR leader recently led an hourlong jam. At Telstra we call it, “ask me anything”. So for an hour, many HR folks were firing questions at us. It was anything from asking what my first concert was to asking about HR strategy. It was fun, and my typing skills definitely got stretched!

Q What are you currently working on that you’re most excited about?

There’s a lot I’m passionate about at the moment. But I think I’m particularly passionate about the role the international HR team is going to play in driving our growth in Asia, and we’ve got a lot to do to enable that. We’ve needed to have a look at our own structure, make sure we’re prepared for that growth, we’ve had to pay a lot of attention to the way our HR business partners are interacting with our business leaders, and really thinking about our own capabilities. I spoke a little bit about business acumen and customer focus, and really dialling that up among our HR leadership team is at the top of my agenda.

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FEATURE Âť Healthcare & Well-being

Many leaders don’t recognise the signs of a stressed employee and employees often struggle to ask for help. How can employers and HR create working cultures that are highly productive and staffed by healthy and happy employees? Sabrina Zolkifi reports.

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Healthcare & Well-being « FEATURE

hen it comes to health, we all know prevention is better than a cure. As an employer or in an HR role in charge of the development and happiness of hundreds of employees, we intrinsically know it’s best to do what we can to prevent health issues in the workplace – but we also know this is easier said than done.

When push comes to shove, companies locked in tight competition with rivals and fighting for top talent, bigger profits and constant innovation often find themselves working in the now, and not focusing on the future.

Deadlines are tight, working hours are long and expectations are incredibly high.

All of this equates to a workforce prone to burnout. This is particularly true in Asia, where numerous studies have found employees feel obliged to stay late at the office and work on vacations – even though their productivity output rarely changes with the extra effort.

For this reason, companies such as Dell focus on starting at the beginning, before any ugly health and wellness issues get a chance to “infect” the office.

“The way we approach stress at Dell is that we don’t just manage it, but also try to prevent it,” says Shweta Mishra, HR lead at Dell Singapore, adding this includes providing employees the opportunity to work outside the office, so they can better manage their work-life balance.

“That minimises stress because they have control over how they spend their time.”

It also allows them to prioritise what’s most important to them at that moment, she says.

If companies are looking to implement flexible working as a form of employee wellness, she says it’s critical to get buy in from leadership, which is something she admits Dell struggled with initially.

“The primary concerns tend to be around how you manage employees’ time when they’re not working in front of you, and how to know if they are really being productive.”

But this is where performance management programmes come in.

“If there is a strong performance management system in place, everything is being measured according to outcomes and not based on how much time employees have put in,” she says.

“For companies that may not have mature

performance management systems, the first thing would be to create one which is as objective as possible, and caters to a large variety of employees.”

However, she is also quick to acknowledge not every employee’s need can be met.

“It will never fit 100% – you may have roles which cannot be done remotely – but let’s not hold back the other team members who might be able to use these options.”

Another initiative Dell has put in place to encourage employee wellbeing is to provide training to team members to help them work more effectively in the time frame allocated to them.

“We also make sure they are competent to do what they need to, so there is less stress from that perspective.”

All for one For paper merchant Spicers Asia, turning to Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) programmes has helped it create a healthy, supportive and safe work environment.

“Free health-related booklets and brochures on managing stress and HealthLine are displayed at designated areas to allow our staff to pick up a copy for their reading, and enhance their knowledge on managing stress,” says Phang Sian Chin, the regional MIS manager at Spicers Singapore, as well as the training and WHP facilitator for the company’s workplace safety and health committee.

“Workshops and talks on managing stress are also conducted in our activity room during certain lunch hours.

“We have also distributed a mouse pad to every staff featuring the 1800-Talk2Us hotline from the Health Promotion Board (HPB), which provides free confidential phone helpline support for people facing challenging situations.”

Dell also provides employees with a counselling hotline, but the calls remain anonymous. Mishra says Dell only receives a general overview of the stress areas employees bring up so it is “able to take action and prevent those situations from occurring in the future”.

The counselling calls are also extended to the employees’ immediate family members, which Mishra believes is critical in helping them manage their stress levels.

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FEATURE » Healthcare & Well-being

“The employee is not just working as a separate individual in the organisation. Their family’s support and stresses they might be undergoing are brought into their work, affecting their productivity levels,” she says.

The business of people Aside from counselling and flexible working, Dell encourages employee resources groups, such as a resource group for women.

Having these structured resource groups helps them create a network and support they can rely on.

“If they have challenges or don’t know how to approach something, they can talk to other women within the organisation who have managed those challenges.”

“We strongly believe that healthy and happy staff are more productive, do better work and tend to stay longer with us.”

– Catherine Thia, regional manager for HR and corporate affairs at Pan Asia Logistics Singapore

But with so many other business priorities, why should organisations bother, or even invest, in employee healthcare?

“Our employees are the organisation’s assets,” says Genevieve Chua, managing director of Spicers Asia. “We have also subscribed to access the online Healthy Mind Hub from HPB whereby the employees can create their accounts and perform selfassessments on their wellbeing.”

This is something Catherine Thia, regional manager for HR and corporate affairs at Pan Asia Logistics (PAL) Singapore, agrees with.

“Our business is a people business,” she says.

“We strongly believe that healthy and happy staff are more productive, do better work and tend to stay longer with us.”

At PAL, the management is responsible for the commitment to support work-life balance as a company culture, as well as establishing realistic performance in the respective business units.

“HR managers take the lead in providing the systems and structures to promote health and

wellbeing in tandem with relevant performance benchmarks, while line managers are responsible to implement and employ these tools to better manage their teams,” Thia says.

Taking responsibility However, this doesn’t mean employees are off the hook. They need to step up and also look after themselves.

Thia says PAL staff have a role and responsibility to “want to build up strong physical and mental health for themselves”, while at Dell, Mishra says employees go through a quarterly check-in with their direct managers, so they can see how they’re faring with their goals.

“It gives them a good checkpoint in terms of how they’re performing, and they don’t have to wait until the end of the year and stress about how their performance levels are,” Mishra says.

At Spicers, employees are also encouraged to call out to other fellow employees whenever they need help in their work.

Additionally, Spicers organises mental health-related talks during certain lunch hours, where trainers share different types of stressors and ways to prevent burnout.

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Healthcare & Well-being « FEATURE

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Phang says it’s important to keep these programmes simple, so employees are able to apply the lessons learnt without too much hassle.

For Th ia, one way PAL has helped employees is by organising a health carnival to encourage healthy lifestyles and eating habits.

“We are currently in the planning stage to organise a mental health programmes, with the aim to coach, engage and inspire our employees with new ways of managing the challenges they face in order to reduce stress as well as enhance performance,” she says.

But sometimes, stress management has to take place outside the office. For both Th ia and Mishra, vacation time is a great way to de-stress.

“It’s very essential to take breaks at the right time. I try to take vacations as much as possible, and I encourage my team members to do that as well,” Mishra says.

“I feel when you really take a break, you come back really rejuvenated and become much more productive.”

Aside from vacations, Th ia also makes a point to spend time after working hours by doing regular exercise and gettogether sessions.

“Ensure time is allocated to family and friends to balance the demands of home life and work,” she says.

“What may be daunting to an individual can always be overcome when people work together as a team, and managers have to set an example for others to follow.”

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October 2014 « Human Resources « 19

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FEATURE » Healthcare & Well-being

CASE STUDY: PAN ASIA LOGISTICS While health and wellness programmes don’t have to be a big investment, sometimes an extra pair of hands never hurts.

By Sabrina Zolkifi.

Recently, Pan Asia Logistics (PAL) underwent rapid growth and change, which unsurprisingly resulted in “tremendous amounts of work and pressure”.

For Catherine Th ia, regional manager for HR and corporate affairs at PAL, being open and working through the challenges as a team helped her navigate through the stressful period, adding employee wellness also played a part.

“Maintaining a fit and healthy body coupled with a clear and positive mindset can facilitate the ability to better think of innovative ideas to solve problems quickly,” she says.

Th ree years ago, PAL moved into its new flagship building in Changi North, where it was able to offer yoga and billiard rooms for staff to de-stress in during lunch or after office hours.

smaller headcounts, it made planning and selecting venues for activities quite challenging,” she says.

That was when PAL utilised the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) grant.

“With the help of the WHP grant, we were able to tap on the scheme and engage professional consultants who advised us on how to launch a more comprehensive, effective and sustainable programme.”

One of the programmes PAL is rolling out is the Mental Health Programme, which will run for about two months.

“Th is will include a series of activities such as luncheon talks, e-messages and workshops focusing on emotions, sadness and fear, positive thinking, as well as relaxing exercises to promote and increase the awareness of emotional and mental wellbeing.”

"Maintaining a fit and healthy body coupled with a clear and positive mindset can facilitate the ability to better think of innovative ideas to solve problems quickly."

The company also paid for yoga and Pilates trainers, who conducts classes on a weekly basis, something which has been well-received. But PAL went above and beyond by providing facilities to help employees unwind.

“We installed regular employee surveys to identify programmes of interest on a regular basis,” Th ia says.

“The reason for adopting this approach was because PAL has a diverse workforce, and we value the difference of our employees. As such, our activities are selected based on employee surveys in order to cater to the variety of preferences.”

She says the company was motivated to help employees stay healthy because it understood “having a healthy, happy and productive workforce is a cornerstone of the management culture”.

However, despite the best intentions, rolling out a health and wellness programme is no easy feat. At PAL, attempting to do so, without professional assistance, resulted in various challenges and a programme which didn’t take off as anticipated.

“As our workforce is scattered over three physical locations around the island, with two locations boasting

Sng Yan Ling, deputy director of the mental health education and preventive health programmes division at HPB, says when it comes to mental wellbeing, understanding the needs of employees is a key fi rst step companies need to take.

“Companies can access their employees’ current levels of mental wellbeing, stress and satisfaction via mental health assessment tools or employee engagement surveys,” Sng says.

“With this information, companies are able to identify and scope programmes to address specific areas they may wish to focus on.”

Aside from gleaning feedback from employees, Th ia says PAL also provides channels for open communication, and educates and enables all employees to be accountable for their own health and wellbeing.

“Our HR managers and executives have also attended training under HPB’s Employees Assistance Champion Programme, as well as Caper Spring’s ‘Introduction to Emotions’, which taught them the signs and symptoms of stress.

“We will further cascade this training to all managers

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FEATURE » Healthcare & Well-being

and supervisors so they are equipped with enhanced management skills to better identify staff with signs of burnout and take the appropriate actions.”

Sng says mental health programmes don’t have to be labour or cost-effective.

“Companies can start small and build up once the initiatives gain traction. Programmes can also take the form of simple engagement activities that can get people talking about, and gain awareness of good mental wellbeing.

“For example, to increase employees’ understanding of the importance of resilience at work, companies can tie in a short video screening on resilience together with ation a planned corporate event, and disseminate information booklets which are available for free from HPB.”

engage an external WHP manager to help develop more programmes.

“Th is will help us cover a wider range of relevant topics that can cater to the needs of our employees at all levels, and help us evaluate the success of the programme,” she says.

“Companies can start small and build up once the initiatives gain traction.

Programmes can also take the he form of simple engagement activities that can get people talking about, and gain awareness of good mental wellbeing."

With the new programmes in place, Th ia says PAL is now better equipped to identify early signs of potential cases and address them. She adds this allows it to take the necessary remedial actions before it escalates into a fullblown problem.

To get better results, Sng says leadership buy-in is absolutely important.

“It plays a pivotal role in setting the tone, endorsement of time and resources, and encourages employee participation.

“For example, the formation of committees with dedicated manpower and structure to plan and implement programmes will result in appropriate, comprehensive and sustainable initiatives. These will yield returns, with employers and employees reaping the benefits of better mental wellbeing and work performance.”

Moving forward, Th ia says PAL will continue to

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FEATURE » Payroll

CHANGING THE PERSPECTIVE OF PAYROLL Payroll still suffers the stigma of being a back-office, low-profile function of HR, affecting the engagement and attrition of payroll staff. Akankasha Dewan finds out how the function can gain its edge back.

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Payroll « FEATURE ndervalued. Misunderstood. Not respected.

It’s undeniably a real irony that payroll – perhaps the most important component of human resources departments today – is often associated with the above adjectives.

Commonly dismissed as the boring administrative side of the HR function, leaders often forget the importance of payroll in attracting and retaining the most fundamental asset of their organisations – their employees.

“Most employees will have limited knowledge of payroll and the important function that it plays,” admits Manojit Dhar, senior manager, compensation and benefits programmes, Asia Pacific at Sabic.

“It may be seen as an administrative burden that is necessary, but provides no real added value to the business. It is a constant battle for payroll professionals to change the perceptions and preconceived ideas of their role in a business.”

This battle is further intensified in companies that have no clear idea of where payroll should fit in their organisational structure.

A study by Advanced Business Solutions (ABS) in 2011, showed of 79 trans-Atlantic respondents, a quarter felt that payroll should sit within HR, 24% within finance and 36% placing it somewhere between these two departments.

Interestingly, there was no mention of it operating as a standalone function.

At the time, Simon Fowler, managing director of ABS, described payroll as “the precious orphaned child of an organisation – highly valued, but without a clear home.”

Anjana Harish, the APAC payroll and HR operations manager at Sabre Holdings, agrees with the “orphaned” nature of the payroll function, but strongly feels the division should be part of HR departments.

“At Sabre, the payroll function belongs to HR. I think it should belong to HR because although payroll deals with a lot of payment and finance, it ultimately deals with people. So it should be with a people function such as HR.” She adds, however, most organisations still continue to overlook and undervalue the importance of payroll, pointing out that even a small error could cost a business hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Many people aren’t interested in payroll, mainly because it requires a high level of

accuracy. Some people might even find it quite monotonous. It is also quite transactional,” she observes. “There has been a lot of challenge in terms of manpower in the payroll function. Rates of attrition are very high in the function. Not many Gen X are interested in it, and it’s getting more and more difficult to find quality people.”

Indeed, overcoming the lack of interest in the function is easier said than done, considering a fundamental irony surrounds the function’s status – the better the payroll team performs, the lower the profession’s profile becomes.

“In payroll, your presence is known only when you make a mistake. As long as everything is fine, nobody really knows about the function,” Harish says.

Building a strong identity Jana Lim, APAC payroll manager at JDSU, suggests payroll leaders should leverage precisely on the expected efficiency of the function and how far it has evolved, if they wish to build a strong engagement with their profession.

“The role is no longer just entering payroll transactions and getting people paid on time,” she says. “Over the years, this role has expanded its value by providing advice to business unit leaders and business partners in strategic decision-making and also ensuring compliance to local statutory requirements.

“Payroll professionals should constantly remind themselves to value-add to their organisation. They should ask themselves what they can offer to business partners and business unit leaders in helping them in making decisions.”

Harish agrees, and adds one way payroll professionals can increase their credibility is by having business-oriented conversations with senior management, based on the data they are dealing with.

This includes going against the traditionally held notion that payroll is merely a reactive function, and instead adopting a more proactive usage of the data the function deals with on an almost daily basis.

“What we can do to make our jobs more glamorous is to leverage on this data and provide a lot of information to management,” she says.

Essentially, this means to combat the negativity within the profession, payroll teams must be more proactive and be seen to be more valuable and visible to the business.

“For instance, we can provide them with

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FEATURE » Payroll the cost of each employee in each country. This is something only payroll is able to provide. I think any executive will be happy to have this information – on how much they’re spending on each employee in every country. We can also see how much money it costs to employ a person in China versus one in Singapore,” Harish says.

Dhar agrees, and identifies a similar evolution within payroll departments, adding that payroll professionals today have a bigger role to play in ensuring organisations remain competitive in economies worldwide.

“The management requires certain information so payroll provides a report. If seen in the right measure, the payroll department has a hand in influencing company strategy by providing adequate information to the relevant decision-makers,” he says.

“Having the right payroll software in place can actually save you time and money, as once the software is installed and your staff are trained, submitting records or paying employees can be done with a few clicks of a button.”

– Manojit Dhar, senior manager, compensation and benefits programmes, Asia Pacific at Sabic

“For example, a business may be employing staff members to do an increasing amount of overtime, which pays a higher rate than usual.

Payroll could analyse the long-term costs of this and offer alternative, more sustainable options such as bringing in a new employee to work part-time.”

But as much as the evolution of the payroll function has added credibility to its relevance as an integral component of the HR function, it has also made handling wage structures more complicated over time.

All three leaders agree that today’s payroll professionals are required to keep up to date on compliance issues and other complicated systems, compared with the past where they were only responsible for preparing cheques.

Acquiring the right skills The implications of this is that payroll departments have to employ skilled professionals – dedicated to the payroll function – rather than

building a payroll team as a sub-department within accounting or HR. However, it’s building and finding these skills that most payroll leaders struggle with.

In fact, in June this year, Markit’s 2014 Labour Market Report on Jobs announced the key skills which recruiters struggle to find most is payroll skills.

“Not knowing what you don’t know – I believe this is the greatest challenge which most of the payroll leaders will face,” Lim says. “Payroll professionals may not be HR practitioners or certified accountants. Yet they are expected to have knowledge in local statutory acts, accounting (booking of personnel expenditure), transfer pricing, risks, etc.

“Some may not understand that with the globalisation of the workforce, the treatment of benefits provided to employees has different tax implications and cost impacts on the organisation. Thus they are unable to support the business unit in their decision making. This could be challenging as there is no single institution that can provide training in these areas. This can only be learnt on the job and not academically trained.”

Dhar agrees, adding that as legislation, regulations and laws to protect businesses and employees have evolved, payroll professionals have had to become experts on these matters across countries and in businesses it operates in.

“This is crucial to ensure the company as a whole remains compliant and protected.”

Employing the right systems However, Harish suggests increasing reliance on automated systems may help in overcoming the gap in skills and manpower the function currently faces.

“We can’t really do much to reduce the attrition level directly, but what we can do is to reduce the effect of such high attrition levels,” she says. “We do a lot of documentation and put in controls, so the function isn’t people-centred, but process-centred.

All three interviewees concede that setting up an effective automated payroll system is part of making the function more process-centred, systems which reduce likelihood of errors and are time-efficient.

“Having the right payroll software in place can actually save you time and money, as once the software is installed and your staff are trained, submitting records or paying employees

26 » Human Resources » October 2014

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FEATURE » Payroll look for alternative tools to enhance the results.”

She says payroll leaders should keep in mind that not every payroll system works similarly.

“If the payroll system involved interfaces with the HRIS system, then you should make sure the source is cleaned and set-up correctly – example, department, cost centre, reporting managers, personal details, hire date, etc.

“This has an impact on payroll end results.

An audit log should be in place to ensure tracking of what has been changed and who makes the changes.”

Improving the effectiveness of processes

Payroll: The organisation’s “orphaned child”, or just the underdog?

can be done with a few clicks of a button,” Dhar says.

“You can also have access to a range of custom reports, allowing you to gather and analyse huge amounts of data with ease.”

He elaborates on the elements to consider when choosing the ideal payroll software, adding it’s important to work out exactly what functionality is required out of the system and what functionality may be required in the future.

“Obviously you can’t predict exactly what will happen, but trying to ‘future-proof’ your systems can be a huge benefit in the long run,” he says.

Making sure payroll employees remain up to date with the latest software and any changes to legislation is also encouraged, Dhar adds.

“This will not only save time in the future, but will enable you to use your software to its full potential while remaining compliant.”

While Lim concedes to the efficiency of such payroll systems, she warns there is no one-sizefits-all solution when it comes to addressing payroll needs.

“I don’t really believe there is an ideal payroll system,” she says. “What we need to keep in mind is that when we are evaluating a payroll system, there is no perfect fit to the organisation.

If the system which we have selected has some shortcomings (even minor ones), we will have to

While being a huge supporter of incorporating automated systems to increase efficiency of payroll services, Harish concedes, however, it’s impossible for payroll professionals to rely completely and solely on payroll systems.

Manual intervention is still significant in payroll because data involved in the process is collected from employees, who insert details onto spreadsheets and systems manually.

“Collection of data cannot be automated 100%,” she says. “We can get automated data from the HRIS systems, but there are a lot of variable changes – such as employees leaving and pay variables such as bonus, recognition awards – which happen during the month which affects the payroll. These make the process difficult to be automated completely.

“We have to minimise manual intervention – but there are limitations to it.”

This manual intervention is perhaps most keenly needed when it comes to validating the data the systems have collated.

This validation involves metrics such as measuring the percentage of entries that have been inserted into such systems, their timeliness, and the percentage of accuracy of the payslips that have been generated from the systems.

“Payroll cannot be done without people,” Harish says.

“When we present a proposal for outsourcing to the management team, they normally think we’re going to reduce the number of heads who are managing payroll in-house, but I always tell them it’s not possible to reduce the headcount because you still need people to check even if you’re outsourcing, since there is lots of data being handled.”

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FEATURE » Payroll

CASE STUDY: SABRE HOLDINGS Handling vast amounts of data in payroll is complex, especially when payroll leaders in MNCs have to handle systems across different geographies. Akankasha Dewan speaks with Anjana Harish, APAC payroll and HR operations manager at Sabre Holdings, on the topic.

The global payroll landscape has continued to change dramatically over the past 10 years. New providers, technology, vendor service delivery models and global capabilities have made payroll administration possible across complex global organisations.

However, research has suggested many businesses responded to the initial wave of expansions and acquisitions by working with in-country payroll providers as needed – but with little or no connection established with each company’s individual requirements.

This has led to a challenging environment for many companies because of the lack of vendor governance, compliance, process standardisation and reporting.

“Initially when we started, we had outsourced to different vendors, but all these vendors were local ones – they were experts in their own countries,” recounts Anjana Harish, APAC payroll and HR operations manager at Sabre Holdings.

countries are capable of handling everything. These factors were taken into consideration when choosing our outsourced vendor.”

The multinational company currently outsources its payroll services to ADP Streamline, which is a global vendor. After Sabre went live with it in the region, Harish’s team also employed it for other countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and in the Americas.

“The biggest advantage of going with ADP is management of all these different vendors. They do not process payroll directly, they outsource it to different vendors in different countries,” she says.

“The advantage is that you don’t have to deal with these individual vendors yourself, you can handle it centrally through ADP. This makes the process much more streamlined.”

Another advantage Harish identifies is how ADP’s vendors use local software in each country, instead of

“For those companies who are planning to have an in-house payroll system, flexibility should not shadow controls. So at any point of time, we should be able to see who has made changes to what and to ensure there is a backup document to everything.”

Her payroll team in Singapore was not getting full support from these vendors and it was not being provided with the advice or specific controls her company required.

“For example, this vendor was handling many clients in a country and when making statutory submissions, they did it for all companies collectively. So they were not able to give us receipts for individual payments that they had made. And we were not able to track if this vendor was making the payment on time or not.

“That was one big problem for us and I was feeling very uncomfortable.”

Streamlining processes “That is why we looked for a global vendor who is in Asia Pacific, who could handle many countries while having local expertise in all these countries,” she says, adding a streamlined process significantly aids in the process of making and tracking payments across countries.

“We don’t have finance or HR departments in all countries, so we need to make sure vendors in individual

adopting a global software which is expensive and not so flexible.

“For instance, in Singapore, there is a change in the way income tax is reported. All of ADP’s vendors are aware of this change, and are able to change their systems to suit that. I wanted to take advantage of that system, and that is why we went with them.”

Deciding on an outsourced or in-house model According to the Global Payroll Survey conducted by Ernst & Young in April 2013, only 12% of respondents operate using a fully outsourced model with a single outsource provider for global payroll services.

About 28% relied solely on a complete in-house delivery model. A far larger share of the respondents, 60%, used a hybrid approach, choosing to outsource certain payroll processes while maintaining some in-house ownership.

The fact is organisations, both public and private, need to pay their employees in a timely, accurate and compliant manner. Thus a question remains: how do multinational

30 » Human Resources » October 2014

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FEATURE » Payroll

organisations decide which approach to take, especially when entering new or emerging markets?

“At Sabre, we do not have an HR department in all the countries – we are centrally located here and we need people to do remittances in local countries, so outsourcing is the best answer,” Harish says.

She admits that while in-house ownership of payroll systems does have its own advantages, the main one being flexibility, she “doesn’t vouch for it so much”.

With in-house payroll systems, she says, there is less of a strict adherence to following the timelines of the process – a flexibility which is not usually encouraged considering timeliness is an integral component of the payroll process.

“For those companies who are planning to have an in-house payroll system, flexibility should not shadow controls. So at any point of time, we should be able to see who has made changes to what and to ensure there is a backup document to everything.”

Additionally, the commonly cited lack of manpower in payroll functions of organisations deters many companies from setting up an in-house payroll system.

“With attrition rates being so high (in the payroll department), it’s a problem when you train one employee on the system and he or she leaves and then you need to quickly find and train another. It becomes a mess.”

Not only are such problems easily avoided with outsourcing payroll services, companies also get an upperhand in keeping track of legal and technical changes made to payroll processes.

“We get updates on employment laws, statutory changes, etc, from our outsourced vendors – which is a very big advantage of having outsourced vendors who are locally present and who are aware of the changes.”

“If you are looking at only one country, you need to have someone who is specialised in that one country.

But now, with big multinational corporations in multiple countries, we have to look at those vendors which are able to give us consolidated reporting, which goes a long way. Additionally, they should have good resources in the different countries.”

For example, all companies based in the US should employ vendors which are SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) compliant, she adds.

“If you’re looking for a multinational vendor, it is good to have someone who is SOX compliant because then it ensures your vendor is of quality standard, and you can be rest assured your payroll is done correctly.”

Delegating tasks and ensuring that set processes are set in place in organisations is also integral if payroll processes are to be improved.

“In Sabre, we split countries among the entire payroll team, so that one person doesn’t handle more than 300 employees. We divide our responsibilities in terms of headcount.”

Focusing on the right services Choosing such vendors is easier said than done though – considering the range of providers and services available.

After surveying companies in 16 countries across five continents, the Ernst & Young survey found just 15% of respondents believed that the effectiveness of their current payroll policies and practices could be considered excellent and meeting best-practices. The majority of respondents (54%) regarded their current situation as good, with room for improvement.

Clearly more can be done to improve the efficiency of payroll practices in companies, which all boils down to keeping the unique characteristics of each company in mind, according to Harish.

“There are a lot of outsourced vendors in the market. We have to see what is our requirement.

32 » Human Resources » October 2014

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OPINION » Learning & development

Prototyping a model of learning TENG TENG LIM Regional HR director AB SCIEX

In an organisation where people are at the heart of managing complex, scientific instruments, learning resonates across all employees.

The science of learning: When people and science combine, there’s a unique learning process which takes place.

Training and development is very important to us. We do not have a lot of machinery – instead, we depend on our people’s skills and knowledge to manage complex scientific instruments. They are our key resource to be successful, so we develop them to maximise their potential. This ensures they feel excited to join and stay with us.

We require expertise from our employees, be it a technician or a PhD scientist. We are an equal opportunity employer, which hires talent based on their knowledge, skills and attitude. Our teams comprise four major functions – operations (manufacturing and supply chain), commercial (sales, marketing and service), support (HR, IT and finance) and R&D. In Singapore, and the rest of Asia, we have an HR team of four to support nearly 500 regional staff, and growing every year.

To constantly upgrade our employees’ skills and knowledge is paramount for us to cope with rapid expansion plans.

AB SCIEX, which focuses on life sciences and diagnostics, is a subsidiary of the Washington-based Danaher Corporation.

It established operations in Singapore nine years ago, and has expanded immensely as a result of equipping our people with the right skills and expertise.

Technically sound Technical training is the foundation to this success and we use a lot of structured on-the-job training to sustain it. During the development of new products, we invest extensively in sending our employees to our global R&D centre in Canada to be involved in all stages – from prototype development to design.

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Learning & development « OPINION

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At every stage of learning, we have to keep in mind we are part of a highly regulated industry – as our products touch human life, be it through new drugs discovery, testing food or water, or ensuring product quality. Given the highly compliance-based environment, it is important for everyone to be welltrained and process-driven.

As we continue to expand, we will work hard to ensure our associates have the skills and knowledge needed. Further, we have sponsored many employees for leadership training, which has allowed us to build a strong team.

Our rationale, going forward, is not only to retain these employees through new training and our career path approach, but also to attract new talent.

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The softer side Training is not complete without soft skills. Based on a learning needs analysis, we identify core soft skills that we need to inculcate into our employees. The performance review is an opportunity to discuss learning needs and agree on a plan to develop them.

Globally, we have just launched a set of new leadership anchors. They provide us a clear and concise common language for selecting, assessing and developing our associates. They set clear expectations about the skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to succeed at AB SCIEX, both in their current role and as they progress in their career. Development will be tied to this set of anchors.

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Our staff participate in intensive training, from one to three months. Once the product design is completed, the products are transferred to Singapore, and we assemble a core team to disseminate information about them. Project scientists from our global R&D centre visit and provide additional training.

In addition, we have product trainers to conduct structured on-thejob training, skills and knowledge certification. This is to ensure our highly complex scientific instruments are produced at the highest quality and meet all regulatory requirements.

We have also spent considerable time and resources to train support teams, such as field service engineers. All new hires undergo three phases of training, starting with on-site mentorship by experienced service engineers to classroom training. Upon completion, they will obtain the latest product and knowledge via our online learning portal, myDevelopment.

For our applications specialist group, we adopt a highly customised training approach depending on the incumbent’s skill level. This includes on-site mentorship by a senior applications specialist, one-to-one coaching, classroom training, e-learning and cross-regional training.

We also encourage continuous education and reimburse the tuition fees. The input for this comes from our rigorous talent assessment and performance management processes, both of which are conducted twice a year. This helps us identify talent and map out career paths and appropriate development plan.

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OPINION » People issues

Five mistakes you don’t want to make with new staff

By Tracy Enright

Don’t slip up: Making a good hire and then not treating them right can be a costly affair.

It can cost thousands to recruit a new employee, once you have factored in advertising costs, administration, recruitment processes and so on. It can take weeks to choose someone and get to the start date.

Then they don’t stay.

Research has shown that employees are most likely to leave within the first few days of taking up a new job, leading to a poor return on the investment of all that time and money. Here are five common mistakes made when inducting new employees and simple solutions to fix them.

Not Having a Plan Having an induction plan is key. It allows you to ensure you cover everything you need to with a new joiner, giving clarity to the who, what, when and where that will allow them to quickly fit in and become an effective worker. From the individual’s perspective, seeing that you have given some time and thought to their arrival goes a long way.

Forgetting the Boring Bits There always seems to be a mountain of administration associated with a new starter: pay forms to fill in, organisational policies to tell them about, health and safety to discuss, even the rules about breaks and use of social media. Not covering these could be a serious mistake.

Not knowing about safety rules could put a new employee or their colleagues in danger; no one is happy when they’re not paid properly; and how welcome does someone feel when they don’t know where or when they can have their lunch?

It has to be done, but you can make it less of a chore by splitting it up over first few days.

Not Tailoring the Induction Plan You spent all that time and effort assessing your new employee, identifying their strengths and importantly, what they will need

to learn. Why let all that effort go to waste by not building it into their development plan?

Your induction plan should have two aspects - what they need to learn about the organisation in general and what they need to learn about their specific job. It should be pitched to their personal needs for the best effect.

Choosing the Wrong Mentor Assigning a buddy or mentor to each new person will make them feel more welcome and able to ask questions and raise issues.

It will also allow you to focus on the wider issues and managing the team.

Who you choose for this role is critical. You want someone with sound interpersonal skills who knows enough about the role to be able to help, and won’t pass on bad habits.

Ignoring the Future It can be easy to lose sight of the fact that new joiners don’t remain new joiners for long and forget about their progress until they’re due a review. If they’re under a probationary period there are added risks. Probationary periods are there to allow you further time to assess their suitability for the role and dispense with their services if it’s not working.

If you’ve not being identifying and dealing with issues in the interim, it’s unlikely you will be able to do this as easily, plus you’ve had someone who is under performing for a while. And there’s always the fact that a quick word on their first day and then nothing will lead an employee to feel undervalued. And undervalued staff don’t stay.

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Unconventional wisdom OPINION

Tell your people to take a (real) holiday Could the best way to improve employee engagement be telling staff to take more holidays?

GEORGE AVERY director of HR IBM’s Asia Pacific

See you later, alligator!: The benefits of taking a vacation could be better for your staff than you realise.

There is quite a lot of focus lately on the topic of employee engagement and how organisations can improve it.

I know many leaders are struggling with how exactly they go about impacting the engagement of their people, but the reality is that engagement is a two-way proposition. The organisation needs to demonstrate a set of actions and behaviours to provide the foundation for engaged employees.

The other element here that is often not discussed is the employee’s active participation and decision to be engaged.

Without both sides working in conjunction real engagement will not happen. So, how do leaders get their people to make this decision to be engaged?

Let me share a personal story. Two months ago I took a few days for a holiday with my family. This was the first “real” vacation I have had in more than a year. We went to the beach in hopes of relaxing in the sand and some swimming in the ocean and pool at our hotel. The first day we arrived my two boys set up their toys and started digging in the sand. I proceeded to sit and stare at the ocean, the sky and my children happily playing.

My thoughts did not drift to work or my unread emails that were potentially building up. In fact, my mind was completely blank. That entire first day I just relaxed and didn’t drift to think about work at all. It was exactly the kind of decompression people talk about when they talk about going on holiday.

The second day I began to think about work, but not the day-to-day items that were inevitably piling up. I thought about where I was in my career and if I was happy. I asked myself a questions to see if I would be happier at another organisation.

I went through this exercise between naps by my children, as I sat digging in the sand and just relaxing watching the waves roll in. I ended this few days confirming that I was happy in my current organisation and that it provided me the correct opportunities professionally.

Because I came to this decision, it allowed me a sense of excitement about the future and thus fostering the critical emotional attachment that makes real engagement a reality.

I share this story because I think organisations need to address both sides of the engagement challenge – from the perspective of the organisation and from that of the employee.

For me, it took a holiday away from the office and in an environment that allowed my mind to catalogue where I was, and then to make the conscious decision of where I wanted to be.

An organisation can try a number of ways to create an engaged workforce, but unless that decision is reciprocated you won’t really have a high level of engagement. Maybe managers should implore their people to take some time to think about this and make their own personal decision.

It’s important people have time to analyse their current situation and come to the conclusion they want to be where they are. This level of personal commitment is necessary to have both elements of the engagement loop closed.

The other side of this is when staff come to the conclusion they aren’t in the right place. They can begin the process to exit, but as long as it’s their own choice then I think this is also okay.

The end result is a feeling of empowerment, which can be the final piece in the engagement puzzle.

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OPINION » Upwardly mobile

If you had a magic wand, what would you do?

RAVI BHOGARAJU Head of HR Asia, global business partner textiles Archroma

How far has the HR function has evolved, and how can you as a leader better deal with new processes and changes to drive a more effective business?

Abracadabra: Unfortunately, great HR and talent decisions aren't made as if by magic.

Digital tools, mobile connectivity, a multigenerational workforce and social media have brought us some unique advantages and challenges – the most palpable being the pace at which we operate.

As disruptive technology shrinks product cycles and induces a hyper-competitive state, our time to react to remain competitive is also that much shorter. Added to this is the dimension of connectivity in the function, which has gone up tremendously.

Because of this, expectations from the function have also changed. HR is now increasingly gaining a seat at the table, and people and organisational capability topics are front and centre of business discussions.

Given the critical nature of these decisions, there is a burning desire to make quality decisions based on good data.

However, most of the data and analytic solutions we have today are not there yet with regards to the ease of capture and representation of the data.

When it truly comes to answering the question – “can I see something that I can base my decisions on?” – you often don’t

get something usable right away. There is also a big chunk of HR time spent on “data cleansing” – a phrase that’s become synonymous with every initiative we run, and we always dream of the time when information is available at the “push of a button”.

So what’s happening here and how do we create value as a function? Let’s take a step back and see what this is all about. A lot of HR organisations collect hordes of information, but in reality not many can derive much usable decision value from it because it’s administrative information and doesn’t feed into decision making.

Unfortunately, a lot of us tend to feed the beast, and then when we need to use the information, we come to a point of realisation: “Oh drat, this doesn’t work.”

Now, let’s explore how this relates to our work on a day-today basis. I explore with the end in mind in two contexts – the external (go to market) and the internal (productivity).

A lot of the work business partners do is to contribute to formulate or refine business models. Here you want to hone in on that context – where do you want to win? What capability do

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Upwardly mobile « OPINION you need to do that? Where do you stand in your organisation in terms of that winning capability?

The end game is being able to define and measure that winning capability – whether it is talent, behaviours or knowledge.

It’s important to start with the end in mind. What do you want to do with that information? What kind of decision-making do you want to drive? Work backwards from there.

Given the pace and the need to respond to market dynamics more often, we in HR are now involved in making “make, buy, rent” decisions, and I think as HR leaders we all are becoming really proficient at making these choices as we go along.

We are also becoming better at understanding the critical role of HR as business partners and being able to put across our messages in a way that helps everyone get behind the initiatives.

I am finding HR professionals are increasingly becoming better at working with numbers and data. This is critical because the messaging becomes more relevant and impactful. Internally, one of the key focus areas for many businesses is becoming more productive – aka “doing more with less”.

Businesses are constantly talking about not just improving top-line, but also flowing through to bottom-line initiatives. HR professionals have a lot to contribute in this space, but it’s about looking at where we spend our resources and what we get out of it.

Evaluating initiatives from the total cost of ownership (for technology projects) and also total spend (for others) and ROI are good ways to look at in making these initiatives businessrelevant. Now, the key question to reflect on is: does the holistic

"We are also becoming better at understanding the critical role of HR as business partners and being able to put across our messages in a way that helps everyone get behind the initiatives."

HR architecture (policy, process technology and service) mirror the external business environment and goals of the organisation?

If, as a business, you measure success as payback within a year (or five), the HR architecture needs to be completely geared to align to that view. In my personal experience in leading big organisational changes, the biggest challenge is gaining this alignment. If you really want to step change the value delivered through HR, then you have to achieve this alignment.

If this means you have to shed old processes and rethink the way you work holistically, then that’s what you have to do to get there. If you don’t, you could cause “leaks” in the value proposition of the transformation (and the function). You can’t change one side of the story and expect to deliver impact.

Given the environment of change, social media and the pace of doing business along with other factors we looked at above, it’s time to focus “with the end in mind”. Are you ready to wave your wand and create a sustainable change?

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CAREERS » Personal development

uptheranks Tracking HR’s industry moves Who: Vivien Wei From: The Westin Sanya Haitang Bay Resort To: Sheraton Zhuhai Hotel Vivien Wei is the new director of HR at Sheraton Zhuhai Hotel. She joins Sheraton from The Westin Sanya Haitang Bay Resort, where she had been managing HR and operations since 2012. In her new role, she will be in charge of overseeing a 400-strong workforce, and ensuring associates are trained to create a warm and welcoming environment for guests, as well as overlooking the hotel’s security and operations. She has been with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide – which owns the Sheraton brand – since 2005, starting her career with the group at Sheraton Dongguan in 2005.

Who: Chris Reitermann From: Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific To: Ogilvy & Mather China Chris Reitermann has been promoted to CEO of Ogilvy & Mather China, while retaining his current role as president for O&M advertising in the Asia Pacific.

He has spent most of his career in Greater China, and has been with O&M since 1997. In his new role, he is responsible for the daily management and operation of the agency.

“He was one of the very first people to embrace the industry’s move to digital, and has been an agent of change for us. We are delighted he has accepted this role, and confident in his ability to take our business to new heights in China,” said Paul Heath, chairman and CEO of O&M Asia Pacific.

He takes over from Shenan Chuang, who will now assume the role of vice-chairman of O&M Greater China.

Who: Jean-Michel Wu From: WPP To: McCann Worldgroup McCann Worldgroup has confirmed Jean-Michel Wu as the network’s chief talent officer, effective 20 October. Wu, who was previously with WPP for 10 years, has relocated from his Shanghai base to Singapore.

In his new role, he will work closely with the global management team – headed by Joe Kelly in New York and Charles Cadell, president of McCann WorldGroup Asia Pacific – and will be responsible for building the network’s extensive talent capabilities.

He said his time with WPP had been “an incredible learning journey” and he was eager to start a new path with McCann.

“I now look forward to pursuing a career within McCann Worldgroup where I can be closer operationally while broadening my scope of work and adding valuable impact on the overall business of our clients and network,” he said “I’m especially happy to be joining McCann during a period of explosive growth. With its recent wins, McCann has a great future and I’m excited to be part of its continuing success.”

He was regional talent director at WPP for five years. Before joining WPP, he held various senior talent roles within Ogilvy & Mather, a company he joined in 2004.

personalgrowth DO 17-MINUTE BREAKS REALLY WORK? New research says you should take a 17-minute break every 52 minutes for increased productivity.

Akankasha Dewan decided to give it a go.

How to boost productivity levels is constantly on people’s agendas, and researchers worldwide have been studying various techniques to ensure people get more done in a shorter amount of time. But how well do all these “productivity secrets” really work?

Former deputy editor Sabrina Zolkifi and I decided to experiment with one of the most recently uncovered ways to stay on top of work – the 17-minute break formula. Authors of this study claimed the most productive people in the world take a 17-minute break after working continuously for 52 minutes.

Determined to try this out for ourselves, we set up an alarm which would buzz after 52 minutes, reminding us to take a break.

We firmly agreed, however, that in those 52 minutes, we would work with intense concentration and try our best not to indulge in non-work related stuff such as personal texts or logging onto Facebook.

Interestingly, the experiment revealed a lot. Not only about its efficiency as a model for productivity, but also on our own individual working styles. For one, it proved we both weren’t comfortable with the idea of taking such frequent, long breaks.

Knowing I had to stop for a break in less than an hour, I sprinted to finish as much work as possible.

But precisely because I had been super efficient, it was strange to suddenly have to stop and step away from my desk. Instead of taking a break, both Sabrina and I just found ourselves distracted by checking the time.

And, funnily enough, five minutes into each break, we were both ready to get back to work.

You might say this method boosted our productivity to a certain extent – both of us managed to tick off all the things on our agenda for the afternoon – but it got me thinking about whether setting an allocated number of minutes for working was really beneficial.

However, it did also prove that taking a break – and knowing you have a limited amount of time to perform your job – does push you to work smarter.

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Good reads to improve your business life

Innovation Governance: How Top Management Organizes and Mobilizes for Innovation Jean-Philippe Deschamps & Beebe Nelson Jossey-Bass S$68.43 Innovation is a hugely important part of the new reality organisations are finding

Gen Y Now: d Millennials and the Evolution of Leadership Buddy Hobart and Herb Sendek Wiley S$40.61 In a “new” century, organisations need new leaders with new ideas and capabilities to lead into the future. But what does it mean to be a 21st century leader? Well, in part, it means understanding your workforce – particularly the fickle and often misunderstood Gen Y. Self-absorbed, entitled and lacking in work ethic are some of the typical descriptions, despite numerous studies finding these to be incorrect. As the authors say, failing to recognise Gen Y as assets can do “irreparable damage to your company in the years to come”.

The chapters in this book give you a solid idea of the types of skills and capabilities Gen Y

Bookmark this!

Unfortunately, the C-suite is often too busy with strategic, financial and operational issues to devote time to steering innovation on a day-to-day basis and creating that unique environment and culture. The system in place generally reflects past legacies that are seldom challenged by management. Occasionally, a new CEO or CTO will launch an “innovation revival” campaign, but it is often limited in scope and duration. Old habits tend to survive! – page 51.

have and they also bust a have, few myths.

But perhaps most im importantly, the o overriding message i that while Gen Y is are important to comprehend, they aren’t the only thing leaders should be focusing on to create a robust culture.

Bookmark this!

Gen Y is not simply looking for their companies to show they care. They are walking the talk and volunteering at record rates. The trends are overwhelming. Gen Y volunteers more than any previous generation. Gen Y’s goal is not simply to earn money. They want to contribute – at work, in the community and in the world at large. If this generation were truly selfish, why would they give up their nights, weekends and vacation time to volunteer? – page 54.

Employer Brand Management: Practical Lessons from the World’s Leading Employers Richard Mosley Wiley S$70.70 It’s never an accident when companies find themselves beingg plooyer hailed as an employer of choice. There’ss a sss to calculated process m mployer formulating an employer branding strategyy – and some companiess do it better than others.

In this book, Richard Mosley – also the best-selling author of The Employer Brand – says, “you can judge a company by the people that it keeps”. Meaning, great companies are the ones who attract great talent? But why?

He draws on numerous case studies to delve into the complex reasons behind why some companies are seen to be “better” than others, including stories from Facebook, Amazon, Ernst & Young, Coca-Cola, Nike, Walmart, Daimler and many, many more.

The book is wordy, but also expertly broken down into easy to follow chapters, taking you step-by-step through the branding process – from the business case and brand ideology to who the “perfect employee” is and how you can leverage on media channels and content marketing.

Bookmark this!

Some people are very good at getting an intuitive “feel” for a candidate’s underlying character within the relatively short time devoted to most interviews. However, relying on subjective judgment has proven to be far from reliable once a much larger number of interviewers and candidates are involved. We are, by nature, prone to too many unconscious biases and errors of perception to rely on this kind of subjectivity.

Fortunately, a significant amount of science has been applied to the prediction of future performance, personality traits and culture fit, and there are now a wide range of potential tools you can use to improve the reliability of your candidate assessment – page 70.

Photography: Fauzie Rasid

Pick of the month

th themselves in. The world is filled with growing un uncertainties and changes which are happening at a faster pace than ever before. The need to put in innovation at the front and centre is high.

As a business leader, how do you encourage in innovation? What does it really mean to build pu up purpose and direction? In this book, the authors aaim to display a framework for focusing on in innovation through “innovation governance” – tthat h is, how you manage innovation, what the aadvantages d and disadvantages are and how an oorganisation rga r can boost its innovation effectiveness.

Innovation Governance addresses a topic wh which is so often thrown around as a buzzword to he help top managers develop innovation as a core co competency. A range of case studies helps to do th this, as well as some clear governance models from numerous companies in the US and Europe.

shelflife

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LAST WORD

Work-love balance Can office relationships ever work? Rebecca Lewis says go for it – on one or two conditions.

I’ve been thinking a lot about workplace relationships lately, after talking to a friend who is considering pursuing a romantic relationship with a colleague.

Our mutual friends had advised her against it, saying the risk was too high for things to turn sour if the relationship broke up. So she came to me, because I am somewhat of an advocate for office relationships (and, really, she was mostly looking for someone to validate her reasoning to go ahead with it anyway.)

You see, seven years ago I met my nowhusband at work. We were young, ambitious journalists in New Zealand, who started writing flirty emails to each other, which then progressed into the odd after-work drink, and eventually a full-blown relationship.

(Our affair also started thanks to a teambuilding exercise, too much alcohol, a night on the town, an incident with a ferry and a trip to the police station … but that’s another story.)

But even before we were an item, I was always surrounded by people whose relationships had blossomed at work. My grandparents met while working together as journalists (yes, it runs in the family), and a number of my closest friends met their now-husbands or wives in the office. My motherin-law and her partner also met while working together – and these are all healthy, happy, loving relationships which left an impression on me.

To me, it makes sense. We spend most of our lives at work. More of us are single than ever before, and chances are that if you work in the same place, you already have similar interests and passions – and you probably already work the same hours.

The statistics back me up, too. A 2013 study found 14% of office relationships end in marriage, while a CareerBuilder survey found 40% of employees had dated someone at work – and 17% enjoyed the experience so much they did it twice.

I have, however, seen a few office romances go bad. Funnily enough, they have almost all involved someone getting too close to the boss, which isn’t something I would ever recommend unless you are 100% happy with losing your job over it.

But, because my little story – thankfully – has a happy ending, my friend asked for my advice.

What are my tips to make it work? So, for all you romancers out there looking for love in the office, here they are: Know your company’s policy And check your contract. If you run the risk of losing your job because you want to have a fling with Thomas in finance, then it may not be worth it.

Keep ALL the drama at home There is nothing worse than subjecting your colleagues to rants about how Mr Perfect actually can’t pick his towels up off the floor, or letting them overhear an argument in the office. Fighting at work is a big no, no.

And keep all the office talk at work After working together and dating for a year or so, my husband and I realised we talked about work way too much, and the dramas, stress and day-today was taking over our lives. After we instilled a “no work talk” policy when we were outside the office, things were much better.

Are you comfortable with losing your job?

Ask yourself this question before you get involved with a colleague, but you may have to choose between a partner and the company you work with.

Don’t date your boss It will never end well if you date someone more senior than you. The dynamics are doomed from the beginning, and a relationship needs to maintain some sort of equality.

For goodness sake, no PDA! Don’t kiss, or hug or even hand-hold in the office.

Even if everyone knows you are a couple, it’s not professional and, really, it’s just annoying for everyone else.

rebeccal@humanresourcesonline.net

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