Human Resources Magazine, Singapore, October 2016

October 2016

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The smart HR professional’s blueprint for workforce strategy

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October 2016 « CONTENTS

COVER STORY 16 Q&A

Goh Chor Lim, the HR head for Asia Pacific at Roche Diagnostics, reveals the formula to filling six out of the last eight key leadership roles internally.

Features 20 Rewards strategies that please ’em all

Aditi Sharma Kalra interviews HR leaders across Asia to discover lessons from three very different rewards scenarios.

26 The long and the short of expatriation success Implementing short-term assignments to develop talent is not as tough as it seems. Jerene Ang speaks to HR experts from Grundfos, Infineon Technologies, JLL, Oakwood and Sanofi to find out more.

Opinion 34 Event update A session on applying workforce analytics and five interactive sessions, facilitated by practitioners, were among the highlights at HR Tech Interactive 2016, Singapore, as reported by Aditi Sharma Kalra.

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36 Learning & development

ON THE COVER: Art Direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Elliot Lee, Nikon Ambassador (Singapore) – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

Not only do our four-legged friends help make the workplace happier, they also help increase productivity. HR experts weigh in on the pros and cons of bringing dogs to work.

40 Last word

How do HR leaders make the most of their time? Aditi Sharma Kalra discovers the secrets of HR professionals who pack in work, rest and play – all in one day.

Regulars

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3 Ed’s note 4 In the news 6 Suite talk 8 Snapshot 10 Spacial awareness

12 HR by numbers 14 White paper 37 Shelf life 38 Personal growth

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Any suggestions or tip-offs for Human Resources?

Email aditis@humanresourcesonline.net October 2016 « Human Resources «

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EDITOR’S NOTE

regional editor

Aditi Sharma Kalra Jerene Ang

senior journalist

editor, Hong Kong

Anthony Wong

journalist, Hong Kong

Laura Fransen

sub editor

James Foster

regional art director Shahrom Kamarulzaman

senior designer

web designer

circulation executive

regional head of advertising & sponsorship

regional directors

Fauzie Rasid Sherlyn Yap Deborah Quek Naomi Cranswick Yogesh Chandiramani

Jaclyn Chua

Carine Chang

regional sales manager

regional marketing manager

Isabel Ho

regional head of production

Sammi Zhang

regional producers

Nikita Erpini

Kenneth Neo

Priya Veeriah

Evon Yew

regional head of event services

Yeo Wei Qi

Evelyn Wong

regional finance director

group editorial director

group managing director

Tony Kelly Justin Randles

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

Permission may be requested through the Singapore office.

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

Mind your employee value proposition Over the years, we have seen employee expectations increase significantly in this talentscarce era. This, however, does not take us away from the fact there are a number of organisations that are doing excellent work in developing employee value propositions that are progressive and innovative.

It is intriguing to observe and evaluate how HR leaders have been tailoring and improvising their HR campaigns, while maintaining consistency within their HR policies across geographies.

It is also interesting to see whether or not it is even desirable for organisations to customise policies, and how some of them have been able to leverage this phenomenon as a strategic advantage in their workforce planning.

In today’s war to attract top talent, it’s always helpful to delve into the minds of industry frontrunners to identify the drivers of their bold HR practices, and we’re looking forward to celebrating those who do this the best at the HR Excellence Awards.

The judging process has been completed and our team of event producers is getting ready to host the finalists at the gala event on 19 October at Shangri-La Hotel.

While on the topic of employee expectations, we had an interesting month speaking to HR leaders on varied rewards and incentives strategies. From Singapore, Tarun Gulrajani, of Rehau, opened up about an issue from a past employer that didn’t seem connected to rewards to begin with. From Malaysia, Puvathy Nadarajah, of Berjaya Roasters, highlighted reward schemes that work well in a hectic restaurant environment. And from China, Ruby Ru, of Glanbia Nutritionals, found ways to incentivise internal trainers to up their professional game. You will find these three case studies on page 20.

Meanwhile, on the cover this month is an interview with Goh Chor Lim, head of human resources for Asia Pacific at Roche Diagnostics.

The Basel-headquartered biotech company has reason to be proud of its APAC-wide HR initiatives – training which enables four in every five vacancies to be filled in-house, gender diversity consciousness that has helped exceed the target of one in three senior leaders being women; and an attrition rate of 6% in country operations where the norm is 25%. In this interview on page 16, Goh shares details on the leadership and training programmes that have helped in the success of these initiatives.

Going forward, at the Human Resources office, we have entered the busiest time of the year, with four award shows, three conferences, and two special editions all being produced by a super busy team.

The next edition will be a special issue featuring the HR Vendors of the Year, providing a ranking of the preferred HR solution providers across a number of categories. Please keep sharing your feedback with us, as we start ideating for the new year.

Enjoy the issue.

Photography: Elliot Lee, Nikon Ambassador (Singapore) – www.elliotly.com Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

HumanResources

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Aditi Sharma Kalra Regional editor October 2016 « Human Resources «

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News from humanresourcesonline.net

MINISTER FOR MANPOWER LIM SWEE SAY ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON EPs

The Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say was asked two parliamentary questions on employment pass (EP) applications by MP Zaqy Mohamad – the first of which was the criteria Harry’s International met to get approval for 20 EP applications with regard to the company being recently called out for a false declaration of information. The second was about the safeguards in place to ensure the quota for EP holders is not abused.

“EP applications are assessed based on a combination of factors, including educational qualifications, work experience and salary,” Lim wrote.

The integrity of the work pass framework is safeguarded by MOM through necessary verification, including qualification checks by overseas screening agencies or with the issuing education institutions.

Offenders who make false declarations can be fined up to $20,000 and/or jailed for up to two years under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, he warned. They will also be barred from hiring new or renewing work passes of their foreign workers.

The minister noted that while there is no EP quota, penalties for companies with signs of unfair employment practices may include longer processing time of EP applications, or suspended work pass privileges.

WOULD YOU REJECT CANDIDATES FOR THESE REASONS? As a hiring manager, part of the job includes rejecting unsuitable candidates. In fact, a study by TimesJobs revealed that nearly 70% of candidates have been rejected in their job interviews at some point in their career and more than half have faced at least five rejections at job interviews in their careers so far.

The study further revealed that while both verbal and non-verbal elements contribute to a rejection of a candidate, of those rejected, two in three were rejected because of nonverbal reasons. These reasons included seeming disinterested during the interview (40%), being late (32%), making no eye contact with the recruiter during the interview (30%), not being dressed properly (25%), and having a weak handshake and bad sitting posture (10%).

For those rejected because of verbal factors, highlighted factors included fumbling in the interview (40%), talking too much during the interview (30%), a lack of knowledge about the company (25%), and bad-mouthing the previous employer (15%).

Additionally, the study revealed that 40% of professionals have attended at least 10 to 20 interviews, while 30% said they have done around five to 10 interviews during the span of their career.

THE MOST AND LEAST PRODUCTIVE SECTORS IN SINGAPORE

Good news for businesses in Singapore – the country’s overall labour productivity is on the rise. According to the Economic Survey of Singapore Second Quarter 2016, by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, today Singapore’s overall labour productivity (measured by value added per worker) improved by 0.7% in Q2 2016 compared with the same period in 2015.

The sectors which registered the highest increase in productivity were: • Manufacturing (4.6%).

• Wholesale and retail trade (2.2%).

• Construction (1.5%).

• Transportation and storage (1.3%).

On the flip side, the sectors with the greatest dips in productivity in Q2 2016 were: • Business services (-2.7%).

• Information and communications (-2.2%).

• Other services (-1.8%).

• Accommodation and food (-1.4%).

As a whole, outward-oriented sectors achieved higher productivity growth than domestically oriented sectors. “Compared to the same period last year, the productivity of outward-oriented sectors grew by 2.0% in the second quarter, while that of domestically-oriented sectors fell by 1.5%,” the report stated.

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ZIKA VIRUS IN SINGAPORE PROMPTS ADVISORY ON WORKPLACE MEASURES

In light of the recent Zika virus outbreak in Singapore and to minimise the risk of a further spread of Zika – which is spread by the Aedes mosquito vector – the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has issued an advisory on workplace measures employers must consider.

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Employers should encourage staff to self-monitor for symptoms of Zika such as fever, skin rashes, joint and muscle pains, headaches and red eyes.

Symptomatic individuals who have returned from an affected country in the past two weeks or live/work in the vicinity of Aljunied Crescent/Sims Drive must seek medical attention immediately – which employers should allow staff to do promptly.

Employers should advise employees to protect themselves from mosquito bites by using mosquito repellent, wearing long covered clothing and sleeping under mosquito nets or in rooms with wire-mesh screens or air-conditioned rooms.

Employers should particularly ensure that pregnant employees take strict precautions against mosquito bites and seek immediate medical attention if they develop symptoms of Zika such as a fever or rash.

As the Zika virus is spread by infected mosquitoes, employers should take immediate steps to prevent mosquito breeding in their workplaces.

MOM BUSTS EMPLOYMENT SYNDICATE, ARRESTS 44 PEOPLE

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in Singapore recently conducted an islandwide enforcement operation against a syndicate involved in bringing in foreign workers for illegal employment.

The operation lasted more than 48 hours, upon which a total of 44 people, comprising six alleged members of the syndicate and 38 foreign workers, were arrested. Items such as work permit cards, name lists of workers, and SingPass tokens were seized, amid ongoing investigations.

Kevin Teoh, divisional director of MOM’s foreign manpower management division, said: “MOM takes a serious view of bringing in foreign workers without a job and allowing these foreign workers to find their own employment.”

If convicted, employers can be imprisoned for up to two years, fined up to S$6,000 per charge and caned as well.

Employers who hire foreign workers seeking illegal employment face a fine of between S$5,000 to $30,000 or up to 12 months’ imprisonment or both. They may also be barred from employing foreign workers.

Main contractors who are found to have illegal workers at their worksites are liable to be fined up to S$15,000 or imprisoned for up to 12 months’ or both.

They will also be barred from employing foreign workers.

RANDSTAD ACQUIRES MONSTER FOR $429 MILLION IN ALL-CASH DEAL

Leading HR provider Randstad Holding has acquired employment portal Monster Worldwide for a total purchase price of US$429 million (enterprise value), or at the rate of $3.40 per share in cash. Monster will continue operating as a separate and independent entity under the Monster name.

With this transaction, Randstad intends to build “the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of HR services”, it said in a statement.

Both boards of directors have unanimously approved the terms of the merger agreement, and the board of directors of Monster will recommend shareholders accept the offer, once it commences. The offer represents a 22.7% premium to Monster’s closing stock price on August 8, 2016, and a 30.1% premium to the 90-day volume weighted average stock price.

Randstad listed the transaction as having three strategic and financial benefits – complementary visions for transformation, comprehensive and technologically advanced capabilities for HR services, and financially compelling.

The transaction does not have a financing condition and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals.

Monster is expected to be delisted from the NYSE and integrated into Randstad thereafter.

ALMOST THREE IN FIVE SINGAPOREANS WOULD TURN DOWN A JOB WITH NO FLEXIBILITY

Did you know that 59% of Singaporeans would turn down a job where flexibility was ruled out entirely? This was according to new research by Regus which also pointed out that almost half of respondents would have stayed longer in a previous job if it had flexible working as an option.

The survey also highlighted the benefits of flexible working, as pointed out by respondents, including: • • • • • • •

Having more time to spend with family and friends (91%).

Being better able to juggle personal and professional demands (80%).

Having more spare time as they can choose the work location and workload (78%).

Being in a better position to hit the gym more often (76%).

Being healthier (74%).

Being more rested, having cut down gruelling commutes (71%).

Being more mindful and better able to assess their levels of wellbeing (69%).

Seeing the various benefits flexible working provides, it is not surprising that a whopping 90% of respondents would pick a job that offers flexibility between two similar positions.

Paul MacAndrew, country manager of Regus Singapore, said: “Businesses wanting to attract and retain highly skilled and valuable workers cannot afford to ignore how important providing a good work-life balance has become.”

THE 10 MOST IRRITATING OFFICE PHRASES

“Let’s deep dive into those value-added solutions that you propose to bring to the table for a cutting-edge conversation by EOD.” Ever come out of a meeting feeling like nothing made sense? GetVoIP has compiled a list of the 25 most annoying buzzwords, using data from Google’s Ngram Viewer tool. Here are 10 of them: 1. “Bring to the table” – your co-workers would prefer you to bring pizza instead.

2. “Cutting edge” – ironically, most companies that use this term are anything, but cutting-edge.

3. “Deep dive” – code for spending eight hours on something your team will use 1% of the time.

4. “Deliverable” – half of your co-workers have no idea what “the deliverable” is.

5. “End of day” – code for: “I’ll rush through the project to appease your unrealistic demands.”

6. “Fast track” – code for: Your project may be relegated to the dumpster, never to be seen again.

7. “Guru” – Yoda was a guru and not a single person since.

8. “Reach out” – please don’t reach out to Doug: he doesn’t like you.

9. “Take offline” – realistically, taking it offline means taking the conversation over an online chat.

10. “Value-added” – leaving this phrase out is a value-add to any business conversation.

October 2016 « Human Resources «

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WORK LIFE » People GET INTO THE BOSS’S HEAD

Saulo Spaolanse President and CEO Schneider Electric Singapore From Brazil to Romania to Singapore – what attracted you to this Asia-based role?

My life was comfortable back in Brazil - it’s a big and visible market, with almost 200 million citizens.

But my personality is very active. I love discovering new cultures and meeting different people. My career drivers are learning and making an impact in business and in people’s lives. More importantly, I wanted to prove to myself that I could be a global executive. That’s why I made my first move to Romania. After that, I made my second move to Singapore so I can learn new things every day. This is a perfect place for me. I learn every day from its culture of integrity and hard work, and everyone’s respect for people and institutions.

What has been your most memorable moment with Schneider Electric?

Having worked here for 13 years, I have good memories. To mention the most recent one, I was very happy to receive the UN Women recognition for our efforts in Singapore to promote gender equality. My mother raised five children practically alone and it has always been clear to me that all women deserve better equal opportunities.

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How would you define your leadership style?

I believe in trust, empowerment and engagement.

I challenge my team and I accept to be challenged.

I am open and direct. I hire people who are better than me and are willing to share what they know. I do not like details, which is not always a strength.

What was your toughest work decision?

The toughest decision is when I need to cut jobs due to strategic moves. It is even tougher when an employee is committed and demonstrates the right working attitude. I have faced this situation two or three times in my career. The high side is that I personally tracked the career of such professionals and they are all doing good nowadays.

What’s your view of the HR function, and how can it contribute better to the business?

CEOs expect HR to deliver core HR processes really well. Employees are our most important asset so we must do right by them. This means engaging them throughout the employee life cycle – recruitment, induction, retention and development.

Beyond the basics, I see HR moving from an HR partner to a business partner, a function that helps CEOs build their vision. CEOs will need HR support in building the people and organisational capability to deliver the business strategy.

I see HR as the culture gardener, responsible for the DNA and values. The better the culture, the better the morale, the better the business results.

HR, therefore, is a key enabler for the business, translating the strategy into the culture and the way we get things done. Finally, I expect HR leaders to have a good level of understanding about our business, customers and technology.

In Singapore, Schneider Electric has committed to increase the representation of women in leadership positions to 30%. Is this agenda driven by HR or by the business?

From a business perspective, I believe that a greater gender balance in global corporations can drive business growth. Many global corporations are scrambling to adjust to new trends. Very often it’s found that a lack of new ideas and a resistance to alternative approaches is a leading cause of stagnation in today’s business environment.

Some research also shows that significant gender imbalance at the top and middle management tiers has led to a lack of creativity in solving problems.

One way executives and support staff can address this dilemma is to diversify the talent pool within the company. Altering the profile of incoming candidates will both supplement the skills of the existing workforce and also promote innovation and offer fresh perspectives. To initiate diversity and promote inclusion, the obvious step we can see is to enhance the gender balance. Research reveals an undeniable link between improved corporate

performance and diversity in leadership: the latest McKinsey analysis showed that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15% more likely to financially outperform those in the bottom quartile.

It also showed that ethnically diverse companies (in the top quartile) are 35% more likely to financially outperform their peers in the bottom quartile. Companies in the bottom quartile both for gender and for ethnicity and race are statistically less likely to achieve above-average financial returns than the average companies in the data set (that is, bottom quartile companies are lagging rather than merely not leading).

What are some of the policies in place to promote gender equality at Schneider Electric?

We understand that the participation of business leaders is important to make gender equality happen in our company. At a global level, we have rolled out the diversity and inclusion policy to promote diversity and inclusion in culture, gender equality, women networks, etc. Country presidents from 24 offices across the globe have committed to “Women Empowerment Principles”, a partnership initiative of UN Women and UN Global Compact to ensure the inclusion of women’s talents, skills and energies through intentional actions.

Our CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire has launched a

“Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15% more likely to financially outperform those in the bottom quartile.” series of half-day gender workshops for leaders at the management committee level over the last two years. These act as a business case for change and include the assessment of the current state of gender balance, analysis of gender balance blocking factors, and commitment to an action plan. Almost 20 leadership teams with 300 leaders have attended these workshops.

In Singapore, we were happy to be awarded the inaugural HeForShe@Work Impact Award by the Singapore Committee for UN Women, a non-profit organisation working towards women’s empowerment and gender equality in the region.

I’m very happy to be a part of the HeForShe@ Work programme by signing up for WEP Principles with a commitment to 30% of women in leadership positions; 45% of women hires in Singapore operations; and forming and sponsoring the Singapore D&I committee. The Singapore management team also joined me to play a part in the programme, and is trained on the Gender Balance Workshop.

snapshot

15 minutes with ...

Shalini Bhateja

Director of talent and development, Asia Pacific The Coca-Cola Company HOW DID YOU GET INTO HR? I am an electric engineer by profession.

I joined Schneider in India in sales, and I moved to product marketing and then to strategy. When I was in the strategy role, which was quite exciting, I started thinking of our five-year plans, and specifically, my career plan and what I wanted from my profession. I was given the opportunity to open a technical training cell for customers, for channel partners and employees. Training was very important at that time in both the marketing and strategy roles. In strategy, you train sales on markets, and within marketing, you train sales on products. I loved training, and I figured this was something I wanted to do Then in 2002, when our HR model changed, and we introduced shared services and verticalised learning, the role for learning head for Greater India opened up and I was lucky to get that job. When I began the role, I realised I loved doing it.

HAVING WORKED IN BOTH MARKETING AND HR ROLES, HOW DO YOU THINK THESE FUNCTIONS CAN WORK BETTER TOGETHER? I am a very strong believer of getting the context right. It is very easy to belittle other functions and wonder what exactly it is that they do, and it is very difficult to empathise with them. Everybody finds their job the most important. But since you don’t know the context of the other departments, you don’t know their challenges and you don’t live those challenges.

Therefore, HR should know what is going on in not just marketing for inter-functional projects, but also what is going on in sales or finance or research and development. You need to know how each function works to get that cross-functional design thinking and innovation.

HOW CLOSELY DO YOU WORK WITH OTHER TEAMS ON PROJECTS? I’m fairly new to the system and trying to figure out how it all works. But I think the intent to understand other functions remains in any company.

One function cannot work without the other, so system-thinking and system-understanding is very important. When I came into Coca-Cola, I really made an effort to understand the business. It’s what companies want employees to do, but which is, however, not easy to do, as it becomes easy to become lost in the day to day responsibilities.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST SKILLS HR LEADERS NEED TO ENSURE THEIR POLICIES ARE ALIGNED WITH THE BUSINESS? A thorough business understanding is important to be credible. This means knowing what exactly you, as an HR professional, bring to the table and to the business. The other skill which is important is having the courage to stand up for what you believe.

HR has evolved from being personnel management to being a business partner. This means HR has a point of view, and it is backed by science and facts – such as psychometric assessments. So as HR professionals, we need to believe in our credibility. We need to have conviction to believe in what we are. We also need to learn and meet new people. Learning and being curious about what others are doing is key.

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“You really need to care for employees in your company as a HR professional … because you influence decisions which impact people’s careers and lives.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST AREAS HR CAN IMPROVE IN? It can be better in being strategic and being more long-term. Every leader needs to be versatile. He or she can’t always be only strategic and never work on execution, and vice-versa. Hence, when you are working with teams, you can’t only be pushing strategy. Sometimes you have to push for it, and sometimes you have to pull. This is especially true for HR. At the same time, HR also needs to sustain its creativity and see how its projects bring results to the overall business.

It needs to have the patience, and plan enough to ensure its creative projects are sustained. This is another aspect of sustaining credibility – to ensure projects are carried on not only when the function has budgets, but that they are carried out every year.

HOW DO YOU ENSURE HR CAN GET BUY-IN FROM BUSINESS LEADERS TO GET MORE SUCH SUPPORT? I don’t think this is a problem per se. I really feel the business understands that HR is important, that human resources is important. People get it, and leaders get it. It is our prerogative to keep it on top of business leaders’ agendas. Convincing business leaders about the importance of HR is not a problem, but the problem is conviction. To be able to show how HR initiatives bring business results.

HOW DO YOU THINK HR WILL CHANGE IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? I feel that a lot of outsourcing will occur within the function. A couple of things will remain – such as business partnering and managing the talent piece. Another aspect of HR that is changing is that a lot of people from business are moving to HR, and vice-versa. However, that is not new, it has been happening for a while.

A lot of data-based HR decisions will be made in the future, and analytics will play a greater role in HR. We have previously shied away from facts, but that is something which is changing, and which will change even more so in the future.

WHAT IS THE BEST CAREER ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED? Actually, more than advice, I think a lot of people have helped me in my career journey and believed in me. I was the youngest person in the strategy team in Schneider India. It could get daunting at times, but various leaders gave me courage at times. A lot of people have taken risks on me, which I am very thankful of.

PLEASE COMPLETE: I CANNOT IMAGINE HR WITHOUT ... a heart.

I think you really need to care for employees in your company as a HR professional. This is because you influence decisions which impact people’s careers and lives. To do this well, you cannot not have empathy.

You have got to have this, along with brains and the facts before you make such tough decisions. It would be very disastrous if you are a HR professional, or are working with one, without a heart.

This interview was conducted at the SP Jain School of Global Management’s HR Conclave 2016.

WORK LIFE » People

SpacialAwareness AIRBNB’S SINGAPORE OFFICE – A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

In creating a new Singapore office, Airbnb wanted to create a comfortable place for its employees.

With the total number of Airbnb users growing three times last year in the Asia Pacific region alone, the firm believes its employees are core to everything it does and believes in investing in them as the foundation of its success.

“The unveiling of our new home was an exciting moment for us because the space truly embodies what we value as a company: creativity, community engagement and thoughtful design,” explains Ken Hoskin, head of APAC talent for Airbnb.

“This led us to develop the employee design experience, a programme for employees from different departments to come together and engage in the process of bringing our office space to life. Each team worked together with

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designers to reimagine and create meeting rooms as real homes that you can stay at on Airbnb.”

This allowed staff to strengthen their creative prowess through collaborative brainstorming and sourcing for locally designed materials.

“Overall, the employee design experience helped our employees become more connected to not only the space they’ve selected and designed, but the company as a whole.”

An engaging office space goes beyond visual appeal, but also creates a conducive and comfortable space for employees to develop their different strengths. In line with that, Hoskin says the core of Airbnb is the connection between people and spaces.

“In designing the Singapore office, we wanted a space that encourages our employees to move around, interact across disciplines, and be inspired by one another,” he says.

“It ultimately motivates them to develop a better product and service for our community.”

In addition to the two typical types of spaces, desks and meeting rooms, Airbnb also focused on creating a third – community shared spaces with couches scattered among desks and standing desks.

With travel being the firm’s passion, Hoskin explains it is ingrained in everything Airbnb does.

“One of the most inspirational aspects of our office is the ability to experience travel without leaving the building, and we wanted to create a place that would bring our mission to life, a place where people could instantly see what’s at the heart of the company,” he says.

SPONSORED RECRUIT ADVICE HOW TO THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY AVADO

‘WOW, THAT WAS THE BEST TRAINING MY COMPANY HAS EVER OFFERED!’ How often do you hear that sentence? We all know it’s important to keep our teams up-to-date with the latest knowledge and skills, and the ever-evolving digital world is adding fuel to the fire. However, with a myriad of training courses available – some taking days out of the office and some offering an online “silver bullet” – how do we choose the right one to solicit the response we’d all like to hear?

Today, we’re all digital: we browse, we shop and we interact online. So, when it comes to training, an online solution is a no-brainer, right? Actually, it’s not as black and white. There’s a big difference between recreation online and education online.

Get it right and online training programmes can be hugely successful and engaging, get it wrong and you may find that you’ve just wasted a lot of time and money. So, if you’re about to roll out an online training programme for your team, what are the three key things to watch out for?

1. Different learning styles need different teaching approaches Firstly, consider how people learn. We’re all different. Some of us need to see, some need to hear and some need to do. Therefore, online courses with just video content may work for some students, but not all. To spot a good course, look for a curriculum that blends different teaching styles and student activities so it has a wide appeal.

For our digital marketing leadership course, Squared Online, our one-hour weekly live classes, are supported through a range of individual and group projects, with a mixture of discursive or hands-on activities. This not only helps cater to different learning styles, but also helps students check what they’ve learnt and that they know how to use it back on the job.

2. Keep it social The lack of interaction on many online programmes is the main driver to high student attrition. When students are expected to study at their own pace and complete individual assessments, the whole experience can be quite isolating. That’s why we’ve leveraged technology to replicate the offline classroom learning experience in our virtual classrooms. Students start their learning journeys at the same time on “cohorts”, studying and supporting one another at the same pace.

Weekly live classes give each student an opportunity to interact with expert speakers and their peers, asking questions and debating points just as they would in a physical classroom. Most importantly, throughout the duration of their studies, the virtual campus is where they can network and interact with their peers, share the learning experience and seek help. As a result, we are able to create a supportive community to encourage students along the way.

3. We’re all adults here As we build up work and life experiences to draw upon, we learn in context and we question things. As a result, adults expect to – and do – learn differently. For any training programme on the job, students need to be able to challenge, question and try things out in a safe environment. This need is where face-to-face training traditionally had the edge – classrooms can offer immediate feedback, hear a different point of view and debate differences.

It’s also where many online courses struggle. That’s why we work with established industry practitioners – they know how it works in the real world, they bring experience and credibility to the lesson and they welcome a good debate. What’s more, adult learners are looking to take what they learn and apply

it immediately to their roles. It’s no longer about learning theories; it’s about understanding the relevance and the practical implementation. Therefore, in-depth discussions and real-life case studies are what makes a course truly engaging and actionable for adults.

It’s fair to say that not all courses are created equal, and definitely not all online learning solutions are the same! To develop a team, it’s important to pick a course (or two) that’s going to be right not just for the business, but for the students too.

When perusing your options, make sure to factor in the structure of the course, how it’s being taught, who’s teaching and what the experience will be like for your team. Remember, learning about something is one thing, but being able to take that learning and apply it to business situations in real life is another.

If you really want online learning to help drive change in your business, make sure you choose a solution that’s going to empower your people, not just give them information to remember.

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October 2016 « Human Resources « 11

WORK LIFE » HR by numbers

Always looking for the next job Meet the “continuous candidates” – 37% of 4,500 job seekers say, “I am always looking for the next job opportunity”, according to a new survey. Three in five (60%) of continuous candidates are Millennials (aged 18-34). However, within the age group, continuous candidates tend to skew older with 70% aged 25-34 compared with 30% aged 18-24.

“Millennials with more experience in the workforce are more likely to be habitually looking for jobs,” the report noted. While 15% report “opportunity for advancement” as a reason they look for new positions, 42% indicated this as one of top three motivators when making career decisions.

43%

of continuous candidates admit that every job is temporary – and they tend to be twice as likely to express dissatisfaction with their jobs.

29%

of continuous candidates have applied for between three and nine jobs in the past six months, while 12% have applied for more than 15 jobs during the previous six months.

Source: ManpowerGroup Solutions’ report, “Always Looking: The rise of continuous candidates”.

12 » Human Resources » October 2016

The top reason why candidates look for new positions

Compensation

SPONSORED RECRUIT ADVICE HOW TO THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY RGF

CONGRATS, YOU’RE THE BOSS! NOW WHAT? You are awesome at your job and now you have been promoted to be part of the management team. While you cannot wait to rock at being a first-time people manager, it is natural to feel apprehensive about your new role. It marks the start of a whole new challenge – you are no longer just responsible for your own work, but that of your entire team.

Not sure how to start? Here are some ways you can get off on the right foot and embark on a smooth transition.

Listen and learn before taking charge It is natural to want to initiate bold changes immediately after taking charge to prove yourself within the shortest time possible. However, more often than not, this strategy tends to backfire. Instead, take this time to listen and learn as much as you can. Take advantage of your organisation’s management tools, resources and training programmes. Absorb everything you need to know about the organisation.

Remind yourself of your organisation’s business objectives, mission and values.

Set up individual meetings with your team members and find out about their roles, goals, motivations and challenges. Find out if there were any pre-existing team targets or methods of doing things within the team. Observe your team members – what are the different work styles? How do they work together? Have they formed cliques? Is there any particular person who stands out either positively, for example, as a leader, or negatively, as a Tai Chi expert or gossipmonger?

Shift your perspective You cannot just focus on yourself and your work anymore. Sure, that is what got you your promotion, but now that you are here, in your current position, you will be measured by your abilities as a leader – not as an individual contributor.

“Before you were a manager, your number one job was to accomplish tasks,” says Penelope Trunk in “4 worst mistakes of a first-time manager”. “Now your number one job is to help other people to accomplish the tasks in an outstanding way.”

It can be difficult to get accustomed to this mindset, but this step is crucial for success. As a manager, your performance is inextricably linked to that of your team.

So if your team fails – you fail. If they succeed? You can take the credit for leading the team well, but always remember to give props to your team. They have done their part and also deserve their due recognition. This will motivate and encourage your team members to do a great job for you in the future. Without your team, you will not be able to succeed as a people manager.

and find yourself having to supervise a former peer. To facilitate your transition into a people manager, you need to address the changing dynamics in your working relationships immediately.

Try saying something along the lines of how you value the friendship, but as a manager, you need to ensure that everyone on the team sees you as being fair and consistent. It is going to be awkward, but addressing this shift in the relationship upfront means a better working relationship with your team in the long run.

You are constantly going to be learning new things as you embark on this fresh chapter in your professional journey. Of course, it is not going to be smooth sailing all the time, but if you conduct your research, manage your expectations and align your perspectives from the very beginning, you are bound to start off as a people manager on the right foot.

This article is contributed by Li Li Kang, director – human resources and GA, and healthcare and life sciences practices

Get a mentor As a first-time manager, you will inevitably find yourself in scenarios that are typically not outlined in any manual. How do you coax the best out of a brilliant, but somewhat unreliable employee? How do you deal with an overachiever whom you would love to promote, but cannot because of budget constraints?

It helps to get the counsel of someone who has already been through similar situations. That is why having a trusted mentor is essential. You can turn to that person and confidentially discuss any issue that arises and seek valuable advice.

RGF is the global brand of Recruit Holdings, the world’s fourth largest recruiting and information service company and the largest in Japan, generating over US$14 billion in net annual sales. For more than 56 years, RGF has provided comprehensive HR solutions and talent acquisition services which include retained and contingency executive recruitment and market mapping, senior to staff level specialists and contract recruitment as well as payroll services. RGF operates in more than 46 offices across 26 cities in 11 countries and markets in Asia with in-country specialist consultants.

Find a happy medium It is difficult to draw a line between being too bossy and being a friend to everyone – especially when you first get promoted into the role of a people manager. In The Girl’s Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch), 90% of the women interviewed responded the biggest mistake they made as a new manager was trying to be liked.

This is particularly relevant if you were promoted from within the same team

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October 2016 « Human Resources « 13

WHITE PAPER » Leadership

THE FIVE TYPES OF WORKPLACE MILLENNIALS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT Global – With plenty of sweeping generalisations made about Millennials, Sage Asia’s new report, “Walk With Me”, endeavoured to identify five personality types Millennials represent in the workplace. Based on their key characteristics, attitudes and behaviours, these are the five types of Millennial personalities highlighted: • The principled planners – extremely methodical in their approach to work, they enjoy carefully planning for success. With an ambitious streak, they never take anything at face value and always ask a lot of questions.

• The driven techies – love their work and can’t bear the thought of sitting around twiddling their thumbs. They trust in the power and efficiency of innovative technology to keep them one step ahead of the competition. They have a strong belief in its ability to accurately target their existing and future customers.

• The instinctive explorers – cavalier, they love the unknown, as well as exploring uncharted territory. They trust their gut instincts and stick to their guns. A modern image is extremely important 14 » Human Resources » October 2016

to them, as is leaving a legacy behind to be remembered by.

• The real “worlders” – resourceful, but likely to say they rely on technology in order to succeed. When it comes to their approach to work and making decisions, they tend to alternate between going on gut instinct and taking a more methodical approach.

• The thrill-seekers – easily bored and always on the lookout for the next challenge, they couldn’t care less about appearances. They work best around others and believe that making a social impact is overrated.

In addition to these personalities, Sage Asia’s research identified priorities of this generation at work – with 72% of Millennials in Singapore willing to sacrifice profit to stay true to their values. This rose to 78% in South Africa, while there was a slight dip in the US at 70%.

When it comes to work-life balance, two in three globally (66%) value life over work. For respondents in Brazil (71%), Australia (70%), Belgium (70%), Singapore (73%) and

Percentage of Millennials who value life over work Singapore

73%

Brazil

71%

Australia

70%

Belgium

70%

Switzerland

70%

Global

66%

Source: Sage Asia’s Walk With Me report.

Switzerland (70%), reducing the amount of hours they spend working and retiring early is a key focus.

More general trends from the study include 62% globally wanting to start more than one business of their own, and 34% starting their own business to be the master of their own destiny. Interestingly, while more than a third of young entrepreneurs say technology used is the most important element when it comes to the smooth running of their business, 59% of those surveyed – including 67% of Australians – say they are resourceful enough not to have to rely on technology to succeed.

Leadership « WHITE PAPER

HOW THE RIGHT OFFICE SEATING PLAN CAN INCREASE PROFIT BY 15% Global – Who sits next to whom and where might not be at the top of your priority list when it comes to running your office. But according to analysis

by Harvard Business School, putting a little more thought into your seating chart could increase company profits by up to 15%.

The research, in collaboration with Cornerstone OnDemand, analysed data from more than 2,000 employees over a two-year period and found that “placing the right type of workers in close proximity to each other has been shown to generate up to a 15% increase in organisational performance”.

For an organisation of 2,000 workers this could add up to US$1 million (about SG$1.3 million) of profit per annum.

“For organisations looking to increase their returns on the human capital, simply rearranging employee seating may be one of the most costeffective resources at their disposal”, it stated.

The key to optimising the seating plan lies in pairing employees up with the most beneficial peers. Employees were found to fit into one of three categories: productive, generalist or quality workers.

Productive workers are 38% faster than the average

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in both categories. Thanks to what the researchers call the “spill-over” effect, sitting in close proximity to another type of worker can influence someone’s own personal work style.

To fully optimise your employee’s performance with a potential increase of up to 15%, productive and quality workers should be matched together, while generalists sit with other generalists.

worker and are 28% less likely to escalate a task to another worker than an average worker, but deliver 14% lower quality work versus an average worker.

Quality workers are 33% slower than the average worker and are 17% more likely to need to escalate a task to another worker than an average worker, but deliver 7% higher quality work versus the average worker. While generalists perform average

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PROFILE » Goh Chor Lim

Goh Chor Lim

Head of human resources, Asia Pacific Roche Diagnostics The formula for great leaders

By JERENE ANG

Art Direction: Shahrom Kamarulzaman; Photography: Elliot Lee, Nikon Ambassador (Singapore) – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

Q Having worked across non-pharma

firms such as Prudential and Philips Electronics, what made you join Roche in 2013?

One reason I joined Roche was through a referral. At that time, my predecessor was moving into her new role in the business – which she is currently in – and I was referred by an HR person in the organisation as part of the employee referral programme.

I decided to join Roche because of the nature of the business – saving lives – which is very meaningful.

Even though I’m not on the front line, I know I can contribute to the organisation, and save lives, in an indirect way through the people I bring in.

Additionally, when I came for the interview, I liked the atmosphere which seemed very positive. The overall feeling was that this is a really nice organisation and I think the culture and atmosphere is still the same today.

Q That’s interesting, does moving

from HR into the business happen very often?

My predecessor started out from the business before moving into HR. It’s part of how we develop people – by moving them through functions or through geographies.

It’s also how we retain people – by giving them different exposure and allowing them to grow professionally and personally. We have many cases of people who have moved into different jobs within the organisation, not necessarily in the same country.

It’s not uncommon to see people in

16 » Human Resources » October 2016

Roche being developed in this way, and for employees who are not so mobile, we also have other ways of developing them.

Q I understand that you have about

4,600 employees across APAC and about 230 employees in Singapore.

What are your HR priorities for the next 12 months?

I have a 1,000-day plan which can be summarised into three key areas.

The first is that we want to make Roche a great place to work, which is around engaging people. At the end of the day, a product is a product; what makes a difference is the people, so it’s about engaging people and making this a special place to work.

The second is about developing people. We have lots of programmes, global leadership programmes as well as programmes we do here regionally and locally.

The third is in terms of the leadership pipeline and how to ensure that when someone moves to the next job, the next person can step up. We might focus on a different thing each year, but it’s always on these three themes.

Q One of Roche’s beliefs is that

“every employee deserves a great leader” and in fact, I found that in 2014, around 80% of Roche’s key roles were filled internally. How does Roche achieve this?

If you look at it as a value chain, it’s about hiring the right people to begin with – people who share the same values (integrity, courage and passion) to do

VITAL STATS Goh Chor Lim joined Roche Diagnostics in May 2013 as HR head of Asia Pacific. Before this, she led HR in Asia Pacific and in emerging markets (BRIC) with multinational corporations such as Prudential, Philips Electronics, and Enron. As part of her career and personal growth, she has lived and worked in Japan, the US, and most recently, in Hong Kong.

what is important for the patient and also demonstrate the right values we have here as an organisation.

It’s also about having role models as well as the training programmes that we put in place. There are different programmes that we put in place to make sure everybody becomes a better leader.

Roche, as an organisation, also talks about our leadership commitments.

We specifically articulate what good leaders look like and we kind of put it in behavioural terms. It’s not rocket science, but we want to articulate it so that people are aware.

We have a number of leadership programmes that we run globally, regionally and locally.

One programme is run twice a year and is for someone who is relatively new in their careers based on where they are in the organisation. When we feel they have shown potential and are about to become people managers, we put them through the assessment centre.

Under the assessment centre programme, they go through a two-anda-half-day workshop where they are put through simulated exercises such as having difficult employee conversations just so they understand where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

The leadership team observes them in these exercises and gives them feedback and coaching. Thereafter, the employees come up with their own individual development plan.

This is one way we show our commitment to our employees by developing them even before they

PROFILE » Goh Chor Lim become people managers. Some of the participants are already people managers, but it’s always good for them to re-evaluate themselves, see what they are good at and where they can improve.

We also run a programme where INSEAD customises the courseware for our general managers (GM) minus one level, as well as successors to our GM positions.

This is a two-week programme that we’ve held twice so far.

It has two modules with a fourmonth break in between. During the break, they have an action learning project where they work on a project that is important for the business.

Last year, we spent $100,000 on customisation fees on top of individual course fees and had the whole leadership team present to listen to the participants’ action learning outcomes.

Those who were overseas join in if they happen to be in Singapore, and if not they dial in.

Q What are the metrics you go

by when selecting employees for these programmes?

It’s more about who we feel will be a good leader. We put some of them in because we feel they have the potential to be GMs. We also put in those we feel will benefit from the programme because they are strong performers and have a large team.

We come together during the leadership team meeting to make these decisions, it’s not just based on the decision of a single person. In fact, at our recent meeting in Bangkok, we talked about our people for half a day to share views about individuals.

It’s a shared view about how, who and where we want to invest and develop our people and there is a commitment from the whole leadership team talking about employees and I think that it translates into our 80% internal fill rates.

In fact, in Asia Pacific, six out of our last eight leadership roles over the past two years were filled internally.

Q What is the business need for

Roche to develop people into leadership roles and build succession pipelines?

For the diagnostics industry, it’s not like an FMCG product where it’s easy for

18 » Human Resources » October 2016

everyone to pick up. Our business is very medically inclined and science-driven so training our people takes time.

So it’s important for us to ensure that when they become contributing members of the Roche organisation they have the skills needed for people management because at the end of the day, they will lead a large part of the organisation.

We started the programmes to make sure that people become better leaders and not learn through the school of hard knocks.

The most recent programme – about leadership bench strength began two years ago with INSEAD. We want to extend beyond just the leadership team – the MD of APAC and the rest of his direct reports – hence, we worked with INSEAD to have better leadership development for people who are going to step up to the next role.

Q Do you see any challenges when

implementing these programmes?

The challenges are more about the time commitment and how to take time out of the organisation to do it.

Our INSEAD programme is really intensive so the key piece is how they can manage the time commitment on top of their current job. To help them commit to the programme, we impress upon them why we are doing this and explain it’s for their professional development.

There’s a lot of support from the leadership team who are also involved in the programme. When the participants present their action learning project, they are there to listen and provide support.

Some leaders are also sponsors of projects. The commitment by the leadership team is there, so it’s more of working to see how best they can manage their resource.

Q Does the leadership team also

do mentoring?

We do different things at different times.

We have informal coaching that happens all the time and it’s part and parcel of every manager’s job. We have a mentoring programme which we call a sponsorship programme in two specific areas which we want to develop. One is from a gender diversity standpoint. While the other talks about how to get emerging market talent more exposure.

Q I understand Roche had a gender

diversity target to have 20% of leaders in top positions be women by 2014, but hit that target in 2013. How did you go about doing that?

I think that locally, we do a lot better. If you look at the leadership team in this region, we have 25 members on the team and nine are female. That translates to about 36% of the leadership team here who are women. I think we do a number of things to achieve that, some of which include our leadership training and our talent conversation.

Q When you select candidates

for the learning and development programmes, do you have a quota for women?

We don’t have a quota for women, but the percentage of women in programmes such

Goh Chor Lim « PROFILE as the INSEAD programme mirrors that of our demographic – about 60% male, 40% female as a region.

Q I understand Roche also uses

developing people as a way to engage them. Do you find this helps with the retention rates and how does it help?

People stay for a lot of different reasons. There is a saying that people join because of the company, they leave because of the manager and that’s why we have all this emphasis on the leadership programmes. Another aspect is the career development aspect and we have been able to keep our people through many ways.

For example, if you look at China, it’s a fast-paced environment with things changing rapidly and it’s very common to see a 25% attrition rate there, but in Roche Diagnostics, our attrition rate in China is at about 6%.

Part of it is getting people to see our vision – improving patient outcomes by giving physicians and patients the power of knowing through accurate and fast-test results. We also want to do the right thing for employees so we have things such as

career progression. I think we are able to retain our people very well through things like our culture and the programmes that we have.

Q Other than that, what results have

you seen from these programmes?

The internal fill rate of 80% is one. Another one is succession planning. For example, in the past year, we had a total of eight leadership positions open and only two were filled externally, the other six were all internal and it was part and parcel of what we talked about in the succession plan.

Roche has a very supportive leadership team when it comes to implementing HR policies and programmes, HR leaders in other companies might not be so lucky.

Q What advice do you have for HR

leaders who are struggling to gain buy-in from their leadership team?

At the beginning, it was more of a paper exercise. We started with talking about what we wanted to do.

Then we thought of how to communicate it to the organisation and present it as a business case – not just as

a HR initiative. It’s about conveying this in a business language to ensure the managers sit up and listen.

HR analytics is very important at showing the statistics. What we did was to show the engagement level of the people in the succession plan and how they compared to the rest of the organisation.

We wanted to give them a kind of burning platform and say that if you look at the engagement level of those people in the succession plan, it’s not as high as compared to the rest of the organisation (63%) and tell them it is a concern that we’re not engaging this group of people.

We also tell them that these programmes are not academic exercises and we talk about how our succession pipeline was able to help fill the recent eight leadership roles that were empty.

The next conversation we have is about how we can accelerate their readiness level.

We’re on a journey together with the business and it’s important that we present a business case to them and speak in the language of the business.

October 2016 « Human Resources « 19

20 » Human Resources » October 2016

Staff Incentives « FEATURE

There are things you just can’t do in life – when it comes to rewarding employees, you just can’t please them all. The best you can do, however, is understand exactly what their needs and motivations are, and find creative ways within your framework to address them.

Aditi Sharma Kalra interviews HR leaders across Asia to discover lessons from three very different rewards scenarios.

October 2016 « Human Resources « 21

FEATURE » Staff Incentives eloved author of witty books on travel, science and the English language, Bill Bryson, once wrote: “There are things you just can’t do in life. You can’t beat the phone company, you can’t make a waiter see you until he’s ready to see you, and you can’t go home again,” referring to his love for the unparalleled joy from visiting a new country.

As far as HR leaders go, another one to add to that list of things you just can’t do in life – you can’t please all employees, when it comes to rewards and compensation. The best you can do, however, is understand exactly what their needs and motivations are, and find creative ways within your framework to address them.

Our three interviewees across Asia have done just that. From Singapore, Tarun Gulrajani opens up about a problem that didn’t seem connected to rewards to begin with. From Malaysia, Puvathy Nadarajah, of Berjaya Roasters highlights reward schemes that work well in a hectic restaurant environment. And from China, Ruby Ru, of Glanbia Nutritionals, finds ways to incentivise internal trainers to up their professional game.

“S$2,000 was allocated per headcount per year, where employees could decide between four wellbeing initiatives.”

In this Human Resources feature, we put together these three differing aspects of incentives, and identify some dos and don’ts.

CASE 1: How to cut attrition down to 9.3% by putting benefits dollars in the hands of employees Based in Singapore is Tarun Gulrajani, currently head of HR for APAC at Rehau, speaking about his past experience with another employer, when he faced a problem that didn’t seem connected to rewards to begin with.

He says: “We experienced high attrition of close to 25.8%, particularly among our sales professionals. As ours was a niche industry, it was not only costly to rehire and retrain, it affected our business performance as well due to loss of productivity.”

To get to the heart of the matter, the HR team carried out surveys across the region asking open ended questions to understand what 22 » Human Resources » October 2016

employees were passionate about. An analysis of their answers pointed to an interesting trend – once a fair level of compensation was benchmarked across the industry, money wasn’t a motivator, or even if it was, it lasted for a very short time. However, employee benefits were dear to all employees, and their needs changed as they progressed in their career and life.

“We noticed a common theme, from employees who were single, to those married and with kids, to our mature workforce – their needs varied, from continuous learning, to giving up smoking, to giving back to the community. What appealed to Baby Boomers may not necessarily appeal to Generation X or Generation Y,” Gulrajani says.

The solution: A flex programme to allocate benefits Upon brainstorming and multiple conversations with key stakeholders, the HR team decided to look into the entire employee benefits process.

Gulrajani details: “To experiment this new idea, I decided not to go for a big-bang approach, but see what would work on a smaller scale. I decided to target a country office with 30 employees. I involved the entire country HR team and not only the benefits team.”

The team looked at benefits as a whole, that is, the amount of money spent on insurance, L&D, CSR and career progression. Taking this into account, S$2,000 was allocated per headcount per year, towards a flex programme where employees could decide how much they wanted to allocate to four wellbeing initiatives – health, social, educational and professional.

They had to meet the basic health coverage, after which they could decide how they wanted to internally allocate their flex dollars. A flex table was created for each employee through an in-house web-enabled application for them to modify and reallocate their dollars. The changes would be in effect for a year, post which employees were free to alter their benefits plan.

The outcome: Employee attrition down to 9.3% “What we achieved was an engaged and productive workforce that could literally decide their fate and lives instead of complaining that the company did not do enough,” he says. “More importantly it helped meet our objective of reducing our attrition down to 9.3% thus helping the company save money in the long run.”

Staff Incentives « FEATURE CASE 2: Why Kenny Rogers Roasters gives busy managers time off to reward achievement of targets Makers of rotisserie roasted chicken, Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR) was incepted in 1991 and has since expanded to restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. The chain in Malaysia launched a series of rewards and recognition 10 years ago, which have since been improvised yearly.

Puvathy Nadarajah, senior HR development manager at Berjaya Roasters (Malaysia), spoke of two such initiatives – the KRR enthusiasm activity and the annual business plan trip – to highlight reward schemes that work well in a hectic restaurant environment.

The first, the enthusiasm activity, aims to recognise individuals and teams living the company’s core values and mission. It comprises monthly or bimonthly fun activities in which all support centre team members, who have been employees for six months or more, are encouraged to participate. “Apart from motivating them, it builds and strengthens teamwork cohesion,” Nadarajah says.

The second campaign is the 2016/2017 annual business plan trip to reward department managers and above – area managers, restaurant managers and managers in-charge – for having consistently met the monthly budgeted sales in their restaurant or area. Their performance is measured on criteria which includes a minimum 75% of A level in QSCH (quality, service, cleanliness and hospitality); 50% of GCP (good catering practices) at A level; and excellence in performance review.

The stakeholders for both activities are the same – senior managers and leaders at Berjaya Roasters – and she admits she received their unanimous agreement for the campaigns.

“We took into account the long-term commitment and support the employees can bring to the company, which aided in the implementation of these projects.”

The challenge, however, came in the form of the time invested in rolling out both activities as it required proper planning and commitment from all parties involved. “To curb the situation, all team members involved were given time off as an encouragement for more participation.”

The outcome: A healthy balance between work and play time Team members continue to look forward to

“The challenge came in the form of time invested in rolling out both activities as it required commitment from all parties.”

the upcoming activities. “This has served as motivation for them to stay on to work with the company, with a healthy balance between work and play time,” she says.

Other initiatives that have contributed to this raised morale are quarterly awards for best area manager and best restaurant manager; the monthly support centre ‘healthy day out’; breakfast for the support centre team and daily meal for all restaurant teams; complimentary monthly coupons for all management staff; and the organisation of corporate social activities.

Looking ahead, Nadarajah is keen to implement flexible working hours at the support centre.

CASE 3: How attractive rewards incentivised a higher quality of internal training at Glanbia Nutritionals A number of organisations prefer to scale their in-house training programmes over an external solutions provider for reasons such as lower cost and closer quality assurance. One of these is Glanbia Nutritionals, an Ireland-headquartered performance nutrition and ingredients group, operating in Asia through more than 10 offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Shanghai, and a plant in Suzhou, among others.

Based in Shanghai is Ruby Ru, head of HR at Glanbia Nutritionals for Asia Pacific, and she spoke about the impact the right incentives can have on internal training professionals.

“Like many companies, we have a group October 2016 « Human Resources « 23

FEATURE » Staff Incentives

“The programme certifies internal trainers by reviewing their performance based on the feedback from trainees.

Excellent trainers are rewarded with an incentive bonus.” of people responsible for internal training, as facilitators. But when the HR department conducted training quality assessment, we found that the training was not being delivered in a very professional way, therefore the takeaway from the training was limited.

Additionally, more and more critical customer auditors challenged us, saying our internal trainers needed to be certified,” she explains.

The solution: Eliminating the “extra workload” tag for internal trainers In response, Glanbia launched a series of initiatives in August 2016 – a specific selection criteria for trainers, an upgrade of their training skills, and a host of cash and non-cash rewards to incentivise them for better quality of training.

“The programme certifies and professionalises our internal trainers by reviewing their performance based on the feedback from trainees. Excellent trainers are rewarded with an incentive bonus. This programme is driving our internal trainers to deliver higher quality and more professional training. Moreover, it is benefiting the trainers by developing their careers.”

The selection process is not only more stringent now, but also differentiates the performance of trainers, with employees who clear the process called junior internal trainers.

A number of written and public presentation activities are designed to push potential trainers to step out of their comfort zone and upgrade their competency to a higher level. “Internal trainers are divided into different levels – junior, intermediate and senior,” Ru says.

As an incentive to attain the next level, they get an increasing training allowance along the scale as well as greater development opportunities. Special awards and bonuses are given to excellent internal trainers every year during the annual dinner.

24 » Human Resources » October 2016

So what was previously perceived as an “extra workload” has now been replaced with an evaluation system with elimination as well as reward mechanisms. While internal training responsibilities were previously designated by line managers, with a lack of systematic training skills identification, this has been replaced by a process of selection, certification, development plan and management. “Where previously there was no recognition from the company to reward this ‘extra’ contribution from trainers, we now have rewards – both cash and non-cash – for example, a training allowance to create a winwin situation for internal trainers.”

In her view, the key challenge in rolling out this campaign was the support of the line managers, who were also the most important stakeholders. “HR needed to let them know we are their partners; and they, in turn, are the key persons for an employee’s development. So their role in this programme is to give inputs and be actively involved in every step of this programme, as the biggest benefit for them is the development of their employees.”

In line with this, she lists three clear don’ts for others engaging in such a project: don’t fail to align the programme to the line mangers; don’t allow the programme to be perceived as purely an HR event; and don’t leave development solely up to the internal trainers.

The outcome: Respect for training Glanbia is tracking its success metrics on the quality of internal training courses. Assessment is being done not solely on the satisfaction rate, but additionally towards the effectiveness of the trainers in accelerating what trainees are being trained for. “More than that, through the series of events we improved the engagement and morale; and several ‘star’ employees came forward, who could be targeted as our highpotential staff,” she says.

SPONSORED RECRUIT ADVICE HOW TO THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ORANGE CLOVE CATERING

EFFECTIVE CORPORATE EVENT PLANNING No company can avoid event planning, though the task is often daunting.

Every company, big or small, has to host an event at least once a year and worse – more. But fret not, the task may not be as tricky as you think it is, and speaking from our years of experience in events planning, it could even be fun! If you are planning the event in-house, we have put together a guide for effective and seamless corporate event planning – you can trust us on this, it’s our expertise.

Call the first meeting and develop a plan Kick off the planning process with a team meeting. Meetings don’t always have to be dull and boring – help stir up excitement for your team by organising an out-ofoffice discussion, or offer food with the discussion to show that you appreciate the team’s effort in the planning process (Do you know? Orange Clove has a range of drop-off menus that are suitable for breakfast, lunch, high tea or dinner that cater to small-scale meetings from 10-30 pax. Learn more at orangeclove.com.sg).

The first meeting should be detailed, and the following should be discussed: • Event goals.

• Event concept and/or theme.

• Target audience.

• Time and date of the event.

• What you’ll require of your team.

• Coming up with a checklist.

Create a realistic budget Determine how much to spend on food, venue, décor and entertainment. Creating a list of every single expense of the event and getting multiple quotations will help you come up with a reasonable budget. Here’s everything that will cost you money: • Venue rental.

• Catering.

• Audio visual.

• Décor and rentals.

• Activities and entertainment/speakers.

• Outside vendors (photographers/videographers).

• Marketing.

• Miscellaneous costs – anything that does not fall within the above categories.

• Unplanned expenses – depending on the scale and complexity of your event, you may want to set aside as much as up to 20% of your budget as a buffer.

Source for the perfect venue Once you have shortlisted some event venues based on your research, you can start making appointments to visit these venues in person. Make sure to ask some important questions when you are at the site.

• Rental costs and what is included in those fees.

• The length of time you are entitled to the venue.

• Food services – is food provided or can you bring in an outside caterer?

• Find out if logistics support (sound system, projection, AV resource) is provided with the venue booking or if you have to source for your own.

Ensure your food provider is experienced in serving your guest capacity No doubt the most important factor that impacts the event’s direct success is the food served to event guests, and it may be the only thing your guests remember from it. It is crucial your caterer or facility is experienced in serving your guest capacity (Do you

know? Orange Clove has served up to 9,000 guests in one event). Determine your food menu, the timing and manner of serving. It is important to be detailed with the timing; you don’t want your guests to be hungry at any point.

Hire appropriate speakers and entertainment Many people underestimate the importance of good entertainment and speakers for an event. Choosing the right speakers and entertainment can turn your event from run-of-the-mill to exceptional. There are great hosts in Singapore you can engage such as Hossan Leong (you can enquire about his services via chope@ doubleconfirm.sg) and Chua En Lai, who is managed by FLY Entertainment (you can contact them and check out the many hosts that FLY Entertainment houses at http://fly.com.sg/).

Manage your timeline and checklist diligently When most details are tied down for your event, you can start sending invitations via traditional mail or electronically and collecting RSVPs. You can easily collect and track RSVPs online with Google Forms or opt for online service RSVPify, a premium digital RSVP service that allows you to track your guest list, collect entrée and appetiser preferences and send out email notifications to your guests.

RSVPify offers free to premium plans that you can choose from depending on your event needs. While collecting RSVPs, make sure to manage your checklist and diligently keep to the deadlines leading up to the event.

We hope this short guide will help to get you on the right track of corporate event planning. A lot of work goes into planning a corporate event, just remember to stay organised and have fun. Alternatively, if your event is too important for trial and errors, you can always engage Orange Clove, and we will be more than happy to make you the hero of your event. Check out our complete events solutions service at www.orangeclove.com.sg/corporates/service/complete-eventsolutions.

Cheers to a successful and fulfilling event!

Established in 2008, Orange Clove Catering fills the market gap for mid to high-end caterers where expectations in taste, presentation and service are met. Carving out a niche for ourselves with international menus with a creative, Asian interpretation, our offerings have expanded to serve anywhere from 10 to 10,000 guests. Besides the likes of buffets, cocktails and live stations, you can request for customisations and choose from its repertoire of thematic set-ups.

To find out more about Orange Clove, please write to us at enquiry@orangeclove.com.sg Receive $100 off your first corporate order with us.

Visit http://www.orangeclove.com.sg/HRmag/ to redeem your offer.

October 2016 « Human Resources « 25

Even amid the global economic slowdown, international exposure is a necessity – thus the rise in popularity of short-term, cost-effective mobility assignments.

Jerene Ang speaks to HR experts from Grundfos, Infineon Technologies, JLL, Oakwood, and Sanofi to find out how short-term mobility assignments can be implemented.

26 » Human Resources » October 2016

Expat Management « FEATURE

alent mobility has evolved over the years with today’s organisations increasingly using regional or global assignments to develop highpotential talent. Driven by a tighter economy, a recent white paper from Crown World Mobility highlighted that lower-cost, short-term options such as talent swaps, chair swaps and seat moves are becoming more popular among organisations seeking to develop their talent through mobility, apart from the conventional long-term assignments.

In Asia Pacific, T.J. Spencer, vice-president of sales and managing director of APAC at Oakwood Worldwide, notes there has been a continued shift towards shorter term assignments as the number of Millennial employees entering the workplace takes hold.

“Organisations are using temporary assignments and younger workers on international developmental assignments to address skills gaps and remain competitive,” she says.

“Not only do these assignments provide organisations with increased flexibility, and opportunities for employees across the October 2016 « Human Resources « 27

FEATURE » Expat Management

“Grundfos has in place short-term mobility assignments targeted at its global graduates where business needs and graduate competencies are matched for a six to eight month period.” organisation to gain international exposure, they allow organisations to become nimble in their approaches.”

She adds these assignments enable organisations to have a tighter control over relocation costs, for example, housing expenses and in-country expenses, positively impacting their bottom line and achieving business objectives.

Similarly, Gary Lee, the chief HR specialist for global talent development, group HR – organisational development at Grundfos, believes that to meet immediate business needs and increase connectivity across boundaries, there will be an increasing uptake in shorter term employee mobility assignments.

In fact, through our conversations with a number of HR leaders, Human Resources notes that many organisations have short-term assignments in place which either aim to meet business needs, to develop employees, or both – and two such organisations include Grundfos and Infineon Technologies.

CASE 1: Grundfos As a global leader in advanced pump solutions and a trendsetter in water technology, Grundfos views employee mobility as an opportunity to develop its promising employees in areas that would otherwise not have been possible in a local context.

The company currently has in place shortterm mobility assignments which are targeted at its global graduates where business needs and 28 » Human Resources » October 2016

graduate competencies are matched up before the global graduate is placed in a specific job role over a six to eight month period.

Regarding these assignments, Grundfos’ Lee says: “Giving them greater exposure to different customer demographics and market challenges can increase their competencies to take on future senior leadership roles.”

Shedding light on the business need of the policy, he reveals the need was twofold – to meet human capital demands and to develop talent for the future.

“The first need was to meet human capital demands where the business had a shortfall of the required expertise and the global graduate could fulfil it,” he says.

“The second need was to develop promising talent for the future and by providing them with short-term mobility assignments it gives them a more global perspective when they are placed in their permanent roles.”

The mobility policy, owned by the company’s group HR, was implemented in consultation with the various performance units.

Lee explains that to engage the parties involved and gain buy-in of stakeholders, the team had to work with business leaders to determine if there was a genuine need for a specific graduate expertise and get their commitment to dedicate resources and time to develop the global graduate during the assignment rather than placing them in a role that requires more paper pushing.

“Once the needs have been matched, the assigned line manager will brief the candidate on the expectations of the assignment and an introductory session will be conducted to ensure that expectations are communicated clearly between both parties,” he adds.

The key challenges Grundfos faced when implementing this programme was finding the right business need to develop the global graduates and providing an opportunity for the graduate to really contribute to the business instead of being hand-held most of the time, Lee says.

However, once the right mobility assignment is found, Lee says both the business and the global graduate will reap the benefits of the development programme.

“For the business, the graduate is able to influence the top or bottom line through projects they undertake. As for the graduate, they get a better understanding of the Grundfos

Expat Management « FEATURE work culture, which allows them to make a more informed decision where they would like to see their Grundfos career going, while being developed in the process,” he says.

In terms of measuring ROI, KPIs are established between the business and graduate before the commencement of the assignment, he says.

“Group HR plays the role of a mediator and support to ensure the goals are realistic within the stipulated timeline and are able to contribute to the business,” he says.

“For example, a global graduate could be tasked with the role of researching into the feasibility of launching existing products into new emerging markets. At the end of the assignment, the graduate is expected to deliver projected sales from each product stream based on initial business inputs.”

CASE 2: Infineon Technologies Being a global semiconductor company, employee mobility is an integral part of talent management for Infineon’s functionallydriven business in the various business group

SR_HRMag_118x182_fac.indd 1

divisions and operations clusters worldwide.

However, employee mobility has many facets and an international assignment can serve many different purposes, says Stefan Piranty, director of human resources and international assignments at Infineon Technologies.

“The question whether to send an employee from one location to another is discussed on a case-by-case basis and must always fulfil business and/or developmental needs,” he says.

“At Infineon, we define short-term assignments as three to 12 months and longterm assignments as more than 12 to usually up to 36 months.”

While the company does not see an imminent and broadly perceived business need for potentially more cost-efficient alternatives to classical assignment types, it will be implementing a more cost-effective new training assignment policy which aims to offer an attractive and fair benefits package to predominantly more junior employees going on a three to 12-month assignment with a focus on receiving training.

“After we suspended our centralised global

19/8/16 11:47 AM

October 2016 « Human Resources « 29

FEATURE » Expat Management management trainee programme during the financial crisis in 2009, new decentralised trainee programmes serving local, regional or functional needs were started with only little guidance from HQ.” Infineon, therefore, recently overhauled the structures and gave those existing – and any new programmes – a more uniformed focus and a common name and identity.

With international assignments having always been an integral part of such trainee programmes, the firm’s HR international assignments team used the opportunity to also review the terms and conditions of the trainees’ assignments – so far treated as regular shortterm assignments.

“We jumped onto the trainee programme revision project and will implement a new training assignment policy with effect from October 1, 2016,” he says.

“HQ managers in R&D and central functions may not be as concerned about the overall cost of the assignment as managers in some of the more competitive and cost-conscious operations sites in Asia.”

As the new training assignment policy is global and will predominantly be used for newly recruited graduates to become trainee programme participants, the company encountered very different perceptions of what such an international stint during a trainee programme may cost.

“For example, HQ managers in R&D and central functions were not as much concerned about the overall cost of the assignment as managers in some of our very competitive and more cost-conscious operations sites in Asia,” he says.

“The trade-off between ‘we want to get the best talent from the best universities for 30 » Human Resources » October 2016

our trainee programmes’ versus ‘cost for an assignment abroad shall be low’ is not an easy one to overcome and the new training assignment policy is definitely a compromise.”

Under the ownership of the HR international assignments team, buy-in of the project from business stakeholders was ensured through the global HR business partner organisation.

“We involved our global HR business partner colleagues early and relied on their close contacts to the managers. We also shared project results with certain smaller sounding groups and tried to consider their feedback.”

While it is still too early to tell if there is actual cost savings with the new policy, he says cost projections based on a couple of reallife scenarios have shown that cost savings of between 20% to 25% compared with a classical short-term assignment is possible.

Responsibilities to be met For any international assignment to be successful, the HR leaders noted that both home and host countries have to meet a set of responsibilities.

For example, Karina Cuello, JLL’s L&D director for APAC, points out that in her organisation, it is critical there is a clear purpose or project for the individual to be involved in.

“We look to match skills against a need in another team with the intention that the employee going on assignment has a clear set of objectives discussed in advance,” she says.

“The host manager is coached to ensure that he or she has the capacity to support the individual as required.”

Lynette Ng, head of talent management for Asia JPAC at Sanofi, adds that in the host country, the manager has to be very clear about what success looks like and the description of success has to be very clear.

“There has to be a wiring of support for the incumbent coming into that role. By support, it could mean the hardwiring side for the role itself. It might require a network of people, it could be having all the infrastructure and technology ready, all the way down to the knowledge related to that particular project – all this needs to be easily available in a timely manner,” she says.

On the other hand, the home manager has to respect that during the period of the assignment, it would be unfair or even

FEATURE » Expat Management

“Ensure a central mobility policy with a clear set of core benefits, followed by a second tier of option benefits designed to meet the needs of assignees in particular locations.” ineffective if they were to tap on the incumbent too much where it relates to their old role.

“They have to respect that for the duration of the secondment, the individual needs to be fully dedicated to the assignment,” she points out.

“Both the home as well as host managers have to continue to engage in dialogue to support the development of the individual, particularly where it relates to leadership behaviour, leadership style and the skills the individual needs to work on – less on the functional side, but more on the competencies and behaviours that would be required for a successful secondment.”

Tips on implementing and measuring ROI on short-term assignments Additionally, while speaking to Oakwood Worldwide’s Spencer, Human Resources compiled some useful tips on implementing short-term assignments as well as how the ROI of these assignments can be measured.

• Ensure a central mobility policy with a clear set of core benefits, followed by a second tier of option benefits designed to meet the needs of assignees in particular locations. This allows the mobility division to work alongside the different business units within an organisation to contain costs, comply and secure adequate housing, creating a flexible and localised policy.

• Partner with an experienced accommodation provider. Enabling 32 » Human Resources » October 2016

employees to quickly settle into their new environment is an important factor in ensuring assignment success from the outset – and getting the accommodation right can play a big factor in facilitating this.

Experienced accommodation providers have access to a broad portfolio of serviced apartment solutions – both long and short-term and across wide geographies – to provide on-the-ground support to

employees, ensure cost-containment and a comfortable, home-like environment.

• Implement regular assessments of mobility policies. This is to ensure the benefits are aligned to meet both costs and business objectives in order to achieve ongoing assignment success.

• Track international assignment costs as an indicator of the financial impact on an organisation’s bottom line. Requiring a cost-benefit analysis at the outset of a mobility assignment can help organisations create holistic improvement strategies, tailor what future mobility programmes should look like and assess whether the increasing trend of short-term assignments is proving cost-effective.

• Measure employee development against the key performance indicators set at the beginning of each assignment.

This assesses whether an employee’s international skills are being utilised upon their return and are providing a significant contribution to the company.

Spencer points out that success of short-term expatriate projects will also depend on the nature of the assignment.

“Whether it’s a short-term assignment of less than three months or an extended business trip, there is no one-size-fits-all measure. Emphasis is on ensuring employees settle into their new environment to guarantee early assignment success,” she says.

HR Tech Interactive 2016, Singapore An intense session on applying workforce analytics and five interactive sessions, each facilitated by a table moderator, were among the highlights of HR Tech Interactive 2016, Singapore, outlines Aditi Sharma Kalra.

Held on 15 September at

InterContinental Hotel, this fourth edition of the annual invitation-only HR technology event, produced by Human Resources’ Sammi Zhang, saw more than 100 HR leaders discussing the state of HR technology in Asia.

The conference was opened by Eugene Lam, regional HR director for Kimberly-Clark, who started with a demonstration on the application of workforce analytics and statistics to our talent and leadership processes.

The starting point for workforce analytics, he said, was the workforce plan.

“Nothing is more important than the business strategy for 2017. Once financial and business plans are locked in, the next step is where HR measures two implications: Do we have the right headcount to drive this growth? Do we have the capability to drive this growth?”

Following him was a panel discussion to explore what role the HR function is playing in

34 » Human Resources » October 2016

the age of digitalisation and the roadblocks we’re facing. Moderated by Susan Chen, chief HR and organisational development and compliance officer, Viva Generik, the panellists were Sapna Saxena, head of country HR, APAC, Telstra International Group; Priya Shahané, chief human resources officer, AXA; Suresh Kalpathy, entrepreneur and software evangelist, ServiceDott; and Teofilus Ponniah, HR director, regional office, and regional head, transformation, DHL Supply Chain.

Shahané made a point about the adoption rates of HR technology.

“Today if we buy a tool or an application, we think our problems are solved.

“Well they’re not – this is where you have to get started! If we really want acceptance and people to use technology, we have to standardise our processes and make tech really easy to use.”

Another valid question came from Saxena: “When we look at an organisation, whether we

lock steps with it or not, the digital revolution is happening. When you see customers interacting with virtual reality, if we do the same for the employee experience, that’s when HR can add huge value. We need to ask ourselves – how many of our HR team is digital immigrants versus digital natives?”

For Ponniah, one of the biggest pieces in technology at the moment is automation.

“The implication for us as an employer is about steadily growing robotics, but at the same time being responsible to the community and taking steps to ensure that people still have access to jobs.

“We are mindful that we have a larger responsibility to the industry and the people, who work for us, to make this sustainable.”

We then made way for the day’s first interactive session, an aspect that makes the conference unique. Throughout the day, delegates had the opportunity to break into five on-table interactive discussions, each facilitated by a moderator. The topics up for discussion were big data talent analytics; mobile HR; HR cloud; social media and collaboration; and next-generation recruitment tools.

The next session saw a keynote on the four paradoxes of organisational performance and how HR can move the needle on each one, presented

by Sarah Forbes, vice-president of Asia at PageUp. She took a stab at the future of the function.

“The scorecard of how HR is being measured will drastically change – HR will be measured on markets, finance, people and other performance criteria. Not on administrative tasks, but looking to the future around developing a proactive pipeline.”

We then went straight into another interactive session for which the table moderators included Anitha Ramakrishnan, director, talent management,

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise; Tarun Gulrajani, head of human resources, Asia Pacific, Rehau; and Neil Solanki, country manager, PageUp. Sessions were held consecutively, wherein the discussion was led by facilitators such as Anita Zuo, HR director, reward and recognition and HRIS, Electrolux; Alok Kumar, CEO cloud services, Excelity Global Solutions; and David Tan, head of HR technology and HR analytics, Mondel z International.

The post-lunch session saw two speakers in the spotlight presenting a case study on the impact of SMAC – social, mobile, analytics and cloud on the HR leader’s task list.

First up was Excelity’s Kumar. Joining him on stage was Anil Vijayan, practice director of Everest Group, where as an HR and talent services leader in the business process research programme, he assists clients on payroll, benefits, multi-process HR outsourcing and talent management.

Since they both are passionate about the SMAC phenomenon’s impact on HR, they took delegates through a case study on the theme.

We then went into another interactive session, with table conversations managed by Viva Generik’s Chen; Sandy Tsang, commercial director, AVADO; and Chris Welch, vice-president of Talentstream Technologies, CareerBuilder Singapore. The post-lunch session was ably concluded with a panel discussion on how to incorporate technology within talent frameworks

Human Resources would like to thank all sponsors and partners for the success of HR Tech Interactive 2016, Singapore: Gold sponsors: 1. CareerBuilder 2. Excelity Global Solutions 3. PageUp Silver sponsors: 1. AVADO 2. ServiceDott Exhibitor: 1. Ramco Systems such as performance management, moderated by Rehau’s Gulrajani.

Joining him were eminent panellists, Welch, Hewlett-Packard’s Ramakrishnan and Michael Wulff Pedersen, head of human resources for APAC at Sandoz.

The on-stage discussions carried well into the final interactive session of the day, which was moderated by Suzie Custerson, head of talent acquisition for Asia at Manulife, among others.

All 10 moderators then came together for the final session of the day, a rapid-fire round in which they summed up their key findings from hosting discussions on five topics across five delegate tables.

With that, the Human Resources team closed the conference.

October 2016 « Human Resources « 35

OPINION » Learning & development

Why bosses should encourage staff to bring dogs to work Not only do these four-legged friends help make the workplace happier, they also help productivity.

It seems like our furry canine friends are more

popular in the workplace than we think. According to a new survey by SKOUT, nearly half of respondents (46%) think companies should allow workers to bring their dogs to work.

The most common reason for bringing their four-legged friends to the workplace? It makes them happier and less stressed. Polling 2,244 employees in the United States, 14% of respondents said they brought their dog to work at least some of the time. That number increases to 21% for people who work in an office. About seven in 10 of those surveyed observed that dogs make staff feel happier in the workplace. This sentiment was especially strong among those who work in offices, with almost eight in 10 people saying so.

Human Resources spoke to Michael Monar, US-based president of Monar Consulting: “There is a great deal of research that demonstrates the positive health benefits of pets in the workplace, so I feel although many companies will choose not to allow pets – a significant number of smaller progressive firms will welcome pets in the office.

“I definitely see benefits, however, they definitely need to be balanced against the comfort of all employees.”

Another benefit that man’s best friend can have on the work environment is the lowering of stress levels, with 63% of all respondents and 67% of office workers saying that dogs help lower employees’ stress levels at work.

Desiree Wu, director of talent and marketing for APAC at POSSIBLE, also spoke to Human Resources. “We don’t have a pet policy, but we did have six chinchillas that made POSSIBLE their home for many years. Though, they all went to family homes this year as we commenced our office renovation.”

Other than increasing happiness and reducing stress, 43% of people surveyed also felt that dogs helped enhance productivity – this number increased to 51% among those working in offices. If the benefits above are not enough to persuade employers to let their staff bring their pups to work, 51% of respondents said being able to bring your tail-wagger to work makes your company a cool place to work.

This is especially so for staff in the Millennial generation with 58% echoing the same thought.

The best part of allowing your staff to bring their pooches to work – you get to save on more expensive perks such as ping pong or foosball tables.

When it comes to workplace perks, respondents preferred the option of bringing their dog to the workplace three times

36 » Human Resources » October 2016

Staff’s best friend: 78% of employees prefer bringing dogs to work over cats.

more than having a ping pong or a foosball table. The only downside brought up by 9% of respondents was pretending to like the boss’ dog even if they don’t.

Monar has some advice for organisations planning to welcome pets into the workplace – take all employees into consideration before doing so as some staff might be allergic to certain animals while others might be afraid of them.

Giving examples of technology clients who allow pets in the office with certain limitations – such as in terms of weight and breeds (no aggressive breeds) – and his father (a doctor) whose dog went with him to the office and on house calls to his patients, he pointed out “there is much research that indicates the therapeutic benefits to people in nursing and longterm care facilities”.

Along similar lines, Wu cautioned: “We do have pets that come in from time to time and they are a friendly and happy distraction. However, with the size of our office, if everyone bought a pet in it would be somewhat of a Doctor Dolittle menagerie and I don’t think we would cope well with that much distraction. That said patting a pet is always good for the soul.”

Global business consultant Nina Elizabeth Woodard added that the trend of pet-friendly workplaces is growing in popularity and there is considerable research that supports pets, especially dogs, as stress reducers. She told Human Resources: “It is becoming more common as employers focus on more employee engagement approaches to not only address business more squarely, but also look more holistically at life.”

Good reads to improve your business life

shelflife

Circle of the 9 Muses: A Storytelling Field Guide for Innovators and Meaning Makers Wiley David Hutchens $46.46

Pick of the month

DDI Press Matthew J. Paese, Audrey B. Smith, William C. Byham $33.21 “The CEO grimaced and kneaded his forehead as he and his senior team pored over the profiles of the organisation’s highestpotential leaders. Soon they would have no choice, but to push less-experienced leaders into broader, more formidable assignments.”

Sounds familiar? This is not a book about how to lead. It’s a book about how to grow great leaders from the start, explain the authors of Leaders Ready Now. If your organisation’s future is in danger because of a lack of leadership and you’ve concluded that you must aggressively address the problem, then this book is going to be extremely valuable to you.

From the authors of Grow your Own Leaders, this book is conveniently divided into 12 chapters that provide bold steps to prepare your leaders for bigger challenges –

more quickly and more continuously – to lead in the competitive and chaotic world we know as the new normal.

It is packed with practical insights that HR and line leaders can use starting tomorrow, such as a sample business and talent review calendar, a sample individual assessment report portal, and tactics for rethinking how feedback is provided.

If you are prepared to grow boldly, then this book, authored by the senior team of DDI, a leading global HR consultancy, is the right step for you.

Bookmark this!

The most effective leadership training for middle managers is cohort-based (in groups) to maximise networking and create a sharing environment.

Typical programmes may be one or two days per quarter or a week-long residential programme that focuses on common leadership competencies needed at that level. Alternatively, the focus may be on competencies that relate to a major organisation initiative, such as innovation, making change happen or building employee engagement – page 185.

Bookmark this!

Creative tension is enabled every time a leader articulates two states: where we are today (our current reality) and where we want to be (our desired future state). When you articulate these two states, you create a tension that generates movement and change. We are here. We should be there.

Fritz depicts the dynamic with a memorable metaphor. Imagine a rubber band stretched between your hands. One side is current reality and the other is the desired future state – page 209

October 2016 « Human Resources « 37

Photography: Fauzie Rasid

Leaders Ready Now: Accelerating Growth in a Faster World

Concrete and actionable guidance for understanding and mastering the most effective storytelling techniques is what you’ll get from Circle of the 9 Muses.

The book offers any leader a guide for finding, telling and drawing value from their organisation’s unique stories; presenting contributions from the world’s most influential story consultants and knowledge workers.

The book is written in a unique way that doesn’t require you to read it in order from front to back – instead, readers can pick a tool, chapter or process that looks most interesting to you, from which you will find links to multiple other tools and forge your own unique path through the pages.

CAREERS » Personal development

uptheranks Tracking HR’s industry moves Who: Wee Kiat Lau From: Senior analyst, global campus and early talent, talent strategy and engagement, Accenture Malaysia To: HR business partner, Mondel z International d With effect from August, Wee Kiat Lau was appointed by Mondel z International to the role of HR business partner for commercial from his previous role as senior analyst, global campus and early talent, talent strategy and engagement at Accenture.

Based in Malaysia, in this new role, his responsibilities include organisation development, talent development and succession planning, training and development, performance management, organisation changes, and employee relations and engagement.

On his new role, he told Human Resources: “One of the main focuses for the year is to continue building people capability and talent development within Mondel z International.”

“My responsibilities are mainly driven by the approach on building people’s knowledge and skills for respective functions, redefining and refining the career experience in the new organisational framework and talent succession planning across the structure.”

personalgrowth THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE IMPLEMENTING A PET-FRIENDLY POLICY There are benefits of having pets at work, so you might be tempted to implement a pet-friendly policy at your organisation immediately. However, before doing so, there are some things that should be considered, writes Jerene Ang.

In today’s situation of a talent shortage, the fact Millennial employees are placing everything from their hobbies to music and pets in front of their jobs in terms of what makes them happy can be a tad worrying for organisations looking to retain their top talent for as long as possible.

However, there is a way to make these employees happier at work – and that’s to allow them to bring their pets into the office.

A recent survey by SKOUT revealed that 78% of those polled observed that allowing employees to bring their canine friends into the office can increase their happiness and productivity (51%) as well as decrease stress levels (67%).

Additionally, a separate survey by Banfield pointed out that 53% of employees were more likely to remain loyal to their company if it was pet-friendly.

With these benefits of having pets at work, you might be tempted to implement a pet-friendly policy at your organisation immediately. However, before doing so, there are some things that should be considered.

As with the implementation of all policies, when thinking of putting

38 » Human Resources » October 2016

Who: R. Chandra RC From: Human resources and security manager, Teleplan International To: HRBP manager, Flex d Based in Penang, R. Chandra RC has joined electrical solutions firm Flex as the HRBP manager.

He is responsible for providing business partnering to business/site management teams on all people issues, as well as owning HR functional responsibility.

In this role, he will also look to partner with local management teams, implement new global practices that help to resolve strategic business issues, promote a performance-led organisation and embed values.

He told Human Resources: “As the site HRBP manager for two plants, my most important task is to standardise HR practices and synergise the HR team.”

Who: Ashvine Hari Krishnan From: Senior HR executive, organisational development, Dutch Lady Milk Industries To: Senior talent management executive, Philip Morris International d Tobacco firm Philip Morris International has chosen Ashvine Hari Krishnan for the role of senior talent management executive.

She relocates to Kuala Lumpur from her previous role as senior HR executive for organisational development at Dutch Lady Milk Industries in Petaling Jaya – where her most recent project was around change management on a global values programme. Her prior experience includes tenures at NorthgateArinso Employer Services, HSBC Private Bank, and Serantau Asia Pacific. She told Human Resources: “I am very passionate about culture, engagement and values.”

in place a pet-friendly policy, one must take all employees into consideration – as Michael Monar, US-based president of Monar Consulting, pointed out, some staff might be allergic to certain animals while others might be afraid of them.

Furthermore, in a multi-racial, multireligious country such as Singapore, it is important to ensure the bringing of pets into the workplace isn’t in conflict with employees’ religious beliefs.

For example, a majority of Muslims believe the saliva of a dog is impure and a dog’s fur is unclean, hence, they prefer to avoid contact with dogs.

With some employees being unable to be in contact with certain pets for various reasons, is it still possible to implement a pet-friendly policy to reap its benefits?

One of the ways HR leaders can work around this is to have various designated areas for employees to leave their pets during the workday.

This way, pet lovers won’t be far from their pets and those who wish to avoid them can do so easily.

SENIOR APPOINTMENTS

October 2016 « Human Resources « 39

LAST WORD

Aditi Sharma Kalra discovers the secrets of HR professionals who pack in work, rest and play – all in one day.

40 » Human Resources » October 2016

Fifty-two – no, that’s not the new

answer to life, the universe, and everything; that remains 42 just as Douglas Adams wants it to be. 52 is the number of minutes we all spend procrastinating during work hours each day.

And don’t tell my MD, but I reckon this is the one metric where I’m performing above the average.

Here at the Human Resources office, we enter the busiest time of the year, with four award shows, three conferences, and two special editions all being produced by a super busy team.

But when it comes to making the most of our 24 hours, some of the HR leaders we speak to seem to have it all admirably sorted. Commute and calendar, they tell me. Make the most of your travel time, while living your life by the calendar. So I spoke to three HR pros for the secrets to their stamina.

Kabir Julka, vice-president of HR for Asia at American Express International, starts his work days by spending the morning with his eight-year-old son and one-month-old daughter. “Hearing my son’s stories gives me an adrenaline rush and a reason to look at the brighter side of life,” he says.

“For my commute to work, I leverage the super efficient public transport system in Hong Kong, which gives me sufficient time to check my emails and plan my day. Once at work, the day passes quickly attending meetings and conference calls, but I ensure I take a lunch or coffee break and spend time with my team,” he says. Taking time out for lunch is important, he explains, as it gives him an opportunity to engage and bond with the team.

He tries to wrap up his day around 6pm and keeps his evenings free between 7-9pm to spend time with his family before the kids go to bed.

“On most days of the week, I have conference calls with the US or UK that end up going until midnight. These are challenges of working in an ever connected global world, but I try and maximise every moment of my day and get some work-life balance.” Weekends for him is family time and hitting the gym, while intermittently checking emails for urgent stuff, he says.

Another HR expert who gets her inspiration through the daily commute is Ivy Lau, director of HR at Amara Hotels & Resorts – “by watching people from all walks of life and being able to visualise how

“I live and die by my calendar – everything from dinner with friends, calls, meetings and even blocking off time for ‘thinking’ sits on my calendar.”

I can make a positive change to each and everyone of them through the work that I do.”

For her, travel time is spent reflecting: “To be able to identify potential and nurturing that into an asset for an organisation is in itself a reward.”

She likens the managing of human capital to managing a portfolio of investments, but instead of stocks or commodities, it’s investing into the potential of staff, nurturing and developing someone to achieve their personal life’s goal.

“When I look at people go by every morning, I cannot help, but love my job,” she shares candidly.

In spite of all this advice, Neema Mehta, talent and L&D director for Asia Pacific at Amcor, sums up quite nicely how many of us feel: “Time management is a skill that feels ephemeral. One day you are managing your calls, meetings, work, family and friends and seemingly the next day it can all fall apart without notice.”

Two key tips she finds incredibly helpful is to review her weekly notes every Friday to make sure she hasn’t missed anything, and create her to-do list for Monday morning. “So Monday morning, I am ready to start the week with a clear list of objectives and priorities,” she says.

Finally, Mehta adds: “I live and die by my calendar – everything from dinner with friends, calls, meetings and even blocking off time for ‘thinking’ sits on my calendar.”

With those tricks in the bag, I wish you a productive month! aditis@humanresourcesonline.net

Photography: Elliot Lee, Nikon Ambassador (Singapore) – www.elliotly.com; Makeup & Hair: Michmakeover using Make Up For Ever & hair using Sebastian Professional – www.michmakeover.com

Productivity secrets of successful HR leaders