Human Resources Director Singapore 2.01 by Key Media

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

HOT LIST

HRDMAG.COM.SG ISSUE 2.1

THE WHO’S WHO OF HR IN SINGAPORE

FROM LOCAL TO REGIONAL Shifting your HR career to the next level

HRDSing2.1_Cover+spine_SUBBED.indd 2

TURNING HIPOS INTO LEADERS How to fast-track potential in your organisation

HR AT MASTERCARD Mike McCarthy’s SMART tips for change management

14/03/2016 6:50:07 AM

IFC.indd 1

10/03/2016 1:35:55 PM

EDITORIAL www.hrdmag.com.sg SPRING 2016 EDITORIAL

SALES & MARKETING

Editor Iain Hopkins

Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Narroway

Journalists Ben Abbott Miklos Bolza Production Editors Roslyn Meredith Moira Daniels

Business Development Manager James Francis

CORPORATE

ART & PRODUCTION

Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley

Design Manager Daniel Williams

Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley

Designer Marla Morelos Traffic Coordinator Lou Gonzales

Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au

SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES tel: +61 2 8011 4992 • fax: +61 2 8437 4753 subscriptions@keymedia.com.au

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES james.francis@keymedia.com.au

Key Media Regional head office, Level 10, 1–9 Chandos St, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia tel: +61 2 8437 4700 • fax: +61 2 9439 4599 www.keymedia.com Offices in Sydney, Auckland, Denver, Toronto, Manila

Human Resources Director is part of an international family of B2B publications and websites for the human resources industry HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR AUSTRALIA iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au T +61 2 8437 4703 HC AUSTRALIA ONLINE hcamag.com HRD MAGAZINE CANADA hrmonline.ca HRM NEW ZEALAND hrmonline.co.nz Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as HRD Magazine can accept no responsibility for loss

01_Editorial_SUBBED.indd 1

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE I’VE SPOKEN to one seasoned HR veteran and read one report this month, and both said essentially the same thing: the days of the ‘career HR professional’ – that is, someone who has spent their entire career in the HR function – are coming to an end. According to a recent report by Aon Hewitt, over half of surveyed CHROs are not career HR professionals. Of these, approximately one third had no background in HR prior to assuming their current CHRO positions. Clearly, variety is the spice of life. But there’s more at stake here than just career diversity. The future viability of the profession might also be on the line. The HR veteran I interviewed suggested that until HR professionals spent time in other parts of the business, they would not be respected. “They call themselves ‘business partners’, but they’re the only ones calling themselves that. Everyone else in the business calls them

New roles within HR may also be forcing the hand of aspiring HR professionals and those who lead the function HR business partners – and there is a difference,” she said. It’s also interesting to note that new roles within HR may also be forcing the hand of aspiring HR professionals and those who lead the function. Increasingly, those undertaking the roles of, for example, HR data analysts, have no background in HR but are instead being drawn from IT and science backgrounds. The HR veteran summed up the problem: “What has always been called into question for HR has been their STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths] capabilities, or the lack thereof. It’s acting like a ball and chain around the profession as they are unable to apply advanced business intelligence to the HR function.” It’s a generalisation to be sure, but certainly a thought-provoking one. Who knows where the next generation of HR leaders – and indeed, HR professionals – will come from? The advice to aspiring CHROs is clear: don’t stop thinking about tomorrow – and grow your business acumen. It seems certain that those with diverse business backgrounds will excel. Iain Hopkins, editor

www.hrdmag.com.sg

10/03/2016 1:37:09 PM

SPRING 2016

CONNECT WITH US Got a story, suggestion or just want to find out some more information? HRDMagSG

CONTENTS

HOT LIST 20 THE WAR ON CASH

UPFRONT 01 Editorial

Are the days of ‘career HR professionals’ numbered?

04 Head to head

Do you believe it’s time to refresh performance reviews?

06 Statistics FEATURES

FAST-TRACKING POTENTIAL

Fast-tracking high-potentials into positions of leadership requires a unique mix of ‘art’ and ‘science’

It’s now time to brace for a new generation in the workforce: Gen Z

08 News analysis

The foreign labour dilemma

10 Legal update

MOM’s WSH violation crackdown

12 Technology update

Tactics to combat Singapore’s STEM labour shortage

14 Opinion

HOT LIST 2016

PEOPLE

HRDSingapore

COVER STORY

Who has made the grade in HRD’s inaugural who’s who list? Who is blazing the trail for others to follow? Our 2016 Hot List reveals all

+HrdmagSg

FEATURES

ANYONE, ANYWHERE

Thanks to globalisation, executive talent can be found locally and globally

A recent court ruling has found that employers can claim against former employees for loss of future profits. Julia Yeo outlines the repercussions

PEOPLE 54 Asking the right questions: HR at Cisco Lim Hwa Choo reveals why HR data and analytics is so critical at her award-winning firm

Miklos Bolza talks to MasterCard’s group head of HR for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Mike McCarthy

FEATURES

FROM LOCAL TO REGIONAL

Taking on a regional HR role is not without its challenges. Peter Szilagyi provides a guide to doing it right

HRDMAG.COM.SG CHECK IT OUT ONLINE

www.hrdmag.com.sg

02-03_Contents_SUBBED.indd 2

10/03/2016 1:23:39 PM

02-03_Contents_SUBBED.indd 3

10/03/2016 1:23:34 PM

PEOPLE

HEAD TO HEAD

GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email hrd_editor@keymedia.com.au

Do you believe it’s time to refresh performance reviews?

Anika Grant

Seah Gek Choo

Managing director for HR, ASEAN and Asia Pacific Accenture Accenture’s shift from annual performance reviews to a new performance achievement approach is fundamentally about helping our people reach their highest potential. This approach will drive real-time, forward-looking conversations for our people, which we believe will have the power to unlock their potential. Accenture is shifting away from performance appraisals and forced rankings in order to focus on the achievements and talents of each employee. This new performance achievement approach enables our people to engage actively with their teams through digital tools, and have meaningful conversations with their leaders through ongoing feedback and coaching. Moreover, they will be able to leverage opportunities that align with their professional strengths and passions, and take proactive steps to grow their careers at any time.

Talent partner Deloitte Singapore

We surveyed 3,300 business and HR leaders for Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2015 report, and 90% of them do not believe performance management is a good use of their time. A desire for change is evident and 89% of survey respondents said they have changed or are planning to change their performance management systems. At Deloitte, a global pilot initiative is underway to replace the formal annual performance assessment process with a more informal, flexible assessment through frequent conversations and provision of immediate feedback. We believe the thinking and innovation behind these changes are essential to reverse the dismal perception of performance management and transform it into the driver of business results. Our approach to reinvent performance management comprises three key takeaways: drive performance at the local/team level, focus on the work, and make it an ongoing process.

Michelle Ridsdale Head of culture Readify

The concept of no performance reviews is a bit of a furphy. People want timely, regular feedback – that’s the consensus, so that’s what we’ve implemented. We do use a system to manage the process, but we’ve removed the end-of-year ratings and we don’t do number ratings. Our philosophy is, if you’re employing the top 5% of your candidates then they all should be performing at that high level. We tend to manage things early and quickly rather than waiting for an annual performance review. When I arrived at Readify, people felt they weren’t progressing in their career because they didn’t have enough direction. We implemented a set of skills and behaviours to engage them in the process. What we have now is a ‘quarterly retro’: a retrospective. The idea is people have very regular feedback loops. They can look at what’s working, what’s not. They set quarterly goals for themselves so they’re actually looking at areas they can improve in.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that only 3% of employers had fully eliminated performance reviews. Yet despite 72% of respondents saying their firms conducted annual performance appraisals, only 2% of HR professionals believed their company deserved an A rating with regard to how well they managed performance.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

04-05_HeadtoHead_SUBBED.indd 4

10/03/2016 1:38:05 PM

www.hrdmag.com.sg

04-05_HeadtoHead_SUBBED.indd 5

10/03/2016 1:38:07 PM

UPFRONT

STATISTICS

ENTER GEN Z Just as employers are coming to grips with millennials, a new wave of employees is about to enter the workforce. What do you need to know about Gen Z? BORN BETWEEN 1994 and 2010, by 2020 Generation Z will make up more than 20% of the total workforce. According to Randstad’s Workmonitor report, 2015, only half (53%) of all employees in Singapore believe their organisation is well prepared to meet the demands of Gen Z. Their workplace reality will be different than any previous generation. The 2015 Future Leaders Index report from Co-Op, in partnership with BDO, notes that these workers will enter a job market that is

74%

Percentage of Gen Z’ers who say face-to-face contact is their preferred way to communicate at work

45%

Percentage of Gen Z’ers who cite personal challenges of working with baby boomers

continuously being shaped by global working practices. Flexible-working, contract-based assignments and global outsourcing will be the norm for this generation of workers. They will also face higher unemployment at the start of their careers than other recent generations – the report suggests that 67% of Gen Z’ers are already concerned about their career prospects in the current economic climate. So, how can employers start tapping into the potential of these future business leaders?

71%

Percentage of bachelor’s degree graduates who are employed full-time within four months after completing their degree

67%

Percentage of Gen Z’ers who are concerned about getting a career-related job in the current economic environment

WHY SHOULD EMPLOYERS BE INTERESTED IN GEN Z? 1. THEY ARE DIGITAL NATIVES Gen Z is the first generation of people who, as teenagers, did not experience a world with slow or stationary internet access. They are used to interacting online with others, and consume and share content with ease. They easily adapt to new technologies and implement them into their work practices. Companies can leverage this proficiency.

2. THEY ARE PRAGMATIC Having grown up during the War on Terror and the economic crisis, Gen Z is targetoriented. They plan their careers and seek job security early on. Starting the long path of university education might be less attractive; alternatively, early internships and apprenticeships are an option for them.

Sources: Robert Half survey, Grad Stats 2014, Co-Op 2015 Future Leaders Index

WHERE DO THEY WANT TO WORK?

LIKES AND DISLIKES

When asked where they wanted to work, Gen Z (and for that matter, Gen Y) responded:

LIKES

Medium-sized companies of 100 to 1,000 employees

17% Would rather start their own business and employ others, compared to 11% of Gen Y. The reason for this entrepreneurial spirit is the amount of information, and number of people, they are able to access at a younger age Globally, while Gen Y’ers expect to work for five companies in their lifetime, Gen Z’ers expect to work for fewer than four Source: Randstad Gen Z and Gen Y Workplace Expectations Study

 Freedom to express entrepreneurial traits  Online and social collaboration  Lots of rewards – they are used to rewards for small accomplishments  On-the-job professional development  Instant access to the information they need  Small, highly defined work groups that have a strong peer leader  Managers who teach while leading

DISLIKES  Being grouped with Gen Y  Being left on the sidelines – they want to be involved in senior meetings  Dishonest leaders Source: Randstad Gen Z and Gen Y Workplace Expectations Study

www.hrdmag.com.sg

06-07_The Data_SUBBED.indd 6

10/03/2016 1:24:09 PM

3. THEY ARE LOOKING AT EMPLOYERS RIGHT NOW Members of Gen Z are on the brink of deciding where their careers are headed. With knowledge of what is attractive to them right now, employers can be part of the decision process (for example, convincing more people to choose STEM subjects) and position themselves on Gen Z’s desired employer list before they even enter the job market.

4. THEY ARE DIVERSE AND GLOBAL Gen Z is believed to be the first truly diverse and global generation. Traditional gender segregation in jobs does not apply to them as strongly as for previous generations, and they are the first generation able to communicate and find friends globally. This has major repercussions for employers lagging on diversity and inclusion issues, and also the technology they offer to workers.

Source: Universum, Gen Z: A Look at the Next Generation of Talent

WHICH CAREER GOALS ARE MOST IMPORTANT?

THE TRAINING DEFICIT

Much like Gen Y’ers, Gen Z’ers put a high priority on work-life balance and creative, fulfilling work. However, they are more interested in autonomy and leadership than the previous generation.

Gen Z’ers are keen to learn more on-the-job skills during their studies in order to be more desirable candidates for potential employers.

40%

To have work-life balance

40%

To be secure or stable in my job To be autonomous or independent

54%

84% believe there needs to be much more workplace training for students today

44%

32%

22%

31% 30%

To be a leader or manager of people To be dedicated to a cause or to feel that I am serving a greater good To be entrepreneurial or creative/innovative

27% 27% 26%

To have an international career To be competitively or intellectually challenged

82% believe businesses need to take a much more active role in training students to be ready for the workforce

35% 31%

30%

19%

32%

17% 16%

To be a technical or functional expert 0%

10%

20%

30% Gen Z

40%

50%

60%

Gen Y Source: Universum, Gen Z: A Look at the Next Generation of Talent

64% believe universities are not sufficiently equipping students with practical skills to help fulfil workplace needs Source: Co-Op 2015 Future Leaders Index

www.hrdmag.com.sg

06-07_The Data_SUBBED.indd 7

10/03/2016 1:24:12 PM

UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

THE FOREIGN LABOUR DILEMMA The number of foreign workers in Singapore has been a contentious issue in recent times. Miklos Bolza examines how the government has adapted its foreign labour policies to the changing calls of the public and business THROUGHOUT SINGAPORE’S history, a steady influx of foreign labour has helped the city-state grow and prosper, making it one of the world’s greatest economic success stories. However, recent times have seen a backlash against the government’s ‘open door’ policies for foreigners, with locals complaining about changing socio-economic conditions and infrastructure struggling to cope with a rapidly expanding population. According to the latest figures from the Department of Statistics, there were 1.63 million non-residents in Singapore in July 2015. With a total population of 5.54 million, around three in 10 people were neither citizens nor permanent residents at the time.

“To maintain the ratio of two to one, we have to slow down the intake of foreign manpower. Therefore the total workforce growth will slow down from 3% to 1%,” Lim said when explaining the ramifications of the new employment law changes. This new aim led to the Ministry cracking down on what it called “double weak” firms – businesses with a weak Singaporean core which showed poor commitment to hiring and developing local workers.

New employment regulations The PAP set about tightening the inflow of foreign workers through a variety of means. As well as recalibrating the system of worker quotas and levies already imposed on local

firms (see table, p9), the government made adjustments to the Fair Consideration Framework. In July 2015, it introduced the following measures: • All vacant positions are to be advertised on the Jobs Bank for two weeks. Ads should disclose the full salary range for those positions. • Firms with a weak Singaporean core are to provide additional information to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) when applying for employment passes for staff. • MOM will place more scrutiny on Employment and S Pass applications in general, ensuring they fall within all TAFEP guidelines. MOM also introduced other measures such as increased minimum salary requirements for foreign workers sponsoring dependants. This ensured incoming workers would be able to support their partners and children, while simultaneously placing added restrictions on those with trailing spouses who wished to work in Singapore.

A tale of mixed success Once the latest labour figures were released, the government praised its new regulations, saying they had successfully stemmed the influx. Statistics released by MOM in January 2016 showed the growth rate for non-resident workers had decreased from 11% per annum in 2006–2010 to 4.8% per annum in 2010–2015. As of December 2015, locals made up 66.2% of all persons employed in Singapore, meaning the target of a two-thirds Singaporean core had been reached overall.

A change of tack Growing discontent prompted the People’s Action Party (PAP) to introduce a series of tighter regulations for foreign workers. The main target was “strengthening the Singaporean core” to improve the skills of local staff and reduce business reliance on employees from abroad. In August 2015, Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say set the government’s objective to reach a ratio of one foreigner for every two locals.

FOREIGN WORKER NUMBERS IN SINGAPORE Dec 2010

Dec 2011

Dec 2012

Dec 2013

Dec 2014

Jun 2015

Employment Pass (EP)

Pass type

143,300

175,400

173,800

175,100

178,900

180,800

S Pass

98,700

113,900

142,400

160,900

170,100

173,800

Work permit

865,200

901,000

942,800

974,400

991,300

993,900

Other work passes Total foreign workforce

6,000

7,600

9,300

11,300

15,400

19,700

1,113,200

1,197,900

1,268,300

1,321,600

1,355,700

1,368,200 Source: Ministry of Manpower

www.hrdmag.com.sg

08-09_NewsAnalysis_SUBBED.indd 8

10/03/2016 1:38:58 PM

However, the tighter labour conditions ultimately placed increasing pressure on both multinational organisations and smaller firms which struggle to fill open vacancies for low-paying and highpaying roles. This prompted calls to relax regulations or at least provide support to businesses in tough times. “We are being squeezed at both ends of the labour market. At the lower end of the skills spectrum, Singaporeans shun jobs in certain industries. At the higher end, our workers lack the expertise required in highly specialised areas,” the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) said in a statement. To fill these gaps, the SBF recommended the introduction of foreign worker policies specific to certain industries in which locals were yet to build up the necessary skills. “This is while our locals skill up and/or the respective industries work to make the jobs more attractive through various means.” The foreign worker levy has also been criticised. Some business owners have likened it to a tax, saying it hinders productivity and growth by consuming money that could be better used on technology or training. This effect is often compounded over the long term. With

businesses setting budgets well in advance, the allocation of money to foreign worker levies means firms are often left with less money to spend on other critical areas such as recruitment and talent development.

In January, Teo promoted increased use of the Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme – a government initiative that allows firms to temporarily increase their foreign worker numbers to boost

“To maintain the ratio of two to one, we have to slow down the intake of foreign manpower. Therefore the total workforce growth will slow down from 3% to 1%” Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say At the negotiating table The PAP seems to be listening during these difficult times, and has made several recent announcements for possible amendments to foreign worker regulations in the future. In October 2015, MOM promised to investigate how levies affected the cost of business operations. “We’ll have to look into it to see what kinds of things we can do,” said Teo Ser Luck, the Minister of State for Manpower. A decision on proposed levy increases is due on 24 March in Singapore’s Budget 2016.

productivity through automation and computerisation. To accompany this, the Workforce Development Agency brought in nine ‘LED multipliers’ to help businesses utilise their foreign workforces in order to meet the government’s plans for a stronger Singaporean core. Whether these initiatives achieve the desired balance will depend on the level of support the government can provide, as well as the take-up rate from local businesses.

MONTHLY FOREIGN WORKER LEVY OVER TIME Sector Construction

Tier Basic tier MYE waiver^

Services

Marine Process Manufacturing

Basic tier Tier 2 Tier 3 Basic tier Basic tier MYE waiver Basic tier Tier 2 Tier 3

Sector dependency ratio (DR)* ≤87.5% ≤10% 10–25% 25–40% ≤83.3% ≤87.5% ≤25% 25–50% 50–60%

Levy rates ($) (R1/R2)** 1 July 2014

Levy rates ($) (R1/R2) 1 July 2015

Levy rates ($) (R1/R2) 1 July 2016

300/550

300/650

700/950

600/950

300/420 400/550 600/700 300/400 300/450 600/750 250/370 350/470 550/650

300/450 400/600 600/800 350/500 300/500 600/800 250/370 350/470 550/650 *Amount of foreign workers permitted in workforce. **R1 refers to skilled workers; R2 to unskilled workers.

^Man Year Entitlement. This applies to employees from China, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Philippines with at least two years’ experience. These employees are not included in the man years allocated by the Ministry of Manpower.

Source: Ministry of Finance

www.hrdmag.com.sg

08-09_NewsAnalysis_SUBBED.indd 9

10/03/2016 1:39:13 PM

UPFRONT

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS MOM provides Employment Claims Tribunal details

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has detailed the key features of the proposed Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT). The tribunal was initially announced in 2014 as a means of resolving salary-related claims for professionals, managers and executives earning more than $4,500 per month and who are not covered by the Employment Act (EA) as a result. However, certain types of workers not covered by the EA will not be able to file claims with the ECT. These include public servants, domestic workers and seafarers. MOM has invited the public to give feedback on the proposed ECT.

Itemised payslips and KETs mandatory from April

New employment law changes proposed last year by the government will come into effect on 1 April. Businesses will need to provide staff with monthly itemised payslips containing payment details such as basic salary, allowances paid, deductions made and overtime. Employers will also need to supply staff with Key Employment Terms (KETs) detailing their responsibilities. These can be provided through employee handbooks or on the company intranet. Those who fail to supply these itemised payslips or KETs will be fined between $100 and $200 per employee per occurrence.

Ex-NTUC chairman sentenced after decades-long trial

Phey Yew Kok, former chairman of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), was sentenced to 60 months in jail after pleading guilty to 10 counts of criminal breach of trust, one count of abetting the fabrication of false evidence provided to a public servant, and one count of failing to attend court.

It is alleged Phey misused union funds, amounting to a total of $450,000 over a period of six years. He was first charged in December 1979 and fled the country to Kuala Lumpur the day after.

Extra protections sought for retrenched PMEs

Singapore’s businesses have been called upon to offer more protection and added benefits to retrenched professionals, managers and executives (PMEs). While there are some protections in place – such as the Code of Good Industrial Relations Practice (2004) and the TAFEP Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower – some firms may not go far enough. MOM has called upon companies to seek alternatives to redundancies, including upskilling workers to take up other positions, redeploying staff within the business, and implementing shorter work weeks or temporary layoffs.

New work injury compensation changes come into effect

Amendments to the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) increasing the compensation limits for death and incapacity by around 20% came into effect on 1 January. Compensation limits for death now fall between $69,000 and $204,000, while the limits for permanent incapacity fall between $88,000 and $262,000. The Ministry of Manpower has also raised the maximum amount of medical expenses claimable to $36,000, or one year’s expenses from the accident date (whichever figure is reached first). Employers will have to provide work injury compensation insurance for all non-manual workers earning under $1,600 per month and manual workers on all salaries. Companies that fail to provide the proper cover can receive a fine of up to $10,000 and/or a jail sentence of up to 12 months.

SPATE OF ACCIDENTS SPURS WSH CRACKDOWN A number of serious safety and health lapses have prompted a new drive by the Ministry of Manpower aimed at dramatically reducing workplace injuries and fatalities After a number of fatal accidents across Singapore, the Ministry of Manpower has stepped forward in a concerted effort to make workplaces safer. In December, the ministry increased its enforcement efforts to seek out Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) violations through Operation Cormorant. This crackdown eventually uncovered over 1,000 safety breaches and resulted in 13 stop-work orders. Violations included neglecting to provide safe access, erect safety barriers and secure work areas. “MOM takes a very tough stance against Workplace Safety and Health violations. We will take stern action against errant employers and employees who disregard workplace safety and health,” a ministry spokesperson said. These inspections have been accompanied by increased action in the courts, and three companies have so far been charged with WSH violations in 2016. In January, engineering company Cutech Marine Services was fined $125,000 over an incident in May 2012 in which one of its divers drowned. Lapses included failure to supply a replacement buddy diver, two-way communication devices and an adequate diving suit. A waste management firm was fined $135,000 in February for WSH violations which caused an explosion that injured three people in November 2013. As well as failing to carry out proper risk assessment, the firm also

www.hrdmag.com.sg

10-11_Upfront-Legal_SUBBED.indd 10

10/03/2016 1:39:46 PM

neglected to install flammable gas detectors in the appropriate areas. Also in February, a construction company, Sheetpile Vibro Engineering, was fined $170,000 for an incident in 2014 in which 7,000kg of metal beams fell on top of a worker, trapping and killing him. It was found that the company had failed to establish a safe worksite or conduct proper risk assessment procedures. Despite these moves by MOM and the courts, workplace incidents continue to occur. The most recent example at time of printing involved a worker being killed after a floor crane fell and pulled him over the edge of a building.

“As employers, you are responsible for your employees’ lives at work. It is both a legal and moral obligation that you provide a safe and healthy work environment for your employees” The government has urged businesses to take action and create workplaces that are accident-free. “Most of us would agree that the best way to reduce injuries is to prevent accidents from happening,” said Minister of State for Manpower Teo Ser Luck at the bizSAFE Convention 2016. “In order to do so, we must first believe that all injuries and ill health at work are preventable and zero harm is possible. “As employers, you are responsible for your employees’ lives at work. It is both a legal and moral obligation that you provide a safe and healthy work environment for your employees,” he added. The Ministry has also warned that firms found guilty of violating the WSH Act could receive a maximum fine of $500,000.

Q&A

Julia Yeo Legal director CLYDE & CO

Fast fact One of the largest work permit scams ever investigated by MOM was uncovered in February. The individual was charged with 32 counts of false declarations in work pass applications and one count of acting as an unlicensed employment agency. She was sentenced to 16 months in jail.

YOUR 2016 EMPLOYMENT LAW AGENDA What will be the number one employment law issue in 2016? Employee engagement will be, in my view, the number one employment law issue in 2016. With the millennials becoming a reckonable segment of the active workforce, companies will need to understand how to manage their work style and aspirations. Employee engagement is most definitely a legal issue as opposed to purely HR since it has much to do with managing employees within the legal boundaries. For example, can an employer legally monitor an employee during work hours, look into his or her email communications, or review an employee’s suitability for promotion based on their social media persona? Is our traditional notion of the type of acts/behaviour that may breach the implied duty of good faith, trust and confidence out of sync with modern norms? The legal framework is expanding to grant more employee protection. Employees are more aware and willing to enforce their rights and entitlements. It is therefore more likely that employee engagement will inch towards the legal arena (rather than what constitutes good workplace practices, effective workforce management, etc). HR needs to better understand the legal and contractual perimeters of an employment relationship. What else will be on the agenda for 2016? Employees’ rights and entitlements (as opposed to their duties and obligations) may receive greater focus as the workforce becomes more vocal in their demands and expectations. There is a discernible shift in Singapore towards more employee protection – the setting of the Employment Claim Tribunal, and the recent issuance of the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment, to name a few examples. When handling these legal issues, HR should take care to protect the employee’s right to a safe work environment – which is not just about a physically safe, accident-free workplace but also safety in terms of freedom from harassment (sexual or otherwise). HR should also safeguard an employee’s right to fair and equal opportunities, which is an issue of discrimination of age, gender, sexual orientation. Unfair workplace practices and greater concern over ‘Singaporean First’ in terms of promoting local talent and stamping out bias towards the foreign workforce are all coming to the forefront. How should employers prepare for any future legal changes? Employers should ensure that established, clear and better defined HR policies are high on their priority list. These should be regularly reviewed and updated for compliance with the employment local laws and regulations. HR should also invest in training for managers/supervisors to handle workplace issues as well as subordinates more effectively, plus motivate staff performance through workplace culture beyond the traditional monetary route. This training should help managers understand what may be contractually or legally required as well as what conduct is legally permissible.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

10-11_Upfront-Legal_SUBBED.indd 11

10/03/2016 1:39:52 PM

UPFRONT

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

TECH TACTICS COMBAT SINGAPORE LABOUR SHORTAGE With shrinking talent pools and a nationwide shift away from foreign workers, more firms are now looking to technology to boost productivity instead

When discussing how Singapore firms could secure their economic future, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quite direct: “The only thing you can do is productivity. Work smarter, work better and deliver results, and improve our lives.” In order to enhance productivity, the PM stressed the need for better technology in businesses – tech that is tailored by HR to the company’s individual requirements. A number of businesses have heeded this

NEWS BRIEFS

call, implementing innovative, high-tech tactics to boost productivity without the need for hiring additional staff. DBS Bank has led the charge through the introduction of the DBS Wealth Advisor – a form of artificial intelligence supported by IBM’s Watson that provides contextualised, customised wealth advice to high net worth clients. “DBS is focused on making sure staff embrace innovation to stay ahead of the curve as the

Human rights court rules HR can view staff emails The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that employers can monitor work emails and messages sent by staff. It is not “unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that the employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours”, the court said. Employers in Singapore are in a similar situation, with few laws restricting this kind of action. Staff can be monitored while using company-issued technology, provided they are either informed beforehand, for instance in their contract, or there is a valid reason for the investigation.

industry faces new challenges brought about by digital advances,” a spokesperson told HRD. The bank has also equipped staff with iPads so they can service customers outside of the office. A range of apps supply advisers with the information required to deal with almost all queries while on the go. DBS is also bringing its tech to other businesses outside the industry. One example is the FasTrack system – a platform for food and beverage businesses to handle ordering and payment processes. The software aims to eliminate additional time and labour required in the traditional queuing and ordering process, freeing staff up to do other tasks while providing better customer service. Businesses in other sectors have also hopped on board the high-tech train to better productivity. In June last year, YCH Group introduced RFID chips for faster identification within its warehouses. This reduced the amount of time spent looking for shipments, and eliminated the company’s reliance on unskilled workers. In turn, this freed up resources so it could focus on upskilling its PMEs (professionals, managers and executives) instead. SEF Group also opened the SEF SpaceHub in September – a 26,000sqm integrated construction and prefabrication hub designed to reduce labour requirements by up to 70%. “With the manpower crunch and higher manpower costs now, this will lower operating costs,” said Raymond Chan, project director of the SEF SpaceHub, at the grand opening.

Fake MOM websites front for scams

Since November 2015, two websites imitating the Ministry of Manpower’s have been discovered. On both occasions, MOM issued a public warning about the dangers of these sites, which collect readers’ personal information through a process known as ‘phishing’. “Fake websites surface from time to time and we would like to remind members of the public to remain vigilant, especially for transactional purposes,” the ministry said in a statement. Although the fake websites were successfully removed on both occasions, employers have been urged to stay vigilant.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

12-13_Upfront-Technology_SUBBED.indd 12

10/03/2016 1:40:19 PM

Q&A

Mehul Rajparia

APPRAISING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY

Vice president LUMESSE

Fast fact The HoloLens will launch at the end of the first quarter of 2016. The headset is a piece of hardware that has tech observers predicting it’s the first serious move by Microsoft into wearable technology. The price reflects its pioneering nature – the Development Edition has a price tag of US$3,000.

What will be the major tech trend in HR for 2016? I see four major tech trends in HR. The first is an increased use of mobile platforms. The second will be around analytics, continuing the trend of the last year. The third is social. More people are now using social media so HR will have to get on board there. The fourth is greater consumption of technology. For instance, platforms such as Software as a Service will continue to grow in an HR role.

What challenges will HR have with technology in the coming year? For HR, the biggest challenge for any kind of technology is adoption. No matter what HR does, they need to ensure that the adoption of technology is high. What I have seen is that technology remains confined to the HR department and doesn’t really go out to the rest of the organisation. In my view, this is failed technology. HR has to become advocates of this technology. They should spread it more within the organisation, come up with various programs so that people use it, and make it part of policy so that it is widely used at various levels.

What changes will performance appraisals undergo in 2016? Performance appraisals will become more frequent because people realise that if we just have an

Employees aren’t protecting work devices

According to a report by British technology researchers Vanson Bourne, 44% of companies believe one or more of their senior managers have lost a mobile device, laptop or USB in the last year. A significant 93% of those devices contained work-related information, and a third of companies had no formal policy in place that would protect devices with encryption or passwords. An alarming 38% said anyone who found those devices would be able to access confidential files and documents with ease.

A new tracking frontier

appraisal once a year, it doesn’t add a lot of value. We will also see a lot more peer and third-party evaluation. For example, if I’m in vendor management then not only will my boss do the appraisal for me but we will also get appraisals from the vendors as well. So you’re looking at a 360-degree view of how the employee performs. Last, there will be more of a focus on the growth and development of employees. It’s not enough to look in the rear-view mirror. Instead, HR should be asking if a worker sees themselves in a certain position two years from now, what can they do to ensure they get to where they want to be?

How can HR best make the transition from traditional to digital appraisals? HR has to lead by example and internalise the technology themselves. Every time they speak to people, they should use the technology as a showcase in order to increase its relevance. Also, when HR is creating a process, make sure to use the system as part of it. Provide a reason for people to keep coming back. Regular goal setting for monthly or quarterly feedback will ensure adoption will go up. Last but not least, provide a lot of data in terms of analytics. Give this back to people so they can get something out of the system as well.

Personal data collection has long been used to boost productivity, but could tiny microphones – embedded in each employee’s own lanyard – be about to change the face of office culture? A Deloitte team in Newfoundland, Canada, adopted the pilot project during office renovations. All the data is collected anonymously and each employee is assigned their own confidential ID – this way, they can compare their own behaviour against that of other participants without fear of reprisal.

Training game wins accolade

In recognition of its innovative video game training program, the Dubai Police was named a winner of the Asian Human Capital Awards at the 2015 Human Capital Summit last October. Within the program, participants use virtual technology to experience various training scenarios, such as handling traffic accidents and investigating crime scenes. The technology has helped save around S$33.1m over the past five years as it is more cost-effective than putting an officer in the field for training. Proponents of gaming claim it makes the learning experience faster and more fun. www.hrdmag.com.sg

12-13_Upfront-Technology_SUBBED.indd 13

10/03/2016 1:40:22 PM

OPINION

LEGAL INSIGHT

PRESENT-DAY REPERCUSSIONS AND FUTURE LOSSES A recent court ruling has found that employers can claim against former employees for loss of future profits. Julia Yeo outlines the repercussions IN CONTRACTUAL disputes, it is not difficult to pinpoint a breach but usually challenging to quantify the damage. All the more so in employment disputes, in which employers often find it hard to source all the necessary evidence to prove the loss of profits or business siphoned away by an employee. In a recent case, Enholco Pte Ltd v Schonk, Antonius Martinus Mattheus and Another [2015], the Singapore Court of Appeal ruled that dishonest employees (in particular employees in a fiduciary position) cannot

with the defendant to his new entity. To prove loss of profits, the plaintiff must show a factual causation that, “but for” the defendant’s breach, the plaintiff would have earned the profits. This claim was initially dismissed by the High Court based on the evidence that the clients were only willing to contract with the defendant, and the plaintiff could not prove that it would have retained those contracts after the termination of the defendant’s employment.

Employers often find it hard to source all the necessary evidence to prove the loss of profits or business siphoned away by an employee escape liability due to technical evidential difficulties of proving damages. In the above case, the defendant was employed by the plaintiff (the employer) for some 23 years. In his last year of employment, he secretly incorporated a rival entity and took steps to lure away the business and customers of the plaintiff while still in the plaintiff ’s employment. When this was discovered some four months later, the plaintiff dismissed him. The plaintiff claimed for loss of future profits in respect of clients who had moved

The Court of Appeal disagreed with this reasoning as “it would reward the defaulting employee since the consequences of his breach would be assessed on the footing that the breach would take place in any event”. Instead, the factual causation “but for” test should be asked in another way – what would have happened if the duties had not been breached? Had the defendant not breached his duties, he would have remained in the plaintiff ’s employ and the customers would have remained with the plaintiff. There was

nothing to suggest that the customers would have left. The Court of Appeal therefore found that factual causation was established between the defendant’s diversion of two important customer accounts to his new entity and the plaintiff ’s loss of future profits. It then awarded the plaintiff damages for the loss of future profits over diverted customer accounts calculated over a period of one year. The period of one year reflected, in the court’s assessment, the minimum period for which it may reasonably be expected the accounts would have continued with the plaintiff. This case proves that, where appropriate and equitable, the Singapore courts will grant a conventional award (and not a nominal award) despite the employer failing to prove satisfactorily the quantum of damages it seeks. Employers dealing with cases of diverted business and dishonest employees should seek advice on how to establish the causal link between their losses and the employees’ breaches and how best to quantify their claims.

Julia Yeo is an employment specialist at Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

14-15_Opinion_SUBBED.indd 14

10/03/2016 1:24:41 PM

14-15_Opinion_SUBBED.indd 15

11/03/2016 5:26:56 AM

PROFILE

MIKE MCCARTHY

MAKING CHANGE IN THE WAR ON CASH Shedding four decades of history, MasterCard’s current global transformation is shaking up the business. Miklos Bolza talks to MasterCard’s group head of HR for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Mike McCarthy, about heading up these changes on an international and individual scale THERE’S A saying that “the only constant in life is change”. This is especially true for global heads in business, with massive transformation taking place both within and outside their organisations. One person who has conquered all the challenges of change is Mike McCarthy, group head of HR for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa at MasterCard. As well as struggling through the onslaught of the GFC while at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), he has also headed up some major business transformation projects in recent times at MasterCard.

Taking the call for change McCarthy’s career has followed a unique path spanning multiple sectors and countries. His first big challenge arose while at Motorola in Scotland, when the firm pioneered the first flip phone. “It was a very exciting time to be part of that industry. We couldn’t make them quickly enough. We literally had to expand the factory very quickly, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week just to try and keep up with demand. We were always behind but obviously we made lots of money,” he says. From Motorola, McCarthy moved into the insurance industry, working at Prudential before joining RBS. This was the start of 10

years at RBS. Beginning in Scotland, he moved to England and then finally on to Hong Kong after the acquisition of ABN AMRO, when he was appointed HR head of Asia. “ABN AMRO had this structure in Asia, and more of us from the UK were sent to join the senior leadership team there,” he says. “That was hugely exciting professionally and personally.”

Surviving a global crisis During his time in Hong Kong, McCarthy got to know the media spotlight quite well, seeing day-to-day reports of his progress in the international press. However, this publicity suddenly turned sour when RBS became bankrupt during the GFC. What drove McCarthy during the crisis was that he was in a race against time. “The better the shape of the business when we sold it, and the quicker we sold it, the more people could retain jobs with the acquiring organisation. That really helped generate the adrenalin required to keep going.” Pushing through 18-hour days and 120-page sales and purchasing agreements, McCarthy says his team managed to find the right buyer and sell the business so his people could continue their employment. “When I look back on it, if I’m being honest,

I feel that I never want to do it again. But I also feel a great deal of satisfaction, because for the vast majority of our people we were able to land them quite well. For those who we weren’t able to land, we were able to treat them as well as we possibly could.” After the GFC, McCarthy wanted to stay in Asia, and he took up a Singapore-based position at Standard Chartered as the head of HR for Southeast Asia. After two years, he was then headhunted by MasterCard and joined the company in 2012.

FAST FACTS »»Around 45% of MasterCard’s Asian employees are female. Three out of 13 board members are women. »»Over the past five years, MasterCard has grown from 8,000 to 12,000 employees worldwide. In Singapore, the headcount expanded from 250 to 400: 50% of this was due to organic growth and 50% due to acquisitions. »»MasterCard has an attrition rate of less than 10% in the APAC region, far lower than that of other firms in the financial sector. »»All of MasterCard’s graduate hires in Singapore are Singaporeans – keeping in line with the Ministry of Manpower’s local talent development objectives.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

16-19_Profile_SUBBED.indd 16

10/03/2016 1:40:59 PM

“What you measure gets done. We didn’t need any fancy language to be developed. We didn’t need outside consultancies brought in. It was a very clear instruction straight from the top”

www.hrdmag.com.sg

16-19_Profile_SUBBED.indd 17

10/03/2016 1:41:04 PM

PROFILE

MIKE MCCARTHY

Front-line strategies for the war on cash On starting at MasterCard, McCarthy came upon another type of upheaval – albeit a more controlled, internal kind. After 40 years of being an association that simply facilitated transactions between banks and merchants, the company decided to move from having members to having customers. In its self-described ‘war on cash’, it would bring electronic payment methods to governments, financial institutions, commercial organisations and more. Instead of conducting a project-managed change program to help it shift course, a more programmatic approach was used, McCarthy says. This directive came straight from the top. “The CEO, Ajay Banga, very clearly communicated to his top team and to all staff

It was a very clear instruction straight from the top,” McCarthy says. This approach meant everyone knew what was required of them at all levels and also allowed easy comparisons between regions. “It’s a very crude, blunt instrument but it is effective,” he adds.

A mix of innovation and gender equality Innovation is a critical factor for MasterCard, especially because of the field it is in, McCarthy says. The risks come from the various start-ups that are trying to get into the electronic payment field. “What we have right now works very well. The same could be said of Kodak, though, which in its time was an industrial giant until the digital camera came along and wiped the business out.” HR plays a large role in developing the

“We can’t change a country’s culture, and nor should we. What we can do is provide opportunities for people who want to take a particular path” what was expected going forward. There was a very clear expectation that this direct approach would cascade down and drive transformation throughout the organisation.” In his four years at MasterCard, McCarthy has been very heavily involved in instigating this change. One of the transformation’s main impacts on HR was the need to tap into a broader talent pool, bringing in people with technology, merchant or telecoms backgrounds. “There’s been a real change in our recruitment profile. It’s much wider, much bigger, with more innovation. There’s a much larger focus on bringing consumer insights of every kind into the organisation.” Banga also introduced clear ways to measure progress within the company. “What you measure gets done. We didn’t need any fancy language to be developed. We didn’t need outside consultancies brought in.

business by bringing in the right talent and embedding a culture of innovation in the company through initiatives such as innovation forums, a drive for staff-submitted patents, and innovation express sessions. MasterCard also focuses heavily on bringing more females into technology and science, McCarthy says. In Singapore, the firm works with Women 2.0, an organisation that brings young Singaporean women into the workforce in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) fields. Operating globally, Women 2.0 launched in Singapore with MasterCard’s help. “We helped with the launch on our premises. Women 2.0 invited any guests that they wanted to, so the people that attended were external to MasterCard and our staff,” McCarthy says. The same speakers were later brought back to talk with the MasterCard

MIKE MCCARTHY’S SMART TIPS FOR CHANGE MANAGEMENT 1. Secure senior management’s buy-in for change. 2. Make sure the talent agenda is at the top of the business agenda. 3. Accumulate interest by engaging staff on a human level. 4. Really show that change has been successfully implemented. 5. Transfer business acumen to change the way people think. workforce. “It’s actually very inspirational.” One of the overarching global objectives at MasterCard is gender equality, and the firm tries to offer women meaningful careers in the industry. “Our gender balance isn’t quite where we want it to be, so we focus quite strongly on that internally and externally.” In the Asia-Pacific region, approximately 45% of the workforce is female. In other regions, such as the Middle East, India and Pakistan, the number of women at MasterCard is very low, he adds. The firm still strives to offer careers to talented women who are looking for ways to develop themselves in these regions. “We can’t change a country’s culture, and nor should we. What we can do is provide opportunities for people who want to take a particular path.” In the push towards greater gender equality, MasterCard has never been a fan of quotas, McCarthy says. “We deal without them, and I think we’ve done a good job with our talent development process. We encourage our female staff to take these development opportunities by doing coaching and counselling with them until they’re capable of moving to the next level.”

www.hrdmag.com.sg

16-19_Profile_SUBBED.indd 18

10/03/2016 1:41:06 PM

HRD To

Do you lead a top HR team? If your HR team has achieved success in the past 12 months, ENTER TODAY. Survey closes Friday 22 April. The Top HR Teams report will be published in the June issue of HRD Singapore magazine.

Enter online today at www.hrdmag.com.sg www.hrdmag.com.sg

HRD Top hr teams.indd 1 16-19_Profile_SUBBED.indd 19

8/03/2016 12:56:53 PMPM 10/03/2016 1:41:12

COVER STORY

2O16 HR HOT LIST

HOT LIST

2016

Who made the grade in HRD’s inaugural who’s who list? Who is blazing the trail for others to follow? Our 2016 Hot List reveals all

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 20

10/03/2016 2:51:14 PM

ONE THING we can all agree on is this: HR is never boring. Whether it’s dealing with significant transformations, handling downsizing or rapid growth, developing strategies to deal with gender imbalance and other diversity issues, or dealing with copious amounts of compliance, each and every day is different. While some HR professionals may baulk at the challenges, others will excel. It’s those we’re interested in. Over the following pages, HR Director has identified 30 of the hottest HR professionals in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Some of these professionals are well known; they have appeared in this magazine over the past 12 months or have been profiled on hrdmag.com.sg. Alternatively, they have won accolades from the likes of Aon Hewitt and The Great Place to Work Institute. Some have embarked on tricky transformation projects; others have embraced diversity or pushed the envelope for employee perks and benefits; some are coping with rapid growth, while others still are doing it tough in declining industries. All are undertaking initiatives that advance the standing of HR in business. You might disagree with our choices or you might endorse them – if that’s the case, feel free to let us know, or make your own suggestions for next year, at editor@hrdmag.com.sg. >>

METHODOLOGY In November 2015, HR Director put out a call to readers to nominate those senior HR professionals they believed were excelling in all aspects of HR, for consideration for our 2016 Hot List. These nominees were assessed and vetted by the HRD team based on their impact on business outcomes and their overall excellence in HR. In addition, HRD revisited previously profiled HR leaders and others who have been recognised with industry awards for their top work. The 30 HR leaders who made the final list hail from a wide range of backgrounds and industries.

NAME

PAGE COMPANY

Noora Alsagoff

Aon Hewitt

Karen Chan

ROHEI

Chan Wai Quen

Intel

Chan Yit Foon

Marina Bay Sands

Klaus Duetoft

eBay

Kellie Egan

Atlassian

Jairo Fernandez

SAP

Kathryn Finch

Costa Coffee

Foo Chek Wee

ZALORA Group

Keith Ho

Hilti

Lynn Hong

McDonald’s

Christina Kong

JUMBO Group

Abhilasha Krishnan

JTI Singapore

Syntia Leite

Kraft Heinz

Sarah Lim

SITA

Joanna Miller

American Express

Christina Ong

Lazada

Jennifer Ong

Bosch

Derick Ooi

Hotel Jen Orchardgateway

Michelle Phipps

Brown-Forman

Lynn Pua

Jardine OneSolution

Anuradha Purbey

Aviva

Ismail Shariff

Salesforce

Tan Share Lee

AbbVie

Valeria Tan

Parsons Brinckerhoff

Iris Tee

Ubisoft

Deborah Woollard

Intercontinental Hotel Group

Jean-Michel Wu

McCann World Group

CY Yau

NetApp

Yeoh Sai Yew

AirAsia

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 21

10/03/2016 1:42:56 PM

COVER STORY

2O16 HR HOT LIST

LYNN PUA

KLAUS DUETOFT

Senior director of HR, Australia & APAC, eBay

Klaus Duetoft is a 13-year veteran of online retailer eBay. In that time he’s worked as both a consultant and an employee, and has seen the HR function evolve to keep pace with the rapid changes in the online environment. Central to his focus in the last two years has been ‘MyHR’, an HR support services portal through which everything from back-end data management and analytics through to policy implementation, benefits management, performance management and exit management is handled. Almost 80 HR professionals in the region handle the HR requirements of some 15,000 people, and Duetoft says around 95% of employee queries can be handled by this HR structure – most importantly, it’s scalable. Duetoft says the result has been more efficient handling of employee queries. It has also allowed the HR business partners to concentrate on strategy rather than administrative tasks.

SARAH LIM

Head of HR, Southeast Asia, Jardine OneSolution

HR director, Asia-Pacific, SITA

Lynn Pua has spent the past 13 years as one of the more prominent leaders in HR, with accolades such as HRD’s Employer of Choice to her credit. In 2016, Pua has set her sights even further, hoping to focus on coaching and mentoring to bring more HR best practices to the business. One of her key strengths is handling M&As, honed during her time at this ever-expanding company. While integrating new staff members with old is a technical challenge most would baulk at, Pua has the skills and expertise to tackle the task with ease.

Holding leadership roles since 1994, Sarah Lim shines out as one of Singapore’s long-standing HR stars. From the time she was hired as an HR manager at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, until she moved into her present role, she has been more than happy to step up and rise to the occasion. Lim also shares her wealth of experience with her team through a variety of coaching and mentoring initiatives. She is ever keen to push the boundaries to make her APAC workforce one of the best in the world.

NOORA ALSAGOFF Regional head of HR, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Aon Hewitt

Aon Hewitt is globally recognised as a leader in HR consulting, so it’s good to know the company walks the talk. Two HR initiatives stand out. Firstly, the Aon Global Service Day, which sees thousands of Aon colleagues around the world participate in volunteer service through hundreds of local projects. In Singapore, for instance, Aon staff provided support to a wide range of not-for-profit, charitable and community-based organisations. Secondly, Alsagoff is a sponsor of the Aon Internship Program, which provides high-potential university students with the opportunity to take the first step in their professional careers, and Aon with a best-in-market talent pipeline. This is a blend of informal ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions and hands-on involvement in business projects.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 22

10/03/2016 2:52:39 PM

JENNIFER ONG HR director, Southeast Asia, Bosch

Motivated by a keen interest in sociology and psychology, Jennifer Ong dove headlong into a career in HR. Joining Bosch in 2009, she rose up the ranks and reached her current role in 2011. Made up of more than 30 nationalities, Bosch has a diverse and challenging environment in which Ong thrives. A desire for continuous improvement shines through in policies such as Boschâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Continuous Development Program, designed to evaluate and enhance internal business operations. This program allowed Bosch Thailand to optimise its payroll process by 66% â&#x20AC;&#x201C; slashing it from 15 to five days. Ong has also put her heart into fostering local Singaporean talent, recently signing an MOU for a dual-body study program with the Singapore Institute of Technology and other first-rate schools.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 23

10/03/2016 1:43:07 PM

COVER STORY

2O16 HR HOT LIST

TAN SHARE LEE

SYNTIA LEITE

DERICK OOI

AbbVie Singapore was awarded Great Place to Work status in 2015. Tan Share Lee says this achievement was only possible because all employees live the company culture. This enthusiasm is demonstrated in the many creative activities and workshops initiated by employees to promote understanding among their colleagues of patient health issues. An example is the ‘Bitter Juice Challenge’ which helps employees understand an aspect of the drug development process involving taste and its impact on how children take their medicine.

Syntia Leite swears by four key principles in her work: innovation, quality, ownership and meritocracy. She is excited to develop people within the company’s Asia-Pacific workforce and then send them worldwide, creating ripples of positive effects for Kraft Heinz’s offices across the globe. She is also known for her transparent approach to internal problem-solving – a quality that has brought those in the company closer together, aligned HR with the business, and enabled her team to tackle difficult issues and develop innovative policies as a result.

Derick Ooi started in the food and beverage division of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts in 1999. His in-depth knowledge and love of all things hospitality has been a boon to Hotel Jen Orchardgateway, which was named an Employer of Choice by HRD in 2015. With a keen eye on staff succession, Ooi puts all employees through tailored talent development and career planning. He has a bold vision, giving workers the freedom to choose their own goals and chart their own development. Along the way, he is there to help staff progress and overcome their personal challenges.

Business HR manager, AbbVie

Vice president of people and performance, Asia-Pacific, Kraft Heinz

HR manager, Hotel Jen Orchardgateway

CHRISTINA ONG

Regional recruiter, SEA (technology), Lazada

2015 was an exciting year for e-commerce pioneer Lazada. Christina Ong highlights three milestones. Firstly, the company expanded its technology team by a factor of 2.5. The e-commerce explosion in Southeast Asia meant specific skills were in shortage. To facilitate growth, Ong and her team implemented a robust and targeted recruitment strategy. A second achievement was the opening of the Lazada Group Tech Hub in Moscow, Russia, in February 2015. This bolstered development of the company’s websites and mobile applications to enhance the Lazada online shopping and selling experience. The Russia-based tech operations, along with other workers in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and the Singapore head office, provide support around the clock for Lazada businesses in Southeast Asia. Finally, the company revamped its corporate website to include a listing of all job vacancies. “We easily have more than 200 vacancies at any point in time,” Ong says.

IRIS TEE

HR director, Ubisoft

After 15 years in HR, Iris Tee now looks after the HR portfolio at Ubisoft, one of Singapore’s most prominent video game developers. Tee’s approach has involved a heavy focus on local talent development and she has implemented a range of programs, such as the USQ DigiPenUbisoft Campus Program. She also took part in the Youth Engagement Series, giving advice to participants on how to lead a rewarding career in the infocomm and media industries.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 24

10/03/2016 1:43:10 PM

CHRISTINA KONG Senior director, HR & corporate affairs, JUMBO Group

Christina Kong has worked hard, successfully overcoming the HR challenges of Singapore’s food and beverage industry and positioning JUMBO Group as a national name. To alter perceptions and attract more local talent, she has introduced work experience, learning journeys, internships and scholarships. Potential candidates are sourced from the workforce as well as high school, university and other educational institutions. Kong has a heavy focus on career progression and L&D, implementing strategies such as the Fast Track Programme to push those with high potential into supervisory roles within 12 months. Thanks to her efforts, attrition rates within the group are 3.8% – far below the average rate of 4.6% within the national food and beverage industry. Kong’s excellence in HR practices was recognised when the company won SPRING Singapore’s Business Excellence Awards last year.

VALERIA TAN

Senior HR manager, Singapore, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Valeria Tan encourages collaboration through open communication channels across her company’s global workforce. One of her biggest achievements was providing top-level HR support when WSP acquired Parsons Brinckerhoff, expanding the company to 34,500 employees across 40 countries worldwide. She met the challenge head-on, and played a key role in integrating the two businesses and bringing together all processes and systems in a seamless manner.

JOANNA MILLER

Head of HR for Singapore and Indonesia, American Express

CHAN WAI QUEN HR director, APJ, Intel

Chan Wai Quen is a rare breed – a lawyer and HR manager in one. Her deep insight into employment law within the AsiaPacific region and her acute business acumen allow her to deftly solve the people issues underlying most corporate problems. She has successfully ensured that 35% of the Intel workforce is diverse, through a number of global development and retention programs, such as the Accelerated Women Leadership Program and the Command Presence Workshop. She hopes to increase this percentage further and move the region towards greater equality for all.

With her passion for people, Joanna Miller has had an impressive HR career spanning New York, London and Singapore. Working closely with the business partners at American Express, she confidently oversees all aspects of the employee life cycle throughout the firm’s Singaporean and Indonesian workforce. Her efforts to drive growth through a variety of technological and global strategies have kept the Singapore office closely aligned with the company’s global values. Miller’s years of experience have allowed her to build up an extensive HR network of multinational corporations and local firms, sharing best practice and supporting business growth across the region. Demonstrating initiative and drive, Miller recently helped American Express through a four-year period of transformation, bringing all levels of the company together to simplify and improve its HR policies on a global scale.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 25

10/03/2016 1:43:14 PM

COVER STORY

2O16 HR HOT LIST ABHILASHA KRISHNAN

Head of HR for Singapore, JTI Singapore

For Abhilasha Krishnan, HR should be approached with humility and from the viewpoint that staff know their roles best. She sees herself as an enabler, supplying the right culture and the right tools to help employees bring themselves as a whole to JTI. She has supported the implementation of an organisation-wide systemic coaching framework over a three-year period – an initiative aimed at developing a common leadership language throughout the different levels of management. Krishnan’s team has also introduced HR roadshow and town hall initiatives to gain feedback from employees on issues such as insurance coverage, allowances and other important staff needs. These efforts mean JTI Singapore received a 95% engagement score in its internal Towers Watson survey. The company was also listed as one of Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers for 2015.

ANURADHA PURBEY HR director, Singapore, Aviva

Anuradha Purbey has worked at Aviva for 10 years, taking up roles in India, the US and Singapore. She was chosen for leadership at 32 and rapidly rose up the ranks. While working closely with other business partners, she brings out value in her employees through flexible work arrangements, staff recognition programs and equal benefits for all employees. Successfully leading her team out of the global financial crisis, she now focuses on developing resilience among the Aviva workforce. She also understands the need to prepare for the future, bringing in new data analytics to increase the company’s capabilities. Keen to share her knowledge, Purbey is a regular speaker at HR events throughout Singapore. She presented at the HR Analytics, Insights and Implementation Forum in January and will also speak at HR Excel 2016, a forum organised by HRD magazine for later this year.

KAREN CHAN

ISMAIL SHARIFF

Leading one of the premier L&D consultancies in Singapore, Karen Chan focuses on HR much as a senior mentor effortlessly manages the classroom. She heads up a multigenerational international workforce, and her policies build trust and encourage seamless teamwork among staff. Chan adheres strictly to ROHEI’s business models, focusing on upskilling and developing staff internally instead of outsourcing, in order to build up the capabilities of her workforce. In 2015, these initiatives paid off when the firm was awarded fourth spot at the Best Companies to Work For awards.

When it comes to HR – or ‘employee success’, as it’s known at Salesforce – Ismail Shariff knows how to truly excel. His policies follow the Hawaiian concept of ‘ohana’, which means that family members, whether blood-related or adopted, are bound to each other. Shariff has nurtured this togetherness with tighter collaboration and focus through V2MOM – a dynamic, real-time process that aligns teams and sets corporate vision. He also supports myriad philanthropic efforts, donating 1% of the company’s equity, 1% of its time and 1% of its product to the Singaporean community.

Vice president/Director of operations, ROHEI

APAC vice president for employee success, Salesforce

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 26

10/03/2016 1:43:17 PM

MICHELLE PHIPPS HR director for ANZ/SEA/North Asia, Brown-Forman

Michelle Phipps is a keen proponent of using corporate direction to benefit her employees’ personal lives. As well as supporting a healthy work-life balance, the global liquor producer and marketer also offers Southeast Asian and Australian staff one day of Volunteer Leave per year to give back to the community. This focus on employee culture means the firm’s last Southeast Asian employee survey recorded an impressive engagement score of 94%. Phipps has also been involved in major change at Brown-Forman, restructuring the HR team to place a greater focus on business partnership and integration. She has made great strides in diversity and inclusion through the PRIDE and GROW employee resource groups for LGBTI and female employees respectively. Finally, she continuously builds her team’s capabilities through annual HR workshops with other companies to share best practices and obtain different perspectives within the field.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 27

10/03/2016 1:43:21 PM

COVER STORY

2O16 HR HOT LIST

DEBORAH WOOLLARD Vice president of HR, AMEA Intercontinental Hotel Group

With over 16 years of HR experience behind her, Deborah Woollard is perfectly placed for her role at Intercontinental Hotel Group. She currently oversees a regional workforce of 46,000 employees, offering progressive solutions that create tailored career paths for each individual within IHG. During recruitment, matching staff to culture is the top priority, as Woollard believes people can develop their skills later on through the company’s blended L&D agenda. In 2015, IHG achieved third spot in the Best Companies to Work For awards. Her plans for the future include groundbreaking strategies, such as the firm’s accelerated career progression program, which brings people into general manager positions within two years instead of 15. She hopes to continue this move away from the fundamentals, instead focusing on what she calls “something sexier” within the group.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 28

10/03/2016 1:43:25 PM

FOO CHEK WEE Group HR director, SEA, Hong Kong & Taiwan, ZALORA Group

Foo Chek Wee joined online fashion retailer ZALORA Group in August 2014, soon after it increased its headcount to 2,000 employees across Asia. Stepping up to the challenge, he tackled performance management head-on. He aims to further strengthen the employer/employee contract at ZALORA to help staff build careers while serving the company as well. This will be achieved through a revamped performance management system to be implemented in 2016. Due to Foo’s extensive work online, he was named a LinkedIn Power Profile for HR in Singapore in 2015. In addition, he was declared a winner of the inaugural LinkedIn Conscious Business Award in the same year, for being an HR leader who attracts future talent and inspires the workforce. As well as being a digital brand ambassador for ZALORA Group, he uses his online presence to uplift the HR profession in Asia by sharing progressive practices and interesting perspectives on the web.

CY YAU

Head of HR, APAC, NetApp

With 20 years of leadership experience, CY Yau is perfectly placed to promote NetApp’s twin values of corporate culture and innovation. HR initiatives such as Coffee Chat provide one-on-one dialogue between staff and senior leadership, encouraging employees to ask questions and break through APAC’s ‘silent culture’. The art of listening is key to NetApp’s success. Lau uses open-door policies to stimulate conversation between staff and leaders, and then adjusts his HR strategies as necessary to suit both local and regional needs.

KEITH HO

YEOH SAI YEW

CHAN YIT FOON

Keith Ho aligns his strategies with the company’s long-term approach, tackling areas such as people development and succession planning based on years rather than months. He works proudly with Hilti’s executive team, walking that fine balance between commercial and people goals to build up a strong, cohesive team that delivers excellent business results.

Yeoh Sai Yew’s extensive regional experience gives him solid foundations on which to improve staff productivity, operating costs and talent development at Air Asia. In his previous role as head of rewards and people services, he introduced a company-wide rewards model. He now plans to work with senior managers to streamline AirAsia’s already high levels of efficiency.

Chan Yit Foon is in charge of implementing the human capital strategy across Marina Bay Sands’ 9,500-strong workforce, managing staff in fields including hospitality, entertainment, food and beverages, and meetings and exhibitions. A multi-awardwinning HR practitioner, she is dedicated to nurturing the local workforce through her seat on the School of Hospitality Advisory Committee at Republic Polytechnic.

Head of HR, Hilti

Head of the people department, AirAsia

Senior vice president of HR, Marina Bay Sands

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 29

10/03/2016 1:43:31 PM

COVER STORY

2O16 HR HOT LIST LYNN HONG Director of HR, Singapore, McDonald’s

Although her role involves taking care of over 9,000 employees and more than 130 restaurants across Singapore, Lynn Hong is the picture of calm and control. One of her main focuses is helping shift the public’s perception of the fast-food industry as a place simply to find transitory job opportunities. Instead, she works to give staff fulfilling careers by helping them move through some of McDonald’s many job progression pathways. She handles her role by incorporating the four F’s – future, flexibility, family and friends – into her HR policies. As a result of her proactive stance, McDonald’s was one of the first companies to align itself to the WSQ Framework. The company also offers high-potential leadership mentoring for fast-track career success throughout the organisation. Finally, Hong has helped McDonald’s shatter the fast-food worker mould by having 30% of its workforce made up of mature-age workers.

KATHRYN FINCH

Regional operational HR manager, Costa Coffee

Kathryn Finch spent five years working in Costa’s L&D hub in Dubai and was part of the company’s acquisition of eight stores in Singapore, overseeing the transfer of 100 staff. Her role also spans markets in India, Thailand, Cambodia, and most recently the Philippines. Finch aspires to help HR build Costa’s employer brand and reach out to a public that traditionally views coffee shops as temporary places of work, via generous reward packages and engagement initiatives.

JEAN-MICHEL WU Chief talent officer, McCann World Group

KELLIE EGAN

HR director, Australia and APAC, Atlassian

Thanks in part to Kellie Egan’s hard work and creativity at Atlassian, the IT juggernaut is now expanding globally, including into Southeast Asia. Drawing on her 15 years of experience in the HR industry, she has helped the company create and implement a number of innovative recruitment methods, including a European recruitment bus tour and a month-long ‘bootcamp’ for new graduates (40 new grads joined in 2015). She also knows how to have fun. She organised ‘cardboard war games’ for all staff to help celebrate the end of financial year 2015.

The past year has been one of great recognition for Jean-Michel Wu. His innovative approach to HR includes integrating the business’s talent and growth strategies and aggressively using technology such as social media and background checking to improve the recruitment process. He has helped the company identify and retain high-potential staff, and has driven mobility efforts within the APAC and global regions. These initiatives undoubtedly played a role in McCann World Group winning the Healthcare Agency Network of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year in 2015. Wu was also named a LinkedIn Power Profile for HR in Singapore last year. As one of the country’s social media pioneers, he is contacted by around 20 potential candidates per day via digital means. He is also well known within the industry for helping people build successful careers in the marketing and communications sectors.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 30

10/03/2016 1:43:42 PM

JAIRO FERNANDEZ Senior vice president for HR, APJ, SAP

2015 was a mammoth year for SAP. As well as being recognised as one of the top five Best Companies to Work For in Singapore, SAP was listed as champion in the Supporting Women to Remain at Work category in India, and among the top three IT multinationals to work for in Korea. It was also named a 2015 WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality in Australia. These achievements have emerged under Jairo Fernandez’s guidance as HR business partner. Following SAP’s belief that ‘Everyone Is a Talent’, he works with each employee and taps into their unique strengths. Other initiatives, such as the Integrated Leadership Framework, analyse and increase the quality of leadership, while high-tech platforms such as Success Maps empower staff to chart their own career goals. Fernandez views HR as both an art and a science, and balances his duties between ‘high tech’ and ‘high touch’.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

20-31_HotList_SUBBED.indd 31

10/03/2016 1:43:43 PM

FEATURES

TALENT MANAGEMENT

FASTTRACKING POTENTIAL Fast-tracking high-potential talent into positions of leadership can benefit from the ‘science’ of talent management, but as Ben Abbott finds, HIPOs of the future will demand just as much ‘art’ from the organisations to which they give their loyalty

DIRECTOR OF CIPD International Alan Ovens has worked with organisations in Asia and globally on talent management programs for years. In his experience, highpotential leaders – or HIPOs – represent quite a small percentage of employees. “The HIPO program is an integral and important part of the overall talent management program of an organisation, usually catering for the top 5% of employees – and never more than the top 10%,” he says. Given their numbers are so few, being able to successfully identify and fast-track highpotentials through an organisation can be a challenging task for HR. However, with top leadership talent harder to come by now than ever before, how a HIPO program is defined, built and managed could end up making or breaking the success of an organsiation. The good news is, there is a recipe for fasttracking HIPOs, and as the experts advise, it requires a healthy measure of science, as well as a dash of art.

1: DEFINE

DON’T … … forget the other 95%. With HIPO talent making up just 5–10% of an organisation’s talent pool, experts say it is critical to recognise that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to talent management can be a negative for organisational performance. Many organisations build talent management programs that preconceive career progress as moving linearly upwards through an organisation – from the intern at the bottom through to the upper echelons of management and eventually CEO. But to engage all staff, Alan Ovens recommends the concept of multiple career paths, like a technical deep expert career path, and a ‘spiral’ approach that includes alternative possibilities and leadership tracks for those who will gain broader experience and take time climbing the ladder. “It is important to have a strategy that caters for all staff if we consider everyone has talent and we are trying to engage our people.”

Organisations can fail before they start with a HIPO program if they do not conduct the simple exercise of defining exactly what they mean, and what they want. “The starting point for any talent or highpotential framework or program is to be clear – what is it in service of?” says Ovens. “What are the organisation’s strategic goals and ambitions, what type of organisational culture does that require, and what type of leaders will be needed to fill the missioncritical roles of the future that will enable them to deliver on those strategic goals?” Terms like ‘ talent’, ‘ leadership’, ‘performance’ and ‘potential’ all need to be clarified for each organisation. “Is everyone talent, or are we only talking about HIPOs? And do you mean people leaders, functional leaders, or technical leaders?” Ovens says. There are good reasons for the rigour. For example, research shows ‘people leaders’ and ‘technical leaders’ are not always the same thing, and often require very different types

www.hrdmag.com.sg

32-37_HIPOs-SUBBED.indd 32

10/03/2016 1:17:19 PM

“We’ve found HIPOs often feel as if things are being done to them rather than with them. People get caught up in identifying which box a person goes in rather than understanding their relationship with that person” Roland B Smith, Center for Creative Leaderhip

of skills. “When you know what you mean by ‘leader’, you can actually start writing down the characteristics and competencies you need,” Ovens says. In the organisations he has worked at, Ovens says one of the most common mistakes is not being clear at the outset. Companies can fall victim to the urge to ‘jump straight

in’ rather than spending the time to come up with clear definitions. “Those organisations I’ve worked with that have defined everything at the outset have ended up with very successful, awardwinning talent programs and improvements in organisational performance as a result of talent programs,” he says.

2: IDENTIFY

DON’T … … rely on psychometric testing. While some organisations use psychometric testing as part of their HIPO selection process, HR are “cautioned highly” against relying completely on intellectual measures like verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. Experts say while they have a part to play, scoring highly has “absolutely no bearing on their potential” for leadership in the future, because it is only their intellectual horsepower being rated, not their emotional intelligence. While intelligence is important in terms of learning agility, scoring low on things like verbal and abstract reasoning does not preclude someone from leadership success. There’s something about identifying a high-potential leader that goes beyond the ‘science’. “When you see a great footballer at age 16 you can guess pretty accurately that player will make the national team at some future point,” Ovens says. However, experts

www.hrdmag.com.sg

32-37_HIPOs-SUBBED.indd 33

10/03/2016 1:17:26 PM

FEATURES

TALENT MANAGEMENT

HOW ARE HIGHPOTENTIALS TREATED DIFFERENTLY IN YOUR ORGANISATION?

also need tenacity and drive, given the rigorous program of development is likely to last many years; but without the magic combination of aspiration, engagement and ability, candidates may fail.

Brainpower

Visibility and access

23%

Special assignments

21%

Training

16%

Greater responsibility

13%

Promotability and rewards

More opportunities in general

Freedom/flexibility

Miscellaneous

Source: A view from inside the leadership pipeline, Center for Creative Leadership

say there are a number of indicators that can help to identify them – as well as warning signs that should make HR think twice about the wrong candidates.

Character A ‘nine box’ talent assessment grid is often used to rate talent by performance and potential, separating HIPOs from their peers. Center for Creative Leadership managing director Roland B Smith says organisations need to be looking for a clear demonstration of top performance in the person’s current role, but also the ability to be a top performer in roles that are one or two levels higher. The ‘price of admission’ for a HIPO also includes strong decisionmaking and problem-solving skills, the ability to take calculated risks, and being functionally strong in their area of expertise. Ovens puts HIPO identification down to three key elements: engagement, ability and the often-overlooked aspiration. HIPOs

While there is no way to fully and reliably measure a candidate’s future potential, learning agility comes close. “Learning agility is the best measure I have found,” Ovens says, naming the Lominger learning agility measure. “If somebody can learn in an agile way, then you can begin to establish they can do what you need them to do – learn quicker than the pace of change. Once you understand that and know someone is performing well in their job today and that they have the required learning agility, you can start to see that person is likely to be able to develop at the pace you want them to get them to the point you need them to get to.”

Aspiration The ‘gold dust’ of HIPO identification comes down to whether a candidate truly aspires to a leadership position, which can only be truly gauged through a proper ‘talent conversation’. “This is not a career development conversation; it is an aspiration conversation. It is genuinely sitting down with a skilled coach to find out what is really important to that individual, when things like peer pressure, organisational culture and national culture are stripped away,” Ovens says. Smith argues the talent conversation is the most important thing an organisation can do before it is too late to go back. “HIPOs want to be involved in talent conversations, not performance conversations. They know performance is something they have to do, but they want to talk about themselves and their future

and less about performance, and for an organisation to ask how it can help them grow,” Smith says.

3: FAST-TRACK

DON’T … … just do things ‘to’ them. HIPOs want to be involved in their own development. “Everyone talks about the war for talent and the talent pipeline, but nobody spends time looking at what it means to be high-potential. We have found HIPOs often feel as if things are being done to them rather than with them,” Smith says. “People get caught up in identifying which box a person goes in rather than understanding their relationship with that person.” This expectation of involvement will only increase as Gen Y moves through. “Millennials want to know what options are open to them, what context there is for success in the future, and why they should stay with an organisation. HIPOs in general expect organisations to be less transactional; they want employers to take the first step towards them to show they care about their future, before agreeing to release more energy to that employer.” Successfully fast-tracking HIPOs means slowing down to go fast. “Fast-tracking is something organisations want, but by fasttracking people without understanding who they are and where they are going they incur more risk,” Smith says. “Often HR will put an individual right into leading a team without helping them lead and understand themselves first, but the best leaders are the ones that are most self-aware. Once HIPOs learn to lead themselves first, they will be able to move on to leading a group or team, an organisation, and ultimately the society and community.

Stretching experience Research shows HIPOs learn best through on-the-job or ‘stretch’ assignments, and these usually form the biggest part of any HIPOs fast-track to leadership. “The

www.hrdmag.com.sg

32-37_HIPOs-SUBBED.indd 34

10/03/2016 1:17:27 PM

General Electrics of the world will send highpotentials to university to do classroombased modules, but that constitutes only a small part of their overall development,” Ovens says. “The biggest part will be the stretch assignment – or running a certain part of the business for a period of time. At GE, for example, you can’t become CEO unless you’ve had an overseas assignment.” For multinationals, the best stretch assignments will often be overseas experience. These test candidates with a ‘sacrifice’ element, as they may be required to go to a country or region that is not of their choice. For SMEs, stretch assignments that involve heading different functions within the organisiation that are not in their current area of capability are just as effective for accelerating their development. The primacy of the stretch assignment is because “the best teacher is experience”. “Providing this experience requires organisations to be sophisticated, creative and innovative in how they design their programs to provide real and tangible business experiences,” Smith says. “Our research shows the single most important thing preparing CEOs for the role is failure and mistakes. HIPOs need to be allowed to take risks and learn from mistakes so they can get stronger going forward.”

Clarity and commitment Organisations need to be clearer with HIPOs about what the next steps are. Smith says career paths sometimes get more opaque as high-potentials step up. “There’s a danger that without being given a clear idea of where they are going and a clear career path to follow, they may begin asking what they are being accelerated towards, or if there is really a leadership opportunity available for them.” HR can also enhance HIPO engagement by arranging genuine time with leaders – whether that comes in the form of talent conversations,

SHOULD YOU REVEAL WHO IS A ‘CHOSEN ONE’? Does your organisation have a formal process for identifying high-potentials?

Have you been formally identified as a high-potential employee?

31%

37% No

56% Yes

Not formally (I have been told I am considered high-potential)

53% Yes

Not sure

Source: A View from Inside the Leadership Pipeline, Center for Creative Leadership

Organisations face a dilemma when it comes to HIPO programs. Do they keep the whole thing a secret, just tell their HIPOs, or let the truth be known to all? “It’s important to establish whether the organisation wants to be fully transparent or covert with the HIPO program,” Alan Ovens says. “My view is that it’s always best to be fully transparent, but that’s not the way everyone sees it.” Different organisations choose different paths in response to this question. For many, this does mean keeping their HIPO program a guarded secret within the company. “Some choose to be absolutely covert about who their HIPOs are, because they don’t want to upset people who aren’t on the program,” Ovens says. Roland B Smith agrees. “Organisations believe sharing who HIPOs are creates a disparity and inequality within the organisation. It creates a situation of haves, and have nots.” But covert programs create problems. “If companies choose not to be transparent, employees who may have been identified as HIPOs but don’t get formally identified within the company may start to wonder if they are truly seen as talent for the future,” Smith says. He gives the example of one high-potential sent to the US for training worth US$10,000, who was still wondering if his company was committed to him. There may be greater advantages with transparency. “If you are absolutely transparent about the definition of a HIPO, what is expected of someone in the program and what it involves, then communicate it clearly, those that don’t get on the program are likely to be less threatened,” Ovens says. “They will understand all the elements of it, and see they are not prepared to make those sacrifices.” Smith says organisations are likely to get a higher degree of engagement and energy from HIPOs who are formally identified with a transparent approach. “The downside is they potentially lose other people,” Smith says. “But what we have always said is, you don’t necessarily have to be transparent about a particular individual, but it’s important to be very transparent about what it takes to become a HIPO within the organisation. It should be open-source information among employees.” shadowing leaders, or mentoring – which shows the organisation is investing in their future. “One of the most significant things an organisation can do is have senior leadership involved in talent conversations.” HIPOs can also benefit from mentoring themselves.

Derailers The most likely derailers of high-potential success are not performance-driven. Instead, the ability to lead teams, build and maintain constructive interpersonal relationships and communicate effectively are the most

www.hrdmag.com.sg

32-37_HIPOs-SUBBED.indd 35

10/03/2016 1:17:31 PM

FEATURES

TALENT MANAGEMENT CAN TECHNOLOGY SOLVE YOUR HIPO PROBLEMS? total investment in human capital $12.2bn The management applications in 2015 level this technology spend is $15.4bn The expected to reach by the year 2020

67%

The proportion of HR managers who say they lack the data and analytics capabilities needed to gain a ‘big picture’ of company talent

55%

The proportion of HR managers concerned with properly engaging and retaining high-performing talent, as power shifts towards more savvy candidates Source: Silk Road

Organisations need to go beyond just measuring candidate performance when it comes to identifying high-potentials, according to Silk Road’s Michael Lloyd. While the latest technology lends itself towards looking at raw performance data or numerical measures of competency, companies risk missing some of the more qualitative measures that can indicate better chances of leadership success. “You have the classic example of the salesperson who is good at closing deals and making targets, and who is assumed to be best option for a leadership role, but once they make the step up don’t have the other attributes they need,” Lloyd explains. Silk Road integrates other elements of its talent management system, like the subjective analysis of a line manager or the risk of candidate loss to an organisation, which can be useful in determining HIPO status or in succession planning. Companies also need to think more abstractly about leadership potential, he says, and be flexible about training candidates up in areas of weakness. “There are things companies often don’t think about, like for example the willingness to relocate to other offices and the ability speak other languages,” he says. Lloyd predicts analytics companies will increasingly be able to indicate where demand growth will come from in an industry. “High-performers will be a huge part of that. They will need to be across where the next source of demand growth will be, and companies will have the right person to stick in there at the right time.”

“Those organisations I’ve worked with that have defined everything at the outset have ended up with very successful, award-winning talent programs and improvements in organisational performance as a result of talent programs” Alan Ovens, CIPD International common problems. “HIPOs must have sustained levels of performance over time and the right functional expertise, but they also have to have a very strong EQ,” Smith says. “As they go up in the organisation, their interpersonal skills become more important; if they have been fast-tracked too quickly because of other acumen without factoring in interpersonal and relationship skills, they can sometimes derail or plateau.”

Science or art? Fast-tracking of high-potential talent turns out to be a mixture of both science and art. “An outstanding individual who is performing well and showing potential is likely to be able to be spotted quite easily,” Ovens says. “However, it is still important to be able to evaluate that person against a balanced set of criteria. For example, it is important to have

data-driven measures for both selection and monitoring of HIPOs throughout their program.” Ovens says behavioural science will continue to provide powerful insights into how employees are motivated and driven, and HR will need to combine increasing knowledge in the field with intuition and judgement. HR are making a mistake if they try to twist the process too much towards an exact science, argues Smith. Because it will never be completely systematic – despite the technology now available – HR can risk dehumanising the entire process. “It is a quasi-science in that you need to have the processes and systems in place, but the critical piece is really the involvement of senior leadership personally with the highpotential. That’s what frankly humanises the process,” Smith says.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

32-37_HIPOs-SUBBED.indd 36

10/03/2016 1:17:37 PM

Jakarta Kuala Lumpur Singapore

July 2016 September 2016 October 2016

Join your peers at South East Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier gathering of HR professionals. Hear valuable insights from industry leaders focusing on key themes like leadership, change management and employee engagement.

Find out more at www.hrleadersasia.com Supporting publication

www.hrdmag.com.sg

32-37_HIPOs-SUBBED.indd 37

10/03/2016 1:17:41 PM

FEATURE

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

2020 VISION The decade beginning in 2020 will see the entire workplace transformed. Cegos Asia Pacific’s 2020 Workplace Drivers Survey has identified five key trends for HR and business leaders to watch, as they prepare organisations for the challenges to come THE YEAR 2020 will be the beginning of a “perfect storm” for human capital leaders and managers, according to Cegos Asia Pacific managing director Jeremy Blain. With organisations having been slow to release L&D budgets since the GFC, they have gradually become more reliant on fewer people in roles they are no longer prepared for, thus leaving them unprepared for the future. “Clients tell me what they want to know is how to manage or lead people now, in the current environment. They are coming at this from the point where they are filling the same old developmental gaps but are not thinking about preparing leaders and managers for the future skills they need for the challenges ahead, now,” Blain says. “We have a point coming in the next year or two where organisations are going to wake up and realise leaders and managers aren’t ready for a brave new world where we will need different skills, and will be more reliant on collaborative technology.” Cegos Asia Pacific’s 2020 Workplace Drivers Survey detailed the five trends companies need to understand to survive the coming workplace shift.

The impact of technology

Artificial intelligence isn’t coming for our jobs – yet. Cegos’ survey indicates that, despite recent hype, only 50% of respondents thought smart machines would gradually begin to

replace humans in the decade after 2020. The AI noise is distracting leaders from more pressing challenges. For example, nine out of 10 respondents believe the 2020s workplace will have more digital networks, communication and collaboration and more physical distance between people. Blain says this will require entirely new leadership and management skills, such as effective remote management, using collaboration technologies to manage customers, or being able to lead and encourage innovation as a team. “But are we prepared for it? Not many organisations are when it boils down to it.” The decade will see Generation Z bring their own technology expectations to the workplace. Eighty-three per cent of respondents think Gen Z will expect closer collaboration and enhanced peer connectivity, enabled by relevant technologies. “Many companies are not doing enough about this, they aren’t ready for it and don’t know what the appropriate technologies are or will be,” Blain says.

A cross-generational chasm

Asia in particular faces challenges in maintaining workplace cultural cohesion while the workforce ages. When higher retirement ages and traditional hierarchical structures are combined with the rise of Gen Y and Gen Z’s entry into the workforce, organisations have a cross-generational chasm to bridge.

Cegos’ Workplace Drivers Survey found only half of respondents believed the widening generation gap is in danger of creating generational human silos. “It also turned out to be a bit of a myth that modern workplaces are being overly adoring of Gen Y”, Blain explains, with only 38% agreeing this is the case. “Perhaps we are actually getting to grips much better these days with the cross-generational and cross-cultural challenges we are facing. The sensational headlines out there are not helping, when the reality appears to tell a different, more controlled story,” Blain adds. However, in the context of generational change, 78% of respondents believe that a brand new approach is needed for corporate L&D if organisations are to engage newer generations like Gen Z. “Some people don’t know the answer to that problem, or they might know what the answer is but they don’t have the budget or the ability to argue the case within their organisation for the resources they need to change the game,” Blain says.

A decade of diversity

Diversity issues are being swept under the carpet at many organisations in AsiaPacific, but 2020 is likely to see a break with tradition in the region. Cegos’ research found diversity lenses like gender, colour, sexual orientation, nationality, social status, age, and culture were named as

www.hrdmag.com.sg

38-39_Cegos_subbed.indd 38

10/03/2016 1:44:33 PM

Brought to you by

THE 2020 WORKFORCE: FIVE KEY TRENDS The impact of technology

A cross-generational chasm

An infrastructure overhaul

A crisis of leadership

88% Agree

52% Agree

92% Agree

72% Agree

80% Agree

12% Disagree

48% Disagree

8% Disagree

28% Disagree

20% Disagree

With a widening generational gap, the future workplace is in danger of creating human silos

The future of the workplace will be more diverse. This means managers have to be comfortable with emerging diversity issues

Offices will be mobile working hubs and there will be little need for expensive offices

For their transition to management, Gen Y will have to leave the me behind and become the we generation

The future workplace will create more digital networks, communication and collaboration, and more physical distance between people

common issues across organisations by 75% of respondents. Worryingly, 68% of respondents found most executives were unaware of the biases that existed within the workplace, leaving the issue bubbling under the surface. “Seventy-five per cent of respondents say diversity is an issue, but not many organisations in parts of Asia and particularly Southeast Asia are really ready to do much about it because of existing cultural and hierarchical norms,” Blain says. Cegos expects a “tipping point” will arrive over the next few years. “To be competitive in a multinational environment, workplaces will need to have different working policies, and the old traditions will need to adapt because of the need to respect everybody in the workplace,” Blain says.

A decade of diversity

An infrastructure overhaul

The 2020s are likely to see a more dispersed and independent workforce and less reliance on traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ offices, with 72% of respondents believing offices will transform into mobile working hubs. As workers are increasingly dispersed, 85% of respondents believe that the working hours of the future will more often be periodic and in short burst cycles completed remotely, rather than in blocks of in-office time. This breaking down of traditional work structures, combined with the likelihood of increasing competition and the desire for

businesses to produce ‘more from less’, will lead to serious impacts on work-life balance, Blain says. “In this context we will need to change the way we lead and engage the future, more remote employee, and retain talent. New skills are needed, supported by new technologies that are appropriate for better, more efficient communication and a sense of belonging in a more dispersed environment.”

A crisis of leadership

The Cegos Asia Pacific Workplace Drivers Survey found the current workforce believes Generation X are ready to take over leadership roles in organisations. The problem is, Generation X themselves don’t. “Our Leading and Managing in the 2020 APAC Workplace Survey conducted in 2013 demonstrated that our organisational leaders-in-waiting were definitely neither confident nor ready.” Blain says assuming Gen X are ready for leadership just because they deliver results and are good at what they do neglects the fact they are not being proactively nurtured. This results in a different perception of their readiness. “Gen X themselves turn out to be the least confident generation in terms of managing the transition and demands of a 2020 workplace,” Blain says. For their own eventual transition to

management, 80% of respondents thought Gen Y would have to leave the ‘me’ behind and become the ‘we’ generation. When Gen Y do eventually take the reins, 76% believe they will have their own struggle engaging digital natives Gen Z, who will have even shorter attention spans and an increased appetite for instant gratification.

Foresight or hindsight? There is a big question for organisations in the lead-up to 2020. Will they act to prepare themselves with foresight, or regret their inaction in hindsight? “It makes me quite frustrated there is no strong agreement when it comes to action on this. There is a massive immobilisation in the workplace,” Blain says. Unfortunately, parts of the HR community are simply not prepared even themselves to meet the coming workplace drivers head on. However, they may be in the best position to turn the situation around, by providing the foresight their organisational leaders need. Therefore, there is a job to be first within the HR/L&OD community to be ready and have the capabilities to take these arguments to the top and lead human capital transformation well ahead of the 2020s. More teeth and claws! Cegos Asia Pacific offers practical learning solutions that can be applied to today’s workplace challenges. Further information: www.cegos.com.sg or learn@cegos.com.sg

www.hrdmag.com.sg

38-39_Cegos_subbed.indd 39

10/03/2016 1:44:37 PM

FEATURES

EXECUTIVE RECRUITMENT

ANYONE, ANYWHERE Finding the right candidate can sometimes mean searching globally, as well as locally. Ben Abbott asks the executive search firm experts how to attract anyone, from anywhere

MICHAEL PAGE associate director Sean Tong says demand for candidates has been relatively high early this year, despite widespread uncertainty over the outlook for Asia’s economy. “November, December and January is usually a slow period, but surprisingly we’ve seen a lot of assignments on the market. What the current market is telling us at the moment has been a lot different from what we’ve been seeing on TV or reading in the news,” Tong says. Despite confronting tougher economic conditions, Tong sees this as a sign that companies and HR teams are still remaining focused on sourcing the right human capital for the year ahead.

However, they may need a more intelligent approach to recruitment. With the market shifting rapidly as a result of technology and global economic changes, recruiters say organisations need to employ recruitment best practice if they are to win candidates at home and abroad.

Here or there? Companies are no longer as eager to hire expats as they once were. “What we’ve seen in Singapore and in the Southeast Asian region is that companies have been localising executive and management teams,” Mercuri Urval COO Jeannine Hertel says. While the Ministry of Manpower has

made it a requirement for companies to look for candidates locally first – forcing this localisation trend on employers – companies themselves now see the advantages of hiring locally, rather than flying in expat talent. “Organisations have wanted to get rid of the expat mechanisms they had in place because they are very expensive, and because they have natural limitations,” Hertel says. “Expats do a job for two or three years, but companies planning long term might prefer to hire a local candidate who is likely to be planning an entire career here.” But Tong says: “Sometimes there are very niche candidates not available in this market, and hiring managers will then look

www.hrdmag.com.sg

40-43_Recruitment_SUBBED.indd 40

10/03/2016 1:18:55 PM

at a regional or a global search.” Examples include companies pursuing specific language or technical skill sets, industry experts, or candidates in niche industries. “In general, company hiring managers know there is an abundance of talent here in Singapore or in neighbouring countries like Malaysia or Indonesia,” he says. When companies do need to look abroad, they should now be prepared to look anywhere. “Top-level candidates have international careers; just because they are based in London does not mean they will be British. It could be a German with experience in South America who is now exploring

opportunities in Singapore from London,” Hertel says. Executive search firms say English language skills are still critical for expat candidates. That means native Englishspeaking countries like Australia, the UK and the US play a significant role. Tong says companies are also much more likely to consider expat candidates who are already based in the market, and those who already have genuine Asia experience. “For example, an American in Europe without any Asia experience will have a chance – it’s not impossible depending on the role and their experience – but they will face very strong competition from those in

Singapore with local or regional experience,” he says.

Source and select New technologies have been changing traditional recruitment practices in Asia, and have the potential to enhance the ability of HR teams to source better talent. LinkedIn, for example, is being used to increase the volume of qualified referrals for positions through existing members of staff, alumni and communities, augmenting existing hiring practices. Tong knows how important social media and the internet have become. Michael Page collaborates with Google to increase the visibility and searchability of available roles,

www.hrdmag.com.sg

40-43_Recruitment_SUBBED.indd 41

10/03/2016 1:18:59 PM

FEATURES

EXECUTIVE RECRUITMENT

ensuring that its brand and current positions come up first in places like the suggested roles section of LinkedIn. The firm has also had several recent successes through Facebook. “We recently hired a senior FMCG executive through Facebook,” Tong says. “He was at home preparing food, and his wife saw the advertisement on Facebook. So he thought he’d give it a try and sent in his CV. Social media is definitely the way to go right now.” Tong says new technology works best in tandem with executive search firms. While

Hertel says the best consultants need to act as mediators. “We are often matchmaking, helping both sides to come together. That is why, with all the technology in place, unless you meet the needs of candidates and clients, you won’t succeed.”

Attract and retain Companies are continuing to temper growth in remuneration packages on offer for expats in line with the localisation trend, and especially for those expats settled in Singapore. Executive

“For executive positions, companies can’t rely on local candidate pools any more, and even less so in Singapore, which is a very small place. What we’ve seen in our work with clients is an increasing openness to looking at candidates coming from anywhere” Jeannine Hertel, Mercuri Urval social media may have changed the game to an extent, he says companies still need a team dedicated to these platforms, going through applications and making contact with candidates. Hertel says the business world has always looked to the latest technology to help find the best candidates and make recruitment easier, smoother and better, and social media does make it easier for consultants to access candidate profiles from other countries. However, she points out that in the end the fundamentals are more important. “We use it where it makes life easier, but unless you have understood what the client needs, what the vacancy requires and what the candidate is all about, then the best technology won’t help,” she says.

search firms say many expats are now on local packages, and expat packages are rarer. “Most expats are on local packages, or maybe local plus,” Tong says. Even those on local plus packages are often limited to a transfer period of two years. “Companies are getting smarter, and they are not giving it to candidates forever. It is offered on a steppeddown basis, so for two years they might enjoy full local plus, after which they lose a part of that.” This is in line with generally slower growth in annual salaries, with today’s increments in the 10–15% range rather than the 20–25% recruiters saw five or more years ago. Without the same level of remuneration growth, HR teams are looking at other levers they can use to satisfy candidates. It’s

5 REASONS TO OUTSOURCE RECRUITMENT In-house teams can be ill-equipped to handle the onerous and sometimes sensitive task of executive recruitment by themselves. So, what value do executive search firms add? 1. Reach With extensive local and global databases, executive search firms are able to expand a pool of candidates beyond what could be achieved by even a large consumer brand. They are also better at coordinating global searches than HR teams focused on protecting their own ‘turf’. 2. Time There’s nothing easy about executive recruitment, and executive search firms still add value by doing the hard work of filtering out the best candidates to put forward to clients. This allows HR teams to focus their resources on core functions, while gaining recruitment manpower. 3. Selection A good executive search firm goes beyond sourcing. The real value-add is in astute selection. “Not everyone working to make a move from the UK to Asia will be the right fit for an organisation. It’s important to make that transition a success,” Jeannine Hertel says. 4. Discretion Companies looking to replace senior candidates at C-level or who need to talk to candidates from competitors need a discrete way to do that. “If it’s a listed company, a direct advertisement for a senior role could affect their stock price,” Sean Tong says. 5. Branding Candidates may be aware of a company’s consumer branding, but an employer brand is different. “Instead of having candidates base their decision on a consumer brand, a private conversation with us ensures companies don’t miss out on potential candidates,” Tong says.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

40-43_Recruitment_SUBBED.indd 42

10/03/2016 1:19:01 PM

these measures that can help attract and retain talent. Tong says an understanding of employer culture is important for today’s candidates, as is transparency. “One piece of information a candidate lacks which can push them across the line is an understanding of the culture, because that’s hard to find on Google. Transparency on the position is also key, as you don’t want them to quit in the first few months.” HR also needs to understand candidate motivations. A recent Michael Page employment survey found salary was no longer

are able to have a good conversation about the company and the opportunity. “If a really important person only shows up in the final stage, you may lose a really good candidate along the way.”

Anyone, anywhere While consolidation in the oil and gas market may affect that industry’s ‘evergreen’ status for recruiters this year, Tong says the pharmaceutical, medical devices and life sciences markets are hiring, as are e-commerce firms, thanks to the growth in internet

“We recently hired a senior FMCG executive through Facebook. He was at home preparing food, and his wife saw the advertisement on Facebook. So he thought he’d give it a try and sent in his CV. Social media is definitely the way to go right now” Sean Tong, Michael Page the top driver for candidates taking a role at a company. “The job scope and the potential for career progression is critical. Candidates want progression and empowerment in the role, and that can really increase interest.” Hertel says the most critical thing for attracting senior executives is to put the company’s best leaders in front of those candidates early in the recruitment process, rather than waiting until later. “I am always encouraging clients not to leave it to a recruiter alone; top executives want to talk to the people in the company they will work for in the future.” While a senior recruiter may make the first approach, Hertel says, when approaching a C-level candidate for example, HR should be putting forward their best leaders who

companies in Singapore. Traditional manufacturing and engineering industries are likely to maintain the status quo. But the truth is, not much is certain in the world of recruitment any more. HR teams of the future will need to be much smarter in the way they approach sourcing and selection, depending on the role. They will be more likely to have to consider anyone, anywhere. “For executive positions, companies can’t rely on local candidate pools any more, and even less so in Singapore, which is a very small place. What we’ve seen in our work with clients is an increasing openness to look at candidates coming from anywhere,” Hertel says.

SPOUSAL MATTERS Expat candidate failure can often be a result of problems with a trailing spouse relationship. “The most important thing to remember in relocating candidates from A to B is never to forget they have families,” Mercuri Urval’s Jeannine Hertel says. “I always tell my candidates not to get back to me before they’ve spoken to their wife or husband.” Hertel says family background needs to be looked at carefully to ensure a good fit, and that recruitment companies can help ease the trailing spouse’s transition into Singapore. “We have clients who bring their leaders to Asia, and we help them with advising their spouse,” she says. “We sit down with them and help with approaching the local job market, and that is something companies can add to make the opportunity more attractive – it can make a big difference.” Candidates themselves are likely to influence this shift, as they internalise the repercussions of an economic and technological revolution that will see them become global professionals. “Last year is a good example. We’ve seen markets and industries changing so fast, and at the same time economic growth has been rising and falling in different countries; it’s very volatile out there,” Hertel says. “Candidates are now more aware that if they want to pursue a top-level career, they have to be flexible and willing to move,” she says. Some expat candidates already in Singapore, for example, find that although they would like to stay in the country, companies sometimes choose not to extend their contracts, and there are limited opportunities for them to move laterally to another local company. But it may be that candidates of the future will not need to move at all. “The way today’s organisations are set up it is a lot easier to do a job from anyplace in the world,” Hertel says.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

40-43_Recruitment_SUBBED.indd 43

10/03/2016 1:19:05 PM

FEATURES

HR CAREERS

FROM LOCAL TO REGIONAL It may be the perfect opportunity to advance your career to the next level, but taking on a regional HR role is not without its challenges. Peter Szilagyi provides a detailed guide to doing it right

www.hrdmag.com.sg

44-49_HRCareers_subbed.indd 44

10/03/2016 1:46:08 PM

INDIANA JONES once quipped that “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage”. For those in global or regional HR roles, this statement will ring true both in terms of hours on the phone and kilometres on the road. That mileage brings tremendous opportunities to contribute to business growth, drive HR programs across multiple markets and accelerate professional development in an international context. For those new to regional roles, this can be a personal transformation. Success in such roles requires a different mindset, one that is finely tuned to viewing problems through multiple lenses, balancing competing interests outside of one’s home office and influencing in a digital world. In many ways, in the transition from an in-country to a regional team leader, this maxim is true: ‘what got you here won’t get you there’. Let’s investigate regional HR roles and critical success factors.

Inside the world of regional HR roles Regional HR roles can be defined as positions that cut across multiple countries in respect of supporting business growth, driving HR programs, managing organisational change, partnering, and improving service delivery. This breadth is equally true from operational roles through to specific functional or project roles and can be represented through the structure from the most senior to the most junior positions. As accountabilities are usually reflected in a matrix structure and dotted line relationships, the rules of delivery and engagement can be ambiguous. Regional HR roles are quite different in terms of business context and functional frameworks. From a traditional lens, this variation will depend on the degree to which the organisation is centralised, regionalised or decentralised. This positioning introduces different challenges for regional HR managers in aligning decision-making across the region

www.hrdmag.com.sg

44-49_HRCareers_subbed.indd 45

10/03/2016 1:46:12 PM

FEATURES

HR CAREERS

(mandated or consensus based?), deploying HR programs (standardised or customised?) and communicating to leaders and employees (which language and cultural lens?). From a dynamic lens, the reality of being in the trenches is far more nuanced, with varying degrees of centralisation or decentralisation depending on the program, process or leadership team style at any point in time. The rate and pace of technology and informational changes continues to accelerate faster than we can appreciate and every industry is open to disruption in the digital world. With labour markets becoming flatter, faster, the definition of offshore has even lost meaning. The pressure, therefore, for regional leaders to be agile and to think ahead of the curve is greater now than it was and will continue to be so in the future. This is all within the constraints of underpinning local country legislation, custom, practice and management through dispersed teams. To manage in this environment, it is important to master basic building blocks in respect of understanding business drivers, executing within the HR framework and maximising personal effectiveness.

Executing within an HR framework Any cursory read of a regional manager’s job description will highlight the need to deliver HR strategy within regional business direction. HR strategy planning and execution can vary between regional leaders depending on their starting point. That starting point could be partnering with the business, supporting HR shared service delivery, or leading Centre of Excellence (COE) functions. Most large businesses will have some version of these roles, and for medium sized businesses expanding into a new region it could be all wrapped up into one. The table to the right highlights some of these accountabilities. As this table infers, the business problems tackled are similar, but when teams are not

co-located, meaning can be blurred or even lost – leading to overlap or divergence in actions. For example, who is accountable for the employee experience in HR? (COE or Shared Service), who is accountable for

build relationships but to clearly define accountabilities between different regional managers or between region and local HR. Supporting those accountabilities should be aligned decision-making processes and a

Success in this environment needs a regional outlook and local implementation. In this way, the regional leader is pulled in two directions – being ‘regional but local’, and being ‘strategic but operational’ the mobility of talent? (COE or HR Business Partner), or more broadly, who is accountable for the execution of projects once strategies have been designed? These questions are not unique only to regional roles but are complicated by regional roles. The answers to these questions therein provide opportunities for the regional HR manager to partner, expand influence and provide leadership. It is an important consideration, therefore, not only to

regular cadence of engagement and sharing data. For example, regular reviews of shared service data can support both HR Business Partners and the COEs in making decisions based on ‘ground up’ operational data. Such combined forums also provide a powerful basis to gain alignment in action planning activities.

Understanding business drivers Regional HR professionals are powerful change agents for contributing to and executing on

SAMPLE REGIONAL LEAD PRIORITIES Centre of Excellence HR strategy and regional planning could include: regional practitioner: • Human capital planning, demand and supply trends for the region across the group Focused on forward outlook • Best practice design for talent management acquisition, retention and mobility and best practices within their • Forward scanning on compliance and regulatory change area of expertise. Regional HR Business Partner: Focused closely with business leaders and/ or line managers to achieve business objectives.

HR strategy and regional planning could include: • Establishing talent management requirements for critical skills across multiple sites (build or buy) • Building the capacity of the business to handle change • Advising on key programs like restructuring

Regional Shared Services practitioner: Focused on operational service delivery and effectiveness.

HR strategy and regional planning could include: • Building talent pipelines to support business requirements across multiple business units • Managing the delivery of operational transactions (ie payroll or enquiries) • Improving operational processes and the customer experience

www.hrdmag.com.sg

44-49_HRCareers_subbed.indd 46

10/03/2016 1:46:14 PM

organisational strategy. Effectiveness requires a strong understanding of the business model and operations. This includes a solid regional view of customers, products, suppliers, distribution networks, and sales channels. It also entails local country awareness of these dynamics and underpinning local legislation, custom and practice. Equally important to this internal view are the forces affecting the business externally. These include greater market volatility, globalised supply chains, flat labour markets, digital disruption and merger and acquisition activity. Success in this environment needs a regional outlook and local implementation. In this way, the regional leader is pulled in two directions – being ‘regional but local’, and being ‘strategic but operational’. This is no easy balancing act and requires elasticity in both directions. Without being overly clichéd, this does represent both ‘opportunity and challenge’. The opportunity is in contributing to the business strategy with both a regional and local lens; the challenge lies in keeping abreast of vast amounts of information to make informed contributions! Building business acumen regionally and locally is near on impossible without great relationships. Strong relationships are required laterally across the different business operations (ie other regional leaders in operations, production, finance or sales). It also requires a team of SMEs within your reach who know HR on the ground. These SMEs represent a knowledge footprint and could be direct employees or supporting partners. Dedication and focus should be on building a network of relationships laterally and vertically across the department. From a tactical perspective, there are many immediate actions regional leaders can take. Getting to know the region by visiting sites and operations is paramount. Operations and sites can be visited virtually as much as they can in person. For example, research sites and operations through open

source (ie Google, LinkedIn, financial analyst reports etc) and closed source (ie intranet). Take a proactive interest in business and operational reports. Likewise, when on the ground make the time to visit the operations and ensure there are cross-functional meetings (ie meetings with key stakeholders across the business) in addition to planned HR meetings. When in a new country, ensure you understand as much as you can about local context and custom. Pick up the local newspaper, talk to hotel staff; take every interaction as an opportunity to learn about culture and business climate.

Maximising personal effectiveness Delivering consistent results within a regional business context and HR strategy is not an easy task given the limited face-to-face interaction, varying time zones, competing regional priorities and tapestry of team and national cultures. This environment requires mastery of virtual leadership with high levels of insight, and exceptional influencing and organising skills. It also requires personal resilience to work through variable hours and setbacks that inevitably occur.

Generating insight

Insight refers to the extent to which you can step back from the moment and identify patterns and themes that underlie issues or opportunities. Some people are naturally gifted at moving from street view to country view, but doing so effortlessly can be a life work. Insight can be achieved through exercising situational awareness such as minimising bias in how we receive information and maximising reasoning in how we take action. Technology is a fundamental enabler of insight. At a tactical level, leverage webcam and other video tools to drive face-to-face interaction. The more this practice becomes natural (read frequent) the more ‘online face-to-face’ feels like a

BUILDING INSIGHT ff Minimising bias in how we receive information: We are all brought up with different assumptions and experiences. As we know, these act as powerful yet subtle filters on how information is sent and received. Without face-to-face interaction, physical cues are lost and it is hard to understand the degree to which information is understood or accepted. To manage bias, take information with pause – deliberately think before reaching a conclusion or taking action (it doesn’t need to be long but it does need to be deliberate). Ask more questions to clarify than you would when face-to-face. The simple framework of who, what, when, why and how is a great starting point. ff Maximising reasoning in how we take action: Now that we have information, how is that reasoned and actioned? Have we got all the data to make informed and logical decisions? A starting framework is to build mental decision trees that test the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ a couple of times over. Why do we need to do ‘a’ over ‘b’? Is that because there are financial or resource constraints? Or does a business leader want to retain existing processes? There any other frameworks that test bias and reasoning and these points represent the starting line. ‘corridor face-to-face’ (ironic as the data cable represents the corridor). These are powerful and underutilised resources. At a macro level, there is a sea of data available that provides the basis of insight and can be correlated against opinion or word on the street. Building your capability and that of your teams in basic data interrogation is fundamental for the regional manager. In a remote environment, an important consideration is the practical application of these frameworks and tools. For example, testing opinion through a cadence to

www.hrdmag.com.sg

44-49_HRCareers_subbed.indd 47

10/03/2016 1:46:18 PM

FEATURES

HR CAREERS

triangulate over time – firstly, before a meeting/workshop ask protagonists what they hope will come out of the session both in terms of process and outcomes; secondly, during the session ask: “what is the mood in the room like?” and “are people shaking their heads or nodding in agreement?” and, thirdly, after the session check in to find out

sound appreciation of personal work styles and national culture, and communication through multiple channels and mediums. Building the lay of the land relies on establishing a measured understanding of key stakeholders. A stakeholder map should outline key stakeholders, their current positions on operations or projects,

The number of stakeholders increases and with that the diversity of those stakeholders across personality styles, national cultures, time and distance how the process worked but also whether the outcomes aligned with expectations. Other cadences could be by calendar month or project stage gate. The point is that it is easy to move onto the next big priority, but failure to regularly ‘temperature check’ remote stakeholders may build pressure, particularly when there is limited interaction.

Building influence

The regional HR leader has comparatively a much larger client base, including leaders, partners, peers and the broader employee population across countries. Underpinning that are direct team accountabilities, interfacing projects, and relationships to suppliers or vendors (ie shared services departments or external parties). The number of stakeholders increases and with that the diversity of those stakeholders across personality styles, national cultures, time and distance. The key challenge is the ability to influence in a way that cuts across these variables. This involves influencing through people – and that requires a solid lay of the land, a

frequency in which information is provided to them, desired positions we need these stakeholders to be at, and associated actions required (eg increased detail on certain topics). Through this mapping exercise, a communications plan can be established that outlines the key messages, channels, senders and recipients of information. A solid understanding of work styles is an important building block of strong influencers. Work style refers to models that describe patterns of behaviour and communication preferences. There are many work style models available and the DISC profiling tool is often referenced. The DISC acronym is taken from the first letter of each behavioural trait: Dominate, Influencer, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. For you and your team, a solid understanding of one’s own style is important; using data points can help form an opinion on key stakeholders. These data points may include how meetings are run or how email is used. At a broader level, building cultural intelligence of the teams is vital. Asia is a complex and diverse region. It is a place with over 40 countries (and systems of

government and regulation), five time zones, three billion people and over 80 languages. For the regional manager, working across cultures is a fundamental and challenging aspect of the role. Cultural intelligence can be understood as the capability to relate and work effectively across cultures. Practically, this involves awareness of the degree to which individuals or teams challenge the status quo, the degree to which working in a team or individually is preferred, the degree to which cooperation and mutual agreement is preferred over individual decision-making, and finally the degree to which objectives are defined in the short or longer term. There are many resources to support in this endeavour. Asialink is a great starting point.

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE TIPS ff The pause is your greatest friend – do not jump into conversations rapidly. Give the listener space to think and contribute ff Communication is what the receiver does – check in on both the process and the content when communicating (reflective listening and paraphrasing are great tools) ff Meaning may be implied or inferred in response/non-response – check both your own understanding and insight Once stakeholder styles and cultural norms are understood, this provides the baseline for informed communication. Pulling these data points together and communicating through various mediums is important. Internal social media tools like Yammer provide a platform for inter-team and also broader organisational-wide dialogue. These can be closed circuit allowing for information between different HR teams to be shared much more rapidly than traditional means such as email. Leveraging tools to build

www.hrdmag.com.sg

44-49_HRCareers_subbed.indd 48

10/03/2016 1:46:21 PM

videos on key ‘how to’ information also allows information to be shared rapidly across the region. Take the opportunity when in the region to deliver presentations and open Q&As – ultimately there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction.

Managing virtually

Melding a cohesive team working towards clear objectives is paramount for any leader. For the regional HR manager, success depends on the extent to which they can reach through technology to inspire and organise the team. Enabling performance is not easy but there are some key markers on that journey. Firstly, a virtual team needs to clearly understand their accountabilities and more so than a face-to-face team. When in an office together, there are unlimited opportunities to clarify accountabilities but in a virtual environment with the tyranny of distance and radio silence, team members need guardrails to organise their effort and times. These guardrails are formed not through job descriptions (albeit that helps) but through clearly defined management plans (ie project plans, operating plans) that outline activities and timing and, above all, expectations. Leveraging tools like virtual project tracking, lean boards and shared workspaces all drive shared and visual collaboration rather than ‘point to point’ email or data buried in .xls, .ppt, and .doc files. Underpinning clearly defined accountabilities is regular interaction and dialogue. This includes formal one-on-ones and team meeting cadence. Letting the team drive the agenda and content as much as it is driven centrally is an effective way of building engagement and contribution. This includes regional-driven content, rotating meeting times (ie time zones) and meeting chairs. Such formats allow the team to share lessons learned, pain points and solutions, and helps with

MULTINATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL OR GLOBAL? Business globalisation and cross-border trade and investment have accelerated over the last few decades. Since 1950, world trade has increased twentyfold. Aon Hewitt’s 2009 report, Managing HR on a Global Scale, identified the following stages of truly global company development (the percentages represent how many companies identified themselves in each category).

Multinational (6%) An organisation with cross-border operations that are primarily decentralised and autonomous.

International (35%) An organisation with headquarters that retains some control over decisions, but still remains largely decentralised.

Transitioning to global (40%) An organisation that is taking concrete steps to develop worldwide strategies and policies.

Global (15%) An organisation that develops strategies and policies on a worldwide basis and shares resources across borders. collective problem-solving. A regular cadence of one-on-ones and, of course, formal team meetings are necessary but should not be exclusive mediums for communication. Just like in an open planned office where random interaction happens naturally, this should be encouraged virtually – for example, instant chats or phone calls when team members come online or end their day. Saying hello without requesting support, having a conference call to sing happy birthday, or sending an instant chat to find out how the kids’ concert or weekend soccer game went are all smart ways to keep connected in the true sense of the word. Ask the question of yourself: how well do we know our team members, their interests, their family, their passions in life? Spend time communicating to the team virtually like you would with your colleague across the partition and encourage the team to do likewise amongst themselves. Effective

leaders have strong teams that understand each other beyond the superficiality of producing outputs. This is true of any team but more so of a virtual team. Finally, it is important to take care of yourself. Whether the regional leader or the regional team member (or in most cases both!), it is important to manage your time and energy levels given the variable work hours and patterns. This includes all the good things like eating well, sleeping well and exercise – it means deliberately making time for them and your family. As Indiana Jones points out, there is a lot of mileage within those years and there are tremendous opportunities for growth and contribution – enjoy the journey!

Peter Szilagyi, CAHRI, GPHR, HRMP, is an experienced HR leader in talent management, transformation and change management.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

44-49_HRCareers_subbed.indd 49

10/03/2016 1:46:26 PM

FEATURES

TECHNOLOGY

EMPLOYEE, TO CONSUMER Employees want to interface with employers through technology just like consumers, and it is cloud technology that is helping Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s HR leaders sell their organisational product

www.hrdmag.com.sg

50-53_Technology_SUBBED.indd 50

10/03/2016 1:47:24 PM

ASIA HAS been called one of cloud computing’s last frontiers. But it won’t be for long. “The move from traditional HR software – on-premises software – to cloud-based systems has been accelerating globally for more than five years,” Oracle senior director of HCM strategy and transformation Yazad Dalal informs HRD. “We expect there will be a leapfrog effect in Asia. There is a massive adoption of cloud going on because of the convenience, and of course it works fabulously well on mobile, and as everyone knows this region is addicted to mobile devices.” Cloud computing-inspired innovation is now sweeping through HR. While the likes of Oracle and IBM boast strong enterprise-

is always going to continue to evolve – and we can’t just pause that if you are an HR director or CHRO.”

The last frontier IBM’s most recent global C-suite study found that 63% of C-level executives thought cloud technology was the most important business technology to watch in the near term. Second on the list – mobile solutions – is also essentially cloud-driven, as are some top business trends identified, like the ‘anywhere workplace’. IBM figures show companies in the Asia-Pacific region were investing $3.7bn in cloud technology in 2010, or 5% of their technology spend. In just five years that had jumped to $18.6bn by 2015, or 22% of their

“There is something inexorable about technology – it is always going to continue to evolve – and we can’t just pause that if you are an HR director or CHRO” Yazad Dalal, Oracle level cloud offerings, there is also a boom in start-ups handling everything from core payroll services to employee engagement. “If you look at the total number of employers around the world, there are now thousands who are interacting with a cloudbased HR system, and research shows that equates to over 150 million employees,” says Oracle’s Dalal. As cloud technology goes mainstream, employees are likely to demand better, more consumerised technology from their employers. It is now becoming imperative that HR leaders understand cloud technologies and lead change within their organisations. “From an HR leader perspective, they will feel increasing pressure to become agents of change and drive adoption to meet the needs of their employees,” Dalal says. “There is something inexorable about technology – it

overall IT spend. IBM predicts this to grow by at least 15% when projected out to 2018. “If you think about the overall IT spend on the cloud in the region, there is tonnes of runway still to go,” IBM director smarter workforce Glenn Dittritch says. In fact, the conditions are ripe for Singapore and the region to experience a boom in cloud adoption, in what should be a warning sign for employers lagging behind.

The market Asia’s market is made up primarily of SMEs. In Singapore, 99% of enterprises are SMEs, employing 70% of the workforce. Unencumbered by gargantuan and often patched-together licensed legacy systems as well as physical IT infrastructure costs, they can quickly leverage innovative cloud services to grow – or to offer more engaging

www.hrdmag.com.sg

50-53_Technology_SUBBED.indd 51

10/03/2016 1:47:26 PM

FEATURES

TECHNOLOGY

and responsive workplace technologies for employees.

profit and business value. That is the value that the modern HR leader can drive within their organisation,” Dalal says.

The price Cloud services are cheap. For example, Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings cost between 0.42% and 5.21% of an SME’s IT spend, according to the Asia Cloud Computing Association, while Platform as a Service (PaaS) costs vary between 1.63% and 13.63% of an IT budget. This smashes previous access barriers and costs for SMEs, allowing them to take advantage of the cutting-edge technology at bargain prices.

The culture Singapore is highly connected, and its mobile phone use has been described as ‘profligate’ – see boxout, ‘All about mobile’. These factors combine to create the right conditions for a boom in cloud technology,

The new consumers Cloud technology marks a radical shift from the era of licensed HR software. As more organisations transition, a universe of built-for-the-cloud HR tech start-ups is emerging, across areas like payroll, learning and content, peer-to-peer communications, recruitment, time-tracking, employee engagement, and analytics. They all have something in common. The US-based founder of Bersin by Deloitte, Josh Bersin, says the past was populated with HR management systems, applicant-tracking systems, learning management systems and payroll and benefits applications designed for HR managers. That has shifted.

“If you think about the overall IT spend on the cloud in the region, there is tonnes of runway still to go” Glenn C Dittrich, IBM among SMEs and larger organisations. However, it may favour faster-moving SMEs, representing a strategic threat for both companies and HR teams. If new brands are able to build more engaging, responsive and technologically savvy workplaces, it may test the loyalty of employees stuck at ‘backward’ and less innovative workplaces. “Whether they like it or not this technology is likely to be demanded by employees,” says Dalal. There is a benefit, though. It’s what HR has long been after. “If they can make employees happy, if they can make technology as easy to use at work as at home, then employees will feel satisfied, and happy employees make happy customers. In the end, that means better

“Any HR applications are now becoming tools for employees first, enabling them to better manage people, learn and develop and steer their own careers,” Bersin writes in a 2016 trends update. Rather than ‘systems of record’, they have become ‘systems of engagement’. “Today’s applications should be fun, game-like, and designed to help improve our productivity at work,” he says. The new era is one of consumerised HR technology. Employees will demand from employers the same experience as they get in their own lives – on their phones. “Technology is changing the way we deal with our personal lives. Whether it’s Facebook, or WhatsApp, the digital and

CLOUD HURDLES Larger companies have a number of challenges when transitioning to the cloud that SMEs don’t need to worry about. IBM’s Glenn Dittritch says there are some common mistakes organisations make that could impact on the adoption outcome for HR. Support: Companies often lack the tech support they need to make a cloud transition successful. Rather than resourcing the move effectively, Dittritch says they often underestimate the support needed to make a tool truly effective within a culture and organisation, risking transition problems and a poor return on investment. Goals: Companies have been warned to avoid any misalignment with their goals when implementing new cloud technology and systems. “They might wind up automating something that is not working as effectively as it should, like a talent attraction system, which then ends up hiring poor people faster,” Dittritch says. Adoption: Without effective change management practices in place to engineer cultural change within an organisation, cloud services may not reach their potential. Dittritch says he was lucky to be assigned a coach to help him understand IBM’s new cloud tools. “I’m not one of the new generation, but the new work habits I’ve adopted have been fantastic, and had the company not offered something like that, what you would find is that you wind up with limited adoption,” he says. Education: Though cloud technology is now better understood, Asia still trails more developed markets. “In some places we see a lack of education and understanding about the nature of cloud software and cloud computing,” Dittritch says. He notes the Singaporean government is closing this gap through education and promotion.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

50-53_Technology_SUBBED.indd 52

10/03/2016 1:47:28 PM

mobile world is one in which we literally check our phones 150 times a day,” Dalal says. “For Gen Y, this is native to them; they haven’t lived in a world that wasn’t like this. That workforce is the fastest-growing today and that will mean a growing demand for the same types of engagement and tools at work as in their personal lives,” he says. ‘Appification’ of HR platforms is expected to transform the way employees interact with their employers. Bersin gives the example of one Australian bank’s ‘Sidekick’ mobile app, which was downloaded by 10,000 employees, manages all aspects of the employee experience from a mobile phone, and has managed to reduce payslip requests by employees by 46% in less than a year. “We get a sense that most of our HR solutions will be running on our mobile phones, offering built-in location awareness, sensors, and even bio-monitoring tools,” Bersin says. Meanwhile, mobile interfaces give employers access to predictive analytics tools and new software in areas like feedback, engagement and culture management. Dalal says this consumerisation will have advantages for HR leaders in Asia. “Modern HR needs to mimic and copy what we expect in a consumer environment and

ALL ABOUT MOBILE Singapore is highly connected, and its mobile phone use has been described as ‘profligate’. Across Singapore’s 5.4 million people there are: 8.44 million mobile subscriptions as of March 2014 – a penetration of rate of 156% 11.4 million (211% penetration) broadband subscriptions 9.99 million (185% penetration) wireless broadband connections

bring that into the workplace,” he says. “If they do that and are successful and constantly evolve, they will make all the functions and chores of HR management easier to adopt because employees already use that type of interface.” Oracle’s Dalal says the unknowns for large companies transitioning to the cloud are often around cost and flexibility, given their legacy systems. Dalal says Oracle provides maximum flexibility by working with clients on the functions they want to move to the cloud first, and allowing them to upgrade according to their own schedule. “They might want to move their core functions to the cloud, or move talent acquisition to the cloud and keep payroll on premises – we empathise with those challenges,” he says. In the end, Bersin argues that companies should evaluate the success of their HR cloud technologies based on their employees’ engagement with them. “Buying software that is hard to use, that requires lots of training or is not fully integrated with the existing environment, is a mistake. Utilisation and engagement with technology is an important new measure of success, which ultimately means selecting a savvy vendor that can keep pace with the rapidly changing marketplace,” he says.

A central role Dalal says the headlong momentum towards cloud computing in HR can often be intimidating for Asia’s HR leaders. However, he says the HR role itself is central to organisations that are both using and benefiting from these new offerings. “HR should volunteer to take a central role,” he says. “It will take planning, and sometimes there is resistance internally, so you need to develop a plan to mitigate any resistance.” For instance, Dalal recommends getting a sponsor at the top level. However, he says the last thing HR should do is ignore the cloud computing trend.

A SMARTER NATION Singapore is hoping to build the world’s first ‘smart nation’, harnessing technology to improve the lives of citizens, create opportunities and build stronger communities. At the very heart of this effort is cloud computing. The government, through the likes of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, has been encouraging the development of tools and next generation infrastructure for years, including deploying incentives, training and support to build and buttress cloud uptake. For example, the Productivity and Innovation Credit Scheme grants businesses tax deductions based on acquisition of cloud services and IT equipment, while SPRING Singapore’s Capability Development Grant helps to defray up to 70% of SME project costs in relation to cloud computing, as well as in other areas. The IDA hopes Singapore’s future economic competitiveness will be sharpened by encouraging key local industries to adopt cloud services and technologies, and by driving the development of new products and services, capabilities and manpower in the bourgeoning local Software as a Service industry. “HR needs to acknowledge cloud computing is not just a transformational solution that is helping advance strategic initiatives and goals, but is actually essential for the execution of the business – that is the importance of modern HR,” he says. “You don’t want to be playing catch-up; the future is already here.”

www.hrdmag.com.sg

50-53_Technology_SUBBED.indd 53

10/03/2016 1:47:33 PM

PEOPLE

IN PERSON

www.hrdmag.com.sg

54-56_InPerson.indd 54

10/03/2016 1:48:34 PM

ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: HR AT CISCO Crowned one of Singapore’s best places to work in 2015, Cisco is well-known for its innovative HR practices. Lim Hwa Choo, head of HR for ASEAN at Cisco, talks to Miklos Bolza about conducting HR in this award-winning firm HRD: What have been your biggest HR achievements while at Cisco? Lim Hwa Choo: Most recently, Cisco received second place in the 2015 Best Companies to Work by Great Place to Work. We achieved these results because we ask the right questions. How do we make employees

opinion and flew the employee and their son over. There were complications during treatment so we flew them to a US hospital. The child is now on the road to recovery. We also matched the employee’s skillset with a US role so they could work there while their son was treated.

“Business is always transforming; HR leaders need to keep abreast of change to stay relevant. To do this, we have to embrace a continual learning mindset” feel? How do we impact them? Our employees are given a safe space where they can ask anything – a connection which provides support and positive impact in their lives. Our employees and business leaders can reach out in times of need. We had one employee whose young son was diagnosed with a critical illness. After notifying the corporate office, we found a second medical

HRD: How do you keep on top of new developments in the HR space? LHC: Business is always transforming; HR leaders need to keep abreast of change to stay relevant. To do this, we have to embrace a continual learning mindset. I look for real time information by browsing social media, reading about global and regional HR trends, and connecting with a network of HR professionals.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

54-56_InPerson.indd 55

10/03/2016 1:48:36 PM

PEOPLE

IN PERSON HWA CHOO LIM’S CAREER TIMELINE

Qualifications 2005–2007 Bachelor of business in human resources management La Trobe University 2005–2007 Communications Representative Avago Technologies

2004–2005 HR advisor, compensation & benefits Agilent Technologies

2007 HR – staffing & relocation specialist Avago Technologies

2007–2010 Client-facing HR manager, Asia Cisco Systems

HRD: What were the biggest changes in HR analytics and big data in 2015? LHC: Big data is complex and HR analytics is always changing. In 2015, there were two major changes in these areas: the data had to be relevant to business leaders, and analytics had to be available in real time. To make data more relevant, HR needs to link it to business outcomes. For instance, tracking retention means critical talent should receive above average rewards. From

and quarterly reports aren’t good enough – we should be utilising monthly and weekly results. Now, we have the tools to create relevant HR data at any time – even on a daily basis. HRD: How does Cisco use the data you collect for future HR objectives? LHC: First, we look at why analytics is so important. The data gained provides critical business opportunities and gives HR a seat at the table by equipping the business to meet its goals. For instance from a talent perspective, tech evolves and talent has to follow suit. In our ASEAN workforce, analytics tells us where we have a ready pool of talent. For example, we can make recommendations on developing skillsets in our Malaysian office without relocating people to Singapore. Another example involves medical claims

“To make data more relevant, HR needs to link it to business outcomes. For instance, tracking retention means critical talent should receive above average rewards” 2010-2012 Regional engagement manager, Asia-Pacific – sales & finance Cisco Systems

2012 HR partner, APJC Cisco Systems

2012–present Head of HR, ASEAN Cisco Systems

I initiated an informal quarterly circle with HR from eight other tech firms. We table relevant topics such as changes in work visa regulations and ask how companies are handling this. We also talk to the Ministry of Manpower for guidance and work together closely to ensure internal compliance.

simply finding data, the landscape has transformed and now analytics is part of the HR skillset. If HR is to sit at the table, we need to have that skillset and invest in fulltime resources. Finding the right details takes a lot of effort – HR has to find balance and prioritise. The HR Analytics Maturity Model by Josh Bersin-Deloitte says there are four stages of corporate evolution through reactive, proactive, strategic and predictive stages. Eight years ago, Cisco was at stage one where we used a kind of ad-hoc reporting. Now, we are at stage three and use more advanced analytics. This was done by investing in people and developing the HR team. We are now striving to reach stage four, which includes models and error planning. This requires a lot of investment and a highly specialised skillset which very few people have globally. As for real time analytics, HR is now required to provide data before time. Annual

analysis. Using the right data, we can spot trends and other information to adjust our medical policies and better cater to staff needs. Fine tuning our benefit programs retains employees, especially with more flexibility. We also use collected data for our threeyear people planning initiatives. By analysing and comparing information for the business, we can attract talent and improve workforce planning. Our ASEAN Quarterly Business Review looks at the HR data and helps us achieve our critical HR functions. HRD: What challenges are there in drawing results from the collected data? LHC: There are two major challenges here. Firstly, data analysis is not traditionally HR’s area. Advanced skills and higher business acumen are definitely required. Secondly, HR needs to invest in the necessary skills, resources and tools if they are to properly collect and analyse relevant data.

www.hrdmag.com.sg

54-56_InPerson.indd 56

10/03/2016 1:48:39 PM

IBC.indd 57

10/03/2016 1:35:29 PM

OBC.indd 1

10/03/2016 1:36:25 PM