HRM 12.6 by Key Media

When juniorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in-charge HRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in downsizing Financial training

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+ Anchoring talent at Keppel Offshore & Marine + Pitfalls in leadership transition + Managing workplace stress

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ISSUE 12.6

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CONTENTS hrm12.6

COVER STORY 14 900 million friends and counting

Social media giant Facebook believes in empowering employees to do what what they feel is best for the business. This freedom fosters big ideas and innovation that keep the organisation ahead of the curve, says its head of HR for APAC, Madan Nagaldinne

IN THIS COVER STORY “We allow people to fail, but fail fast. What would you do if you didn’t fail? It allows people to be really bold” Madan Nagaldinne, Head of HR, APAC, Facebook

EDITOR

TRAFFIC MANAGER

JOURNALISTS

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Evelyn Lim

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Yogesh Chandiramani

Sumathi V Selvaretnam Shalini Shukla-Pandey Priya de Langen EDITORIAL RESEARCHER

Vivien Shiao Shufen

Mazni Abdullah Amos Lee

John Paul Lozano

REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR

ACCOUNT MANAGERS

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER

GENERAL MANAGER

Natasha Vincent Charlene Lim

Kaveri Ayahsamy

REGIONAL MANAGING EDITOR

George Walmsley

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Richard Curzon

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

David Teng Photographer Frank Pinckers Photography PRINTED BY

Times Printers Pte Ltd

MICA (P) 158/07/2010 ISSN 0219-6883

Published by: Key Media Pte Ltd 121 Telok Ayer Street #02-01 Singapore 068590 • T: +65 6423-4631 • F: +65 6423-4632 • E: info@keymedia.com.sg

issue 12.6

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hrm12.6 CONTENTS

FEATURES 10 Staying the course

Keppel Offshore & Marine has 20 shipyards and over 30,000 employees across the globe. This made up 57% of Keppel Corporation’s $10.1 billion revenue last year. Forty-year veteran and CEO of the company, Tong Chong Heong says its achievements have been made possible by retaining and developing talent

18 When junior’s in charge

Workplace demographics are changing, with more mature workers staying in the workplace. Increasingly, younger people working for a few years are managing people their parents’ ages. HRM takes a look at how HR can stem potential conflicts due to these generational differences

22 Be prepared: Handling downsizing

Reducing a workforce is a difficult measure for any organisation. Experts explain that downsizing should be done as a last option, but that HR should pave the way to boost employee confidence when the worst is over

27 Extending your social media reach

The immediacy of social media opens up a variety of instant engagement opportunities for companies seeking to attract and retain top talent. Yet, its ubiquitous nature also poses a host of challenges for HR. HRM investigates

32 Send stress on holiday

Work-related stress can cause numerous mental and physical health problems for staff, but there are steps HR can take. A carefully-built vacation policy can be an important step for any business looking to create the ideal employee work experience.

37 Knowing your accounts

Employers appreciate the need for staff to learn key financial concepts in order to have a firm understanding of the business. HRM discovers some of the programmes that will give employees a solid financial knowledge base on which to make better-informed decisions

42 Leadership blindspots: Important lessons for CEOs and new business leaders

In the first of a two-part series on leadership, we look at some common pitfalls experienced during a period of leadership transition

46 Corporate dining that transcends

Singapore is recognised as one of the top culinary capitals in the world, with both quality and variety available throughout the city. HRM explores the latest corporate dining options that have the ability to transport diners to another place

REGULARS 4 Analysis

50 Twenty-four Seven

54 Talent Ladder

58 Resources

6 News

51 In Person

55 Talent Feature

60 Executive Appointments

9 Leaders on Leadership

53 Talent Challenge

57 Viewpoint

Contact us: Read something you like? Or something you don’t? Perhaps there’s some insight we haven’t considered? Have your say on HRM’s news, features, and contributions by emailing: info@keymedia.com.sg

issue 12.6

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analysis

Bridging the gap Experts argue that artificially raising wages of low-income workers in the short-term would be counterproductive if it is not in tandem with productivity gains

ormer Chairman of the National Wages Council (NWC), Professor Lim Chong Yah kicked up a storm recently when he suggested that wages of low-income Singaporeans could be improved by increases of 50% over three years, while also freezing the pay of high earning individuals at the same time. This would help to reduce the widening income gap in Singapore, he said. However, ministers and experts are cautioning against using such a “shock therapy” approach, stating that it would be counter-productive to increase wages alone without raising productivity. Minister of State for Manpower and National Development, Tan Chuan Jin, said in Parliament that the Government had introduced several initiatives in the 2012 Budget to help low-income workers and their families. “Helping lower-income workers and their families is not confined to jobs alone. We have enhanced our housing grants and subsidies to help lower-income families own their own homes and this has enabled many of my residents to either own their own flats or rent at below-market rentals,” Minister Tan said. The Government One of the budget initiatives targeting has set aside this group of Singaporeans includes the Financial Assistance Schemes (FAS) for Schools – all families that meet either the gross household income ceiling of $2,500 in the GST Voucher Fund per month or the per capita income cap of to finance the scheme $625 will qualify for subsidies. for the first five years The Government has also set aside $3.6 billion in the GST Voucher Fund to finance the scheme for the first five years. The GST Voucher Fund is divided into three components – Cash, Medisave (top up of Medisave for elderly people), and U-Save (offsets costs of utilities), to help low income earning individuals. Moreover, Minister Tan said in Parliament that the Government is using an active strategy to help all Singaporeans. “This is a deliberate intervention to support restructuring to raise skills and ensure that our lower wage workers get a fair share of productivity gains.” Some experts and organisations agree that raising wages for low income workers is not sustainable in the long-term, and could affect the competitiveness of all Singaporeans.

$3.6 BILLION

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Irvin Seah, DBS Economist, says Singapore should improve its productivity before raising wages. “A direct hike in wages can impact the employability of workers. If there is a substantial increase in wages, businesses could turn to hiring foreign workers.” He adds that with a high inflation rate and increasing business costs, companies could relocate their work to places where wages are lower. Dr Moh Chong Tau, Deputy President, The Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation (SMa), and President and CEO of Makino Asia, says that businesses will be adversely affected as business costs have been escalating in the past six months due to inflation. “Increasing the low income workers’ wages by 50% over the next three years may not be sustainable unless productivity improvements are made in tandem.” Employers say that besides cash, they are offering extra benefits to help their employees, especially those in the low-income bracket. In manufacturing company, Makino Asia, food is provided at affordable prices in the company canteen as well as free hot drinks. Also, every employee receives a monthly subsidy for food, says Dr Moh. “In addition, we provide health care programmes and favourable medical insurance scheme which fully cover low wage workers’ serious illness up to the initial $25,000 excluding hospitalisation expenses,” he adds. Also, Dr Moh says the organisation practices accelerated salary progression for low income workers either quarterly or half yearly to their basic wage, which is raised to a substantial amount within a three-year period. Employers and experts also say that the burden of helping low income workers should not be on businesses alone. Gary Lai, Managing Director, SEA, Charterhouse Partnership, says that any form of perks or incentives that come directly from businesses will ultimately impact their bottom line. “The government can assist by continuing to provide direct financial incentives to lower income workers in vouchers and subsidies for housing, schooling, transport or food. The government can also provide corporate tax-subsidies to companies which have a huge cost base of low income workers, but ensuring that this cost savings is channelled to this group of low income workers.”

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SMEs: How to remain competitive with benefits and incentives Legal Implications on Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Hans Han

The Concept of ‘Total Rewards’ Applied: Creating a more flexible benefits programme

Goh Ban Ping

Paul Simons

Head- Compensation & Benefits, APAC Huntsman

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Head of Product Delivery, Performance, Reward and Benefits Standard Chartered Bank

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NEWS ASIA SINGAPORE

ASIA

Talent shortage for key positions

40% mobile workers by 2015

Nearly forty per cent of employers in Singapore (37%) are experiencing difficulty filling mission-critical positions within their organisations, compared to a global average of 34%. Manpower Group’s seventh annual Talent Shortage Survey also reveals that the jobs employers have most difficulty filling are Production Operators, Accounting & Finance Staff and Engineers. Common

reasons cited by employers are a lack of available applicants (38%) and lack of technical competencies (14%). To overcome their difficulties filling positions more employers in Singapore partner with educational institutions to align with their talent needs (19%), focusing more on improving their pipelines (11%) and providing additional training and development to existing staff to fill vacancies (8%).

Jobs most in demand in 2012 in Singapore

Jobs most in demand in 2011 in Singapore

Production Operators

Sales Representatives

Accounting & Finance Staff

Engineers

Technicians

Secretaries, PAs, Administrative assistants & Office support staff

Drivers

Sales Representatives

Accounting & Finance staff

Drivers

IT staff

Skilled Trades

Teachers

Customer Service Rep & Customer Support

Insurance staff (Qualified Brokers, Clerks, etc…)

Labourers

Technicians

Management/Executive

HONG KONG

Forty per cent of employees, or 838.7 million, in AsiaPacific, excluding Japan, will be mobile workers by 2015. According to a report, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population Forecast 2011-2015 by the International Data Corporation (IDC), a majority of mobile workers would be office-based staff. Tim Dillon, IDC’s Associate VicePresident for Asia/Pacific End-User and Mobility Research said: “Mobility is at its most exciting point since Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first cellular call.” “The convergence of devices, networks and applications has changed the expectation of ‘any time, any device, anywhere’,” he added.

INDONESIA

Language problems Expats barred from 19 HR jobs Foreign nationals have been prohibited from lead to stress Prohibited occupations working in 19 specific HR occupations in Thai workers in Taiwan and Hong Indonesia, under new regulation that took effect Kong are suffering from stress related to February 29, 2012. Expatriates already working local language barriers, with some even in those occupations have been allowed to trying to hurt themselves. continue their current roles for the remaining According to the Thai News Agency, validity of their existing work permits, but they Suree Trairattananukul, Deputy will not be able to renew those visas. Consul-General of the Royal Thai The 19 prohibited occupations include HR Consulate of Hong Manager, Personnel Director and Kong said cultural Employee Career Development differences and Supervisor, and apply to all employers. the lack of Manpower and Transmigration workers globally use medication appear Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said Apple devices for work to be the main the regulation will help to prevent Source: Forrsights Workforce causes of the cultural misunderstandings. “This is Employee Survey stress among the to avoid any drawbacks associated overseas Thai workers. with cultural differences. If there are foreigners Suree pointed to an earlier case in in HR, it can be dangerous,” he said. which a Thai male worker tried to hurt Muhaimin cited a riot at Drydocks World himself at the Hong Kong International Graha in Batam in April 2010, that started when Airport, where his flight made a stopover a non-Indonesian supervisor allegedly berated between Taipei and Bangkok. an Indonesian worker using racist language.

ONE IN FIVE

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for expatriates in Indonesia

+ Career Advisor + Employee Career Development Supervisor + Employee Mediator + HR Administrator + HR Manager + Industrial Relations Manager + Job Advisor + Job Advisor and Counsellor + Job Analyst + Job Interviewer + Job Training Administrator + Occupational Safety Specialist + Office Manager + Personnel and Career Specialist + Personnel Development Supervisor + Personnel Director + Personnel Placement Supervisor + Personnel Recruitment Supervisor + Personnel Specialist

NEWS ASIA MALAYSIA

JAPAN

Low-skilled foreign worker numbers to be cut

Workers told to ditch local languages

Malaysia aims to reduce its dependency on low-skilled foreign workers, and is cutting their numbers by between 10% and 20%. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said that the number of foreign workers would be reduced in a gradual manner, lest there will be a negative impact on industries that still depend on them. “We still need to import foreign labour at this juncture,” Mustapa said, pointing out that many companies still faced difficulties in attracting local workers particularly with regard to low-wage jobs. He expressed hope that the Government’s new minimum wage policy would attract Malaysian workers to local industries. Early last month, the Government announced a minimum wage of RM900 (US$290) per month for workers in Malaysia, and RM800 per month for those in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. Currently, there are an estimated 1.8 million registered migrant workers in the country.

More companies in Japan are mandating English as their official corporate language. According to Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School, companies that don’t adopt English as a standard for their entire organisation will at some point, “experience some form of bottleneck.” She adds that although it depends on what the company does, if members from different countries need to collaborate, it will become more important that even middle managers and employees with international assignments have a common language in order to interface with others. Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Nokia, Renault, Samsung and Microsoft Beijing have all mandated English as their corporate language. In 2010, Japanese internet services company Rakuten made headlines when it announced it would become an English-only organisation, with all communication, verbal and email, in English. “English is the only global language,” CEO Hiroshi Mikitani told CNN at the time. “We’re doing a global business. I think this is the only way a Japanese service organisation can become a global organisation.” To help make the transition, Japanese language signage was removed from cafeterias and elevators. Mikitani even conducts performance reviews with his Japanese executives in English.

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL US

Working mums take fewer days off New mothers are taking fewer maternity leave days off, according to CareerBuilder’s annual study of working mums. Competitive work environments and demanding positions may be causing more women to reduce their time off from work after delivery. While most working mums who have had a child in the last three years (44%) reported taking more than eight weeks of maternity leave, 12% said they took two weeks or less, while 40% were off work for six weeks or less. Financial pressures are also playing a key role in

NORWAY

how mums are managing time at work. Thirty-nine per cent of working moms and 43% of the working dads surveyed reported that they were the sole financial provider in their households. Working dads who were the sole breadwinners were almost twice as likely to earn $50,000 or more annually, and were approximately three times as likely to earn six figures as working mothers. Women were much more likely to earn less than $35,000, compared to men. “As more mums assume the sole or primary breadwinner role in their households, they’re feeling increasingly torn between providing financial security for their families and having quality time at home,” said Hope Gurion, Chief Development Officer at CareerBuilder.

The majority of employers in the UK could be wasting the money they spend on salaries and benefits, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). It says employees are often left in the dark about the true value of their total benefits package, negating any retention value those benefits are supposed to create. The CIPD/Benefex Reward Management Survey 2012 found that more than a third of companies planned to increase their spending on employee benefits this year, but few (17.8%) provided “total reward statements” to their staff. Also, eight in 10 offered no financial education to help employees understand the value of their pensions and other financial benefits. cause of stress, and though we Findings also jobless seniors in the US still find those irritating, people showed the majority have been unemployed are now complaining more of organisations have for more than six months about not getting things done not adopted a Source: Government due to interruptions from transparent approach Accountability Office (GAO) emails, unscheduled meetings to communicating and a continuous stream of information about new tools to be learned and used.” pay scales, the provision of benefits and A total of 700 professionals were allowances, grading systems, job surveyed for the research. evaluations, performance-related pay schemes and how pay decisions are made for different individuals or groups of employees. The survey also highlighted the most common benefits provided were paid leave in excess of statutory entitlements, training realistic job preview would improve and career development, and child care recruiting process outcomes, retention rates vouchers. and overall quality of hire. Charles Cotton, rewards adviser at the “Hiring and retention challenges are CIPD, said: “In order to attract and retain common in any sector, but the stakes are even the brightest and greatest talent, the best higher in college recruiting, as companies employers offer attractive benefits both large and small scramble to get to the packages to enhance base salaries. newest, best, and brightest talent before their However, if employees don’t understand or competitors,” commented Caroline Paxman, value what they are getting, these President of SHL Americas. employers are not likely to reap the “It’s become more important than ever to competitive advantage they are seeking and ensure the right fit from the start, especially other organisations will have no incentive since graduates represent potential leadership to match them.” talent for the futures,” she says.

Norwegians feel the stress Nine out of 10 professionals in Norway feel stressed, with the number one cause being not getting done what they planned, according to a study by training company, Confex. Around 87.5% of Norwegian professionals said that they felt stressed at work, while 10% of those said they felt stressed all the time. Therese Sørensen, Head of Product Development, Confex, said: “Nagging customers and difficult colleagues used to be the main

Pre-employment assessments Pre-hire assessments for college recruits could improve retention rates for employers, a survey by talent measurement solutions company SHL has revealed. Its findings showed that only 29% of companies in the US use such assessments to help inform their college recruiting decisions. Instead, they are basing judgments purely on educational accomplishments and GPA scores. Beyond retention issues, recruiters surveyed expressed difficulty with finding the right fits for their specific corporate cultures. Three out of five respondents agreed that offering candidates a truly

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Benefits lost in translation

1.1 MILLION

leaders on leadership

Prospective leaders How important is it for leaders to nurture prospective leaders within the organisation? Derek Seow Regional Vice President – Asia, Gartner

Developing future leaders is important for three main reasons. First, to build a sustainable organisation, you need to keep your best people. This means providing career advancement opportunities and the chance for personal growth, or you risk losing them. At Gartner in Asia, 90% of our leaders are promoted from within the company. This motivates our associates because there is clear career progression for them to aspire towards. Second, by nurturing future leaders we are supporting business growth. As our business and the number of people we employ grows, we need more leaders and consequently, those talented individuals drive our business growth. This is a very effective way of maintaining high performance. Last but not least, continually developing leaders in the organisation is critical for business continuity. Sometimes people leave, for reasons beyond our control. It’s important to have new leaders ready to step into their shoes. Having experienced, effective people in leadership roles also helps maintain our culture and processes. For high-performing individuals with the right traits and mindset to become leaders at Gartner, we run a comprehensive leadership preparation programme with a new intake once or twice a year. This gives us a pool of future leaders to draw on.

Naseem Mimi Somjee

Managing Director, Window to the Past

It is absolutely vital for the longevity and success of a brand to nurture prospective leaders. In order to drive a business forward, one needs to think out of the box while keeping the heritage of a brand in mind. Evolution can only occur with strong fundamentals and a keen understanding of the business and clientele. Hence, imparting experience is necessary, but you must give them space to breathe new energy and life into a brand. As a business grows, it is necessary to bring in people who have the creativity and confidence to take the brand to the next level. I look for people with similar core values, but who are able to bring fresh, new ideas to the table. In order to remain relevant and ahead of the curve, you have to be a chameleon and adapt to the market, trends and clients while keeping your identity intact. Hence, a leader must be pro-active and able to impart confidence to the team, but encourage them to spot and follow opportunities. This will help them grow professionally, enable the business to flourish and exceed the needs and expectations of our clients.

William Chu

President, Avnet Technology Solutions Asia Pacific

Avnet places high importance in nurturing talents within the organisation. People development is a very important aspect of the company. To begin with, we put a lot of emphasis in ensuring that all of Avnet’s employees have an excellent understanding of the Company’s business goals and how the role that each of us play contributes to the overall profitable growth of Avnet. This was especially important, as we at Avnet Technology Solutions, Asia Pacific, embarked on aggressive expansion organically and through mergers and acquisitions. One crucial part of the integration process has been to create one culture, one Avnet, which I am delighted to say we have successfully accomplished. We invest considerably in providing our next-generation leaders with training programmes that are constantly refined and made suitable to adapt to the fast-changing global business. As part of our succession planning, the present leadership team also plays a role and is very much involved in helping design and maintain professional development plans to ensure we have a solid batch of future leaders. Our efforts have paid off as we were named No. 1 in our industry on Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” list between 2009-2012. issue 12.6

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leaders talk hr

Keppel Offshore & Marine has 20 shipyards and over 30,000 employees across the globe. This made up 57% of Keppel Corporation's $10.1 billion revenue last year. Forty-year veteran and CEO of the company, Tong Chong Heong says its achievements have been made possible by retaining and developing talent By Priya de Langen

eaders who take over the helm of an organisation during an economic downturn are often under immense pressure to turn things around. However, when Tong Chong Heong was handed the reins of CEO of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) in 2009, the challenge facing him was somewhat different. Tong says that due to the strong support of its customers, the company was busy with work and his main task was to ensure that the projects were delivered in a timely manner. Currently, the man in charge of the multibillion dollar offshore and marine division heads more than 30,000 Keppel O&M employees across the world, and takes a very hands-on approach to work. “I strive for excellence but I give a lot of empowerment to my people.” He has an open door policy with his employees and even on weekends goes around the yards to talk to fellow workers. “I allow them to make their own decisions and this gives them responsibility, but I would like them to communicate with me if things are not right as we could solve it as a team.” Over the years, leadership and various measures have kept the business strong, especially with regards to high retention rates of employees. In fact, he highlights that most of the senior management who have been with the organisation for decades started as trainees, which includes himself since he worked his way up to the top of the organisation over the past 40 years.

Steering young hires

Good retention starts with not only hiring the right fit of employees for the organisation but also developing them. Keppel O&M has got this downpat and, with good employer branding, attracts like-minded individuals into the company. “Over the years, we are fortunate that the branding has helped to attract people from India, China and even from Norway, the US and UK.

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Moreover, we are selective and are guided by core values of Keppel O&M and Keppel Corporation,” explains Tong. With widening talent gaps plaguing many industries, building a talent pipeline is critical for organisations. Keppel O&M partners with a select group of local and overseas tertiary and technical institutions, including the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. It offers scholarships and internship opportunities to attract young talent. The division is also tapping into talent from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in Singapore. Besides conducting yard tours and school talks, the organisation provides internship opportunities to ITE students. Moreover, in 2008, Keppel O&M and ITE jointly set up the Marine Offshore Technology Workshop at the ITE College Central. “We will also be giving out scholarships for them to pursue their full-time diploma studies in order to attract them to join Keppel O&M. After obtaining their diplomas, they will join the organisation as superintendents or engineers,” says Tong. Once inside the organisation, Tong is careful not to throw young hires straight in to the deep

Biography Tong Chong Heong is the CEO of Keppel Offshore & Marine. He took over the position in 2009, after being promoted from Chief Operations Officer (COO), a role he had from 2002 to 2008. He is also the Chairman of Keppel Integrated Engineering and the Senior Executive Director of Keppel Corporation. He served for 28 years and was appointed Commander of the Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC) from 1995-2001. He was also honoured with the Singapore Public Service Medal at the 1999 National Day Award and the Medal of Commendation (Gold) Award at NTUC May Day 2010. He was appointed a member of the Singapore Maritime Institute Governing Council on 1 January 2011.

leaders talk hr

Staying course the

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leaders talk hr

Me-myself-I + I love: I love work + My inspiration is: To have a group of like-minded people working for the betterment of the company + My biggest strength: Being able to motivate others to excel + My weakness is: I am a workaholic + In five years’ time: I’d like to see Keppel O&M even stronger and in a better position + Favourite anecdote: I believe in a “can do” attitude

end. Instead, recruits are guided carefully into their roles through induction as well as mentoring. Through orientation programmes, employees are given a better understanding of the organisation and its culture. Also, as part of the Keppel Group Orientation, they are also given the opportunity to visit the other arms of the group, such as Keppel Land and Keppel Logistics. Mentorship plays a great part in laying the foundation for young employees in Keppel O&M, Tong says. “The mentorship programme is conducted over a period to bring employees up to the next level,” he says. It is a cycle where eventually the “mentees” become mentors.

Anchoring development

The division offers different venues for development for all levels of employees. In fact, Keppel O&M employees averaged 74 hours of training in 2011. The comprehensive development programmes range from improving technical skills to development of soft skills such as leadership, communication, and team management. “We believe in making sure that employees are well trained so we do not spare any expenses

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in training them over and over again. Because of the focus on training, we can reap the returns of well trained employees,” Tong says. The Project Management Programme (PMP) is targeted at young managers, superintendents, and engineers to help them understand the commercial aspects of the business, including principles of negotiations, drafting, and handling commercial contracts and claims management. “We select young and motivated employees for PMP,” Tong says. “We see their ability to work well with others, knowledge, experience, and how well they work with their peers and interact with customers.” He adds that top management attend employee presentations at the end of the course to see what they have learned from the projects and to evaluate their potential for promotion. Senior level employees are also offered development avenues, including the General Management Programme (GMP). “GMP is for senior employees and they have been sent to Harvard Business School. The GM of Keppel Shipyard is currently at Harvard attending the two to three month course,” he says. Staff who are interested in furthering their general studies are also given encouragement through the Employee Development Scheme (EDS). Tong says that some employees take the initiative to apply for EDS but most are recommended by their section heads. They can pursue various studies, including part-time diplomas, degrees and Masters. However, a panel of top management goes through the list of employees who have been chosen for the EDS to ensure they can maintain both work and study commitments. “We ask them how they are going to cope but these employees

leaders talk hr

Safety is No. 1 are highly motivated. Moreover, there are other team members to help out and we give them ownership.”

Rewarding employees

In an industry where the smallest mistake could mean a heavy cost in terms of safety, Keppel Offshore & Marine ensures that it maintains top safety standards for employee protection. In 2011, Keppel Offshore & Marine invested around $16 million on safety infrastructure upgrades, process improvements, training and communication, with the aim of promoting safe work behaviour and practices. The accident frequency rate was 0.24 reportable cases for every million man hours worked. Tong Chong Heong, CEO of Keppel Offshore & Marine, says that the organisation wants to build a safe workplace culture. “Our board meeting starts with the issue of safety and this percolates down to other meetings. Even if a project is urgent, it should not be fighting against safety.” He adds that when a serious accident happens, even the Chairman is made aware of it and there is a follow-up within 24 hours that highlights detailed causes of the incident and how to make sure that it does not happen again. Also, the organisation sits on different safety boards in Singapore and has won various accolades for safe workplaces. These have included Keppel Shipyard and Keppel FELS clinching the Shipyard of the Year Award and Safety Award respectively for the second year running at the Lloyd’s List Awards, Asia 2011.

All that hard work does pay off; indeed Keppel O&M makes sure employees get their share of the pie. Tong says that there is a regular sharing of bonuses for all the projects that have been done well, as well as a bonus given by clients for cumulative working hours without safety incidents. “However, we contribute to it to make sure that not just staff and workers get it, but also contractors get it. At the end of the year, sometimes there are eight or nine months of bonus, which has been possible over the last few years,” he says. The organisation also recognises its employees in other ways. “The day after

National Day, there is a pledge taking ceremony, when the Keppel Union invites a Minister or member of parliament to be the guest-of-honour to present long service medals,” he says. Employees are also recognised for safety, project completion, and exemplary conduct.

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cover story

900 million

friends and counting 14

issue 12.6

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eeping in sync with the nature of its business, Facebook’s Singapore office is social by design. The open plan space has no individual cubicles or offices, even for managers. It brings people together, gets them talking and encourages collaboration, reveals Madan Nagaldinne, Head of HR, Asia-Pacific, Facebook. Adding some local flavour to the work environment, the meeting rooms at the office are named after Singaporean terms such as Uncle, Ah Beng and “Can La”. Employee perks include a pantry well-stocked with sandwiches, salads, muffins and other snacks. This leads out to a relaxing outdoor patio where your attention immediately centres on a large hammock. Employees can use it for a siesta at any time without fear of reprisal, Nagaldinne says. “We allow people to bring their whole self to work.” Despite the company’s rapid global expansion, it believes on keeping things lean. “We want to grow big but stay small,” Nagaldinne says. As it Facebook went public on May 18, 2012 at scales its business, a major a share price of US$38 per share giving the challenge is scaling its culture entire company a valuation of and leadership in tandem with this growth, he adds.

US$16 BILLION

Empowering employees

Facebook believes in empowering employees to make independent decisions, and busting bureaucracy is a key facet of its work culture. For example, employees do not constantly need to seek permission to get something done, says Nagaldinne. “You do what you think is right for the business. Done is better than perfect.” The organisation also believes in being open and flexible to new ideas and requests from employees. “Don’t throw the rulebook at them. Some policies may be redundant so make speed your friend and not your enemy,” Nagaldinne says. Creating “awesomeness” at the workplace is a top priority at Facebook. This goes beyond employee engagement and extends to other factors like hiring effective managers, and getting compensation and benefits packages at their optimum, right down to the initial interview process for all staff, explains Nagaldinne. Working at Facebook also requires some employees to “unlearn” certain things that they might issue 12.6

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“We allow people to fail, but fail fast. What would you do if you didn’t fail? It allows people to be really bold” Madan Nagaldinne, Head of HR for APAC, Facebook

At a glance

have used to in their previous places of work. For example, they have to get used to + Total number of working in smaller teams as employees globally: 3,000 well as learn how to share and + Key HR focus areas: Recruitment, employee co-create, Nagaldinne says. development, leadership The organisation also adopts a very open culture and employees are encouraged to constantly discuss things among each other. Its internal culture is built around feedback and employees use internal Facebook groups to aid collaboration. “Once you give people a platform, you open the door to selfexpression.”

Making an impact

Facebook adopts a very purpose-driven talent acquisition process that seeks out individuals with a passion and strength. “They have to be builders and creators at the core. What have you valued added? How good are you at dreaming big?” asks Nagaldinne of all candidates. Employees with originality and an extreme entrepreneurial spirit are ideal, Nagaldinne says. The organisation also encourages a certain level of risk-taking.

Facebook Landing Teams Facebook deploys a Landing Team each time it opens an office in a new location. The team is responsible for hiring new recruits and helping transport the company’s corporate culture. “It helps the country get off the ground and helps lay the foundation for its new operations,” says Madan Nagaldinne, Head of HR, Asia-Pacific, Facebook.

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“We allow people to fail, but fail fast. What would you do if you didn’t fail? It allows people to be really bold.” Organisations should not use the stick over small Every new engineer that joins mistakes, Nagaldinne adds. Facebook spends his or her first six “Great talent will run away if weeks at Bootcamp, an intensive you dictate.” onboarding programme. Here, they As Facebook is at the are exposed to the company’s code forefront of change, it wants base, learn more about the employees who can make an company culture and given the impact in the organisation. flexibility to choose a project that “Making sure that everyone they would like to work on. They has a real job is what makes also participate in mentoring us different,” says sessions. Bootcamp is attended by new staff of all levels from software Nagaldinne. engineers straight out of college to Career development at engineering directors with PhDs. Facebook is more like a jungle gym, than the traditional vertical ladder of growth. This means that getting ahead in the organisation need not necessarily be a direct path up, Nagaldinne says. Instead, employees grow through varied experiences and are constantly learning from the people around them. Facebook also helps its employees identify and develop their core strengths.

Facebook Bootcamp

Bridging gaps

With a global workforce of 3,000, Facebook believes in building an inclusive work culture. Apart from being a melting pot of different cultures, it is also a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-friendly employer. In Singapore, medical coverage is extended to employees’ significant other regardless of gender or if they are legally married. Facebook is also a strong proponent of women’s leadership. In honour of International Women’s Day this year, the company created a video encouraging more girls to study computer science so that they can take on more technology-centred jobs in the future. Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is also a strong advocate and regularly speaks on the topic. In 2011, she was ranked #5 on “the world’s 100 most powerful women” list by Forbes. issue 12.6

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W he n

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s ’ r o i n ju charge in Workplace demographics are changing, with more mature workers staying on for longer. Increasingly, younger people with just a few years of experience are managing people their parents’ ages. HRM asks how HR can stem potential generational conflict in the workplace By Shalini Shukla-Pandey

eneration Y employees are rising up the ranks quickly and it is now common to see them managing people old enough to be their parents. At the same time, more mature workers are staying on in the workforce past their formal retirement age, further highlighting generation gaps at the workplace. “Our organisation is perhaps a little unique in that a large majority of staff (more than 70%) are over 35 all the way up to the age of 72,” says Genevieve Chua, MD of PaperLinx. “The managers in our organisation are above 35 years old. A number of them have risen through the ranks, having been promoted over the years and given enhanced job scopes and regional exposure.” Chua herself is 48 this year and in her management team of eight men, there are five members younger than her, and three older. She says that in the last two years, PaperLinx has recruited younger people for the renewal process in sales and marketing roles particularly.

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Preventing friction between the ages “Those who have had promotions and regional roles in the last two years have built up the relevant capabilities and, importantly, excellent work attitude so there is no doubt from the rest of the team about their leadership prowess,” she says. “We are also very lean in terms of headcount so there is no intense rivalry or competition as such in the structure.”

The young ones

To prevent conflicts in the workplace, Genevieve Chua, MD, PaperLinx says HR should minimise potential problems by hiring effectively. “Understanding the profile of your existing staff, management and understanding the profile of the potential candidate are important,” she says. Even with the best of approaches, tools and measurements, there will still be problems. Then of course, HR should assist. Training in people management and communication skills are absolutely critical. In fact, the first step is to identify issues within the person because sometimes even with the best efforts, it may be necessary to change one’s perception, mindset and expectations under the circumstances particular to the organisation.

Investing in young talent allows Microsoft to build a diverse organisation, reflective of its customers and fuelling its competitive advantage now and in to the future, says Jessica Tan, Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore. “When younger employees demonstrate potential and have the competencies to take on more responsibility, including managing people, we do give them the opportunity to do so,” she points out. “As with all career moves for individuals, this will be based on their performance, personal career aspirations, and track record of impact.” At Microsoft, HR has a career model that enables staff to choose the career path that works for them – whether this is to become a senior individual contributor, or move into senior management. People Managers play a critical role at Microsoft. “Decisions to have our people take on people management, or any role in the organisation is always based on competency and track record, keeping the focus on the work at hand, and not the age differences between workers,” says Tan. The differences between the ages may be even more pronounced depending on the profession or the industry. For instance, in industries such as hospitality and retail, many younger people work for a few years, after which they are readily promoted and start managing much older colleagues who have been long-time employees of the organisation. In hotels, ground staff such as cleaners and housekeepers tend to be older workers – Generation X and baby boomers. Hence, in her previous experience at both Royal Plaza on Scotts and Asiarooms, Eileen Ang, Director of HR at W Singapore – Sentosa Cove did come across more Generation Y employees holding managerial positions. “These Gen-Y managers had to prove themselves worthy of leading the team of 20 or more older staff in their department and were respected by their older subordinates,” says Ang.

Conflicts and challenges

Where there are diverse types of people, there may be conflicts as well. For instance, a younger supervisor, probably with no bad intention, may refer to his older employee as ‘Gramps’ or ‘Pops’ – something that could escalate to an age discrimination lawsuit. People management and the ability to lead effectively are perquisite skill sets for a successful manager – young or old. “A younger person who is competent, seen as fair, firm and committed, listens, has the ability to guide, and sets expectations relevant to company goals will earn the respect and loyalty of an older subordinate,” says Chua. issue 12.6

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Yukiko IMAZU Partner ANDERSON MORI & TOMOTSUNE Japan

Managing older subordinates Genevieve Chua, MD, PaperLinx, offers two examples of organisations where “juniors” are in charge. “One of my customers who is running his own company in Singapore now has the issue of having many older workers reporting to him, including managers, as his is a family business,” she says. “It gets difficult when relatives are involved. However, he has over time won them over through sheer determination, hard work and ability to make progressive and positive changes for the company.” She also has a friend in Germany who was given charge of the manufacturing operations of his organisation. “That department had over a hundred workers, most of whom were older than he was,” says Chua. “It seemed like a very daunting task I remember him mentioning initially but again, over time, he resolved this by being patient, listening, communicating, and showing sincerity and focus.”

Even where the younger supervisor is new to the job, and hence lacking in experience, Chua says older workers will respect their boss if they are seen to have the abovementioned attributes. “Generally, I would like to believe that an older subordinate has the maturity to accept a younger supervisor, particularly where the younger person proves to be capable,” she explains. “Importantly, the younger person has to have well-honed communication skills to get the buy-in from the older staff.” However, an older staff member, whilst more mature, will tend to be more “set” in their ways and may be reluctant to stray from their comfort zones when changes are required. “They say things like, ‘This is what I used to do’, and are unwilling to adapt to the new working style of younger bosses,” says Ang. In this case, it is also important to educate younger managers so that they are mindful of sensitivities and approach older workers with the right management style. Not only must the ability to communicate well be a fundamental asset, patience and tolerance are also crucial to the younger supervisor’s success and to avoid conflict with the older subordinates.

Susie BEAUMONT Foreign Legal Consultant HADIPUTRANTO HADINOTO & PARTNERS Indonesia

Jason C.Y. LEE Senior Attorney LEE AND LI Taiwan

Suriyong TUNGSUWAN Partner BAKER & MCKENZIE LTD. Thailand

Clapping with two hands

As much as it’s difficult for older employees to accept a younger boss, it is also important for younger supervisors to recognise the value and contributions of older workers. While that can be tricky, there are ways to make it work. Chua says it is about earning respect through the younger person’s Anil CHANGAROTH Susan MUNRO Kelvin WONG Partner Partner Partner, Corporate & competence, dedication and ability to lead and create positive changes for the Aequitas Law LLP STEPTOE & JOHNSON Commercial Mr. Kelvin WONG- Partner, Allen & Gledhill LLP, Singapore Singapore ALLEN & GLEDHILL People’s Republic of China person. So staying focused and getting the results is important as actions do LLP Singapore Celia YUEN- Practice Leader, Freehill, Singapore Mr. Kelvin WONG- Partner, Allen speak & Gledhill LLP, Singapore louder than words. Getting buy-in for changes and new processes and even culture is also pertinent. “This has to happen over time with excellent communication skills combined with patience and tolerance, being sincere and having the ability to Yukiko IMAZU listen and learn, and being seen as fair and fairly transparent.” At Royal Plaza on Scotts, the corporate culture is not hierarchical and HR Celia YUEN- Practice Leader,Lucy Freehill, Singapore TWOMESenior Legal Associate, Freehills, Singapore Celia YUEN Lucy TWOMEY Nohid was able to successfully bring together young and old staff by encouraging NOOREYEZDAN Practice Leader Senior Legal Associate FREEHILLS FREEHILLS Partner Generation workers to be more patient with older colleagues and respect their AZB & PARTNERS Nohid Singapore Singapore NooreyezdanPartner, AZB & Partners, India Y India Nohid NooreyezdanPartner, AZB & Partners, India wealth of experience. They were also asked to help older workers upgrade their technology skills such as proficiency in Microsoft Excel. This helped to improve productivity and led to better communication with younger co-workers, Ang said. Lucy TWOME- Senior Legal Associate, Freehills, Singapore Ang is currently working towards maintaining harmony between her young +65 6423 4631 and mature employees by educating senior leadership at W Hotels on the needs Susie Beaumont HHP

Susan Munro- Steptoe&Johnson

ANDERSON MORI & TOMOTSUNE

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and expectations of Generation Y workers so that they may tweak their own leadership styles. “Team building exercises in which employees are not segmented by age group are important in bringing together diverse mindsets for collaboration,” says Ang. “Young leaders and older subordinates can also coach and mentor each other in skills that they are proficient in respectively.” That said, an older supervisor without the relevant skills-set and who is seen to treat subordinates unfairly and ineffectively will also face similar conflicts, criticisms and lack of support. “Incompetence is ageless,” says Chua. “As a corollary to that, good leadership is also not age dependent,” she adds. “It helps of course to have experience to fall back on and past successes to count on (which we would assume an older person would have more of) but a younger, competent and focused person can also overcome problems with good people management and communication skills and be sincerely committed.”

“Incompetence is ageless” Genevieve Chua, MD, PaperLinx

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Be prepared Handling downsizing

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t is known by many names: downsizing, layoffs, delayering, redundancy and more. But whichever the term, ultimately it means that a person is being let go from their company. Downsizing an organisation is undoubtedly a bleak period for both employees and the employer. In 2011, many MNCs around the world were going through the pain; HSBC laid off 5,000 of its workforce and is planning to reduce another 25,000 more. Former book retail giant, Borders axed over 10,000 employees from its 400 stores when it declared bankruptcy, and Merck & Co. also laid off 13,000 employees. Experts say that organisations should consider other options carefully before introducing workforce reduction measures. These could include cost cutting measures, pay freezes, and mandatory holidays. Only when other options do not work out, should companies consider downsizing. However, how can companies ensure downsizing goes smoothly? Employers and experts say that HR has a big role to play, from keeping communication lines open to ensuring that staff that are being let go are treated in a dignified manner. Moreover, HR is needed to tackle challenges after the downsizing period, most importantly to boost the morale of remaining employees and retaining key talent.

Are there other options?

Reducing the workforce should always be the last option in a company. With a smaller headcount, an organisation may improve earnings for a while but might not be able to sustain those gains over the long-term, experts say. In the research paper, Upside Downsizing: A New Role for the Human Resources Manager, it was revealed that from over 500 downsized companies considered, almost two-thirds of the companies were unable to realise any long-term gains in shareholder value from the staff reductions. Those companies that downsized only reduced labour costs by a meagre 1.1%, even though an average 7.7% of employees were laid off. Employers say that a strategic hiring process might also help keep an organisation from having to cut its workforce. Brent Tignor, Regional Human Resources Manager - Asia-Pacific, Stepan Company, says that a good staffing strategy is essential for companies. Stepan Company, which has been established in the US for decades, has been in Singapore for two years. He says that Stepan Company is a lean organisation; it does not become overstaffed during a good business period. “We tend to take a conservative approach when it comes to adding headcount. If we are unsure that a new position is needed, we usually hire an employee on a contract basis,” he says. “A good staffing strategy is essential; companies should staff organisations to be flexible, especially for changes in uncertain times.”

Is your company proactive or reactive? In the paper, Organizational Downsizing: Strategies, interventions and research implications, the authors differentiated the distinct approaches that companies take with regards to downsizing – as either proactive or reactive. Proactive downsizing is seen to be planned in advance as well as integrated with a wider set of business objectives. Reactive downsizing, however, is defined as last resort cost cutting exercises largely from long-term lack of attention to key business issues.

HR should take charge

However, when all options fail, employers say that reducing headcount is a viable option. For employees and employers there are many concerns, and HR can help mitigate the difficulties faced by both parties during this stormy period. Experts say that many companies make the mistake of not practicing clear communication during this uncertain time. So, instead of keeping information on a “need to know basis”, HR should ensure that employees get a clear idea of what is happening in the organisation. Tignor says that he has first-hand knowledge from being involved in a downsizing process in his previous company. “Communication is very important. Companies should be open about their vision, (and) their plans. They should give people time and let them know how the company is adjusting to downsizing,” he says. issue 12.6

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“From a HR perspective, besides utilising best practices and policies, there is not much that can be done except prepare. There is only so much you can do as it is more about the execution”

Also, he says that being open and honest is critical during an upheaval, especially to retain good employees. “Not communicating the plan and vision of where the company is going will lead to uncertainty, increasing the chances that high performers, who would otherwise be retained beyond the downsizing period, will leave voluntarily because they do not feel their employment is secure,” he says. David Wee, Managing Director, Lee Hecht Harrison / DBM, agrees, saying that in downsizing, HR needs to note that they need to address concerns from two groups of people – not just those that have been affected but also ‘the survivors’. Brent Tignor, Regional Human Resources It would also help if HR and management first communicate the general Manager - Asia-Pacific, Stepan Company downsizing message through either town hall meetings, or at divisional and departmental levels before notifying the individual affected employee. This helps to prepare the affected employee when receiving the notification of a job loss. He says that HR should keep open and frequent communication with employees, especially with those who are leaving. “Take the time to talk to the employees till they leave and you can gain an insight and able to give additional assistance wherever possible. Some employees might react with bitterness at first but give them time to adjust to the situation and show them that the company still care. Find out what their fears are and try to address them,” advises Wee. Moreover, preparation can be done to handle this delicate matter. He says that ample training can be given to line managers as well as HR in order to help them notify employees the correct way. “If line managers and HR do not know how to manage the notification task, it could become counterproductive for the organisation. Managers therefore have a moral and legal obligation to protect the company.” He highlights other points that HR should consider for the retrenchment day itself. Wee says that they should ensure that everything from security to medical help should be available on the day. Moreover, HR can work with outplacement partners who can be on-site to help with leaving employees with additional information and advice. “Lee Hecht Harrison / DBM has worked with many clients during downsizing for outplacement services. Over 90% of employees who after Maintain clear and open completing an outplacement program eventually communication – prepare express gratitude to the company for providing this Identify and a detailed plan to address service. They understand that they are being let go streamline processes issues associated for business reasons but are grateful for the help with downsizing given,” says Wee. Tignor says that with regard to policies, HR Mitigate should ensure the redundancy packages are consistent with local country and cultural norms, downsizing and that they are delivered in a way that leaves the Boost surviving employee Ensure a dignified exit employee feeling like they were treated with morale – demonstrate their process. Be sensitive. respect during this difficult time. “From a HR value to the organization Provide job search perspective, besides utilising best practices and through honesty, trust and assistance or policies, there is not much that can be done except by giving them time to outplacement services prepare. There is only so much you can do as it is adjust to changes more about the execution.”

Address the challenges

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Re-building the foundation

Picking up the pieces after a retrenchment exercise is not an easy feat, especially since HR and management need to build morale and confidence amongst the employees. The study, Survivor Syndrome: Key Considerations and Practical Steps, by the UK Institute of Employment Studies, noted that employees who survive downsizing can often suffer from a ‘survivor syndrome’. This is characterised by impaired productivity, lack of trust and organisational commitment, and negative attitudes. Moreover, research shows that employees that remain are likely to judge the company’s concern and commitment for terminated employees as a reflection of what they may experience when they are let go. Experts and employers state that building trust and confidence can be done through various means. HR practitioners like Tignor from Stepan Company agree saying that people are going to be on edge for a long time after a downsizing period, and HR needs to make sure that people understand that the worst is behind them and move on. Also, ‘investing’ in your remaining employees and streamlining processes to make the business more efficient is critical. The research paper, From Both Sides Now Organizational Downsizing: What Is the Role of the Practitioner?, published by the US Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, discusses some of the underlying issues HR practitioners and management can tackle before and after reducing the workforce. Some of the key points highlighted include providing training, crosstraining, and retraining in advance of downsizing, in order to help individuals adapt to downsizing rather than relying merely on post hoc on-the-job training. This also serves to map and analyse all processes in organisation and eliminate inefficiencies. Wee says that when his organisation, Lee Hecht Harrison recently merged with DBM, they had acquired some additional first-hand experience. It was a difficult period as different corporate cultures and processes had to be merged and some positions were made redundant. The leaders needed to lead the integration between the two teams and handle the challenges. He says that after the downsizing, the remaining employees need to be engaged and recognised in order to maintain productivity. “Get employees involved, especially high-potentials, in the interests that they identify with. The organisation can also provide high-potentials with coaching to show that the company is willing to invest in them and this could be an effective retention strategy in the long-term,” says Wee. Tignor affirms this by saying that an organisations need to focus on employee development as this will help to keep staff engaged. “Putting extra work into employee development and utilising a robust succession planning process for employees is critical, especially after an upheaval. It gives them the idea that the company wants them around for the long-term.” Also, he says that when a person is let go, the company does not free itself of the responsibilities that person had and a lot of work needs to be taken on by the others that remain in the company. “You need to be able to convince employees that they will continue to receive the same pay but need to do more work. Incorporate a sweetener, such as a higher than normal annual increases, to reaffirm a positive view of the company and to invest in these key people you need to keep to help return the company to more prosperous times,” he concludes.

Where’s your empathy? Letting go of employees is not an easy decision to make, but experts say that the process should be dignified in order to cause as little worry as possible. Several companies have made headlines for the way they have treated their employees when they have been made redundant. Recently, a Toyota plant in Australia let go more than 300 workers and made few friends in the process. Reports stated overbearing security and employees that have been “left in limbo” after redundancies were talked about in January. Though the Toyota spokesperson stated that it treated its employees with respect and with one-on-one meetings, Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten said he had concerns over the way the workers were sacked. David Wee, Managing Director, Lee Hecht Harrison / DBM, says that companies sometimes do not realise the negative implications if they let go employees and do not manage the separation process. “It will tarnish the reputation of the company and make it highly unattractive when it comes to rehiring. Employees who are not leaving will also judge the way the company treats the employees who are being let go and that in turn, may lead to additional retention issues.” Brent Tignor, Regional Human Resources Manager - Asia-Pacific, Stepan Company, says that many organisations act coldly during a downsizing process, and with no empathy. However, he recalls that in his previous company, there were counsellors to talk to retrenched employees. Also, employees were given time to pick up their things and say goodbye to their co-workers. “Too many managers and HR professionals do not treat those being downsized in the way they would want to be treated if the roles were reversed,” he says.

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Extending your social media reach The immediacy of social media opens up a variety of instant engagement opportunities for companies seeking to attract and retain top talent. Yet, its ubiquitous nature also poses a host of challenges for HR. HRM investigates By Sumathi V Selvaretnam

ogging on to Facebook or LinkedIn at least once a day is almost de rigueur for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tech-savvy executive. The world is spending its time on social networking sites and employers who do not effectively harness their potential risk getting left behind in the global war for talent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you want to be noticed, you have to be where the people are,â&#x20AC;? says Michael Blanding, HR Services Manager, Intercontinental Hotels Group. Generation Y especially has embraced social media as a means of day-to-day communication. Organisations and brands are able to be part of this, by measuring several touch points on different social channels, says Aadil Bandukwala, Talent Acquisition and Social issue 12.6

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“If you want to be noticed, you have to be where the people are”

Media Advisor, India, Dell. “Conversations are going to happen about your brand in social media with or without you. For us, we decided we wanted to be part of those conversations and use them to get closer to the needs of all our stakeholders.”

Michael Blanding, HR Services Manager, InterContinental Hotels Group.

Get connected

Talent acquisition is one of the major reasons many employers are catching on to social media, as the medium enables them to reach out to niche candidates as well as untapped passive talent pools. Adopting a targeted approach to social media recruitment can yield better results as different social media platforms appeal to different demographics of potential candidates. At IHG for example, over 80% of fans on its Facebook career pages are between the ages of 18 and 34, Blanding says. Its LinkedIn page on the other hand, is skewed towards an older and more experienced demographic. “It’s a matter of knowing who you want to target and getting insights about how they want to be spoken to and where they want to interact with you,” he says. The response to IHG’s social media recruitment efforts has been positive, Blanding says. “Building presence on these channels has made us more approachable and accessible to job seekers as compared with traditional channels.” The two-way nature of social media makes it a valuable feedback channel to help tune HR policies and practices, says Steve Watts, Vice President, Asia-Pacific and Japan, SAP. “With generational shifts in the organisation come new expectations from employees. Today employees look for not just one-way communication from the company but expect two-way opportunities to engage, to be informed and to contribute.” At Dell, employees use an internal collaboration tool called Chatter. It delivers the familiar look and feel of social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter in a secure platform, Bandukwala says. “It helps us connect with our employees to work together and be more productive. Updates on people, projects and files that our employees care about are automatically pushed to them, so they always know what’s going on.”

Social media gone wrong

HR might see itself in a bind if employees start to use social media solely as a platform to vent their frustrations. In one such instance, a small group of people within Solidiance spent more than 50% of their time criticising and spreading bad rumours about their company through Google Talk, an instant messaging service. “I had no other choice but to fire them as things had gone too far (it was almost conspiracy and sabotage). I think our mistake was to give too much freedom to our employees and not enough training on how to use the tools we provide,” shares Marie Petit, HR Manager Asia, Solidiance. “Freedom cannot mean anarchy.”

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Challenges for HR

The freedom of expression offered by social media also makes it an easy target for misuse and this poses a number of challenges for HR. An instance of this can be a simple case of an employee having a bad day at work and sharing those negative

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thoughts through his social media network, explains Lionel Tan, Partner, Rajah and Tann LLP. An overzealous employee might post defamatory statements about a competitor. Amendments to the Singapore’s Evidence Act earlier this year could also have some bearing on a company’s social media usage. It is now easier for individuals to introduce electronic forms of evidence, including social media postings, in any court case. Electronic evidence has greater permanence as multiple copies may be spread and also kept on various servers. This incriminating evidence can be easily found and introduced as evidence in court, Tan says. “Companies need to be mindful of this effect and be aware of the risks.” Social media could also lead to dips in productivity. Having too many forums, platforms and other reflection groups can end up being very time consuming, says Marie Petit, HR Manager Asia, Solidiance. Some might not fully understand what social media is for, she adds. “If employees see social media as a way to claim or to protest about managers, the damage would be beyond all measure.”

Mike BLANDING Manager, School Relations & Employee Engagement

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)

Madan NAGALDINNE Head of HR Asia Pacific FACEBOOK

Crafting a viable social media policy

Clear social media guidelines need to be established to prevent its abuse, says Tan. “With the blurring of lines between what is work and personal life in the social media space, a clear social media policy will mitigate against the risk that can arise when employees intentionally or inadvertently, through the use of social media, cause damage to their company’s brand name and reputation.” The social media + Photos work. People on social media channels are policy should be drawn to things that are visual incorporated in the terms + Post content that is relevant, when it is relevant of the employment + Post actual jobs that appropriate for the age and agreement with the experience of your fan base + Post in a way that invites interaction and discussion employee, so that it will have some legal effect, Source: InterContinental Hotels Group Tan advises. In addition, seminar sessions should be carried out to educate employees about the social media policy. “To reinforce training, HR should also send periodic reminders to employees. Examples of good practices can be highlighted and also negative examples can be illustrated to show the damage that can be caused.”

Getting greater mileage on social networks

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Mike Blanding is Manager, School Relations & Employee Engagement for Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), looking after Asia, Middle East & Africa. In Aadil this role, Mike oversees management trainee programmes, internship BANDUKWALA Marieemployee PETIT engagement programmes, social media attraction channels, and Talent Acquisition Director of HR Asia across the region. Social Media Advisor Solidiance Dell A graduate from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Mike started his career with IHG as an intern during his undergraduate studies which eventually led to a full-time role with the company. In his career with IHG, Mike has spent years working in distribution marketing, tactical marketing, and brand management and was instrumental in the repositioning of the Holiday Inn brand across Asia Pacific.

Mari

In 2010, Mike made the transition into the world of Human Resources where he enjoys applying his marketing & branding expertise to enhancing recruitment marketing efforts and building of the IHG employer brand. MATTHEW Andrew CHOW HARDMAN Social Media Senior Product Strategist Manager & Managing Director VMware ASEAN & Ideamart (S) Pte Ltd India

Ltd.

Aileen MARKEY Regional HR Director Mediabrands

Lionel TAN Equity Partner Rajah & Tann LLP

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+65 6423 4631 www.hrmcongress.com

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Setting limits HR should help set a few boundaries for social media usage in corporate environments, advises Lionel Tan, Partner, Rajah and Tann LLP. + Keep business and private life separate + Respect intellectual property of others and don’t use infringing material + Adopt a respectful tone when engaged on social media, and avoid profanities + Ensure that confidential information about the company and its customers are not placed on social media + If there are any potential risks to the company’s brand name or reputation, report to HR immediately

Dell believes in training its employees on different social media platforms. Its Social Media University offers certifications across different platforms to employees once they complete their training. “This way employees are confident of what and how they need to communicate across social media and tailor specific messages relevant to their target audiences,” Bandukwala says. Organisations can also rope in employees when developing a social media policy, Petit says. “I would consider creating a small project group, composed by employees themselves, to think about it and make proposals. Usually people are more willing to accept something they have decided than something we impose on them.”

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corporate health

ozens of studies over the years have shown that job stress can be linked to increased incidences of disease and even death. “Prolonged workplace stress leads to absenteeism, stress-related illnesses, dissatisfaction, high employee turn-over, and decreased job efficiency,” says Tommy Ng, General Manager – Group HR, GuocoLand. “There can also be an increase in medical and insurance costs, since stress can make one more susceptible to illness and increase one’s risk for certain health conditions,” he adds. Excessive stress at work also leads to death. According to a survey by HumanResourcesMBA.net, about 10,000 managers, executives and engineers die annually from being overworked in Japan. Besides the obvious health risks of workplace stress, there is also the concern of poor employee engagement. K Thiveanathan, HR Director – CocaCola Bottling Operations, Singapore / Malaysia, Coca Cola, says poor engagement due to job stress will further result in higher attrition and medical leave costs, as well as non-compliance issues and disciplinary cases. Stress can impact department morale as well. “For the organisation, stress will impact productivity, causing a dent in its image as an

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employer of choice,” says Thiveanathan. “This leads to loss of key talents as the organisation is unable to attract and retain skilled employees.”

Common stressors

Job stress can be caused by a variety of factors, including common ones such as working long hours due to an excessive workload. “Company restructuring or management changes that alter employees’ regular work hours and responsibilities, the pressure to achieve pre-set targets and objectives, and not having good working relationships with peers are some causes of stress at work,” says Diana Low, Director, Michael Page International in Singapore. While a promotion might mean a pay bump and a boost on that career ladder, it may also mean additional responsibilities which can increase on-the-job stress, says Ng. Also, a lack of job security can become a stressor. “All these can take a toll on employees’ personal lives and welfare,” he adds. Thiveanathan pins workplace stress on unreasonable bosses and leadership teams. “Even if an employee carries a heavier workload, an understanding boss who appreciates their team

corporate health

members’ contributions helps to minimise stress levels within the department,” he says. Another key factor can be the absence of processes and reliable systems, or a lack of discipline within the leadership team to keep a practical management routine. “Even if employees plan their work well ahead, last minute requests for change by the leadership team can cause disruptions to plans and contribute to workplace stress,” Thiveanathan notes.

Stress-busters

Managing stress is all about taking charge. According to Michael Page International in Singapore, companies should take charge of their work environments and create good atmospheres with activities that promote team bonding. “Managers should be equipped with the skills that will help employees manage stress through managing their time and priorities, allowing them to take charge of stressful situations themselves,” says Low. “HR teams should also initiate programmes, activities and policies that promote workplace health.” For instance, HR can encourage employee motivation through activities that create a more lively corporate culture, open communication (top-down)

Karoshi – Japanese for “Death from overworking”

and exercise days (yoga or other outdoor activities). HR can also endorse company policies that promote + In Japan, about 10,000 managers, executives and a work/life balance including engineers die annually from being overworked vacation days and flexible + 11 workers for China’s Foxconn committed benefits, such as claims for suicide by jumping from high buildings, citing gym expenses, Low adds. overworking and neglect of spiritual needs GuocoLand practices a + Pan Jie, a 25-year-old female auditor in comprehensive work-life Shanghai, died from viral encephalitis in April strategy within its workplace to 2011, after working for 10 days with a high fever help employees manage their Source: HumanResourcesMBA.net stress, so that they can better focus on their job in a supportive environment. For example, the major developer, headquartered in Singapore, actively participates in the Workplace Health Programme and conducts monthly health talks and workshops, where experts and professionals share their stress management tips with staff. “Other platforms, like a free employee counselling helpline, are also publicised in the company for those who may be going through a difficult time and require advice and support,” says Ng. “GuocoLand also organises physical exercises and activities for

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corporate health

employees to help them reduce fatigue, and improve alertness and concentration.” In addition, employees are encouraged to pursue training opportunities and attend courses related to their work area, so that they can continuously upgrade their professional skills and qualifications with the latest knowledge and tools. Ng says that with structured training, employees can better manage their career progression and handle the added responsibilities of a promotion. As the business world gets more competitive and management tries to achieve more with less, workplace stress is compounded, says Thiveanathan. The leadership team at Coca Cola discusses these issues openly. During the CEO’s town-hall sessions, he shares concerns on work-life balance and reinforces the need for planning. He also encourages employees to discuss how to manage workplace stress with their supervisors. “When we consider new projects, or major change initiatives, we thoroughly discuss the impact it has on our people,” says Thiveanathan. He believes that clear management routines, discipline around leadership communication meetings, skip-level meetings and pre-planned business review meetings are critical to managing stress levels in the workplace.

Vacation Deprivation Key Statistics Days Given 30 20 10 0

Source: Expedia’s 2011 Vacation Deprivation Study

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Days Taken

Days Unused

“The leadership team’s articulation of company goals and line-of-sight to employees’ deliverables will go a long way in assisting employees to appreciate their role in the larger organisational context. Also, engaging employees before implementing a project or programme will help reduce stress levels significantly by reducing the element of surprise,” says Thiveanathan.

Take a break

Travel experiences on vacation are an essential part of living a balanced, meaningful life, says Scott Durchslag, President of Expedia Worldwide. “But perspectives on this differ around the world.” According to Expedia’s 2011 Vacation Deprivation study (see table), Americans can often ‘live to work’, viewing vacations as a guilty privilege to be downplayed around the workplace – especially if they are worried about their jobs. Europeans ‘work to live’, feeling vacation is a right rather than a privilege. Asians take the fewest days of vacation and often spend them secretly checking emails. “I am convinced this is a false choice because vacations allow employees to rejuvenate, sharpen the saw, connect with new cultures, and renew their relationships,” says Durchslag. “It is no coincidence that the happiest, well-balanced employees are the most innovative and productive.” Low says that it is important to encouraged employees to plan their leave in advance on a yearly basis. “This will allow them to take a break from work and also to manage their time and priorities more effectively so that tasks are completed before they take their leave.” Employees that have worked with a company for a long period of time may have the opportunity to take more vacation time or annual leave. Also, some companies may be more flexible with long term employees and can award them with sabbaticals if they wish to take extended leave. Vacation policies help

corporate health

CASE STUDY

Coca Cola employees to strike a work-life balance by sending them the message that taking time-off from work is healthy, and this has a positive impact on employee health management. GuocoLand’s company policy states that employees must utilise their annual leave within the calendar year and they shall not be allowed to carry forward any leave to the following year. “This approach ensures employees can plan ahead for their vacation and make full use of their leave entitlement to rest and rejuvenate,” says Ng. A good vacation policy will offer employees the flexibility to cater quality time for their personal needs, so that they come back to the office focused and recharged. Equipped with workplace stress management techniques, Ng believes employees can take responsibility for improving their physical and emotional well-being by avoiding pitfalls (i.e. negative attitudes that add to the stress experienced at work) and learning better communication skills to improve relationships with management and co-workers.

Healthway_DiscoverBetterCare_FA2.indd 1

Self-awareness training, 360° feedback and engagement survey results help HR at Coca Cola to gauge gaps and guide the leadership team on focus areas that can help manage employee stress and engagement levels. “Increased awareness at the managerial or leadership level helps them to understand workplace and team dynamics and related issues,” says K Thiveanathan, HR Director – Coca-Cola Bottling Operations, Singapore / Malaysia, Coca Cola. “By pro-actively taking steps to clear the bottle-necks, or by helping clear organisational hurdles, the team can deliver results with less friction, therefore with less stress,” Thiveanathan explains. Coca Cola also has an active sports and recreational Club which organises multiple activities throughout the year, catering for a multi-generation workforce. “This includes bowling, fishing trips, football games, head and shoulder massages during work hours from professional masseurs, yoga classes, free tickets for the Jurong Bird Park, family days, (and) ‘child at work’ programmes,” says Thiveanathan.

While the annual leave policy at Coca Cola is generous, employees do not have enough time to take their leave entitlements. “This requires better planning, joint discussions with superiors and a collaborative team environment,” says Thiveanathan. “This is an area for improvement and we are working on it.”

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Knowing your accounts T

The need for business knowledge

By Priya de Langen

raining is critical for any organisation looking to develop the skills of its employees and retain them. The Training Top 125 report revealed that median training budget for the top-spending 125 US employers was US$4.9 million, representing 2.9% of payroll. Among those organisations, the median number of employees trained was nearly 6,000, including 3,500 trained online via self-study. In Singapore, organisations are also encouraged to send their employees for training, thereby improving the skills of the overall workforce. The Singapore Government along with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and other institutions has been promoting numerous training initiatives for professionals, executives, managers and technicians in particular, aimed at improving their general business and financial skills. It has even dedicated specific Workplace Skills Qualifications (frameworks for standardised best practice, performance management and training in Singapore) to that cause. Companies understand that it is critical for their finance employees to polish their business skills, but an increasing number of them are also sending their employees in non-finance functions for the same training programmes. They want staff across the organisation to have a sound understanding of business and finance concepts. Kaplan Professional provides numerous courses for professional development, including programmes for professionals who need to expand their business acumen. Rexanna Kok, Vice President, Corporate & Student Services, Kaplan Singapore, says the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s programmes within the Business Management and Finance Management WSQ

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“Organisations now see the increasing need to equip their nonfinance trained staff with relevant financial knowledge and skills as most employees now wear many multiple hats at work” Rexanna Kok, Vice President, Corporate & Student Services, Kaplan Singapore

framework provide a good introduction and understanding of finance to participants who lack that specific background. “Organisations now see the increasing need to equip their non-finance trained staff with relevant financial knowledge and skills as most employees now wear many multiple hats at work,” she says. “Very often, a non-financial trained employee is also expected to handle certain areas that require some amount of financial understanding. Hence, training in this area is critical and brings about long term positive impact within the organisation.” Employees in the finance sector too need to improve their work skills and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the global body for professional accountants offers various recognised certificates in this area. “Currently, ACCA works with over 8,500 organisations worldwide in supporting the career advancement and development of ACCA members through the ACCA Approved Employer Programme,” says Darryl Wee, Country Head, ACCA Singapore. He adds that employers support their trainees by sponsoring their tuition and examination fees in part or in full, as well as providing study leave and other incentives.

Learning the basics

Service providers say that they have a variety of programmes to cater to finance and non-finance professional needs. “Kaplan Professional has embarked on training individuals and organisations in various financial programmes. With funding of up to 40% by WDA, we have seen a growing demand for enrolments into these programmes,” says Kok. For employees that do not have a finance background, Kaplan has made it easier and more engaging to help them understand concepts through a simulation tool – the Kaplan Business Challenge. The employees are put through a real life situation whereby they need to complete a set of tasks and linking up to key financial concepts, she says. “Internalisation of concepts takes place quickly and knowledge gets translated into skills that are ultimately transferred into the workplace.” Organisations can opt to have their In Singapore, there are various finance and business programmes that employees in the finance department undertake organisations can choose to offer to their employees. The Workforce Development the ACCA qualification to further develop Agency offers the Business Management Workforce Skills Qualifications(BM WSQ) their accounting knowledge and skills. Wee of framework to cultivate versatile “T-shaped Professionals”, who possess deep skills ACCA Singapore says that besides this in a specific domain area, along with general knowledge of other related areas in certificate, the company also offers various business operations. Under this framework, there are numerous modules, including entry-level qualifications, referred to as Business Development (Sales and Marketing) that help people understand an organisation’s products and services and business environment. Also, there are “foundations” in the accounting profession. modules on Financial Management (Finance) that help a person understand, “This suite of qualifications is targeted at analyse and apply financial and budgeting tools for strategic decision making. employees starting out in accounting and finance, or already working in finance and

Choose from a variety

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wanting additional qualifications to strengthen their knowledge and experience,” he says. Moreover, organisations in Singapore can get funding for these qualifications. Under the Skills Development Fund, up to 80% of course fees can be funded, upon approval by the WDA. Companies can also choose from other professional skills courses for finance staff that ACCA Singapore offers, as well as other services such as high-level forums and seminars, and access to ACCA’s publications and resources. Wee says that under the ACCA Employer Programme, “ACCA trainees enjoy a streamlined process towards becoming a member and a qualified accountant.”

Getting a good ROI

Studies show that there is a shortage of talent in the financial industry. The PwC 2012 Global CEO Survey highlighted that 40% of financial services CEOs believe that it’s getting harder to hire good people in their industry, and less than 20% believe it is going to get easier. Experts say that business and financial training courses help upgrade

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the skills of finance and non-finance employees to ensure they compete effectively in a workplace. Consequently, organisations are getting a good return on investment from sending their employees for such courses. “Despite the uncertain economic situation, the accountancy profession in Singapore is still experiencing a shortage of talent. Moreover, as Singapore gears up to become a leading global accountancy hub for the Asia-Pacific region, there will also be a need for good talent to fill the job opportunities which will be created,” explains Wee of ACCA Singapore. However, he says that there are a steady number of people who wish to embark on a career in accountancy or those who want to upgrade themselves in order to compete more effectively in the workplace. Kok says that Kaplan has received positive feedback from its clients for its programmes and organisations are getting a good return. “One classic example given by many of our clients is how their employees from the various departments are able to actively support the finance department.”

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guest contributor

Leadership blindspots Important lessons for CEOs and new business leaders In the first of a two-part series on leadership, we look at some common pitfalls experienced during a period of leadership transition

EOs are generally considered to have failed when they are unable to meet the expectations of their boards, shareholders and the market at large, or the company’s stakeholders. This failure becomes official when a company confirms its decision to initiate proceedings for the CEO’s departure. What are the primary factors leading to this dissatisfaction? What is the CEO’s ability to react? And can the top executive be considered a “failure” when receiving a severance package worth millions? The actions new leaders take during the first 90 Days can have a major impact on their success or failure. How does one best take charge in a new leadership role? Transitions are pivotal times, in part because everyone is expecting change to occur. But these are also periods of great vulnerability for new leaders, who lack established working relationships and detailed knowledge of their new role. New CEOs, who fail to build

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momentum during their transition, face an uphill battle, which in the final analysis may never be won. Once the battle is lost, a CEO’s reputation may be sufficiently tarnished where another leadership opportunity may be difficult to come by.

The Six Leadership Passages

The Leadership Pipeline Model (Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter and James Noel, 2001) explains the discrete career stages and the critical transitions points in the leadership pipeline, where each passage represents a fundamental change in the skills and values that are important, and the activities that must be prioritised and allocated more time so as to avoid transition pitfalls. (See Figure 1).

Common Leadership Transition Pitfalls

Leadership transition pitfalls for CEOs at Passage Six of the Leadership Pipeline occur for two common reasons: » CEOs are often unaware that this is a significant passage that requires changes in values. » It’s difficult to develop a CEO for this particular leadership transition. In terms of the latter, preparation for the chief new leaders fall into is executive position is the result of a series of diverse to believe that they will experiences over a long time. The best developmental continue be successful by approach provides carefully selected job assignments that doing what has made them stretch people over time and allow them to learn and successful in the past practice necessary skills. Though coaching might be helpful as an adjunct to this development process, people usually need time, experience, and the right assignments to develop into effective CEOs. According to Dr Michael Watkins, the author of the best seller, “The First 90 Days” (HBS Press, 2003), the biggest trap new leaders fall into is to believe that they will continue be successful by doing what has made them successful in the past. There is an old saying, “To a person who has a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” So too it is for leaders who have become successful by relying on certain skills and abilities. Too often they fail to see that their new leadership role demands different skills and abilities. And so they fail to meet the adaptive challenge. This does not, of course, mean that new leaders should ignore their strengths. It means that they should focus first on what it will really take to be successful in the new role, then discipline themselves to do things that don’t come naturally if the situation demands it. Dr Watkins further adds that another common trap is falling prey to the understandable anxiety the transition process evokes. Some new leaders try to take on too much, hoping that if they do enough things, something will work. Others feel they have to be seen “taking charge,” and so make changes in order to put their own stamp on things. Still others experience the “action imperative” – they feel they need to be in motion, and so don’t spend enough time upfront engaged in diagnosis.

THE BIGGEST TRAP

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guest contributor

TWO OUT OF EVERY FIVE

Figure 1 Passage Six

Passage Four

Passage Two

The result is that new leaders end up enmeshed in vicious cycles in which they make bad judgments that undermine their credibility. new CEOs fail in the first 18 months From my executive coaching engagements (HBR, January 2005) involving CEOs over the past 10 years, my observations are that leaders who under-perform typically fall into common traps. First of all, they can become isolated as a consequence of over-reliance on financial and operating reports, and quantitative analyses to assess their new organisations. They spend too much time reading and not enough time meeting and talking. They want to know the organisation before venturing out into it. The resulting isolation inhibits the development of important relationships and the cultivation of sources of information. Consequently, the new leader becomes remote and unapproachable. In short, it is important for new leaders to get out and become acquainted with their organisations quickly. Secondly, new CEOs have to be careful not to enter the firm with a well-defined fix for the organisational problems. Some CEOs rely too much on technical solutions, changes to organisational structure, or the manipulation of measurement and reward systems. New CEOs fall into this trap through arrogance, insecurity, or a belief that they must appear decisive and establish a directive tone. Unfortunately, employees become cynical about these superficial solutions and hence are reluctant to support change. New CEOs, especially those with a collegial style, often believe that subordinates deserve a chance to prove themselves. However, retaining team members with their record of mediocre performance is seldom advisable. Retaining direct reports, who are not up to the task, squanders precious time and energy, which leaders might be directing elsewhere. While it is inappropriate to be unfair or expect miracles, new CEOs should impose a time limit, for r ge example six to twelve months Enterprise Mana (depending on the severity of the Group Manager problem), for deciding who Passage should remain on the senior Five Business Manager management team. Funtional Managers Manager of Manage

Manager of Others Manager of Self

Source: The Leadership Pipeline, (2001), by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel

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Passage Three

Passage One

Conclusion

Good leaders make people around them successful. They are passionate and committed, authentic, courageous, honest and reliable. But in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highpressure environment, leaders need a confidante, a mentor, or someone they can trust to tell the truth about

guest contributor

their behavior. They rarely get that from employees or board members. Professional executive coaches can help leaders reduce or eliminate their blind spots and be open to constructive feedback, not only reducing the likelihood of failure, and premature burnout, but also provide an atmosphere in which the executive can express fears, failures and dreams For a new CEO, the most important goal is to build momentum towards achieving priorities, the objectives the new leader wants to achieve within the near term. Success relies on securing early wins and laying a foundation for deeper change. The transition process requires a deeper assessment of organisational capabilities, and change that supports a more focused set of priorities. Following this learning period during transition, vision and coalition building are critical to success. In Part II of the Article, we will review what the Success Strategies are for Leaders in Transition. + Article by Prof Sattar Bawany, Managing Director & Master Executive Coach of EDA Asia Pacific and Adjunct Professor of Strategy of PGSM.

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Corporate dining

that transcends

Vivien Shiao Shufen

t is boom time for the Singapore restaurant scene as more players enter the market, offering an array of world-class cuisine. The very best restaurants don’t just serve excellent food – they provide an experience that transcends the ordinary by engaging all five senses of diners. For companies who are looking for a fresh, new restaurant to hold that event to remember or win over a lucrative client, here are some options to consider.

Best of both worlds

Fusion restaurants have often been dismissed by food connoisseurs for not pairing different cuisines well, but it would be a shame to give newly-opened Japanese-Italian restaurant La Luna Rossa a miss. Located at the iconic Scotts Square

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overlooking Orchard Road, this upmarket establishment aims to provide diners with the experience of being in two places – Italy and Japan – at one time. Hailing from Tokyo, Japan, La Luna Rossa is the first outpost of the restaurant in foreign territory, with a decade-long history to its name. The interior of the restaurant reflects the marriage of the two cuisines. On first look, it appears to be a traditional Italian eatery with warm, earthy colours, but on closer inspection, there is an added Japanese sensibility of clean lines and modern touches. The menu was inspired by Executive Chef Masahiru Takada’s eight years in Italy. He has worked for several Michelin-starred restaurants, and aims to create a gastronomic experience for

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La Luna Rossa + Location: #02-01 Scotts Square (next to Hyatt Hotel), 6 Scotts Road, Singapore 228209 + Contact: +65 6636 2951/2952 + Seating capacity: 60 total, with option for private dining rooms + Opening hours: Everyday. Lunch: 11.00 am – 3 pm (Last Order 2 pm), Dinner: 6 pm – 10.30 pm (Last Order 9.30 pm)

La Luna Rossa

diners with his unique Italian fare, coupled with a Japanese flair. The menu features delectable appetisers like Bagna Cauda – fresh, crisp vegetables served with anchovy and garlic dipping sauce with a note of miso and Tonno – and bluefin tuna and avocado tartar served with balsamic vinegar and hint of wasabi dressing topped with a herb salad. There is also Ayu, a crispy-grilled fish that is so crispy and light that even the bones can be eaten. Some outstanding mains include Scialatielli, a thick Nori-blackened home-made pasta served with scampi and clams; Maiale, grilled Kurobuta pork belly served with caramelised fig and balsamic sauce; and Rossini, Japanese wagyu beef layered with seared foie gras in Rossinistyled red wine sauce.

Desserts that cannot be missed are the coconut Panna Cotta paired with refreshing pineapple sorbet and passionfruit sauce, and the home-made Tiramisu that is smooth and rich. Companies can book the entire restaurant to seat up to 60 people, or reserve any of the four private dining rooms that can seat six people each. Three of these dining rooms can be connected, creating a large space for up to eighteen people seated. There are also several set lunch menus to choose from that are ideal for lunch meetings.

Jewels of the sea

If fusion is not your style, how about a dining experience that conjures the imagery of the issue 12.6

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crashing sea in a cosy and luxurious setting awash with white and blue? Le Petit Cancale is the latest addition to Deliciae Hospitality Management with established restaurants like Forlino and Sabio already under its belt. Located at quaint Duxton Hill, Le Petit Cancale is a unique Ocean Platter and Grill restaurant that opened this year. Yes, companies looking for restaurants with quality seafood at an upscale setting for corporate dining and events can finally rejoice. Suitable for small intimate luncheons or dinners, the restaurant can seat 40 comfortably, and around 50-55 for a standard cocktail arrangement. Despite its recent opening, it has already accommodated several large events, such as a sit-down lunch for a pharmaceutical firm, and has more lined up in the next few months. Most of the “Fruits- de- mer” – French for seafood platter – is sourced from Cancale itself, a town along the coast of Brittany in northern France known for being an “oyster capital”. Companies bringing their staff here usually order the platters to be shared, with included items like oysters from Cancale, Maine lobster, Brittany crab, clams, whelks, winkles, prawns, langoustines and shrimp served on a bed of ice. There are also a variety of dips to choose from that will enhance the taste of + Location: 37 Duxton Hill the fresh seafood. Nothing spells + Contact: +65 6534 7671 + Seating capacity: team bonding more than sharing a 40 seated, 55 cocktail large platter and getting your + Opening hours: hands messy with the seafood Monday to Friday: 12 pm to 10.30 together.

Le Petit Cancale

pm, Saturdays and Public Holidays: 6 pm to 10.30 pm

Le Petit Cancale seafood

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Some notable main courses include the Blue Lobster from Brittany (poached with white butter sauce or grilled with salty butter) and the whole-grilled “Bar d’Atlantique”, which is a seabass served with antiboise sauce. Staff ought to be urged to save space in their bellies for dessert, as the delectable Salty Butter Caramel Lava Cake is a signature dish that will end the event on a sweet note.

From the heart and home

If you are looking for gastronomy from the heart, that also evokes the warmth and intimacy of home, Balzac Brasserie may be a possible location for your corporate event. Recently opened in March this year, this quintessential French bistro at the Rendezvous Gallery serves up classic and unpretentious French favourites with a wellcurated drinks list. Dressed as an authentic French brasserie with furniture and décor sourced from the streets of Paris, diners are automatically transported to France from the moment they step in. “We hope to create a true slice of Paris where everyone is invited,” remarks Executive Chef Jean-Charles Dubois. Born into a family of chefs, he has more than twenty years of culinary experience in some of the finest kitchens in France and Singapore, having worked for several Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris. Some of Chef Jean-Charles’ signature dishes are inspired from his own family’s recipes. His entrée, the Lobster Bisque, has a piquant, hearty flavour without being overly sweet. Served with sautéed mini organic black Qwehli prawns, it adds a salty crunch that contrasts beautifully with the bisque. Another starter worth ordering is the Foie Gras De “Castaing,” which is a homemade foie gras terrine served with a seasonal fruit compote, farmer’s toast and petite salade. The various components go well together and enhance the richness of the foie gras. As for the mains, the Beef Cheeks a la Cuilerre is a melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef cheek which is sous-vide cooked for 48 hours and saturated in a classic Bordelaise sauce. Silky-smooth mashed potatoes with truffle oil accompany the dish. Another main to consider is Toulouse Sausage, which is a succulent pan-fried Kurobuta pork sausage served with sautéed spinach and Pommery mustard sauce.

mice feature

Desserts are also a stand-out here, with the comforting Riz Au Lit, a traditional rice pudding from Chef Jean-Charlesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; grandmotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recipe. It is made with jasmine rice, milk and cream and is infused with Tahitian vanilla, with salted caramel and pistachios provided for diners to add in according to their preference. The classic crĂ¨me brulee is another wonderful dessert that is perfectly crisp on the top, and fragrant and soft inside, as real vanilla beans are used. There is also a daily menu for set lunch or dinner that is changed weekly, so companies do not have to decide on individual dishes for a staff treat. The restaurant can accommodate up to 85 guests in a sit-down setting, and more standing up.

Decisions, decisions

With so many excellent new restaurants popping up like mushrooms, it is indeed difficult to choose

Balzac Brasserie Balzac Brasserie

+ Location: #01-01 Rendezvous Gallery, 9 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 189559 + Contact: +65 6336 0797 + Email: reservations@balzacbrasserie.com + Seating capacity: 85 + Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday: 11.30 am to 10.30 pm, Friday and Saturday: 11.30 am to 12 am

which one is the most suitable. Hopefully, we have provided some food for thought on the latest dining options to consider for your next staff lunch or meeting that would not just satisfy their palates, but provide a unique ambience that cannot be replicated in the office.

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twenty-four seven 3.45pm Since I manage the APAC HR function, I provide regular updates to my counterparts in the US and EMEA regions.

Audrey Lai Staffing Partner, Asia Pacific, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide

8.30am I briefly sieve through all the CVs that have come though over the weekend (Saturday seems to be a popular day for candidates to send their CVs).

agency. I get the opportunity to highlight recruitment challenges, offer solutions, share market intelligence and trends, as well as talent retention strategies.

10.00am I hold a conference call with

1.00pm I have a working lunch with the VP

the local hiring managers where we share updates around their recruitment needs and offer advice on compensation and benefits

of Greater China to discuss cross market and talent exchange within the region.

11.00am Off to my next meeting together with regional board members of the

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2.00pm I spend time reviewing CVs from across the region, shortlisting the ones who match the roles, then conduct phone interviews.

4.15pm I head down to the local coffee shop for my daily afternoon caffeine fix with a colleague from the global team that has flown down from the UK.

4.45pm I get to offer advice and guidance to managers who have team members under them.

5.15pm Work-life balance is highly encouraged in my company so I start to wrap-up the day at around 5pm. Before I leave, I like to respond to the candidates who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it to the next round of the interview (everyone deserves to be updated on how they did!) and secure meeting times for those who were shortlisted.

6.30pm I check-in with my team mates to ensure that they are also finishing up their work and ready to go!

in person

Marda

Saturno

HR Director, Asia-Oceania, HeidelbergCement Years in HR? 25. Why HR? I planned for this even before I took my first university degree. I like working and being with people of diverse backgrounds. I am now in a role where I can influence business decisions and participate in setting global people strategies. Why HeidelbergCement? HeidelbergCement is the global market leader in aggregates and a prominent player in the fields of cement, concrete and other downstream activities. It has a flat organisation, a fast-paced work environment, and a certain management culture that makes people stay.

Biggest achievement? I am happy to have raised five wonderful children while studying and moving up the HR ladder. Family? My two eldest children are already married and have their own homes, while the third works in Europe. My husband, me and my two youngest daughters are all Singapore Permanent Residents and have lived here since 2001. We still go home to the Philippines quite often to meet up with the rest of the family. What happens after hours? Bonding with my two daughters at home. I go to the gym, listen to music, watch TV and see theatre plays.

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Adult Learning Symposium 2012

NEW FRONTIERS IN LEARNING AND WORK 5 and 6 July, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore FUTURE-PROOF your training design and delivery

DRAW INSIGHTS FROM

Globalisation and technological advancements are challenging workforce development efforts, adult learning and skills training. The Adult Learning Symposium 2012 will give you a strategic platform to:

as they share their research on strategic workforce development and what it means for YOU.

• Gain insights into the latest research in learning and training • Develop your own best-practices in workplace learning

NOW

• Check out the latest learning tools, technology and new training approaches

For more information, please visit www.ialsymposium.com.sg or email: als2012@eventslineup.com

The symposium is for: • Leaders of Continuing Education & Training (CET) institutions or companies with in-house training capabilities • Professional Adult Educators in training delivery, curriculum development and assessment design • Human Resource Development Professionals involved in staff/workforce development and training

INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS

Adult Education Network (AEN) Members

$700*

Non-AEN Members

$880*

International Delegates

$1200

*Local participants are required to add 7% GST.

• Civil servants involved in developing and reviewing public policy related to workforce competitiveness

Keynote Speakers Peter Schwartz

Senior Vice President, Global Government Relations and Strategic Planning Salesforce.com, USA

“My job is to help organisations think about the future in an uncertain world.”

Stephen Billett

Diana Laurillard

“Much of post-school education focuses on initial preparation for occupations and working lives.

Diana will share her thoughts on the role of educators as innovators in e-learning. The teaching community needs learning design tools that will enable them to develop new pedagogies afforded by digital technologies.

Professor of Adult and Vocational Education, Griffith University, Australia

An internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, Mr Schwartz specialises in scenario planning, working with corporations, governments and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world.

Yet, beyond this initial preparation is the ongoing learning needed across working life as occupations transform, work requirements change and new technologies and ways of working and workplace goals constantly arise. Hence, CET is essential and deserves greater prominence.”

Jörgen Sandberg

Alan Felstead

Jörgen will tackle what he terms “The Enigma of Competence” and explain how human competence levels can vary so much between employees.

Alan will use data taken from more than 20,000 workers surveyed in Britain over the last 25 years to examine how age, gender and regional inequalities in the quality of work and nature of learning have evolved over time.

Professor of Management and Organisation, The University of Queensland, Australia

He will also help define competence in a manner that will help organisations better develop and leverage it.

Research Professor Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK

This will shed light on our understanding of work and learning through the ups and downs of the economic cycle.

Chair of Learning and Digital Technologies London Knowledge Lab

Her presentation will elaborate on learning design support tools developed for teachers and lecturers in Continuing Education Training.

Leesa Wheelahan

Associate Professor, LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management University of Melbourne

“Fixing the ‘skills problem’ isn’t a simple matter of fixing training. We’ve also got to improve the way people’s skills are used at work. This means we’ve got to look at how training and work need to change if we are to increase productivity and social opportunity.”

Hear from the best international and local thought leaders and practitioners on the latest solutions, case studies and trends in CET. More of the speakers at www.ialsymposium.com.sg

Download the Android app for ALS 2012 from Google Play. Simply Search for “Adult Learning Symposium”. www.ialsymposium.com.sg l www.ial.edu.sg

talent challenge

Talent attraction What are some of the unique talent attraction strategies that your organisation practises?

One of Philips’ unique talent attraction strategies is based on the oldfashioned way of ensuring that we continue to build a “great place to work” for Raymund our people. An environment of high engagement and where people are Chua empowered is a very effective method as our people genuinely feel that Philips HR Director, Philips is an employer of choice. Lighting Today, 45% of our indirect labour comes from internal referrals. Employees are the best people to know who can do the job as they are the ones working here and they know what the job requires. Such a strategy would benefit both the employees who are already working here, and the company itself. Although we do have incentives for internal referrals, the bottom line is people will not recommend their friends just because of the incentive. You have got to love working at your workplace to recommend a friend. You have got to want to come to work each day because there is purpose and meaning. So, making Philips a great place to work is the key. We most frequently recruit for Research Analysts and Consultants in the energy sector. This is a niche and competitive market with a limited talent pool within Regional HR Asia. We therefore utilise unique talent attraction strategies in the employment Manager, Wood process to ensure that Wood Mackenzie remains an attractive employer. Mackenzie We do post jobs on external channels like career websites and partner with search firms but what is most unique about our recruitment drive is that we first post openings internally. This offers vertical and lateral movement opportunities and encourages referrals from employees who understand our requirements. It also helps us in retaining and developing good existing talent. Additionally, when we speak at career events about a position in Wood Mackenzie, we also make it a point to talk about our unique merits as an employer. In particular, we actively promote a healthy work-life balance by encouraging efficiency over long hours and provide a comparatively generous amount of leave days for all, regardless of seniority. We also provide a mentorship programme that enables employees to seek career advice from experienced senior managers.

Rachel Lee

I found that what worked for Dimension Data Singapore in our talent attraction strategy are namely Employer Branding and Employer Value Proposition (EVP). Ivy Chew Employer Branding is about how we are established in the market place. Senior Country Head, HR, Over the years, we have gained a name for ourselves as being an employer Dimension Data that has its employees’ interests at heart. We focus on making the jobs Singapore challenging, give flexibility to employees to innovate when we offer solutions to our clients and provide a strong roadmap for an individual’s career path. We have built a platform that encourages open communication within the workplace to achieve trust, transparency and teamwork. I must say that our employees carry a certain pride in being part of the DD family. EVP is the promise we offer to employees during their stay with us by giving them an exciting experience. We have a tagline “No Ordinary Day, No Ordinary Career” because we want to give to our employees growth and development in their career, the chance of a lifetime to leap together with technological shifts, and the know-how of operating in a global organisation. issue 12.6

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talent ladder

Joycelyn Koh

HR Manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore

Carolynn Ang

VP Human Resources, Asia Pacific Japan, IntraLinks

Desmond Tan Director, APAC Talent Management, Hitachi Data Systems

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In 2005, Joycelyn Koh embarked on a new professional chapter in HR at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore. During her tenure with the hotel, she garnered experience in Talent Engagement, Talent Acquisition & Retention. Koh was also part of the opening team of The Ritz-Carlton Sanya (China) where she spent a year helping to develop a team for the new resort and gained valuable global exposure in the process. Today, Koh is the HR Manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore where she supports various team functions with a core focus on implementing corporate initiatives. Koh develops and maintains close ties with relevant government agencies to leverage on existing programmes while helping to develop new initiatives tailored to the hospitality industry. “I appreciate the opportunities that I have had with the hotel. HR is my passion and in a dynamic industry as ours, there is a new lesson to be learnt everyday. I look forward to helping our ladies and gentlemen discover their unique talent and grooming them to be future leaders that inspire others.”

Carolynn Ang is the new VP, HR of Asia Pacific and Japan at Intralinks. She is currently the business partner for the region. Having spent more than 15 years in HR, Ang is an experienced HR generalist. She has also worked as a compensation and benefits specialist in one of her pastt roles. Ang was previously employed at Israel-based company, ECI Telecom. Although she had a great time in her previous job with great managers, people and culture, Ang felt it was time to move on. Ang decided to make the switch to IntraLinks as she saw that the organisation has great potential in APAC as it offers SaaS (software as a service) through their products and services: IntraLinks Connect and IntraLinks Dealspace. “This is an extremely challenging role and in a very exciting business. Working very closely with the APAC team management and the country managers, together we are bringing the region to the next level as an employee empowering and high performing organisation.”

Tan was recently appointed as Director, APAC Talent Management for Hitachi Data Systems (HDS). He is currently responsible for all aspects of learning and development, performance management, change management, succession planning and talent management for the region. In his previous roles, he has been involved in providing strategic advice and the implementation of a wide range of HR initiatives such as Change Management, Organisational Development & Design, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Competency Assessment, as well as Training and Development programmes. He has also worked as an executive coach, working with senior leaders in various organisations on achieving their peak performance. Tan is excited to be on board with HDS, where he has already been working on a series of regional and global initiatives where the focus is on enabling the organisation to function effectively and still promote the culture of performance, teamwork and global excellence.

talent feature

HR: Developing a holistic view of enterprise risk HR leaders can play a more proactive and collaborative role in mitigating organisational risk by partnering with other business functions and encouraging employees to identify potential areas of concern

here is no doubt risks are inevitable when it comes to doing business, and despite the severity of recent crises on financial and reputational costs to organisations and their ever-increasing occurrences, cost cutting activities brought about by the protracted economic downturn has left companies vulnerable to risks on many fronts. The HR function has carried one of the most high-risk burdens in any organisation - people-related risk. Consequently, HR leaders have become highly practised when it comes to managing the complexities of human capital risk, and are in an ideal position to apply this expertise across the organisation and strengthen its internal defence to risk. Most interestingly, risk was highlighted as one of the major HR focus areas in Deloitte’s 2012 Human Capital Trend Report (www.deloitte.com). It is therefore not surprising that CEOs in more forward-thinking organisations have recognised this and are expanding the role of HR leaders, reinforcing the need for HR to play a more collaborative role in partnering with other risk-focused functions in the organisation (Internal Audit, Legal & Compliance, and Risk) as a way of better mitigating enterprise-wide risk. For the HR leader, this requires being involved in higher-level strategic business planning, participating in operational issues, and generally undertaking a more pro-active commitment to identifying, monitoring and taking action on organisation-wide high-risk activities.

Theresa

hall Head of Asia, Frazer Jones

More specifically, HR leaders can influence risk awareness at every level of the organisation and promote a riskaverse culture through some of the following take-away activities from the Deloitte report: » Involve staff in the risk identification process, encourage employees to raise new ideas regarding risk mitigation, and to speak out when they observe undesirable risk behaviours » Ensure employees understand the responsibilities of the positions they hold and are not intentionally or unintentionally engaging in high-risk behaviours » Take immediate and proportionate action when undesirable behaviours expose the organisation to risk » Consider linking employee compensation metrics to risk management performance, or make risk management one of the capabilities against which employees are measured as part of the annual review process

» Ensure business leaders are demonstrating risk-adverse behaviours and communicating a commitment to a risk-intolerant culture » It is critical that business leaders do not ignore risky behaviours and fail to hold employees accountable for their actions » Create better cross-reporting systems and continuously communicate changes and updates to the broader workforce. The current global focus on better risk-mitigation presents a compelling opportunity for HR leaders to step up and take a more holistic view of enterprise risk, deepen their organisational understanding whilst leveraging their skills developed in managing human capital risk. Yet, while not all organisations have made the connection of better aligning HR with other risk-related functions, HR leaders should still be encouraged to take the lead in creating a strong risk management culture and developing better partnerships with their other risk-focused colleagues to create a more sustainable business. + Web: www.frazerjones.com/asia/about_us/ issue 12.6

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advertorial e2i

ost companies face intense competition. To stay competitive and profitable, we need to ensure our employees stay relevant and skilled. Recognising this, NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) delivers winning ways to bring your company to the next level of business performance.

Recruitment & Professional Search

We connect you with potential candidates who best fit your job functions – from sector- specific, customised recruitment events for non-executives to networking and professional searches for Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs). Iris Lim left her last job due to family commitments. Two years later, she returned to the workforce and looked to e2i for job opportunities. Matching the needs of our employer partners and Iris’ competencies, e2i provided career coaching and a direct referral service. Iris was hired as a Procurement Manager with Pacnet Singapore. “Iris is a great fit for our Finance team and brings invaluable experience to the role at Pacnet. We value our association with e2i and the access it gives us to excellent candidates from the Singapore market who fit our hiring needs” Anne Adam, Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Administration, Pacnet

Professional Development

Realise the full potential of your workers through DeepSkilling, Re-Skilling and Multi-Skilling. Enjoy subsidised funding for approved courses and other WSQ programmes. To ensure your new employees are able to meet specific job needs, we collaborate with training providers to customise training programmes.

Workforce Optimization

Productivity is critical to an organisation’s success. Find new and innovative ways to do things better and faster by changing

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Tap on the Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP) Get up to 50% funding for your company’s productivity improvement projects and share gains with low wage workers. A $100 million programme launched by the Labour Movement, IGP aims to benefit 100,000 workers through job redesign, automation and process enhancement, as well as best sourcing initiatives. Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) is one of the companies to tap on IGP to enhance the productivity of its Point-Of-Sales (POS) system and a new mobile application for their attractions. Lim Kai Huat, Director of HR, Wildlife Reserves Singapore said: “The e2i IGP funding will help WRS to offset the initial costs of our productivity initiatives and projects. This allows us to share the productivity gains with our staff upon execution of the initiatives and projects.” More than 540 projects have embarked on IGP since August 2010.

or enhancing your work processes, investing in new machinery or technology, and sharing productivity gains with your workers to retain and attract good talent.

About e2i

As THE market-place for workers, employers and training providers, e2i exists to create better jobs and better lives for Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents. In 2011, we helped 46,000 workers through providing better jobs, developing better skills through professional development, and improving productivity for companies. Our partners include Resorts World Sentosa, ION Orchard, McDonald’s, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), and Rolls-Royce. Visit www.e2i.com.sg for more information. + Partner e2i. Email us at pmeconnections@e2i.com.sg.

viewpoint HiringBoss

Question: Where do potential candidates start their job search? Job Boards, Social Media and Recruitment Companies… these are the standard answers. But what about your own corporate career page? If you have overlooked this, you are not alone

any HR professionals tend to forget that the most powerful way to leverage employee branding and attract better candidates is via their company careers website. Most would be amazed at how many potential candidates visit your company website. In some parts of the world up to 80% of applicants have spent time on company pages during their job prospecting. In Singapore’s fast moving, competitive and brand-centric culture I doubt we would be too far behind…if not ahead. There’s an old saying in the car sales game, ‘’A guy doesn’t walk onto the lot unless he wants to buy’’. Let’s put that into recruitment terms. If a browser has come to your job site you can be almost certain that the person is a potential candidate. Time to take a look at your existing career pages and ask some tough questions.

What are you showing them?

Interaction is paramount. Get some videos up about life at your company or even any TVCs you might have made. Get creativewhy not interview one of your rising stars on why they love their job so much? Can’t do video? Real pictures of real staff can be equally as compelling. People respond to people and an insight into your employee culture is compelling for all prospective candidates.

Tailor your message

Remember: No two candidates are the same. Graduates and executives are likely to be looking for very different things, so speak to them differently.

Matt

allanson Sales Director, HiringBoss

A graduate is less likely to be interested in your maternity leave policy than a mid-career entrant, so why not have distinct information pages for each candidate type?

Make it easy

All career sites should be easy to use. Ensure candidates can find and apply to jobs as quickly as possible. People have much shorter attention spans these days so ensure that they tell you about themselves. However, do not ask for too much information or they may not bother applying.

Keep them engaged

You have them on your site, they have found out about how great you are to work for and browsed your current openings…so what’s next? Make them your friend is what’s next! Buttons to connect the candidate with your company via Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are crucial and help you harness the power of social recruiting.

The complete solution

A great website is redundant if you don’t have a good engine running it. At HiringBoss we provide a cost-effective software solution to create and manage your career website, your candidate database and your recruitment process. Behind the scenes, applicant CVs should be inhaled directly into an easy-to-use system that allows you to rank, rate and communicate with them seamlessly. Direct links to your webpage means positions are only entered once and are live to the public as you load them….no more waiting on IT or marketing to get your positions active. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. Contact us at any time for a demonstration of how a HiringBoss fully-customisable careers website can dramatically improve your employee branding and boost your recruiting ROI. + Tel: +65 62226077 + Email: sales@hiringboss.com + Web: www.hiringboss.com issue 12.6

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resources

Great Leaders Grow

uccessful leaders don’t rest on their laurels – they have to grow to maintain their efficacy as leaders, according to authors Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. In their book Great Leaders Grow, leadership is described as a living process, and not just a title on a businesscard. This is succinctly put in the book’s introduction where the authors write, “Our capacity to grow determines our capacity to lead.” Presented as an instructive fable, the book explains why leaders have to keep growing in a refreshing way. Debbie Brewster – the protagonist from Blanchard and Miller’s international bestseller The Secret – returns in this book to mentor her mentor’s son, Blake, as he embarks on his career. Now, an accomplished leader herself, Debbie shows Blake how growing as a leader and as a human being are inextricably linked. “How well you and I serve will be determined by the decision to grow or not,” she says. “Will you be a leader who is always ready to face the

next challenge? Or will you be a leader who tries to apply yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems?” According to the book, the four important elements of growth are encapsulated in GROW: Gain Knowledge, Reach Out to Others, Open Your World, and Walk toward Wisdom. The book is short enough to be read in a night, but filled with nuggets of wisdom that gives readers food for thought to ponder over a long time after. Its simplicity in putting the message across about servant leadership makes it such a valuable resource – readers are able to understand and grasp the concepts quickly without all the convoluted, complex terminology often used in leadership books. Great Leaders Grow is a highly-recommended book that will inspire you to reflect on your life and career growth, whether you are a CEO or an entry-level employee.

At a Glance Great Leaders Grow Authors: Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller Published by: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Retail Price: S$35.85

More than 50% Savings When You Outsource Your HR To UNIT4 PROSOFT* UNIT4 HR Outsourcing is designed to solve the pressing, realworld business problems of internal HR resourcing. Coupled with CloudRecurso (our intelligent cloud computing solution) and Prosoft HRMS (the HR system solution that never fails), our HR Outsourcing services is a proven and viable model to meet your payroll outsourcing requirements, whether in MNCs, SMES, newly established or any other business environment in any scale. SPEED, PRECISION, CONFIDENTIAL, AGILITY, EXPERIENCE and SAFE are what we promise. For queries, please call +65 6333 6133 or email prosoft.sales.sgp@unit4.com Scan for more info

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Where Have All the High-Potentials Gone To? Do you know who your High-Potentials are? Do you have an objective and reliable process for identifying them? Do you know what to do with them once you have found them? High-potential talent are waiting to be found at all levels of your organization. Unfortunately, they are difficult to identify reliably while some indicators, such as recent performance, can be very misleading. We take the risk and uncertainty out of answering the question, “What makes someone a high-potential?” The key factor is something we call ‘learning agility’, Korn/Ferry International’s proprietary and reliable process that adds precision and confidence to your talent decisions. Your high-potentials need more than to be found. They also need continued and specific development to sustain their promise. Our deep expertise in ‘Assignmentology,’ a powerful research-backed process, assures that you are identifying the right type of development, for the right person at the right point in their career. Contact us to find out how to correctly identify high-potential talent, facilitate talent reviews and articulate a robust ‘Assignmentology’ plan. Pushp Deep Gupta

Managing Principal pushp.gupta@kornferry.com Tel: +65 6231 6139

Chin Lee Yen

Sales Leader, ASEAN leeyen.chin@kornferry.com Tel: +65 6231 6149

executive appointments Theresa Hall Singapore

frazerjones.com

HR Roles Frazer Jones exclusively focuses on the Global HR market and our specialist teams recruit across the full HR spectrum for local, regional and global positions, encompassing all levels and industries. Established in 1996 in the UK, Frazer Jones is a market leader in almost all of the geographic locations in which we operate. With offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Dubai, Sydney and Melbourne, and a proven track record in Europe as well as demonstrable capability recruiting in the Americas, Frazer Jones assists clients and candidates across the globe. L&D Director

Singapore

Well established in the region, this distinguished financial services firm is well known for its highly collaborative and compassionate working culture. You will work closely with the HR function and the senior levels of the organisation. The L&D Director will create the L&D strategy, vision and action plan and implement dynamic learning systems that contribute to the success of the organisation. From soft skills training to leadership and management development activities, this position will be responsible for effective design and implementation. Previous L&D experience acquired within the financial services sector will be critical. Ref: TH/186371. SG$200,000

C&B Manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; APAC

To discuss HR roles across Asia, please contact Theresa Hall on +65 6420 0515 or Fiona Nesbitt on +65 6420 0520. Alternatively, email theresahall@frazerjones.com or fionanesbitt@frazerjones.com | EA Licence No: 10C4100. THE SR GROUP . BREWER MORRIS . CARTER MURRAY . FRAZER JONES . PARKER WELLS . SR SEARCH . TAYLOR ROOT LONDON . DUBAI . HONG KONG . SINGAPORE . SYDNEY . MELBOURNE

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Please contact us on (65) 6423 4631 for full details

issue 12.6

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Singapore

Our client is a global leader in the technology sector with a presence in over 20 countries worldwide. They are looking for an experienced compensation and benefits manager to cover the APAC region. This role will involve the full spectrum of C&B, excluding design work and will have full control over salary offers and increments within the business. Main duties will involve creating salary structures, bonus accruals and educating managers within the business on salary bands and limitations. This role will also involve HRIS reporting, therefore a strong analytical background will be essential. Ref: FN/186201. SG$Competitive

executive appointments

Global Network.

www.michaelpage.com.sg

Local Expertise.

With 162 offices in 34 countries, we have the resources and expertise to help you take the next step in your HR career.

Exciting New Role One of the Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Admired Companies

Reputable German Listed Conglomerate High Profile Role with Potential for Regional Portfolio

Our client is a global leader in the manufacturing services industry and they have built their business on a strong people culture. They are established across the US, Europe and Asia and have experienced exponential growth over the last decade. There is now an opportunity for a senior rewards individual to take on the primary responsibility of designing and building the compensation and benefits program in Asia, implementing strategies that will enhance and improve business competitiveness. Please contact Audrey Neo quoting ref: H1275840

Our client is a German MNC in the technical solutions industry. They are looking for a C&B Specialist with strong potential for the opportunity to manage regional projects. Reporting to the HR VP and Regional Compensation & Benefits Manager, you will be responsible for analysing local compensation schemes and developing and implementing compensation strategies that are aligned with corporate needs. You will also lead annual salary reviews and develop compensation plans that are both equitable and competitive. The successful candidate will be degree qualified and have at least 7 years of experience in C&B in a consulting firm or MNC. Please contact Peiwen Teo quoting ref: H1236420

Regional Learning & Development Manager

Newly Created Opportunity Branded Market Leader Our client is a leader in the electronics sector and is looking for a Regional L&D Manager to join their team. Reporting to the Head of L&D, your responsibilities will include launching L&D initiatives, performing training gap analysis and facilitating training programs. You will also manage the learning management system and prepare training reports. You will liaise with external vendors to come up with training programs. The successful candidate will be degree qualified with 5-7 years of L&D experience in Singapore. Travelling within South East Asia is required for up to 40% of your time. The ability to multi-task as an independent professional is preferred. Please contact Peiwen Teo quoting ref: H1145770 #12998

Compensation & Benefits Specialist

Regional Strategic Role Newly Created Role Our client is a leading global pharmaceutical and healthcare organisation. Their growing sales revenue, strong working culture and unique line of products makes them one of the most rewarding employers to work for. Due to rapid expansion within the AsiaPacific region, they are looking for a highly talented Regional Learning & Development Manager to support their growth. You will establish best practice metrics for the effectiveness of both global programmes and local curriculum, as well as build relationships with business stakeholders to deliver on learning and development requirements. Please contact Cherry Wu quoting ref: H1271230

Licence No: 98C5473 Business Registration No: 199804751N

Director, Compensation & Benefits

To apply for any of the above positions, please go to www.michaelpage.com.sg/apply quoting the reference number, or contact the relevant consultant on +65 6533 2777 for further details.

Specialists in HR Recruitment

162 offices in 34 countries | www.michaelpage.com.sg

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www.achievegroup.asia Singapore | Malaysia | Hong Kong

Established in 1990, the Achieve Group is a multi award-winning organisation and HR outsourcing partner-of-choice for local conglomerates and multinational corporations within the Asia Pacific region. It specialises in Talent Acquisition comprising General Recruitment, Technology Recruitment, Foreign Recruitment and Executive Search Divisions, as well as HR Consulting. EA Licence No.: 05C3451

1. Compensation & Benefits Manager

1. Human Resource Manager

Orchard, 5 days work week Leading European FMCG MNC

Suntec, 5 Days Good Prospect

Our Client, a well known and established European FMCG MNC

Our client located at Suntec, is looking for a qualified candidate

Responsibilities

• To manage and coordinate the planning, implementation and admin of the company's compensation and employee benefits programs and strategic initiatives, ensuring cost effectiveness, market - competitiveness and compliance with corporate strategy • An advisory to the HR Director in regards to Compensation & Benefits issues • Provide advisory service and assistance to HR Managers in job classification, position design and evaluation as well as system management • Review and modify local C & B policies and practices to ensure that programs are to-date, competitive and in compliance with legal requirements and Group policies • Develop methods to improve employment policies, processes and practices, make recommendations to management • Provide advice on local changes to pension and insurance schemes including negotiation, renewal of group insurance policies, annual pension review and valuation process • Manage the relationships with benefits programs and structures • Manage salary review processes and conduct regular competitive C & B market analyses • Plan and follow up selected salary surveys, both locally and nationally • Ensure correct local payroll calculation in line with the collective agreement and legal legislation, incharge of payroll administration via an outsource service provider • Manage mobility policies, expat, taxation, integration • Oversee HR shared services

Requirements

• Degree + Min 5 years RELEVANT experience with knowledge of tax, benefits, salaries and salary benchmarking • Familiarity with budgeting & payroll • Knowledge of Singapore labor laws and regulations and ability to interpret and give advice • Experience in design, development and implementation of salary administration plans and benefits • Knowledge of computerized information systems used in Human Resources applications and able to work with databases/ statistics • Strong data analysis, experienced MS Office user especially MS Excel • Posses negotiation and influencing skills

• Covering for the full spectrum of human resource support and payrolls function • Plan, develop and implement strategy for HR management to establish and maintain appropriate systems for measuring necessary aspects of HR development • Monitor, measure and report on HR issues, opportunities and development plans and achievement • Manage and control of departmental expenditure within agreed budgets • Effective communication between other functional / departmental head so as to understand all necessary aspects and needs of HR development, and to ensure they are fully informed of HR objectives, purpose and achievements • Ensure activities meet with and integrate with organisational requirement for quality management, health and safety, legal requirement, environmental policies and general duty of care • Audit and authenticate all documents related to legal, salary statements and distribution, policies etc • Employee’s performance appraisal; develop tools for appraisal, job evaluation and development and Salary adjustment

Requirements

• Degree or equivalent, preferably with post-graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management • At least 10 years’ working experience in similar capacity of which 5 years at managerial level • Independent worker and goal orientated • Good interpersonal and communication skills • Strong knowledge of local labour law and related statutory regulations Interested candidate please submit your updated resume in MS Word format to:

Position 1: blessing1@achievegroup.asia Position 2: strike2@achievegroup.asia We regret only shortlisted candidate will be notified. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

141 Market Street #13-00 International Factors Building Singapore 048944 T +65 6323 0050 F +65 6323 3006

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GMPRS1015_GMP_HR Mag June 238Hx190Wmm.pdf 1 5/8/12 2:43 PM

executive appointments

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Our Singapore office provides a complete, fully integrated recruitment service that focuses on the placement of HR professionals at all levels into both financial services and commercial sectors regionally. Business Registration No: 199706961E. Licence No: 03C5451.

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Returning the Human to Resourcing

Head of HR, Asia

Senior HR Manager - GTO

Talent Management Manager

Services Industry

Premier Bank

Major Financial Body

HR Transformation and Change

Global Technology & Operations

Dynamic Team

Salary circa S$180k-S$200k base + bonus

Excellent Career Progression

Singapore Role

Our client is expanding and undergoing an exciting change. There is now an opportunity for a high calibre HR professional to join them in this transformational role.

This major bank offers a full range of products to a global network of clients. With an impressive growth plan for the region, it is now seeking a dynamic and seasoned HR Manager for its GTO Division.

Our client manages financial investment in various asset classes and promotes employee-friendly practices and policies.

Working closely with the CEO and his management team, you will be instrumental in driving people issues and initiatives to support the growth of the business in the region. This is a generalist business partnering role where you will be leading a team towards bringing the organization and its people philosophies to the next level as well as to spear head tactical initiatives e.g. rollout of HR Information Systems, working with the C&B COE towards developing remuneration structures that are aligned with business growth objectives. You are a progressive HR professional with more than 12 years commercial work experience in an MNC environment. You are strategic in mindset and tactical in delivery. You thrive in a dynamic and fast paced environment and have demonstrated resilience, especially in change management. Strong interpersonal and communication skills as well as a team mindset will be critical success factors for this role. International candidates who may not necessarily have the Asia experience are welcome to apply. To apply, please submit your resume to Cecelia Koh at ck@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number CK4139\HRM, or call (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

Reporting to the Global Head of HR, GTO, you will work closely with the senior GTO managers to align business and people strategies through appropriate advice and intervention. You will influence and co-ordinate the development of a performance culture through effective implementation of integrated people management strategies and plans including performance management, compensation and talent management. You will play an integral role in business transformation programs and support the achievement of their overall strategic plan. Degree qualified, you have more than 15 years of relevant experience working in a global MNC or bank. You have a proven experience in dealing with senior management and possess strong ability in influencing and implementing change. You are commercial, driven and will thrive in a fast paced environment. To apply, please submit your resume to Adnan Atan at aa@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number AA4027\HRM, or call (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

banking | finance | human resources

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You will lead, develop and execute talent management practices so as to attract, develop retain and deploy talent to meet the organization goals. You will partner with senior management and line managers as well as other HR colleagues to drive successful talent review strategies, talent identification, succession plans and monitor the development of critical talent. As part of a team, you will also be involved in projects relating to employee engagement and development. Degree qualified, you will have relevant years of experience gained in a major bank or MNC. With strong interpersonal and communication skills, you are able to relate with staff at all levels. With strong influencing and negotiation skills, you are strategic, proactive and a team player.

To apply, please submit your resume to Adnan Atan at aa@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference no AA3994\HRM, or call (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

executive appointments HRM Awards 2009 Sponsor of the Best HR Manager of the Year Award Asiamoney Headhunters Poll 2009 Best Headhunting Firm - Middle/Back-Office category No. 2 in Asia

HR Business Partner

Head of Talent & Learning Operations

Organizational Development/ Talent Management Specialist

Services Industry

Global Bank

Leading Global MNC

Newly Created Role

Competitive Remuneration

Exciting Initiatives

Salary circa S$130k-S$170k base + bonus

Excellent Career Progression

Salary circa S$150k-S$250k + variable bonus

Our client is a leading global MNC. Innovative and exciting would best describe the business that they are in. Due to a changing organizational structure, they are now looking for a driven HR professional to further deepen their HR organization.

This premier global bank promotes talent and learning development through its well-established talent management practices and programs. It is recruiting a dynamic and high caliber Head of Talent and Learning Operations.

Our client is an extremely established global MNC. There is now an opportunity for an OD/Talent Management specialist to join them in this newly created position.

You have worked a minimum of 10 years in a progressive and dynamic MNC. Prior HR experience in a services environment will be highly advantageous. You are strategic in mindset, and operationally hands on. You are a strong team player and possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills. International candidates who may not necessarily have the Asia experience are welcome to apply. Candidates with prior C&B experience will be preferred. To apply, please submit your resume to Cecelia Koh at ck@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number CK4015\HRM, or call (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

Degree qualified, you will have at least 15 years of relevant experience gained in a progressive bank or MNC. With strong interpersonal and leadership skills, you are familiar with learning technologies, process migration, project management, financial analysis and product management life cycle for talent and learning products. To apply, please submit your resume to Adnan Atan at aa@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number AA4060\HRM, or call (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

Reporting to the Global Head of OD, you will be responsible for the development and implementation of the Talent Management Framework and strategies to address key leadership and organizational development needs for the region as a whole. You will continually drive high performance to ensure the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s competitive advantage through the development of their leadership values/competencies, with an emphasis on assessment, development, deployment and retention of talent. Ideally, you are degree qualified preferably with specializations in OD/talent development/ employee engagement. You are highly collaborative and work well with global/regional/ in-country senior management (in and out of HR). You are hands on and structured in approach. Dynamic and committed, you work well in a highly diversified and global culture.

To apply, please submit your resume to Cecelia Koh at ck@kerryconsulting.com, quoting the job title and reference number CK3911\HRM, or call (65) 6333 8530 for more details.

Licence No: C690801Z

Reporting to the VP HR, you will partner the business in generalist HR activities. In the initial months, there will be a strong emphasis on the C&B functions and this will subsequently taper off to include organizational development, performance management, talent management and succession planning, including recruitment. You can be expected to partake in strategic HR initiatives as well as get involved in operational day to day matters.

Reporting to the Head of HR Country Service Delivery and Group Head of Talent and Learning Product Delivery, and managing a dynamic team, you will provide thought leadership, delivery expertise and support to the Talent and Learning function to ensure seamless implementation of Talent and Learning products and services. This would cover technology infrastructure, process optimization, standard, governance and controls, decision-support analytics and financial data analysis, risk management and team management.

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Human resources professionals speak to tHe experts regional Head of learning & Development Develop great future talent

senior Hr Business partner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; technology & operations strategic advisory role with global exposure

A Regional Head of Learning, Development & Talent Management is required for this well known and global MNC within the FMCG industry. This role is a pioneering position as the organisation has been focusing their business in Asia for a few years and, due to staff strength, it now requires some strategic L&OD interventions. You will inherit a strong team of HR professionals looking after day-to-day operations, however, this role is all about the strategy of the business and sits at a senior level overseeing 15 staff looking at succession planning and high potential development, amongst other areas.

One of the global leaders within the banking sector based in Singapore has a new and exciting opportunity for a director level HR Business Partner for their technology and operations function. You will enhance business performance through appropriate advice and people management strategies. Reporting to the Group HR Head, you will support key clients in aligning business and people strategies, directions and objectives through strategic interventions. You must have previous experience within banking operations or hi-tec sectors, supporting 5000+ staff across multiple geographies.

strategic Head of resourcing south east asia create, implement & execute recruitment strategy

strategic assistant Hr manager organise the organisation

Due to recent growth through SE Asia and coupled with anticipated M&A growth into next year, this bank is seeking a Head of Resourcing to manage their future growth plans. Partnering with business stakeholders, you will be heavily involved in the creation of a new recruitment framework from the beginning. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have a good understanding of recruitment strategy and streamlining at a senior level and the ability to gauge emerging business needs whilst setting and executing an efficient recruitment across SE Asia.

Working for a leading global ship manager and reporting to the Regional HR Manager, you will assist HR by providing expert advice, influencing organisational change and coaching at all levels to enhance organisational performance and retain human capital. You will be responsible for succession planning, talent management, training and development plans, and compensation and benefits, including job grading and evaluation. Having successfully demonstrated tactical HR management expertise you will be suitably degree qualified with relevant post graduate experience.

please contact ash russell, mamta shukla, thomas Girling or Vargin Yeke at hr.singapore@hays.com.sg or +65 6303 0721.

hays.com.sg

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Great people are at the heart of every successful business. It is this belief to invest in our team at Charterhouse that makes it possible for us to provide our clients with professional, specialised and tailored executive search services and the best possible talent for each company.

People are our business

Our client list spans across multi-national companies and global enterprises with a vested interest in people and talent development. These companies are currently searching for HR professionals to develop a rewarding professional career for and to value add to the following professional and executive roles.

Employee Relations Manager / Section Manager

Head Talent Management Operations

Join a global leader in advance technology as a Strategic Employee Relations Manager to enhance employee engagement within the organisation.

A global �inancial institution is looking for an experienced leader to join them as the Head of Talent and Learning Systems Service Delivery.

Responsibilities:

• work with HR and problem solving teams to ensure that the HR principles and division needs are addressed • monitor and assist all employee status changes, disciplinary actions and turnover analyses • provide employee counselling, handle grievances and advice on HR issues • assist in interpreting and implementing HR policies, procedures and programs in terms of ER, compensation & bene�its, employment, learning & development • enhance employee relations and welfare programs through communication and change management

Responsibilities:

• drive strategies, roadmaps, innovation and continuous improvement of the talent & learning infrastructure and system • drive process optimisation and necessary change initiatives • identify key data elements and capacity model approach to make sound business decisions on talent and learning activities/resources • establish, maintain and review talent and learning standards, frameworks and vendor empanelment process for effective execution • manage risks, project and team for effective delivery of talent and learning

Requirements:

• degree quali�ied with at least 4 to 6 years' employee and labour relation experience in a fast-paced manufacturing industry • excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships at all levels • �irm, decisive and in�luential with strong leadership skills

• degree quali�ied with signi�icant talent and learning product expertise at a managerial/director level • strong stakeholder management and negotiation skills • experience of organisational change management and process migration • high degree of HR systems technical expertise

Technical Learning & Development Specialist

HR Business Partner

An experienced Technical Learning & Development Specialist is required by a global leader in advance technology to spearhead its Technical Learning in the region.

An exciting opportunity to join a leading global organisation in technology as a dynamic HR Business Partner to support its strategic growth.

• ascertain training needs, formulate plans and recommend effective training and change strategies • manage learning and development function towards quality, productivity and cost ef�iciency • lead plant-wide cross-functional strategies and activities within budget, through liaison with external consultants, organisation/corporate and regional plants

• provide strategic input on all HR related matters • develop HR initiatives, policies and programs to attract, develop and retain key talents • manage cost-effective, productivity and quality improvement programs for the vitality of business • develop effective strategies to build a forward-looking organisation in accordance to the changing environment in the industry

Responsibilities:

Requirements:

• degree in Engineering or by profession with excellent technical L&D Design & Delivery experience, in a fast-paced manufacturing/ engineering industry • resourceful, initiative, analytical and creative with excellent interpersonal, communication, in�luential and leadership skills

Responsibilities:

Requirements:

• minimum Business or HR degree quali�ied • strong global/regional generalist and business partnering experience in large Engineering/Manufacturing/Technology MNCs • experience in sales & marketing and manufacturing operations is required

To apply, please email your CV to hr@charterhouse.com.sg or call Perry Barrow or Shereen Foo at +65 6435 5610. For more information on your career and recruitment needs, please visit www.charterhouse.com.sg.

Charterhouse believes in investing in people. If you want to join a company that provides more than a job but a rewarding career, call Gary Lai at +65 6435 5601 or email garyl@charterhouse.com.sg. Company License Number: 06C3997

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