SPOTLIGHT THE SINGAPORE HR AWARDS 2006! · The Singapore HR Awards 2006 – which was sponsored by...

32 humanCapital I SPECIAL EDITION 2006

THE SINGAPORE HR AWARDS 2006!Bringing Leading People and Practices to the Fore

Winners in 17 award categories, reflecting the entire

spectrum of the HR profession, were recognised at

The Singapore HR Awards 2006 presentation gala

held at The Conrad Centennial Singapore hotel on

31 May 2006.

The guest-of-honour for the glitzy event, Mr Hawazi Daipi,

Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Manpower, was joined

by over 400 industry captains, HR chiefs and professionals in

Singapore and from abroad. Impressed but not surprised by the

turnout, Mr Hawazi told the audience, “The large number of us

gathered here today, ranging from the HR fraternity to CEOs and

senior management, is a testament to the stature of the Award,

and a recognition of the pivotal role that HR plays in every

organisation.”

He added, “And we should not be surprised, as HR is a

profession which makes or breaks an organisation’s all-important

people strategy.”

Aside from underscoring the prestige of The Singapore HR

Awards, Mr Hawazi highlighted the importance of the Awards

in bringing HR to the fore. He said, “Let me congratulate SHRI for

re-launching The Singapore HR Awards at its 40th anniversary last

year. It provides a platform for the HR fraternity and professionals to

come together and celebrate their achievements as a community

of professionals, showcasing successful HR ideas, practices and

programmes and building a sense of shared identity and purpose as well.”

Echoing Mr Hawazi’s sentiments, Mdm Ho Geok Choo, President

of SHRI said, “The Singapore HR Awards is a celebration to mark the

successes and accomplishments of our people managers in their

quest to get the best out of employees, management and

organisations. When companies come forth to showcase and share

their initiatives through such a platform, it elevates industry standards

and human capital management processes, and most certainly

advances businesses as management learn from each other.”

The Singapore HR Awards 2006 – which was sponsored by

the Australian Trade Commission, Kelly Services and Perseus

Asia – received some 150 entries and nominations from both

local organisations and Singapore-based MNCs. Reflecting the

expanded role and increasing influence of HR, this year’s Awards

boasted a few more categories.

Explaining the addition of new categories such as Strategic

HR, HR Communications and Internationalisation/Globalisation

of Business, Mdm Ho said, “HR is entering a new era where it is

fast emerging as one of the key pillars of business strategy. It has

moved beyond salaries, hiring and training to gradually assuming

a more strategic scope at the level of business planning to deliver

business results.”

This year, 63 winning submissions/nominations were

identified through a two-tier selection and judging process. In

all, 19 organisations and three individuals garnered accolades,

including Mr Goh Liang Kwang, Deputy Commissioner of the

Singapore Police Force and Mr Paul Lawrence, General Manager

and CEO of HSBC Singapore, who bagged the Leading CEO Award

– the top award recognising HR champions.

Aside from Mr Goh’s win, the Singapore Police Force also

bagged seven awards, including the Leading Corporate HR Award.

Other big winners at this year’s Awards include Murata Electronics

Singapore (Pte) Ltd with eight awards, NTUC FairPrice Co-

operative Ltd with six awards, Olam International Ltd with seven

awards and Ms Annie Yap, Managing Director of The GMP Group.

Ms Yap, who bagged the Leading HR Entrepreneur Award last year,

collected the Leading HR Management Consultancy & Training

Provider Award for her company, and was the lucky winner for the

gala’s Grand Lucky Draw’s top prize – the latest edition of Perseus

SurveySolutions EFM, the feature-rich software for enterprise

feedback management.

Over the next few pages, you’ll find out what Ms Yap

and the other winners have to say about their wins at The

Singapore HR Awards 2006. To get an in-depth understanding

of their award-winning HR practices, be sure to attend the

Leading HR Summit in August. For further information, please

visit www.shri.org.sg

Nominations for The Singapore HR Awards 2007 open

1 October 2006, and the search is on for Singapore’s HR

innovators and champions. If you know of an HR professional

or practice that has changed an organisation or the

industry for the better over the last year, don’t let those

achievements go unrecognised. Enter now! For details, call

6438 0012 or email [email protected]

SPOTLIGHT

HC_Jun06 FA.indd 32HC_Jun06 FA.indd 32 6/30/06 7:04:04 PM6/30/06 7:04:04 PM

SPECIAL EDITION 2006 I humanCapital 33

Harold Kwan, Managing Director and

Principal Consultant, HRM3 Asia

• Leading HR Entrepreneur Award – Special

Mention

Harold Kwan started his company six

years ago with a S$10 chair, a S$40

table, a telephone and a blank piece of

paper with a dream to make HRM3 Asia

the choice Facilitator and Consultant in Asia Pacifi c.

With the mission to provide local and MNC clients

with customised business solutions to their HR needs,

Harold Kwan has developed fi ve major business

services to off er to clients and fi ve key values to guide

the company’s progress.

HRM3 Asia’s revenues hit million-dollar mark in

its third year of operation. Since then, Harold Kwan has

created greater visibility of HRM3 Asia in the market,

going regional and establishing strategic alliances in

several countries, including with OI Partners, which is

the world’s largest career consulting group with 170

offi ces in over 30 countries. To date, HRM3 Asia has

served more than 200 MNC and local companies.

Harold Kwan on winning the special mention:

It is an honour to receive this award. HR is in my

blood and I enjoy what I am doing. I did not take

on this profession to win awards, but it is certainly

a strong encouragement as this award represents

the recognition and expectations of the HR

profession.

Winning this award has made me think of so

many people who have helped me and taught

me so much along the way. It has also made me

realise the transformation and change of roles I

have undergone: from a student to lecturer, from a

line to staff role, from a junior HR offi cer to regional

HR director, from an employee to entrepreneur,

from an internal to an external HR partner, from

an operational to managerial and then strategic

business partner, and from having a job in an

organisation to creating an organisation and jobs

for employees!

Harold Kwan on how he diff erentiates HRM3

Asia in the market:

We diff erentiate ourselves in three main ways:

a. By focusing on delivering customised business

solutions with our customers, instead of being

driven by programmes or activities. The digit

‘3’ in our company logo epitomises HRM3’s

focus and emphasis to partner our clients

by customising and delivering our services

that will impact positively in three areas of

importance to our clients, i.e. their customers,

products or services and people. Our credo:

“We do what you need.”

b. By moving ahead with the business concept

of growing the market into the Asia Pacifi c

region with global alliances capturing a larger

market. Hence, one of our company’s values is

to “act Asian and think global.”

c. By growing our team’s ability with diverse

off erings to partner our MNC clients in fi ve

integrated and related HR areas, namely

Talent Search, Career Transition, Organisation

Eff ectiveness, Executive Coaching and HRM

Projects/Partnership Services.

Harold Kwan on his employees and the

relationship he shares with them:

We have a good mix of young and senior partners

and associates with diverse industry backgrounds.

We emphasise the need to have an

entrepreneurial mindset in our team, so the

concept of employee-employer relationship

is de-emphasised at this stage of our growth.

At the same time, we try to create a conducive

working environment with fun and games and

opportunities for people to grow, as long as they

want it.

I am a friend, colleague, coach and leader

to my employees. I am one who does many

things, including doing things together with

them, opening doors to opportunities for them,

removing obstacles, and providing the necessary

resources and environment to help them make

things happen.

Harold Kwan on what’s on the radar of HRM3

Asia today;

We are now focused on building our brand, our

strategic alliances, a committed and competent

team in Asia Pacifi c, as well as our infrastructure to

serve our customers even better.

Harold Kwan on where he thinks the relationship

between HR and consulting fi rms like HRM3

Asia is headed:

I think we are heading towards exciting times!

Organisations at global, regional and local levels

are under tremendous cost pressures, resulting

in smaller HR departments having to perform

demanding and complex roles. The role of HR has

moved from personnel manager to HR manager,

then to HR business partner, and now to human

capital partner. The emerging role is one of a

real HR entrepreneur, where the incumbent will

not only ‘talk’ about being a business partner,

but actually has the responsibility, authority

and accountability in the organisation to impact

the fi nancial bottom line in a more direct way.

This translates into demand for professional

HR consultants and facilitators to partner the

internal corporate HR practitioners in all areas

of HR management. Together, they will focus on

building a solid people-centred management

technology covering the fi ve strategic areas of HR

development, HR environment, HR utilisation, HR

administration and HR research & development

to align all resources to achieve the company’s

direction.

Mr Harold Kwan



Murata Electronics Singapore• Leading Corporate HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Manpower Resourcing

& Planning Award• Leading HR Practices in Strategic HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Performance

Management Award• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award• Leading HR Practices in Talent Management,

Retention & Succession Planning Award• Leading HR Practices in Employee Relations &

People Management Award• Leading HR Practices in E-HR Management

Award – Special Mention

Mr Kang Choon Tong, General Manager, Management Services Division and Member of the Board of Directors, Murata Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd

On winning the awards:We are happy to be awarded for all the seven categories that we had submitted entries to, with an additional award for Leading Corporate HR. We want to express our thanks to SHRI for providing the platform and opportunity for us to share with others our HR practices.

On Murata’s motivation for submitting its entry:We thought that the Singapore HR Awards presented a good opportunity for us to fi nd out what level we are at, in terms of our HR practices. With the understanding, we would then be able to create a better plan for our next phase of development.

Why he thinks Murata won:When it comes to HR practices, all are winners as long as the practices are able to keep the organisation in good operational eff ectiveness under a highly competitive labour market.

Our HRM and HRD systems are all locally and internally developed, in accordance to our corporate business direction. The HRM and HRD systems must be able to respond as quickly as possible in tandem with the fast-changing business environment.

At Murata, we strongly believe that only with quality people able to utilise our quality materials and eff ective processes, can we produce quality products that meet the demands of our customers. With this in mind, we have developed HRM and HRD systems that have brought us through many economic crises in the past years.

In the past 34 years that we have operated in Singapore, we have not conducted any retrenchment exercise. We treasure our human capital, and we develop them as the organisation

progresses, and we want them to contribute to their best ability. So far, the HRM and HRD systems that we have developed have been proven to work well for us.

On Murata’s performance management system:

We conduct two types of appraisal, namely Abilities Appraisal and Performance Appraisal. We believe that a person’s market value is best represented by his abilities. We also believe that an employee who didn’t perform well in the current year might be able to perform better than others the next year. If an employee shows an improvement on his ability, he will score higher in the appraisal for ability, and subsequently enjoy an upward adjustment to his basic wage. The performance appraisal, which is conducted twice a year, allows us to let our employees know how they have contributed to the company. We will reward them through variable bonus payments.

Other comments:SHRI has done a great job. This event provided the opportunity for HR practitioners to exchange views and information. By doing so, we are able to enhance the CoP (Communities of Practices) activities for HR professionals, hence upgrading the HR profession.

Olam International• Leading Corporate HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Strategic HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Compensation &

Rewards Management Award• Leading HR Practices in International &

Global HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Internationalisation/

Globalisation of Business Award• Leading HR Practices in Performance

Management Award – Special Mention• Leading HR Practices in Talent

Management, Retention & Succession Planning Award – Special Mention

Comments by Mr Joydeep Bose, Vice President, HR, Olam International Ltd

On winning the awards:This is the second consecutive year that Olam has participated and has also won awards. However, this year we have won seven awards, fi ve more

of the company as a best employer, thereby improving its employer brand.

On Olam’s motivation for submitting its entry:We believe that such competitive events create an ‘outside-in’ focus by benchmarking our practices with others’. Further, such awards help us to gain recognition in the country as a best employer.

Why he thinks Olam won:Olam has grown very successfully over the last 10 years to a S$3-billion company today. This success has been completely on account of the quality of talent in the company. The immense priority to talent and talent-related issues given at all levels in the company have resulted in some very eff ective practices. I would think that these practices and the resultant impact of these practices have contributed to our winning.

than last year, including the Leading Corporate HR Award.

It is an external affi rmation of the people- and talent-focused policies of the company. Such awards do contribute in creating awareness

Mr Joydeep Bose

SPOTLIGHT



SPOTLIGHT

Singapore Police Force• Leading CEO Award

• Leading Corporate HR Award

• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Management Award

• Leading HR Practices in Talent

Management, Retention & Succession

Planning Award

• Leading HR Practices in Employee Relations

& People Management Award

• Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life

Award

• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee

Wellness Award

• Leading HR Practices in Performance

Management Award – Special Mention

Comments by Mr Goh Liang Kwang, Deputy Commissioner, Singapore Police Force (SPF)

On winning the Leading CEO Award, as well as the SPF’s various awards:The awards we received are a good testimony of

the continuous eff ort of people development in

the SPF all these years. The credit for my winning

of the Leading CEO Award should go to the

many teams of offi cers in the SPF who undertake

the function of HR development at diff erent

levels of the organisation. More importantly,

it represents what the SPF stands for in human

capital management. I think the awards are also

an excellent recognition of the hard work and

contribution of each and every staff in the SPF

who has worked day and night to keep Singapore

safe and secure.

Doing HR work in the SPF has been challenging

and enriching, especially in this fast-changing

world. There is a lot more work ahead of us. The

SPF looks forward to continue working closely with

and learning from the HR fraternity in creating a

workplace that truly is an ideal one to work in.

On his leadership style:I would like to think that my offi cers see my style

as an open one. I see my role as not one that

just deals with endorsing proposals and setting

strategic directions. I also make it a point to

participate in some of the programmes planned

and also to personally listen and respond to the

offi cers’ concerns, especially when I get a chance

to meet them during my ground visits to the

various units in the SPF. I also view constant

interaction with offi cers across all levels as

important in my job – in any job, for that matter

– so my eyes and ears remain peeled to the

ground so that response time to eff ect any new

strategies or initiatives is kept short.

On the culture and values of the SPF:In the SPF, we work as a team and have a strong

culture of learning and collective thinking. The

SPF takes pride in being a Learning Organisation

and a People Developer: an organisation that

facilitates and encourages its offi cers to take

charge of their development and advancement in

the organisation. We are also very pro-innovation

and place emphasis on teams coming up with

newer, more effi cient and eff ective ways of

policing and supporting policing.

We have entrenched values of courage,

loyalty, integrity and fairness that anchor our

offi cers’ actions. The SPF goes to great lengths

to recognise and reward offi cers who display

these values in the course of their work. Some of

these include the numerous instances of offi cers

rejecting bribes, the fair and just treatment of

perpetrators and victims of crime alike, awarding

the prestigious Medal of Valour to police offi cers

who have performed an act of courage or gallantry

in circumstances of personal danger, etc.

In essence, we are an organisation that

pro-actively strives to venture into areas that we

deem are necessary, to fully equip our offi cers,

so that we can carry out our mission of fi ghting

crime and terrorism.

On the SPF’s HR management and development philosophy:It has been said, “Don’t worry about

developing your staff and watching them

all leave. Worry about doing nothing and

watching them all stay.” In the SPF, we strive

to do as many things as possible that are in

line with our vision of treating our people

as our most valued assets. I can say that the

SPF has a dedicated team of officers who

truly believe in the value of HR management

and development. Many of the initiatives

that we have are a result of ideas from

all sections of the Force. We have also

ploughed in a tidy amount of resources into

infrastructure for training and manpower to

drive HR management and development in

the SPF.

We see HR development as critical in

supporting the SPF’s three strategic thrusts

of ‘Enhancing Operational Effectiveness’,

‘Strengthening Community Partnership’ and

‘Building Organisational Resilience’. Taking

bearing from these three strategies, our HR

efforts are aimed at meeting one or all of

the thrusts. From training our officers in the

right ‘hard’ skills and ‘heart’ skills to carry out

their core duties, equipping them with better

communication and networking abilities to

effectively engage the community, looking

after their psychological needs and right

up to pampering them with a plethora of

welfare initiatives, we continuously strive

to check and re-check if these efforts are

moving our organisation in the direction

that we have envisioned.

To validate whether our policies and

programmes are working well, we take our

officers’ feedback and concerns seriously.

Towards this end, we have various initiatives

such as the bi-annual SPF Organisational

Health Survey, periodic visits to units and

coffee-corner chats with groups of officers

across all levels in the organisation. It is

imperative that our officers’ needs are

addressed. We do all we can to keep our

officers in a positive state of mind and

body. The officers have also played a huge

role by doing their part in receiving the

HR initiatives favourably and responding

constructively on areas for improvement.

The awards are a ‘good-to-have’; what is

Mr Goh Liang Kwang



more crucial is that we continue to maintain

this level of HR development, if not surpass it!

On the greatest HR challenge facing the SPF

today:

With the economy picking up speedily, the war

for talent is likely to be the top of any company’s

list of HR challenges. Similarly for us, it is likely to

impact on the quality of candidates for entry into

the SPF. In the SPF we have looked at engaging

and reaching out to the youth whilst they are

still in school, so as to generate early interest

amongst them to join the Force. We try our best

to seek out new ways to reach out to the youth

and to incite the passion in them to join us and

be a law enforcer in Singapore.

For our offi cers, the challenge is how to

provide them with an environment where they

NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd• Leading Corporate HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Manpower

Resourcing & Planning Award• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award• Leading HR Practices in Employee Relations

& People Management Award• Leading HR Practices in HR

Communications Award• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee

Wellness Award – Special Mention

Comments by Mr Tan Kian Chew, CEO, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd

On winning the awards:Winning the Leading Corporate HR Award and fi ve Leading HR Practices Awards is affi rmation that we are on the right track. This will spur us on to work harder to achieve our vision of being the preferred employer.

On FairPrice’s motivation for submitting its entry:It is important for FairPrice to benchmark our HR eff orts against those of other companies

in Singapore. This will serve as a gauge as to where we stand against industry standards. The awards also recognise the staff team dedicated to enhancing people and human capital management and development practices.

On FairPrice’s HR philosophy:At FairPrice, we are convinced that proactive and innovative HR practices are imperative in enhancing the well-being of our employees. We have always aimed at establishing excellent practices that will make us the preferred employer.

Our mission statement has clearly put forth that we aspire to be not just the best place to shop, but also the best place to work and the best corporate citizen. We strive to meet the needs of both the working individual as well as the organisation as a whole. This is because we believe that a company can only outshine others when its human assets are its winning edge. Without our people, we would not be able to gain a competitive edge in the industry, especially so as we are in the service industry.

While our staff are our greatest assets, we also believe that assets need to be well managed with good HR management practices.

can grow and develop. Employees nowadays

are looking beyond basic needs like pay and

salary. They are becoming more concerned with

learning opportunities, avenues for them to be

engaged as well as the reputation and culture of

the organisation.

On HR as a strategic partner:

In my view, HR already is a strategic player

in the workplace – not just in the SPF, but

in many organisations today. Policing is

fundamentally a ‘service’ industry and our

ability to fulfill our mission depends largely

on the competence and dedication of our

officers. Hence, there is no doubt that ‘people’

is a key component to ensure the success

of the SPF. We not only have to attract and

recruit the best, but also retain and develop

them to their full potential so that they can

contribute effectively.

In 2005, we adopted a Balanced Scorecard

system of measuring our performance vis-à-vis

targets that are set and reviewed annually. It

amalgamates and streamlines all the previous

performance systems that the SPF used. Several

of the key performance indicators (KPIs) in the

scorecard are HR-related ones, for example,

learning requirements, manpower readiness

requirements, planning and recruitment

variances, etc. These set the strategic priorities

and provide focus for the various units in the

SPF, in terms of what needs to be done on the

HR front in order to meet the needs of offi cers

to carry out their duties eff ectively. Units in turn

are able to relate to these KPIs and see how they

fi t into the overall strategy of policing.

Mr Tan Kian Chew



SPOTLIGHT

HSBC• Leading CEO Award• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award• Leading HR Practices in Talent Management,

Retention & Succession Planning Award• Leading HR Practices in HR Communications

Award• Leading HR Practices in Performance

Management Award – Special Mention

Comments by Ms Stella Wong, Head of HR, HSBC Singapore

On winning the awards:We are very honoured that our HR practices and programmes were recognised at the recent Singapore HR Awards organised by SHRI. We see these awards as affi rmation that our eff orts to care and provide for our employees and make HSBC an enjoyable place to work are indeed on the right track.

The many innovative HR initiatives we have

introduced have been made on the back of strong support and commitment from our senior management team led by our General Manager and CEO, Paul Lawrence. Their leadership and active championing of the need to stay abreast of employee needs and industry trends have been instrumental in making HSBC a great place to work and grow a career.

The awards are a great source of encouragement and motivation for our staff , whose tremendous support and enthusiastic response have made HSBC’s HR eff orts a success over the years.

With the support of HSBC’s management and staff , we will certainly continue to enhance and improve the bank’s HR practices and take our commitment to make HSBC a conducive environment for our staff to thrive and fl ourish to the next level. On HSBC’s motivation for submitting its entry:The annual Singapore HR Awards is a prestigious benchmark of the most creative and eff ective HR ideas and practices in the local industry. In the spirit of honing and enhancing HSBC’s HR programmes, we participated in this year’s awards in the hope of exchanging and gaining meaningful insights, ideas and best practices from some of the most successful and leading companies and organisations in Singapore.

We also hope that in participating, we can support SHRI’s mission to bring HR to the fore and develop a world-class workforce for Singapore. On HSBC’s HR philosophy:At HSBC, we believe that a happy workforce

is the best workforce, which is why our HR programmes are designed to accommodate the diverse profi les and unique needs and wants of our staff and help them bring out their very best to serve HSBC and our customers.

We also consistently focus our eff orts on achieving comprehensive coverage of our employee base in rolling out our various initiatives so as to reach out to as many in the organisation as possible, taking into account the diversity of their profi le. We do so based on our belief in equity and inclusiveness of our employee population. A good example of this can be found in our performance management process, where the same process is applied from senior management to clerical colleagues. For maximum eff ectiveness, we focus on keeping our HR programmes simple, creative and yet thorough in their implementation. Our ‘Leading For Success’ and our bank-wide ‘Live It!’ initiatives are very good examples of these qualities that are cornerstones of our HR programme to make HSBC a great place to work.

On the role of HR at HSBC:At HSBC, we believe HR management is an ongoing dialogue with our staff . This is why we continuously seek to fi nd out and understand the views and sentiments of our staff and proactively strive to add value to their well-being and fulfi llment at work.

To succeed in our goal of making HSBC a great place to work, HR has to take a very proactive role. In bringing to life our HR philosophy, we need to adopt a forward-thinking approach and be aware that we cannot wait for things to happen.

CISCO Security Pte Ltd• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award - Special Mention

Comments by Ms Jaclyn Lee, Vice President, HR, Corporate HR, CISCO Security Pte Ltd

On winning the special mention: We were very surprised indeed. There were many good companies that were vying for the awards.

Why she thinks CISCO won:We have done a great deal of work in human capital development for the past two years for the company. Many innovative ideas in employee development, talent management, as well as change management were introduced. CISCO

has defi nitely many leading-edge practices in HR, and I believe that we have added a lot of value to our business lines by being pro-active in understanding their needs and designing HR solutions that can make a impact to the business.

Other comments:I would like to thank SHRI for spearheading this award to recognise the HR profession in Singapore. I believe that there were many great companies that evening that have won awards and CISCO would like to extend a congratulatory note to all of them.

Ms Jaclyn Lee (2nd from right), with members of her Human Capital Development Team (from left), Ms Jessie Ng, Ms Jamie Ong, Ms Janet Quek and Mr Bernard Ho.

Ms Stella Wong



We see HR as a strategic partner in spotting trends and taking pre-emptive actions where necessary so as to realise our business strategy.

Comments by Mr Paul Lawrence, General Manager & CEO, HSBC Singapore

On winning the Leading CEO Award:I am delighted to receive the award, but I would really like to dedicate this award to all my colleagues, whose enthusiastic support and participation in our HR programmes as well as openness and willingness to share their views and feedback have made our HR eff orts a success and more importantly, made HSBC a great place to work.

On his leadership style and HSBC as a great place to work:At HSBC, we believe that our people are key to our success, which is why HR is much more than a support function – it is an integral part of our management team. While our HR colleagues help guide HR strategy and policy formation, my senior

colleagues, myself and line managers throughout the organisation are responsible for ensuring that the developmental needs of our people are met and aligned with the organisation’s goals and strategic objectives.

As a major provider of fi nancial services, our key business goal is to make HSBC an excellent place to bank and we believe that we can only achieve this if we fi rst make HSBC a great place to work. I see this as one of my overriding management imperatives and rally my senior colleagues to help foster this.

This is why we pay a great deal of attention to learning more about the individual needs and aspiration of our staff and doing what we can to provide for them so that they can concentrate on giving their very best to the bank and to our customers.

One of our key programmes to make work enjoyable at HSBC is our ‘Live It!’ programme, which consists of monthly treats for our staff , such as free movie tickets and ice cream giveaways, or the freedom to come into the offi ce late or leaving for home early and even on occasions, to bring their children to work to enjoy organised activities during the school holidays. Aside from promoting good work-life balance, I think that these initiatives go a long way towards making HSBC a warm, happy and fulfi lling place for our people to nurture their careers.

On the culture and values of HSBC:Our overriding culture is that of a ‘team’ culture; the achievement of our business and corporate social responsibility objectives through collective behaviour and responsibility. As one of the world’s largest banking and fi nancial services organisations,

the welfare of our people is a fundamental concern at HSBC.

This stems from our principle of being a fair and objective employer that embraces diversity amongst our staff and creates equal opportunities for our people to realise their full potential for the benefi t of customers, shareholders and the communities we serve.

We also believe in honesty, integrity, openness, innovation, initiative and teamwork and value and reward our staff for living and expressing these values in the course of their work.

It is precisely this commitment to maximise the talents and development of our people that is the cornerstone of HSBC’s success over the last 140 years.

On the greatest HR challenge today:I think that it is immensely important to continuously create and maintain dialogue with our staff . It is a sure way of sharing our collective vision and goals as well as harnessing employee feedback to fi ne-tune our policies and practices to provide a conducive work environment.

Naturally, this takes time and commitment from both management and staff . This is why at HSBC, we have embarked on a bank-wide initiative called ‘Start, Stop and Continue’, where staff are invited to give their managers a list of actions which they would like them to start doing, stop doing as well as those they want their managers to continue doing. This demonstrates clearly the management’s commitment to create an open, friendly and engaging environment for our staff to develop their careers.

Mr Paul Lawrence

Republic Polytechnic• Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life

Award• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award - Special Mention

Comments by Mr Anderson Lim, Deputy Director, HR, Republic Polytechnic

On winning the awards:My entire organisation is very happy. We are very honoured to have received the awards. SHRI is an organisation representing the entire HR fraternity in Singapore and the judges are prominent people in HR. Hence, to win something means that we have benchmarked ourselves with the best in Singapore and still come up tops.

Other comments: The awards gave us confi dence in our systems, that they are no less in terms of quality than other systems, but we also realise that to maintain our good standing, we cannot slacken. We must continue to improve ourselves and benchmark against best practices. Only then, we can continue to be of relevance to our staff .

On Republic Poly’s motivation for submitting its entry:We believe we have something good, innovative and benefi cial internally. We wanted to verify if our systems are as good as we believe. It is important to benchmark ourselves periodically. Secondly we wanted an award or recognition to further motivate our staff for the continuation of good work. Why he thinks Republic Poly won:We were quietly confi dent of winning those awards as our staff have been putting in huge eff orts to ensure that our systems, activities and programmes match up to what a good people-oriented organisation should possess. We have had good feedback and comments about our systems from visitors and staff ; hence, we felt we stood a good chance of winning.

Mr Anderson Lim



SPOTLIGHT

McDonald’s Restaurants Singapore• Leading HR Practices in Strategic HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award• Leading HR Practices in Talent

Management, Retention & Succession Planning Award

• Leading HR Practices in Performance Management Award – Special Mention

Comments by Ms Eunice Lee, Director, HR & Development, McDonald’s Restaurants Pte Ltd

On winning the awards:The awards that McDonald’s won are a fi tting testament to the robust systems and people strategies that we have in place. It was truly a wonderful night of recognition amongst companies that have done well in various HR practices and systems. Every award that McDonald’s wins is dedicated to our 6,000 brand ambassadors (employees) that wake up every day to deliver our people promise to our customers, colleagues and partners. We are proud to demonstrate yet again McDonald’s commitment to our people through these awards.

On McDonald’s motivation for submitting its entry:When The Singapore HR Awards was fi rst launched in 1997, McDonald’s Singapore was amongst the companies recognised for excellence in our HR practices. It is only appropriate that we continue to strive for excellence and support The Singapore HR Awards organised by SHRI. “Striving for excellence in all our people practices and benchmarking with the best” continues to be our mantra.

Why she thinks McDonald’s won:Our HR practices are based on years of building upon our people systems through feedback and support from our people champions. McDonald’s remains passionate in everything that we do, especially when it involves our people.

McDonald’s knows that we can grow as a company only if we enable our people to grow, contribute and feel pride in working for McDonald’s. Indeed, a favourite saying of our founder, Ray Kroc, is that McDonald’s is not just a hamburger company serving people, but a people company serving hamburgers.

Other comments:The Singapore HR awards organised by SHRI for 2006 is made more memorable as it fell within the 11th World HR Congress period. To have The Singapore HR Awards and share that moment amongst our international HR colleagues makes the awards we received even more meaningful. Kudos to our partners in SHRI for organising the 11th World HR Congress. It has been a great learning, sharing and networking journey!

UBS AG• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award• Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life

Award• Leading HR Practices in Talent

Management, Retention & Succession Planning Award – Special Mention

• Leading HR Practices in HR Communications Award – Special Mention

Comments by Ms Angela Lum, Head of HR, Singapore, UBS AG

On winning the awards:We are focused on making UBS the workplace of choice for our employees. We believe that beyond just the tangible compensations of work, our staff need to have a balanced, healthy and fun lifestyle to be fulfi lled in both their professional and personal lives. We are extremely proud to win the awards and appreciate the recognition from our peers in the HR community and practitioners across the various industries. It will defi nitely spur us further to strive for continual

Why she thinks UBS won:We think our diversity philosophy which is embedded in our human capital management sets us apart from others. It inspires us to look at things a little differently and spurs us to think of new and innovative solutions to human capital management issues.

On improving the workplace for UBS employees:As a corporate policy, we continually look at innovative ways to improve the work environment and work-life effectiveness for all our employees. We look at best practices from our other offices globally (for example, Europe and US) and we also get feedback locally from our employees.

In Asia, we have introduced more schemes over the last couple of years, like flexible work arrangements, flexi-hours, part-time work, tele-commuting, concierge services for staff, comprehensive health screening for every employee, fruits for staff every Wednesday, to name a few.

improvement in the work environment and work-life eff ectiveness for all UBS staff .

On UBS’ motivation for submitting its entry:Besides the recognition the award brings, we feel that our participation, and the participation of more organisations here, would be another step to raise the awareness and standard of human capital management practices in Singapore. Winning the awards is an affi rmation of our commitment and eff ort to be in the forefront of human capital management.

Ms Angela Lum (second row, 2nd from right, in white blouse and black blazer), with her colleagues from the HR department of UBS Singapore.

Ms Eunice Lee (3rd from right), with members of the McDonald’s Singapore team with at the Singapore HR Awards Gala (from left), Ms Linda Ming, Senior Communications Manager, Mr Chua Li Yong, HR Consultant, Ms Tan Buay Beng, Assistant HR Manager, Mr Jeff rey Tan, Head of Operations and Training, and Ms Emilyn Ang, Principal Consultant.



SPOTLIGHT

The GMP Group• Leading HRM Consultancy & Learning

Provider Award

Comments by Ms Annie Yap, Managing Director, The GMP Group

On winning the award:It is indeed a great honour to be recognised

and acknowledged as Singapore’s Leading

HRM Consultancy & Learning Provider at this

year’s The Singapore HR Awards. There are

many established staffing and recruitment

agencies in Singapore – to be able to win

this award proves that a local set-up like

The GMP Group is capable of providing

specific solutions to meet the different

human capital demands of both local and

international companies.

This year’s event was held in conjunction

with the 11th World HR Congress and many

delegates attended the award ceremony

– winning the award also propels the GMP

brand to the international platform. This

is in line with our plans to make GMP the

leading staffing and recruitment brand in

Asia Pacific.

Winning the award this year makes

it extra special to The GMP Group as we

celebrate the Group’s 15th anniversary. This

award is a recognition of our late founder,

Dr Giam Cheng Lan’s visionary ideas and our

staff ’s contributions over the years to make

The GMP Group the preferred brand for any

staffing and recruitment need.

Why she thinks The GMP Group won:The GMP Group began as a recruitment

company offering job placements for

technical personnel in manufacturing-based

firms. We have managed to come this far to

become a regional human capital solutions

provider across all industries because we

have focused on four main pillars of growth,

namely client focus, trained consultants,

innovation and agility, and technology.

Client FocusWe believe that “the customer is king”.

One of our key strategies in improving our

competitive edge in the new economy is to

gather our feedback from our customers

through both informal and formal channels.

We seek to understand their business so

that we can better serve their needs. The

regular contact helps us to build a long-term

business relationship with our clients.

Our Trained Consultants

All GMP staff undergo rigorous training in

their first three months with GMP to ensure

that there is consistency in our service

delivery. They are imbibed with the culture

of maintaining customers’ interest at heart

always.

Every quarter, we organise Staff Welfare

Days, covering various topics and activities

for our staff ’s self development and also to

maintain our customer service standard.

This is also to inculcate in all GMP staff that

we strive to be the best provider of people

solutions and one of the outstanding quality

service companies in the region.

Innovation and AgilityAt GMP, we constantly streamline our

processes so as to up our efficiency and

we believe in continuous innovation.

This approach is working for us as we

saw steady growth over the years.

In our continuous efforts to provide

innovative HR solutions, GMP has

launched a brand new service offering

under the Outsourcing Division in April

2006: Recruitment Process Outsourcing

(RPO). GMP is investing close to S$1

million over the next three years into

the RPO service to ensure that we are

keeping up with the latest trends and

offering a total solution involving the

entire recruiting process, including the

necessary skills, tools, technologies and

activities to serve as their client’s virtual

recruiting department.

GMP staff are also encouraged to

take calculated risks and empowered

to make decisions as long as everyone

acts in the best interest of the customers

and the business. Empowerment helps

free up senior management’s time, and

executives also find it more rewarding

to be allowed the leeway to run the

business and make high-level decisions

rather than to be micro-managed.

GMP’s flat organisation structure

allows quick decision-making and does

not require many layers of approval. One

of the major benefits of empowering

employees and maintaining a flat

reporting structure is that it has given

GMP the agility to adapt quickly to a

changing environment.

TechnologyIn order to boost effectiveness in

recruiting the right talent for our clients,

GMP constantly upgrades its IT platform

to facilitate our clients and candidates

in their search for employees and jobs

respectively. Recently, GMP has upgraded

its Knowledge Management Tool to an

award-winning solution designed by

Taleo, a US-based system that provides

talent management solutions to leading

companies worldwide.

Ms Annie Yap



APEX-PAL International Ltd• Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life Award – Special Mention• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee Wellness – Special

Mention

Comments by Ms May Foo, Vice President, Group HR, APEX-PAL International Ltd

On winning the special mentions:The awards affi rm that my company’s corporate HR policy is on the right direction when it comes to work-life harmony and employee health and wellness. They also serve as an important recognition for our employees’ eff orts in balancing work and family commitments and staying healthy, as well as for the support of the management.

On work-life harmony:Our work-life programme started on the day of the company’s founding. We believe in our employees working with us, not for us. Thus, we place a high emphasis on ensuring that our employees get quality time for their family. We encourage them to strike a healthy balance between work and family. This will nurture a healthier, happier and more productive workforce.

Also, we believe that when the company takes care of the staff and their family members well, the staff will in turn treat the customers well, and the customers will then treat the company well with repeated patronage.

We believe that one of the key factors infl uencing employees’ decisions to leave a company is the inability to balance the various demands of work, family and personal life. At Sakae Sushi, for instance, to tackle the high turnover rate prevalent in the F&B industry, we go to the root of the problem, i.e. helping employees balance their work and family commitments and personal life. We recognise that it is not so much about providing work-life benefi ts for employees; it is about providing a conducive and supportive environment where employees will not be ‘afraid’ to utilise those benefi ts. With the support of top management, Sakae Sushi focuses on creating a supportive work-life climate. Our supervisors are supportive and understanding of employees work-life needs. For instance, schedules are planned with consideration of employees’ family or personal commitments. To provide work-life benefi ts that are useful to employees, we tailor work-life benefi ts to individuals instead of adopting a ‘one-size-fi ts-all’ approach.

On support from senior management for work-life and employee health & wellness programmes:Our senior executives are aware of the significance of family-friendly and health promotion programmes to the bottom line. They actively promote work-life and health promotion initiatives and support policy changes that are necessary for a family-friendly and health-conscious environment, reviewing them regularly to ensure relevance and adequacy.

Ms May Foo



SPOTLIGHT

SingHealth Group • Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life Award

(KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital)• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee

Wellness Award (KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital + Changi General Hospital)

Comments by Prof Tan Ser Kiat, Group CEO, SingHealth:

Winning an award is always seen as an affi rmation of policies or actions which are being recognised. It communicates that something right has been done. But when the same actions or policies receive numerous accolades from various awards and organisations, it speaks more than affi rmation. I believe it signals leadership.

I am proud that SingHealth’s group of institutions fall into this category, two of them being Changi General Hospital (CGH) and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) which have been recognised many times for their health and employee wellness and balanced work-life policies and activities. I am confi dent they will rise up to the challenge of maintaining their leadership position in these areas and further improve to ensure the continued happiness of their employees.

Healthcare is about people caring for people. A healthy and happy workforce is good for any organisation; for SingHealth, it means better patient care. It is for this reason that ensuring the well-being of our workforce – which stands at almost 14,000 – is a philosophy which has been entrenched across all of SingHealth’s nine institutions. A common work-life policy statement serves as a guide when developing work-life balance programmes.

SingHealth’s institutions have demonstrated that it is possible to help employees attain a well-balanced lifestyle between work, family and personal needs, while meeting the 24/7 operational needs of the institutions.

Comments by Assoc Prof Ivy Ng, CEO, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH)

On winning the awards:The awards are an affi rmation from HR experts that KKH is on the right path in doing the right things for our staff . These two awards will spur us to continue to pursue and implement innovative and progressive programmes to benefi t our staff . Of course, winning the awards gives us great satisfaction on the recognition accorded to KKH.

On KKH’s motivation for submitting its entry:Taking part in such awards is one means whereby KKH can benchmark our programmes against other companies’ HR practices. The application process is also benefi cial as it helps us to refl ect on our programmes and look for improvement areas.

On KKH’s award-winning practices:We are committed to providing a supportive environment whereby our staff can thrive and their potential fully realised. We adopt a holistic approach and understand that a balanced work-life and employees’ health are important for the individual, the family and the hospital.

We off er our employees fl exible work arrangements with diff erent patterns of shifts and work hours that cater to their personal and family needs. For example, the 12-hour shifts allow our nurses and other staff to have more off days and part-time hours allow our employees to do meaningful work and at the same time, take care of their family members.

Our Healthy Lifestyle Committee is chaired by an Assistant Director of Nursing and members comprise of doctors, nurses, pharmacist, dietitian and representatives of various departments. Activities that have been organised by this committee range from sports and exercise to eating healthily, and cater

to both employees and their family members.What is more important is staff ’s acceptance

and support of the various programmes that have been implemented. We are glad that both staff and their supervisors recognise the value that these programmes bring to them. Our programmes help staff to achieve a balanced work-life and a healthy lifestyle, which in turn increase the productivity of their work unit. It is win-win for both staff and the hospital.

We also have an award to recognise the support of family members in helping the staff to succeed at work. We are proud that we have been able to harness the rich potential of human capital that KKH is endowed with. Each staff is an important member of the KKH family.

Comments by Ms Ivy Ng, HR Manager, Changi General Hospital (CGH)

On winning the award:We are very pleased to have received the award as this is a clear affi rmation that we are doing the right thing. As an organisation that provides quality healthcare to the community, we need to ensure that our employees come to work healthy to best serve our patients. This award is also an endorsement of our eff orts in our journey towards inculcating health and wellness as an organisational lifestyle to enhance our employees’ well-being and productivity.

On CGH’s motivation for submitting its entry:It is important for us to benchmark ourselves against the industry practice for continuous improvement. The Singapore HR Awards 2006 off ered a platform for HR professionals to come together to share our achievements and at the same time, learn from other best-practice companies.

On CGH’s approach to employee health and wellness: We do not view our employees as a digit, but as a whole person who wants to enjoy working here. With this belief, the workplace health programme is seen as integral to developing the human resources of the organisation.

Central to our success is the supportive culture with strong management participation. Like-minded champions of healthy lifestyle are identifi ed to form the Healthy Lifestyle Committee, and they work closely with other committees such as the Recreation Club & Peer Support Group to drive our health and wellness programmes.

Assoc Prof Ivy Ng (left of foreground, in black trackpants) leading staff and their family members in a mass workout on KKH’s Family Day at Sentosa on 4 June 2006.

Prof Tan Ser Kiat



Alexandra Hospital• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee

Wellness Award

Comments by Dr Wee Wei Keong, Director, Health For Life Programme, Alexandra Hospital

On winning the award:Alexandra Hospital (AH) is very honoured to receive The Singapore HR Awards 2006 in the category of Health & Employee Wellness. This award affi rms our belief in promoting employees’ health and wellness, and serves as an excellent recognition to all AH staff who have actively contributed in driving wellness initiatives in our hospital. AH has always emphasised the

importance of keeping our employees fi t and healthy so that we are able to build a healthy workforce and commit excellent service to our patients, customers and the community.

As healthcare workers, AH staff should serve as role models to our patients. Winning this award is a gratifying affi rmation of what we should be doing and should continue to do. It is, after all, consistent with our vision, “Adding Years of Healthy Life to the People of Singapore.” We see this as a continuing journey and not an end in itself. We at AH will continue to persevere and to work with other companies and partners to promote health and wellness at the workplace.

Moving forward, Alexandra Hospital will continue to nurture excellence in other HR practices to add more value and enhance greater productivity in our organisation.

On AH’s motivation for submitting its entry:The main motivation behind putting forth the submission is to affi rm our strong belief in promoting employees’ health and wellness, which stems from our HR’s strategic vision of “Making AH a Great Place to Work”, where staff are fi tter, healthier and happier. It is also our hope that such practices can be shared

and adopted by other organisations as part of the nation’s eff ort in workplace health promotion.

Why he thinks AH won:One of AH’s distinctive winning factors for the award is likely attributed to our innovation and creativity in creating healthy work environment. AH has a renowned garden which is a labour of love by our staff , friends and volunteers. Each department in AH owns the land where they will gather on every last Friday of the month, which is designated as the Gardening Day, to engage in some physical activities.

On top of that, AH has also extended our gardening eff orts to our community. We are committed to contributing to our community in our wellness eff orts such as landscaping for other hospitals, as well as welcoming the young to our garden for community involvement programmes to share with them about AH’s gardening experiences.

Our commitment and enthusiasm in sharing our initiatives are our triumph factors in being recognised as having of the Leading HR Practices in Health and Employee Wellness.

Singapore Polytechnic• Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life

Award• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee

Wellness Award – Special Mention

Comments by Ms Jenny Heng-Lim, Manager, Staff Wellness, Singapore Polytechnic (SP)

On winning the awards:We are delighted and happy! The awards not only recognise publicly our institution’s eff orts to improve the quality of life of its employees and live up to its core value of showing care and concern, they are an assurance to our employees that the institution has in place practices which will aff ect them positively.

Potential employees will be able to note that SP provides its employees with an

Employer Award in 2004. So we were quite confi dent our applications would measure up to the criteria set by SHRI. If we hadn’t won, we would have looked at our areas of weakness and try again next year.

Why she thinks SP won:I think what clinched it for us were our right policies and strategies to manage an eff ective workplace health promotion programme and a slew of activities to promote a balanced work life. We have programmes which are geared to our staff demographic profi le and interests, and our activities attempt to meet staff ’s needs. Other pull factors include the strong commitment from staff who plan and run the programmes, as well as the strong management support for activities, in terms of funding and physical resources.

environment that allows them to balance work and family commitments and takes care of their health through an eff ective workplace health promotion programme.

Those of us who run the programmes and motivate our staff to be involved have an added satisfaction of having done a good job!

On participating in The Singapore HR Awards:Survey fi ndings, opinion polls and positive feedback point to the many benefi ts staff have gained from participation in the various programmes. Participation rates in our corporate activities, especially those which are related to health and well-being, are increasing steadily. Also, we have won other awards, including the Singapore HEALTH Award (Gold) in 2004 and 2005, and the Singapore Family Friendly

Dr Wee Wei Keong



SPOTLIGHT

Civil Service College• Leading HR Practices in Performance

Management Award – Special Mention• Leading HR Practices in HR Communications

– Special Mention

Comments by Mr Derek Tan, Deputy Director, Corporate Development, Civil Service College (CSC)

On winning the special mentions:The awards are appreciated as a signpost, assuring us and our customers that we are heading in the right direction towards developing a high performance and collaborative culture in the organisation. As HR professionals, we are happy that our achievements and progress has received this recognition and validation from the rest of the HR community.

Here’s what my fellow colleagues in HR say about our achievement:“The team feels encouraged that the hard work put in has been recognised. Moving forward, the team strives to work in partnership with management and the various business units to meet our organisational needs.”- Ms Cheong Wai Yee, Senior Executive, Corporate Development, CSC

“This is a good sign that the practices that we have in CSC are current. People are our asset. We put in place good practices to ensure our people are well taken care of. We are involved in creative decision-making at CSC. Management listens and cares, providing us with ample learning opportunities.”- Ms Teresa Tang and Mr Tan Ah Jit, Executives, Corporate Development, CSC

Most importantly, HR professionals must stay ahead of the curve and bring value to the business of the organisation. In our case, it is about developing future competencies and increasing the capabilities of the College. Our internal customers, the business units, were appreciative of our roles.

We have received positive feedback from our business directors, including the following:“CSC is about having great people doing extra-ordinary work to develop a first-class public service. This requires, inter-alia, superior HR support systems and processes.

Winning special mentions in two important categories of The Singapore HR Awards are an affirmation of the work that CSC leadership, management and staff have put in over the last two years in building strong HR systems and processes.” - Mr Paul Lim, Director, CSC Consultants and Public Service Centre for Excellence

“CSC has built up an organisation that is anchored on people development. It values its people as the most important asset and a cornerstone of its success is because of the commitment and passion of its people in delivering the products and services. I am honoured to be part of the CSC family.” - Mrs Tam Li Phin, Director, Institute of Public Administration & Management, CSC

Ultimately, we can only truly declare success when our business units and colleagues are helped by us to succeed in the mission and business of College.

On the CSC’s HR communications practices:The team has been working very hard to improve our service levels to our line managers and staff . One of the lessons we learnt was that the work that was done needed to be translated into layman terms so that people could appropriate the good intent behind our eff orts and work with us to fulfi ll the objectives.

Hence, the strategies and mechanisms were represented in our 4Cs framework – Communications, Collaboration, Culture and Community – to encourage employee engagement, involvement and commitment at all levels. This helped to interpret the corporate teambuilding and community events that we have been organising and added meaningfulness to the fun element. The end result was better bond-building and a common understanding amongst staff , which manifested in closer collaboration across the business units.

On the CSC’s performance management practices:

We strongly believe in our HR value proposition in support of the College’s vision of being “The Heart of Learning Excellence and Development for the Singapore Public Service”. We adopted a competency-based HR strategic approach to harness the staff ’s talents, and we aspire to develop them to their fullest potential to meet the current and oncoming challenges of a dynamic environment. In accordance with our corporate values of caring for people, integrity and excellence, we deeply believe that organisational success cannot be disconnected from the individual’s own hierarchy of needs, and that people can be inspired to soar beyond boundaries without breaking with doing what is right and good for themselves as well as for the organisation.

Our Performance Management Framework is based on the following four principles: (1) a common understanding of “Where are we going?”; (2) clear expectations for “What do I have to do?”; (3) capability of “How will I succeed?”; and (4) meaningful commitment of “What’s in it for me?”.

The CSC Corporate Development teamLast row (from left): Mr Derek Tan, Ms Jaime Teong and Mr Christian Chao. Middle row (from left): Ms Kate Chng and Mr Loh Chwei Jiun. Front row (from left): Ms Celestine Yeo, Ms Tan Chiew Hoon, Ms Cheong Wai Yee and Mr Tan Ah Jit.



Raffl es International• Leading HR Practices in Strategic HR Award• Leading HR Practices in Employee Relations &

People Management Award• Leading HR Practices in Performance

Management Award - Special Mention• Leading HR Practices in Learning & Human

Capital Development Award – Special Mention

• Leading HR Practices in E-HR Management Award – Special Mention

Comments by Mr Tommy Ng, Senior Vice President, HR, Raffl es International

On winning the awards:We are extremely pleased and delighted that we had won fi ve awards at The Singapore HR Awards 2006. It shows that our hard work and eff orts have paid off and we are immensely gratifi ed about the win. These awards are testament to the continuous eff orts and contributions of every staff in ensuring that the Raffl es core Values of positively responding to changes, upholding quality and integrity, being

success driven, with a focus on meritocracy and motivating and investing in talent and encouraging continuous learning are being upheld.

These awards also serve as recognition of the programmes that we have in place to:• Align HR and business objectives and

incorporate a sound and eff ective change management process.

• Allow our employees to learn, share and acquire knowledge that would enable them to perform and contribute more eff ectively to our business, as well as to increase their employability.

• Improve intra-and inter-relationships between and among employees, employer and the union.

• Enable the measurement and management of performance of employees and business and incorporate metrics for rewarding and improving performance.

• Embrace technology to enhance eff ectiveness and productivity of the HR department, and at the same time, meet the needs of the business and employees.

On Raffl es International’s motivation for submitting its entry:The Singapore HR Awards 2006 provides a platform for the HR fraternity and professionals to come together to celebrate and recognise successful and leading organisations and practitioners in their drive for impactful human capital strategies. Our participation allows us to share with the other organisations the HR practices and initiatives that we have implemented thus far. It is always enriching to exchange thoughts and ideas with others and in turn learn from each other.

Other comments:The Singapore HR Award serves as a benchmark against best practices and helps raise the standard of HR practices and people management. It also helps foster greater strategic HR management and is good for the industry as a whole. Companies can learn from each other for the betterment of their organisation. Also, by being up against the best in the industry, it helps strengthen resolves to work harder and to strive for the best.

Singapore Management University• Leading HR Practices in Compensation &

Rewards Management Award

Comments by Mr Ong Tiong Eng, Director, HR, Singapore Management University (SMU)

On winning the award:SMU is proud of the industry’s recognition of our practices for compensation and rewards management as leading practices in Singapore.

How they are rewarded depends entirely on their deliverables.

Seventy-fi ve per cent of our staff and faculty are totally satisfi ed with the fl exible benefi ts programme. Instead of a ‘one size fi ts all’ programme, the University tailors benefi ts to their requirements and lifestyle. This is within the ambit of the University’s overall philosophy to support life-long learning, pro-family and family-friendly initiatives and promotion of employees’ health and wellness.

On SMU’s compensation and rewards management programme:Right from the start, we have incorporated a ‘pay for performance’ philosophy: staff and faculty are rewarded for their eff orts and contributions to the University. Their performance objectives are tied to the University’s overall business strategies. Each year, the President will articulate the University’s business plan and the performance management system works to ensure that everyone works to support the business plans.

ABN AMRO• Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee

Wellness Award

Comments by Mrs Molly Yeo, Senior Vice President, HR, ABN AMRO Singapore

On winning the award:We submitted one entry this year for the Leading HR Practices in Health & Employee Wellness and are delighted to win in this category. We were participating alongside many organisations that are respected for leading practices in HR and the standards were high. We are honoured to have

participated in this prestigious event and are very delighted that we were able to bring home an award at the same time.

This award not only affi rms that we are on the right track in terms of keeping up with leading HR practices – it is also an encouragement to our HR team. The recognition shows that by providing value added HR interventions, we can be strategic HR business partners to our business.

On ABN AMRO’s motivation for submitting its entry:ABN AMRO believes in looking after the health and wellness of our employees and we invest

a lot of our attention to offer comprehensive wellness schemes to our employees. We wanted to assess how we measure up against the HR practices of other organisations and learn from the best.

Other comments:It would be good if all award winners’ winning formula could be shared with the rest of the HR community so that the wider community can benefit, and we can learn from the best practices in the industry.


SPOTLIGHT THE SINGAPORE HR AWARDS 2006! · The Singapore HR Awards 2006 – which was sponsored by...

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