Josh Bersin: 2014, The Year of the Employee

06 January 2014, Singapore: I received an email from my Regional CFO and Business Partner. He shared with me an article by Josh Bersin, the founder of BERSIN.

In summary, Josh Bersin cited that for 2014, employers will face the following challenges and opportunities:

• Building passion in the workplace.
• Creating a global employment brand — and one that sings.
• Developing a “leadership supply chain,” focused on millennials in particular. 
• Simplifying technology.
• Building a culture of continuous learning and locating work to skills.
• Turning social tools into solutions.
• Think about talent management in a holistic way.

For details of his write-up – click the hyperlink: Josh Bersin: 2014 The Year of The Employee

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Success in HR: 25 Kick Butt Career Goals for 2014

05 January 2014, Singapore: I received another email from Alan Collins, the Founder of Success in HR, Inc. This is an interesting article by him for HR professionals who want to have a "kick-butt" career goals for 2014.

Click the link: 

Success in HR.com: 25 Kick-butt HR Career Goals

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Blueprint for Designing an Employee's Recognition Program

05 January 2014, Singapore: I dedicated this article to one of my ex-colleague who will be taking-up a new post focusing on employee engagement (EE).

I bum into this article that talk about a blueprint for employee's recognition. It highlighted the potential best practices for designing an employee's recognition problem.

It will be difficult for me to roll-out a recognition program according to the blueprint ... because the organization I worked for has a very comprehensive employee's recognition program but some of the practices is not according to the 'Globoforce' recommended blueprint.

What I can do is to share it with my peers (e.g., HRCMs, HRBPs, etc.) and check the pulse if they agreed with the blueprint ... if yes .. I will be busy ... if no ... I will need to look for another project to support their EE program.

For organizations that have not implemented an employee's recognition program ... I suggest their HR professionals to read this article ... if will be helpful and a value source of information  ... free information. Click the link: 

www.workforce.com: Globoforce Blueprint for Maximizing Recognition

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Only Applicable in Singapore: Use Psychometric Tests To Hire the Right People

02 January 2014, Singapore: One of my colleague asked me to look into a few psychometric tests that are used specially for facilitating interview and hiring selection (do take note that some countries e.g., USA and European countries - it is illegal to use such tools where it comes to selection & hiring).

I felt that I should share the following link for HR professionals who are interested to find out more details about the psychometric tests. The prices quoted are far more economical than the one my colleague shared with me. 

Click the link: www.sandboxadvisors.com: Psychometric Test for Interviewing

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Good Practice on Retrenchment-Layoff-Redundancy.

01 January 2014, Singapore: Why am I touching the issue of 'retrenchment' or 'layoff' on the first day of 2014.

2013 was a year were most organization try to right size their employee's population while delaying a more radical organizational transformation program for 2014.

2014 will be a year where most corporate will unleash their business transformation that others has never seen before ... we are not talking about implementing outsourcing or establishing shared services ... 

• centralization of expertise (e.g., HR, Finance, Customer Services, Sales, etc.);
• re-design work processes;
• large scale automation;
• utilization of e-technology;
• large scale of business integration e.g., merging of multiple production plant under one management (more merger but less acquisition; streamline of core businesses);
• others.

Will anyone dare to challenge me that with all the above-mentioned transformation program going to happen ... we as HR professional can avoid the word "retrenchment" or "layoff" for 2014?

Please prepare for the worst ... it is better for HR professional to know the good practices on retrenchment-layoff-redundancy. Click the following link:

IFC Org: Good Practice Note in Managing Retrenchment or UN Global Compact "Same PDT Document By IFC".

Singapore Ministry of Manpower: Employment Practices - Retrenchment

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Literature Review on 360 Degree Evaluation / Feedback

31 December 2013, Singapore: Few days ago, an ex-staff of mine asked me for help in one of her Master in HRM assignment. The topic was 360 degree evaluation / feedback. Happily I shared with her my previous 360 degree evaluation but since it is an MBA program I felt that I need to provide her some secondary research for her to complete her 360 literature review.

I manage to find and retrieved one of my previous collection ... "Performance Management Under The Microscope" by Christopher Mills (2002) - a publication Singapore HR Institute (SHRi)

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Extracted from page 9 and 10 ... 

360 degree feedback come formally into recognition in the 1980s. An early example from the RCA Corporation linked thier hybrid system to a 'talent inventory' of behaviours used by all of their 7,500 managers. Each manager was confidentially rated by a group of five to seven employees in his or her "work network" on two dimensions: overall performance and critical incidents using a standard alphabetical and interval rating system (Lazer & Wikstrom, 1977)

360 only became popular in the early 1990s and was used initially by UK and US based corporations for development of senior management. In two studies of performance appraisal practices in Singapore and Malaysia, appraisal was seen as one-sided because people who actually saw what was happening did not carry out the review (Mills, 1994 & Mills, 1995a op cit). It was suggested that input from peers, customers and the team they worked in would provide a more accurate and complete picture of how effective they had been at their job.

Today, some team based organizations and progressive companies use 360 for development and potential purpose. The downside of its use is often administrative. Employees often have hectic schedules and getting them to complete a 360 questionnaire may take some follow up and cajoling. Eager to get HR off their back, employees tend to complete the survey in a hurry. This raises concerns of what is known as 'central tendency' where respondents tick off the mid point for every question and the results become less valid

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I hope the above 'extraction' will be helpful for those doing their '360' HRM assignment. The book was written in 2002, now is 2014 - I believe with the maturity of e-technology, the administrative concern of managing a 360 program has been greatly reduced.

In today context, I think senior leadership will be more concern about the cost involved in running or maintaining an e-360 evaluation / feedback program.

Time now is 11.15 pm, 31 Dec 2013 ... I would like to take the opportunity to wish my reader a Happy New Year and a blessed 2014!

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Keeping Your Compensation & Rewards or Total Rewards Up-to-date

28 December 2013, Singapore: I have been heading the HR CoE for Organizational Development since September 2013 but I always make it a point to keep my compensation & rewards (aka Total Rewards) knowledge 'current' and as much as possible support my company 'Pay & Benefits' project with another colleague of mine.

Based on experience and observation, for HR professional who wish to be 'regional manager' - one of the key skills that you mush have is the ability to tackle - design - develop - roll-out compensation strategy ... be it a simple or complex one. In every organization, compensation and reward issues (e.g., internal equity, based vs variable, etc.) will always be one of the HR challenges face by a regional HR manager or director.

I would like to share the following white paper from Peoplefluent.

Click Here for Peoplefluent white paper on New Pay for Performance

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Ten (10) HR Statistics: To Improve Your HR Business Strategy & Function

28 December 2013, Singapore: I would like to share this white paper by Peoplefluent. In their studies, they have identified top ten (10) HR statistics that can help transform and strengthen an organization’s HR business strategy and function.

The ten (10) HR statistics are categorizes into five groups - see Exhibit A and click the hyperlink.

Exhibit A - source: Peoplefluent

Click Here for Peoplefluent white paper: 10 Eye Opening HR Statistics

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Lesson Learned: Don't Talk or Complaint Too Much To Your Superior?

24 Dec 2013, Sibu Sarawak Malaysia: It is Christmas eve. I just want to share my observation why we need to be cautious when bringing up negative or not popular issues about others ...

• If you shared negative information with your boss about others - you can be viewed as a person who speak 'negative' about others.
• If your boss asked you to attend training but never give you budget ... don't be too happy ... it is just a polite way of telling you that you are weak in certain area.
• If you tell your boss that a colleague is not a team player and your boss reply politely with a smile and mentioned that end of the day you are still accountable for it ... just stop the conversation and go back to work. He or she is not interested.
• If you tell your boss that one of your colleagues is not a team player and your boss suggested that maybe he is a victim of racial ... just shut up and find a job elsewhere.

Do take note that your boss is also a human being and has limitations and skills gap ...

• He or she may not enjoy listening to others problems e.g., especially your problems with other colleagues;
• He or she may not be someone who is good at handling people conflict issues.
• If he or she is at senior level, they are strategist and solving your people problem is not part of their job scope, KPI or performance measurement.

Above are just my observation ... sometimes, I see things from a different perspective.

Taking the opportunity to wish all of my readers a happy Christmas and a happy advance new year ... 2014!

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Tips on How to Become an Employer of Choice

17 December 2013, Singapore: Today was a long day at work. We were trying to finalized our HR CoE (Center of Excellence) 'Roadshow' presentation to the senior leadership and site HRCMs (HR Client Managers). My boss asked me to do a quick secondary research on the topic Employer of Choice. I found this article written by Marie Larsen from 'recruiter.com'. It is a short article and very easy to read for people like me with lazy eyes.

The article writes about the 5 steps a company should take to be an employer of choice.

Click here - How to become an Employer of Choice/

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Employee Engagement: Lesson Learned # 1

16 December 2013, Singapore: I am disgusted (avoid technical wording please) on what happen to my employee engagement (EE) plan. I am not going to name the company. The team put in a lot of efforts but end of the day, the report card only show a one (1) percent (%) increase. Listed below are some of the areas identified for the failure, I stand by it. In the near future, I will do it differently ...

• EE is a 'shared responsibility' - just because you are accountable for it, doesn't mean that you have to do it alone. It is a role every managers and supervisors must play a part in it.
• EE required the senior leadership to be visible at the shop-floor / production area. If your senior leadership is only interested in running the show from the ivory tower - my advice, have a private session with him. If he / she is still not interested, it is better to start proper documentation to cover yourself.
• Internally, the management may call or label an EE program as 'employee engagement' program but please (x2) don't market it as an EE to the employees. Better call it 'well-being' or other wording which employee can associate with.
• Don't just create an EE task-force or committee but if you have the manpower - create a small team who can help you publicized your EE program in a coordinated manner.
• Develop a simple motto for people to talk about .... I personally like the word "well-being" compared to engagement.
• Defined your organization meaning of Engagement and get every managers and supervisors aligned.
• EE program start with a simple 'Thank You'. It is harder to get the managers and supervisors to say 'Thank You'.
• Fight for your budget and utilized ... there is no point saving the EE budget to show a better EBIT or meeting business plan. End of the day - Finance will meet their business plan while you are blamed for failing to meet your EE obligation.
• Incorporate other 'well-being' model into your EE program ... e.g., Gallup's five (5) elements of Well-being ... [ Click here for Gallup 5 elements of Well-being ]

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Finding from Asia Leader Global Leadership Pulse Survey: Driving Business Results By Creating Trust

11 Dec 2013, Singapore: I feel the urgency to post this article - the subject is Driving Business Results By Creating Trust.

To access the report - kindly click the link: PDF Format: Forum Report - Asia - Nov 08, 2013

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