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 Publisher’s Note

Autumn 2009
HR Magazine | Autumn 2009

HKD$45

I can scarcely believe it’s already time to go to print again. So much has happened in
HR and the wider business community over the last few months, and as ever we’ve
The captured it here for you in HR Magazine so that you miss nothing. Check out our new
Evolution HR Community Section (page 50) distilling all the important HR events that have
of
HR happened recently in the region. We provide crib notes for those who couldn’t attend, or
were too busy networking to jot down key advice on the day.

At the time of going to press, Hong Kong reported that it has officially come out
of recession so let’s hope this trend continues. Also in the news, the new Racial
Discrimination Ordinance came into effect 10 July; Donald Tsang appointed 17 new
Builiding a Resilient Workforce members to the Commission on Strategic Development to help kick start the economy;
Embracing Workplace Generation Gaps

HKMA Award for Excellence in

and Hong Kong is set to go ahead with a minimum wage with the bill tabled in LEGCO in
Training Special Supplement
(p.27-49)
early July. Despite this and the rising unemployment rate, nearly 40% of employers are
still struggling to find qualified job candidates even in the recession. Meanwhile, those in
Our Team employment are working longer hours—almost 22% more than ILO recommendations.
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Paul Arkwright
Charles Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species that evolution is driven by variation,
Copy Editor
Ben Patterson selection, and retention.  External environmental and internal factors impact and
Layout Editor determine how certain species evolve.  In a similar way the HR profession has been
Malou Ko impacted by external and internal changes which have changed it in its less than
Staff Writers 100-year existence.  HR magazine takes a look at HR today and how it has evolved
Claire Blaney, Rebecca Elder, Byron particularly those seminal changes which have required HR to step into a more strategic
Bain, Nathan Seymour-Hyde
role within companies and changed the requirement of those working in the field and
Photographers
Malou Ko their standing within their organisations.
Graham Uden
This issue brings you the very first publication of an exclusive special report: the Hewitt-
Enquires HR Magazine Survey on the impact that the recession has had on companies in Hong
Subscription Enquiries Kong. The findings reveal some home truths and several surprises about how local HR
Caroline Wu
Tel: (852) 2736 6375 policies have changed (page 8). An extended feature on managing generation gaps,
Fax: (852) 2736 6369 shares advice from the latest AIESEC conference, Asianet Consultants and Avril Henry.
subs@excelmediagroup.org Everything you were too afraid to ask, and a bit more—on
Editorial Enquiries what makes the different generations tick and how HR
Paul Arkwright
Tel: (852) 2736 6318 can successfully manage them all in the workplace. Plus
Fax: (852) 2736 6369 HR and Technology, Building a Resilient Workforce, the
paul@excelmediagroup.org results of the HKMA Awards for Excellence in Training
Advertising Enquiries in a special supplement (pages 27 – 48), 30-Minute
Marcel Chambers
Tel: (852) 2736 6339 HR, the Greater China Talent Management Summit, HR
Fax: (852) 2736 6369 Events Calendar (page 58), HR Training—becoming a
marcel@excelmediagroup.org networking pro, and more. It’s a miracle we fitted it
all in. Enjoy!
Published by
Excel Media Group Ltd.
Unit 101 Fourseas Building
208–212 Nathan Road Paul Arkwright
Jordan, Kowloon Publisher & Editor in Chief
Hong Kong HR Magazine
www.excelmediagroup.org

Printed by
Paramount Printing Company Ltd.
No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent from the publisher. Copyright of all
3 Chung Kwong Street, material is reserved throughout the publication. Contributions are welcome but copies of work should
Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, be kept, because HR Magazine takes no responsibility for lost submissions. The views, conclusions,
Hong Kong findings and opinions published in this magazine belong to those expressing such, and do not necessarily
represent those of the publisher, editor or editorial staff.

02 HR Magazine
 Contents

Inside this issue

HR News 04 Cover Story 12
40% of employers overlook key HR health policies.
Talent shortage in Hong Kong, despite recession.

HR Community 52
Work-life balance.
Round-up of conferences and past events.

HR Events 60
Get these dates in your HR diary.
If you would like to list your HR events simply e-mail us:
marcel@excelmediagroup.org

HR Classifieds 62
HR Service providers throughout Hong Kong and Asia.
Evolution of HR
HR Training 64 HR, impacted by external and internal
Section dedicated to training and educational resources changes, has radically changed over its
from industry leaders and consultants in the field. less than 100-year existence. We look at
HR today and how it has evolved into a
Profit Upgrade 66 much more strategic role.
The next installment from Richard Parkes Cordock’s book
on getting all your staff to help maximise profits.

HR Special Report 08 HR Magazine Conferences 52 HR Features 16

HR News
Article name goes here

Salve
Rebuilding Best the
for
Cost Cuts & Hiring Broken Crisis

Freeze for 74% of Relationships

Companies
The financial markets. Asia has not been immune misbehaviour that got society into the
crisis has left either; the 1997 Asian economic crisis was current situation and the seeming lack
many in the public the result of a highly-leveraged economic of remorse on the part of corporations,
disillusioned with big business. climate pushing up asset prices to an what are people supposed to think? There
Thomas Tang, Executive Director at the unsustainable level. Expensive short-term is a general loss of trust in business
Hewitt – HR Magazine Latest Survey Findings think tank Global Institute for Tomorrow, capital flow conditioned for quick profit and government, a resounding dearth
argues that in reality the a major way for being passed in an uncontrolled manner of faith in our business leaders and an
us to extract ourselves from the crisis is to certain people only—so called ‘crony overall loathing of the worst excesses of

45
not only to throw money into the financial capitalism’—spelled disaster for emerging corporate practices and rewards. Social

%
Despite almost half of companies using hiring freezes—nearly 40% more
system, but also to work to regain the economies with high exposure to foreign justice has never looked so crestfallen.
indicating their current financial outlook than in October 2008. The increase in hiring
trust of the people. He writes: exchange risk. From a global HR perspective, the
is stable, 74% have had to implemented freezes may stem in part because it is rated
indicate cost cutting measures and hiring freezes. by organisations as one of the most effective
The global economy is in disarray. Much The triggers to these crises bear International Labour Organisation (ILO)

HR Exclusive:
financial Results of Hewitt-HR Joseph Poon, MD & Deputy Chief Executive, Best Salve for the Crisis
of this has been precipitated by the same uncanny resemblance. Business has estimates that there will be a loss of
This figure is nearly 40% higher than cost control methods to manage costs. factors that caused previous depressions continually and, it seems, unfailingly 51 million white collar jobs worldwide
current those recorded in October last year. This
extract from the latest survey conducted
However, hiring freezes are increasingly
supplemented with employee lay-offs with
and recessions—greed, avarice, self- abused the trust of society. Even the as a result of the global meltdown; in

Magazine Survey Hang Seng Bank

interest and fear. Has society learnt from current crisis—commonly claimed China unemployment has officially been

outlook stable, by HR Magazine in partnership with Hewitt

Associates assesses the financial crisis’s
45% of respondents reporting lay offs in
July 2009 as compared to 28% in February Rebuilding broken relationships
the past? Are there new ways of repairing
the damage and rebuilding society?
to be caused by reckless sub-prime
lending—reflects the more extensive
recorded as 8.9 million, and this figure will
be amplified if the numbers of immigrants

but 74% still impact on the people practices of Hong

Kong companies.
2009 and 18% in October 2008. Workforce
reductions, however, have not been as
Governments worldwide have ploughed in
trillions of dollars to help stricken banks
problem of complex and opaque assets,
and the failure of ratings agencies to
is also taken into account. Concerns
from the rising number of lay-offs from

Exclusive firstThepublication
cutting costs Business Outlook & Strategy
impact of the global financial crisis
oforganisational
findings goals. from
effective as hiring freezes in achieving
Hang Seng Bank, Patersons, Nokia and Why HR needs to put programmes in
and other ailing institutions and industries.
Keynsian followers would argue that,
although these measures have their
properly assess the risk of such assets
to members of society who acted on the
advice of “reputable” banks and financial
banks, restaurants and retail chains will
be further exacerbated by the coming
6 million graduates who will be coming
and not hiring
the Hewitt-HR Magazine employer survey Manulife share insights on key topics place that give the right signals to staff
has stabilized since last year—51% of benefits, they are akin to sticking plasters institutions. The signals, past and present, out from mainland universities this
organisations surveyed indicating that the on gaping flesh wounds; we should appear to be the same as history repeats summer looking for jobs that no longer
T1: Types
of Strategic Change exist. People have suffered as a result of
financial outlook for their organisation has instead apply radical surgery in the form itself, which it will no doubt do again, in
not changed since Q1 2009 and only 14% During Q2 2009 (n=87) of strong fiscal policies and a re-think the form of banking crises, speculative corporate excesses.

assessing the financial crisis’s impact enabling you to develop and execute HR and others. How caring for your people
reporting that it had worsened since Q1 of financial structures and institutions bubbles and crashes, currency crises, Can Drucker’s words ring true and
2009. Our findings reveal that while 45% to save the patient. It is, however, also over-leveraged loans, herd behavior, bring companies back on track? Is there
80% 74%
of organisations indicate that their current time to think not just of financial and failure of the regulatory system and, worst an opportunity for, say, HR and corporate
institutional fixes but of social solutions of all, public deceptions and fraud. social responsibility to work together

on the people practices of Hong Kong strategies needed to gain competitive promotes long-term rebuilding, and helps
% of or ganisations

financial outlook is stable, cost control

measures continue to be a focus for 74% to mend the rift between business The late Peter Drucker once argued to repair the bridges between business
of the responding organisations. (See T1) and society. To gear up for the future, that business has an obligation to protect and society? Getting back to basics is
24% companies need to spend money on HR society: “while corporations should be obviously important, companies must
To meet the heightened cost control 17%

companies.
objectives instituted since October 2008,
organisations continue to implement
a wide variety of workforce planning,
advantage in the “New Economy”. attract and retain talent of the future.
13% 14% be in complete compliance with laws
and people—quite the opposite to what allowed to profit from their activities—as
2% many are doing now, downsizing. profit is essential to their survival—this and regulations in all jurisdictions in
0%
The similarities between present day does not mean that the corporation should which they operate. This means fixing
Growth through
Mergers/Acquisitions

Cost Control

Divestitures

Business Model

No Change in
Strategic Direction
Other
Change of

events and the past are marked. The be free from social obligations. On the the systems that failed in the first place.
development, compensation and benefits,
depression of 1929 was preceded by a contrary it should be so organized as to Secondly, there is a need for proper legal
and communication actions to help control
period of intense industrial expansion fulfill automatically its social obligations and governmental institutions reinforced
costs. However, only a small number
as modern America embarked on an in the very act of seeking its own self- by sound enforcement and adequate
of these actions are proving effective
ambitious drive to push heavy industries interest.” punishment measures for misbehaviour.
in meeting organisational goals. Since Thirdly, companies need to start spending
and build new factories for barren But given the type of corporate
October, 74% of organisations reported

08 HR Magazine
16 HR Magazine

Autumn 2009 03
HR News
Article name goes here

Commission Set
to Boost Strategic
Development in HK
In a move to help kick start the economy and provide Executive’s Office Director and the Central Policy Unit Head. The
enhanced strategic direction for the HKSAR, Chief Executive Commission has been established with three key objectives:
Donald Tsang recently appointed 17 new non-official members
and reappointed 52 incumbent non-official members and four
official members to the Commission on Strategic Development
for three years from 1 July 2009. The Commission provides
1 To advise the Chief Executive on Hong Kong’s long-term
development needs and goals with particular reference
to the direction and strategy of social, economic and political
a platform for all sectors of the community to work with the developments for Hong Kong.
Government on major issues pertaining to Hong Kong’s long-
term development. The 69 non-official members appointed
to the commission for its new term are drawn from a broad
2 To conduct reviews and studies on issues relevant to Hong
Kong’s long-term strategic development in a local, regional
and global context, with a view to enhancing the international
cross-section of the community comprising mainly professionals, competitiveness and the socio-economic development of
academics, politicians and personalities from the business, labour Hong Kong.
and media sectors. The four official members are the Chief
Secretary for Administration, the Financial Secretary, the Chief 3 To arrange focused discussions on specific strategic issues in
aid of subsequent policy inception and formulation.

Paper Highlights Employee Communications Critical

CSR programmes, which many in HR
might consider particularly vulnerable
to budget cuts during an economic
downturn, have been repeatedly cited
as strategically important initiatives to
preserve. According to recent findings
from a white paper jointly released by
Mina Hsu Consulting and Korn/Ferry
International (Hong Kong), responsible
companies that contribute to their
communities—in tough times as well as
good times—are able to reap a number of
important long-term benefits, especially
in the area of attracting and retaining top-
quality talent.
The white paper reflects the views
of senior management executives from
various sectors on the factors that have
most helped their companies navigate the
current economic downturn. The results
reveal that most companies expected
to see lasting change in the practice of
risk management, even companies with
an extremely robust risk management
function. In the aftermath of the global
financial turmoil, companies today
are increasingly finding themselves
operating in an environment where
the old-fashioned values of discipline,
accountability and sustainability are back
in favour.
There has been a renewed focus
on discipline and accountability in
the strategic planning process within
organisations. The theme of sustainability
also emerged not only when discussing
the financial health of individual
companies but also in the context of those
companies needing to play a larger role in
contributing to the long-term welfare of
society more broadly.
A long-term view during a crisis was
highlighted as the most significant factor
accounting for company resilience. Some
of the leaders interviewed attributed their
relative success in challenging times to their
adherence to a fundamentally conservative
business philosophy and a disciplined,
relentless focus on day-to-day execution.
They acknowledged a renewed emphasis on
discipline, accountability, and sustainability,
and also stressed an increased willingness,
in many cases, to invest in certain long-term
priorities, especially when it came to hiring
and developing talent. Increased appreciation
for employees with crisis experience, a high
level of toughness and the need to preserve
and even expand training and development
programmes despite short-term budget
pressures were also cited as important
factors. Employee communications was
singled out as particularly critical in uncertain
times; the need to step up employee
engagement, and for leaders to address
employees with both candor and confidence,
was raised repeatedly.

04 HR Magazine

Employers Overlook
Key HR Health Policies
Over 40% of employers do not have
a HR policy in place for health-related
emergencies, yet many acknowledge they
have employees in areas where cases of
H1N1 have been confirmed, according to
a new Mercer snapshot survey.
“With the continued increase of
reported cases of H1N1, it is important for
employers to develop a plan for dealing
with the myriad of HR issues that can
arise in the event of a pandemic or other
health care emergency,” said Danielle
Dorling, a HR consultant at Mercer. “In
particular, organisations with a global
workforce and decentralised HR units
need to have a coherent procedure in
place for employee care in the event of a
health emergency.”
The survey highlights how companies
are reacting to the spread of the virus and
what plans are being implemented. More
than half the employers surveyed were
considering whether to create back-up
and contingency plans in response to the
outbreak, while 43% said they planned to
restrict or cancel business travel, and 41%
said they would allow employees to work
at home. Other steps include voluntary
quarantine for employees exposed to risk,
enforced quarantine on employees judged
at risk, cancelling meetings, screening
staff/visitors returning from travel,
requiring medical check-ups and reviewing
health or insurance plans. Just under a
quarter of respondents indicated they
were taking no special actions.
Actions companies are taking in response
to the outbreak of Influenza A
(H1N1) or “swine flu” (multiple responses permitted)
Create contingency and back-up plans
Restrict or cancel business travel
Allow ‘work at home’
Voluntary quarantine for employees exposed to risk
No special actions
Enforce quarantine on employees judged at risk
Cancel meetings/conferences
Screening staff/visitors returning from travel
Require medical check-ups
Review health or insurance plans
0%
Hong Kong to Introduce Minimum
Wage Bill
Hong Kong’s Minimum Wage Bill was
tabled at LEGCO in early July and,
according to Matthew Cheung, Secretary
for Labour and Welfare, is likely to come
into force at the earliest by the end of
2010 or early 2011.
 “Our aim is to establish an optimal
statutory minimum wage regime which
strikes an appropriate balance between
forestalling excessively low wages and
minimising the loss of low-paid jobs while
sustaining Hong Kong’s economic growth
and competitiveness,” Cheung said.
The bill will exclude all live-in domestic
workers and student internships arranged
or endorsed by specified educational
institutions. The bill covers people
with disabilities and provides a special
arrangement for those whose productivity
is impaired by their disabilities. These
people are vested under the bill with the
right to invoke an assessment of their
Hong Kong Talent Shortage Despite Recession
Nearly 40% of employers in Hong
Kong are still struggling to find
qualified job candidates, while China
is fairing much better—according to
the findings of Manpower’s latest annual
talent shortage survey. The survey
revealed that 37% of employers in Hong
Kong and 32% of employers in the Asia
Pacific region are continuing to struggle
to fill positions available despite the
economic crisis.
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
HR News
productivity to help determine whether
they should be remunerated at no less
than the statutory minimum wage rate.
With wages of low-income groups
in Hong Kong declining in the light of
cheaper workforces across the border, the
economic contraction has put even more
downward pressure on low-income wages.
The bill, which the Government hopes
will help curb falling wages, represents
a major shift for Hong Kong, which has
never had a minimum wage and instead
has favoured a laissez-faire economy and
highly flexible labour market.
The government may be happy with
the bill, but many business leaders
are vehemently opposed to it, arguing
that it will not only reduce Hong Kong’s
competitiveness, but also increase job
losses to other Asian countries which have
cheaper labour available.
In the Asia Pacific region, talent
shortage appears to be least problematic
in China (15%) and India (20%). The
findings reveal that Taiwan (62%), Japan
(55%) and Australia (49%) are the top
three countries where employers are
having the most difficulty finding the
right talent to fill jobs. Within the Asia
Pacific region, Hong Kong (37%) is ranked
fifth while New Zealand (39%) is ranked
number four.
“Despite the high levels of
unemployment where more people may
be looking for jobs, they don’t generally
have the specific skills that employers are
expecting. The key is that there are jobs
requiring more refined skills that are hard
to find the right talent who are well versed
in those skill sets.” said Lancy Chui,
GM, Manpower Hong Kong and Macau
Operations. Chui advised, “…employers
should shift their mindset to think more
strategically and focus on training up staff
with the required qualities to take up roles
which are difficult to fill.” She added that
it is also “crucial to change staff’s mindset
so as to enhance their skill sets.”
Autumn 2009 05
HR News
Work-Life Balance Men Less Motivated Than
Guide Launched Woman at Work
Work-Life Balance: The Guide, has recently
been launched by Community Business
and highlights the business case for
work-life balance and provides companies
with practical advice on how to develop a
strategic approach to work-life balance in
their organisations.
In 2005, the Community Business
Leadership Team (CBLT), a unique group
of business leaders committed to raising
awareness of issues relating to corporate
social responsibility, identified that
work-life balance was an issue that was
important and at the same time presented
a challenge to many of their businesses.
The group resolved to understand the
extent of the problem and to take steps to
improve the state of work-life balance in
Hong Kong – both for the benefit of their
own organisations, but also for the benefit
of Hong Kong as a whole. As part of this
commitment, for four years running the
CBLT has commissioned research into
the state of work-life balance in Hong
Kong. Conducted by the Public Opinion
Programme at The University of Hong
Kong, this annual study has become the
leading reference point on this issue.
As may come as no surprise to HR, the
studies show that employees in Hong Kong
work long hours, spend little time on their
personal life and that poor work-life balance
is impacting their health and productivity.
According to the most recent survey:
▪▪The average number of working hours
in Hong Kong is almost 49 hours,
22% higher than recommended by
International Labour Organisation (ILO).
▪▪Over 72% of employees spend less than
two hours per day on personal or private
activities.
▪▪Over 60% of employees state that they
are suffering from prolonged fatigue and
extreme tiredness due to poor work-life
balance.
▪▪ Just under half of employees say they
have no time for their partner and family.
Download the Work-Life Balance Guide at:
www.communitybusiness.org
06 HR Magazine
Men are much more likely to be
demotivated by poor senior management
and poor line management, and Gen
Y are less concerned with CSR issues
than originally thought. These are two of
the key findings of recent research into
employee engagement and motivation
conducted by SHL.
The study showed that women
feel more perturbed by criticism and
poor colleague relationships and are
more likely to be encouraged by being
offered a cup of tea, but men feel more
inspired by the promise of after work
drinks and socialising. The survey also
indicated that men find income and high
standards enhance their engagement and
productivity at work, whereas women feel
fairness and values are more important.
Women also tend to prefer the quality of
workplace social interactions, while men
prefer a higher quantity of social contact.
Gender disparities weren’t the
only contrasts revealed in the study:
differences across age groups also
divulged interesting insights into what
motivates and engages—as well as
demotivates and disengages—employees.
“…the importance of career progression
Financial Sector
Hires Up 6%
The Asia Job Index report published by
Robert Walters shows positive movement
on the hiring front in the financial sector.
The total number of job advertisement
placed in Q2 increased by over 6%
compared with Q1 and increased by just
under 3% during the quarter. There was an
overall decline in Q2 job advertisements in
May compared with April, before moving
up again in June—mainly attributed to the
May holiday season in China. Increased
IPO activity in Hong Kong in June also
helped drive an upturn in financial services
recruitment advertising.
is strikingly higher among younger
employees—career progression doesn’t
even appear in the top ten of preferred
job features for those surveyed over 45,”
David Leigh, CEO, SHL pointed out during
his presentation in a recent seminar in
Hong Kong. Another surprise was that
‘values’, as an engaging factor for younger
employees, didn’t even rank in the top
ten, but was placed fourth by those over
45 and seventh by those between 30 and
44. Similarly, contribution to society only
appears in the top ten of those over 45,
suggesting that CSR initiatives and related
issues are not as prioritised by Gen Y as
previously thought.
The findings also suggest that
age impacts motivation, with young
employees more likely to be demotivated
by uninteresting work than those over 35.
Young workers are also more motivated
by company culture and their work
environment than their older colleagues.
Neil Chowings, Managing Director, Work
Group Ltd. Hong Kong warned that,
“…companies who fail to engage and
attract a strong stead of Gen Y will
realise in three to five years that
they are suffering from lack of young
management.”
Downturn
Lengthens
Working Days
The economic downturn is making people
work harder, according to a survey
conducted by Robert Walters. Of 2,600
respondents, more than half said they
were working more hours per week: 45%
of respondents said they were putting in
at least three hours extra per week, and
21% working an extra eight to ten hours
per week. Professionals in Hong Kong felt
the greatest impact of the downturn and
were working the hardest, with one third
of respondents working an extra eight to
ten hours per week.

Workforce and Benefit Cuts Ease Off
There are signs that deep workforce,
pay and benefit cuts are moderating as
businesses budget for the remainder of
2009, according to Mercer’s latest Leading
through Unprecedented Times global
survey. The findings reveal continued
actions taken by companies to relieve
cost pressures—workforce reductions,
salary freezes, reduced contributions to
retirement plans and increased costs for
health benefits—equally notable is the
fact that organisations generally are not
taking actions in response to the economic
downturn such as cutting pay and
eliminating benefit programmes altogether.
Frank Lin, Managing Director, Mercer
- Greater China commented, “Since
the middle of last year, we have seen
many companies reduce staff and freeze
salaries, which has done little to help
engage employees. People in China today
are greatly concerned about the security
of their jobs, as well as their annual salary
increase. As such, HR managers must
work to engage staff through extensive
employee communication programmes
while continuing to control expenditure
and identifying key talent.”
Over half of organisations worldwide
plan cuts to their workforce in the
remainder of 2009. Significantly, however,
only 5% of these organisations plan deep
cuts of more than 10% of staff in the
remainder of the year.
Despite the impact of the weak
economy, many companies remain focused
on their most valuable employees. More
than one-third of organisations globally
say they will continue to hire key talent
even as they reduce their workforce
overall. Approximately another third
of organisations plan to hire talent to
replacement levels only, while 15% expect
overall workforce reductions and 12%
expect to expand their workforces in 2009.
The study also shows that
organisations are beginning to use or
consider alternative work arrangements
to control workforce costs. Globally
10% have already instituted voluntary
reductions in hours with a corresponding
reduction in pay, while 12% have
instituted such a programme on a
mandatory basis. Roughly an equal
number of organisations are considering
similar actions in the remainder of 2009.
Although health benefit utilisation often
increases during a recession, almost no
companies have eliminated any current
health and group benefit programmes
to control expenses this year. Instead,
most increased employee contributions
for health coverage and raised employee
cost-sharing of the programme.
Towers Perrin-
Watson Wyatt
Merger
Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. and
Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. announced
in late June a merger of equals to form a
new, publicly listed company called Towers
Watson & Co. Watson Wyatt CEO, John
Haley, will serve the combined company
as Chief Executive Officer and Towers
Perrin CEO, Mark Mactas, will serve as
President. The new company, which is
expected to have annual revenues in
excess of $3 billion, will benefit from the
scale of the combined companies and
anticipates approximately $80 million in
pretax annual synergies.
HR News
Staff Medical
Insurance Costs Rise
Companies in Hong Kong are already
paying too much for business medical
insurance and their costs are set to
increase further over the coming year
according to research carried out by
Alliance Insurance Services. Over the last
five years medical insurance premiums
have increased by around 90% making
Hong Kong one of the most expensive
places in the world for full cover private
medical insurance, and with the financial
crisis strangling many companies, business
leaders are starting to question how
employee benefit savings can be made.
Over 80% of HR professionals renew
their company’s medical insurance
annually without discussing premiums
or cover with alternative providers which
ultimately leads to inflated prices and in
many cases, reduced levels of cover and
service. By negotiating, companies can
also take advantage of benefit and service
enhancements offered by many insurers.
Additional benefits including online claims,
cashless direct settlement and cover for
pre-existing medical conditions will often
be included and should be automatically
suggested by insurance brokers.
The study, which evaluated the
insurance programs in place at businesses
located throughout Hong Kong, found
that dramatic savings could be achieved
whilst maintaining the highest levels of
cover and service simply by discussing
arrangements with alternative insurance
brokers. Mike Ramsay, Client Relations
Director at Alliance Insurance Services,
said “companies that call around can
reduce their costs dramatically whilst
maintaining or even increasing their
benefits. Brokers that specialise in
corporate medical insurance are likely to
have agreements in place with insurers
which mean they can negotiate the best
products and services at the best price.
With Alliance, we have even been able to
guarantee specific discounts with many
of the insurance companies to ensure our
clients can reduce their costs easily.”
Autumn 2009 07
Cost Cuts & Hiring
Freeze for 74 %

of HK Companies
Hewitt – HR Magazine Latest Survey Findings

45 %
Despite almost half of companies in Hong
Kong indicating their current financial
outlook is stable, 74% have implemented
indicate cost cutting measures and hiring freezes.
This figure is nearly 20% higher than
compared to 82% in February 2009 and
65% in October 2008. Comments from
organisations suggest that such trends have
developed because they are continuing to
look for leaner and more efficient structures

current financial that recorded in October last year. This

extract from the latest longitudinal study
and are taking this opportunity to make
these changes.

outlook stable, conducted by HR Magazine in partnership

with Hewitt Associates assesses the
To meet the heightened cost control
objectives instituted since October 2008,

but 74% still financial crisis’s impact on the people

practices of Hong Kong companies over
organisations continue to implement
a wide variety of workforce planning,

cutting costs
the last ten months. development, compensation and benefits,
and communication actions to help control
Business Outlook & Strategy costs. However, only a small number of
and not hiring The impact of the global financial crisis
has stabilised since last year—51% of
these actions are proving effective in

organisations surveyed indicate that the

T1: Types
of Strategic Change
financial outlook for their organisation
has not changed since Q1 2009 and only During Q2 2009 (n=87)
14% report that it had worsened since Q1
80% 74%
2009. Our findings reveal that while 45%
of organisations indicate that their current
% of organisations

financial outlook is stable; cost control

measures continue to be a focus for 74%
of the responding organisations. (See T1) 24%
17%
13% 14%

Workforce Planning 2%
0%
Although some signs of recovery are
Divestitures

Business Model
Mergers/Acquisitions
Growth through

Cost Control

No Change in
Strategic Direction
Other
Change of

evident, organisations continue to have

cautious workforce requirements. The
wide extent of the financial crisis is
evident in that 95% of the responding
organisations indicated they have reduced
workforce costs since the crisis began,

08 HR Magazine

meeting organisational goals. Many
are increasingly using hiring freezes
and lay-offs as short term ‘cost-
reduction’ strategies. Since October,
74% of organisations reported using
hiring freezes—nearly 20% more than
in October 2008. The increase may
stem in part because it is rated by
organisations as one of the most effective
cost control methods to manage costs.
However, hiring freezes are increasingly
supplemented with employee lay-offs
with 45% of respondents reporting lay-
offs in July 2009 as compared to 28% in
February 2009 and 18% in October 2008.
Workforce reductions, however, have
not been as effective as hiring freezes in
achieving organisational goals.
Instituting hiring freezes was found
to be the most effective workforce
strategy to achieve cost control goals in
the organisations surveyed. Laying off
temporary staff and increasing the use of
temporary staff were found to be equally
effective, suggesting that trimming
or expanding temporary roles was an
effective way of managing the office
workload whilst minimising disruption to
permanent staff. (See T2)
However, actions such as moving
employees to other locations and sending
employees on sabbaticals have not been
found as effective, at least in the short
term. Organisations indicate that the
increase in workload due to greater focus
on compliance and risk management
may have impacted staff productivity
and morale. They also suggest that the
effectiveness of these actions is usually
seen after a lag and therefore the effects
may be more visible in a few months.
OT & bonuses cut, but
HiPos still get raises
80% 74%
67%
54%
% of organisations
0%
Hiring freez e
Jul-09 (n=76)
95
% of
organisations
have reduced
workforce costs since
the crisis began
Training and Development
Learning and development practices continue
to be impacted as 24% of responding
organisations indicate that they reduced their
training budgets during Q2 2009. To combat
lower learning and development budgets,
many organisations continue to adopt
alternate forms of training such as the use of
internal trainers, peer mentoring/coaching,
and e-learning. (see T3)
Compensation and Benefits
Organisations have made changes to
employee compensation and benefits
with 43% of the respondents having
reduced bonus payments, while 39%
Special Report
Hewitt—HR Magazine Survey
T2: Workforce
Planning Related Actions
Comparison Across Quarters
45%
28%
21%
18%
10%
6%
Lay offs Flex ible/ Part -t ime work ing
Feb-09 (n=81) Oct-08 (n=92)
have increased base salaries for high
performing employees in an effort
to retain them. 27% of responding
organisations have eliminated overtime
pay and this action was found to be fairly
effective in reducing total compensation
and benefit costs.
Nearly a fifth of respondents reduced
base salaries, which was reported to be
‘somewhat effective’ due in part to its
impact on employee morale and retention.
Provision of retention bonuses to high
performing employees was found to be
only ‘somewhat effective’ suggesting that
these bonuses do not enable retention of
HiPos. (see T4)
Even with the majority of organisations
reporting a stable financial outlook, the
percentage of organisations planning
salary freezes for 2009 has remained
high at 60%. Also, the percentage of
organisations planning salary increases
has dropped from 58% in February 2009
to 35% in July 2009.
Autumn 2009 09
 Special Report
Hewitt–HR Magazine Survey
T3: Percentage of Organisations Reducing T4: Compensation & Benefits Related Actions (n=74)
Training & Development Budgets Percentage of respondents that implemented action
0%
60 %
50 % Reducing base salaries
50 %
Eliminating overtime pay
40 %
29 % Eliminating or reducing
30 %
24 % allowances/other benefits
20 % Reducing bonus payments
10 % Increasing base salaries for
high performing employees
0% Increasing benefits/allowances
During Q2 During Q1 During Q4 to attract and retain talent
2009 (n=72) 2009 (n=81) 2008 (n=92)
Retention bonuses for high
performing employees
Awarding stock options to
high performing employees
The Good News
Hewitt-HR Magazine Survey Over a third of organisations are
For more information please contact planning pay increments, and the
Sonali Kumar on (852) 2917 7938 average salary increase for Hong Kong is
sonali.kumar@hewitt.com, or approximately 3.3%. In addition, while
Jeremy Andrulis on (852) 2917 7911 63% of organisations are continuing to
jeremy.andrulis@hewitt.com cut back on company events, increased
communication with employees has
been a sustained area of focus. And
Detailed findings and a full copy of the more positively, organisations are
report can also be downloaded from our instituting more team building events,
website: www.excelmediagroup.org 38% in Q2 versus 23% in Q1, to improve
employee morale. These haven’t helped
achieve cost control measures, but
have effectively built cohesion among
employees by demonstrating that ‘we are
all in this together’.
Conclusion
In tough times, there is a natural
tendency to retrench and cut costs
in order to ‘wait things out’. As
our survey findings highlight, the
majority of organisations continue
to focus on cost cutting through
implementing a wide variety of
people related actions. However,
the limited effectiveness of many
actions is a reflection of both the
10 HR Magazine
Effectiveness of Action
Not Highly
80% effective effective
19%
27%
31%
43%
39%
22%
34%
27%
crisis’s magnitude as well as the current
realisation among many HR practitioners
that while cost control may be a short-
term remedy, they need to improve
existing capabilities in strategic areas of
HR such as talent management, workforce
planning and leadership development to
deal with such significant challenges in the
future. It is clearly evident that HR has
played a significant role in organisations’
overall strategies since October 2008. For
HR to deliver value into the recovery it
is essential that they continue to enable
business leaders and managers by
focusing on four critical areas of people
management:
1. The RIGHT View: Building and
articulating a collective view of the road
ahead for the business;
2. The RIGHT Agenda: Crafting a specific
set of short and long term actions to
gain advantage from the crisis;
3. The RIGHT People: Ensuring the
retention and engagement of key
people who will lead in the future; and
4. The RIGHT Leadership Behaviours: Being
aware of and modelling the behaviours
that will create the conditions and
climate for future success.
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September Issue 2009 11

Cover Story
The Evolution of HR
The
Evolution
of
David Ulrich wrote in his influential
1997 book HR Champions that “an HR
professional from the 1940s would find
it difficult to recognise the HR function
of the year 2000.” When we look at the
HR function today there are various
perceptions and misperceptions as to
what actually is the field and profession
of Human Resources. Many outside the
HR profession view HR in a negative
light. A well known 1995 article in
Fortune Magazine began with the
uncomplimentary view of HR as “the last
bureaucracy”, the author goes on to say
“I am describing of course, your human
resources department, and have a modest
proposal; why not blow the sucker up?”
Ten years later Fast Company ran a
cover story titled: Why We Hate HR. In
the same year Business Week wrote an
article: Why HR Gets No Respect. From
the evil Personnel Director in the popular
comic Dilbert to widely disseminated
business magazines it seems that around
the world Human Resources is often
portrayed negatively. The US based
Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) in 2005 found that worldwide
over half (54.8%) of HR professionals
12 HR Magazine
HR
said the most frequently encountered
obstacle to career advancement was
“HR’s not being held in high esteem by
the organisation.” However, since the
Hawthorne Studies, conducted in the
late 1920s at the Western Electric Plant
in Hawthorne, Chicago, which showed a
positive relationship between productivity
and the working environment, HR has
been evolving.
The current role of HR is often stated
with popular buzz words such as ‘Business
Partner’ or ‘Strategic Partner’ and the
common story is that HR has moved from
a functional role to a strategic one. As
Barry Leskin of the Business Journal writes
“The head of a company’s HR department
has moved from a transactional based role
reporting to an administrative manager, to
being a member of senior management.”
However the field of HR is not a monolithic
thing. It is not comparable to say
accounting or finance which have more
easily identifiable consistencies and have
evolved in a more linear route. The role
of HR as a function within organisations
might best be described as a scattergram.
Professor Barbara Towley of the University
of Alberta writes in a similar way “HRM is
a series of seemingly disjointed activities.”
However there is change and movement
towards strategic human resources
management around the world. A 2005
global study by Mercer found that half
of all companies were in the middle of
changing their HR departments to a
more strategic role. And The Economist
magazine last December wrote “In the
past five years HR has been enjoying the
greatest power it has ever had.”
How do professions change? To explore
and explain how HR has evolved it may
be helpful to go back to Charles Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution. Many evolutionary
theories applied to business draw on the
seminal work: The Origin of Species by
Darwin. Darwin developed and promoted
the idea that as various species come
into existence certain traits are inherited
through intergenerational evolutionary
processes. In much the same way, using
Darwin’s ideas of variation, selection and
retention the role of HR can be seen going
through an evolution of its own.
In any industry, variation means
 Cover Story
The Evolution of HR

that new kinds of skill sets, motivations
and expectations will emerge among
HR professionals. These variations are
triggered by environmental changes both
internal and external.
These external and internal forces
selectively eliminate certain variations
and promote one particular variation to
be favoured by the selection process.
While the variation occurs at the level of
the individual, the selection process has
impacts on the structure of the workforce
of an organisation.
Professor Howard Aldrich of the
University of North Carolina has
developed an evolutionary theory for
organisations, and he claims “selected
variations are preserved, duplicated,
or otherwise reproduced.” This can be
seen in the spreading of strategic HR
practices through geographic regions
and industries. Professor Karen Lee
of HKUST notes that in particular the
banking and finance industries have
adopted and retained strategic HR, being
closely monitored and followed by other
industries. So professions evolve when
certain skill sets become more adaptable
to external and internal changes. But what
are these changes that have been pivotal
in the evolution of HR?
Technology is becoming more and
more sophisticated. Programmes such
as 360-degree performance appraisals
value key western management
ideals. Much of this software is based
on western management techniques,
which put a great emphasis on strategic
HRM. This type of software requires HR
professionals to interpret and be involved
with more sophisticated data. From a
wider perspective, increasing expertise
is required to work with and develop
technology that has created the need for
‘knowledge workers’, and increasingly HR
professionals are required to have more
diverse skill sets.
The virtual office has removed the
ability to monitor employees in the
physical context, instead driving the
need to use engagement strategies to
maximise productivity.
Psychological Contract
Professor Karen Lee, visiting scholar at
HKUST, describes how the way employees
are looking at the relationship between
them and their employer has changed
– the psychological contract. “Loyalty to
the organisation has been changing in
the past 10 years. As companies have
increasingly laid off and downsized staff,
employees have felt more responsible
for their own wellbeing.” HR has had
to be more strategic in how it attracts
and retains the top talent. This can be
evidenced in the evolving roles that
local companies such as Bernard Hodes
are seeing. Chris Ploughman of Bernard
Hodes says they have witnessed the
evolution of HR in Hong Kong through
candidate attraction strategies, more
specifically HR’s approach to recruitment
advertising. In this way, transforming
from what could best be described as
‘recruitment announcements’ to a more
holistic approach.
HR professionals invest more time and
expertise in selecting media channels
and in some but not all cases, more
thought consideration and creativity to
support them. This has again pushed the
profession into a more strategic role.

Technology
Technology and software have made many
of the functional tasks of HR obsolete.
This has given HR professionals more
time to focus on strategic goals rather
than day to day administrative tasks. For
example, payroll software has automated
many of the labour intensive tasks of
previous generations of HR professionals.
As Ulrich describes earlier generations
of “HR personnel were so involved in the
details of pay, pensions and disputes that
they had no time for the higher strategic
thinking required for the knowledge
economy.”

Autumn 2009 13
Cover Story
The Evolution of HR
Generational Differences
Avril Henry, Consultant on managing
different generations describes how “the
one size fits all, which is the approach
taken for decades and managed to get
away with will not work anymore.” Henry
notes, “People talk about Generation X
and Generation Y about being disloyal.
And it is because veterans and boomers
were loyal to their chosen organisation
and their chosen profession. Veterans
in effect have a cradle to grave career
with forty years service in the same
organisation. Gen X and Y would rather
poke their eye out with a plastic fork than
work at the same place for forty years.”
This contributes to the need for HR
to focus on retaining and attracting staff
and also the changes in ‘Psychological
Contracts’. When careers lasted for 30
years in the same organisation there
was not much movement in and out of
organisations of personnel. Now with
the individuals changing jobs every few
years the importance of selecting the right
candidate increases.
Henry points out Gen Y are the most
tertiary educated generation in history. As
increasing numbers of Gen Y and Gen X
study business they are educated in the
14 HR Magazine
strategic role of HR as this is taught in
most western management schools.
For those who argue that these are not
universal changes, Professor Lee argues,
“Generational values are more or less the
same around the world as globalisation
takes hold. Employees are increasingly
tending to look after their own career
development.”
Knowledge
As the economy moves closer to the
information revolution there is a growing
appreciation of the value of a company’s
human assets. Where the workforce was
largely undifferentiated in early factory
organisation, there was little knowledge
of, or interest in, the individual. In a
manufacturing economy an employee
is rated on how many widgets they
can make in a set time period. As work
increasingly requires intellectual effort,
greater differentiation has arisen generally
based on observable factors such as
skill, age, performance , behaviour, and
so forth. Now it is the mind or psyche
which is identified as the key to gaining
knowledge of performance. This requires
more innovative management techniques
than in the past.
Economy
Several large scale impacts in the
economy have affected HR’s role. In
the early 90s huge structural change
took place after the 1991 recession
which required all departments to be
accountable for the bottom line. Ulrich
writes, “In the 1990’s most firms had
undertaken productivity initiatives,
such as reengineering, downsizing
and consolidation. This demanded HR
professionals focus on infrastructure and
their roles as administrative experts.”
Henry notes, “first the big crash in
1991, followed in 1997 with the Asian
economic crisis, and in the early part
of this decade, at the time of the tech
crash, Baby Boomers lost their jobs.
Baby Boomers lost their jobs not once, or
twice, but three times. For the Boomer
generation it was devastating when it
happened in the early nineties because
they had been loyal, they had worked
hard, they made personal sacrifices.”
Through the 1980s and 1990s
the effects of downsizing, large-scale
manufacturing shutdown, legal restrictions
on their activities, changing attitudes and
symbolic defeats led to a steady decline
in trade union membership and collective
bargaining arrangements. This reduced
HR’s previous role as intermediary
between management and unions.
Legal
Another dimension in the evolution of
HR was the growth in legal regulation
of employment relationships. As
governments began to enact more
legislation to protect workers, HR
professionals were responsible in
ensuring company compliance with these
initiatives. An example of this would be
the recent Race Discrimination Ordinance
coming into effect in Hong Kong in July of
this year. HR directors not only need to be
informed of the intricacies of this policy,
but have to liaise with legal departments
and facilitate education of both their
line managers and the organisation’s
associates.
Self Awareness
Another factor driving the change in
HR is the increasing self awareness and
advocacy within the industry. Partly due
 Cover Story
The Evolution of HR

to the negative perception outlined above
and a need to increasingly define the
profession many HR professional bodies
have been created and are growing in
size and popularity. It is hard to find a
country without an HR professional body.
In a local context Professor Lee points
out; “HRM is gaining currency in Hong
Kong by organisations such as IHRM and
A-Performers, who continue to release
studies increasing awareness through
various media channels.”
What now, what next?
David Ulrich’s book HR Champions lays
out a series of suggestions for HR to
be less reactive and have more say in
defining their profession. Using Ulrich,
David Forman, SHRM advises three main
functions of the future of HR:
▪▪ To create programmes for recruitment
development as a reflection of world-class
talent and leaders to support the growth
of the organisation
▪▪ To champion the nurturing of a culture,
aligned with organisational strategy, to
bring about organisational commitment
to ethical practices, lifelong learning and
a sense of responsibility to all stakeholders
▪▪ To create programmes that will
continuously raise the competencies
and capabilities of the members of an
organisation for the overall achievement
of the organisation.
As all professions evolve it is up to
those individuals in it to take an increasing
role in defining how this change will
impact their jobs. Many companies who
keep HR in an administrative function are
ignoring the changing nature of work and
the current requirements for success.
Numerous studies show that companies
with a strategic HR function are far more
productive and profitable than those who
don’t.
Now it is time to look forward and
further advance HR in the coming
decades. As John F. Kennedy once said,
“Change is the law of life and those
who look only to the past or present are
certain to miss the future.”

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September Issue 2009 15
HR Features
Rebuilding Broken Relationships
Rebuilding
Broken
Relationships
The financial
crisis has left
many in the public
disillusioned with big business.
Thomas Tang, Executive Director at the
think tank Global Institute for Tomorrow,
argues that in reality a major way for us
to extract ourselves from the crisis is not
only to throw money into the financial
system, but also to work to regain the
trust of the people. He writes:
The global economy is in disarray. Much
of this has been precipitated by the same
factors that caused previous depressions
and recessions—greed, avarice, self-
interest and fear. Has society learnt from
the past? Are there new ways of repairing
the damage and rebuilding society?
Governments worldwide have ploughed in
trillions of dollars to help stricken banks
and other ailing institutions and industries.
Keynesian followers would argue that,
although these measures have their
benefits, they are akin to sticking plasters
on gaping flesh wounds; we should
instead apply radical surgery in the form
of strong fiscal policies and a re-think
of financial structures and institutions
to save the patient. It is, however, also
time to think not just of financial and
institutional fixes but of social solutions
to mend the rift between business
and society. To gear up for the future,
companies need to spend money on HR
and people—quite the opposite to what
many are doing now, downsizing.
The similarities between present day
events and the past are marked. The
depression of 1929 was preceded by a
period of intense industrial expansion
as modern America embarked on an
ambitious drive to push heavy industries
and build new factories for barren
16 HR Magazine
l ve
Sa
Best the
for s
Crisi
markets. Asia has not been immune
either; the 1997 Asian economic crisis was
the result of a highly-leveraged economic
climate pushing up asset prices to an
unsustainable level. Expensive short-term
capital flow conditioned for quick profit
being passed in an uncontrolled manner
to certain people only—so called ‘crony
capitalism’—spelled disaster for emerging
economies with high exposure to foreign
exchange risk.
The triggers to these crises bear
uncanny resemblance. Business has
continually and, it seems, unfailingly
abused the trust of society. Even the
current crisis—commonly claimed
to be caused by reckless sub-prime
lending—reflects the more extensive
problem of complex and opaque assets,
and the failure of ratings agencies to
properly assess the risk of such assets
to members of society who acted on the
advice of ‘reputable’ banks and financial
institutions. The signals, past and present,
appear to be the same as history repeats
itself, which it will no doubt do again, in
the form of banking crises, speculative
bubbles and crashes, currency crises,
over-leveraged loans, herd behavior,
failure of the regulatory system and, worst
of all, public deceptions and fraud.
The late Peter Drucker once argued
that business has an obligation to protect
society: “while corporations should be
allowed to profit from their activities—as
profit is essential to their survival—this
does not mean that the corporation should
be free from social obligations. On the
contrary it should be so organised as to
fulfill automatically its social obligations
in the very act of seeking its own self-
interest.”
But given the type of corporate
misbehaviour that got society into the
current situation and the seeming lack
of remorse on the part of corporations,
what are people supposed to think? There
is a general loss of trust in business
and government, a resounding dearth
of faith in our business leaders and an
overall loathing of the worst excesses of
corporate practices and rewards. Social
justice has never looked so crestfallen.
From a global HR perspective, the
International Labour Organisation (ILO)
estimates that there will be a loss of
51 million white collar jobs worldwide
as a result of the global meltdown; in
China unemployment has officially been
recorded as 8.9 million, and this figure will
be amplified if the number of immigrants
is also taken into account. Concerns
from the rising number of lay-offs from
banks, restaurants and retail chains will
be further exacerbated by the coming
6 million graduates who will be coming
out from mainland universities this
summer looking for jobs that no longer
exist. People have suffered as a result of
corporate excesses.
Can Drucker’s words ring true and
bring companies back on track? Is there
an opportunity for, say, HR and corporate
social responsibility to work together
to repair the bridges between business
and society? Getting back to basics is
obviously important, companies must
be in complete compliance with laws
and regulations in all jurisdictions in
which they operate. This means fixing
the systems that failed in the first place.
Secondly, there is a need for proper legal
and governmental institutions reinforced
by sound enforcement and adequate
punishment measures for misbehaviour.
Thirdly, companies need to start spending

money on their people. This is where HR
comes in; money needs to be spent but
not just on their own staff, but also wisely
allocated to programmes that have wider
social and community benefits such as new
types of public private partnerships and
enterprises that serve community needs.
Independent, financially self-sustaining
entities that apply business principles to
create social value by meeting the needs
of the disenfranchised or by addressing
wider societal issues are known as social
enterprises. These enterprises help bring
business activity to areas that used to be
run by NGOs as charities, and they can
move those who need help away from
dependence thereby creating a self-help
approach through entrepreneurship.
On the other hand a related group,
called social intraprises, comprise of
people who work within organisations to
develop a business for the latter based on
social goals. By identifying an opportunity
Graham Uden Photography
corporate portraits
corporate literature
architectural interiors
corporate events
that has a social angle such as a service
or a product that can be used for social
or environmental good, a social intraprise
can develop this opportunity through
internal and external networks with
the support of the parent organisation,
for example, investing in the business,
providing office support and allowing paid
or unpaid time off.
There are several good HR reasons to
spend money on people in this manner,
not least the obvious one of avoiding job
cuts with expensive ramifications of firing
and re-hiring, avoiding the loss of sunk
costs in training and development through
staff retrenchment and, last but not least,
putting on a brave front for business
continuity.
In this current climate, the landscape is
littered with companies that are retreating
and cutting costs—which includes not
spending money on people. This is old
school thinking that got companies into
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HR Features
Rebuilding Broken Relationships
their present mess. It is vitally important
now for HR to send a positive message
that companies may be going through
a hard time but the focus for the future
should be on people. Social enterprises
and intraprises can be levers to retrieve
the credibility of management. Social
healing is perhaps the best salve for the
economic crisis after all.
Companies, with the help of HR, need
to put programmes in place that give the
right signals to staff and others that caring
for their people is not a sign of weakness
but a strength that will augur well for long
term rebuilding, and even for attracting
and retaining talent of the future. This
is the new paradigm. Failure to do so,
on the other hand, will probably put
organisations back into the rut and allow
the misfortunes of history to be repeated
yet again.
By Thomas Tang, Executive Director at
Global Institute for Tomorrow
m: 852 9195 7732
e: uden@netvigator.com
Autumn 2009 17
Special Feature
Embracing Workplace Generation Gaps
Generation Gap
“ Too often
there are too
many differences
between the
expectations
of university
students and the
”
corporates.
This year’s AIESEC Asia Pacific
Symposium in Hong Kong was attended
by delegates who flew in from around the
Asia region, along with a handful from
even further afield. The symposium’s
remit was to develop interaction between
diverse organisations and the student
talent; the intention being to boost
business leader’s understanding of the
perspectives and attitudes of the Asian
young generation, while for students
to learn more about business issues.
Topics covered included CSR, Gen Y,
employer branding, career development,
youth leadership and diversity issues.
AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run
organisation.
The president of AIESEC HK opened
by saying “Too often there are too many
differences between the expectations of
university students and the corporates,”
adding that he hoped the symposium
would bring both closer together. On
another key difference in attitude he
highlighted, “If you talk about five- or ten-
year career development to the current
generation they will just ignore you…
they regard three years as too long for
18 HR Magazine
career development.” Finally, he jokingly
reminded organisations, “The coming
generation will be taking over society
pretty soon, you cannot disagree.”
The keynote speaker, Eddie Ng
Hak-kim, Chairman of Human Capital
Management, asked the question ‘can
you really tell people what your career
plan is?’ He believes the answer for most
is no: they cannot say where they really
expect to be in ten years time. But, when
applying for jobs, saying you want any
job being offered is not the right answer
either. This raises the question of what
young people should actually say.
Ng believes that Gen Y has a keen
supply of energy and the passion, but is
sometimes overly focussed on one thing.
Ng noted that some HR professionals
had said of Gen Y “I love them but I
don’t want to hire them.” For Gen Y, they
need to look carefully at what company
they are applying for, to check more
closely what they will be a part of. For the
companies, extensive testing can help
young candidates understand what they
are committing to, and can even weed out
some candidates who are applying for the
job merely for the sake of apply for a job.
If a young person does all the research
before applying, joked Ng, “Then if you
end up in the wrong job who is to blame.”
A later speaker, Shalini Mahtani, founder
and CEO of community business, talked
more on Gen Y. She noted that previously
groupings for diversity had taken in
ethnicity, gender, sexuality, but highlighted
that more recently age was being
considered a factor: both for aging workers
and Gen Y. Organisations are now thinking
of interventions to attract and retain both
groups, because it has been shown that
specialised interventions are needed.
She noted the difference between the
AIESEC of now and the AIESEC of many
years ago, with the marked difference
being that the current AIESEC students
are not just chasing high pay. New
initiatives from AIESEC look at CSR,
with Mahtani saying that this generation
“is very much about defining what
CSR means.” She went on to say that
companies, whilst cutting back on areas
like marketing, are questioning cutting
back on CSR because it is so important to
potential Gen Y employees.

Mahtani warned that Gen Y is also
known for asking for the impossible. She
cited, for example, first-time jobbers
often asking for international. She also
underlined a worrying trend in India, and
China, where Gen Y look for inappropriate
business; for example they come into a
job as a secretary but ask to be called a
managing director. She noted also that
companies are looking at new ways of
engaging and recruiting Gen Y, including
using Facebook to advertise jobs. She
noted also that because of Gen Y’s
attachment to the idea of family a number
of firms, especially in India, are looking
at ways of engaging Gen Y’s parents,
including open days for the parents of
prospective employees.
Finally she called on the younger
generation to continue to push companies
to look at CSR, and also to continue to
be guided by values. To Gen Y itself she
called on them to “act smart, not spoilt.”
She said Gen Y might be the future, but
its members must remember that the
company they work for will be multi-
generational and they must cohere with
the other generations.
Finally panellists, including HR
Magazine’s own Paul Arkwright, discussed
Special Feature
Embracing Workplace Generation Gaps
a number of issues, including what the
word talent really means. Ideas include
talent just being another word for staff,
but the new usage of the word reflecting
a changing attitude in HR where staff
are perceived more in terms of value.
For headhunters, however, talent is
whatever skills the business is looking
for—a question of the match between a
candidate’s ability and attitude with what
the job needs.
Further panellists recommended
students think of themselves as being like
an enterprise with services that they could
offer to companies.
Autumn 2009 19
Special Feature
Embracing Workplace Generation Gaps
Understanding
Generation
The traditional employment model is
dead. Employment propositions and total
rewards systems which were built on
years of service to fund retirement are
over. Organisations which were used to
long standing tenure of 15, 20 or even 25
years need to rethink very quickly.
Generation X
For Generation X, born 1965-1980, it
means moving in and out of the workforce
to accommodate kids and outside
interests. For Generation Y, born 1980-
2000 the line between work and home
doesn’t really exist. They just want to
spend their time in meaningful and useful
ways, no matter where they are.
The challenge for the companies that
want to hire the best young workers will
be getting them in the door. Generation
X are in high demand but are opting
out of long hours and they have high
expectations for personal growth, even
in entry-level jobs. More than half of
Generation Y’s new graduates move back
to their parents’ homes after collecting
their degrees and that cushion of support
gives them the time to pick the job they
really want. Taking time off to travel
used to be a résumé red flag; today it’s
a learning experience. Entrepreneurship
now functions as a safety net for this
generation. They grew up on the internet
and they know how to launch a viable
online business.
These Generation Xers want benefits
such as stock option plans, health care
insurance, paid vacation, sick days and
personal leave days. They tend to be
less motivated by promises of overtime
pay and more motivated by personal
20 HR Magazine
satisfaction with their jobs. They want to
grow in their jobs and learn new skills and
are looking for development and training.
They do not anticipate staying with one
job or company throughout their entire
career. They have seen their parents
laid off. Many have grown up in divorced
family situations. Generation X expect to
change jobs as they seek employment
that offers them both better benefits and
more opportunity for professional growth
and personal fulfillment.
Generation Y
Generation Y has grown up with more
freedom and choice, economic prosperity­
—until recently!—and higher education
with ever-changing technology. They have
different priorities and expectations. More
importantly, they are likely to be the most
productive generation of all time because
they work differently and harness technology
and change as part of daily routine.
The drive and energy of Generation Y
is global, green and puts work in a social
context, whereby they no longer live to
work but work to live. They have only
been in the workplace for a few years,
yet they have gained a reputation for
being over-confident, disloyal and fickle.
Arguably, this may be because they have
been misunderstood and mismanaged by
employers who are still managing them
within Baby Boomers or Generation X
frameworks.
Generation Y and Generation X view
and use technology differently. Gen X use
technology as much as Gen Y but they
use it when it supports a “lifestyle need”
whereas tech is embedded into everything
Generation Y do.
Not only have Generation Y grown
up with changing times, but the pace
of change is seen as an opportunity to
grasp. They have the ability to customise
everything to their world. They do not
need to buy albums or CDs because they
can download the tracks they like to
create their own playlists on their iPods;
they can create their own personal web
pages on Facebook; use the internet to
create personal travel plans or roam in a
virtual, fantasy world. They want to add
their own personality and interests to the
world of their work – they do not want a
job for life and do not pretend to do so.
Generation Y is the most travelled
generation in history, through gap years
and cheap flights. It is this desire for
diversity and adventure which stimulates
this generation rather than the wealth,
size and glamour of the West. With this
international focus and multi-cultural
influences, their aspirations drive them
to gain as many career-enhancing
experiences as possible. They want to
present prospective employers with a
multitude of real-life experiences rather
than a stack of qualifications.
Generation Y has grown up with
climate change, global warming and
images of third-world poverty. They feel
socially responsible to make the change
for their global colleagues. They are
connected via music, video and passion.
They have experienced more family
breakdowns than any generation before.
Their global networking means that they
relate to peers, not elders. They are
searching for true integrity and are willing
to challenge. Corporate values need to be
more than words.
 Special Feature
Embracing Workplace Generation Gaps

The implications for

employment
Generation X, are very self-centred while
Generation Y are more team-focused
Personal and Lifestyle Characteristics by Generation and anti-hierarchical. Formal grading and
status attributes will be resisted – they
Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y
(1946 – 1964) (1965 – 1980) (1981 – 2000) want to have a voice. Creative working
parties and innovation groups are the way
Core Values Optimism, Skepticism, Realism, Confidence,
to get their juices flowing. Early delegation
Involvement Fun, Informality Extreme fun, Social
and involvement is paramount. Theirs
Family Disintegrating Latch-key kids Merged families is a thirst for knowledge. Generation X
Education A birthright A way to get there An incredible expense expect, their employers to hear what
they have to say. They have an interest
Communication Touch-tone phones, Cell phones, Internet, Picture in understanding the ‘big picture’ for the
Media Call me anytime Call me only at work phones, E-mail
company and how this influences their
Dealing with Buy now, pay later Cautious, Conservative, Earn to spend employment and growth.
Money Save, save, save
They are less likely to accept a ‘because I
said so’ attitude. 
Generation Y enters the world of work
with student debt. Long-term benefits
Workplace Characteristics or pensions do not even register. Choice
Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y is key, as is flexibility both in terms
(1946 – 1964) (1965 – 1980) (1981 – 2000) of working hours and location. Career
Work Ethic and Workaholics Eliminate the task What’s next
enhancement, rather than development,
Values Work efficiently Self-reliance Multitasking is paramount – international assignments
Crusading causes Want structure and Tenacity and experience is critical. But this promise
Personal fulfillment direction Entrepreneurial
Desire quality Skeptical Tolerant needs to be real, not a frustrating,
Question authority Goal oriented dangling carrot.
Work is… An exciting adventure A difficult challenge A means to an end Generation Y wants to be judged on
A contract Fulfillment outcomes and results, not the hours
seen at the office. Generation X knew
Leadership Style Consensual Everyone is the same Confident
Collegial Challenge others Team focused promotions were given out to those who
Ask why? Delegate got in first and left late, irrespective of
Socially responsible
their real contribution. Generation Y’s
Interactive Style Team player Entrepreneur Participative upbringing of constant coaching from their
Loves to have parents means that they expect constant
meetings
feedback and stroking. Line managers
Communications In person Direct E-mail need to give a lot of face time to this
Immediate Voice mail
group – this is the biggest management
Feedback and Don’t appreciate it Sorry to interrupt, but Whenever I want it, at challenge for the Baby Boomers who were
Rewards Money how am I doing? the push of a button taught to be micro-managers. They are
Title recognition Freedom is the best Meaningful work
reward naturally self-assured and goal-driven.
They are supremely confident, expecting
Messages That You are valued Do it your way You will work with
Motivate You are needed Forget the rules other bright, creative
everything to fall into their laps and
people hence, massively over estimate their
own abilities – they think they will make
Work and Family No balance Balance Balance
Life Work to live their mark immediately and will rapidly
progress in organisations. Generation
The tables above detail typical characteristics of different generations.
Y are probably prepared to give your
organisation 3 to 5 years at most, before
By Mr. Mark Geary they will move on.
Chief Executive Have you re-engineered your people
Asianet Consultants strategy to cope with this change?
(Sources: Time; Greg Hammill/FDU; Mercer)

Autumn 2009 21
Special Feature
Embracing Workplace Generation Gaps
Why HR Needs to
Understand
Different Generations
In the first of a two-part series on Avril
Henry, author, professional speaker and
founder of the Australian Avril Henry Pty
Ltd we share her experiences dealing with
different generations in the workplace
and the challenges this throws up for HR
managers. As a previous finance director,
Henry confessed she used to think that,
“HR was a place where they sent birthday
cards. And when we were trying to cut
costs the Finance Director said we can cut
costs by cutting HR staff because we don’t
need them. Because after all that is the
soft touchy feely stuff.”
As a ‘reformed accountant and
economist’, Henry has now worked out
that without people you don’t achieve
anything, and without people you actually
won’t achieve the productivity and the
profitability that engages the stakeholders
if you don’t understand what motivates
people. Henry pointed out that 67% of
all mergers and acquisitions fail. And the
reason they fail is that their top three
priorities are:
▪▪Shareholders and clients
▪▪Products and services
▪▪Technology integration
Nowhere are people mentioned in the
top three. Yet without the people being on
board you don’t deliver to shareholders
and clients. Without people understanding
the products and services you are not
going to deliver the products and services
and you are not going to develop the
products and services.
Turning to the issue of why HR should
understand the different generations,
Henry stated that, “people are using the
global financial crisis as an excuse to say
‘we don’t have to worry about recruitment
and we don’t have to worry about
retention because we can just get rid of
people’.”
Henry also firmly believes that the skills
shortage is here to stay as it has come
about because of an aging population and
a declining birthrate. According to the
United Nations, Hong Kong has the lowest
22 HR Magazine
birthrate in the world with the exception
of Macau at 1.02, so it is unable to replace
its workforce.
Generations X and Y are the most
tertiary educated generations in history
and are sending a strong message to
companies that if they don’t have an
inclusive and collaborative workplace
culture, if they don’t have an adaptive
leadership style, and if they don’t have
a culture that values employees, then
they won’t come and work for them. The
question for HR managers is what do they
have to do to motivate and to manage
different generations. Henry cautions that,
“the one size fits all—the approach taken
for decades and people managed to get
away with—will not work anymore.”
Henry gave an insight into the
mindsets of the four generations
currently in the workplace:
Veterans born prior to 1946: making
up, on average, 6-10% of the workforce
in most countries, who dominate the
Fortune 500 and are usually board
members responsible for strategy vision
and change. The veterans will normally
give you two responses if you want to
change something. The first is “That’s
the way we have always done it around
here.” The second response you invariably
get is “something is not broken so why
change things.” For the veteran generation
technology is a necessary or unnecessary
evil which makes them really stressed.
Baby boomers born 1946 to 1964:
make up as much as 80% of senior
executive roles in the private sector
and major government departments.
Intellectually baby boomers know change
is good, but might prefer somebody
else have a go at it first, so they tend
to stand around while this change is
being discussed. For the baby boomer
generation they have all the technology
but don’t know how to use it for
functionality.
Gen X born 1965 to 1979: interestingly
Avril Henry, Founder, Avril Henry Pty. Ltd.
tend to be the skeptical generation,
playing their cards very close to their
chest. They tell you what they want
you to know - when they want you to
know it, to the degree that they think
you should know it. In the background
you have Gen X looking at change—it
could be a restructure or a merger of two
organisations. They will say “pick me pick
me, I want to be on the change program.”
Gen X love change, seeing it as an
opportunity to learn new skills and stretch
themselves. Gen X is comfortable with
technology. Technology is an important
means to an end, used as a business tool.
For Gen Y born post 1980: change is
all they know and they don’t understand
why people get so traumatised by
change. Change is what happens every
day. For Gen Y they have always been
social communicators and it is a way of
life. They have never known life without
technology; they have never used a
typewriter.
In the next issue we continue this
feature and share more from Henry on what
drives each generation in the workplace and
exactly what HR managers need to learn
in order to best engage and leverage the
strengths of each generation set.

Blue Ocean Strategy
Strategic Innovation…
What does this mean for my business?
Are creativity and innovation
the same?
Companies today must repeatedly remind
themselves that if they fail to re-invent
themselves to meet current market
challenges, they will find their market
share shrinking or gone in time to come.
It seems the latest buzzword in business
is creativity. In fear of losing out many
individuals and organisations jump onto
the bandwagon of creative thinking with
little knowledge of its purpose or direction
and no understanding of its application for
corporate success.
Creativity without focus or framework
can provide results that have no
commercial value. Creativity that adds
value to businesses is Innovation.
However innovation is not an act of
spontaneity. It is targeted effort to
make something new happen through a
structured and well organised approach
and accordingly allow businesses to reap
the rewards.
What does Red look like?
Red oceans are characterised by well
defined and accepted industry boundaries
and established competitive rules of the
game. Companies are embroiled in the
art of war, constantly strategising to
oust another from a densely congested
market space. They are often incapable
of understanding or recognising the
path less trodden, which is often less
confrontational yet creates greater
business value. However being caught
in the throes of competition results in
companies remaining in red oceans where
the focus is more defensive, concentrated
on the elimination of rivals to emerge
victorious.
Finding the Blue
Make competition irrelevant
The latest corporate insight comes
together in the form of an approach that
is new and improved. It is the logical
way to achieve outstanding performance
– the Blue Ocean Strategy, is intended
to generate sustained growth with
Sponsored Feature
higher probability and greater impact.
Its simple methodology comprises
of a comprehensive set of tools and
frameworks based on key principles
to help companies boost performance
through value innovation
Think about the Apple iPod, why is it so
popular in spite of being priced 300%-
400% higher than other MP3 players?
Or Starbucks coffee, why do consumers
spend up to 5 times more than a local
coffee shop to stand in line to get a cup?
They did it not by creating new products
but by delivering key offerings that
customers’ desire. Thinking innovatively is
the key to helping them carve their niche
and enjoying higher profit margins.
Leading training consultancy macsimize
focuses on helping companies innovate in
Carl Thong, Managing Director of macsimize
order to reap maximum benefit by putting
creativity through a simple framework. customers and what am I going to offer
Carl Thong, Managing Director of my customers?
macsimize says “Clients often tell us that 3. A structured brainstorming session:
they try to encourage their management You need to generate many ideas to
teams to be creative, but they are still come out with a great one; however
not able to extract commercial value from these ideas need to be viable and not
their efforts. This is where we can help just ‘out of the box’
them by using key concepts from the Blue 4. Adopt an outside-in view: Put yourself
Ocean Strategy. We train management in your customers’ shoes and ask the
teams to link leadership and innovation so question – What do my customers
that it can be imbibed in their corporate want? What do they value most and
culture. Managers learn to avoid staying what are they willing to pay for?
in a market place where features are piled 5. Find your blue ocean: Eliminate,
onto a product that its customers do not reduce, raise and create the features of
particularly value. When you find your your products and services and create
blue ocean you will not have competitors a new offering for your customers
as you will be creating uncontested based on value not features
market space where you are the only
player” says Mr. Thong. Using innovation to create a
new offering will help you create an
Bring on the Blue uncontested marketplace - at least until
macsimize suggests the following it is imitated, the key is to make sure
in 5 easy steps: this process then becomes a part of your
1. Know where you are: you need to corporate culture – thinking innovatively
know where you are to find out where to constantly be in the blue.
you want to be. A self analysis to
know where you currently stand in the Log on to www.macsimize.biz find your
market place. blue ocean today. To get more information
2. Adopt an inside-out view: Look at your email Ayesha Mathias:
company from within and ask yourself ayesha.mathias@macsimize.biz
what am I currently offering my or call +852 93002390
September Issue 2009 23
HR Features
HR and Technology
Karen Paterson Interview
Recently HR Magazine had a chance
to speak to Karen Paterson about her
company Patersons Global HR & Payroll
Solutions, and how technology is changing
HR. The web-based software company
focuses on the delivery of International
Payroll/HR software and services in over
160 countries worldwide, has over 200
employees and 3,000 further partners
working from five global offices.
HR Magazine: How did you come
about founding Patersons Global Payroll?
Karen Paterson: After working in
retail banking for a few years, and
finishing my MBA from Southampton,
I began working as a tax consultant.
Very early on I was approached by
a client who was trying to set up an
integrated international payroll system.
At the time there were no providers
in the market who could do this. So in
essence the company developed from
this business problem.
HR Magazine: What advantages does
starting from this ‘bottom up’ approach
have in creating HR software?
Karen Paterson: Well the essential
business problem hasn’t changed, but
by building the technology from the
International Payroll/HR Software & Services
24 HR Magazine
bottom up, and by knowing the issues
we were trying to solve upfront, we could
develop the software in a practical way,
as an integrated solution on a global
scale. Where we gain our competitive
advantage is that you cannot build this
sort of big enterprise software quickly. We
let the market drive how we developed
the features and functionality and the
architecture of the application. And we
grew the company gradually in line. We
had organic growth, where we worked
with the clients coming to us to solve
specific problems for them.
HR Magazine: How many years did it
take to develop the software?
Karen Paterson: The application is
nine years old. However because it is one
code base it is constantly improving and
it is now about 1.8 million lines of code.
By 2004 and 2005 we were ready to start
growing the business rapidly. In 2006 we
did a big deal with IBM and also Siemens
and at this stage we became known
worldwide.
HR Magazine: What are some of
the challenges you have had in your
company’s evolution?
Karen Paterson: Over the thirteen
years I have done this I have recognised
that there are some people that would like
to see you not succeed. There was a time
when we did not have enough money to
expand, though we are fine now. As an
entrepreneur you actually can’t blink but
must keep looking forward.
HR Magazine: How would you describe
your company’s organisational culture?
Karen Paterson: I think that we are
fun. We like disruptive technology and
anything that drives change. I think our
company is always trying to be the best.
We are very state of the art. I make sure
that all of our developers have the very
best coaching and tools and toys to train
with. We are very creative and innovative
and again we have this desire to be the
best in the world.
HR Magazine: Since starting your
company in 1996 have you noticed any
changes in the role HR has played within
organisations?
Karen Paterson: I think there has
been a huge change. I think that before
HR was viewed as a necessary function
with very little input at board level. HR
was very transactional. Whereas now
I think particularly since 2002 onward
things started to change where people
saw that a strategic role for HR was critical
for business success. Organisations are
starting to recognise that the workforce is
the biggest cost to the business.
HR Magazine: During this same
period how has HR technology evolved?
Karen Paterson: In the late nineties
and early two thousands the ERP1 system
was the only choice to have a truly
international HR system. Software as a
Service was available but it was a fairly
unknown market. IT departments focused
a lot on having control of systems in-
house. After Y2K and some major glitches
with large ERP systems, multinationals
started to question the value of spending
millions on these ERP systems. Much of
this inability to track the value on the
money spent has fueled the Software as a
Service market. The ability of a company
to outsource not only the development
The workforce: the biggest cost to business
and maintenance of the software but also
the hardware and hosting is appealing to
a greater number of organisations. If you
are a manufacturer your specialty is in
manufacturing not software. A company
like ours is able to create software and
 “I think the ability to
give management control
and visibility over their
workforce and at the
same time reduce cost is
probably one of the
most compelling
arguments that will
”
get heard.
develop it properly. To get this expertise in
house is costly and not always possible.
HR Magazine: Why do you feel that
there has been a number of new Software
as a Service company’s emerging in the
past few years?
Karen Paterson: I think that the low
cost of entry for software on demand is
appealing during a credit crunch. This
has been an important factor driving the
growth of Software as a Service recently.
The ‘pay as you go’ model is incredibly
attractive to people on restricted budgets.
This is also combined with the acceptance
of the internet. Nine years ago when we
first shipped our product broadband was
just starting to be rolled out, whereas now
it is everywhere.
We are also aware that the needs
of small to medium sized companies
are very similar to those of the larger
multinationals. So being one step ahead
we have also recently launched Click4HR
which is an on demand, click and buy
online HR solution which is ready to use,
is hassle free with no downloads. This
costs as little as $US49, which as an offer
I doubt it can be beaten elsewhere.
HR Magazine: As internet data
transfer speeds increase with faster fibre
optic connections how will this change HR
outsourcing processes?
Karen Paterson: Delivery will
increasingly become internet based. It is
the only practical, sensible way to deliver,
and to leverage the ability to deliver file
shared services. I really feel that people
will start to build global templates.
Everybody thinks that their individual
company is different, whereas actually
there is global template. I also think
people will start to look at best of breed.
Instead of buying ERP systems that cover
everything from recruitment to e-learning
and transactional HR they will look for
best of breed and then integrate. So, that
global templates will have integrated best
of breed applications.
HR Magazine: What different levels
of acceptance of HR technology and HR
outsourcing have you noticed in different
markets around the world?
Karen Paterson: There are some
differences in some of the central
European countries which are behind the
west. Some of the former communist
countries or existing communist countries
like China, that are quite protectionist,
are wary of not having control of their
information. Even though Hong Kong
belongs to China it will flourish without
that protectionist behavior. As the level of
inward investment to China slows down
discouraging of the advance of technology
may lead to a competitive disadvantage.
A similar thing is occurring in Russia.
Latin America is similar but is enveloping
internet based software a lot more easily.
What we are seeing with emerging
markets is that they don’t have a lot of
legacy software because it didn’t get
built in the old days. So they are taking a
quantum lead to the early adoption.
HR Features
HR Magazine: Do you see emerging
software companies in India as future
competitors to Patersons in the Software
as a Service market?
Karen Paterson: No, not at this time
as there are a million and one ways to
get this type of complex architecture
wrong. Technology companies have to be
constantly looking to the future and see
where technology is going. If you establish
competitive advantage and do that then it
is very hard for people to catch up.
HR Magazine: How do you suggest
that HR Managers can get input and
influence their company to switch to more
efficient HR technologies?
Karen Paterson: I think at the
moment cost is important. We are in a
global credit crunch. I think the ability to
give management control and visibility
over their workforce and at the same time
reduce costs is probably one of the most
compelling arguments that will get heard.
HR Magazine: Do you have any last
words of advice for our readers with
regard to HR technology?
Karen Paterson: Make the right
choice when you are procuring software.
Think strategically, think internationally,
and that Software as a Service is where
the world is going.
1
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
systems usually consists of hardware and
software that integrate the data and processes
of an organisation into one single system.
Autumn 2009 25
HR Features
Building a Resilient Workforce
Corporate
Wellness
and Building a
Resilient
Workforce
Audrey Tsui is a woman bent on spreading
the notion of corporate wellness around
Asia and into the wider international
business community. She heads up the
Corporate Wellness Management Unit in
the business school at the Hong Kong
Baptist University and uses seminars,
publications and direct advisory contact
with businesses to spread her point. Here
she talks to HR Magazine about this topic,
and in particular the idea of building
resilience into your workforce to bounce
back from the crisis.
Corporate Wellness
According to Tsui, the majority of the
foreign companies in Hong Kong will
follow the policies of their parent company
for corporate wellness. The western idea
of corporate wellness is based on tangible
problems such as smoking cessation
policies and employee assistance
programmes for alcohol or emotional
problems, but this is wrong says Tsui.
“Why only pay attention to those
employees with a problem now?”
26 HR Magazine
Audrey Tsui
“During turbulent times is when
we should pay much more attention to
emotional wellness, spiritual wellness,
intellectual wellness, as well as
occupational wellness.” Commenting on
the current trend for restructuring, firing
and freezes in hiring, Tsui said, “A lot of
staff on the one hand they have a higher
workload, but on the other they have
higher anxiety. What will happen to me
in the future. What will happen to this
company?” She added that this is well
indicated by increased calls to support
hotlines, increased suicide and crime,
the conclusion being that we should be
dealing with these emotions.
People have a misunderstanding, said
Tsui; wellness is equated to fitness or
massage or meditation in the minds of
many. “That is a very narrow perspective.”
Wellness counts both for individual
employees as well as for the overall
company, she said. It also comprises
aspects of physical, intellectual, emotional
an even spiritual features. Tsui dubs this
‘total wellness’. Component features might

be broken down further still, for example
emotional aspects are confidence, positive
feelings and emotional resilience, while
intellectual aspects include thinking and
love of learning. Tsui defines spiritual
wellness not as a religious thing, but
instead a kind of moral awareness, a basic
principle to distinguish good and bad.
“There is a strong sense of injustice in the
world currently,” she remarked.
Karoshi
Tsui claims to have seen many people of
a young age in businesses and among
students, aged mid-20 to mid-40, dying
without getting sick. She said that this
has changed her whole opinion of stress.
Part of the increased number is the higher
levels of young people committing suicide,
and part of it is sudden death syndrome,
what the Japanese call karoshi, or death
from exhaustion. Research shows that
sudden death can be related to fatigue,
such as due to an extended period of long
working hours, and stress, for example
because of a hostile living environment.
She noted that both fatigue and stress are
amplified in Hong Kong with the culture
of long working hours, persistent building
works, the noise and stressful conditions
on the street.
Tsui added that fatigue is not just
physical but is mental too. Secondly
she explains that under her definition of
stress, stress is actually a feeling of fear,
uncertainty and a lack of control. In the
working world staff are not given the
power to control what they are doing, she
said. Staff develop cynicism because they
see the top decision maker asking them
to do things they do not believe in, or that
are not ethical. Things are not transparent
and there is a lot of inequity, she added.
Occupational Wellness
and Fortitude
Occupational wellness is how well do
people feel comfortable in contributing,
how committed are they and do they
want to dedicate themselves to do
more. Tsui offers an equation for the
business perspective along the lines of
‘engagement + resilience = organisational
fortitude.’ Here resilience is defined as
the ability to bounce back from adversity.
“In the last few years there’s been a lot
of discussion about how companies can
survive. A lot of talk is about fortitude,
which refers to mental strength—to suffer
pain and to face danger with courage.”
The purpose of engagement is not only
to get employees to do things, but also to
have them involved in generating ideas,
about plans and strategies, company
direction, effective implementation, and
how to do things in a moral way. Tsui
said that research shows that people do
not want to work for money, they want
to have meaning in their work. Financial
return is necessary, but it is not sufficient
to get people totally committed, meaning
companies need to look deeper at an
employee’s needs, said Tsui.
Tsui said, in many organisations “the
boss’ attitude is ‘I think you do’, but this
only engages the body of the employee,
this doesn’t engage the employee’s brain
or heart, so doesn’t make them feel they
have worth.” She added that in many
ways multinationals treat their entire staff
in Hong Kong and other local subsidiaries
as just ‘doers’ and don’t actually involve
them in determining company direction.
In Hong Kong and other Asian cities
wellness is often part of HRM, so it is
usually the same person in charge that’s
also in charge of benefits. “They make
you feel very frustrated,” Tsui said. “Why
do you treat wellness as a cost, wellness
is an investment, and it can generate
strategic return.” But, she continues,
“nobody talks about it, they talk about
reducing medical costs, instead realising
that reducing these things stops the
company from advancing.” Tsui said
that an engaged workforce has been
shown in numerous surveys to generate
substantially more returns, as employees
are willing to take extra steps to achieve a
business end.
HR Features
Building a Resilient Workforce
Tsui said her point is particularly
relevant in service sectors. If an employee
believes in the firm they will interact with
customer with customer intimacy. “How
can banks regain the trust of customers
who made losses? They have to continue
to pay attention to them, reduce the pain
they’re suffering and monitor, and show
care and concern, which is itself a service.”
Tsui underlined one example,
referencing the recent Sanlu milk powder
scare in mainland China. The former
chairperson, Tian Wenhua, made a big
mistake in that she never apologised,
Tsui said, whereas the replacement did
immediately when they took over. The
next step for the replacement Chair was
sending staff to different provinces to see
what the company can do, which Tsui
described as an ‘excellent gesture’. Tsui
added, “Because they cannot produce, a
less imaginative company would retrench
their staff. Instead of doing that he
mobilised his workforce—sending them
out to the rural areas where the powder
caused problems, saying: whatever we
can do, we will do.” This is the kind of
additional gesture Tsui feels companies
need to work towards.
Creating a Resilient Workforce
To create a resilient workforce Tsui said a
company needs three things:
1. A culture of paying attention to
wellness in the organisation
2. Honouring business ethics and
business integrity
3. A management support system that
ensures things like that happen.
Tsui said she believes in self-help. She
says that in Hong Kong and Singapore
when companies have a problem, they
tend to seek outside help. For example,
if people are depressed­—hiring a clinical
psychologist—but without really asking
the question why or tracing the route
of the problem. She believes managers
avoid the issue with outside hires so that
if anything goes wrong the accusation will
not fall on them.
Autumn 2009 27
HR Features
Building a Resilient Workforce
Who Handles Wellness?
Tsui believes that the response of medical
staff to the notion of corporate wellness is
“who are you here from management to
talk about wellness, you are not medically
trained we make sure you are not sick,
and because you’re not sick you won’t die.
But this attitude is wrong.”
“Wellness management should be
a multi-discipline one. It should not
belong to medicine, or public health, nor
psychology, nor social work, nor HRM.
It’s an issue that needs the input of all.”
Though she acknowledges that managers
would sit at the top of this as decision
makers, but also underlined that it is a
case where everybody should have a say.
“It’s about involving and engaging
the employees to team up with the
leader, so that they come up with a
solution as a team. In order to do that
managers must be open, and generate
a trusting relationship,” Tsui said. She
added her research had revealed that
the major problem with the management
support system in greater China was the
lack of communication. She said that
management support does not simply
mean ‘you tell, employees listen,’ but also
involves employees coming up with ideas
that might make a difference.
28 HR Magazine
Asian Wellness in Decline
Overall, Asian wellness is decreasing at
the cost of increasing wealth said Tsui.
She believes one reason is increased
disparity between rich and poor. “Wealth
management is not only about the volume
and pace of wealth accumulation, but it
is also about the fairness and impact of
wealth distribution,” adds Tsui, who also
acknowledges socialist leanings.
Tsui believes the most critical agenda
of these times is going back to examine
emotional wellness, physical wellness and
spiritual wellness. “We must stand up and
say no and do something right now… we
just have to face it straight on.” Tsui says
that a number of companies are doing
good work, but these are the minority.
She stressed again that employees with
good wellness are willing to do more in
the community, which is good branding
for the company. Tsui said that though
community work is good, it is not as
simple as just introducing a few of these
types of projects. “It must be part of a
company’s culture,” she said.
Fair Exchange of Value
According to Tsui, the companies who
are currently ‘doing it properly’ in terms
of sales are going ‘back to basics’, that
is a fair exchange of value between the
company and the customer. “That is,
the customer pays them for what they
believe should be of value, for example
drugs from a drug company—it is the
function and usefulness to the end user
of the product or service so it is up to
the individuals in any organisation to
work out how to create this value and
create this positive service.” She cited the
pre-downturn practice of banks selling
customers investment products in what
she described as a ‘dishonest manner’,
because customers were not being
briefed properly about the risks. “When
employees seek to maximise returns for
the company, those returns are short
term. The reason is that the bonuses were
given to so-called talent, but in the end it
exposed the company to so much loss.”
To underscore the difference in
approach she discussed the difference
between improving returns to
shareholders compared to improving
return to stakeholders; the latter includes
customers the former does not. Spiritual
wellness falls into this discussion because
it is fostered by going back to basics,
honouring good value to customers, good
business principles, as well as getting
employees involved in the process.
THE HONG KONG
MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
THE HONG KONG
MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

Award For Excellence In Training

AWARD FOR
FOR EXCELLENCE
EXCELLENCE IN 2009 SUPPLEMENT
AWARD IN TRAINING
TRAINING
22 00 00 99

Published By
 With Sincere Thanks
to

LEAD SPONSOR
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT

MAIN SPONSOR

SPONSORS

MEDIA SPONSORS MEDIA PARTNER

SEMINAR SPONSORS

PRESENTATION SKILLS WORKSHOP SPONSOR

30 HR Magazine
foreword
Message from Message from

Award For Excellence In Training

2009 SUPPLEMENT
Dr The Hon David K P Li GBM GBS JP Dr Elizabeth S C Shing BBS JP
Chairman Director General
The Hong Kong Management Association The Hong Kong Management Association

In the current extremely challenging economic environment, Nowadays, changes come more rapidly and
companies are under extraordinary pressure to reduce costs. frequently and they bring about uncertainty.
Any expense that does not make an immediate contribution Only companies and leaders who manage
to the bottom line is liable to be cut. Unfortunately, it is all too change successfully can survive against
easy to make the wrong cuts, and undermine future success. the competition.

Hong Kong is overwhelmingly a service-based economy. Human
capital is our core resource. Most companies recognise that invest-
ment in their human capital is key to their future growth and pros-
perity. Any cut in this area will affect a company’s future prospects.
In reality, if it is important to invest in human capital in good times, it is even more important
to maintain this investment in times of adversity. The most successful companies are those
that make a long-term commitment to investment in training.
The Award for Excellence in Training has grown from strength to strength over the past eigh-
teen years. This Award has contributed effectively to the sharing of best practice in the com-
munity, and has become a well-recognised symbol of training excellence.
On behalf of our Association, I wish to thank most sincerely the Panel of Adjudicators and the
Board of Examiners for their invaluable contribution to the success of this Award. I would also
like to express my heartfelt thanks to all members of the Organising Committee under the
chairmanship of Mr John Allison for making this Award one of the most prominent events in
the human resource profession in Hong Kong. My special gratitude goes to all our sponsors
for their generosity and unfailing support.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate all our Award winners for their outstanding performance.
May your Award serve as a model for others to follow, and inspire you to continued success.
Human capital has always been the most im-
portant building block for any change initia-
tive. Hence, successful companies regard its
human resources as the most valuable asset.
They aim to train and develop staff so that they
can contribute their utmost to support the mission of the organisation.
Since its establishment in 1990, the Award for Excellence in Training has
gained wide recognition among HR and training professionals in Hong Kong.
I would like to congratulate all the winning companies and trainers for their
commitment to training and for inspiring other companies and top manage-
ment to invest in people.
On behalf of the Hong Kong Management Association, I would like to ex-
press my sincere thanks to the Award Sponsors, Media Sponsors and Seminar
Sponsors for their unfailing support of the Award. I would also like to offer
my heartfelt appreciation to the Panel of Adjudicators, the Board of Exam-
iners and Members of the Organising Committee for their invaluable time
and expertise.
Lastly, I would like to thank all the training professionals who are here today
in support of training and human resource development.

Autumn 2009 31
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
chairmanJohn Allison
John Allison , Vice President of Human Resources
in the Asia Pacific division of FedEx Express, and Chairman of the
organising committee, shares his views on the HKMA Award for
Excellence in Training. Allison has been involved in the awards
committee since 2007.
Relevance of the HKMA award
The award does three things. First, it recognizes the relevance
of Human Resources professionals within the Hong Kong
community, secondly through that recognition and through the
quality of the presentations made to the committee the award
improves the quality of training and development in Hong Kong.
Thirdly it further promotes the importance of quality training
and development in Hong Kong.
Judging process
The judging process is the same as in 2008. Participants of
the Campaign Awards go through two steps with interviews
followed by written submissions, and then six finalists going
before a final panel of adjudicators. The final six will compete for
the gold, silver, bronze and three certificates of excellence. The
quality of finalists is improving year on year, and we continue to
be impressed.
What’s the benefit for entrants?
The best comparison is it’s like preparing for a race. First you
have to decide to race, then you have to train for it, and then you
actually run it. You look at the criteria—entrants have to follow
rigorous guidelines—and you have to prepare to meet them.
The process allows companies to look at their trainers and their
progress, as well as future improvability. It’s a great opportunity to
test yourself and to present all that you’ve been able to develop.
It’s also the only award of this nature in Hong Kong for HR.
The presentation seminar
The seminar is beneficial to everyone, not just the participants.
The presentations are always good for the audience, and it’s
an opportunity to learn from the ‘best in class’. Frankly, it’s also
great fun. The presenters are always good and presentations
always well laid out. Some of the written submissions get put
in the library at the HKMA, voluntarily at the discretion of the
participants, so even people can still learn from the awards if
they don’t attend the seminar.
Why is the quality of candidates improving?
It’s really that training is evolving in many ways. In the past,
training was primarily skills-orientated. Now there is leadership
as well as skills training, but it’s really evolved into a process of
32 HR Magazine
people development with programmes put together to achieve
a specific end, for example teaching people ‘this is how you
deal with a service issue for a customer’. Programmes are now
‘interventionalist’, that is, designed to change things within a
company and to meet a changing market place, so the training
environment is much broader. That’s where I see the creativity
coming out year after year.
The effects of the financial downturn
With the financial downturn companies aren’t hiring so much,
so there is not as much new employee training. But in terms
of employee training evolving into intervention we’re still
seeing new ideas. The attitude of companies seems to be ‘we’re
in a tough situation, but we still need to be able to take our
product to the market’, meaning that the firm adapts its staff to
the market. In days gone by training would have just stopped
during a downturn, but with the interventionist trend this is not
the case. Additionally, we’re still seeing both senior manager and
junior level training, including high-potential training.
Some companies are doing more in-house training to reduce
costs, but some do the reverse, drawing external trainers in, for
the same reason. HR is always cost conscious, and we’ve seen
that every year, so I couldn’t say whether we’ve seem more of
it this year.
How Hong Kong compares globally
Training and development in Hong Kong is world-class. You
have world-class companies headquartered here, as well as
multinationals with offices, but also, companies just doing
business in Hong Kong. For the award we try to draw all three
types into the awards process. The focus is what is delivered
in Hong Kong, it’s not a pan-Asia or a global award. Industries
represented are diverse, the broad range of sectors represented:
entertainment, hospitality, insurance and banking.
Can we really measure the effectiveness of training
programmes?
Yes you can. Firstly, we judge the delivery of programmes, did
the trainer successfully train the colleagues to meet the business
needs. Secondly, we ask ‘have the objectives been met’, ‘have
the skills been demonstrated’ and ‘has the training delivered
the results it said it would’ once the training is complete. Thirdly
there’s the connection to business results. Has this improved
service, increased productivity and revenue at the company?
The panel of judges includes CEOs, very senior people, and
they are very much focused on the bottom line, so they are very
specifically looking for that.
Board of Examiners Mr NiQ Lai Mrs Winnie Chiu
CFO and Head of Staff Engagement Senior Consultant
The Board of Examiners comprises members City Telecom (HK) Limited Right Management Hong Kong Ltd
of the 2009 Training Awards Organising
Committee and the 2008/09 Human Resources Ms Tammy Li Mr Anthony Mak
Development Management Committee of the Regional HR Director Principal Assistant Secretary
Hong Kong Management Association. Grosvenor Limited Civil Service Training and Development
Institute, Civil Service Bureau
Mr Andy Tsui
Director, Training and Development Mr Andy Tsui
2009 Training Awards Organising PCCW Ltd Director, Training and Development

Award For Excellence In Training

2009 SUPPLEMENT
PCCW Ltd
Committee Dr Felix Yip
General Manager – Human Resources Mr Kenneth Wai
Mr John Allison (Chairman) Yantian International Container Terminals Area Director of Human Resources
Vice President of Human Resources Island Shangri-La Hotel
Asia Pacific
FedEx Express
2008/09 Human Resources Panel of Adjudicators
Ms Iris Cheng Development Management Committee
Human Resources Manager Mr Ronald Chiu
Corporate People Development Dr Ritchie Bent (Chairman) Executive Director
The Hong Kong Jockey Club i-CABLE News Limited
Group Head of Human Resources
Jardine Matheson Limited Dr Allen Fung
Dr Flora Chiang Managing Partner, Hong Kong
Associate Professor Mr John Allison McKinsey & Company, Inc Hong Kong
Department of Management Vice President of Human Resources
School of Business Asia Pacific Mr Eric Goh
Hong Kong Baptist University FedEx Express Managing Director
Hewlett Packard HK SAR Ltd
Mr Steve Chow Mr Graham Barkus
Human Resources Director Manager, Organisational Development & Mr C K Lau
Synergis Management Services Ltd Learning Chairman & CEO
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited Recruit Holdings Limited
Mr Paul Clark
Group Director of Human Resources Mrs Lena Chan Mr Eric Leung
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Chief Executive Officer
Head of Learning and Development
Tao Heung Group Limited
Asia Pacific
Ms Sandy Fok HSBC Mr Joseph Yu
General Manager, Staff Development Managing Director
John Swire & Sons (HK) Limited Dr Flora Chiang Fuji Xerox (Hong Kong) Ltd
Associate Professor
Mr Douglas Holyoak Department of Management
Director, Learning and Education School of Business
PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited Hong Kong Baptist University

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 Hang Yick Properties
Management Ltd
finalist
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT

Hang Yick Properties Management

Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Henderson Land Group,
founded 35 years ago, is now well-established in Hong Kong.
The company currently manages over 160 properties with more
than 45,000 units. Actively participating in community functions
and providing quality property management services the com-
pany has witnessed changes in staff, customers, the industry as a
whole and in the wider society over the past three decades.

Tool for Corporate Success

Hang Yick always believes that training is an essential tool lead-
ing to corporate success. With this in mind they participated
in the HKMA Award for Excellence in Training in 2001. At that
time they presented their “Green Practice Training for Quality
and Interactive Property Management Service”. The main aim of
the programme was to introduce the concept of environmental
protection to their contractor partners, staff, customers and the
community through a series of training courses and functions.
After keen competition with other companies, in that year Hang
Yick was awarded the Certificate of Merit.

Training & Development

The company views life long learning as a trend throughout the
world. Being indispensable in every well-established company,
training not only fosters staff personal development but also
keeps them well-aligned to the dynamic changes in the commu-
nity. One of the core values of Hang Yick is ‘To Care for Customers
and Employees’. The company views job-related knowledge as a
prerequisite for providing professional services. The consistent
service skills and professional knowledge of staff being vital ele-
ments that have allowed Hang Yick to become a market leader.
The company encourages staff to persistently enhance their
knowledge in different aspects. Training plans are developed an-
nually based on feedback from senior management and differ-
ent levels of staff. The Human Resources Department provides
well balanced tailor-made training courses to satisfy the needs
of different staff.
Reinforcing a Culture of Safety
In order to raise their concerns towards public affairs and dem-
onstrate commitment to corporate social responsibilities, Hang
Yick was the first company in the industry to introduce the
concept of “Theme of the Year”, which has been running since
1998. In 2006 senior management, concerned about the increas-
ing trend in the number of work related injuries in society and
in light of the a series of fatal accidents in the property man-
agement industry, targeted reinforcement of safety culture in
Hang Yick. The ‘Year of Safety’ was launched as the theme of
2007/2008 and a wide range of safety training courses were or-
ganised for staff. The concept behind ‘Theme of the Year’ is one
of successful strategies that allow Hang Yick to raise awareness
of key safety issues and share corporate goals and direction on
safety with all levels of staff.
Multi-stream Dissemination of Ideas
With a finger on the pulse of current affairs and the full support
of the senior management team, Hang Yick is able to roll out in-
novative, tailored-training programmes. An innovative feature
of such training and what made it such a pioneer programme
in the property management industry was the multi-stream dis-
semination of information and ideas. Utilising both top-down
and bottom-up approaches has allowed the company to pro-
mote safety among all staffing levels.
Mr Suen Kwok Lam
Executive Director
Henderson Land Development Company Limited
Corporate Competitiveness
During an economic downturn, raising corporate competitive-
ness and upgrading staff quality are very important factors to
help companies maintain their market share. Training is al-
ways a long-term investment with unexpected returns such as
staff retention and skills enrichment. For employees, training
provides opportunities for unlimited career growth. For
employers, well-trained employees benefit the company
through better performance.
Integrity
When recruiting staff, Hang Yick considers professional ethics a
key principle for all property management employees. ‘To up-
hold integrity’ is one of the most important core values in the
company and the belief that violations of integrity not only af-
fect an individual and the corporation, but also destroy the jus-
tice and image of the industry and society as a whole. For this
reason, uprightness is the top priority the company considers
when selecting prospective employees.
The HKMA Awards
Participating in the awards is a great opportunity for companies
to share their experiences of outstanding training programmes.
Companies can promote quality training and management
ideas in the wider business community. The selected final-
ists also definitely gain public recognition and enhance their
brand image. Moreover, learning from others’ successful experi-
ences helps keep pushing standards up. As a result, HR profes-
sionals can move forward by comparing and competing with
other practitioners.

34 HR Magazine
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
 Hong Yip Service
Company Limited
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
Hong Yip Service Company Ltd.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, is
one of the leading property & facilities management companies
in Hong Kong. With over 40 years of experience in the areas
of property and facility management, the company currently em-
ploys over 6,000 people and manages a portfolio of over 1,500
individual building blocks. This figure represents 150,000 units
covering a total of more than 120 million square feet ranging
from private estates, luxurious houses, commercial and industrial
buildings, car parks, shopping arcades and other facilities.
Expanding the Role of Training
Hong Yip’s human resource activities do not restrict to plan-
ning, selection, recruitment, training, motivating, rewarding and
retaining staff. They are always keeping close eye on current
trends such as performance and reward management; as well as
strategies for staff empowerment, leadership development and
succession planning. More importantly, the company places sig-
nificant emphasis on staff training and development, which they
consider essential in enhancing their competitiveness.
A Culture of Learning
In 2007, the company established the Hong Yip People Develop-
ment Academy to encourage proactive and continuous learning.
As the property management industry is service-oriented, Hong
Yip strives for customer service excellence and prepares and
empowers its employees to meet their business goals. To build
and sustain their ‘learning for growth’ culture, they have a strong
team of dedicated learning and development professionals. With
the launch of a wide-range of training initiatives, both team and
individual performance have been significantly improved through
training, drilling, exercise and review.
Going Green
In supporting the Government’s ‘Green Hong Kong’ campaign
and embodying SHKP’s value of ‘Building Homes with Hearts’
36 HR Magazine
finalist
(以心建家), Hong Yip has introduced eco-friendly concepts into
all aspects of its operations. The success depends very much
on a change in mindset of all our people to create a green en-
vironment for our customers. The going green idea started from
a small ambition to contribute to a green Hong Kong and has
developed into a sophisticated training programme - ‘Seed for
a Green Revolution Programme’ with the objective to greening
the small communities that are under Hong Yip’s management.
This comprehensive programme has adopted best practices in
learning and development and has been specifically linked to
business and performance needs.
Combining green projects with business goals, Hong Yip has also
developed strategies to turn traditional horticultural management
practices into competitive business strategies. Traditionally, gar-
deners in the organisation undertook the entire horticulture works
on projects. This new directive empowered the entire operations
staff, apart from gardeners, including security officers, technicians
and managers to be ‘green ambassadors’ to their customers.
Once the training needs were established, the Management
Team rendered its full support by setting up a horticulture school
to address these specific business needs. The school estab-
lished the following programme objectives in 2006 that were to
be achieved by the end of 2008:
1. Inspire the passion of all operations staff to build a green and
pleasant community for residents
2. Build a ‘green team’ consisting of all gardeners, security offi-
cers, technicians and managers to provide / support horticultural
care in pruning, fertilising, pest control and propagation
3. Enable all frontline staff to be field horticulture coaches
to gardeners
4. Equip all operations managers with knowledge and skills in
horticulture design and management
Learning From Each Other
The company has also run a successful Mentorship Programme,
where it appoints experienced and outstanding staff as mentors.
They observe their colleagues performance, outline areas for
improvement and tailor instructions and tuition according to indi-
vidual needs. This is all completed with the aim of helping new
team members achieve exceptional customer service standards
for which Hong Yip is renowned.
Training in a Downturn
During the economic contraction, it was felt vital to continue with
staff training and development, and in no way to lessen what
had been done during the booming economy. The organisation
has continued to run talent development programmes to encour-
age both personal and professional development of all employ-
ees and maintain their talent pool to fulfill business growth in the
long run.
HKMA Awards
Hong Yip has been greatly motivated by the remarkable achieve-
ment under the keen competition amongst quality entrants of
diversified nature and services—this can only further raise the
standard of training programmes and the importance of training
in Hong Kong.
 Development with
People at Heart

Employing over 6,000 people, Hong Yip Service Creating a working environment where employees can…
· Fully exercise their talents and develop
Co. Ltd. believes that its employees are the key · Express and share their thoughts, concerns and opinions
· Be treated fairly with dignity and respect
to its success. Recognising their importance and
Upholding core values…
the vital role they play allows the company to · Accountability · Integrity
· Continuous improvement · Teamwork
continually exceed client expectations. · Collaboration

香港灣仔港灣道30號新鴻基中心26樓2605-2623室 Tel: (852) 2828 0888 Fax: (852) 2827 6300

Room 2605-23, 26/F Sun Hung Kai Centre, 30 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Website: www.hongyip.com Email: hongyip@hongyip.com
 finalist
InterContinental Grand
Stanford Hong Kong
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
Peter Pollmeier
General Manager
Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
The InterContinental Grand
Stanford Hong Kong, established in 1981, comprises 578 guest
rooms, six food and beverage outlets, and a variety of confer-
ence, meeting and recreational facilities. From inception, the
hotel has developed a number of notable staff training pro-
grammes including housekeeping training and service training
for engineers.
Environmental awareness training has been rolled out to ev-
ery staff member in the hotel as part of an ISO14001 certified
in-house environmental management system. An environ-
mental quality auditor team has been established to safeguard
the standards in place. The hotel’s efforts in this regard were
recently recognised with a certificate of merit in the hotel
sector being awarded at the Hong Kong Awards for
Environmental Excellence.
Dealing with New Challenges
Challenges arose in the past due to high staff turnover, heavy
workloads and a lack of suitable training and guidance. Conse-
quently, staff often felt disengaged and ultimately left the com-
pany. When Peter Pollmeier came on board as General Manager
of the hotel in 2005 several key steps were taken to help change
the previous mindset and turn this trend around.
Linking Quality, Training & HR
One of the key T&D strategies employed by the hotel has been to
link quality, training and Human Resources together to facilitate
their ‘Driving Towards Excellence’ philosophy. This strategy has
proven extremely effective as it has allowed the improvement
process to be driven through different channels at all levels in
the organisation, and involved all staff levels from General Man-
ager right through to Frontline staff.
Open Dialogue
In order to help stabilise the workforce, management have sat
38 HR Magazine
down much more regularly to listen to staff concerns. Through
opening this dialogue, and identifying common problems, the
way is paved for next step, which involves hiring quality peo-
ple to help resolve such issues and further build up the team.
Pollmeier, points out that he is ‘totally open’ when it comes to
two-way idea exchange with staff.
Quality Hires
In terms of the hotel’s ethos towards hiring and subsequent
training and development a lot of emphasis is placed on hiring
people with the right attitude—and favouring people who are
service minded. Key attributes that are screened for when re-
cruiting new staff include: passion for the industry, positive at-
titudes, caring service mindsets and team player mentality.
The original induction programme has also been significantly
bolstered with a new on boarding programme for all newcom-
ers. This year-long programme combines service culture train-
ing, regular dialogue with departmental and senior managers,
coaching and a buddy system to assist the new colleagues.
Talent Development
Staff are trained up with a range of skills so that they have the
confidence to deal with the wide variety of guests. With over
75% of guests coming from English speaking countries, commu-
nication in English is paramount. Cross-cultural and language
programmes have been rolled out to enhance staff skill sets
and boost professionalism. A key component has also been the
inclusion of cross-departmental training to help broaden staff
views of additional operations not usually under their remit.
Trainers’ Club
The hotel has championed the set up of a Trainers’ Club, which
meets monthly to share best practices among department
heads. Moreover, the hotel has also launched the Training De-
partment of the Year Competition. This programme serves to
recognise excellence in training throughout the hotel, gets ev-
eryone involved and encourages a healthy internal competition
to be the best.
Recognition
Training itself serves as a means of improving staff recognition
and enhancing retention. This is especially true when dealing
with Gen-Y staff, who tend to favour employers who value self-
development and career progression opportunities, rather than
just monetary rewards.
Staff are also given appropriate recognition for their achieve-
ments through job promotion, employee awards and praise for
those who receive guest compliments. In celebrating successes
and continually developing staff members’ career prospects
they become much more engaged and feel proud of working
with the hotel.
This team effort, support from management and transparent
communication within the organisation combine to ensure ev-
ery employee takes ownership of the business, running it as they
would their own business. In this regard, everyone in the hotel
has become a winner.
Key Advice to HR
It is important for all T&D project rollouts to get buy-in and sup-
port from every level in the organisation, not just the senior
management. This is best achieved through transparent com-
munications processes and making sure everyone understands
the rationale behind any new directives.
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
 MTR Corporation
“You Have a Say” in MTR
finalist
4. Keep You Saying
Despite the structured approach of the training
(掌握臻善在手中) intervention, several challenges were encountered.
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT

Employing around 13,000 staff, the MTR Corporation develops
and manages a world class railway together with property and
community developments in Hong Kong. To pursue excellence
in quality and training, Management Training & Development
Department (MT&DD) was certificated to the ISO 9001:2000 in
training management and won a number of local and overseas
recognitions.
You Have a Say – Cultural Transformation
To align the work processes and continuous work improve-
ment culture after the Rail Merger of MTR & KCR in 2007, MTR
revamped the existing Work Improvement Team (WIT) Training
Scheme and developed the ‘You Have a Say’ Training Scheme.
The scheme was designed to let staff have their say in taking
ownership in improving their daily work processes, captured in
the slogan, ‘You Have a Say in What You Do Everyday!’ The spirit
aligned with the new MTR Value “Enterprising Spirit”.
Therefore, a fourth strategic focus was implemented,
‘Keep you Saying’ aimed at sustaining the WIT
momentum by engaging staff in on-going initiatives
with a 3-stage (see-understand-use) marketing.
· See WIT—exposed WIT everywhere to be seen by staff, e.g.
WIT Road Show & Booth in depots & staff canteens, revamp of
the WIT website & newsletter
· Understand WIT—equipped staff with knowledge on WIT
Tools and Techniques, e.g. delivery of short-learning sessions
“Learning WIT at Lunch” for staff
· Use WIT—facilitated staff to apply WIT tools to their
workplaces, e.g. organising the WIT Annual Presentation
Ceremony to present awards to outstanding WIT projects

Implementation & Strategic Framework

The vision of WIT is to empower staff to improve the work pro-
cesses and create value to the corporation, nurturing a con-
tinuous learning and innovation culture. WIT operates in MTR
in three stages. Firstly, team formation—staff form teams with
8-10 members voluntarily with team leaders. Secondly, project
initiation—teams initiate and implement work improvement
projects. Thirdly, annual presentation and awards—selected
projects are presented. Awards will be given to outstanding
projects and teams as incentive and reward.

Quentin Leung, Group Depot Manager &
Engineering WIT Steering Committee
Chairman, explains how the “You Have a
Say” Scheme has brought numerous cost
saving benefits throughout the organisation.
To align work improvement culture and practices, the MT&DD
acted as an overall architect to develop, in close collaboration
with line departments, the ‘You Have a Say’ Strategic Framework
following the merger. Four strategic focus areas were set up
namely, Empowering, Partnering, Coaching and Sustaining.
1. Empower You to Say
To demonstrate top management alignment, the CEO and
Directors demonstrated top management support by leading
the ‘Thundering Applause Kick-off’. Human Resources Director
and Operations Director steered the WIT Scheme by acting as
the WIT Council Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively.
2. Partner with You to Say
To ensure close collaboration with line departments and
engage staff in carrying out WIT projects, several initiatives were
launched. A ‘Signing Pledge Ceremony’ was held in the Divisional
Management Forum. An innovative ‘Road Show Campaign’
was launched to recruit new WIT members. Finally, divisional
steering committees were reformed with wider representation
of pre-merger MTR and KCR members.
3. Coach You to Say
The Three-Belt Training Approach was a major initiative
launched to align the mindset, skills and knowledge of staff in
work improvement and enhance the training capability of line
departments and the corporation as a whole. The approach
provided training input in three main streams.
(Left) Mr Chester Tsang heads MTR’s Management Training & Development
Department which drives different cultural change programmes. (Right) Mr King
Lee, Training Officer, assists in formulating T&D strategy in fostering a continuous
improvement & learning culture.
WIT Balanced Scorecard
WIT Balanced Scorecard was adopted to ensure balanced
assessment across customers, financial, internal competency
and learning perspectives. ‘You Have a Say’ programmes
were delivered to over 900 participants with strong impact
on individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole. On an
individual level, 95% of participants were satisfied with the
programme. On a team level, departmental collaboration
increased as shown by the almost 30% increase in cross-functional
projects. On an Organisational level, WIT projects contributed to
cost saving, cost avoidance and revenue generation. In 2008,
the total project realised savings was HK$6.8 Million, through
enhancing equipment reliability, improving customer service,
streamlining work processes and raising safety standards.
Sunflower VMV icon
Staff had a say and lived out the MTR Values of Enterprising Spirit.
Appreciation Card was introduced to facilitate managers and
supervisors to recognize the commendable behaviour of staff in
living out the MTR Values. The Sunflower on the Appreciation
Card was the icon voted by the staff to represent the MTR Values.
MTR staff really have a say.

· Yellow-Belt Practitioners (WIT Induction)—aimed at raising

awareness and interest together with equipping staff with
aligned basic WIT tools.

· Green-Belt Practitioners (Advanced WIT Tools)—aimed at

equipping staff with advanced WIT Tools and applying MTR
customised problem-solving models.

· Black-Belt Practitioners (Train-the-Trainer)—aimed at provid-

ing guidance and support to selected WIT line trainers, and
developing their mindset and skills

40 HR Magazine
 Synergis
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
Steve Chow
Group HR Director of Hsin Chong Construction
Group and Synergis Management Services
Synergis Management Services Ltd , pany develops tailored and engaging staff training programmes.
a subsidiary of the Hsin Chong Group, employs nearly 6,000 staff
to manage properties and facilities throughout Hong Kong and
mainland China. In 2002, the organisation won the Silver Award
in the HKMA training award competition with a project that
helped staff leaving the Hong Kong Housing Authority.
Training Strategy
Steve Chow, the Group HR Director of Hsin Chong Construction
Group and Synergis Management Services points out, ”People
are the most important capital asset for the company”. He adds,
“Everyone of our staff is an ambassador for the company—in
this capacity, staff commitment to work represents the culture of
the company and has a direct impact on the image of the com-
pany and its business success”. With this in mind, ‘We encourage
our staff to work with knowledge, passion, teamwork and com-
pany pride. We adopt several strategies to help safeguard our
human capital.”
Open Communication
The senior management are committed to interacting with all
newcomers at every induction session—the vision is explained
and success stories shared. In addition to annual dinners, a ‘Vi-
sion Day’ is also held every year where all 400 management staff
meet with senior managers to explore key missions and initia-
tives for the coming year, as well as to share the achievements
of the previous year.
Competence-based Learning & Development Programme
An intensive survey/interview process with staff and their direct
supervisors helps identify key staff competencies—based on
this both technical and management skills training are rolled
out. Programmes include coaching and delegation, setting per-
formance targets, customer interaction skills and many others.
The competencies identified are also used to develop structured
interview templates in the recruitment process; for assessment
in performance reviews and criteria for succession planning for
high flyers. Scholarships are made available for staff who would
like to pursue professional qualifications.
Succession Planning
Business performance is measured via a balance scorecard
system and pre-defined performance indicators in the areas
of: customer satisfaction, work process effectiveness, bottom
42 HR Magazine
finalist line costs/profits and staff satisfaction. Good
performers are recognised with bonuses and
fast-track career paths—high performing
staff can achieve as many as three promotions
within two years.
Research
Thorough research into the needs of the train-
ing is essential, and Synergis recently spent
months in conducting surveys, interviewing
customers and staff, and analysing customer
feedback from the previous year to determine
major causes of customer dissatisfaction in
Macau. Through such research they have been
able to identify two priority improvement ar-
eas for this training programme: the physical
set up of their service environment and the
servicing and interaction skills of frontline
staff. Other improvements are dealt with sep-
arately in different training programmes and
organisation development initiatives.
Engaging Training Methods
To be effective training must be relevant and
directly applicable to the job; hence the com-
In the Macau case study, to improve the physical service envi-
ronment, instead of simply lecturing the staff, they were sent on
benchmarking visits to hotels, casinos and other property man-
agement projects. Afterwards, they were encouraged to make
changes to improve their physical working environment based
on better ideas they had seen adopted elsewhere. This process
not only led to improvements to the service environment but
also fostered a more trusting relationship between staff and
management. To improve customer service/interaction skills the
company has used some novel approaches. While most of the
staff are old immigrants from China many years ago, a popular
Mainland movie (耳朵大有福) was used for discussion about
the impact of poor services and reasons for change. Role plays
enabled staff to hone behavioural skills and create a more posi-
tive visual impact for customers. Finally, to help transition these
skills into the workplace, a two-months on-the-job coaching
programme was also developed with supervisors encouraging
staff to put learning at work and giving immediate feedback to
staff on site.
Senior Management Support
Senior management avoided just showing their face at the start
of workshops, but instead also presented their vision of the com-
pany in the workshop, participated in role plays, engaged in on-
site coaching and conducted regular site visits.
Demonstrating ROI
The results of training must be measurable and have a positive
impact to business performance and accordingly, customer sat-
isfaction surveys were conducted before and after training. Cus-
tomer satisfaction improved by 30% and customer complaints
dropped by 53% following training. After setting the service
benchmarks for the property management services in Macau,
enquiries and commitments were received for joint partnership
opportunities from developers.
Advice to HR
Chow advises HR practitioners to, ‘Share with the best and learn
from the best’. The HKMA Awards is one of the best forums to
collect intelligence on what others have done in the past year.
This intelligence tells HR how to motivate staff to learn and per-
form, and with modifications, most practices are applicable to
all industries.
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
 finalist
Zurich Insurance Group (Hong Kong)
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
The programme is interactive
with group discussion and skill practising exercises
Zurich Insurance Group (Hong Kong) (“Zurich”) is part
of the Zurich Financial Services Group, the world’s largest Swiss
insurance-based financial services provider with a history of
over 135 years and around 60,000 staff worldwide. Formed in
1961, Zurich provides individual and corporate customers with
comprehensive insurance solutions in Hong Kong.
Zurich Academy
Insurance is a “people-oriented” industry and talent management
is one of Zurich’s key initiatives. The Zurich Academy was
established in 2006 to build synergy and to further enhance
the professionalism of the company’s agency force. It acts as
a centralised platform for recruiting and training of financial
advisors, thus ensuring the talents’ quality.
Zurich Academy aims at assisting new candidates in getting
used to the operational process involved in being a financial
advisor, as well as helping them understand Zurich’s “customer
centricity” corporate value. A team capable of presenting the
professional corporate image as well as enhancing the standards
of professionalism in the local insurance industry is developed
through systematic recruitment and training programmes.
Training Philosophy
Zurich’s philosophy is to get‘the right person doing the right thing’
and to ‘retain true talents’, thus quality is emphasized rather than
quantity, and no specific targets or limits are set on recruitment
numbers. The company is looking for financial advisors who are
determined to develop their career in the field and build long-
term relationships with customers. Newly recruited advisors are
provided with a two-month comprehensive training including
product knowledge and selling and communications techniques.
On-going training is also provided to them to ensure the whole
agency workforce reaches professional standards.
Interactive Coaching Programme
The coaching programme, ‘Zurich Academy - Catch the Coaching
Habit’, is an important component facilitated at the Zurich
Academy. It is tailored towards Zurich’s mentors who are indeed
experienced advisors, and aims to teach and enhance their
mentoring skills so as to facilitate their coaching work towards
newly joined advisors.
44 HR Magazine
Steve Pang, Senior Manager
Distribution Development of Zurich Academy
Steve Pang, Senior Manager, Distribution Development of Zurich
Academy, Zurich Insurance Group (Hong Kong), says, “Supports
from mentors is essential in retaining and developing the new
recruits. One-to-one coaching can effectively help identify the
challenges facing individual new advisors and help them tackle
the problems while improving their relevant skills. The effect is
almost immediate.”
Launched in 2008, over 140 mentors have now completed
the programme which has proven to be a great success. The
retention rate of the new advisors increased 19% as a result. The
programme also helps enhance team spirit among the Zurich
agency force and reinforces its coaching culture. The close
relationship between mentors and new advisors is also very
important in team development and thus the business growth
as a whole.
The programme is interactive and practical which is the key to
its success. In a two-day workshop, the participating mentors are
divided into small groups and spend over half of the time on skill
practicing exercises, rather than sitting in some teaching lectures.
Real cases are discussed among mentors for their better under-
standing about the problems new advisors are now encountering.
There is a Skill Confirmation Session followed the workshop,
in which mentors conduct a coaching session in front of the
programme trainer. It is to ensure they well apply the mentoring
skills they have learnt to their new advisors.
HKMA Awards
Steve extols the virtues of the award as ‘an arena for professionals
to exchange ideas and share experience’. “It is a valuable learning
experience for us to review Zurich’s present training received
by the advisors. We also learn about the benchmarks of what
quality training should be. It definitely helps improve Zurich’s
forthcoming training programmes.
Steve goes on to say, ‘The annual award by HKMA is well received
by companies from variety industries, arousing them the
importance of training for business growth. I am glad to see the
professional development and the continuing raising standard
of training in Hong Kong.’
 Strengths –
Our source of confidence

Zurich
recorded profits
for 25 consecutive
quarters1
Only solid financial strength and outstanding
professionalism takes you to higher level of confidence.
With our strong financial strength, Zurich consecutively recorded profits for 25 quarters1. We
achieved business operating profit of over HK$40 billion in 20082 and was rated AA- by Standard and
Poor’s3. The extraordinary business performance sustained relies on our highly professional team of
insurance advisors.

Zurich is devoted to enhancing and perfecting the training platform through the well established
Zurich Academy. We not only provide 2-month training programme tailored for new advisors, but
also support experienced business managers with mentor training programme “Zurich Academy –
Catch the Coaching Habit”. Through these comprehensive supports, we continue to pave the way
for our advisors in obtaining professional qualifications and reaching their career success.

Zurich Insurance Group (Hong Kong) is part of the world's largest Swiss
insurance-based financial services provider 4 Zurich Financial Services Group, a group
backed by over 135 years of experience. We have a global network of subsidiaries and
offices in North America, Europe and Middle East as well as in Asia Pacific, Latin
America and other markets.
1
Zurich's results for the three months to March 31, 2009
2
Zurich Annual Report 2008
3
As of 31st March, 2009
4
Measured by a composite ranking for sales, profits, assets and market value,
source: The Forbes Global 2000, April 2009
 feature
OKIA
HR Magazine recently had the opportunity to speak
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT

with Arthur Cheung Chief Operation Officer of

OKIA to get his views on the HKMA awards and his
company’s approach to training and development.

HR: Could you tell us a little bit about your companies

history?
AC: OKIA is an integrated eyewear service provider established
in 1999. We mainly focus on the design and engineering of
eyewear products such as eyeglasses, sunglasses and optical
frames. The Company currently employs around 300 staff in
Hong Kong and the PRC.

HR: What is OKIA’s approach to training and

development?
AC: We treasure training. We are perceived as manufacturing
products but in reality we see ourselves as a talent manufactur-
ing factory. We train our staff to be high calibre talents because
we don’t have any factories. Talent is the most important part
of OKIA.

HR: How would you describe your corporate

philosophy?
AC: The word “OKIAN” means family in Cantonese and re-
flects the approach to our staff as we treat every “OKIAN”
as a family member. Talent Factory is the philosophy
which drives the business as well as our commitment to
our employees. We wish to treat all of our staff as a fam-
ily members. In addition we provide programs for our
staff’s family. For example provide sponsorship for OKIAN
Arthur Cheung
children to participate the interest class and
Chief Operation Officer
buying textbook.
OKIA Optical Company Limited
HR: What specific training programs have you
implemented?
AC: Management realised training is a long term investment, so HR: Have you noticed a quantifiable change
“OKIAN Talent Factory” was created in 2007. We have recently since you launched your new training approach
worked with the Hong Kong Productivity Council in running in 2007?
the SmarTalent Development Program for our staff. In order
AC: Yes, since 2007 our staff retention rates have improved
to develop the holistic development of OKIAN, we also launch
and more OKIAN said they were more satisfied with their job.
OKIA Eyewear Institute, which includes the e-learning orienta-
In each year since we have implemented the increased train-
tion, technical training, experimental training, one to one well-
ing we have also achieved or surpassed our companies sales
ness coaching and mind coaching to all staff. As our business
targets even in the economic downturn.
has expanded so rapidly we also run ongoing Change Manage-
ment Workshops for employees.
HR: What Advice would you give other SMEs in
HR: What are some of the major challenges implementing their training and
your company has faced with regard to development programmes?
AC: Communication is vital. We try and get each different de-
talent management?
partment on board to make our staff more confident towards
AC: In the eyewear industry, the trend will be from mass pro-
this project; we regularly publicize the project plan. We reas-
duction to high end products. There is an increasing emphasis
sured them that we will do it step by step so that the effects
on fashion in the design. This requires a very specialized set of
would be as small as possible at each time. Recently we held
skills which take a long time to develop thus staff retention is
a communication training event with both our PRC and Hong
vital. The expectation of the staff has already changed such as
Kong Staff in order that they could build on effective communi-
generation Y expects more involvement from the company in
cation and understanding of towards one another.
their continuous development and social responsibility. Thus
we have provided extensive networking programs for our staff
such as mentoring, volunteering, even cooking classes.

46 HR Magazine
winners
Individual
Distinguished Trainer Award Winners
Mr Joseph Chan
Assistant Manager
Operation and Process Management Training
HSBC
“I am very honoured to be nominated and to
receive the Distinguished Trainer Award. This
prestigious award is very meaningful,
because it is an endorsement and
professional recognition of my career in
people development.
The judges and the staff organising this
event have been very professional. The
judging process not only provided me an
opportunity to reflect on my knowledge and
experience over the past years, but also an
opportunity to enhance my confidence in
meeting future challenges.
I would like to pay tribute to my colleagues.
They have played a large part in helping
me achieve this award. I could not have
achieved this award without the dedication
and support of my team – HSBC.”
Ms Elsa Lam
Senior Manager
Fortis Insurance Company (Asia) Limited
“Participating in the competition has been a
valuable and rewarding experience, which
gave me the opportunity to reflect my past
performance and enhance my confidence in
meeting future challenges.
Thanks to HKMA and all judges for their
contributions to the competition. Winning
the Distinguished Trainer Award is a
milestone achievement in my training
career. Meanwhile, I would like to express
heartfelt gratitude to my employer for the
nomination, and to my colleagues for their
continuing support. I would like to share
with them the joy of winning.”
Mr Thomas Robillard
Advisor, APAC Sales Learning & Development
FedEx Express
“Winning the Distinguished Trainer Award
is a recognition of all the effort I have
put throughout 2008 in designing and
delivering training activities and managing
projects beyond the classroom to ensure
an outstanding learning experience. This
process helped me reflect on my activities
and challenged me to use the skills learned
on the job.”
Mr Wilkins Wong
Senior Training Officer (Acting)
Civil Service Training and Development Institute
Civil Service Bureau
“It is my privilege and pleasure to receive the
Distinguished Trainer Award. The experience
has been very positive, challenging and
rewarding. It provided a golden opportunity
to broaden my horizons and to build
learning resources. The vigorous judging
process has not only enhanced my skills and
knowledge, but also facilitated my personal
development. I enjoyed the interaction with
the panel of adjudicators as well.
I would like to thank my supervisors
and colleagues for their support
and encouragement.”
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
Outstanding New Trainer Award Winners
Ms Fanny Chan
Manager
Wealth Management Training
HSBC
“It is my honour to receive the Outstanding
New Trainer Award. This competition has
really given me a valuable and
rewarding experience.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
my company, managers and peers for their
inspirations and on-going support. I will
continue to strive for the best in every aspect
in Learning and Development.”
Ms Effie Cheng
Training Consultant
Training, Learning & Development
McDonald’s Restaurant (Hong Kong) Limited
“Being awarded the Outstanding New Trainer
Award is an important episode in my career.
The judging process has given me a lot of
unforgettable and valuable experiences. I
would like to express my gratitude to Mr
Victor Kwan, Dean of Hamburger University
and Mr Simon So, Training Manager for their
coaching and rapport.”
Mr Andy Lau
Manager
Sales & Relationship Management Training
HSBC
“Faith is taking the first step even when you
don’t see the whole staircase.”
“This award is a milestone in my training
career. Participating in this highly
competitive event has helped me enhance
my own skills and professionalism. I am truly
honoured to have received the “Outstanding
New Trainer Award” – a most memorable
experience for me and a step on the pathway
of my future synergy.”
Mr Nelson Wong
People Development Specialist
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
“It is a great honour to be recognized as an
Outstanding New Trainer. The participation
in the Award has provided a priceless
opportunity to learn from other top players
in the industry. I see the competition as a
means to broaden my understanding and to
refine my training skills. I would like to take
this opportunity to extend my gratitude to
my managers and team members at HKJC
for all their support and encouragement.”
Mr Will Wong
Manager
Wealth Management Training
HSBC
“It is my honour to join such a meaningful
event. The award is no doubt a great
recognition of my enthusiasm towards
training industry. Moreover, it is an excellent
platform to review and improve myself as I
strongly believe ‘There is always something
to CHANGE’.”
Autumn 2009 47

Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
Campaign Awards:
2008
Gold Prize: CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
Silver Prize: Maxim’s Caterers Ltd and
Hospital Authority
Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Certificates of Excellence:
Canossa Hospital (Caritas)
Hong Kong CSL Limited
InterContinental Hong Kong
2007
Gold Prize: Tao Heung Group Limited
Silver Prize: Kowloon-Canton
Railway Corporation
Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Certificates of Excellence:
Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel
Li & Fung (Trading) Limited
PCCW Limited
2006
Gold Prize: Langham Place Hotel
Silver Prize: Gammon Construction Limited
Bronze Prize: Hang Seng Bank
Certificates of Excellence:
Hang Seng Bank
Jones Lang LaSalle - Management Solutions
Shun Hing Electric Service Centre Ltd
2005
Gold Prize: Langham Place Hotel
Silver Prize: CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd
Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong and China Gas
Company Ltd
Certificates of Merit:
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Ltd
PCCW Limited
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd
Special Award for SMEs: KC Maritime Ltd
2004
Gold Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Silver Prize: The Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation Ltd
Bronze Prize: AXA China Insurance Co Ltd
Certificates of Merit:
ACNielson (China) Ltd
Hong Kong Housing Authority
MTR Corporation Ltd
2003
Gold Prize: Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd
Silver Prize: Circle K Convenience
Stores (HK) Ltd
Bronze Prize: The Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation Ltd
Certificates of Merit:
Canossa Hospital (Caritas)
Kai Shing Management Services Ltd
Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd
48 HR Magazine
winners
Past
2002
Gold Prize: Hong Kong Housing Authority
Silver Prize: Hsin Chong Real Estate
Management Ltd
Bronze Prize: Allen & Overy (HK) Limited
Certificates of Merit:
American International Assurance Company
(Bermuda) Ltd
Hong Yip Service Company Ltd
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
2001
Gold Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Silver Prize: Hongkong Post
Bronze Prize: Watson's The Chemist
Certificates of Merit:
Giordano International Limited
Hang Yick Properties Management Limited
Hong Yip Service Company Ltd
2000
Gold Prize: Standard Chartered Bank
Silver Prize: Hong Kong Housing Authority
Bronze Prize: The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Certificates of Merit:
Heraeus Ltd
Hospital Authority
MTR Corporation
1999
Gold Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Silver Prize: CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd
Bronze Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Certificates of Merit:
Goodwell Property Management Ltd
The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf
Course Ltd
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
1998
Gold Prize:
Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers
Silver Prize: Tse Sui Luen Jewellery Co Ltd
Bronze Prize: DHL International (HK) Ltd
Certificates of Merit:
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Hong Kong Police
Shell Hong Kong Ltd
1997
Strategic HRD Category
Silver Prize: Regal Hotels International
Bronze Prize: DHL International (HK) Ltd
Skills Training and Development Category
Gold Prize: Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Silver Prize: Marks and Spencer (HK) Ltd
Bronze Prize: Regal Hotels International
1996
Overall Winner: Giordano Ltd
Strategic HRD Category: Giordano Ltd
Skills Training and Development Category:
Mass Transit Railway Corporation
1995
Overall Winner: Hospital Authority
Strategic HRD Category: Hospital Authority
Skills Training and Development Category:
Mass Transit Railway Corporation
1994
Overall Winner: Kowloon-Canton
Railway Corporation
Strategic Management/Strategic HRD/TQM
Training Category: Kowloon-Canton
Railway Corporation
Management/Supervisory Training Category:
Cathay Pacific Catering Services (HK) Limited
Professional/Technical Training Category:
Securair Limited
1993
Overall Winner: The Asian Sources Media Group
Strategic Management/Strategic HRD/
Customer Service/TQM Training Category:
The Sino Group
Management/Supervisory Training Category:
The Asian Sources Media Group
Professional/Technical Training/Others
Category: Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering
Company Limited
1992
Service Category: Mass Transit
Railway Corporation
Commercial and Industrial Category:
Shell Hong Kong Limited
1991
Service Category: Arthur Andersen & Company
Manufacturing Category:
Computer Products Asia-Pacific Limited
Construction Category: Franki Kier Limited
Wholesale/Retail/Import/Export Category:
Jardine Pacific Ltd – Pizza Hut Division
Utilities and Public Sector Category:
Mass Transit Railway Corporation
1990
Multi-National Corporations Category:
China Light & Power Company Limited
* The above list shows the names of the award-
receiving companies during the year of the Award
indicated.
winners
Past
Individual Awards:
2008
Trainer of the Year:
Mr Kelvin Ju, AIG Companies
Distinguished Trainer Awardees:
Mr Kelvin Ju, AIG Companies
Ms Amy Kwong, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
Ms May Li, Civil Service Training &
Development, Institute, Civil Service Bureau
Mr Frankie Lo, Fortis Insurance Company
(Asia) Limited
Mr Vincent Tang, HSBC
Ms Catherine Tong, The Hong Kong
Jockey Club
Mr Christopher Yang, HSBC
Outstanding New Trainer Awardees:
Mr Jonathan Bok, HSBC
Ms Viola Chan, AIG Companies
Mr Andy Clark, ClarkMorgan Corporate Training
Ms Ivy Poon, The Great Eagle Properties
Management Company Limited
Mr Vincent Woo, PCCW Limited
Ms Susane Yan, HSBC
Mr Lester Yeung, PCCW Limited
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT
2007 2006 cont.
Trainer of the Year: Outstanding New Trainer Awardees
Ms Carroll Chu Ms Iris Chow, HSBC
Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong Ms Angela Tsui, CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd
Ms Joyce Wai, HSBC
Distinguished Trainer Awardees:
Ms Carroll Chu, Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong 2005
Ms Selina Kam, HSBC Trainer of the Year
Mr Kenny Mak, HSBC Mr Shekhar Visvanath, HSBC
Ms Shirley Ng, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Distinguished Trainer Awardees
Outstanding New Trainer Awardees: Mr Gary Liu, The Dairy Farm Company Ltd
Mr Mark Chan, HSBC Ms Theresa Sham, The Excelsior, Hong Kong
Mr Peter Cheung, Hong Kong Ms Marianne Chung, HSBC
Disneyland Resort Mr Allen Kuo, HSBC
Mr Desmond Ho, HSBC Mr Shekhar Visvanath, HSBC
Mr Badhri Nath Rama Iyer, HSBC Dr Chester Tsang, Hospital Authority /
Institute of Health Care
2006 Outstanding New Trainer Awardees
Trainer of the Year Ms Elsie Gung, HSBC
Ms Michelle Yam Mr King Lee, Kowloon-Canton Railway
Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts Corporation
Distinguished Trainer Awardees
Ms Sara Ho, The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Ms Doris Ip, The Aberdeen Marina Club
Ms Jessie Lau, HSBC * The above list shows the Award recipients and
Ms Carrie Wong, HSBC their companies during the year of the Award
Ms Michelle Yam, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts indicated.
Special Supplement 21 .
HKMA Award for Excellence in Training 2009
 Results 2009
The results of Award for Excellence in Training 2009 were as follows:
Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT

Individual Awards: Campaign Awards:

Trainer of the Year: Gold Prize:
Ms Elsa Lam “’You Have a Say’ Work Improvement
Senior Manager Team Training Scheme – Cultivating a
Fortis Insurance Company (Asia) Limited Staff Engagement Culture”
Distinguished Trainer Awardees: MTR Corporation Limited
(Listed according to the alphabetical
order of surname) Silver Prize:
Mr Joseph Chan “Service Pioneer in Macau Property
Assistant Manager, Operation and Management Industry”
Process Management Training Trainer of the Year: Synergis Management Services Limited
Ms Elsa Lam
HSBC Senior Manager Bronze Prize:
Fortis Insurance Company (Asia) Limited
Ms Elsa Lam “Zurich Academy – Catch the
Senior Manager Coaching Habit”
Fortis Insurance Company (Asia) Limited Zurich Life Insurance Co Ltd
Mr Thomas Robillard Certificates of Excellence:
Advisor, APAC Sales Learning & (Listed according to the alphabetical order of
company name)
Development
FedEx Express “Wild about Safety”
Hang Yick Properties Management Ltd
Mr Wilkins Wong (A Member of Henderson Land Group)
Senior Training Officer (Acting)
Civil Service Training and Development “Seeding for a Green Revolution”
Institute, Civil Service Bureau Hong Yip Service Company Ltd
Gold Prize: (A Member of Sun Hung Kai Properties)
Outstanding New Trainer Awardees: MTR Corporation Limited
(Listed according to the alphabetical order of “Driving Towards Excellence”
company name) InterContinental Grand Stanford
Ms Fanny Chan Hong Kong
Manager, Wealth Management Training
Recruit Most Innovative Award:
HSBC
“Seeding for a Green Revolution”
Ms Effie Cheng Hong Yip Service Company Ltd
Training Consultant (A Member of Sun Hung Kai Properties)
Training, Learning & Development
McDonald’s Restaurants (Hong Kong) Citation for Career Development:
Limited “Regional Graduate Development
Programme”
Mr Andy Lau Silver Prize: HSBC
Manager, Sales & Relationship Synergis Management Services Ltd
Management Training Citation for Continuous Professional
HSBC Development:
Mr Nelson Wong “Executive Financial Planning Training
People Development Specialist Programme (EFP)”
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Sun Life Hong Kong Ltd

Mr Will Wong Citation for Staff Engagement:

Manager, Wealth Management Training “’From Ears to Heart’ Empathetic
HSBC Coaching Programme for Supervisors”
MTR Corporation Ltd

SKECHERS Best Presentation Award:

Bronze Prize: Mr Jacob Kam
Zurich Life Insurance Co Ltd MTR Corporation Limited

Certificates of Excellence: Certificates of Excellence: Certificates of Excellence:

Hang Yick Properties Management Ltd Hong Yip Service Company Ltd InterContinental Grand Stanford
(A Member of Henderson Land Group) (A Member of Sun Hung Kai Properties) Hong Kong

50 HR Magazine
HR Community
30 Minute HR Conference

HR Opportunities for the

New Economy
HR Magazine’s most recent 30-Minute HR event was held in July, with 150 senior HR
delegates in attendance from some of the region’s biggest players. The event, held
at Cliftons in Quarry Bay, provided practical advice on best practice, demonstrating
talent management strategies and the benefits of payroll outsourcing.

HR Strategies of Hang Seng Bank

After a brief introduction on the impacts
of the financial crisis Joseph Poon,
Managing Director and Deputy Chief
Executive, Hang Seng Bank, introduced
the importance of HR as a strategy.
Starting with the problem of having
business plans that don’t include people,
he emphasised that CEOs should focus on
talent retention as a key issue and that,
“HR is not just primarily responsible for
HR, but rather the business strategies that
the CEO leads.”
Poon spoke of an exercise begun in
2006 by Hang Seng Bank to rejuvenate
their brand but found it difficult to try
and articulate its culture. They decided
that middle managers would form a core
group on deciding the service excellence
framework, which became seven beliefs, all
with one aim, to deliver service excellence.
Poon stated that engaged and inspired
employees “form the bedrock of an
organisation” and this needed to be
integrated into the brand, which would
be rolled out and led by the CEO, “Live
the brand, start with me.” He highlighted
that this concept needs constant
reinforcement.

52 HR Magazine

Poon went on to discuss the bank’s
Talent Management System, which when
he first questioned its existence he received
the reply “Yes… but we haven’t launched
it.” They then worked to deliver the model,
along the way making reward and leadership
plans for mid-level and the young as well as
provisions for succession planning and the
development of a career website.
...young recruits
could disappear
within 21 days...
He revealed, “...young recruits could
disappear within 21 days...”, and so
required constant follow up. He added
that it was inviting trouble to have talent
remain in the same job for more than
three years, stressing the importance of
having the talent pool being proactive in
managing their own career development.
He listed the important factors for
success, such as having the system
as simple as possible and noted that it
was “great to have strategic plans but
that 80% of the success came from the
leadership in implementation.”
Poon discussed the importance of
being passionate about what you do as
well as understanding how to balance
learning with development in business. “In
Hong Kong, especially, we lack exposure
to strategic thinking… and project
management.” He stressed that, “The
talents involved in career and succession
planning grow, develop and are inspired
with the strategic planning.” He added
that the broader the exposure that talent
can get, the better it is for both the
person and the business.
After working on this for four to five
years, and being only halfway through,
Poon reflected: is it worth it? His response
was that “Within the talent pool the
turnover rate is zero”, even with staff
disengagement due to the financial crisis.
He closed by stating that senior staff
cannot delegate their responsibility to talent
management, as it is just too important.
Developing HR & Payroll Strategies
The second speaker, Christopher von
Mitschke-Collande, Regional Director,
Patersons Asia Pte Ltd, introduced
the concept of why payroll process
outsourcing is of benefit to businesses.
He started by stating that it is estimated
that payroll-processing covers “20% of HR
time, but it is not core business.”
He added that the payroll market
gives impressions that local payroll
processing is too complex for a single
solution that could fit with all countries.
He cited reasons such as local tax and
social insurance idiosyncrasies, software
providers being unable to cover each
country and outsourcers that choose who
they want to work with.
Von Mitschke-Collande then
suggested that international payroll
is a feasible option. He offered, as an
example, that Patersons have a network
with over 200 partners and provide
payroll services in over 160 diverse
countries. Their customer is typically a
US Fortune 500 company with a multi-
country base, in multi-locations with a
disparate employee population. As they
build their own technology, they don’t
pay any license costs so they are in
control of their pricing, which is on a pay
as you use basis.
He went on to discuss the many
challenges facing an organisation through
payroll, including:
HR Community
30 Minute HR Conference
▪▪Being time consuming
▪▪Complex legal rules
▪▪A need to focus more on core
business in the current economic
crisis
▪▪Sarbanes-Oxley and equivalent
regulations
Von Mitschke-Collande went on to
say that Patersons have determined
that organisations would like a single
global payroll system that improves
the efficiency of payroll processes, is
consistent across regions and integrates
with other technologies whilst being
transparent in costs. He added that the
reality is much different, generally on a
country-by-country basis, which lacks
cohesion and is not integrated across
borders. This results in differing levels of
satisfaction from country to country, and
also because of a lack of standardisation,
”They have no idea how much they are
spending on payroll.”
He then went on to detail the
multinational payroll solution that
Paterson offer and provided examples
of how it can be integrated into the core
business values and KPIs, such as:
▪▪Reducing costs
▪▪Reducing risks
▪▪Standardising processes to increase
efficiency
▪▪Integrating processes for global
payment uniformity
▪▪Collaborating with suppliers
Autumn 2009 53
HR Community
30 Minute HR Conference
Building an Engaged Workforce
The next speaker to take the stage was
Irene Yau, Senior Human Resources
Manager, Nokia, who shared her
experiences in actively engaging a young,
vibrant workforce. She started by showing
a photo of smiling faces, which she then
shared had actually been taken at 1.00
am after a recent product launch. She
added that departments other than
Sales and Marketing, including HR, were
voluntarily involved in the event’
She shared that in the fast-changing
high-tech industry, “Our edge doesn’t
guarantee our success, so we need people
with commitment to seal the difference.”
Yau added that Nokia aims to provide
the environment so people feel that they
are engaged and that the ways in which
they do this are by offering something
that employee’s value, policies and
procedures and by having managers with
great leadership qualities. She stressed
that, “great people management includes
knowing your team, where they are
going, being able to inspire and, most
importantly, be human.”
54 HR Magazine
Yau shared that a desirable culture
doesn’t come naturally. This culture had
to be promoted, and developed, whilst it
was “equally important [in] developing the
managers.” She continued that for people
to be engaged they need to know the
company’s vision. “We are serious about the
high quality of our people. They want the job
to be challenging, so the managers need to
set targets and inspire the employee so that
they have a lot to contribute.”
On the topic of hiring, she added a
lot of insight. “We need to find the right
people for the right job. HR is playing a
very important role in matching people to
the right assignment. Brilliant people like
to work with brilliant people. It is a sense
of pride.” She added that is was particularly
important that “Managers need to have a
sense of fun.” She also shared her personal
strategy to hire people with a sense of
humour, have sparkle, are fun and provide
chemistry for the team.
She added that Nokia have different
programmes for performance based
rewards and engaged leaders in the
design and then communication of these
programmes to employees so that they
take ownership. Yau said that by doing
this, managers ensure the programmes
are understood by employees.
She then offered a holistic approach to the
importance of employee well-being saying
that, “we have a challenging goal ahead, not
a sprint, but a marathon” and that because
Gen Y talents value work-life balance, we
have a lot of programs and policies in place.
She added that it was important for leaders
to directly support such programmes, as role
models and coaches. She said that, “90% of
the progress is owned by HR, but HR is still
doing a lot behind the scenes.” Which she
highlighted by saying that, “The more you
engage managers, the more the managers
are willing to be engaged by you.”
She concluded by saying that HR
influences the selection of managers
and that it takes courage, especially
when it comes to senior management.
She stressed that people do have blind
spots in that some have good leadership
qualities, but tend to ignore people
issues and that HR is here to help in the
demonstration of good leadership.
 HR Community
30 Minute HR Conference

The HR Agenda Regardless of

the Economy
The final keynote speaker of the day was ...the HR people
Cliff Davis, Senior Vice President of
HR, Manulife Financial, who shared
stories from his early days, coming from
just didn’t get it.
a Sales and Marketing background, where
he did not have a high regard for HR as
“...the HR people just didn’t get it.” He
said that when trying to run a business
the functions needed were to support and
add value. He quipped that, “HR has come
along way since then.”
He discussed talent shortage as a
problem, and that it is only going to get
worse by adding that, “We need to find
ways to keep the talent pool running.” He
offered that good talent always has choice
and then shared his ‘top five’ strategies
for talent retention.
1. Attract through an employer brand.
He said that Manulife have taken the
approach to try and control what
the brand is, by refocusing on the 4. Continuously measure and follow He then went on to offer an answer
brand. He said it is “important to up employee engagement and to the question “Do we let people know
be clear about who we are and who retention. Davis highlighted that “we that they are talent?” by saying “Yes,
we aren’t” and then that has to be all want happy employees without otherwise we will lose them.” He added
communicated. losing connection, ability and that it could be a big mistake if the talents
2. Use a valid and reliable selection delivery”, and that we get a lot of themselves didn’t know, but that to the
process to get the right people. He information, so to focus on what is rest of the organisation there are big risks
suggested to keep an open mind critical. He suggested a systematic as people change. He added that Manulife
as competencies may change, but way to look at standards, such as identify people who can go two levels
maybe they won’t and that putting quarterly talent reviews. higher over the next five years, as it is
together a system for interviews and 5. Never burn your bridges. He hard to replace key contributors and that
training on how to hire for success recognises that people do leave the the people they can visualise running the
was important. “We are not looking company, but he wants dinner table business are the ones they want to keep.
to just to fill empty jobs… we need to conversations to be positive and for He concluded by suggesting that
make sure that employees have the Manulife to be recommended as an not all HR leaders are right to push the
opportunities and chance to grow.” employer. “In the talent shortage to agenda and get on board at Executive
3. Develop people from day one. He come we may want them to come Committee meetings as, “If you haven’t
suggested using the information back”, he added. run a business it is hard to understand.”
from psychometric testing and Davis stressed that this is a He offered that by learning to think like a
interviews to structure progress great opportunity to shine and show businessman and be forward thinking it
from day one so that the talent can management what HR can do, by being a was a real possibility.
be successful. He added that talent true business partner and show that you
management is a long, hard road can facilitate, support and take initiative To be a part of our next 30-minute HR
and “we have to relate to business to be relevant. He suggested going conference, and get the chance to pick the
leaders what is important to beyond keeping things running smoothly, brains of senior HR practitioners for tips
them”, by lining everything up with by knowing the business strategies and and advice simply call 27366339 or visit
business strategies. what you can do to help. our website: www.excelmediagroup.org

Autumn 2009 55
HR Community
Greater China Talent Management 2009
Greater China Talent
Management Summit
“Human Resources
are the most valuable
resource for any
economy especially
a knowledge based
economy such as
Hong Kong.”
Professor K. C. Chan,
Secretary for Financial Services and the
Treasury
After a welcome from Fanny Chan, CEO
of A-Performers.com and emcee Paul
Arkwright, Publisher of, HR Magazine;
proceedings for the Greater China Talent
Management Summit 2009 kicked off
with Professor K. C. Chan, Secretary
for Financial Services and the Treasury
as the first speaker. He began with one
underlying truth in all companies, “Good
people attract good people.” Chan went
on to speak about managing talent in the
government, which is unique due to the
many opportunities for career growth and
comprehensive benefits.
He added that, “Human Resources
are the most valuable resource for
any economy especially a knowledge
based economy such as Hong Kong.”
Chan explained that for Hong Kong to
continue its strong economic growth it
is important to invest in education to
help contribute to this pool of talent. He
added that investing in universities also
provides a steady stream of new talent
56 HR Magazine
2009
and that the Hong Kong Government is
helping to develop talent by facilitating the
transition between academia and industry,
in addition to rolling out an internship
programme in August.
Chan emphasised that Hong Kong
is also able to draw on top talent from
overseas and that the Government is,
“...opening the door to wider international
talents—these people contribute to our
multicultural society.” However, Chan
advised that these advantages alone
do not guarantee Hong Kong will keep
retaining and attracting top talent and
warned of the need to recognise the
global competition for talent.
On a positive and inspiring note Chan
concluded, “We have to build up Hong
Kong’s reputation.”
Yvonne Law,
National Chief Knowledge Officer & Tax
Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
The second keynote of the day was
given by Yvonne Law, National Chief
Knowledge Officer & Tax Partner of
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Law began
with a few home truths and stated, “First,
you have to know what you need. It is
important to identify your current staff’s
strengths as well as potential shortfalls—
know who you have and what you
need.” Law then advised HR managers
to improve retention levels, and shared
several different methods to help achieve
this including:
▪▪allocating greater compensation
towards top performers;
▪▪providing career opportunities for top
performers;
▪▪aligning individual objectives with
corporate objectives;
▪▪ensuring employees are working hard
on the right tasks;
▪▪tracking progress against goals on an
ongoing basis; and
▪▪motivate employees through
incentives.
Law pointed out that everyone needs
training and in difficult times HR must
be mindful of the benefits vs the costs,
avoiding the “peanut butter approach”
where everyone in the organisation gets
exactly the same training. Instead, Law

advised HR to understand which of their
high-potential employees are underpaid
relative to the market and might be at
risk of leaving; know which positions are
crucial to the success of your business—
and to target compensation budget
towards these roles.
In answer to the question of how HR
can attract, develop and retain quality
talent, Law pointed out that companies
have to make themselves more
desirable than their competitors. She
advised giving staff instant recognition,
encouraged open communication and
with regard to work life balance—
encouraging staff to lead their own lives
outside work. Law concluded that if HR
builds a plan to manage talent in an
economic downturn they can: retain
talent, achieve required cost reductions
and put their organisations in a strong
position when the economy revives.
Alan Burnell O’Neill
Head of Executive Development, Jardine
Mattheson Limited
Alan Burnell O’Neill, Head of Executive
Development, Jardine Mattheson Limited
talked about two staff development
programmes: the Jardine Executive
Trainee Scheme (JETS) and the ‘K-Files’.
The JETS programme selects a mere six
recruits from nearly 1,300 applicants.
These executives are selected early in
their career and are groomed to take over
leading roles within the group.
O’Neill cautioned that HR managers
need to realise the important difference
between training and learning. He
added that, although there is a place for
training within organisations, HR stands
a much greater chance in developing
productive employees with learning.
He added that at the end of the day
the responsibility of development is on
the individual. Companies shouldn’t
just measure the success of T&D
programmes on the basis of end-of-
programme “happy sheets”, but rather
that there should be some demonstrable
change. O’Neill linked this philosophy
back to the idea of ‘training vs learning’
where, learning is “the acquisition to
reflect.” To conclude, he shared some
humble take-home advice that HR
managers should bear in mind:
1. every business context is different;
2. experiment and be creative;
3. leverage the use of your own
business people;
4. create experiences that are
memorable so that staff take
something away; and
5. integrate everything—the more you
integrate, the more accountability
you create.
Professor Katherine R. Xin,
Academic Director, HKUST EMBA for Chinese
Executives Programme
The fourth keynote of the day was
presented by Professor Katherine R.
Xin, Academic Director, HKUST EMBA
for Chinese Executives Programme who
explained the importance of clarifying
the business model in order to win in
today’s market. She advised HR to specify
organisational capabilities required to
HR Community
Greater China Talent Management 2009
support the business model and to design
HR practices that enable these desired
organisational capabilities.
Xin pointed out that talent development
is the number one concern for CEOs,
and that effort must be paid to leverage
unique organisational capabilities to help
retain and train such talent. Relationships
with employees should be anchored
explicitly on the corporate mission and
culture – so that staff can identify with
corporate values. She added that training
should be formalised and structured, with
every new employee assigned a coach.
Xin also stressed the importance of
linking staff development with business
results, and that there is no competitive
advantage in being an average company.
HR must employ drivers of differentiation
in relation to talent attraction and
performance management. However,
pursuing a strategy implies making a
choice and HR cannot make a difference
without taking a risk.
Ka Shi Lau,
Managing Director and CEO, Bank
Consortium Trust Company Limited
Ka Shi Lau, Managing Director and CEO
of the Bank Consortium Trust Company
Limited gave an informative talk on the
ins and outs of selecting MPF providers
in an increasingly challenging work
environment. Lau stressed the importance
of providing quality pension benefits had
on helping to keep high potential staff
within the organisation. She advised HR
managers to look at who was managing
their pension funds and to look for
Autumn 2009 57
HR Community
Greater China Talent Management 2009
providers who have experienced and
well trained staff who are well versed in
regulatory/legislative requirements.
She added that HR managers should
look for systems that are robust and
scalable enough to drive administrative
costs down and help reduce error in
human processing. Lau also shed light
on the industry’s recent development in
terms of the impending ‘employee choice’
and how it would no longer be at the sole
discretion of employers to decide which
fund providers to use for investing staff
MPF payments.
Bryan Lockyer
Regional Manager for Asia, MindKey Global
During the VIP lunch session, Bryan
Lockyer, Regional Manager for Asia,
MindKey Global spoke about the use of
HR technology to help leverage people
development and performance. He
explained how MindKey Global’s own HR
technology, MindKey HCM has helped
companies enhance and extend their
people potential. Such technology has
supported people development and
performance management processes
for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 1,800
employees. Lockyer highlighted several
key elements that companies should
consider when managing talent. Firstly,
matching talent to tasks, putting the right
people with the right skills into the right
job inspires confidence and improves
employee productivity. Secondly, defining
strategic objectives and aligning them
with business strategy and making them
transparent. Most organisations can
define objectives that are important for
58 HR Magazine
them to achieve, although they often fail
to visualize how employees contribute
toward those goals. Thirdly, aligning
employee goals with business strategy to
help ensure that staff efforts are focused
on making business strategy successful.
Fourthly, being proactive in workforce
planning to anticipate and prepare for
change and able to analyze, predict,
and communicate future talent needs
to the right people. Fifthly, measuring
and improving employee productivity
using customisable reporting tools to
easily monitor and analyze important
key performance indicators in real-
time, intuitive graphics. Sixthly, utilising
structured performance review workflows
helps keep team members engaged,
alert, and aware of performance levels.
Finally, facilitating effective discussions to
heighten understanding and commitment,
and thereby improve end results. A
clear concept is important in order to
implement a performance management
system successfully.
Panel Discussion
After lunch there was a panel discussion
with Mr Francis Mok, Group Human
Resources Director, Jebsen and Co.,
Ms Sandy Fok, General Manager, Staff
Development, John Swire & Sons (HK)
Limited and Ms Nita Law, Regional
Head of HR, North East Asia, Standard
Chartered Bank (HK) Limited. The
panelists discussed the merits of
integrating transparency in Human Capital
Management and a key point raised
included the dilemma of whether or not
to tell people that they are HiPos within a
management-training scheme.
Fok explained Swire’s hybrid model
being not completely, but almost,
opaque. She explained that, due to the
extensive training that HiPos get, even
if they are not directly told they are
HiPos—they do have an inkling that they
are on that career path.
Mok stated that HR must look
at both the processes via which
talents are nominated, selected and
identified, and the extent to which the
organisation openly communicates its
talent management strategies. He said,
“From zero transparency to complete
transparency, organisations need to
choose something in between.” He added
that companies that have a culture of
full transparency bring high levels of
motivation for the talents selected.
However, this may bring disengagement,
disillusionment and demotivation for
those who are not selected.
Law favoured a more transparent
approach, and said that this had been
a very successful strategy, saying that
the positives outweigh the risks of
being transparent. Law went on to say,
“I do believe that the trend is leading
to be even more transparent.” The
biggest pitfall is in the execution and
the question comes back to everybody:
the level of readiness and the ability
and willingness of the organisation to
properly execute is key.
Marieke van Raaij,
Group Leader of Towers Perrin – ISR, Greater
China, Towers Perrin
Marieke van Raaij, Group Leader of

Towers Perrin – ISR, Greater China,
Towers Perrin spoke about the importance
of maintaining employee engagement
during uncertain economic times, and
building leadership effectiveness by
managing talent aggressively. She shared
several methods that HR managers could
use to reduce costs including instigating
salary freezes and hiring freezes; reducing
or eliminating bonuses, headcount and
training budgets.
According to the January 2009 Pulse
Survey, companies responded to the
financial crisis by making significant and
non-strategic headcount reductions,
Implementing pay and benefit
reductions, cancelling training and
repeatedly restructuring. This meant not
only long term damage to companies’
image and brand, but also loss of critical
talent. Van Raaij stressed the key
qualities that potential leaders within the
organisation should posses include the
ability to:
1. Keep vision and strategies simple and
compelling;
2. Confront and overcome resistance;
3. Provide data on workforce and
employee engagement;
4. Create well defined career plans and
development opportunities;
5. Build leadership capability.
She then advised HR to go back
to basics and leverage performance
management, clarify performance
expectations and train managers to
coach and give feedback. She added, HR
should measure and reward leaders on
their ability to develop talent—as leaders
play a key role in paving the way—
leadership criteria should be embedded
in all HR systems.
Jean-Michel Wu,
Talent Director, Greater China,
WPP Asia Pacific
Wu spoke on graduate recruitment and
employment, and that great graduate
recruitment programme rely on great
training programmes as well. Wu
advised HR to think about how to brand
their organisation, to be different and
unique in what they do, and tell the
truth to new recruits.
He emphasised that this was
particularly important for Gen Y, who
have high expectations of themselves
and their employer, enjoy ongoing
learning with immediate feedback and
are goal-oriented. Wu extolled the
benefits of adopting mentor and de-
mentor programmes to pair up senior
management with Gen Y new recruits to
talk about everyday issues – so they can
each learn from each other.
Wu highlighted one of the benefits of
WPP’s programme stemming from rapid
job rotation when new recruits are taken
on. This ‘sampler’ method not only helps
keep staff engaged, but also helps give
them some idea about future career
paths they might like to take within the
organisation.
Dr. Chung Ting-yiu, Robert
Director of the Public Opinion Programme
(POP), The University of Hong Kong
The final speaker was Dr. Chung Ting-
yiu, Robert, Director of the POP at the
University of Hong Kong, presenting
HR Community
Greater China Talent Management 2009
findings of the Headline Jobs Quality
Workplace Index Survey of 2009.
The survey targeted three key
areas amid the economic recession:
job seeking rate, job satisfaction and
work stress and highlighted that far
fewer employees are actively seeking
work, with the overall job seeking rate
dropping over the last year from 25% to
just 17%. Despite this decrease, during
the same period the number of VPs and
Directors currently looking for new jobs
has dramatically increased from 19%
to 27%, which may be a function of
the higher stress levels and the current
economic situation.
Other key findings were that while
salary still remains an important
factor in terms of job satisfaction
compared to last year, it dropped
to third place, and the issue of job
security became a more important
factor, jumping to second place behind
a safe working environment. In fact,
the job satisfaction rate has gone up
and stabilised, despite the economy. In
the face of the poor economy 55% of
managers and department heads said
their jobs were very stressful, and 73%
of directors and vice presidents said
their jobs were more stressful.
For employees, worrying about a safe
working environment and job security
is what makes them most unhappy
with their jobs. So, HR must realise
that establishing a safe and sustainable
working environment and demonstrating
this to their staff is key in helping to
reduce staff stress levels.
Autumn 2009 59
HR Events
What’s coming up in the world of HR

When Who What Where Details

1 September (Tue) HKIHRM Tax Equalisation Policy HKIHRM ,Suite 1503, Fee (Mem.) HK$630
14:30-17:30 15/F, 68 Yee Wo Street, Fee (Non-mem) HK$840
Causeway Bay, Hong Cantonese (With English terminology and
Kong handouts)

2 September (Wed) HKIHRM How to Achieve Equal HKIHRM, Cantonese (With English terminology and
09:30-17:00 Pay Under the Sex Suite 1503, 15/F, handouts)
Discrimination Ordinance 68 Yee Wo Street, Fee (Mem.) HK$1,600
Causeway Bay, Hong Fee (Non-mem) HK$2,100
Kong

2 September (Wed) Chamber EcoSmart Series I: Chamber Theatre, 22/F Fee - Free of Charge
16:00-17:30 Sustainability Forum United Centre Members Only, Language: English
on Building Design Inquiries: Looby Ho
to Foster a Quality Tel. (852) 28231228
and Sustainable Built
Environment

7 September (Mon) Amcham Warren Buffett: JW Marriott Fee (Mem.) HK$410

12:00-14:00 Investing in Times of Ballroom (L3) Fee (Non-mem.) HK$530
Uncertainty and Why Pacific Place, 88 Corporate Table Fee (10-12pax): HK$5,000
He Prefers Declining Queensway cli@amcham.org.hk
Markets Admiralty, Hong Kong Fax: (852) 2810 1289

8 September (Tue) Chamber EcoSmart Series II: Chamber Theatre, 22/F Fee (Mem.)HK$100
12:00-14:00 Roundtable Luncheon United Centre Fee (Non-mem.) HK$200
on A Road Map to Inquiries: Looby Ho Tel. 28231228
Sustainable Business

8-9 September HKIHRM Internal Coaching for HR HKIHRM Fee (Mem.) HK$5,500
(Tue-Wed) Professionals Suite 1503, 15/F, Fee (Non-mem) HK$6,100
09:30-17:30 HKIHRM 2009 68 Yee Wo Street,
Consultant Master Class Causeway Bay, Hong
(A workshop jointly Kong
presented by HKIHRM &
DistincTions Asia Pte Ltd

9 September (Wed) Tamty McGill Competency-based Wheelock House, 20 HK$2,300 / participant

09:15–17:30 Consultants Interviewing Workshop Pedder Street, Central, Trainer: Ms Virginia Choi
International Ltd Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2293-2308
Fax: (852) 2293-2367
Email: executive.six@tamtymcgill.com
Website: www.tamtymcgill.com

11 September (Fri) Community Workshop: Adopting Standard Chartered Fee (Mem.) HK$600
14:30-17:30 Business a Strategic Approach Bank Fee (Non-mem.) HK$750
to Work-Life Balance Anky Chau
(Cantonese) Tel: (852) 2152 1889
anky@communitybusiness.org
http:www.communitybusiness.org

16 September (Wed) Amcham “First Sale” U.S. Duty Cliftons Training Fee (Mem.) HK$300
12:00-14:00 Savings Program: Facility-Central Fee (Non-mem.) HK$350
Implementation 33/F, 9 Queen’s Road cli@amcham.org.hk
Workshop with U.S. Central, Hong Kong Fax: (852) 2810 1289
Attorneys

18 September (Fri) Chamber Europe Committee Chamber Theatre, 22/F Fee (Mem.) HK$100
12:30-14:00 Roundtable Luncheon: United Centre Fee (Non-mem.) HK$200
“How will the EU Fare in English
2009, and How will this Inquiries: Rachel Lau
Impact Businesses in Tel: (852) 28231277
the Far East?

21 September (Mon)
19:00 - 20:30
Tamty McGill Chinese Personality 1805 Wheelock House, Participants will be given a trial of CPW
Consultants at Work (CPW) 20 Pedder Street, Questionnaire
International Ltd Complimentary Seminar Central, Hong Kong Facilitator: Ms Virginia Choi & Florence Tsang
Tel: (852) 2293-2308
Email: executive.six@tamtymcgill.com
Website: www.tamtymcgill.com

22 September (Tue) Amcham Lunch and Learn: Amcham Office Fee (Mem.) HK$250
12:00-14:00 Master the Art of Public Conference Room Fee (Non-mem.) HK$350
Speaking 1904 Bank of America Christy Li
Tower, 12 Harcourt cli@amcham.org.hk
Road, Central Fax: (852) 2810 1289

60 HR Magazine
 HR Events
What’s coming up in the world of HR

When Who What Where Details

23 September (Wed) Community Getting Started in CSR British Council, Fee (Non-mem.) HK$750
Business Workshop (English) Admiralty Fee (Mem.) HK$600
Anky Chau
Tel: (852) 2152 1889
anky@communitybusiness.org
www.communitybusiness.org

23 September (Wed) DevonHouse RENDEZVOUS HR Damina Gallery – FREE for HR Professionals

19.00-21.00 Corporate Wine-Tasting, Art Vietnamese Fine Art, Registration is required
Training, Asia Appreciation & Social 2/F, 65 Peel Street, RSVP: James Daly
Corporate Networking SoHo, Central, Tel: (852) 2803 5700
Training & Vins Hong Kong E-mail: james.daly@devonhousehk.com
de France www.devonhousehk.com

30 September (Wed) EuroEvents HR Talent Management Westin Hotel, Contact Perry

09:00–17:00 Forum (full day) Taipei Email: perry.barrow@euro-events.com

5 October (Mon) Tamty McGill Striving In Adversity 1805 Wheelock House, Facilitator: Ms Virginia Choi
19:00-20:30 Consultants Complimentary Seminar 20 Pedder Street, Tel: (852) 2293-2308
International Ltd Central, Hong Kong Email: executive.six@tamtymcgill.com
Website: www.tamtymcgill.com

15 October (Thur) HR Magazine 30-Minute HR 6th Floor, Free for HR Magazine Subscribers
08:30-12:30 Conference Cliftons Quarry Bay To book your place call:
4 high-level HR Directors Paul (English) Tel: (852) 2736 6318
share strategies on Email: paul@excelhk.com
recruitment, retention, Wandy (Chinese) Tel: (852) 2736 6339
and how to better Email: wandy@excelmediagroup.org
manage and develop www.excelmediagroup.org
your staff

16 October (Fri) Tamty McGill Competency-based Wheelock House, 20 HK$2,300 / participant

09:15–17:30 Consultants Interviewing Workshop Pedder Street, Central, Trainer: Ms Virginia Choi
International Ltd Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2293-2308
Fax: (852) 2293-2367
Email: executive.six@tamtymcgill.com
Website: www.tamtymcgill.com

19 October (Mon) Community Launch of The State of Foreign Correspondents Fee (Non-Mem.) HK$500
08:30-11:00am Business Work-Life Balance in Club, Central Fee (Mem.) HK$350
Hong Kong Survey 2009 Breakfast included
Report Anky Chau
(852) 2152 1889
anky@communitybusiness.org
http:www.communitybusiness.org

23 October (Fri) Community Work-Life Balance Day Hong Kong Fee: Free
Business Demonstrate your company’s commitment to
work-life balance by taking part in Hong Kong’s
second Work-Life Balance Day.
For more information visit:
www.communitybusiness.org

9 November (Mon) Tamty McGill Chinese Personality 1805 Wheelock House, Participants will be given a trial of CPW
19:00 - 20:30 Consultants at Work (CPW) 20 Pedder Street, Questionnaire
International Ltd Complimentary Seminar Central, Hong Kong Facilitator: Ms Virginia Choi & Florence Tsang
Tel: (852) 2293-2308
Email: executive.six@tamtymcgill.com
Website: www.tamtymcgill.com

18 November (Wed) DevonHouse RENDEZVOUS HR Damina Gallery – FREE for HR Professionals

19.00 - 21.00 Corporate Wine-Tasting, Art Vietnamese Fine Art, Registration is required
Training, Asia Appreciation & Social 2/F, 65 Peel Street, RSVP: James Daly
Corporate Networking SoHo, Central, Hong Tel: (852) 2803 5700
Training & Vins Kong E-mail: james.daly@devonhousehk.com
de France www.devonhousehk.com

25 November (Mon) Tamty McGill From Trainer to Internal Level 4 of Hong The seminar is complimentary & lucky draw is
17:00 – 18:00 Consultants Consultant Seminar Kong Convention and offered
International Ltd Exhibition Centre Facilitator: Ms Virginia Choi
Tel: (852) 2293-2308
Email: executive.six@tamtymcgill.com
Website: www.tamtymcgill.com

To list your HR events here contact Marcel Chambers. Tel: (852) 2736 6339 or e-mail: marcel@excelmediagroup.org

Autumn 2009 61
HR Classifieds

Conference & Exhibition Venues

AsiaWorld-Expo is Hong Kong’s leading exhibitions, conventions, AsiaWorld-Expo Management

concerts and events venue, yet it is also an ideal venue for annual Limited, AsiaWorld-Expo,
dinners, world-class conferences, cocktail receptions, media luncheons Hong Kong International Airport,
and sumptuous banquets. With Hong Kong’s largest indoor convention Lantau, Hong Kong, China
and hospitality hall, AsiaWorld-Summit which seats up to 5,000 persons,
together with a full range of meeting and conference facilities, award- Tel: (852) 3606 8888
winning chefs and attentive hospitality staff, AsiaWorld-Expo is definitely Fax: (852) 3606 8889
your choice for an unforgettable event. fnb@asiaworld-expo.com
www.asiaworld-expo.com

Relocation and Logistics

Crown Relocations, a worldwide leader of global mobility, domestic Crown Relocations

and international transportation of household goods, and departure and Suite 1002
destination services, has over 150 offices in more than 50 countries. Mass Mutual Tower
38 Gloucester Road
Crown Relocations’ experienced training team is able to deliver Wanchai
individual and group cross cultural training programs. Our proprietary Tel: (852) 2865 7972
“Global Passport” program is designed to assist transferees, and their Fax: (852) 2816 7150
family, cope with key cultural transition challenges and to introduce globalpassport.asia@crownrelo.com
critical intercultural competencies. www.crownrelo.com

Education and Corporate Training

macsimize is a leading training consultancy with a significant presence macsimize Pte. Ltd.
in the Asia Pacific region. Our solutions include: leadership and sales Contact person: Ayesha Mathias
training; organisational development and teambuilding.macsimize Tel: (852) 9300 2390
capitalises on its diverse and visionary approach to developing human ayesha.mathias@macsimize.biz
potential, potential that is measurable and results oriented. We aim to www.macsimize.biz
become your preferred global partner in developing your people and
your business.

Tailor-made business training, testing and benchmarking solutions Excel Education Limited
throughout Hong Kong, Macau and China. Corporate and individual Unit 101, Fourseas Building
programmes. 208-212 Nathan Road
Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Excel’s renowned courses are tailored to the job nature, level and
needs of the students. Our targeted, interactive approach in facilitation Tel: (852) 2736 6339
has allowed us to build an unrivalled reputation in the corporate training Fax: (852) 2736 6369
field. Clients include: the Airport Authority, American Express, Bausch info@excelhk.com
and Lomb, Credit Agricole, KCRC, the Hong Kong Government, Swire www.excelhk.com
Travel and United Airlines.

The Hong Kong Management Association was established in 1960. Hong Kong Management
As a non profit making professional organisation, its mission is to Association
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of management in Hong Kong. 14th Floor, Fairmont House
8 Cotton Tree Drive
Offering annually over 2,000 training programmes to more than 45,000 Central, Hong Kong
participants, ranging from work-oriented short courses, workshops,
Certificates, Diplomas to Bachelor, Master and Doctoral Degrees, the Tel: (852) 2526 6516 / 2774 8500
HKMA is one of the largest providers of management training and Fax: (852) 2365 1000
education in the Territory. hkma@hkma.org.hk
www.hkma.org.hk

Grey Cells Management Ltd is truly a global company committed to Grey Cells Management Ltd.
providing sincere and comprehensive HR consultancy services the world Room 1103
over across all industry sectors including IT, Communication, Finance, 86 Gloucester Road
Shipping, Logistics, and Hospitality. Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Research by Grey Cells’ experienced team provides in-depth analysis
facilitating the most logical decisions to benefit organisations Tel: (852) 2877 9009
and individuals seeking change. Scientific studies of our clients’ Fax: (852) 2877 9222
requirements provides the most suitably tailored organisational info@greycells.com.hk
solutions. www.greycells.com.hk

Leadership Development

Build individual, team and organisational capability. Your High Potential Aonia Leadership and
and Mid to Senior Executives need highly customised, dynamic and Management HK Limited
flexible development solutions related to core strategic outcomes. The 21/F Sunshine Plaza353
Aonia Team integrates with your business challenges and provides Lockhart Road, Wanchai
strategic leadership development in corporate training, leadership Hong Kong
coaching and instructional design in both English and Chinese. Contact
Kent Youil to discuss your development challenges and share in some Contact Kent Youil at
dynamic training ideas. Tel: (852) 2975 4449
alm@aonia.bz
www.aonia.com.hk

62 HR Magazine
 HR Classifieds

Business Process Outsourcing

Tricor is a member of The Bank of East Asia Group. Tricor Business Tricor Services Limited
Services offers efficient, effective and professional advisory and Level 28, Three Pacific Place,
outsourced support services to our clients. We deliver seamless 1 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
solutions to address issues in finance, accounting & financial reporting,
treasury and cashflow administration, human resources and payroll Tel: (852) 2980 1888
administration, business advisory, trade services and systems solutions Fax: (852) 2861 0285
to ensure the adoption of best practices in your business. info@hk.tricorglobal.com
www.hk.tricorglobal.com

MindKey Global delivers proven HCM Solutions to companies around MindKey Global Ltd
the world to help attract, retain, motivate talent and develop strategic Bryan Lockyer – Regional Manager
competencies that enhance productivity and workforce efficiencies. Jiwon Yoon – Sales Manager
10/F Silver Fortune Plaza
We have decades of success as the company that designed, built and No.1 Wellington Street, Central
tested the HRM and Questionnaire solutions for Microsoft Dynamics
AX. We are Microsoft Gold Certified partners; and are the global go-to Tel: (852) 3972 5790
experts for standard and custom Human Resources for Microsoft Fax: (852) 3972 5798
Dynamics installations info_asia@mindkey.com
www.mindkey.com

Innovative HR has developed a comprehensive outsourcing service Innovative Human Resources

and has provided all the power, features and flexibility without the drain Outsourcing Partners Limited
on internal resources. Our services include: Payroll Outsourcing, 9/F, CLI Building, 313 Hennessy
Hong Kong Work Visa Application, Talent Recruitment, Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Employee Handbook Development and Business Licence
Application for establishing representative offices in the PRC. For Tel: (852) 2555 8062
more information, please contact Ada Lai on 2555 8062, or visit our Fax: (852) 3003 0198
website. Special promotion on HR Library! info@innovativehr.com.hk
www.innovativehr.com.hk

Recruitment

Tricor Executive Resources, the former search and selection practice Tricor Executive Resources Limited
of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, has over the last 25 years Level 28, Three Pacific Place,
built an unrivalled reputation for integrity and professionalism. Through 1 Queen’s Road East,
focused research and intense sourcing, we recruit management and Hong Kong
top-level executives for positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the
region. Tel: (852) 2980 1166
Fax: (852) 2869 4410
We also offer related HR services such as recruitment outsourcing, fiona.yung@hk.tricorglobal.com
outplacement and career counselling, compensation and benefit advice, www.hk.tricorglobal.com
and psychometric testing.

AsiaNet Consultants, founded in 1988, has offices in Hong Kong, AsiaNet Consultants
Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou & London providing International 15/F Onfem Tower
Executive Search and Business Start Up Services in China. 29 Wyndham St, Central
Hong Kong
AsiaNet is a member of the International Executive Search Federation -
the largest executive search group both in Asia Pacific and worldwide. Tel: (852) 2530 0130
info@asianetconsultants.com
www.asianetconsultants.com

Pest Control & Environmental Services

BioCycle is the first pest management company in Hong BioCycle (Hong Kong) Limited
Kong to have acquired both the ISO 14001 and the ISO 9001 G/F., Block A, Kiu Sun Factory Bldg,
System Certifications. BioCycle was set up in 1991 to provide safe 41 King Yip Street, Kwun Tong,
and environmentally friendly Pest Control, Termite Consulting, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Sentricon Colony Elimination System for termite colony and
Sanitation Services, and operates under European management. Tel: (852) 3575-2575
Fax: (852) 3575-2570
We are the exclusive user of our group’s insecticide, BioKill, which has info@biocycle.com.hk
been approved by the AFCD of HK Government not to carry the poison www.biocycle.com.hk
label.

Only the professional carpet cleaning and pest-control services of Truly Truly Care (HK) Ltd.
Care, Hong Kong’s specialists in occupational, industrial, environmental Room 1522, Nan Fung Centre,
and domestic hygiene can give you a clean, safe and bug-free office 264-298 Castle Peak Road,
and home. Tsuen Wan, N.T., Hong Kong

Don’t put your staff’s health at risk! Tel: (852) 2458 8378
For a free, no obligation, inspection and quotation, please call us now Fax: (852) 2458 8487
on 2458 8378 info@trulycare.com.hk
www.trulycare.com.hk

Autumn 2009 63
HR Training
Networking Skills
Be a Networking Pro
Networking—it’s a word so many people
dislike. It has connotations of talking to
people you don’t really like, and attending
events, you don’t really want to be at. By
changing your mindset; networking can
also mean discovering business leads at
events where you can promote yourself,
and the brand you represent. It can be
a chance to meet interesting people that
you can potentially hire, or pass along to
a recruitment agency. No matter what
industry you are in, being effective at
networking can reap some kind of benefit.
Very often managers will decline
networking invitations, but the key is to
establish which ones are worth attending,
and to be efficient while present at
those events. Great managers, who do
64 HR Magazine
network, expand their network and find it
a subsequent part to their job. Networking
is a proactive element of being a great
professional. Being flawless at networking
means you don’t waste time at events, and
pick the ones worth attending, and stretch
the potential of each person you meet.
By having a positive mindset about
networking, it can also be a chance for
you to create an impression on someone
else, and practice the art of conversation,
introductions, and cross selling. In an
economy that is somewhat unstable,
networking doesn’t only have to be about
selling services of the company you work
for, but it can be a chance for you to sell
your skill set. With a goal in mind, and
a positive outlook, networking can be
a tremendous tool for expanding your
business and personal horizon.
In a perfect world, networking events
would be places that you could meet high
quality caliber of clients and forge business
deals, perhaps get a few personal leads
for yourself, have some delicious food, and
some expensive wine and be on your way.
Following that, your business leads would
turn into profitable gains for the company.
Sounds rather perfect and not so realistic.
If you can learn to be efficient, and create
an impact on people at events, you can
find a way to gain big rewards from just a
little extra effort.
So let’s break it down. Today, many
events are tedious and mind numbing
to attend. Guest speakers are your run
of the mill middle managers with little
inspiration. The spread of food and drinks
don’t excite you and the people you meet,
have a slim chance of eventually leading
to your next promotion. How can you turn
this around, how can you take this dull
grey monotonous event and make
it worthwhile?
The elements to changing a drab
event into one that has a benefit for you,
is based on your abilities to effectively
network. Even in the perfect world
example, if you don’t create a great
first impression, if you don’t lend your
time and effort to meeting people and of
course following up, you might not end
up with the gains in front of you. It takes
effort and coordination. To be successful
at networking, the first thing to work on is
your first impression.
It takes two seconds for someone
to judge you. In those two seconds,
people instinctively form judgments
about you and a willingness to either
engage in conversation with you or
not. A mediocre first impression makes
people believe that your skills and
the organisation you represent will be
mediocre. An outstanding, and powerful
first impression, will lead people to think
that your skills and the organisation you
represent will be outstanding as well.
Imagine for a second you enter a

networking event, and you see a
gentleman in a crisp, well ironed, well
fitted suit with an immaculately groomed
hairstyle and inviting body language. He
is smiling and his facial expressions are
pleasant and sincere. His clothes match
and the coordination leads you to think
he takes time to perfect his appearance.
On the other side of the room there is
a young lady slouching in a corner, with
obvious distaste that she is present at this
event. She is hunched over her blackberry
furiously typing away with an occasional
glance up to see if anyone is approaching
her. Her ruffled shirt in pastel colors
clashes with her brown skirt, and her
hair is messy. Which person will you be
automatically drawn towards?
Now take a step back and evaluate
your own image. What message are you
sending? Are you inviting? Do you speak
in a manner that is sincere and genuine or
is your lack of enthusiasm evident when
people speak to you? What signals do
your clothes send?
An impressive appearance starts with
choosing colors that flatter your natural
skin color, hair color and eye color. Find
clothes that fit you and remember that
even with a few accessories such as a
deep blue silk tie, or a striking necklace,
they can play up a boring work suit. Half
the problem with most work outfits is that
the pieces don’t fit the body shape well.
Styles should be contemporary and in
vogue but does not have to be expensive
or ostentatious. Look for ways you can
stand out and differentiate yourself, and
be remembered. Other ways to perfect
your appearance is by paying attention to
small grooming details. Fingernails should
be clean, hairstyles should be appropriate
and professional. Super gelled hairstyles
that attract attention might be trendy, but
they could be sending mixed messages
about how professional you are.
We cannot forget that these
suggestions are very superficial, they
are simply recommendations to change
our appearance. On the other hand, we
all know that every single day we judge
people unconsciously on how they look,
what shoes they wear, how messy their
hair is, or if their nail polish is chipped.
These small observations sends message
to our brain and before even speaking to
the person we might have already written
them off. Make sure your clothes are a
reflection of your level of professionalism,
the organisation you represent and of
course who you are.
Your appearance is just one part of
your first impression, but body language
and communication are also significant
factors. Sincerity, confidence, passion, and
polite behavior contribute to an impressive
first impression. At networking events, it
is common not to have the energy and
desire to project an overly enthusiastic
personality. Yet by showing sincerity when
speaking and interacting with another
person can help form relationships and
build rapport. Speaking for thirty minutes
to someone to gain information, or build
a certain level of trust can be time-
consuming, but getting straight to the
point about business in the first one minute
is pushy and aggressive. Use your tone of
voice, and project sincerity by engaging
100% with the person you are speaking
with and don’t scan the room for other
prospects to approach. Focus, be confident
and polite and hopefully you can get to the
business crux of the conversation in ten
minutes without seeming belligerent and
exit the conversation.
Your tone of voice should not show
urgency to leave the conversation, or be
unenthusiastic, but rather reflect a high
level of professionalism and courtesy. The
person you are speaking with needs to feel
that you are actually interested in getting
to know him or her. By maintaining eye
contact and positioning your body in an
open non-threatening way, it will help ease
the conversation along, and create rapport.
People who have a lax attitude who keep
their hands crossed over their chest the
entire conversation are sending a message
they are not really interested and are
perhaps bored. Smiling also helps forge a
bond and pleasant facial expressions also
HR Training
Networking Skills
make the other person feel comfortable.
When a relationship and level of comfort
can be established, diving straight into
the business aspect of your conversation
is absolutely appropriate. Be efficient, ask
the right questions, and when you are
done speaking, exit in the conversation in a
polite manner.
At networking events, it is common
to meet many people and accumulate a
stack of business cards, but it is also hard
to remember who was worth meeting and
how the person might have a potential
business lead for you. After a night of
networking, when you get home, or back
to the office, take a few minutes to write
something about the significant people you
met on the reverse side of their business
card. This way when you flip through your
stack in a few months looking for that
person, you will be able to spot him or
her right away. Also, if there are people
who you potentially want to meet in a few
months, or would like to be in contact with,
send them a quick brief email. Nothing
elaborate, just telling them it was great
to meet them, and that you look forward
to being in touch. This way you have
re-enforced your name in the mind of
the other person. It is better to create a
relationship early on, instead of emailing
them a few months later specifically for
some business related advice.
So remember, when you get invite
after invite of networking events, pick the
events you think will be most beneficial to
you. Dress appropriately and remember
your clothes should be speaking the same
language you want to project. Know what
you want to get out of the event, and tell
yourself that you will be efficient and stay
for a certain amount of time, and generate
some business leads. Show passion and
sincerity in what you are doing and how
you say things, follow up with leads
you meet and hopefully translate your
contacts into results for your business!
Shireena Shroff
Certified Image Consultant & Founder of
Sheens Image Consulting
Autumn 2009 65
Profit Upgrade
Boosting the Bottom Line

Everybody in Your Company is Responsible For Selling,

Not Just Your Direct Sales Team
Richard Parkes Cordock from the UK is the founder of Enterprise Leaders Worldwide
and the creator of the Enterprise Leader Development Programme. Using NLP
principles, Cordock created the highly acclaimed mentoring programme—Millionaire
MBA™ used by thousands of entrepreneurs around the world.
In the upcoming issues of HR magazine we will share Cordock’s advice in serialised
extracts from his latest book: Profit Upgrade.
A while ago I gave a speech at a
hotel in Leicester to 30 members of a
trade association. The room was full
of managing directors, sales directors
and business owners. These executives
represented a range of companies, from
those with just 20 employees, all the way
through to multinationals with tens of
thousands of people.
Before I started my speech, I asked
each executive what their number one
business challenge was, and without
exception, all said ‘growth’.
Specifically, their challenge was the
ongoing growth in revenue and profits of
the company.
Also speaking that day was a friend
of mine, Steve. Steve is a professional
sales trainer and an expert in training
direct salesforces. Steve spoke about
understanding customer buying patterns,
closing techniques and traditional sales
strategies. His speech was excellent and
I couldn’t disagree with a word he said.
He is clearly a master at teaching direct
salesforces how to sell.
The sales executives and managing
directors in the room loved Steve’s
speech; it was like putting a square peg in
a square hole for them.
That day, both Steve and I talked
about how to increase the revenues of a
company. However, where Steve believes
that selling is done by the direct sales
team, my belief is that selling is done by
every member of staff in the company,
and not just the direct sales team.
You can never escape the fact that
every member of your workforce is
responsible – both directly and indirectly –
for the ongoing growth of your company.
I said in Chapter 1 that the greatest
salespeople in the world are your existing
customers and their ability to recommend
you. Customers will only recommend you
if they believe in you, and if they have
had an exceptional and extraordinary
experience when dealing with your
company. They need to feel valued as a
customer, and their expectations must be
matched or exceeded.
Customers only recommend you if they
are happy with the service or products
you provide, not because of what a direct
salesperson said to them.
This means every member of staff in
your organisation, from the lowest level
administrator or maintenance employee,
to the highest-level senior director, plays
their part in creating the experience which
shapes your customers’ perception of you.
That is what determines whether they
want to recommend you, or repeat buy
from you.
If your company is filled with people
like the Barman, who clearly fail to meet
the needs and wants of their customers,
and send customers away disappointed,
frustrated, or worse still hungry or
unfulfilled, then as an organisation
you have very little chance of breaking
through to new levels of sales revenue.
Not, even with all the advance sales
techniques that Steve, as a master sales
trainer would be able to teach you.
If, as a company, you are failing to
deliver for your customers at the wider
level, then all the sales training in the
world for your direct sales team will never
out perform the negative reviews that will
be spread far and wide about you in the
marketplace.
If however, your company is filled with
people like Paolo the Barber, who clearly
love their work, put the needs of your
customers first, understand that their
actions and decisions have future revenue
consequences, then your reputation as
an organisation will literally precede you.
The need to have sophisticated, highly-
paid persuasive sales staff will be greatly
diminished as the recommendations your
prospective customers will receive from
your existing customers will already have
done the majority of hard selling for you,
in the softest possible way.
For the hard-nosed executives of the
trade association who listened to my and
Steve’s speeches, my message seemed a
little more difficult to swallow. Like many
business leaders, I’m sure they strongly
believed the growth of their company was
in the hands of their salespeople, and of
course, to some degree it is.
But I’m sure if they asked themselves,
truthfully, when they book a holiday or
restaurant, or go to buy a car, who is
really doing the selling for them? Is it
the persuasive salesperson, or is it their
own opinions which have been formed
by recommendations from their friends,
family or business colleagues?
I’m sure the same is true for you.
You would not go to a restaurant if
you had heard bad things about it, and
similarly, you would not book into a hotel
or holiday resort if you had heard that
the staff do not care, are not engaged or
connected, and do not put the needs of
their paying customers first.
You would clearly give that hotel or
restaurant a miss, regardless of what
the most persuasive salesperson said
to you, simply because the negative
recommendations received by your friends
and family come without prejudice, and
are impartial and independent.
For you to turn your workforce into
your salesforce, you must fill your
company with people like Paolo the Barber
– with employees who understand that
their actions have consequences, that a
customer’s decision to buy, repeat buy or
recommend you comes solely as a result
of dealing with your company and dealing
with your front-line staff.
Richard Parkes Cordock, Author of Profit
Upgrade: How To Turn Your Workforce
Into Your Salesforce.
Managing Director of Enterprise Leaders
Worldwide Limited.
www.enterpriseleaders.com

66 HR Magazine
 Award For Excellence In Training
2009 SUPPLEMENT

Special Supplement 23 .
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