My name is,
Raymond Soh
IHRP Senior Professional, SHRM-Senior Certified Professional
Human Resource Business Partner, HR Consultant, Head of People (Global)
My Philosophy
HR management is both a science and art.
Don't spend valuable resources pondering what a good experience looks like. Instead, focus on creating the right experience and doing what is right. When you put this into action, it will naturally include elements of making responsible and informed decisions, showing empathy, and being generous.
National HR Standards
Developed by the tripartite parties; Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation, the IHRP certification is the only national HR certification framework recognised in Singapore and acts as the national benchmark.
The IHRP Certification also facilitates the incorporation of Singapore’s employment legalisation and advisories (such as the Fair Consideration Framework) and more importantly, it is flexible to allow room for updates to the Framework in accordance with changes in the local HR landscape and practices.
Why hire a HRBP?
Strategy
75% of CHROs expect their HR business partners (HRBPs) to be strategic partners to the line. According to Mercer’s 2018 Global Talent Trends, 100% of their participants (Board Members & C-suites) recognised the increased competition for talents, and 1 in 5 note that Employee Experience is a core part of their people strategy today.
Knowledge
Knowledge is the key to problem solving, especially when it comes to people matters. Having a HRBP without understanding on how HR works is akin to the blind leading the blind.
Eloquence
In 2020, the top few topics which are the hardest to speak about would have been cost-cutting measures, business performance and business continuity plans. The HRBP role supports the business by delivering communications in a strong, effective and transparent manner.
Retrenchment in Singapore
The COVID-19 situation coupled with the global economic and political landscape had brought about tonnes of market speculation and uncertainty. Businesses are engaging in cost cutting measures and potentially shutting down due to this financial downturn.
I have prepared a guide for both employers and employees to understand more about retrenchment in Singapore.
Ideal HR Superstar
A successful business partner doesn’t only excel in the HR aspect of things. A business partner is someone that understands how your business works and speaks the same language as you do; someone who is essentially a “star”.
COVID-19 has thrown most business out of their comfort-zones and challenged the relevancy of many jobs. Whilst “T”-shaping and “Comb”-shaping of skills are becoming a hot topic through the form of re-skilling and upskilling, the ideal form for an aspiring HR superstar remains as the “Star” proposed. HR professionals should not only have a high degree of business acumen, but also invest time into achieving better digital acumens.
Foundations of HRBP
In reference to Dave Ulrich's work on the HR Model, HR Business Partnership is driven by 4 main conerstones of their work;
| Administration Expertise | |
| Strategic Partnership | |
| Change Expertise | |
| Employee Championship |
The four cornerstones drive the overall experience of an employee's experience in the business. The evolution of the HRBP role led to increased recognition in their partnership with the business. The HRBPs emplifies the voices of the employees, ultimately playing the role of a credible activist and advisor to the business.
Culture
Incentives, recognition, and rewards are great ways to retain talent, yet businesses are still losing talent.
What are they doing wrong?
Most companies tend to incentivise “past achievements” and for some companies in SEA, these rewards are often so meger it’s almost an insult. Incentives should not only incentivise what had been achieved but also include incentives for current and future production to spur engagement, and initiatives. Businesses should attempt to be more generous when giving as the ROI on retention could easily reach 10X of re-hiring.
Aside from rewards, business may argue that talent retention is still an issue and wonder why. Simply, the ecosystem of any business is a human tapestry and people go through many nuances of work and office politics. It may not have been due to how generous the business was, but how toxic the environment had become.
Experience
Ever wondered why 1 in 5 companies chose to place employee experience as part of their people strategy?
That's because you will never get a second chance to make a first impression on your new hire. For new hires, the start of the experience begins way before the first day of work. Their first interaction with your brand would be when they start looking up about your brand.
1.7X |
In a global survey, employees share that they are 69% more likely to stay on in the business if they had received a great onboarding experience. |
Research
COVID-19's impact had made companies change their ways of working and delivery models faster than any CIO, CHRO, COO, or CTO ever in history.
More than 70% of the world's professionals are working from the comforts and saftey of their home. I started a research to understand the challenges of this drastic shift from office to home.
55% |
mentioned that they had worked longer hours since WFH started. |
|
41% |
felt that their time was less productive at home. |
|
57% |
are moderately happy about the WFH situation despite the new challenges. |
|
72% |
would like to see WFH opportunities implemented after COVID-19 as part of their regular work option. |
