More than 70 HR professionals turned up for Martin Gabriel’s book launch cum 40th HR sharing. It was indeed an achievement for the HR Consultant who founded and built-up HRmatters21. For almost 15 years, Martin tirelessly toiled to build this familiar well-known HR training / consultancy institute, to what it is today. With over 4,000 members from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, HRmatters21 has taken training and consulting to greater heights.
Theresa Lee is a veteran HR practitioner for over 40 years, she inspired the audience with a refreshing topic, which was “What is a HR business partner?” She was ahead of her time and spoke on the relevance of HR practices to the digital world that would disrupt, traditional HR processes. “Doing transactional work will become obsolete very soon” said the seasoned HR practitioner. She advocated strategic thinking that would add value to the job scope. Any job that is simply a process will be discarded soon. Numerous HR professionals surrounded her during the coffee break to ask more candid questions and to tap on her enormous experience.
Founder and author, Martin Gabriel took to the stage as the second and final speaker. Martin’s presentation reflected the changing times, and how laws have been amended to widen the scope of protection. PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives) earning a basic salary of more than $4,500, are not protected by The Employment Act, and any recourse for salary claims had to involve a lawyer with hefty fees. The newly introduced Employment Claims Tribunal is an additional recourse for salary claims. It is expeditious and does not involve any lawyers. Functional from 1st April 2017, many organisations were still unfamiliar with its processes. Martin gave an insightful presentation and what organisations should look-out for, when there are disputes with employees. It is also notable that Martin’s latest book, (A Guide to The Employment Act & Its Related Legislations) has devoted a whole chapter pertaining to the ECT.
The event ended on a high note when participants approached Martin for his personal autograph to be included in their book.
By Michelle Yeo
