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 1^st 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

[See image gallery at hrmatters21.net]

However, it was never complete without the usual guest speaker. Dayanand Menon, the latest inclusion to the many other illustrious consultants of HRmatters21, shared tips pertaining to payroll administration. Mr. Menon had already completed one run of the Payroll Administration Workshop prior to the HR sharing and received very good feedback, that it would be a lost, to the HR audience had he not shared such valuable tips. During the coffee break, many from the audience were seen surrounding Mr. Menon, asking numerous questions with eagerness to learn from an experienced mentor.

After the coffee break, Martin spoke about the latest changes to the Employment Act pertaining to the inclusion of 17 key employment terms and the mandatory issue of itemised pay-slips, with effect from 1^st April 2016. According to the Ministry of Manpower, they will take a light approach and treat offences to the above as administrative and fines would not be more than S$200 per occurrence or per employee. There is a grace period of over one year for companies to adjust, and that enforcement action would only be taken from 1^st April 2017. The book launch cum sharing was wrapped up with Martin signing autographs for those who purchased the book. We look forward to seeing you at the 40^th HR Sharing.

By Michelle Yeo

First to take to the stage was Kevin Lee, a financial expert and associate trainer of HRmatters21. As we approached the end of 2015, numerous businesses needed assurance and knowledge application with respect to filing their taxations. One of the most confusing aspects of taxation pertains to benefits. Are benefits taxable? Kevin was there on hand to answer all questions. An area of concerned was outbound employment. Are employees deployed overseas with additional benefits liable for taxation in Singapore? As Kevin regularly conduct workshops pertaining to Benefits-In-Kind, he had no problems tacking every question, as most of the questions were of the same nature. Kevin was also generous enough to touch on tax equalization although it wasn’t a scheduled topic to be discussed. He just couldn’t say no to the participants.

Andy Sng from Payroll2U was our next speaker. Andy spoke about how fast technology has been changing and that payroll employees are finding it extremely difficult to keep up with new technological challenges, especially companies with numerous branches across the Asia pacific. Organisations that have various branches across Asia have had to grapple with multiple employment laws in order to process their payroll. Most companies prefer to decentralize their payroll administration or outsource it to a competent vendor. That’s where Payroll2U comes in. They are able to handle payroll for multiple different countries, and this increases productivity as it frees up time for HR personnel to engage in more strategic planning rather than being bogged down with chores. There is no need to speak to various HR representatives from different countries, all you need to do is to speak to just one vendor, and that is Payroll2U, and they will get the job done for you.

In between breaks, Martin Gabriel, Senior HR Consultant for HRmatters21 opened the discussion to the floor, allowing participants to bring up whatever issues they were concerned with. Some of the issues that were touched on included the higher compensation for workplace injuries and the Ministry of Manpower’s decision to increase the salaries of employment pass holders when applying for dependent pass.

As usual, we had our network session over coffee with light snacks. This is the time where HR professionals mingle with each other to share information and offer tips of best HR practices. Charles Wong wrapped up the session by sharing tips pertaining to compensation and rewards. When do we reward employees and what system could HR professionals consider implementing that would accurately measure an improvement in employees’ performance? How do we quantify it in a fair manner and how do we link it with the performance appraisal? Another wonderful and fruitful session had come to an end, as we look forward to the 39^th HR Sharing.

By Michelle Yeo

Make Health Connect (MHC) was also present to share about the services they offer. The 37^th HR Sharing started off with a bang! Alvin from Anergy Fun Engineers, together with his team got everyone’s energy a notch up with really effective ice-breaking activities. Anergy started out with the mirror game followed by “pass down the message” accurately – game. Participants were supposed to digest a mouthful of words and repeat the same message down the line. It was hilarious listening to how the messages lost its originality and sounded ridiculous. Although the games were brief, it was a moment that was packed with non-stop laughter and fun.

Mr Lim Kai Chuan, the Head of Business Development from Make Health Connect (MHC), came in after to share with us on the services MHC provides. MHC taps on the possibilities of the continuous advancement of technology by creating a web-based medical claim system. MHC is the first in Southeast Asia to create such a system which has successfully linked up a network of 1000 clinics in Singapore and 550 clinics in Malaysia, and help companies, major insurers and medical providers improve their medical claims processing, efficiency, and workforce productivity by eliminating tedious paper work.

The Employment Act is not flawless. There are areas and provisions in the act which are unclear and contradict themselves or with other legislations. Mr Martin Gabriel who has a very vast experience in the Human Resource field and who is reputable for his knowledge in the Employment Act has spotted these numerous grey areas from the EA. Mr Martin discussed these grey areas with the participants in the 37^th HR Sharing and also mentioned about the raising of employment standards in 2015, as well as possible new additions that may be implemented to the Employment Act. Mr Gabriel ended his very insightful discussion with his personal experience at the Labour Court and a brief outline about how rulings are conducted in the Labour Court, with reference to the act and his personal experiences. The session ended on a high note when participants approached Mr Gabriel for his personal autograph to be included in the book.

By Nigel Toh

Zainal Abidin’s presentation touched on a challenging issue that confronts almost all organizations. How does the HR Manager get every employee to work harmoniously with one another? Zainal identifies the so called ‘roadblocks’ that hinders co-operation with one another. Coming from a military background, Zainal is aware of the importance of teamwork. According to Zainal, there are several ‘roadblocks’ which hinders co-operation. Telling your fellow colleagues that “I don’t have the time” or taking his or her task as less important than yours is another ‘roadblock’ that fester animosity among peers. Zainal explored alternatives in effective communication that could help a better understanding and thereby getting the task done. “Always explain why you need assistance before asking is a good way of getting co-operation” said Zainal. HR professionals found his presentation to be of great value. HR Manager, Valerie Chin said “We could tell that his experience has brought about a higher degree of EQ which is important when communicating from person to person”

Section 43(6) Vs. Section 43(2) of the Employment Act

The 2^nd speaker was Martin Gabriel, Senior HR Consultant for HRmatters21. Martin spoke about annual leave entitlement. Martin made a startling discovery when one of his clients alerted him to the Ministry of Manpower’s website which indicated that for a new employee, the annual leave could be withheld for up to 12 months. This was MOM’s interpretation of Sec 43(6) of the Employment Act which states;

“The employer shall grant and the employee shall take such leave not later than 12 months after the end of every 12 months of continuous service and any employee who fails to take that leave by the end of such period shall thereupon cease to be entitled thereto”.

Martin however does not interpret the clause the same way as the MOM. Martin is of the view that the clause merely allows an employee to bring forward their annual leave to the following year. He said that there is no option for annual leave to be withheld for up to one year and this is substantiated by Sec 43(2) of the same act which clearly states;

“An employee who has served an employer for a period of not less than 3 months but who has not completed 12 months of continuous service in any year shall be entitled to annual leave in proportion to the number of completed months of service in that year”.

He emphasized some key words from the clause, which are, “in any year” and “in that year”.

Martin wrote an open letter to the Manpower Minister, Tan Chuan-Jin. However, he received no reply and was disappointed that the Minister did not see such matters which concerned his Ministry as important. The discussion was intense as more than 40 HR Managers and Executives discussed the merit of the two clauses. Most found the 2 clauses to be in conflict with one another.

Last but not least was Andrea Chan, a professional counsellor who had her fair share of handling the emotional aspect of a retrenchment. Andrea shared her experience of using the correct words in such an emotionally charged situation. According to Andrea, we should be delicate and sensitive when speaking to an employee whom she identified as separated and not to use the term retrenched. HR Managers found her sharing useful as it deals with the heart, and not just the letter of the law.

It was indeed a worthwhile HR Sharing. Participants found great value in just 3 hours. We look forward to the 37^th HR Sharing.

By Michelle Yeo

The other speaker was C.J. Ng, who came down to speak about How to Measure Attitude in Interviews and Pitfalls to Avoid during Interviews. A recent study has shown that 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, while only 19% will achieve unequivocal success. And by failure, we mean not being able to meet the expectations set when hiring them. He then talked about Suitability and Eligibility – mentioning that Eligibility, such as qualifications, is more tangible and easier to measure as compared to Suitability, such as attitude, is harder to measure due to the nature of the criteria. He then focused on how to identify suitable candidates by avoiding pitfalls in the conventional questions like “You have good teamwork skills, right?” and asking the right questions by Leaving it open and how to identify key words or phrases in answers that suggest the right attitude for the job. He closed by giving us some examples that will show certain characteristics of a person.

Besides having the speakers present their share, the 35 HR Sharing had an extra segment participants did not expect. Mr Martin Gabriel, the Chairman of HRmatters21 himself took the floor for a short period of time to highlight and discuss the changes that are happening in the Employment Act. The participants eagerly listened and gave their thoughts and shared with one another on the issues brought up. After the discussion, there was a short interval where refreshments were served and the participants took opportunity of this time given to network.
The 35 HR Sharing was very lively and is one of the biggest HR Sharing’s to have taken place since HRmatters21 started this event and can be summed up in a word: Successful!

By Darren Kang