Human Capital
Deliver Sustainable and Measurable Business Value Through People Excellence
We work with our clients to co-create appropriate Human Capital policies and processes so that they can attract and retain the best-fit talents for their organisations. Findings of our yearly employee engagement studies consistently show that employee engagement levels in SMEs lag behind those in non-SMEs. The level of agreement of employees is also lower in the adoption of fair and progressive employment practices. We strongly believe that for SMEs to accelerate their growth and transformation, the people agenda has to be raised to the forefront and leaders need to address issues related to attraction and staff retention.
Our research shows that key areas of priority for companies to work on are:
Leadership
Having leaders who set a clear strategic direction for the organisation is important as it impacts employees’ engagement levels. Even if organisations’ leaders are able to set clear strategic direction, it may be challenging to ensure that the entire organisation is strategically aligned. Therefore, being able to effectively communicate the organisation’s strategic directions and plans is also critical. Interestingly, in 2018, our engagements results revealed that more respondents working in non-SMEs were agreeable that their Leaders set clear strategic direction. This could be due to a higher possibility of clearer processes and communication platforms in larger organisations.
Progressive Human Capital
We have also noted that in recent years our human capital consultancy practice has also experienced growth from the SME sector with greater interest for SMEs to establish more robust policies and practices in the following areas:
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Established a market competitive compensation & benefits framework to better enable SMEs to attract the hire the right talent
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Formalised the performance management system to create clarity and transparency of what are expectations so as to better link performance to rewards & recognition
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Developed customised Core Competency Framework to drive the desired culture to support the achievement of organisational strategies and goals
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Developed customised Functional Competency Framework aligned to the organisation’s career development pathways and to ensure that staff are developed appropriately.
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Formalised work-life policies including flexible work arrangements
Moving forward, we also see a need for SMEs to clearly define the desired employee experience and articulating and communicating the company’s employee Value Proposition or Employer Branding to staff and potential staff.
Recognition
Every 3 years since 2012, aAdvantage conducts a study of Singapore residents on their current workplace culture experience as well as the desired workplace culture. ‘Employee Recognition’ is selected in the top 2 most desired values/behaviours.
When employees feel valued in their organisation, the likelihood of them remaining loyal to the organisation is higher. This loyalty is said to remain consistent even during times of economic uncertainty. In our work, we have found that reward and recognition are interpreted differently by staff depending on staff motivations.
However, what is clear and consistent is that fairness is important in the accord of rewards and recognition. Dissatisfaction in the performance management system is often a cause in the perception that reward and recognition system is unfair and hence not experienced. Another reason why reward and recognition is not
experienced is the absence of a culture of appreciation. This is when is it perceived that supervisors and leaders in the organisation do not appreciate individuals’ contributions.
Systematic Approach to Build Human Capital Capabilities to Support the Desired Culture and Achieve Organisational Outcomes
Depending on your organisation’s priorities, we will determine the set of deliverables and scope of work to help you enhance your human capital policies and processes. Our modular approach will enable us to progressively build on the results of each module as well as to allow you to assess and provide input at each critical checkpoint. Our approach will be highly interactive and will ensure that your concerns and needs are taken into account throughout the project.
aAdvantage's Human Capital Approach
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Set up of the project team and confirm key roles and responsibilities. We believe that the people agenda needs to be driven by senior leaders in the organisation and that all managers are people leaders. It will be critical to identify key management staff to be part of the steering committee and project team.
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It is also important to understand how employees feel about the current working environment and culture. Their inputs will be important as we work with the leadership to review the HR vision, strategy and desired culture to support the strategy moving forward.
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Organise & Understand Current Culture
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Define Strategy & Desired Culture
Depending on the scope of work, we will work with the Leadership team on its Human Capital Strategies, Employee Value Proposition, Desired Employee Experience or Desired Culture to support the organisation’s business strategies.
We believe that to attract, develop and retain talent, the organisation has to set clear guidelines on what are the key competencies and expectations required of its employees. This will ensure clarity and alignment between employees and management. We facilitate the development of Core and Functional Competencies. For Core Competencies, we work with the Management Team to articulate the set of desired behaviours to support achievement of the organisation’s goals and supports the organisation’s core values.
Functional competencies are the knowledge, skills that supports the achievement of the job role and are typically domain specific. We either reference international skills frameworks or facilitate in-depth interviews to determine the expected performance standards, knowledge and skills required to perform in a job role, to develop a customer functional competency framework for the organisation.
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Set Foundation for HR Transformation
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Design Core HR Systems & Processes
Depending on the maturity level of the organisation’s Human Capital policies and practices, we will work with the organisation to enhance them based on relevant and appropriate best practices. For more information on our Human Capital Diagnostic tool, you can go do a free self-assessment to determine opportunities to enhance your capabilities. Our diagnostic covers the following areas:
Across each of these areas, we assess the extent of the presence of a structured approach as well as the implementation of progressive practices to achieve the organisational outcomes.
For successful implementation it is critical that leaders at all levels in the organisation understand the rationale of the Human Capital policies and processes and have the knowledge and skills to implement them consistently. Across various development phases, we involve leaders and most importantly, this phase if focused on communications, engagement and equipping leaders and staff with the knowledge and skills to implement the policies consistently.
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Facilitate Sustainable Implementation
Top Employer Brands
aAdvantage Consulting is proud to be Influential Brands' HR strategic partner for the recognition of the “Asia’s Top Employer Brands” Award.
This award aims to celebrate companies with:
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Prominent employee engagement
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Great culture
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Good relevant HR practices
aAdvantage Consulting will administer an employee survey to validate the level of staff engagement and measure the culture in the participating companies. The results will be a key consideration in determining the award recipients.
Participating companies will receive a complimentary report, highlighting how its people practices compare with best practices as well as benchmarking data on culture and staff engagement with Top Employer Brands.
Companies who achieve high scores in the assessment process will be recognised as Top Employer Brands, and be offered prominent brand/media exposure across Local and International Media (Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times among others) in both offline and online media (LinkedIn, Tech in Asia, others).
A Mark of Business and Brand Excellence, Influential Brands is committed to recognising business excellence in Asia. Leveraging on more than 20 years of business knowledge, know-how and expertise in Asia, InfluentialBrands® is the premier Catalyst of Growth that celebrates “Champions of Excellence” in Asia.
I found the culture values assessment to be very interesting as it provides us a different perspective of the gaps between employees' personal values and their desired organisational values versus the current organisational values. It shows that besides sustainable engagement, there is a need to understand the cultural fit between employees and employer. I found the survey to be very useful and it was something that we can work on. Kudos to you and your team for providing us a great service to us. Please continue with the good work!
Mr Steven Tan
Chief Human Resource Officer
City Developments Limited
Human Capital Assessment
We recognise that depending on the needs of the business, the role the Human Resource in the organisation changes and develops. The most basic needs of a business starting out is to hire the “right” team members and pay its employees on time and comply with regulations.
As organisations mature and reach a steady state of operations, it then has to deal with issues of retaining the “good ones” to ensure least disruptions to its operations. When organisations begin to think longer-term and sustainability of their operations, they then need to address needs such as the relevance of their organisational and people capabilities to be ready for the future. However, these organisations still need to grapple with the everyday issues of motivating their people to achieve their highest performance, developing and retaining them.
Where is your organisation today with respect to the business challenges faced? Are your human capital practices meeting the aspirations of your employees? Do your current HR policies and practices motivate or discourage staff to produce their best work?
Do a quick self-assessment of your human capital practices and book an appointment with us to review your results in the context of your current business imperatives.
HUMAN CAPITAL SURVEY
A 1-Minute Survey That Will Transform Your Organisation
Is your organisation ready to face the business challenges of today?
Are your human capital practices meeting the aspirations of your employees?
Do your current HR policies and practices motivate or discourage staff to produce their best work?
Our Impact, Our Transformation
Helmi Talib
Managing Partner
Helmi Talib & Co
Jacqueline's expertise and knowledge made the project run smoothly. She provided timely and relevant information that enhanced the firm's performance management system. She carried out the project professionally and provided good recommendations for the change that we will make. The firm engaged Jacqueline and her team to make improvements in our performance appraisal system. The project helped us to identify three important components which are significant in rewarding staff performance and giving annual increments. The staff are happier and motivated because of the clearly defined performance indicators and competencies per function per level. I am very satisfied with the outcome of the project headed by Jacqueline. We will definitely engage her again in the future.
