By DIANA ROSLAM
Diana Roslam speaks to Dip Kang, a Senior Manager Human Resources / Talent Acquisition of Dell Malaysia about what the MNC looks for in employees and how the company goes about retaining staff.
****
What do you generally look for in an employee?
Employees should have three key features; eagerness, hunger and keenness to learn. When you show your eagerness, you take the proactive approach by going straight to the person-in-charge to ask for help. When you’re hungry, humble and want to learn, people around you will guide you and teach you.
At Dell, we have the Individual Development Plan (IDP) where the employee is encouraged to plan their career path; what they want to do, what they want to learn, etc. The managers will sit and go through this with the employee and discuss the possibilities. It is no longer a dictatorial approach.
We also have a mentor-buddy system in place. New employees will have a buddy assigned to them to guide and help them blend in for a period of time. This mentor-buddy system can be suggested by the managers, but they can also be chosen by the employees themselves.
Which one is more important when selecting employees - paper or experience?
They both matter. You need to have certain standards to get into a multinational company (MNC), like a degree or a diploma, depending on the job. That’s the minimum qualification. But that doesn’t mean that you need to get the highest degree to join Dell. What matters are the criteria; the eagerness to learn, etc. The experience does matter, of course, especially in senior positions. They might have only a certificate or a diploma, but they have been doing this for years, so in the old days, a degree didn’t really matter that much.
What do you look for then? Both the paper qualification and experience carry a value. New employees need the qualifications and qualities to join an MNC. For middle management, it's very important to have paper qualifications but you need to have the right work experience, too.
Is it hard to get employees in Cyberjaya?
It’s a chicken and egg kind of story. We get them very easily. Like other global brand names, Dell is one of the best companies to work for. It boils down to how innovative you are in getting talents.
For the Talent Acquisition Team, we pride ourselves as the ambassadors of the company and we take matters seriously in terms of how we present ourselves and how we attract the candidates to join us. Once we’ve got them on board, it’s up to everyone; the management, the senior employees and colleagues to make sure that these new employees are working in a better environment. It’s a team effort.
What are your challenges?
Getting the right talent is our main obstacle. Business strategies change and, like other companies, we need to hire seniors and juniors and the competition is tough out there.
The supply is short when it comes to the Information Technology (IT) industry in Malaysia, as opposed to other countries. Therefore, we need to compete to make sure we get all the right people in.
I have to say, Dell has been doing pretty well so far, but then again, we need to be more creative and think outside the box as far as strategies are concerned. Talent acquisition is no longer about sitting and waiting for people to apply for jobs. You need to go out and get the people in. It is more proactive than it is passive.
What are your pet peeves during interviews?
For me, first impressions matter. When you come dressed up in a suit and formal attire, please present yourself accordingly. If you don’t present yourself in a friendly manner; not smiling, not making eye contact, not humble regardless of how senior you are, that’s immediately a no-no. Therefore, first impressions do matter.
Give due respect when you enter the building, even to the receptionist and the security guards. Address them accordingly because if the management or interviewer finds out, it is not a nice thing as it reflects on you and what kind of person you really are. Watch your demeanour and manners at all times.
Do your homework and ask questions. Everything you need is available on the Internet; the company profile, mission and vision and function and also understand the role that you’re coming in for. Come prepared with questions because if you don’t and just sit there, it can be a boring interview. Interviews are about interactions - don’t forget that.
How do you expect the candidate to perform after employing them?
I expect the person to understand the job and their responsibilities. Both parties (the employer and employee) need to communicate with one another from time to time. Both need to lay out the goals for the next few months and discuss the weaknesses that need to be improved on.
What are the effective ways of retaining employees?
We are talking about different generations here, therefore there are many factors involved. In saying that, I don’t think that salary is a big factor, although it helps if you pay a market rate or above the market rate.
As a HR manager, I believe that having a better work environment helps and that comes with various facilities. At Dell, we provide the employees with a gym, pool table, videogames and a lounge area for them to take a break from their work. It creates a balance and ultimately, a better environment.
What are your talent management strategies?
Different companies have different talent management strategies as they focus on many different things. But then again, employee retention can be a very tricky game. Where we are based, we can feel the competition coming up as more and more companies compete to get the best talents. You can see the same scale sets but some companies are willing to pay their employees more than others. Truthfully, we can’t always compete with the salaries that are being paid above the market rate. But what we can do is come up with strategies on how to make the working place a better environment so that people would actually stay.
What is your advice to jobseekers who want to work at Dell?
To those who want to join Dell, I have to say, you’ll be making a good choice as it is a great company to work for, with a good working environment, and you will be rewarded based on meritocracy and performance. We do not practise favouritism. It’s a very flexible company to work for and we have all the facilities here, especially in Cyberjaya. We make sure all the employees are well taken care of. Dell will add value to your career and your work experience. At an MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) company like Dell, you will be able to learn so much that even when you go to other companies in the future, you can adapt very easily
Sunday, February 20, 2011
think creativity
The speaker asks, “How many here think creativity is important to their jobs?”. All in the room raise their hands.
The speaker then asks, “How many here think they are creative?”. Most people in the room lower their arms, some halfway, as if to say they are at least partially creative.
Finally, the speaker asks, “How many here feel their companies are doing enough to make employees more creative?” and all hands are lowered as laughter ripples through the room.
“I’ve asked those three questions over a thousand times in 30 countries and the answers are always the same. Sometimes, two people raise their hands for the third question, and it’s usually the head of HR and the guy sitting next to him,” author and speaker Fredrik Härén told an audience
Härén was in town to promote the launch of his book, The Idea Book, which has already sold 200,000 copies in 40 countries and has been published in nine languages.
After working with clients ranging from a Swedish nuclear-power plant to the Supreme Court of Singapore, Härén’s immediate suggestion to companies that want to promote creativity is, “Do something. Anything! Even one workshop is better than none.”
His second suggestion is to tell corporate leaders to be creative. “Leadership by example may be a cliché but it’s also true. I know of a company that started ‘Casual Friday’ and the CEO sent an email out encouraging it but said he himself would turn up in a suit and tie. So of course, no one went casual. On the other hand, leaders who don’t just talk creativity but actually do creative things really inspire their organisations.”
There is no single way to teach creativity but most methods fall into two camps — tool-driven, which teaches methods like mind-mapping and Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”, or idea inspiration. Härén and his book fall into the latter. “After reading hundreds of management books I realised the only two things I took away from them were the quotes and the stories. So The Idea Book is 150 pages of quotes and stories and 150 blank pages for your own ideas.”
Understanding creativity and innovation is also key to facilitating it. “A creative person is someone with unique ideas. An idea is essentially combining two previously known items in a new way. Innovation is taking those ideas and making them work,” explains Härén. It’s also a misconception that creative ideas must be completely new and alien things. “Not so, often innovation and creativity are merely ‘copying better’. You take a good idea and you make it better with the knowledge that you have. What is the iPhone after all but the idea of a better touch screen and a better mobile phone combined?”
His take on the subject is that everyone has knowledge, they’re just not combining it in new ways to create ideas. “This is why, so frequently, the best ideas happen when you’re either utterly relaxed and your mind is free to roam or under so much pressure that you get inspired from desperation,” he says. Both are situations where a person is more likely to make new and different connections.
Workplaces, however, often attempt to keep things going in a more or less smooth fashion, with preset systems in place. Therefore, he adds, the manager’s role is to get employees to constantly question the systems in place and out of the flood of ideas filter out the good ones — the ones that either save money or create money — and killing the bad ideas in a way that does not staunch creative confidence.
Creative confidence, he says, is key. “Creativity is about going outside boundaries and questioning the way things are done. Organisations that have too many rules breed workers afraid to move for fear of breaking one. Instead, creative companies are value-driven — they set the goal for their employees but don’t limit how they get there,” says Härén.
An example, he says, is Ikea which has only two values — to question everything and to always lower costs and make products more affordable. “Companies should aim to take away as many rules as possible but be very strict on the few that are core to corporate values,” advises Härén.
Finally, a mistake many organisations make is to designate one team or department as the “creative” team, the one responsible for coming up with ideas. “There are no specifically creative people or creative industries because everyone has the potential to be creative and all industries need creativity. It’s better for an organisation to empower its entire workforce to be slightly more creative each day, than to make one crazily creative person, more creative,” says Härén.
The speaker then asks, “How many here think they are creative?”. Most people in the room lower their arms, some halfway, as if to say they are at least partially creative.
Finally, the speaker asks, “How many here feel their companies are doing enough to make employees more creative?” and all hands are lowered as laughter ripples through the room.
“I’ve asked those three questions over a thousand times in 30 countries and the answers are always the same. Sometimes, two people raise their hands for the third question, and it’s usually the head of HR and the guy sitting next to him,” author and speaker Fredrik Härén told an audience
Härén was in town to promote the launch of his book, The Idea Book, which has already sold 200,000 copies in 40 countries and has been published in nine languages.
After working with clients ranging from a Swedish nuclear-power plant to the Supreme Court of Singapore, Härén’s immediate suggestion to companies that want to promote creativity is, “Do something. Anything! Even one workshop is better than none.”
His second suggestion is to tell corporate leaders to be creative. “Leadership by example may be a cliché but it’s also true. I know of a company that started ‘Casual Friday’ and the CEO sent an email out encouraging it but said he himself would turn up in a suit and tie. So of course, no one went casual. On the other hand, leaders who don’t just talk creativity but actually do creative things really inspire their organisations.”
There is no single way to teach creativity but most methods fall into two camps — tool-driven, which teaches methods like mind-mapping and Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”, or idea inspiration. Härén and his book fall into the latter. “After reading hundreds of management books I realised the only two things I took away from them were the quotes and the stories. So The Idea Book is 150 pages of quotes and stories and 150 blank pages for your own ideas.”
Understanding creativity and innovation is also key to facilitating it. “A creative person is someone with unique ideas. An idea is essentially combining two previously known items in a new way. Innovation is taking those ideas and making them work,” explains Härén. It’s also a misconception that creative ideas must be completely new and alien things. “Not so, often innovation and creativity are merely ‘copying better’. You take a good idea and you make it better with the knowledge that you have. What is the iPhone after all but the idea of a better touch screen and a better mobile phone combined?”
His take on the subject is that everyone has knowledge, they’re just not combining it in new ways to create ideas. “This is why, so frequently, the best ideas happen when you’re either utterly relaxed and your mind is free to roam or under so much pressure that you get inspired from desperation,” he says. Both are situations where a person is more likely to make new and different connections.
Workplaces, however, often attempt to keep things going in a more or less smooth fashion, with preset systems in place. Therefore, he adds, the manager’s role is to get employees to constantly question the systems in place and out of the flood of ideas filter out the good ones — the ones that either save money or create money — and killing the bad ideas in a way that does not staunch creative confidence.
Creative confidence, he says, is key. “Creativity is about going outside boundaries and questioning the way things are done. Organisations that have too many rules breed workers afraid to move for fear of breaking one. Instead, creative companies are value-driven — they set the goal for their employees but don’t limit how they get there,” says Härén.
An example, he says, is Ikea which has only two values — to question everything and to always lower costs and make products more affordable. “Companies should aim to take away as many rules as possible but be very strict on the few that are core to corporate values,” advises Härén.
Finally, a mistake many organisations make is to designate one team or department as the “creative” team, the one responsible for coming up with ideas. “There are no specifically creative people or creative industries because everyone has the potential to be creative and all industries need creativity. It’s better for an organisation to empower its entire workforce to be slightly more creative each day, than to make one crazily creative person, more creative,” says Härén.
What matters most to Malaysian employees?
Malaysians value job stability and security the most, but only 11% plan to remain with their current organisation compared with the global average of 42%, says the Towers Watson Global Workforce Study 2010 published in April.
Conducted between November 2009 and January 2010, the study polled 20,000 full-time employees from 22 countries around the world. In Malaysia, over 600 employees from mid-size to large organisations were surveyed.
Other key findings of the study:
- Most Malaysians (81%) believe networking and collaborating with peers will enhance and develop necessary skills.
- Eight in 10 view new job assignments as ways to enhance and develop skills.
- If career advancement opportunities are lacking, Malaysian talent will jump ship.
- While on the job, Malaysians want clear goals, tasks that are well-suited to their skills and a supportive mentor.
- Company leaders must be trustworthy, care about employee well-being and encourage personal development or 28% of employees will be making plans to leave.
Written by Emily Tan
Conducted between November 2009 and January 2010, the study polled 20,000 full-time employees from 22 countries around the world. In Malaysia, over 600 employees from mid-size to large organisations were surveyed.
Other key findings of the study:
- Most Malaysians (81%) believe networking and collaborating with peers will enhance and develop necessary skills.
- Eight in 10 view new job assignments as ways to enhance and develop skills.
- If career advancement opportunities are lacking, Malaysian talent will jump ship.
- While on the job, Malaysians want clear goals, tasks that are well-suited to their skills and a supportive mentor.
- Company leaders must be trustworthy, care about employee well-being and encourage personal development or 28% of employees will be making plans to leave.
Written by Emily Tan
How to engage your employees
Why is engaging employees so important? Numerous studies have shown strong quantitative correlations between engaged employees, loyal customers and superior financial performance for organisations across numerous industries. So how do high-performing organisations achieve high levels of employee engagement? The seven key elements common across organisations with highly engaged workforces are:
• Measuring employee engagement;
• Analysing the drivers of employee engagement;
• Communicating to employees through multiple channels;
• Listening to employees;
• Acting on employee suggestions and feedback;
• Proactively managing change; and
• Demonstrating the link between employee engagement, customer loyalty/advocacy and financial results
An increasing number of organisations around the world are measuring employee engagement. They do so via regular (usually annual) surveys of employees with the results of these surveys often included in the balanced scorecard performance management assessments of senior executives. This is the first and most important step because without this measurement it is not possible to know whether employees are engaged, and if they are not, what actions are required to ensure that they become engaged. Yet many large organisations in Malaysia still do not measure employee engagement. Perhaps because they remain unconvinced of its importance or perhaps because they fear that the results will reveal low levels of engagement and require them to take urgent remedial action.
While an important step, measuring employee engagement alone is not enough. The employee survey used to do so usually also provides a large amount of additional information that can be used to determine the drivers of employee engagement. Knowledge of these drivers in turn enables leadership, supported by HR functions, to take action and launch initiatives that can increase employee engagement levels.
These interventions inevitably include improvements in communicating to employees. The use of multiple channels is one key to successfully communicating to employees. In selecting the appropriate channels, the two main considerations are the nature of the message content and the profile of the audience. For example, written communications such as circulars and email are effective for routine information dissemination but perhaps not for conveying complex or potentially sensitive concepts for which face-to-face communication, such as town hall meetings, may be preferable. Similarly, younger employees who are more technologically savvy may prefer blogs or social/business networking websites while older employees may prefer briefings from their immediate superiors.
Equally important is to ensure that senior executives listen to employees. While the engagement surveys themselves are one way that employees can provide feedback and suggestions, organisations that have high engagement scores tend to supplement the survey with regular employee focus groups and suggestion boxes (especially electronic versions of this well-established concept). However, gathering employee feedback and suggestions can backfire if leadership does not take the action required to address employee concerns or in situations where it is not possible to do so, at least explain the reasons for their inaction.
Another opportunity to engage employees arises during periods of change, which is inevitable in the increasingly competitive and complex environment within which organisations do business these days. Proactively managing change programmes is vital for increasing employee engagement. Such a proactive approach should include not only two-way communication with employees but also other crucial interventions like redesigned training and realigned performance objectives and rewards in an integrated approach to change management.
Finally, high-performing organisations are also mindful that employee engagement is not an end in itself but a means to an end. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that customer loyalty/advocacy is also measured and the linkages between employee engagement, customer loyalty/advocacy and financial results are monitored to reaffirm the business case for investing in and focusing on employee engagement. If more and more organisations, especially in the financial services sector, take engaging their employees seriously, then perhaps the values they espouse will be reflected in the day-to-day actions of their employees and this in turn will reduce the likelihood of future economic crises caused by excessive risk-taking
by Dharma Chandran is a human capital partner and performance and reward leader with Ernst & Young Far East Area
• Measuring employee engagement;
• Analysing the drivers of employee engagement;
• Communicating to employees through multiple channels;
• Listening to employees;
• Acting on employee suggestions and feedback;
• Proactively managing change; and
• Demonstrating the link between employee engagement, customer loyalty/advocacy and financial results
An increasing number of organisations around the world are measuring employee engagement. They do so via regular (usually annual) surveys of employees with the results of these surveys often included in the balanced scorecard performance management assessments of senior executives. This is the first and most important step because without this measurement it is not possible to know whether employees are engaged, and if they are not, what actions are required to ensure that they become engaged. Yet many large organisations in Malaysia still do not measure employee engagement. Perhaps because they remain unconvinced of its importance or perhaps because they fear that the results will reveal low levels of engagement and require them to take urgent remedial action.
While an important step, measuring employee engagement alone is not enough. The employee survey used to do so usually also provides a large amount of additional information that can be used to determine the drivers of employee engagement. Knowledge of these drivers in turn enables leadership, supported by HR functions, to take action and launch initiatives that can increase employee engagement levels.
These interventions inevitably include improvements in communicating to employees. The use of multiple channels is one key to successfully communicating to employees. In selecting the appropriate channels, the two main considerations are the nature of the message content and the profile of the audience. For example, written communications such as circulars and email are effective for routine information dissemination but perhaps not for conveying complex or potentially sensitive concepts for which face-to-face communication, such as town hall meetings, may be preferable. Similarly, younger employees who are more technologically savvy may prefer blogs or social/business networking websites while older employees may prefer briefings from their immediate superiors.
Equally important is to ensure that senior executives listen to employees. While the engagement surveys themselves are one way that employees can provide feedback and suggestions, organisations that have high engagement scores tend to supplement the survey with regular employee focus groups and suggestion boxes (especially electronic versions of this well-established concept). However, gathering employee feedback and suggestions can backfire if leadership does not take the action required to address employee concerns or in situations where it is not possible to do so, at least explain the reasons for their inaction.
Another opportunity to engage employees arises during periods of change, which is inevitable in the increasingly competitive and complex environment within which organisations do business these days. Proactively managing change programmes is vital for increasing employee engagement. Such a proactive approach should include not only two-way communication with employees but also other crucial interventions like redesigned training and realigned performance objectives and rewards in an integrated approach to change management.
Finally, high-performing organisations are also mindful that employee engagement is not an end in itself but a means to an end. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that customer loyalty/advocacy is also measured and the linkages between employee engagement, customer loyalty/advocacy and financial results are monitored to reaffirm the business case for investing in and focusing on employee engagement. If more and more organisations, especially in the financial services sector, take engaging their employees seriously, then perhaps the values they espouse will be reflected in the day-to-day actions of their employees and this in turn will reduce the likelihood of future economic crises caused by excessive risk-taking
by Dharma Chandran is a human capital partner and performance and reward leader with Ernst & Young Far East Area
Don't take your eye off implementation
Implementing a strategy is never easy; the number of failed strategies over the years is proof of it. Eight years of research by Bridges Consultancy show that nine out of 10 strategies fail to be implemented successfully. Something needs to change and it starts with the leaders. But before they think about what they can do differently, leaders need to understand their role in strategy implementation.
“The leader has to oversee the implementation. They have to make sure people take action in the right direction. They have to understand their role; most don’t. They either do too little or too much,” says Robin Speculand, chief executive of Bridges Consultancy International, in a recent interview.
One reason why implementation remains one of the biggest hurdles leaders face is because they habitually underestimate it, he says.
“They [leaders] think the biggest challenge is to come up with the strategy. When it comes to implementation, many of them take their eyes off the ball. One of the rules of thumb — if it’s taking you one year to craft a strategy, it will take you at least two years to implement it,” explains Speculand.
One of the things leaders need to do is focus on communication. A new strategy usually faces resistance and this is where communication can help.
Before announcing its new customer-centric strategy in 2003, Microsoft Asia-Pacific decided to create awareness among its staff. Speculand’s consultancy, which worked together with Microsoft at the time, placed posters that would arouse curiosity in the back office. One poster showed a plane flying with dark clouds on the horizon and a caption that read, “Sunny weather today but there’s turbulence just ahead”.
A few more posters showed up over the next few weeks and before long, staff started talking about them. By the time the new strategy was announced, they were prepared for it.
“Emotionally, they got on board and then we explained numerically why the transformation needed to happen. The change was very well-received,” says Speculand.
Culture also plays an important role in deciding how well a strategy is accepted by employees. “The message here is that when a leader implements a strategy, it has to fit in with the way the organisation works,” says Speculand.
Culture and communication are among the eight areas leaders must focus on in a framework based on the one Speculand explained in his first book, written six years ago. The other areas are: people, business case, measure, process, reinforce and review.
“It’s like a compass, so there’s no one area more important than the other; some are more important for different organisations. One client may work on communication while another may work on measurement,” says Speculand.
“You’ve got to look at all of the eight, some are more important than others but you have to address each and every one simultaneously.”
The global financial crisis has only heightened the importance of implementation, and this has helped his consultancy experience a 5% growth over the last 18 months, says Speculand.
“Leaders are under tremendous pressure to deliver for shareholders. In the past, if something went wrong, companies just threw in more money. Today, they don’t have the capital to do that. As a result, leaders have to do it right the first time.”
Written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy
“The leader has to oversee the implementation. They have to make sure people take action in the right direction. They have to understand their role; most don’t. They either do too little or too much,” says Robin Speculand, chief executive of Bridges Consultancy International, in a recent interview.
One reason why implementation remains one of the biggest hurdles leaders face is because they habitually underestimate it, he says.
“They [leaders] think the biggest challenge is to come up with the strategy. When it comes to implementation, many of them take their eyes off the ball. One of the rules of thumb — if it’s taking you one year to craft a strategy, it will take you at least two years to implement it,” explains Speculand.
One of the things leaders need to do is focus on communication. A new strategy usually faces resistance and this is where communication can help.
Before announcing its new customer-centric strategy in 2003, Microsoft Asia-Pacific decided to create awareness among its staff. Speculand’s consultancy, which worked together with Microsoft at the time, placed posters that would arouse curiosity in the back office. One poster showed a plane flying with dark clouds on the horizon and a caption that read, “Sunny weather today but there’s turbulence just ahead”.
A few more posters showed up over the next few weeks and before long, staff started talking about them. By the time the new strategy was announced, they were prepared for it.
“Emotionally, they got on board and then we explained numerically why the transformation needed to happen. The change was very well-received,” says Speculand.
Culture also plays an important role in deciding how well a strategy is accepted by employees. “The message here is that when a leader implements a strategy, it has to fit in with the way the organisation works,” says Speculand.
Culture and communication are among the eight areas leaders must focus on in a framework based on the one Speculand explained in his first book, written six years ago. The other areas are: people, business case, measure, process, reinforce and review.
“It’s like a compass, so there’s no one area more important than the other; some are more important for different organisations. One client may work on communication while another may work on measurement,” says Speculand.
“You’ve got to look at all of the eight, some are more important than others but you have to address each and every one simultaneously.”
The global financial crisis has only heightened the importance of implementation, and this has helped his consultancy experience a 5% growth over the last 18 months, says Speculand.
“Leaders are under tremendous pressure to deliver for shareholders. In the past, if something went wrong, companies just threw in more money. Today, they don’t have the capital to do that. As a result, leaders have to do it right the first time.”
Written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy
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