Fact Sheet on Best Practices of Some HCPartners

10 Oct 2017Press Releases

First job, first career: Fragomen Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Fragomen, a word-wide immigration solutions provider, believes in investing in their people and providing opportunities to those who might not have any formal work experience. They actively take part in university career fairs and career talks to reach out to fresh graduates who have the passion to learn to join their dynamic and forward-looking organisation.

One such example is Mr Shankar Nair (Ramesh) who is one of Fragomen’s first Singaporean employees. He joined the company in 2002as a visa coordinator, after graduation.In 2005, when he requested for the opportunity to work in the US, to join his wife,the company recognised his potential and provided him with the opportunity to work in Fragomen’s New Jersey office as a Client Services Manager. Ramesh did well and assumed positions of increased responsibility over the years and in 2015, was sent to help lead the new Malaysia Office as Director of Operations. In 2016, Ramesh was further promoted to Partner, forming part of Fragomen’s global leadership team.

At Fragomen, most of its senior staff are hired locally, provided with training opportunities, and equipped to take on senior manager positions. Employees who consistently perform above their current role are identified for the 6-monthPromotional Development Plan (PDP). Employee development and engagement opportunities are extended to them where possible, with much support from the management team.

A local fresh graduate, Mr. Ferris Leong joined Fragomen in 2012 as Consultant. He quickly showed his potential within the Asia Pacific Coordinator Centre and progressed to become a young team manager, where he is a good bridge between staff and the management team. Following active coaching by a Partner as part of the PDP and its completion, Ferris was promoted to Manager. As part of the management team, Ferris will continue to be given opportunities to develop within the firm.

Building a local pipeline of talent to support industry development: Jurong Port Pte Ltd

HCPartners recognise the importance of equipping its current and future employees with critical skills that allow them to be future-ready, especially in the face of disruption and industry transformation. To provide employees with a head-start in their careers and deepen their skillsets across the breadth of the container terminal and multi-purpose port operations, Jurong Port has introduced a series of initiatives. These include a 12-month Earn and Learn Programme, in partnership with Singapore Polytechnic; a Management Associate Programme to provide fresh graduates with a structured 18-month rotation programme across key business and support divisions; and the MaritimeONE Scholarship, which has awarded eight undergraduates over the last five years.

Their competency-based career progression model for Equipment Specialists develops a breed of multi-skilled Equipment Specialists who are capable of operating different port equipment to cater to the growing cargo types that Jurong Port is capable of handling. Equipment Specialists are recognised for the number of equipment competencies in terms of job grade and remuneration. Efforts are underway to develop similar models for Port Operations, Workplace Safety & Health and Technical group of employees.To enhance capabilities, increase productivity and upgrade the skills of port workers to be future-ready for the industry, Jurong Port also initiated:

• Jurong Port Academy – Launched in January2017, the Academy is open to Jurong Port employees, port users and industry partners. It leverages experienced employees from the business and partners with external training providers to offer various technical, operations and safety trainings.
• Learning & Performance Portal - Launched to make information and enrolment of learning courses easily accessible to employees,it also offers e-learnings for employees to learn on the move and at their own pace and time.

To address leadership development in Jurong Port, the company established a 3-tiered leadership competency framework that comprises pre-and post-training surveys, classroom trainings, assessments, online support and coaching sessions over a course of 18 to 24 months. The first two levels of leadership development, which are the Emerging Leaders Development Program and Management Leaders Development Program, were designed to equip people managers with leadership competencies.

Developing people to build a stronger Singaporean core: BreadTalk Group Limited Nurturing human capital has been BreadTalk Group’s (BTG) central focus and this is reiterated through its constant emphasis on people development. To tackle the challenge of injecting new blood to the employee pool, the Group actively seeks new and innovative methods to attract the young. Some of the initiatives BTG partakes in are the Core Executive Program, Management Associate Programme, National HR Scholarship, Internships, the Earn and Learn Programme, and Outlet Training.

In 2013, BTG engaged in the Core Executive Programme (CEP) for Food Services and Retail Sectors developed by NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster and SPRING Singapore. The programme entails an 18-month training stint within the Group, where the Management Associates (MA) were given on-the-job internal and external training. One of the MAs, Mr Paul Fang, who has since graduated from the programme, rose through the ranks to become an Assistant Manager, Procurement under the Restaurant Division.

BTG launched its Management Associate Programme in 2015, targeted at fresh university graduates who were passionate in pursuing a career in the F&B industry. The Programme exposes MAs to on-the-ground operations and functional roles,and work directly with BTG’s senior management, providing them with the opportunity to fast track their career paths.

Another key focus of BTG is talent management. In line with BTG human resources’ goals of instilling a performance driven culture, training and development of human capital has been on the forefront of BTG’s agenda. To support this, BTG has implemented the BreadTalk Group Academy, Leadership and People Management Workforce Skills Qualifications Framework, and Performance Management Framework.

Recognising BTG’s ardent support for investing in the training and development of its employees, BTG was among the inaugural batch of 14 employers to receive the SkillsFuture Employer Award in August 2017.

Investing in human capitaland tapping on experience of older workers: Gardens by the Bay

As a world-class horticultural attraction, Gardens by the Bay (GB) places great importance in the career progression and development of its people. Its holistic Leadership and Talent Development Framework encompasses Scholarship Awards and a structured job rotation programme that allows talents to work in various teams and take on different job roles for skills development. Identified talents were also offered mentoring and coaching programmes, exchange programmes with other international horticultural institutions around the world. Selected potential leaders have also been sent to the signature Capstone Leadership Programme for Non-Profits to equip them with strategic and leadership skills.

One such employee is Ms Eunice Phua, 24, who joined GB in June 2012 as Officer-Gardens Operations with a Diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Management. Due to her good performance and career potential, she was awarded GB’s scholarship to pursue a Bachelor in Applied Science degree at the University of Queensland in 2015. Eunice is currently a Senior Horticulturist, Gardens Operations with an ambition to specialise in tree care.

While it is a local team that developed and manages the Gardens, there are niche areas of botany and horticulture where GB has tapped on foreign expertise to complement the local workforce. This was particularly important when GB had to start world-class conservatories displaying plants from different geographical climate zones around the world. There is a handful of foreign horticultural specialists with expertise in nurturing and caring of plants from the vastly different locations.

One such example is Mr Anton van der Schans. He joined GB as Assistant Director-Plant Introduction in 2007, bringing with him more than two decades of experience specialising in horticulture and plant design. Since then, junior colleagues and apprentices such as Mr Muhammad Hazri bin Mohammade Siddiq, have benefitted from Mr Anton’s active mentoring on botany and horticulture. Under his guidance, 25-year old Hazri learnt more about planting and transplanting of trees and shrubs throughout the gardens. To-date Hazri, who is currently a Horticulturist, has played a key role in planting and transplanting of more than 1,000 trees and shrubs and is entrusted with the daily maintenance and introduction of new plants in various parts of the gardens.

GB reviews talents based on their ability to perform regardless of their age. Mr John Loh Chee Kiong joined GB at the age of 72 upon his retirement as a Procurement Executive. GB, being a new company at that point in time, benefitted from John’s years of experience in handling procurement and tender matters. John has also played an active role in mentoring young procurement talents in GB. Due to his good performance,he was promoted to Procurement Manager in 2015 and re-designated as Senior Procurement Manager two years later. At 77, John continues to be motivated in his work and is a living example of a model employee for everyone to emulate in the organisation.