APFHRM UPDATE
The APFHRM delegates meeting was held in Singapore on 7 March 2006
Update on APFHRM’s Ongoing Projects:
1. APFHRM Booklet – the booklet will include “Communities of Practices” in the Federation’s core values. This will be translated and distributed by each country member to their respective institute members.
2. Membership – to be awarded membership of the APFHRM, associations are required to have a sizeable membership, they must be nationally recognized, have a high professional standing and protect the interests of HR practitioners.
3. Website – the APFHRM website will include pictures of and messages from each country, each President and person in charge of international affairs, also the heads of professional staff.
4. Membership Drive – roadshows will be undertaken abroad to make the APFHRM more widely known. Flagship projects such as the HR accreditation and building of community of practice projects will be promoted.
5. Exchange Program – there was a successful exchange program between Sri Lanka and India. Other Federation members are encouraged to expand the concept of and use it for mutual benefit.
6. World Congress – the meeting reviewed progress on the forthcoming World Congress to be held in May.
7. HR Accreditation – the HR accreditation team will collect and compare other HR accreditation systems in other countries with the aim of developing a Federation-wide HR accreditation system.
COUNTRY REPORTS
Philippines
2006 Philippine Economic Forecast
The Philippine economy is expected to grow by 5.0% this year due to an upturn in investment activities. Fueled by this expected economic recovery and the increasing remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), private consumption is forecast to register a growth rate of 5.5%, a 0.5 percentage point increase from 2005. The corporate income tax rate will rise from 32% to 35% starting from this year until 2008.
A law extending value-added tax (VAT) was implemented in November 2005. An increase in corporate income tax is also due early this year, as the government has announced that a 2 percentage point increase in the VAT rate permitted under certain circumstances will be implemented on February 1st 2006, a move seen as essential in achieving a significant narrowing of the budget deficit by the end of 2006.
It is also projected that for this year 30 percent of the incremental revenue from the expanded VAT will be used for capital spending. The government has also scheduled massive infrastructure projects for the year, to promote growth in the north and south sectors of Metro Manila.
Given this scenario the increased value added tax will help boost public investment due to an expanded government budget, investment in the IT industry is also due to pick up in 2006 due to increased confidence in the Philippine economy and gross fixed capital formation in 2006 is forecast to register a positive growth rate of 5.0%, a nine percentage point increase from 2005.
However, an expected difficult global environment might reduce GDP growth from an estimated 4.9% in 2005 to 4.7% in 2006, but lower oil prices and higher global trade growth and increased OFW remittances in late 2006 should allow GDP growth to accelerate to 5% by early 2007.
Exports are expected to grow by 4.5% due to a stable increase in external demand, a 0.5 percentage increase from last year. Imports are expected to grow by 4.4%, 1.4 percentage points higher than last year, which reflects the recovery of domestic demand. The inflation rate is expected to be at 6.2%, down from 6.5% of last year.
The government is optimistic that the unemployment rate will be lower this year, having embarked on vital fiscal reforms to generate the resources needed to fuel job growth over the medium term. According to the Philippines’ National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), unemployment in 2005 was particularly severe in the agricultural sector because of the El Niño drought. Since this year will not be an El Niño year, farm output is expected to be back to normal. Further, it is expected that more jobs would be created by the country’s sunrise industries, with call centre jobs increasing by 60 percent this year.
There is a real estate boom fueled in part by call centres demanding more office spaces which has also brought on additional OFW inflows. This will generate additional employment opportunities in the construction industry, while the government channels much funding support to the labour intensive small and medium enterprises (SMEs), thus adding to the job total.
PMAP Update
Overview
a)
Membership |
1,100 corporate members |
68 individual members |
|
19 chapters |
|
1,000 youth |
b) Founding date: October 13, 1956
c) President: Atty. Emerico O. de Guzman
d) Executive Director: Mr. Gerardo A. Plana
• Annual Conference
The Annual Conference is scheduled for September 27, 28 & 29, 2006 in Manila. The conference theme is “PMAP @ 50: Partnering with Business for Nation Building”. The conference will also be a celebration of 50 years of PMAP.
• Training and Education
PMAP continues to offer short courses on HR to its members.
New Zealand
Country Report
First Quarter 2006
Contents
1. Report on HRINZ – first quarter 2006 (membership, events, growth, etc)
2. New Zealand labour force participation – December 2005 quarter (including most up-to-date employment/unemployment data)
3. Job Vacancy Monitor February 2006 (breakdown of jobs by occupation)
4. Update on New Zealand employment legislation
1. HRINZ
Membership
HRINZ currently has approximately 3000 individual members and is experiencing consistent net annual growth of over 15 per cent (Figure 1). Based on New Zealand Census 2001 data, HRINZ estimates its membership density to be about 40 per cent of the total potential pool of HR practitioners operating in New Zealand. This figure is expected to grow when Census 2006 data become available later this year.
Figure 1. Membership Growth
The current executives of HRINZ are:
National President: |
Geoff Summers AFHRINZ |
National Vice President: |
Jim Pope MHRINZ |
National Vice President: |
Bill Shields AFHRINZ |
APFHRM Representative |
Crispin Garden-Webster FHRINZ |
HRINZ Chief Executive |
Beverley Main |
Activities
With the steady flow of new members HRINZ has entered into 2006 with a passion and is set for another busy year. A full Professional Development Programme is underway and will be delivered in locations throughout the country.
Click here to see a PDF of the key programmes offered by HRINZ in 2006.
Other News
• New Branch. Due to the increase in membership, a new branch has been established in Northland in the upper North Island. This is the first new HRINZ branch created since 1994. The new Northland Branch had its first meeting on 1 February 2006 to elect its officers and membership is growing steadily.
• Awards. In late February, HRINZ hosted its seventh National HR Awards. The HR initiative of the Year award went to the Horticultural technology company HortResearch and the HR Person of the Year Award went to Ms Adrienne Murray from Loyalty New Zealand. The Ceremony attracted a record audience.
• National Conference. The 2006 National Conference will take place in Wellington from 13 to 15 September. The theme of this year’s conference is: 'Vision - living the future today; what we stand for and what we seek to achieve’
• Accreditation. Professional Membership (Accreditation) is steadily increasing as a result of the new online application process. The Institute now has almost 300 Professional Members. This represents almost 15 per cent of total membership. The Grading Panel regularly meets to review Professional Membership of the Institute.
• Specialist Professional Membership. The Institute has commenced awarding Specialist Professional Membership. Members can now apply for this grade of membership with specialisations in Employment Relations, Recruitment, Health & Safety and Learning & Development.
• Career Development. The Institute has a Strategic & Annual Business Planning Process and has a number of sub-committees working on projects. The Career Development Project [CDT] team is looking at various ways of enhancing the membership benefits. This project has initiated a broker arrangement with coaches all around New Zealand who will provide coaching services to our Members for a discount. The CDT is also working on a Log Book for members to maintain, for the purposes of their career development, applying for Professional Membership and to present to prospective employers.
• Competencies. The Competency Review Group is examining the HRINZ Professional Framework with a view to possibly expanding competencies.
• Compensation Survey. The Institute carried out a nationwide Remuneration Survey Project and a précis of the results is attached in the Appendix.
• Government Consultation. The Institute has increasing engagement with Government, which has led to the Institute being consulted on overall employment issues. The CEO of the Department of Labour has recently featured in Human Resources magazine. The Department was a co-sponsor of the 2004 HR Initiative of the Year Awards and is also supported the 2005 Awards.
• APFHRM Website. HRINZ in collaboration with AHRI is leading the development of an Asia Pacific Federation of HR Management website to facilitate regional collaboration and networks.
• I2M Investment. HRINZ has invested heavily in its Institute to Member (I2M) infrastructure and have introduced an integrated events/financial/membership management system which will future-proof the Institute’s capability as it grows. HRINZ continues to be recognised as one of the most progressive, professional and desirable organisations of its type in New Zealand. The Institute’s website (www.hrinz.org.nz) receives nearly a million hits most months from nearly 40,000 individual visitors and our bi-monthly magazine has expanded, with record advertising sales as a result. The HR Jobs section of the site has between 50 and 70 opportunities listed at any one time.
2. New Zealand Labour Force Participation
2.1 Overview. The New Zealand Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS - December 2005), produced by Statistics New Zealand indicates that there has been an easing of the employment growth with a quarterly decrease of 0.1 percent and an annual increase of 1.5 percent. Unemployment fell by 1.9 percent over the quarter, resulting in an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent.
There has been a fall of 0.6 percent in full-time employment and an increase of 2.4 percent in part-time employment. Employment increased 0.5 percent for males and fell 0.7 percent for females over the quarter. Total actual hours worked per week decreased 1.5 percent over the quarter.
The working-age population increased by 0.4 percent in the December 2005 quarter, a higher rate of growth than the previous three quarters. Annual growth has slowed since September 2003 and continued to do so this quarter.
The total labour force fell 0.1 percent over the quarter; while the number not in the labour force grew by 1.1 percent. This resulted in a fall in the labour force participation rate of 0.3 of a percentage point to 67.8 percent.
In summary, despite an easing of employment growth, the labour market remained tight in the December 2005 quarter, with very little change in either the number of people employed or the number unemployed. New Zealand’s 3.6 percent unemployment rate is the equal lowest on record and the lowest rate in the OECD group of developed nations.
 |
 |
3. Job Vacancy Monitor – February 2006
The Job Vacancy Monitor (JVM) is a monthly analysis of job advertisements published in selected editions of 25 regional newspapers and on selected websites. It enables HRINZ to monitor the number of advertised vacancies in each occupational category over time.
3.1 Total Job Vacancies. The total number of advertised job vacancies decreased to 6,895 in February 2006 - 8% less than in the same period 12 months earlier (see Figure 1).
This was the largest fall measured since the inception of the JVM, and was the fifth consecutive month in which an annual decline in vacancies was measured.
The growth in advertised vacancies has been trending downwards since April 2004. However, there were still 25% more advertised vacancies in February 2006 than in February 2003.
The number of highly skilled job vacancies fell by 8% in February 2006 compared to the level 12 months earlier (see Figure 2).
This is down from an average annual growth of 20% over the first three-quarters of 2005.
Click here to view a PDF of HRINZ's Job Vacancy Figures, Feburary 2006. Table 1 shows that a fall in vacancies was measured for legislators, administrators and managers (-8%) and most professional groups. However, business and legal professionals (2%), and 'other professionals' (53%) recorded growth.
4. New Zealand Employment Legislation
4.1 Introduction of four weeks annual leave. Under New Zealand’s Holidays Act (2003) all employees are entitled to a minimum of three weeks annual holidays. As of April 01, 2007, this will change and employees will be entitled to four week’s annual holidays. Four weeks will become the minimum leave entitlement. Leave entitlements above four weeks, will be a matter of negotiation between the employer and employee.
4.2 The 90 day job probation debate. The New Zealand Parliament is considering a Private Members Bill that calls for the introduction of mandatory 90 day probation period for new employees. The debate surrounds on the one hand the suggestion that it will help more people find jobs and on the other hand that it compromises workers’ rights by making it easier to sack people during the first three months on the job.
Appendix:
HRINZ Remuneration Survey 2005 Results Summary
In association with Momentum and Strategic Pay
One of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand’s (HRINZ) strategic objectives is to add value to its membership through research and in 2004 an agreement between three parties, HRINZ, Momentum and Strategic Pay was reached to research the remuneration levels of those working in the area of human resources. Each organizationhas donated its time and expertise and this survey continued in 2005.
In December, 2600 HRINZ members were asked to participate in an electronic survey which had been prepared by the survey partners. 668 valid responses were received (a 26% response rate) which comprised the data set used for 26 different roles covered across all levels of both the Public and Private Sectors in New Zealand. The survey was conducted on a job match basis, with respondents matching their particular role with benchmark definitions provided with the survey. Strategic Pay analysed the data and have prepared a comprehensive report.
This latest survey has included data from self-employed HR consultants and contractors and employed professional consultants. HRIS and in-house recruitment roles have also been added to the 2005 survey. It is intended that these groups will be included in future surveys.
We are pleased to provide all HRINZ members with the results of this survey.
Points of interest in the findings include the following:
• 57.9% of respondents hold managerial roles, with approximately one quarter of these at a senior level.
• 51.2% of respondents work in organisations that employ between 100 and 2,000 FTE employees.
• 51.6% of respondents have 3 to 10 years experience in HR.
• 63.4% of respondents are aged between 31 and 50 years.
• 75% of respondents are female.
• 92.9% of respondents have tertiary qualifications.
• Public companies pay better than private companies
• Central Government pay comparably to public companies.
Thailand
Economic situation
Forecast of headline and core inflation were similar to previous projections, with headline inflation expected to come down fast in 2006 and core inflation expected to trend upwards. The fall in headline inflation was due to oil prices that were projected to level off throughout the forecast period, making headline inflation lower than in the previous periods during which oil prices soared. The up-trend in core inflation was partly due to pent-up price pressures created by higher oil prices, which were expected to pass through to prices of good and services in the core consumer price basket.
Policy rate increase, which boosted commercial banks to adjust up their reference rates, helped reduce demand-side inflationary pressure somewhat. Although world oil prices remained stable, there were still risks that they could rise beyond the assumptions used. Thus, the MPC projected that headline inflation in 2006 would average around 3.5-5 per cent, similar to the previous forecast, trending downwards from the average of 4.5 per cent recorded in 2005 before declining further to average at 2-3.5 per cent in 2007. Meanwhile, core inflation that averaged at 1.6 per cent in 2005 was expected to increase to 2-3 per cent in 2006 and 2-3.5 per cent in 2007, converging towards headline inflation. Looking at its Quarterly average, there was still some chance that core inflation would exceed the policy target range of 0-3.5 per cent towards the end of the projection period.
The momentum of the Thai economy was likely to continue going forward while headline inflation should slow down. Nevertheless, price pressure still existed while real deposit rates remained negative.
Summary Forecasts as of January 2006 |
||||
Annual percentage change |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
GDP Growth |
6.2 |
4.5 |
4.75-5.75 |
4.5-6.0 |
Core Inflation |
0.4 |
1.6 |
2.0-3.0 |
2.0-3.5 |
Headline Inflation |
2.7 |
4.5 |
3.5-5.0 |
2.0-3.5 |
The employment situation in Thailand
Click here to view a table of employment figures for Thailand between 2004-2006.
The employment situation in Thailand has improved. The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), in its overview of social conditions in Thai society in 2005, states that the 2005 employment rate was the highest in the past three years.
According to a study conducted , the number of employed people in Thailand last year rose to 36 million, up from 35.3 million in 2005 . The increase was a result of continued economic expansion. The construction sector saw the highest increase in the employment rate, at 20 percent, while the increase in the service sector came to 9 percent, the trade and banking sector, 4.6 percent, and the handicraft and industrial sector, 4.4 percent.
The unemployment rate in 2006 will not be higher than 2 percent, when compared with 1.7 percent in 2005. As for the fourth quarter of 2005, the unemployment rate was the lowest in the year, at 1.2 percent. Bangkok saw the lowest unemployment rate of all regions of the country, at only 0.9 percent. The southern region saw the highest unemployment rate, at 1.6 percent, possibly due to unrest in the three southern border provinces.
But we have a concern that the present political tensions might have an impact on the economic and investment situation in 2006, thus affecting the employment situation. About 100,000 new graduates would enter the labor market this year. If investment faces a slowdown, the employment situation for the new graduates will be affected. However, the problem would not be serious, taking into consideration the current high employment rate.
The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) study indicates that more and more Thai people have life insurance. In 2004, life insurance premiums in the country stood at about 107.6 billion baht. The amount rose to 118 billion baht in 2005. About 96 percent of Thai people were covered by health insurance in the past year. Out of this number, 75.4 percent benefited from the 30-baht health care scheme, 13.8 percent obtained health insurance from the Social Security Program, and 6.6 percent from the Government Welfare Fund. The number of Thai people suffering from major diseases saw a decrease. Road accidents in the past year were also on a decline.
Key to the table of employment figures for Thailand:
Employed
cover persons, aged 15 years and over who during 7 days prior to the interview.
1. worked for at least one hour for wages, profits, dividends or any other forms of compensations from jobs which earns cash or in kind, or
2. did not work at all but had regular jobs, business enterprises or farms from which they were temporarily absent as due to illness/injury, vacation/holiday, strike/lockout, unfavourable harvest weather, off-season or other reasons, such as temporary shutdown of the work place, regardless of whether they were paid by their employers during their period of absence, with a condition that the workplace would be expected to re-open within 30 days from the date of closure and they would resume their former job; or
3. worked for at least one hour without pay in business enterprises or farms owned or operated by household leaders or members.
Unemployed
cover persons, age 15 years and over and 7 days prior to the interview, with one of the characteristics as follows:
1. did not work and have no permanent job but have been looking for work, applied for work or waiting for employment within one month prior to the interview date.
2. did not work and have no permanent job and have not been looking for work within one month prior to the interview but is available for work during 7 days prior to the interview.
The Labor Force
comprises of persons aged 15 years and over who during 7 days prior to the interview, were either employed or unemployed or waiting for the appropriate harvest season to resume work that were usually unpaid for, or worked without compensation on farms or engaged in business enterprises that are owned or operated by a member of the family.
Singapore
Introduction
This report aims to provide useful information on Singapore's Economic and Employment climate as well as insights on the challenges and issues the HR Profession faced in Singapore. The report also contains information on Singapore Human Resources Institute membership statues and its activities.
I. Economic Performance
(Source: Ministry of Trade and Industry GDP Estimates for First Quarter 2006)
The Singapore economy grew at a faster pace in the first quarter of 2006. Advance estimates show that real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 9.1% in the quarter compared to the same period in 2005. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualized basis, real GDP grew by I.2%, easing from the 12.5% expansion in the preceding quarter.
The manufacturing sector is estimated to have grown by 16% in the first quarter, underpinned largely by strong growth in the electronics, biomedical and transport engineering clusters.
The construction sector continued to decline, at an estimated 0.6% in the first quarter, an improvement over the 0.8% contraction in the last quarter.
The services producing industries are estimated to have grown by 7.6% in the first quarter. The healthy performance was largely driven by a faster pace of expansion in the wholesale and retail trade sector.
The preliminary GDP estimates for the year 2006, including sectoral performances, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, is expected to be 4 to 6%.
1Q05 |
2Q05 |
3Q05 |
4Q05 |
2005 |
1Q06 |
|
Overall GDP |
3.4% |
5.7% |
7.6% |
8.7% |
6.4% |
9.1% |
Goods Producing Industries |
||||||
Manufacturing |
3.2% |
5.9% |
13.1% |
14.2% |
9.3% |
16% |
Construction |
-1.1% |
-1.1% |
-1.4% |
-0.8% |
-1.1% |
-0.6% |
Service Producing Industries |
4.3% |
5.8% |
6.8% |
7.2% |
6% |
7.6% |
II. Labour Market Report
(Source: Singapore Ministry of Manpower, Labour Market Report for 2005)
Employment
Employment grew by 113,300 or 5.1% in 2005, exceeding the previous year’s gains of 71,400 or 3.3%. The strong employment creation brought the total number employed to a new high to 2.3 million persons as at 2005. The job gains come mainly from the services sector which provided two-thirds of the employment created in 2005. Manufacturing employment grew by 29,500 and was supported by significant gains in the transport equipment segment. Even the construction sector added 8,700 workers in a turnaround from the employment losses it had generally experienced since 1998.
Professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) accounted for the largest share of both public and private sector vacancies at all-time high of 67% (or 2,120 of the openings of public sector vacancies) and 41% (or 8,100 of the openings of private sector vacancies). This is followed by demand for teaching professionals, production operators, cleaners & labourers and clerical, sales & service workers. Wages on the average continued to rise for all sectors.
Unemployment
With the robust job creation, unemployment has fallen to its lowest in slightly over four years. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate dropped significantly to 2.5% in Dec 2005 (from 3.3% in Sep 2005 and 3% in Dec 2005). For the whole year, unemployment averaged 3.2% (overall) and 4.1% (resident), an improvement from 3.4% (overall) and 4.4% (resident) in 2004.
While unemployment for most age-education groups improved relative to a year ago, the mature and less educated continued to form the bulk of the long-term unemployed. Specifically, mature residents aged 40 and above across all education groups experienced lower unemployment in Dec 2005, with the tertiary educated experiencing the largest improvement among the mature residents. Those without secondary qualifications formed the biggest group of unemployed, accounting for 41%, followed by the secondary educated at 28%.
Labour Turnover
Overall, labour turnover was broadly unchanged in 2005 from the year before. The average monthly recruitment rate (2.7%) continued to surpass the resignation rate (2.1%). The Economic Development Board (EDB) expects optimistic business sentiments to continue into the first half of 2006 and attributed this positive momentum to the stable economic outlook for the first half of 2006.
III National Skills and Qualifications Framework to Skill Up Singapore Workforce
On the back of improved economic conditions, training participant among the local workforce rose from 25% in 2004 to 27% in 2005. However, the training intensity has declined from 4.4 days per adult in 2004 to 4.2 days per adult in 2005. The older and less educated continued to lag behind those younger and higher educated in both training participation and intensity. In view of this, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) launched the Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) system in Oct 2005 for adult workers to skill up to remain employable and competitive. The WSQ is benchmarked against world standards and spells out the training and certification pathways to facilitate adult learning, make skills upgrading more accessible to the workforce. The WSQ offers employers and workers quality assurance in training and demonstrates how training can be translated into better jobs and career progression. WDA monitors the quality of training providers and their courses to ensure that training imparts the right knowledge and skills to meet learning needs.
IV Facing The Challenges of Ageing Workforce
With falling birth rates and rising life expectancy, Singapore’s population and workforce will grow older. This will impact the labour market as the proportion of older workers aged 50 and above in the labour force will increase from 22% in 2004 to 29% in 2015. To sustain the economic growth and to meet the consequential demand for workers, the older workers will need to stay in the labour force longer. A Government appointed Tripatite Committee on Employability of Older Workers was formed to explore ways to enhance the employability of older workers. The Committee submitted their proposals to the Ministry of Manpower in Jan 2006. The recommendations are grouped into four key strategic thrusts:
a. Expand Employment opportunities for older workers;
b. Enhance their cost competitiveness;
c. Raise their skills and value; and
d. Shape positive perceptions towards older workers.
The Committee’s recommendations included a comprehensive package of incentives to motivate and enable employers to recruit older workers and re-employ them beyond the statutory retirement age of 62. It supports various initiatives such as job redesign and automation, wage restructuring, training to the placement, re-employment and retention of older workers. The WDA has launched a six-week long campaign to persuade the public and employers that older workers have the edge in experience over their younger colleagues. The campaign, which begun on 11 Apr 2006, features testimonies from four real-life individuals – two employers, a co-worker and a customer of elderly employees, each with a message that skills, ability, attitude and experience matter more than age.
III. Workplace Diversity in Singapore
Singapore is one of the most competitive and vibrant economies in the world. Strategically located as the gateway to Asia Pacific, Singapore reaches a market place of 2.8 billion people within a seven-hour radius. Over the last four decades, it has transformed into a leading international center for business and investment and more recently, a thriving cosmopolis for arts and innovation. The key element of success for Singapore is diversity – in talent, ideas and enterprise. So promotion of diversity is now official government policy. To show that it means business, the government has not merely exhorted people to embrace the change in direction but put in place explicit measures to incentivise schools along that direction.
Today, Singapore is a reputable financial center, a key international trading center, the world’s busiest port, a rising biomedical hotbed and Asia’s most wired city. Singapore is a melting pot of cultures and technical know-how. It brings together a diverse group of companies from all over the world. More than 7,000 international companies complement the base of Singapore local companies, undertaking activities from management to manufacturing and R&D. The companies are able to bring in foreign managerial skills while retaining useful local practices.
The high concentration of enterprises on a small island like Singapore offers opportunities for interaction, transactions and collaborations. Singapore’s central location in Asia makes it ideal for companies to study and access the region. The cultures and ethnicities in Singapore are representative of the diverse Asian market with a population exceeding 2.5 billion. Hence, it is important for local managers to undergo cultural-based Human Resource management training to further their abilities to motivate a group of professionals that are highly qualified but culturally diverse. Furthermore, the HR managers must assure the local professionals that these foreign talents are not a threat to their career advancement. Therefore, the effectiveness of workplace diversity management is dependent on the skilful balancing act of the HR manager. Thus, a Human Resource professional needs to be mindful and may need to employ a “Think Global, Act Local” approach in most circumstances.
The challenges and problems faced from workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize and manage this diverse body of talent. Managing diversity emphasizes managerial skills and policies needed to optimize every employee's contribution to the organizational goals. Initiatives are taken not because of legal mandates or moral and ethical imperatives but instead to enhance organization morale, productivity and benefits. After underrepresented people are hired and employee consciousness had been raised, appropriate policies, procedures, and managerial interventions are needed to operationalize a culturally diverse workplace.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has laid down several policy guidelines to ensure that employers do not practice employment discrimination. Recruitment and selection practices should be based on fair and objective criteria such as qualification, experience, skills and attributes which are relevant to the job requirement. In line with this, employers are encouraged to adhere to the Tripartite Guidelines on Non Discriminatory Job Advertisements, issued jointly by the Ministry of Manpower, the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), when putting up job advertisements. Fair and objective criteria rather than factors such as age, race, gender, marital status and religion should be included in the job advertisements. The Tripartite Guidelines laid down the following rulings:
(1) Employers should specify language requirement in their job advertisement only if it is a requirement for the employee to be proficient in that particular language to be effective in the job applied for.
(2) Employers should not use language requirement as a way to discriminate candidates. However, it would not be unreasonable for the employer to select a candidate who has the specific attributes in order to be able to perform the duties of the job.
(3) The Ministry will investigate and take appropriate action against any employer where it is established that he has resorted to hiring workers based on discriminatory requirements.
IV. Update on Singapore Human Resources Institute
Founded on: |
24 Nov 1965 |
President: |
Mdm Ho Geok Choo |
Membership: |
|
Corporate Friends: |
150 |
Individual Members: |
2800 |
Total: |
2900 |
Activities/Programs
Year 2005 marks SHRI's 40 years of bringing HR to the fore. Various activities have been planned in 2005 and 2006 with the most prestigious and significant event to be the 11th World HR Congress Singapore 2006 where SHRI represents Singapore and the APFHRM in hosting the WFPMA Congress.
India
Events
APFHRM Conference along with Annual National Conference at Chennai, India from 1st to 3rd December, 2005 on the Theme “Leading Transformation in the 21st Century : New Paradigms, New Directions”.
Western Regional Conference on 6th & 7th January, 2006 at Nashik, India on the Theme “HR : Catalyst for Business Growth”.
International HR Confluence, 2006 in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science from 15th to 18th February, 2006 at Bangalore, India on the Theme “Enabling Execution Excellence – Global Agenda”.
National Conference on the Theme “Competitive Advantage through Human Resources: in collaboration with GITAM College of Management Studies on 10th & 11th March, 2006 at Visakhapatnam, India.
Southern Regional Conference from 27th to 28th March, 2006 on the Theme “Building and Nurturing Intellectual Capital for Organizational Excellence” at Mangalore, India.
Papua New Guinea
Report from the Papua New Guinea Human Resource Institute
I. Papua new guinea has just celebrated 30 years of independence. With the high oil and gold price, the country’s poor economic state of affairs is slowly turning around. The country has been living beyond its means due to international borrowings.
II. Human Resources matters are directly affected by the state of the economy. For example, for the small country of 5 million people, there are 55,000 school leavers and of those only 5000 new jobs are created by the economy. The school leavers are pushed out of the system and many become frustrated.
III. HIV and AIDS and the consumption of illicit drugs is growing among young people. In the country, where marijuana grows wild naturally, there is a growing tendency for young people who are pushed out of the school system to consume more and more drugs, especially marijuana.
More and more young people are dying of HIV AIDS and are mentally affected by drug abuse. PNG is at risk of a compromised workforce. This growing trend will affect the capacity of the country to provide the necessary manpower needed by this young country.
The government needs to provide leadership to bring together all the resources with appropriate international assistance, to work towards a drug and HIV AIDS free policy. This will be an important step towards liberating PNG from this looming disaster.
IV. The Papua New Guinea Human Resource Institute is gaining momentum after a long period of silence. Some significant achievements are as follows:
a. In Partnership with the national University of Papua New Guinea we have developed a strategic alliance to offer the first ever HR Degree course in the country. We are very happy about this development.
b. Also in partnership with this university, the PNGHR Institute is on the path to developing the first ever HR journal of the Pacific.
c. A student chapter of the institute has been established and close to a 100 students have joined. Unique programs for the students are being organized and the PNGHRI Institute is now providing annual grants, scholarships and eventually will provide prizes for top HR graduates. The institute will also be assisting HR major students with industrial secondments.
V. Membership: |
20 Corporate members |
200 Individual Members |
|
86 Student members |
Jerry Wemin
President – Papua New Guinea Human Resource Institute
Australia
Overview
AHRI is currently undergoing a significant governance re-structure. AHRI was formed in 1943 as the Industrial Welfare and Personnel Association. It underwent many changes over the years until 1992 when it federated and became the Australian Human Resources Institute. It operated independently until late 1999.
The organizationhas been operated as a wholly owned, not for profit company of Deakin University since 2000 as a result of insolvency in late 1999. Deakin has managed the organizationas a member based association through allowing member elected representatives the opportunity to influence the strategic direction of the national organization, and conduct State based activities through member involvement with the financial and logistical support of the organization. As a consequence of the partnership which has developed over time between Deakin and the AHRI members, the Institute has increased its size and presence in Australia over the last six years. AHRI is well respected as the only HR association in Australia with a financial membership in excess of 12,000
Governance Re-structure
During late 2005, after many years of discussion with the AHRI elected officials in attempts to negotiate a form of member ownership of the professional direction of the Institute, the AHRI Board and the elected representatives (the Council of State Presidents) agreed upon a course of action acceptable to both sides.
AHRI is being re-structured to create two separate entities. The membership of the Institute, through the member elected representatives, will obtain ownership of the key assets of a professional association, including ownership of the membership list. The members will therefore resume ownership and control of their own association, a situation deemed to be appropriate by all people concerned. This entity (AHRI) will be a not for profit company limited by guarantee. It will have responsibility for member accreditation, tertiary curriculum accreditation, member discipline, code of conduct and will also have a National President who will represent the Institute domestically and internationally where appropriate, together with a Board which will have elected representatives from all States and Territories of Australia.
The remaining company will become a commercial service provider to the Institute and will have an exclusive licence to service the membership of AHRI as a professional association. The service company will manage all administrative functions, professional development, communications and commercial sponsorship arrangements for the AHRI membership.
It is anticipated that this re-structure will be in place formally by 1 July 2006. The new structure allows AHRI to retain the responsibility of determining the strategic direction of the profession of HR in Australia, and will also protect AHRI against the risk inherent in managing significant financial activity through a largely volunteer structure. The arrangement has the broad support currently of Deakin University and member elected representatives, although the detail relating to the re-structure is still being negotiated.
HR in Australia
There have been significant changes in employment law in Australia in 2006. In late 2005, the government introduced its controversial Workchoices legislation. The legislation took effect at the end of March 2006 and has the potential to have a profound impact on the employment conditions of millions of Australians.
The legislation is designed to increase the flexibility of employment conditions in Australia. It removes many of the minimum conditions previously contained in the legislation, reduces the powers of the unions and imposes a greater emphasis on organisations negotiating employment conditions with individuals.
Particular aspects of the legislation generating concern include the ability for companies with less than 100 employees to be exempt from unfair dismissal legislation. This allows companies of this size to dismiss employees for reasons other than those prohibited by law (such as on grounds of race, religion, gender). It provides enormous flexibility for these organisations to dismiss workers or adjust employment conditions which has not previously been available.
Other issues impacting on the practice of HR in Australia include the increasing impact of the skills shortage in various specific occupations such as accounting, nursing, medicine, engineering and all trades. Companies are suffering from a lack of skills in these and many other specific areas. This problem is acute in the metropolitan areas, but is even more severe in regional centres.
As a consequence, the issues of attraction and retention are frequently receiving attention as issues facing the HR profession in Australia. Recent research indicates that there are also other issues emerging which may be seen as symptoms of this problem – such as accumulated recreation leave which has reached the stage of many billions of dollars accrued on the balance sheets of Australian businesses.
AHRI Activities
• AHRI experienced a 7% net membership growth in 2005. Membership numbers had dropped in late 2004 as a consequence of the new member accreditation system introduced in July 04.
• In addition to overall membership growth, the increase in professionally accredited members has been substantial with a huge response in 06 of approximately 6% of members upgrading their membership in the first quarter.
• The AHRI Convention is again on target to increase in both delegate and trade numbers in 2006. Guest speakers include Mark Huselid from Rutgers University, Kjell Nordstrom from the Stockholm School of Economics and Gail Kelly – the CEO of St George Bank. It will be held in Melbourne on 24 and 25 May.
• AHRI has introduced new Awards to add to the Awards for Excellence program it runs in the States and nationally. The two new awards recognise HR leadership in two forms, one being through the contribution of consultants to the HR team to assist in providing solutions. The second award acknowledges HR Leadership through individual HR practitioners within the organization. AHRI also has an award which is supported by the Federal Government on organisations with a focus on flexible solutions to employment.
• AHRI is running a range of seminars on the topic of Older Workers, Younger Managers, in response to the Federal Government’s priority of addressing the issue of the ageing workforce. These workshops are for young managers of older workers to address some of the stereotypes which exist in the workplace and to encourage younger workers to challenge their perceptions.
• The Institute has just completed its second remuneration survey of the membership and has identified that HR practitioners have received increases of 5.5% which is higher than CPI (3%).
• There was a 41% increase in job ads for HR practitioners in the past 12 months, which is significantly above the average of 34.6%.
• AHRI has been running a range of workshops relating to the new WorkChoices legislation. Given that the impact of this will be quite extensive over the coming few years, it is anticipated that there will be a need to review all educational products in this area and that the future educational opportunities are substantial.
• AHRI is bringing to Australia Dr Laurie Bassi for the annual HR Week activities in the first week of September. Dr Bassi will talk about her research over the last decade which has lead to important research breakthroughs and new measurement methodologies for linking investments in the development and management of people to stock prices, sales productivity, safety, and other business results. HR Week is the largest simultaneous HR activity in Australia. It occurs in the first week of September in every state capital and several regional centres also.
• AHRI is currently engaged in nine significant research projects, including the Human Resource Competency Survey conducted by Professor Dave Ulrich and Professor Wayne Brockbank from the University of Michigan. AHRI is also partnering with SHRM on a Corporate Social Responsibility survey across Australia, US and India.
• AHRI is maintaining its focus on accreditation of University curriculum in 2006. With 90 courses currently accredited across 22 providers, it is anticipated that in the 2006 round, the remaining universities will submit their HR courses for endorsement by the independent HR Curriculum accreditation panel AHRI brings together for this purpose.
Hong Kong
Brief General Economic Profile of the Country (GDP, CPI, Unemployment Rate) – abstracts from government statistics
(A) GDP
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 7.6% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2005 over a year earlier, compared with the 8.3% increase in the third quarter. For 2005 as a whole, GDP recorded a growth of 7.3% in real terms over 2004. Analysed by constituent sector and year-on-year comparison, net output in all the service sectors taken together rose by 7.8% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2005 over a year earlier, after an increase of 8.6% in the third quarter. For 2005 as a whole, there was an increase of 8.0%.
(B) CPI
According to the Composite CPI, overall consumer prices rose by 1.8% in March 2006 over a year earlier, larger than the 1.6% increase in February. The larger year-on-year increase in the Composite CPI in March 2006 than in February was mainly attributable to the enlarged increases in private housing rentals and the costs of meals bought away from home. Another reason was that the decline in charges for package tours had reduced.
(C) Unemployment Rate
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 5.2% (provisional figure) in January - March 2006, same as that in December 2005 - February 2006. The underemployment rate also held stable at 2.3% in both periods (provisional figure for January - March 2006).
Total employment increased by around 11 100, from 3 413 900 in December 2005 - February 2006 to 3 425 000 (provisional figure) in January - March 2006. Over the same period, the labour force increased by around 15 300, from 3 589 700 to 3 605 000 (provisional figure).
Latest HR Trends in Hong Kong
(A) Pay Trend
In contrast with the data recorded over the past four years, all companies responding to the survey awarded a pay increase this year, as revealed by the results of the HKIHRM January 2006 Pay Trend Survey. This was also the first time in five years that the survey captured no pay-freeze or pay-cut records.
The most common salary adjustments among the 39 companies fell between 2% and 2.9%, with an overall average of more than 2%. This compared with the overall average of 1.5% confirmed in January last year (for 41 companies). Among the 13 business sectors that provided sufficient data for analysis, the Banking sector recorded the highest pay increase (4.5%), followed by the Retail (3.6%) and Manufacturing (3.1%) sectors. In January this year, no business sector recorded an overall salary-freeze or salary-reduction.
Since 2002, when viewed on a company basis, there had been an increase in the percentage of companies awarding a positive adjustment. In contrast with the figures recorded over the past four years, all respondent companies gave a pay increase this year. This was the first time in five years that no pay-freeze was recorded, and for three consecutive years no pay decrease has been recorded. [Chart 1] The January 2006 survey also revealed a record-low percentage of companies implementing an equal pay adjustment policy at all employee levels this year (from 67.5% in January 2002 to 15.4% in January 2006).
Viewed on an employee basis, compared with the same period last year, there was a sharp increase in 2006 in the percentage of employees (from 53.9% to 83.1%) awarded a positive adjustment in base pay. There were also corresponding sharp decreases in the percentages of employees who faced a pay reduction or pay-freeze in January 2006 compared with January 2005. [Chart 2]
(B) Turnover Rate and Vacancy Rate
A year-end slowdown in the turnover rate of Hong Kong employees was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2005, but the vacancy rate remained at a high level, according to the Fourth Quarter 2005 Survey on Manpower Statistics conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM). As a whole, the labor market was active in 2005 as more job opportunities were available in the market.
For the year 2005, the overall turnover rate was 11.95%, which is the highest recorded figure in the past two years. The retail industry recorded the highest yearly turnover rate (33.91%), followed by the telecommunication (21.35%) and wholesale, import / export and trading (21.08%) sectors.
On the other hand, the overall average vacancy rate was 2.59%, which was also the highest recorded rate in the past two years. The retail industry recorded the highest yearly turnover rate on average (5.33%), followed by the financial services / banking / insurance (4.73%) and business / professional services (4.52%) sectors.
Click here to view two graphs summarising turnover and vacancy rates from 2003 - 2005 and in 2005 by business sector.
(C) Five-day Working Week
In response to the HKSAR government’s initiative on adopting the five-day working week policy among civil servants and on calling for the support of major corporations in adopting the policy, the HKIHRM conducted a quick poll on February 2006 to get a better understanding of the popularity of the five-day working week in the private sector and the intention of adopting such a policy of it is not yet the current practice.
Over half of the 524 HR professionals responding said their companies had adopted the five-day working week policy (55.5%). For others companies that require their employees to work more than five days, most of their employees had to work on alternative Saturdays. Of the 228 responding companies that had not implemented the five-day working week policy, 70% said they had no plans to adopt the policy over the next two years.
Has your company implemented the five-day working week policy in Hong Kong?
Any plan that the five-day working week policy will be implemented in companies that have not implemented the policy at present within the coming two years?
(D) Debate on the Draft Labor Contract Law in Mainland China
Mainland China's top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) released the draft of the labor contract law to the public on March 21, 2006. The suggestions focus on the widely-existing problems of the current labor contract system, such as the short validity term of the labor contract, unequal pay for equal work and employers' reluctance to buy social insurance for employees. The Institute however received views from members with China responsibilities on the draft law which, if implemented, may cause a wide range of problems. Major areas of concerns are: termination of employment contracts, probation arrangements, change of employment contract, performance management, influencing power of unions or labor representatives, restriction on changing of jobs amongst competitors, HR outsourcing, etc.
Update on the HR Institute:
a. Membership
With 5% net growth and a 92% retention rate in membership achieved in the 2005/2006 membership year, the Institute now has over 4,000 members, including some 425 corporate members.
b. Accreditation
By early 2006, the HKIHRM introduced a new initiative named the Continuous Learning Recognition Scheme” to recognize members’ efforts in enhancing their professional knowledge. It is also a starting point for the Institute’s accreditation initiative. The Scheme is open to all individual members of the Institute, and those who have accumulated 20 hours of HR-related training throughout the year will receive HKIHRM recognition in the form of a certificate and have their names posted on the Institute’s webpage. So far, over 110 members have registered for the 2006 Scheme.
c. Upcoming Conferences
- Sharing session on HR practices in Dubai and India
July 2006 (tentative)
- Macau HR Conference
Jointly organized with Macau Human Resources Management Association
July 2006 (tentative)
- HKIHRM 26th Annual Conference & Exhibition
Nov 22-23, 2006
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
(Latest updates on the HKIHRM events please go to www.hkihrm.org)
