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It was the fortuitous move to Ascott International that paved the way for a most satisfying career in HR for Paul Lim. Before that Paul's professional future ahead had seemed carved in stone in the accounts field. How did an accountant make that career jump?
Paul recounted his first few years in SATS that gave him an in depth knowledge of the Employment Act due to his focus in performance control work and payroll in the accounts department of SATS. |
It was when he was with the payroll department of Ascott International, in 1990 that his sharp knowledge of the Employment Act, gleaned during his previous job, impress his boss and he was offered a position in the HR department. Fifteen years later, today, Paul is glad he made that move as he has found that HR is his passion. He is now Director of Human Resource, at Ascott International Management (2001) Pte Ltd.
Paul is basically a people oriented person. He believes in being a fair-minded guy. He gets immense satisfaction when dealing with and helping people. These basic traits were his foundation stones to the development of his career and progress in HR. While he found HR engaging, work life was not without its difficult days too. He realized that to further his knowledge capacity in this field he had to learn more. And so he completed his HR degree in 1995/96. In his own words what motivated him to not just get his toes wet but go in for the deep-end dive in HR was, “In the accounts job, I don't meet people much but dabble largely in numbers. But in the HR field, I get to meet a large number of people instead”.
Paul believes that one has to be a certain breed to be able to do HR work at all. A HR person is one who knows how to balance management expectations and employee rights. One needs to be firm and fair to both parties. He feels that there is a lack in this area. He said, “In Singapore, HR generally tends to be management focused only, when the right approach is to be well balanced in representing management requirements while meeting employee rights”.
With the experience at Ascott International, and a good performance record, under his belt, he availed himself to a new challenge at SCM Microsystems, the Singapore factory of an US manufacturing group. Here the environment was completely different – as would be expected in an industrial or manufacturing environment. Seven years into the job, and the factory was sold to the Koreans and wound up. “The timing was great by God's grace”, he said as “Ascott International had an opening waiting for me”.
How does Paul see challenges in the industrial and service sectors? He said, contrary to common perspectives, the challenges are more in the service industry, especially in areas of recruitment and retention. He explained that there is higher turnover of staff in the service industry as compared to manufacturing because service industry staff are not tied down by work permits (WP) & employment pass (EP) contracts and so tend to be more mobile while manufacturing industries had a greater proportion of staff who may be from overseas and so are tied down through WP & EP contracts.
Can these challenges be managed? Did Paul find them daunting? When faced with these challenges, Paul found that the regular channels were drying up – yielding very little benefit. These channels included advertisements in newspapers, employment agencies and so on. But one avenue proved otherwise: word-of-mouth referrals or recommendations by employees and friends. These avenues helped in stemming the problem of staff turnover, frequent recruitment exercises and cut costs of recruitment too. It helped in getting the right kind of employees too. Paul introduced this scheme in Ascott International; staff who recommend others are given monetary rewards, if the recommended employee stays on for a year. But again this also has to begin with identifying the right staff who would be invited to recommend others to ensure that the right kinds of people are brought in.
Paul also emphasized that with the dynamic economic environment that we have today there are bound to be other new challenges too! Such as leadership! The right people in leadership, at the various levels, are crucial to ensuring that employee stay on or at least stay longest at their jobs. Employees don't always look at the salary packet after a certain stage. They look at who they report to and what the company does for them. Employees, therefore, tend to leave their jobs more because of weak leadership or supervisors. The solution here is to train leaders, so as to stem this problem. Paul remarked, “Leadership or skills training for leaders/supervisors is critical before they get promoted! We make promotions conditional to successful completion of all prescribed training programmes before the promotions are considered”. Among the types of training programmes are those on communications, supervision, mentoring and counseling. Paul gets immense satisfaction from having contributed to this development in HR practices at Ascott International.
"Contrary to the understanding of many companies in Singapore, Paul believes in the professional outlook regarding HR practices in that he is also of the opinion that HR is not just an administrative function. Well rounded HR people are more like consultants to senior management. They help management move on with their business policies, decision-making and development through sound employment practices. Employees on the other hand should be able to see and believe that the HR person is fair and can be trusted. They know they are in good hands, irrespective of the outcome and are ready to accept the outcome of a particular issue or matter. This is not an easy position for an HR person to aspire to and that is why HR people are a special breed, reminded Paul."
All the more that they have to be a “tough” breed too as he feels that in the future, the going will get tougher for HR personnel. This is why people with the passion for the job will make a difference compared to those who view HR as a management tool. “HR has to break out of this mindset”, declared Paul. With Singapore entering the “IR-era” within a few years and with all the attendant changes in economic structure that can happen in the next decade, HR professionals have to look at new ways of recruitment and retention. “It is no longer sufficient to dangle the carrot at the end of the stick”, he said. “Also all kinds of perks and benefits won't last long too. At the end of the day job satisfaction and motivation will figure greatly and for this to be sustainable we need the right leadership at every level, in the organisation” reiterated Paul. It takes two hands to clap, as while employees are expected to add value to the organization, the organisation has also to respond through adding value to the employee. Therefore, a HR professional needs to have “courage” to serve well and to make a difference – the courage to bring up what is right instead of being content to be doing an administrative job! The HR professional must be defined by a passion for people. And yet have the ability to take on a mature, balanced outlook, be pro-active and have a “can-do” attitude. As advice for aspiring HR personnel, he concluded, “A HR person has to be fair minded and balanced, both to employees and management. Carrying out HR functions can be according to policy but don't be over focused on that; have compassion when executing your HR duties”.
That would also sum up the characteristics that make Paul the consummate HR professional. For Paul, fifteen years on in a HR career and it has not been dull. Each day is a new beginning for him. Each day he looks forward to what the day will have in store. Each day, there would be the thrill of helping management achieve their business goals through sound HR management principles and practices. And each day has a challenge to help employees find satisfaction at their jobs. Each day, he loves what he does.
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