Human Resource Management Insights You Need To Know 2024

The webinar was put together by Citadel Search for HR Practitioners. It was hosted by Citadel Search’s very own Managing Director, Cindy Yeo. Through this conversation, we facilitated an interesting conversation and discovered HR cost-efficiencies that HR Practitioners can capitalise. These human resource insights brought about are still very relevant today.

We are glad many HR Practitioners joined us in this webinar – they came from top MNCs to fast-growing local companies. They ranged from CHROs to HR Heads and fielded great questions that contributed to an engaging evening. 

In this webinar, the 3 panellists gave our HR Practitioners insightful and practical measures :

• Review of HR Spend
• How HR need to stay relevant and deliver service– what are some ways to measure the efficiencies of HR in organisations
• How is technology impacting HR in the current landscape 
• How to handle retrenchment sensitively with a heart

These are our 5 biggest takeaways:

Human Resource Management Insight # 1:

There are various cost-cutting measures organisations can implement to be cost-effective.

As a HR veteran with more than 20 years in the industry, Cassandra Ong shared various HR cost-reduction initiatives. These have proven to be effective in achieving cost-efficiency for her organisations, present and past. However, these initiatives were not just needed because of the impact of the economic situation. They also provided an opportunity for organisations to right-size their employee population. This helped create an engaged team of employees with the structure and resources to meet the organisation’s strategic business objectives.

Among all the cost-reduction initiatives she had implemented, one of the most unique initiatives shared by Cassandra in her previous organisation was to establish lower pay scales for new hires, which successfully made it more cost-efficient for her previous organisation. 

More drastic methods of cost-reduction included the painful exercise of reducing headcount, restricting travel, localisation of roles, benefits alignment to the economic situation and practical measures such as the useful discipline of employees to have lights out during lunch breaks, reducing paper print, using a different grade of paper in office administration and renegotiating vendor contracts & payment terms, etc. Every dollar counts!

Cassandra shared her valuable HR insights on how to balance cost-cutting with maintaining employee morale. She highlighted the role of human resource analytics and insights in making informed decisions and optimising HR processes. 

Human Resource Management Insight #2:

Handling retrenchment the right way

In times when organisations are actively cutting costs, retrenchment has become an inevitable strategy. Citadel Search asked Cassandra about how she handled retrenchment. She shared that regardless of the economic situation, retrenchment may be an inevitable resort when business goes south. 

Some companies have done it without the due consideration of their employees’ needs, i.e. retrenchment without empathy.  She shared that it is important to handle the retrenchment process well and to understand that the employees have worked hard and contributed to the company.

Effective retrenchment practices align with the essentials of human resource management, ensuring that the process is managed with empathy and professionalism. Cassandra emphasised the importance of following best practices in human resource management to mitigate the negative impact on employees.

She shared valuable HR insights on the importance of employee retention strategies to minimise the need for retrenchment in the first place. Utilising human resource analytics and insights can help identify areas where cost-saving measures can be implemented without resorting to layoffs.

Moreover, during the webinar, the discussion also covered how to support a diverse workforce through workplace diversity initiatives. Proper performance management systems and systematic performance evaluation can help identify key performers and areas for improvement. This ensures that the right decisions are made.

However, retrenchment can be done right with sensitivity and care, using a human-centric approach. Citadel Search’s webinar participants all learnt how managers in the organisation need to be properly trained when conducting retrenchment exercises. They may not have the necessary skills and must be armed with skills and knowledge on things to avoid during retrenchment exercises. For more information on how to do it effectively, come talk to us!

Human Resource Management Insight #3:

The need to embrace Digital Knowledge

Our panellists shared how people are getting more tech-savvy in this day and age. In the past, employees can be very traditional and hence uncomfortable with technology to the extent of not knowing how to respond when online meeting invites were sent to them.

However, the recent acceleration of digital transformation has compelled everyone to become tech-savvy and embrace technology to work efficiently. The Citadel Search host noted it is remarkable to see how highly adaptive employees have become in these uncertain times, and technology has played a big part in this progression.

Technology has helped organisations save costs in various ways. With online video calling platforms, people can now close deals through online means. Conducted employee training and development programs through E-platforms. Hold regional meetings live via online collaboration tools, saving the costs needed to fly regionally or internationally.

The shift towards digital tools aligns with the essentials of human resource management. This ensures that employees are equipped with the necessary skills and resources to succeed. Our panellists discussed the best practices in human resource management for integrating technology into daily operations.

Embracing technology is also part of broader workplace diversity initiatives, ensuring that all employees, regardless of their tech-savviness, have access to training and support. Implementing and tracking performance through robust performance management systems can help assess how well employees adapt to new technologies.

Training and development programs are crucial in this digital era. They provide employees with the knowledge and skills to navigate new tools and platforms. Additionally, leadership development strategies are essential to prepare leaders who can guide their teams through digital transformations effectively.

Technology’s role in modern human resource management best practices cannot be overstated. Enabling organisations to stay competitive and agile in a rapidly changing environment.

Human Resource Management Insight #4:

It is crucial to pivot and go into digital strategy

Our panellist Group CEO Aaron Boey shared how Eu Yan Sang pivoted and continued to excel amidst the pandemic. He shared how the leaders advised their employees to focus on the things that they can control. They are to always remain strategically sound but actively astute. From Aaron’s perspective, the business is not sustainable and built based on just short-term measures like cost-cutting, because whilst the cost has to be managed, revenue has to come in as well.

During the lockdown, when Eu Yan Sang retail stores were forced to shut down, as they were not considered “essential services” they got their act together to leverage their assets. 

One part of the strategy was digitalisation by moving retail stores to e-commerce platforms. The other part of the strategy was using more traditional methods by calling up customers to find out what they needed, what they lacked and fulfilling them, as part of their efforts to maintain their tradition of educating customers and building relationships. 

Even with the country-wide lockdown, Eu Yan Sang managed to achieve great success, even hitting 2/3 of their normal sales with all their retail stores closed. 

Many ideas and tactical innovations that were implemented came from their people, their spirit to never give up and strive for longer term and sustainable success.

It was inspiring and amazing to see how our local companies such as Eu Yan Sang demonstrated such thought leadership. They are ahead of the curve, giving the webinar participants a much needed boost and confidence!

Human Resource Management Insight #5:

How to measure the efficiency of the HR people in your organisation?

HR leaders must be efficient, as they are one of the driving forces to help businesses adapt and achieve organisational goals, especially during times like these. It is interesting to listen to HR Director Tang Li Chow share his perspective on how he would measure the efficiency of his HR teams. 

He candidly shared that one success measure is how often employees voluntarily engage with HR. He shared that this can essentially help to reduce the number of employee situations turning sour and how trust can be developed in HR.

Li Chow also shares that his approach to increasing the efficiency of his HR teams is to welcome employees to come to him with their grievances and demands. With staff voluntarily coming to the HR to express their opinions can be a bedrock to an employee survey without the need to actually conduct one. It puts HR in a better position to know what the employees need and want, rather than the employees making assumptions that HR will not be able to help them. Especially during these challenging times, it is imperative HR practitioners see COVID as a gift. This so that we can reflect on how HR managers are managing, helping and engaging our employees.

Implementing effective performance by tracking important indices. This help in evaluating the success of these initiatives, ensuring that HR efforts are aligned with organisational goals. Continuous training and development programs are essential to equip HR teams with the skills needed to handle these responsibilities effectively. Furthermore, leadership development strategies ensure that HR leaders are well-prepared to guide their teams through these processes.

Final Word

We concluded the fruitful night with Cindy Yeo, the MD of Citadel Search summarising that the role of HR has certainly changed. Shifting of gear is needed to move beyond compliance to be strategic value creators. We also need to be agile and embrace great leadership behaviours to stay ahead of the game.

It is crucial to keep employees engaged during this time and foster the value of lifelong learning to build connected learners. With this spirit, it will hold everyone in a good state in this new “normal”, making it less challenging.

Here at Citadel Search, we believe that if our local companies can successfully pivot and emerge stronger from these difficult times, all of us can also learn from their success.

We would also like to encourage all HR practitioners, we know you have been working doubly hard, and we recognise you for what you have done and holding the fort for HR. 

Let us embrace these challenges as opportunities to do things that we could not do before. Optimise your costs but focussing on what you do best.  This is a golden opportunity for HR to step up, create strategic value, and make a memorable impact!

Find out more about our Executive Search service to see if we can find you a match. Also check out our Employee Outsourcing Services to see how you can reduce cost by outsourcing your HR processes. Engage Citadel Search to double and triple your profits by getting you the talents that you need in the most immediate term.