5 July 2008 Lianhe Zaobao

 

Alexandra Hospital – The Sole Recipient of Leading HR Practices in Fair Employment Practices Award at The Singapore HR Awards 2008

 

Alexandra Hospital’s job redesign programme empowers its logistic employees with greater responsibilities above their standard job duties. This programme also allows them to earn $300 to $400 more.

 

The employees in the hospital who are responsible for mail-delivery and logistics are mostly mature workers above 40-years-old. Two years ago, the hospital started on-the-job training for these workers to help them familiarise with the operations of the hospital, and provided those who have not been trained in medicine the opportunities to be promoted to patient care associates.

 

Alexandra Hospital was the sole recipient of the Leading HR Practices in Fair Employment Practices Award, which was conferred for the first time by The Singapore HR Awards, organised by the Singapore Human Resources Institute.

 

The hospital’s HR Deputy Director, Ms Sim Xiang Eng said: “We must take care of our mature workers’ welfare and training to ensure that they have opportunities to secure a long-term career with the hospital. As HR executives, we are the first level gatekeepers to ensure fair employment practices. We must make sure that the employees we employ possess the right working attitude and capability, and that the hospital will provide job-related training after employing them.”

 

KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd and IBM also received Special Mention for their outstanding performance in implementing fair employment practices.

 

This year’s HR Awards was more competitive as compared to last year. Thirty-five organisations submitted more than a hundred applications to compete for 23 different HR Awards. The number of applications doubled last year’s applications. In addition, there were also more organisations with outstanding performance.

 

The guest-of-honour, Speaker of Parliament Mr Abdullah Tarmugi stated that the larger environment is complex and ever-changing. For Singapore who lacks natural resources, human resource is its only resource. Hence, our HR management strategies must seek breakthroughs and meet the different needs of the workplace.

 

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) was awarded Corporate HR Award

 

While only 2 organisations were awarded Corporate HR Award last year, this year saw 8 organisations receiving this award for implementing effective practices in many areas.

 

As one of the recipients of this award, SPH’s CEO Mr Alan Chan said: “This award recognises the value of our HR training and management system that benefited 3,500 employees. This is the best reward for our various departments who have worked in close synergy. It is also the driving force that encourages us to reach greater heights.”

 

SPH was awarded 6 HR Awards and stood at the fourth place in terms of the total number of awards received. The top recipient last night was Singapore General Hospital who clinched 9 awards.

Meeting the different needs of employees

Professor Ivy Ng, CEO of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and recipient of Leading CEO Award, said that the HR management strategies adopted at KK hospital took into consideration and met the different needs of their employees.

KK hospital also received the Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-life Award. Professor Ivy Ng said: “Maintaining a flexible system is very important. For instance, flexible work system may not be suitable for every employee. However, the hospital’s flexible system allows them to believe that in the event that they need to change their working hours, there is already a related-system in place that can meet their needs.”

Under her charge, the hospital’s employee turnover had dropped from 19% in 2005 to 13% in 2007. This latter figure represents half of the turnover rate of other public service organisations.

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