Companies often adopt flexible workforce practices in order to better manage their people and teams more effectively, says Lynne Ng, regional director for Adecco South East Asia.

For instance, for companies with cyclical needs (such as warehousing, sales and promotions), having a complementary workforce helps manage work more effectively without being saddled with headcount costs.

Implementing such practices also allows for companies to retain talent (such as young mothers) who might otherwise quit working altogether.

Learn more about workforce flexibility in this four-minute video as Ng lists out its pros and cons.

A great service culture is one where employees not only create value for their customers, but also strive to make work better and easier for the rest of their colleagues.

According to Ron Kaufman, founder of UP Your Service! College, companies need to adopt a great service culture such as this to stay competitive, keep their current customers and engage their internal employees.

“There is an increased profitability, higher margins, greater market share, more loyal customers that come to organisations that can build and maintain this superior service culture,” he adds.

In this three-and-a-half minute video, Kaufman talks about the benefits of a service culture and how HR can help create and nurture a service culture within their organisation.

Have trouble loading the video? Why not check your company or computer’s firewall settings to make sure that Youtube videos can be streamed on your computer.

The gigantic internet retailer Amazon has recently announced its acquisition of online shoe website Zappos.com (which is known for its fun-loving and quirky culture) for a reported sum of US$807 million in cash and stock.

While other companies send out press releases and hold media conferences to announce the news of the acquisition, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took another route and decided to make a YouTube video instead to allay the possibly mixed feelings employees have when they hear about the news. In the video, Bezos talks about how he started Amazon from his home, the excitement the company felt when they made their first sale to a non-family member and the lessons he’s learnt in the 15 years of building the company (Think long-term! Obsess about the customer!).

And on Zappo’s end, its CEO Tony Hsieh wrote a lengthy blog article answering questions such as job security (jobs are still as secure as ever), what the future of Zappos looks like (things are going to be run the same as before) and whether employees can now enjoy Amazon discounts (nope!).

But as discussed in July’s feature on employee communication, the new advent of new media and technology has seen CEOs and top management utilising a whole new means of communication tools to convey messages to employees. While CEOs and senior management typically hold townhall meetings in newly acquired companies (and that isn’t going to change), videos such as these can help speed the M&A process of gaining the trust of acquired companies.

And already, some of the video comments have been favourable, with one commentor complimenting Bezos and saying: “This is how CEO’s should be, being able to speak to everyone on a same level and imparting and reinforcing statements and knowledge in a down to earth manner.”

So for HR practitioners, don’t be surprised if you are asked to one day help wield a camera and help your CEO shoot a video. It might happen sooner than you think.

Employee retention: Is a math formula the next big idea?

We all know Google for their great work-place benefits – the stock options, free food cooked by chefs. What we didn’t know is  that the company is struggling to retain its staff.

And in typical Google fashion, the company is now developing an algorithm which will be able to identify the employees who are likely to quit from its 20,000 workforce headcount.

Scary? Or even a little incredulous? Perhaps. While the Google officials are reluctant to divulge more information, it has confirmed that there is such an algorithm and that the formula is still being tested. Collecting input through information from surveys and peer reviews, the Google algorithm has already identified employees who felt underused – i.e. the people most likely to quit.

Edward Lawler, director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California, says Google is one of the few companies that are early in taking a more quantitative approach to personnel decisions.

“They are clearly ahead of the curve, but a lot of companies are waking up to the fact that there is a lot of modeling that can provide you with critical data on human capital,” says Lawler.

Google’s algorithm may help the company get inside people’s heads even before they have the intention to leave, but is it too late? Concerns of a talent exodus has revived amid the departures of top executives, while mid-level employees have been decamping to hotter start-ups like Facebook and Twitter.

Current and former Googlers attribute the company’s loss of talent to impersonal HR programmes. Some said the employees feel they can’t make the same impact the company does, while others said Google provides little formal career planning.

“They need to come up with ways to keep people engaged,” says Valerie Frederickson, a Silicon Valley personnel consultant who has worked with former Google employees. “If Google was doing this enough, they wouldn’t be losing all these people.”

While HR has often been referred to as a combination of art and science, can a math formula really deduce who is going to leave? And if it is effective, would you use it in your company? Or do you think relying on a math formula is hogwash and that it should just boil down to treating your employees right?

(Via WSJ)

In order to tighten their belts, some companies are adopting a blanket, across-the-board wage cuts for all employees. But this could end up chasing your top talent away, says CEO of coaching company Thought Perfect,  Pratap Nambiar.

Have trouble loading the video? Why not check your company or computer’s firewall settings to make sure that YouTube videos can be streamed on your computer.

Is your employer brand taking a beating from competitors?

Ah, it’s the $1,000,000 question: What is it that Singapore employees want?

In a survey conducted by B2B branding specialist StrategiCom and Singapore National Employers Federation, it sought to understand what key employer brand attributes drive employee attraction and retention. (See our original story here.)

Here’s the full breakdown of the survey answers.

5 most important attributes to attract employees

(Ranked in order of importance)

• Allows a lot of freedom to work on one’s own initiative
• Recognition and appreciation of employees work
• Opportunity for long-term career progression
• Attractive overall compensation and benefit package
• Training and development

5 most important attributes to retain staff

(Ranked in order of importance)

• Attractive overall compensation and benefit package
• Recognition and appreciation of employees work
• Job security
• Opportunity for long-term career progression
• Training and development

5 least important attributes to attract employees

(Ranked from least important)

• Dressing
• Conservative working environment
• Internationally diverse mix of colleagues
• Humanitarian organisation
• Only recruiting the best

5 least important attributes to retain staff

(Ranked from least important)

• Dressing
• Accessible location
• Employees with varying background
• Internationally diverse mix of colleagues
• Use your degree skills

It’s interesting how an attractive C&B package only ranks as number 4 to a potential employee, but later becomes the number 1 retention attribute. And from these results, it’s clear that recognition and saying ‘thank you’ is a simply but surefire way of both attracting and retaining employees.

I’m also surprised at how the survey respondents say a ‘accessible location’ do not matter much to employees — because I’ve definitely heard complaints about companies being located too far away from work before. And with ‘humanitarian organisation’  not attractive a trait for attracting employees – does this mean companies don’t really need to perform acts of corporate social responsibility to attract candidates?

What do you think? Do these results tally with your company’s employee value proposition?

The eagerly anticipated government Budget has just been announced earlier this afternoon, with many people wondering what measures the government would take in order to fight what could possibly be the worst recession in a long time.

According to ChannelNewsAsia, some of the workforce-related recession measures include:

• Low-wage workers on the Workfare scheme will get 50% more in payout. A 50-year-old worker earning $1,000 a month stands to get $600 more, on top of the $1,200 he receives from the workfare scheme for work done this year. This means, he will get a total of $1,800.

• The government will introduce a Jobs Credit which will encourage businesses to preserve jobs as much as possible in the downturn. The Jobs Credit that an employer receives will comprise 12% of the first S$2,500 of the wages of each employer who is on the CPF payroll. It will be given in four quarterly payments, with each payment being based on the workers who are with the employer at the time.

Other business-related measures include:

• 40% tax rebate for industrial and commercial properties.
• JTC Corporation, Housing and Development Board (HDB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will pay a 15% rental rebate to their tenants and land lessees.
• All foreign-sourced income earned before January 21, 2009, will be tax-exempted.
• Goods vehicles, buses and taxis will get a 30% road tax rebate for a year.
• Corporate income tax rate will be cut from 18% to 17% for the Year of Assessment 2010

Some thoughts from KPMG Tax Services on the Budget:

• Danny Teoh, managing partner, KPMG LLP in Singapore

“The measures announced by the Minister demonstrate a clear understanding of what needs to be done to support the economy in these turbulent times. The exceptional injection of funds will go a long way towards saving jobs and positioning Singapore for future competitiveness.”

• Chiu Wu Hong, executive director, KPMG Tax Services on the impact on SMEs

“SMEs are the big beneficiaries in this budget package with clear steps laid out to help viable companies stay afloat in these challenging times. Companies have also been provided incentives to encourage them to position themselves for long-term growth. Particularly innovative is the manner in which bridging loans will provide a life-line and liquidity to cash-strapped companies, while the Jobs Credit scheme helps to keep workers in the factories and at their desks.”

• Owi Kek Hean, head of tax, KPMG Tax Services on the 1% reduction in corporate tax

“The proposed corporate tax rate reduction of one percent is in-line with what we expected. While significant, it may not be helpful for cash-strapped companies in the short term since it only takes effect in 2010. Nevertheless, it should go towards helping make Singapore a more attractive destination for foreign investment.”

What are your thoughts? Are these measures enough to keep your business afloat? Are the Job Credits helpful enough to want to retain your employees? Let us know what you think.

Most companies are tightening their belts during the downturn but local childcare chain Cherie Hearts remains on course in its recruitment plans for expansion. Co-founder Gurchran Singh reveals his secret to keep costs low and employee motivation high.

Watch on to find out.

According to the recent Aquent Orange 2008 – 2009 survey, about half of the media, communication and marketing executives in Singapore say they barely stay with an employer for two years. Should the media industry be worried about its attrition rates? And what can be done about it?

Steven Pang, Asia regional director of Aquent gives a few opinions of his own on ways companies do can better increase their dismal retention rates.