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Asian Human Capital Award 2012: Gemalto Pte Ltd & Olam International Ltd Win Accolades for Outstanding People Practices

Skills, training and development
SINGAPORE, 19 September 2012

  1. Gemalto Pte Ltd and Olam International Ltd have been awarded the prestigious Asian Human Capital Award 2012. Singapore's Acting Minister for Manpower & Senior Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin presented the Award to the winners this evening at the Singapore Human Capital Summit 2012.
  2. Both winners’ people practices stood out for their deep and sustained impact in fostering strong teams with a common purpose and emphasis on grooming future leaders from within.
  3. “The record number of submissions from 7 countries across Asia is testament that Asian companies are paying more attention to human capital development. This is a positive sign for Asia’s workforce,” said Mr Koh Boon Hwee1, Chair of the 2012 Judging Panel. “This year’s nominations are very strong and have raised the bar for future Award winners. Importantly, we hope other companies will study the various solutions that can be adapted to enhance their own practices – this is the ultimate aim of the Awards.”
  4. This year’s Award attracted a record number of 63 submissions, spanning a range of industries from consultancy to manufacturing. Submitted projects covered a wide range of topics such as leadership development, diversity programmes and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
  5. “This year’s entries, especially the winners, have demonstrated holistic people practices that have generated impressive organisational outcomes,” said Mr Kwan Chee Wei, Executive Director of the Human Capital Leadership Institute. “By highlighting these best practices, we are building up the pool of knowledge and strategies available to global and regional companies to deal with the diverse human capital challenges in Asia."
  6. One of this year’s winners, digital security experts Gemalto Pte Ltd’s human capital strategy, is an example in Asian-centricity in leadership development. Its Chief Executive Officer of Gemalto, Mr Olivier Piou, said, “We are honoured to receive the 2012 Asian Human Capital Award that recognises our innovative human resource practices. Gemalto’s “Sustainable Innovation Leadership” is a main contributor to our company’s success. By enabling employees to develop local and global careers, we continue to meet and exceed ambitious growth targets. As Asia continues to grow in strategic importance for Gemalto, I’m confident we are building a world-class team to meet the challenges.”
  7. Another winner, global agricultural products supply chain manager Olam International Ltd promotes a holistic people strategy that has built a highly engaged team with ownership toward the corporate goals. Sunny Verghese, Group Managing Director and CEO of Olam International, said, “As CEO, as I focus on monitoring the key financial outcomes, I focus even more on understanding the quality of our new hires, engagement scores, attrition rates, alignment within the organisation and our capacity to operate as One-Company because this will determine the financial and strategic outcomes that we will generate in the future.”
  8. Three other companies were awarded Special Commendation Prizes. MTR Corporation received the prize for its innovative learning organisation culture, while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd was recognised for its unique corporate social responsibility training initiative that also sought to serve underprivileged members of society. Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation was awarded for its team relations programme that blends two different Asian cultures.
  9. The Award winners and Special Commendation Prize recipients will be speaking at the Singapore Human Capital Summit on 20 September in three dedicated sessions, where they will share their winning people strategies with more than 700 Summit delegates to facilitate knowledge exchange and implementation of best practices.
  10. The Asian Human Capital Award is in its fourth year and honours innovative and impactful people practices adopted by Asia-based organisations. The Award is jointly sponsored by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower, INSEAD, CNBC Asia Pacific and the Human Capital Leadership Institute.
  11. For more information on the Singapore Human Capital Summit and the Asian Human Capital Award, please visit www.singaporehcsummit.com.
1Mr Koh Boon Hwee is Chairman of Sunningdale Tech Ltd, Yeo Hiap Seng Ltd, Yeo Hiap Seng (Malaysia), AAC Technologies Holdings Inc, and Rippledot Capital.


Annex A

FACTSHEET ON ASIAN HUMAN CAPITAL AWARD 2012 WINNERS & SPECIAL COMMENDATION PRIZES

AWARD WINNERS

Gemalto Pte Ltd

To develop their core competencies in Asia, Gemalto created 17 new human capital programmes for their offices in Asia, tailored to the workforce dynamics and cultures of the region. These programmes cater to all employees and incorporate elements of promotion from within, long-term career development and learning through exposure to new jobs. Some examples of these programmes are “Mentoring for Asian High Potentials”, “Gemalto Management Excellence” and “PeopleSpark Award”. Gemalto’s Sustainable Innovation Leadership strategy has created significant organisational impact and yielded positive results. Within Asia, the vast majority of managers are promoted internally and the spirit and confidence levels among employees are high. For more information, visit www.gemalto.com.

Olam International Limited

Olam has successfully implemented a holistic people strategy promoting an organisation culture that inculcates the Olam DNA characterised by behaviours of ambition, entrepreneurship, ownership, empowerment and stretch. Olam’s ability to grow (both geographically and in the expansion of business segments) is credited to its ability to foster talent from within to build, lead and grow businesses to achieve global leadership positions. Olam’s practice of expertise transfer through their Global Assignee Talent Pool (GATP) programme demonstrates a high quality people practice not only in its design but also execution. This is reflected in their leadership successes as the company continues along its growth trajectory. For more information, visit www.olamonline.com.

SPECIAL COMMENDATION PRIZE WINNERS

MTR Corporation

MTR Corporation’s Learning Organisation initiative encompasses a wide range of activities to address varying needs of the organisation, and aims to cultivate a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing to sustain long term business growth. Learning Organisation drives greater collaboration across divisions and departments within MTR, where employees’ voices are heard and their views incorporated. The initiative leverages multiple platforms and technologies, aiming to appeal to different businesses and functions, as well as the cross-generational workforce. For more information, visit www.mtr.com.hk.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

The Affirmative Action Programme, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project, was conceptualised to promote employment and provide sources of income for the socially and economically underprivileged by training them in English and equipping them with employable skill sets. The initiative has helped Tata Consultancy Services build another source of talent for its operations, resulting in lower hiring costs, more trained candidates joining the organisation and a low attrition rates. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation

Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP) implemented a Team Relations Programme as a customised solution to address employee relations and communication issues. Without losing its strong Japanese corporate culture, the initiative adapted the cultural nuances of the local workforce, successfully integrating two very distinct cultures in Asia. Through multi-pronged innovative approaches encompassing focused group training, activities that empower team members and activities that enhance camaraderie in the workplace, Team Relations have transformed the culture within TMP to one that promotes open communication and transparency, and helped the organisation improve its Toyota Global Morale Survey scores as well as undergo a significant change event (plant consolidation) with very minor performance impact. For more information, visit www.toyota.com.ph.