At DBS, employees up to the rank of Senior Associate are given an additional S$500 — on top of the S$500 SkillsFuture credit from the Government — to take upgrading courses.
To encourage work-life balance, the bank also offers employees flexible work arrangements and the chance to try different job positions, among other initiatives.
These are some of the human-resource practices that clinched DBS an Exemplary Employer Award this year, given by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) over the past 10 years.
The other 14 winners include education institutions such as West Spring Primary School, private firms such as 3E Accounting and Aviva Limited, and those in the public sector, such as the National Environment Agency. Of the 15 award recipients — a record — DBS was also the only firm to win the inaugural I-future Award, which recognises efforts to develop employees’ skills and talents.
Ms Theresa Phua, DBS’ head of human resources, said it believes in exposing employees to new skills to ensure they are “future-ready”, and in creating an environment that supports diversity.
“We support diversity through our hiring practices because we recognise this brings different skills to the table. About 33 per cent of our senior management and about 57 per cent of our staff are women. About 34 per cent of our staff are above 50 years old,” she added.
Separately, the bank has been employing seniors as part-time staff to help elderly customers at neighbourhood bank branches in tasks such as updating their passbooks using machines, or logging on to iBanking. Launched in June 2009, the POSB Active Neighbours Programme currently employs 80 senior citizens.
“The community welcomes this. Some of our Active Neighbours can speak multiple languages, and this is helpful to customers. Despite the advent of digital banking, we find that many customers, young and senior, still appreciate high-touch service,” said Ms Phua.
At Admiralty Primary School, progressive work practices — ranging from a buddy system to re-employing retired teachers — have been credited for helping the school improve its students’ academic performance.
Last year, the school managed to achieve 23 out of the 24 PSLE indicators it set for itself, from just eight in 2010. These indicators include the percentage of students who score an A or/and A* in each subject and mean aggregate scores of all streams.
“We believe in adding value for our stakeholders, which include our employees … the HR initiatives that we have in place are guided by this goal. The school best succeeds or progresses through its people,” said Mrs Rashidah Ismail Neville, the school’s staff developer.
Retired teachers who are re-employed by the school as adjunct teachers are trained to help them keep up with syllabus updates and new assessment practices, and re-employed teachers are allowed more flexible schedules so they can pursue other activities.
The school also has a programme to help employees learn and coach one another in areas they are strong in. “It also helps build a culture of self-directedness as an individual and a culture of teamworking as a school,” said Mrs Neville.
news source: todayonline.com
