Commentary

As a result of globalisation, the workforce has become increasingly diverse with respect to national and cultural origins. Technology has been the great enabler for this third wave of globalisation. It has enabled organisations to conduct business anywhere and to expand operations beyond their national borders for both customers and employees.

Managing a team of high performers requires an innovative and detailed HR and leadership approach involving an effective talent attraction and recruitment process, ongoing development plans, motivating rewards and recognition programs, and a proactive retention strategy. According to respondents of Randstad’s World of Work Report, the main reasons for a planned job change were for better opportunities for growth and advancement (39%) and salary and remuneration (21%). As the Singtel Singapore Grand Prix roars into town, Randstad illustrates how managers can take a leaf out of the Formula One book to manage a high performance team for their businesses.

I often hear people saying that Linkedin is useless and that, except opening an account and filling up profile for online resumes, they generally don't use it. In fact Linkedin is the world’s largest social network for professionals, there are over 500,000 linkedin users in Singapore itself.

The impact of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and many more has been so strong that companies have taken notice of the apparent benefits and are jumping onto the bandwagon in droves. Gone are the days when marketers and advertisers ‘blast’ their messaging with little regard to the target audience’s real-time opinion and input.

Industrial properties in Singapore showed stellar performance over the past 1.5 years, in 2010 and 1H 2011. The rental and price increase was largely on the back of improvement in the economy and the manufacturing sector, re-conditioning of older industrial properties which stimulated investor interest as well as increasing entrepreneurship and SMEs which find modern industrial space as low cost start ups.

The same period two years ago Singapore was on the cliff edge of a technical recession. By Sep 2009, it became a reality. Companies were cutting staffs and budgets. One cannot pass by a day without hearing of some retrenchment or downsizing.

The effects of mobile are everywhere. With Singapore's mobile penetration rate at 144 percent, among the highest in the world, almost every person you pass on the street has a mobile phone. Mobile devices are quickly becoming the preferred platform on which people access information as well as engage online services. This isn’t limited to just goods and services offered by private companies.

The in-demand careers of the future will be very different from those of the not so recent past – a shift that could help liberate women in the workplace.

Traditionally

Organisations produce a lot of content. The average office employee gets numerous emails every day including email responses, reports and other types of content. For a multinational corporation with thousands of employees, it is enough to fill server farms all over the world, particularly as you add in rich media like images and audio-video files.

Today, many Singapore businesses are starting to acknowledge the growing impact Social Media has on its bottom line especially in a Crisis. Information has become as valuable as prime real estate where top search engine rankings and positive (or negative) reviews on influential blogs can have tremendous impact on a business' fortune. Unfortunately, many Singapore businesses today continue to use Social Media as an ancillary communication channel.

The global business climate has shifted markedly in recent years. Global financial crisis (GFC) aside, the rise of the Asia-Pacific region, new communications and media technologies, and an increasingly mobile workforce have forced companies worldwide to rethink how they conduct business.

In the highly competitive new world of work, employers must bridge the leadership gap to retain the volume and quality of talent required to be competitive.

What do you do when you are driving down a street and suddenly a brick wall looms in front of you? You try to go around it if you can, right? No point driving straight into the brick wall unless you happen to be in a 70-tonne Sherman tank.

Our latest Hays Quarterly Report, for the July – September quarter, shows that hiring activity is strong again in Singapore, with employers acutely aware of the deep shortage of skilled candidates in the market.

In recent months there has been much speculation about the long term viability of daily deal sites (also called group buying sites) like Groupon. Group buying has long been a popular means for consumers to pool cash together and create greater bargaining power. According to Needham & Company LLC, by 2015, the daily deals market will generate US$10.3bn revenue per year globally.