By Ramesh Subbaraman
NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Lim Swee Say is known for his catchy phrases to reach out to the common man and workers of all collars, ages and nationalities.
SG Lim has now thrown a challenge to the human resource (HR) profession – “Make every HR a better HR”.
HR Priorities for Inclusiveness
Opening the day-long Singapore HR Congress (SHRC) 2014 on 9 September 2014 at the NTUC Auditorium, SG Lim listed three key priorities for the HR industry in managing Singapore’s most valuable resource.
“Human capital is the best investment for your company, industry and Singapore as a whole. So as we strive to make every worker a better worker, every job a better job, I urge the HR community to try to make every career a better career, every employer a better employer and every HR a better HR as well,” he said at the event organised by the Singapore Human Resource Institute.
NTUC is the event partner for the SHRC 2014 which was attended by some 500 delegates and speakers from countries such as Brunei Darussalam, China, the United States and Vietnam.
First, he urged the HR community to help Singapore maximise employment by making the workforce even more inclusive.
“For those workers who are already in the workforce today, we should find ways to help them work longer. That is the reason why the Labour Movement, and the tripartite partners are working together towards raising the re-employment age in Singapore progressively. A few years ago we raised it from 62 to 65, and today we are talking about raising it further to 67,” he explained.
No Perfect Worker
The next challenge is to minimise the potential dangers caused by structural unemployment, which could come about as a result of a mismatch of job seekers and job opportunities.
SG Lim said this could be avoided by finding ways to make the workforce more “re-skillable”.
Finally, there is a need to minimise under-employment. SG Lim explained that this could be done if everyone works together to maximise the potential of every worker and person in Singapore.
“Please do not try to look for a perfect worker. A perfect worker does not exist in this world. And for those of you who keep looking for a perfect worker, I will also tell you this, there is no perfect HR. So if the HR is not perfect, how can you expect the worker to be perfect. We live in an imperfect world but what we are trying to do is to work together to make this imperfect world, less imperfect. So my philosophy in life is that we must be prepared to live with the weaknesses of the people around you because that is the only way we can gain access to their strength. Every one of us has strengths, so focus on the strengths and not the weaknesses,” said SG Lim.
