Transformation of HR Department at SGL

This article discusses the transformation of the HR department at SGL, including a survey of salary scales for HR professionals in Singapore, workload and appropriate HR ratio, and methods to make up for the shortfall in the number of HR employees.

Running head: TRANSFORMATION OF HR DEPARTMENT AT SGL 1
Transformation of HR Department at SGL
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TRANSFORMATION OF HR DEPARTMENT AT SGL 2
Transformation of HR Department at SGL
The organization reward techniques must be based on the work analysis through job
evaluation, which involves pay survey in order to determine pay policies, merit guidelines for
measurement of performance metrics, and a clear communication to the employees for the
budget plans. According to (Milkovich, Newman & Gerhart, 2014) the design of a competitive
compensation strategy must involve a survey of the industry compensation in order to determine
the compensation offered by the peers in the industry. In order to make information for the
transformation of the HR department at SGL, a survey of the salary scales of the HR
professionals and identification of the seven benchmark HR jobs in the industry will be
performed.
a. Survey and Benchmark Jobs
(1) A Survey on Salary Scales for HR Professionals in Singapore and the Seven
Benchmark Jobs
Job Description Compensation
HR Business Partner Salary - S$71,823, Bonus - S$9,127, Profit
Sharing - S$2,500
HR Manager Salary - S$71,715, Bonus - S$11,795, Profit
Sharing - S$2,500
HR Specialist Salary - S$44,359, Bonus - S$6,673, Profit
Sharing - S$923
HR Generalist Salary- S$37,619, Bonus - S$6,067, Profit
Sharing - S$1,400
HR Officer Salary - S$31,967, Bonus - S$(1899 – 18,402)
HR Administrator Salary - S$30,125, Bonus - S$(986 - 51,448)
HR Assistant Salary - S$27,562, Bonus - S$4,936, Profit

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Sharing - S$2,150
Source: (Payscale.com, 2018)
The survey of the compensation of the human resources professionals in Singapore
employed seven identified benchmarks. The total rewards system for the human resources
professionals in the country consists of three components. The reward systems consists f the
basic wage, which is outlined as salary in the table, the bonus, and the profit sharing
compensations. The human resources partner receives the highest compensation, whereas the
human resources assistant had the least compensation.
The compensation programs for the reward systems of human resources professionals in
the country can be seen to vary. Some of the profit sharing and the bonuses vary, which is
basically dependent on the regions or city in which the work is located, the individual skills and
the professional experience of the individual. Human resources professionals who have attained
high educational levels acquire a lot of skills and their compensation can be expected to be
higher than those with minimal qualifications and less skills in the same job category. In
addition, the human resources professionals who have extensive experience within the same job
category would earn much higher than the similar personnel with similar qualifications but little
experience.
b. Workload and Appropriate HR Ratio
(1) Research on Workload of Typical HR Professional in Singapore
Human resources management has been described as the management of people and
work through provision of human resources services such as recruitment, selection, training, and
hiring. Kooij (2015) further points that through human resources practices, positive work and
performance can be achieved. However, in Singapore, a typical human resources professional
facing a number of issues related to the workload. According to (Khatri, 1999; Khatri, 2002)
human resources professionals in Singapore and other Asian countries face several issues. The
author identifies some of the issues as the lack of HR competencies and a lack of strategic
approach to human resources management.

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In Singapore, a typical human resources professional faces increased workload. In a
survey Human Resources Director, an Asian magazine, revealed that the human resources
professionals were listed as the most likely to take time off work due to workload. Human
resources professionals ranked high at 35% ahead of the factory workers who ranked second at
30% (Douglas, 2018). The average headcount of the human resources professionals in Singapore
is 0.7-1% of the entire company workforce. That is, if the company has 1000 employees, the
number of human resources professionals is 7-10.
(2) Application (f Typical HR Ratio for SGL Situation
In the case provided, SGL Company has a headcount of 15,000 employees and even as
the headcount rose among the employees from 12,000 in 2008 to 15,000, the number of
professional staff remained constant at 100. This represents a low number of HR to employee
ratio and has led to impacts such as increased employee turnover citing low-quality and slow
speed of HR response whereas the HR increased is due to increased workload. According to
(Dooney, 2015) the HR to employee ratio shows the number of fulltime HR employees per 100
fulltime employees in an organization. The author points that the average for HR to employees
was 2.57 for all organizations. Using this, the approximate number of HR to employee for SGL
should be [2.57*15000/100] which gives about 385 number of HR employees serving the entire
15,000 employees.
Methods to Make up for the Shortfall in the Number of HR Employees
In order to make up for the shortfall in number of HR employees, the methods that would
be used are hiring new HR staff , motivating existing HR staff, increasing remuneration, offering
employee benefits, and outsourcing human resource services. In order to meet the shortfall and
the impending retirement of 10% of the existing HR staff, there is need to hire new HR staff to
replace those who will depart and to increase the HR to employee ratio to reduce workload
which has been the major source high turnover. There is also need to motivate the remaining
number of HR professionals in order to increase their work productivity. Motivational strategies
such as recognition could be effective in increasing their work output. The other method is to
increase their pay and incorporate other pay programs such as bonuses and monthly off as this
will increase retention rates and even attract new HR employees. Increasing employee benefits

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such as offering insurance cover to include the HR siblings is critical in increasing retention and
attracting new HR employees. The new benefits will increase their levels f satisfaction and self-
fulfillment, thus increasing retention rates. Finally, some of the human resources services which
are not core to the HR function can be outsourced to other HR companies, allowing the SGL HR
employees to focus on core functions. This can reduce workload, thus increasing job satisfaction.

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References
Dooney, J. (2015). Workforce Analytics: A Critical Evaluation [Ebook] (pp. 1-8). Alexandria,
VA: Society for Human Resource Management.
Douglas, E. (2018). 90% of employees overwhelmed by work, HR staff tops list. Human
Resources Director.
Khatri, N. (1999). Emerging issues in strategic HRM in Singapore. International Journal of
Manpower, 20(8), 516-529.
Khatri, N., & Budhwar, P. (2002). A study of strategic HR issues in an Asian context. Personnel
Review, 31(2), 166-188.
Kooij, D. (2015). Human Resource Management and Aging. Encyclopedia Of Geropsychology,
1-7.
Milkovich, G., Newman, J., & Gerhart, B. (2014). Compensation (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Payscale.com. (2018). PayScale - Singapore Salary Research Job Index (Singapore). Retrieved
from https://www.payscale.com/index/SG/Job