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| What
makes a winning organisation? |
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| A
Library Officer Talkshop session
in progress. |
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Many organisations regard its people as its
greatest assets. Yet not all are realising the
rewards of investing in their people. How can
public sector organisations effectively harness
their people’s talents, develop their potential,
boost performance and drive success? Read on
to find out how a winning organisation — the
National Library Board (NLB) — achieved all
this and more.
Multiple award-winning NLB is convinced
that healthy, well-balanced employees
simply perform better at work. NLB’s
Chief Executive Dr N. Varaprasad said that
healthier, more active staff result in “better work
performance, a higher level of customer service
and higher employee satisfaction”.
And the benefits extend beyond improved
individual performance. “Creativity and
innovation is best achieved in an organisation
that is seen as being open-minded and caring
towards its staff. By promoting work-life
balance for its employees, there is a correlation
that employees in turn become more collegial,
customer-centric and hence able to solve
problems together,” he added.
Going on to trace the development of NLB’s workplace
health programme, Dr Varaprasad shared that as early
as 1997, NLB signed the Health-At-Work Charter with
the Ministry of Health. By doing so, NLB pledged
to invest in its people’s health through a comprehensive,
integrated and sustainable workplace health promotion
programme.
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| Staff having
fun on Active Day. |
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A WEALTH (Workplace Health Promotion) Committee,
headed by senior management, was set up to plan
and implement activities. The committee reviews
the annual Health & Lifestyle Survey, which captures
data on employees’ preferred activities and health
needs. And staffs’ inputs are taken into consideration
when planning for activities.
One unique activity that has seen wide
support is “One Learning Hour”, held monthly.
Staff volunteers lead the sessions and share
their knowledge on a particular area of health/
wellness interest. The wide-ranging topics
covered to date range from balloon sculpting to
Chinese geomancy to crochet flowers.
Summed up Dr Varaprasad: “One Hour Learning is NLB’s
way of empowering its employees with information
to learn and stay healthy.”
NLB staff also enjoy a generous entitlement of $520
annually for spending on health, wellness and enrichment
programmes of their choice. An additional $100 per
year is provided for each staff to participate in
NLB-organised social events such as Family Day and
the dinner and dance.
“NLB provides extensive welfare to employees,”
enthused Administrative Officer Liew Li Zhen, who
attends NLB’s One Hour Learning sessions and
yoga classes. “Whenever I mention to friends that
I take yoga lessons organised by our NLB Wealth
Committee, they are impressed. What’s more,
we can use our annual flexi-benefit to claim for
the lesson fees! Imagine maintaining a healthy
lifestyle at almost no cost!
Another active participant, Library Officer
Indrashah Bin Md Isa, enjoys briskwalking/jogging and playing soccer with her colleagues
twice a week. “It’s a fun way to mingle with
colleagues and get some exercise,” she said.
Appreciative of NLB’s health and wellness
programmes, she said: “The organisation
encourages staff to adopt work-life balance and
takes care of our needs.“
Over the years, NLB has seen improvements in the
percentage of staff exercising regularly and average
participation rate per activity. The staff turnover
rate has declined, and customer service levels have
risen. In fact, the overall compliment-complaint
ratio has improved significantly from 3:10 in 1999
to 21:1 in FY 2004.
NLB’s comprehensive health and wellness
practices have also won national recognition.
For instance, NLB received the Leading Human
Resource (HR) Practices in Health & Employee
Wellness Award and Leading Corporate HR
Award from the Singapore Human Resource
Institute in 2005.
NLB was also a proud winner of the HRM
Singapore Awards 2005 in the inaugural category
of “Best Workplace Health Practices”. Said Mr
Chua Chong Huat, Director of Human Resource:
“The award is a recognition of NLB as a caring
employer which values its employees’ health
and well-being, and this will help us attract
and retain talent. It is also a testimony to NLB’s
strong emphasis on people management.”
Establishing a health and wellness programme is
one of NLB’s core HR strategies that have seen
success. Other strategies include revamping its
staff reward strategy from one based mainly on
seniority and entitlements to that which rewards
staffs’ contributions and performance. NLB also
works with HR consultants to periodically review
and update its salary scales to benchmark against
the market’s best practices and industry trends.
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Everyone
enjoying themselves on
Family Day. |
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Professional courses, on-the-job training, sponsorships
for further study, and librarian development and
executive development programmes help to maximise
staff potential. These are in addition to career
progression and professional development opportunities,
as well as rewards and recognition in the form of
salary adjustments and performance bonuses.
Another key strategy NLB adopted is the
“build” and “buy” strategy for people management.
Explained Dr Varaprasad: “When NLB was formed,
it was necessary for us to bring in talents from
outside for new areas where skills were not
available from within. At the same time, we built
upon the existing capabilities and skills of our staff
through our talent management, and leadership,
staff and career development frameworks.”
Looking ahead, Dr Varaprasad thinks NLB’s
challenge is to “anticipate the direction and
effect of change, to improve its services and
systems, and substantially increase staffs’ skill
levels to meet changing needs”.
Confident that NLB will continue to play a
critical role in the knowledge-based economy, he
said: “We have already groomed our librarians
with new competencies needed for new and
future services. As ‘Agents of Intelligence’,
they will facilitate the expansion and learning
capacity of individuals, organisations and
institutions, and connect people, experiences
and organisations.” |
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Next: Excellent PR
efforts |
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| Related
Articles |
| What
makes a winning organisation? |
| Excellent
PR efforts |
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Singapore
Quality Award |
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People Developer Standard |
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HRM Singapore Awards
2005 for Best Workplace Health
Practices |
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Singapore HR Awards
2005 — Leading HR Practices in
Health & Employee Wellness Award,
and Leading Corporate HR Award |
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NLB is glad
to share its winning HR practices with
other agencies. Contact Corporate Communications
Executive Wong Wai Quen at 6332 3341
or Wai_Quen_WONG@
nlb.gov.sg for more details. |
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