How Fuji Xerox Singapore’s HR function is ‘pushing boundaries’

Pauline Chua, general manager of human capital and CSR at Fuji Xerox Singapore, talks about how HR as a function has evolved over time, and the philosophies behind Fuji Xerox Singapore’s HR initiatives.

HR is really a business partner to address the needs of the business and help it stay ahead of the curve. It ensures that both the business and its people can meet the challenges of the future. Gone are the days where our focus is on policy, but rather it is about getting in tune with the needs of the business.

I like to think we have moved from being a support function to one that is pushing boundaries to affect change. At Fuji Xerox Singapore, the role of HR has evolved. Today, HR is more focused on human capital and on the value that our people can bring to the business.

How can we harness on the strengths of our people and provide them with a conducive work environment that unleashes their full potential? Our leaders and HR play an active role in this area.

How HR in Fuji Xerox Singapore has evolved

Fuji Xerox Singapore has moved beyond measuring employee satisfaction to measuring employee engagement and enablement annually.

We can have very engaged employees who are willing to go the extra mile, but what more can the organisation do in terms of ensuring an appropriate job fit, and providing their employees with access to information, technology and training to get the job done effectively?

Both engagement and enablement have to go together. For sustained engagement, enablement is important in terms of providing optimised roles and a supportive work environment.

We consciously review how roles are optimised within Fuji Xerox Singapore and work at providing a positive, energising work environment through the various employee engagement and CSR activities made available to our employees throughout the year.

We are happy that both our employee engagement and enablement scores are above Singapore country norm.

The rationale behind the company’s engagement strategies

Like most organisations, we have a diverse suite of employees at Fuji Xerox Singapore consisting of employees from the various generations. HR can help in bringing the different generations at work together, to understand each other better and collaborate more effectively.

It is easy to focus on differences and come up with different strategies and approaches to deal with the differences. However, it is even more rewarding for leaders and HR professionals to discover what the different generations truly have in common rather than focus on their differences.

We all want to be in a work environment where we feel trusted and valued. We want to be appreciated for a job well done. We want to be able to put a face to our manager and our manager to be there for us.

Attracting and keeping good employees becomes increasingly challenging in a tight labour market. To beat these challenges and keep our best employees, we need to move further up the value chain in examining our selection process.

Are we hiring purely for skills and experience? Do we try and find out the candidates’ interests and passion, assess their fit to the organisation’s values and culture and how much they possess the necessary qualities to perform the job well?

The firm’s talent acquisition and retention philosophies

It is far easier to train someone to acquire new skills than to cultivate their passion for the job and organisation.

How do we avoid falling into the trap of taking our valued employees for granted? Do we conduct stay interviews with them to find out how they feel about their jobs? How do we help them grow in the place, identify and source fulfilling experiences for them?

All managers at Fuji Xerox Singapore are encouraged to conduct career conversations with their employees on at least an informal basis. It is clear that organisations can no longer expect employees to stay indefinitely. Instead, we must actively and creatively engage our employees and even fight to keep them in this true “war for talent”.

The war for talent is one of our biggest challenges. As such, our talent acquisition team has to be a lot more resourceful in leveraging on social media such as LinkedIn and tapping into the passive job market.

Our employees are the best source of referrals for us which further motivates us to work with our line managers to enhance our employees’ experience.

Ten ways the company builds its employee value proposition

When it comes to talent acquisition and employer branding, it takes the whole organisation to work together to fulfil our employee value proposition:

1. We adopt an open door policy.
2. Be part of the winning team.
3. Solving a client’s problems with the latest technology.
4. Work hard, play hard.
5. We live our core values.
6. Integrating work and life.
7. We care for the environment.
8. Trust and empowerment.
9. Diversity.
10. We give back to the community.

We have a very active CSR programme which has benefited more than 3000 youths and their families. It is a great way to reach out to our employees and customers to make a greater difference in the community and fulfil our CSR vision of empowering and enabling youths from a disadvantaged background.

I find working in human resources both dynamic and rewarding in itself as we are empowered to continually push the envelope to make a difference.

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