IHRP was proud to partner with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to host a joint event on 7 February 2020, which was attended by both IHRP Certified Professionals and SHRM Certified Members.
The key theme of the event centred around Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, Chief Knowledge Officer spoke about “Demonstrating ROI on Inclusive HR practises” and shared some key insights based on SHRM research. He highlighted that often, organisations tend to focus on increasing diversity but not on sustaining inclusive practices. SHRM research has shown that only $1 is spent on building an inclusive culture for every $3 spent on recruitment of diverse candidates.
To fully realise the benefits of Diversity and Inclusion, it is important for organisations to build a culture that marries results to inclusive practices. HR can play a stronger role in fostering inclusion by defining guiding principles and encouraging an inclusive mindset by leaders, managers and employees. According to McKinsey, ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform their respective national industry medians and gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to do so. Further, a 10% increase in the diversity of Senior Executive teams increases EBITDA by 0.8%.
SHRM research has stated that 81% of C-suite leaders view diversity and inclusion as a key lever in mitigating talent shortages. The second speaker, Mr. Ravi Subramaniam, Senior Director of Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) shared about how organisations can tap an alternative diverse source of talent in a tight labour market. Project “Beyond Hiring” is a joint pilot project by IHRP and SCORE whereby they work with identified partners in the Food & Beverages industry to integrate and enhance gainful employment for the ex-offenders. The project focuses on coaching and guidance to enhance HR and supervisor’s competencies to help better integrate ex-offenders into the workforce. The project can provide a win-win situation where manpower needs of the industry can be met, and the ex-offenders can get a second chance to integrate to the society.
The sharing sessions concluded with a Q&A and panel discussion moderated by Tham Chien Ping, SHRM Representative (Singapore) & Master Facilitator and IHRP Senior Professional together with our panellists, Mr. Mayank Parekh (IHRP CEO), Dr. Alexander Alonso and Mr. Ravi Subramaniam. During the panel, Mayank shared that through the partnership with SCORE for the Project “Beyond Hiring”, it is a good start that aids generation of data on ROI on diversity and inclusion and this data will enable our community to share back to their organisations on tangible returns from D&I.
Besides the insightful sharing sessions, the event also saw the exclusive sharing and launch of the mutual bridging programme for existing IHRP and SHRM members, who can attain mutual recognition by completing the bridging requirements. Several members expressed their keen interest to find out more about the dual recognition certification programme between IHRP and SHRM. Both IHRP and SHRM hopes to co-organise more joint events for our combined pool of certified professionals.
What our Certified Professionals said:
“Hiring alone isn’t enough; Inclusion is equally critical to create and sustain a diverse workplace. For organisations to retain a diverse staff, employers must create a culture in which all employees feel welcomed, respected and valued. It is increasingly becoming evident that Diversity initiatives are not effective unless they are bolstered with supportive inclusive HR policies and practices.”
By Swechha Mohapatra, IHRP-CP, HR Tech Evangelist, hrtech.sg
“It is enlightening to see IHRP embark on the journey of participating in the joint project “Beyond Hiring” with SCORE. I hope that there will be more people who will come forth to support this project.”
By Ling Khor, IHRP-SP, Adjunct Lecturer (Business School), Nanyang Polytechnic
“The key insights from the event on how to measure success of HR interventions is useful in establishing HR as a credible partner to the business. The theme on inclusion also resonated with me, as we start to embrace the modern reality of a considerable contingent workforce of contract and gig employees working alongside our full-time employees.”
By Alex Png, IHRP-SP, Global Head of People Experience (Operations and Employer Branding), Circles.Life
We would like to express our gratitude to SHRM for co-hosting the event together with IHRP. For more information on the IHRP-SHRM partnership and bridging requirements, please visit https://www.ihrp.sg/ihrp-community/ihrp-shrm/
Log in to IHRP Connect to access the deck shared by Dr. Alexander Alonso during the event!