It is fair to say that 2020 has been a tough year for most of us.
Businesses have faced severe disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to rapidly move operations online and as a result had to expedite technology adoption and face an increase in cyber risks. Many of us had to implement job furloughs and some of us had to bid farewell to long time colleagues. Those of us who remained had to contend with connecting with one another without the benefit of “face time”. We have definitely had a challenging 2020.
Whilst this crisis has brought unprecedented challenges for people and society, Great Place to Work® Singapore is humbled to recognize a select group of organizations who have chosen to pull through for their people and communities. While the impact of the pandemic has indeed been great, these organizations have focused on being responsive – to enable, transform, and trust employees.
This virtual event recognized the top companies in Singapore for high-trust, high-performing cultures.
At the forefront of the COVID-19 response is Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).
Supporting the critical work of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), TTSH placed great emphasis on providing support to maintain employees psychological and emotional well-being.
Leaders were constantly on the ground to check in with staff at the frontline and the deep ‘kampong spirit’ ensured the staff took care of each other even as personal sacrifices abound in every frontliner out there caring for patients.
TTSH employees take pride in their work, and they strongly believe that their work has special meaning.
It is with great honour that we confer this year’s Resilience Award to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and all their employees.
Much have been discussed on social media about who the essential workers are in today’s society and what the term “essential” means in the first instance. Regardless, we know very well that our HR friends and colleagues have, in this extraordinarily difficult year, put in sweat and toil, heart and soul to make sure our businesses continue running and our people are well-taken of. While tributes have poured in for frontline and healthcare workers (and rightly so!), the HR community has very much remained in the background. This segment seeks to put the spotlight on this exceptional community of people as we appreciate them.
Leaders from these 3 organizations which have been on the front-lines battling Covid-19 will join in this panel discussion moderated by Michael Bush, global CEO of Great Place to Work®. While battling the pandemic and responding to frequently evolving scenarios, how have these businesses continued to build trust with their people? We hope to uncover their secrets in this segment of the program.
Opening Address by:
Mr. Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Finance
Guest of Honor:
Mrs. Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs
Opening Speech by:
Mr. Michael Bush, CEO
Great Place to Work®
Mrs. Joni Ong, Managing Director
Great Place to Work® ASEAN/ANZ
Ms. Evelyn Kwek, Managing Director
Great Place to Work® ASEAN/ANZ
©2022 Great Place To Work® Institute Inc. All Rights Reserved.
GPTW INSTITUTE (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.
The current President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Certis, Mr Chong joined Certis as its founding Chief Executive Officer in 2004.
He has led the organisation in its transformation from a statutory board of Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs to a privatised entity with a global presence.
Under his leadership, the business has grown more than five-fold, and has successfully diversified into new businesses while strengthening the group’s core capabilities. Certis has also recently become the third largest player in its industry in Australia.
After 26 years in senior positions with local and international banks, Victor joined the PAP Community Foundation (PCF), as its CEO in June 2015.
At PCF, the largest preschool operator in Singapore, Victor is embarking on transformational changes across the length and breadth of the organisation.
As a result, PCF continues to have the dominant share of the preschool market. Its mark of quality is recognised at national level awards annually and was the Influential Brands Top Employer in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, PCF was recognized as a Great Place to Work and Great Place to Learn by a global consultancy, the Great Place To Work Institute
Victor also dedicates his time to professional and community organisations. He sits on the Board of Trustees at the Singapore University of Social Sciences and the School Advisory Council of Swiss Cottage Secondary School. He is also the Honorary Secretary of Warren Golf and Country Club.
Dr Eugene Fidelis Soh serves as Chief Executive Officer of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and Central Health. TTSH is the flagship tertiary hospital of the National Healthcare Group (Singapore) with 1,700 beds and 9,000 staff. TTSH cares for the 1.4 million population in Central Singapore, in partnership with patients and community care providers. An AON Hewitt Best Employer (Singapore) 2013 & 2015, Hay’s Employer of Choice at the HR Management Asia Awards 2018, and Great Place to Work & Great Place to Learn Certified 2020, TTSH believes in Better People delivering Better Care to build a Better Community.
Eugene is a medical doctor by training with a Masters of Public Health (Healthcare Management) from Harvard University and an alumni of the Senior Executive Programme at the London Business School. He holds the appointment of Adjunct Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine; a partnership between Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Imperial College London, UK. As Chairman for the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) Co-Learning Network established in 2016, Eugene believes in building relationships for collaboration and transforming care for future health. CHI drives thought leadership in Systems Innovation, Health Technology, Workforce Transformation and Learning Andragogies.
At the National Healthcare Group, Eugene leads Leadership & Organisational Development. His role is to build collective leadership and empower organisational health in order to support the large-scale transformation of healthcare towards NHG’s vision of Adding Years of Healthy Life. Launched in 2013, Eugene leads the group’s development of Singapore’s first integrated master plan for a new medical hub – HealthCity Novena Master Plan 2030. The Master Plan will see nine new developments in Novena, which include a 330-bed National Centre for Infectious Diseases, a 600-bed rehabilitation hub, and a medical school.
Nationally, Eugene contributes to the innovation and development of our future workforce in healthcare. He co-chairs the Healthcare Productivity & Innovation Taskforce, Smart Systems Implementation Workgroup, Workplace Safety & Health Council (Healthcare) Committee, and is a member of The Future Economy Council’s Essential Domestic Services Sub-Committee.
As Minister for Finance, Mr Heng oversees the revenue and expenditure policy of Singapore, and the allocation of resources to achieve national security, economic and social objectives.
Mr Heng also chairs the tripartite Future Economy Council which oversees the on-going restructuring of our economy, through upgrading of the skills of our workers and the transformation of industry, to create even better career prospects for our people. He leads a team to oversee the design and implementation of national strategies in areas such as skills and capabilities development, innovation and productivity and the internationalisation of our companies.
Mr Heng chairs the National Research Foundation, which sets the direction for Singapore’s research, innovation and enterprise strategies. In this role, he brings together the universities and research communities with businesses to create a more vibrant innovation ecosystem. Mr Heng also serves as Adviser to the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on COVID-19 and the National Jobs Council.
Mr Heng served as Minister for Education from 2011 to 2015. He also led the year-long Our Singapore Conversation from 2012 that helped to engage more than 47,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life through dialogues.
Mr Heng has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University. He also holds a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Mrs Teo previously served in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance, Transport and Foreign Affairs ministries. In PMO, she coordinated whole-of-government efforts to better support marriage and parenthood. This led to significant enhancements in pre-school subsidies, parental leave provisions, medical care of young children and support for assistive reproductive technologies (ART).
As Minister of State for Finance, Mrs Teo coordinated the Government’s successful implementation of the Pioneer Generation Package. As Senior Minister of State for Transport, she chaired the Changi 2036 Steering Committee to enhance the Singapore’s position as a leading global air hub. As Chairperson of the Public Transport Tripartite Committee, Mrs Teo ensured the effective transition to the Bus Contracting Model and the establishment of the Singapore Bus Academy.
A member of Parliament since 2006, Mrs Teo was formerly Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education and Assistant Secretary – General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). Mrs Teo was concurrently Chief Executive Officer of the not-for-profit organisation Business China, a platform launched by then Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and then China Premier Wen Jiabao to strengthen Singapore’s bicultural foundation.
An alumna of Dunman High School and Raffles Junior College, Mrs Teo graduated from the National University of Singapore, winning several honours including the Rachel Meyer Book Prize for being the Best Woman Student. She obtained a Master of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics on scholarship from the Economic Development Board.
She is married and has three grown-up children. She enjoys creating memorable experiences for family and friends.
Michael C. Bush is the CEO of Great Place to Work®, Inc., the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place to Work helps organizations quantify their culture with Emprising®, their SaaS culture management platform. They recognize Great Place to Work-Certified™ companies and the Best Workplaces™ in the US and more than 60 countries, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For® and World’s Best Workplaces™ list published annually in Fortune.
Driven by a love of business and an unwavering commitment to fair and equitable treatment, Michael joined Great Place to Work as CEO in 2015, bringing 30 years of experience leading and growing organizations. This includes serving as CEO of Tetra Tech Communications, which he grew from $40 million to $300 million in revenues. Michael is a former member of President Obama’s White House Business Council and a founding board member of the private equity seed-fund, Fund Good Jobs, which invests in small inner-city businesses.
Since 2015, Michael has expanded Great Place to Work’s global mission to build a better world by helping organizations create Great Places to Work not just for some, but For All. Under his leadership, the firm has developed a higher standard of excellence that accounts for fair and equitable treatment of employees across demographic groups, as well as executive leader effectiveness, innovation, and financial sustainability.
Michael has led the firm’s migration to a SaaS-enabled survey platform that offers real-time predictive people analytics. This allows leaders to take immediate, targeted action to improve their leadership and financial performance.
Joni is motivated by Great Place’s compelling mission to transform Singapore workplace culture for a happier and more engaged, productive workforce for her compatriots.
A highly sought-after trainer and consultant, Joni is consummately passionate about people and in developing their potential. With almost three decades of experience in HR development, Joni’s rich corporate and personal experience, coupled with her engaging personality, has enabled her to connect with clients across all industries and participants across staff levels. Joni’s consulting and training specialty lies in OD, employee engagement, performance management, coaching, communication and teambuilding.
As a certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching executive coach, Joni finds purpose and fulfilment in working with leaders through the coaching process to achieve positive and sustainable growth in their leadership effectiveness.
Joni’s first degree is in the area of Neuroanatomy, with her B. Sc (1st class Honours) from University of New South Wales, Australia. In pursuit of training excellence, she went on to attain an M.Ed (Distinction) from University of Sheffield, UK.
Besides being a mother of five and an accomplished career woman, Joni is also active in giving back to community. She chairs parenthood advocacy “I Love Children”, Methodist Schools’ Foundation and the management board of Fairfield Methodist Schools. Additionally she serves as Vice-Chairman of MCI’s Films Appeal Committee and is a member of PCF Executive Committee.
Thinker, researcher, future-oriented and passionate – words that client-partners and colleagues often use to describe Evelyn! Her intuitive and well-researched grasp of local and global pressing issues and people trends and practices make her a much sought-after conference and seminar speaker.
Besides her great understanding of the Singapore human capital landscape, Evelyn brings with her a wealth of experience in the areas of Human Resources and organizational Development. She partners her clients to develop strategies aimed at creating great workplace cultures. Adept at working with both senior and middle management members, Evelyn is known for her effective personable facilitation style. She has co-authored national research papers on the work-life scene in Singapore, facilitates roundtable sessions and featured on local and regional media for her perspectives on workplace culture. She has most recently co-authored a paper titled “The Untapped Power of Gender Diversity in Asia” with Prof Rick Smith of the Singapore Management University.
Holding a first degree in Business Administration specializing in Human Resources, she was later awarded a scholarship by the Singapore government to pursue her Masters in Business Administration with the Singapore Management University.
An awesome mother of 3 of the loveliest children you can imagine, Evelyn takes parenting very seriously – she is strict yet giving, result-focused yet generous. Together with husband Roland, they relish exploring new cultures and beautiful places of the world, usually on leisurely self-drive holidays.
With her last baby leaving pre-school, Evelyn’s focus is now on leading the expansion of Great Place to Work® offices around ASEAN. Just as the region is growing exponentially on the economic front, she is convinced that the work of building great workplaces FOR ALL must go in tandem with economic development.
ABOUT OUR METHOLOGY
To be eligible for the World’s Best Workplaces list, a company must apply and be named to a minimum of 5 national Best Workplaces lists within our current 58 countries, have 5,000 employees or more worldwide, and at least 40% of the company’s workforce (or 5,000 employees) must be based outside of the home country. Extra points are given based on the number of countries where a company surveys employees with the Great Place to Work Trust Index©, and the percentage of a company’s workforce represented by all Great Place to Work surveys globally. Candidates for the 2017 Worlds Best Workplaces list will have appeared on national workplaces lists published in September 2016 through August 2017.
ABOUT OUR METHODOLOGY
The Best Workplaces in Asia List
Great Place to Work® identifies the top organizations that create great workplaces in the Asian and Middle Eastern regions with the publication of the annual Best Workplaces in Asia list. The list recognizes companies in three size categories:
To be considered for inclusion, companies must appear on one or more of our national lists in the region, which includes Greater China (covering China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau), India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and UAE. For the 2021 Asia List, companies ranked on the national list in the Philippines will also be included. Multinational organizations must meet the following requirements:
Multinationals also receive additional credit for their efforts to successfully create an excellent workplace culture in multiple countries in the region. The data used in the calculation of the regional list comes from national lists published in 2019 and early 2020.
