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| At Sembcorp, we believe that our employees are critical to business and organisational excellence. |
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Recognising our staff as key stakeholders, Sembcorp
subscribes to the Principles of Fair Employment
endorsed by Singapore's Tripartite Alliance for Fair
Employment Practices. This encompasses a commitment
to the five key principles highlighted below.
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Recruit and select based on merit, such as skills, experience and ability, regardless of age, race, gender, religion or family status |
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Treat employees fairly and with respect and implement progressive human resource management systems |
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Provide equal opportunities for training and development based on employees' strengths and needs, to help them achieve their full potential |
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Reward fairly based on ability, performance, contribution and experience |
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Abide by labour laws and adopt Tripartite Guidelines which promote fair employment practices |
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Sembcorp aims to attract, retain and motivate a
talented workforce through a three-pronged strategy
of people development, employee engagement and
performance management coupled with fair and
competitive rewards and recognition.
In 2007, we made progress in further developing
each of these three areas. In addition, our concerted
efforts towards good business and human resource
practices were recognised in the successful renewal
of two coveted national awards, Singapore Quality Class (SQC) and People Developer (PD), awarded
by Spring Singapore. This marked the first time
Sembcorp was assessed and conferred the awards as
an integrated Group, comprising Sembcorp Industries
and its unlisted subsidiaries, Sembcorp Utilities,
Sembcorp Environmental Management, Sembcorp
Industrial Parks, Sembcorp Design & Construction and
the Singapore Mint.
Sembcorp continues to focus on people development
in its efforts to develop a dynamic workforce well-equipped
to contribute to business growth.
In 2007, the Group invested an average of 40 hours
per employee on structured training. More than
S$8 million was invested in training, representing 3%
of payroll and a 54.5% increase over the amount spent
on training in 2006.
To nurture internal talent and address the supply
crunch of talented utilities specialists, Sembcorp
continued to carry out tailored training and competency
development programmes. During the year, our
Utilities arm in China launched a 26-week specialist
engineer training programme to build up its pool of
water technology specialists. This programme offers
training attachments in various Sembcorp utilities
plants in China as well as in Singapore.
Our Utilities business also continued to collaborate
with Singapore educational institutions for courses to
strengthen the skills of our engineers and technicians.
These included courses at Singapore Polytechnic to train
qualified steam engineers and boiler attendants. To-date,
the scheme has seen 10 steam engineers and 30 boiler attendants obtaining certification. Sembcorp's Utilities
business in Singapore also worked with Ngee Ann
Polytechnic to develop and carry out specialised courses
in water treatment technologies for its employees.
In the UK, our Utilities business also worked as part
of the Northeast Process Industry Cluster of companies
(NEPIC) to raise the number of quality graduate
engineers, engineering technicians and process plant
technicians in the region. During the course of the year,
NEPIC collaborated with universities in Northeast
England, specialised training providers as well as
government agencies to train and develop engineers in
a number of relevant disciplines as well as engineering
and process plant technicians.
Meanwhile, our Environmental Management
business continued to conduct job-related National Skills
Recognition Scheme (NSRS) certification programmes
for its operations staff. From just three in 2004, the
number of NSRS programmes offered has increased to
almost 20 to-date.
Besides structured training Sembcorp also continued
to offer development opportunities through job
rotations and overseas postings. The Group currently
has 23 employees attached to various overseas ventures
in China, Vietnam, Fujairah, the UK, Indonesia and
the UAE.
Recognising the critical role that a strong team of
leaders plays in the success and sustainability of our
company, the Group maintains a strong focus on
executive and leadership development as part of people
development. To develop our executives' leadership
abilities, business acumen and market knowledge,
executive education courses were provided, including
programmes at Harvard Business School, INSEAD and
the Temasek Business Leadership Centre.
In 2007, a focused leadership development
programme aimed at senior managers was introduced.
This intensive 12-month long programme was designed to equip and refine fundamental leadership
competencies such as strategic planning, crisis
management and inspirational communication.
Apart from formal training, Sembcorp also developed
its leaders through their assessment process. In 2007, the
use of 360-degree feedback as a key tool for assessment
was extended beyond senior management to middle
management employees. Feedback from superiors,
subordinates, peers and other partners received during
the assessments were incorporated in the managers'
development plans, to help them build the essential
competencies to lead their teams successfully.
The Group also continued to build its leadership
and talent pipeline through the Sembcorp Scholarship
Programme. Into its 18th year, the scholarship
programme currently manages 44 scholars (21 working
and 23 studying) across various business units and in
various stages of their studies and careers. In 2007,
Sembcorp awarded a total of five scholarships, three in
Singapore and two in the UK, to scholars who will join
us on completion of their studies.
Sembcorp aims to engage its employees through
fostering open employee communication, providing a
conducive work environment and building a vibrant
employee culture.
Initiatives to foster greater employee communications
included concerted staff communications campaigns,
such as an internal campaign to communicate
Sembcorp's brand values to staff, as well as quarterly
staff briefings conducted by the Group President
& CEO together with senior management. Other
initiatives to foster communication with employees
included an employee e-newsletter, a confidential
employee feedback system, open performance
appraisals and a yearly high-profile staff conference.
Sembcorp also maintained various initiatives to
engage employees for creative improvements at the
workplace, such as Group-wide innovation awards as well
as ongoing cross-department work improvement groups.
To build a vibrant employee culture and promote
work-life balance, Sembcorp continued to promote various employee recreational activities in 2007. These
included staff dinner-and-dance events and employee
retreats. In addition, the company maintained sports
teams set up by the Sembcorp Recreation Club to
compete in annual championship competitions for
running, dragonboating, badminton, bowling, soccer
and many other sports.
As part of its belief in work-life balance, Sembcorp
sponsored two employees to take part in the Sahara
Race in October 2007. The two employees' progress over
the seven-day race as well as their successful completion
of it was followed by staff back home through email
updates and employee e-newsletter features. Employees
also conducted a fund-raising effort in conjunction with
our participation in the Sahara Race, raising a total of
S$250,000 for a non-profit children's counselling centre.
Closer to home, to ease our female employees'
return to work after giving birth, comfortable and
well-equipped lactation rooms dedicated to nursing
mothers were set up in our Jurong Island and Hill
Street offices between 2006 and 2007.
Sembcorp's competitive employee performance
management system rewards good performance and
aims to retain employees with long-term incentives
with reference to market practices and benchmarks.
Share-based incentives remain one of the key
components of the compensation structure of the
Group and are administered by a Committee which
comprises Directors nominated by the Board. The Group's
share-based incentives comprise three plans, namely
the Performance Share Plan, Restricted Stock Plan
and the Share Option Plan. The Share Option Plan and
the Restricted Stock Plan are incentive schemes for
directors and employees of Sembcorp Industries and
its subsidiaries whereas the Performance Share Plan is
aimed primarily at key executives of the Group.
Following the review of the company's share-based
incentives in 2005 to take into account evolving practices
at other major public-listed companies, as well as
our objective of further enhancing linkages between
employee performance and long-term shareholder
value creation objectives, the company has updated
its share-based incentive practices in several phases.
Initial phases included the implementation of a
re-designed performance share scheme from 2005,
as well as the launch in 2006 of a restricted stock
scheme for managerial employees of the Group.
In 2006, this group of employees received 50% of
their 2006 share-based incentives in restricted stocks
and 50% in share options. In 2007, share options
were entirely replaced with restricted stocks of an
equivalent fair value. No stock options were granted
in 2007. Instead, under the restricted stock plan,
directors and managerial participants who achieve
pre-determined targets that create and enhance
economic value for the company's shareholders
would be awarded with restricted stocks, while non-managerial
participants would receive the equivalent
value in cash.
Sembcorp's whistle blowing policy encourages all
employees to report possible improprieties in financial
reporting or in other matters to the audit committee.
Retaliatory action against employees who whistleblow
is not condoned. To further ensure the integrity
of our employees, Sembcorp's employee code of
conduct expressly prohibits employees from dishonest
or unlawful conduct.
Just over half of our 6,720 permanent employees
hold engineering or technical qualifications. Almost
60% of our staff are based in Singapore. We continue
to offer fair employment opportunities to females;
our gender ratio of male to female staff is consistent
at roughly 80:20 across all levels of employment.
Also consistent with our fair employment practices for
senior members of the workforce, almost 30% of our
employees are aged 50 years and above.
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