Friday, March 2, 2012

The Best Advice

So before I left, like everybody, I send a farewell email to everybody. Something like this :
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02/28/2012 04:51 PM
To

xxxxxx
Subject
See you around





Dear Friends

Below is my first email that I received from Sime Darby, so its only appropriate I end it with my last.


As most of you already know, tomorrow is my last day with the Group. (29th Feb 2012)


I will continue my career's voyage in HR Operations. It was not a hard decision as I always wanted to do and learn more on HR Operations, something that is not offered to me here unfortunately. So naturally when the opportunity knocked, I knew I had to grab it.


To my bosses, thank you for the coaching, your guidance, advice as well as trust in me. I appreciate it very much.


To my colleagues, I thank you for your friendship, your cooperation, your understanding as well as your trust. I can only hope I can find wonderful people like all of you in my new place. I am sure such quotes like " This is during xxxxxxx's administration ... " will still fly around when I leave :D
At least people will still remember me, in a way lah :)


Am happy to see the talents that I groomed are making headlines every where. That is one of the success stories that I will proudly share with anyone in my career path.


Untuk teman-teman di Minamas, terima kasih saya ucapkan pada kalian, atas kesabaran untuk dukungan GSC serta semangat setia kawan kalian yang tiada gantinya. Kapan-kapan saya ke Jakarta akan pasti menghubungi kalian :)


If I may offer a piece of advise to all; " Hiring stewardess to fly an airplane is an act of suicide " ;)


Lastly,please do keep in touch, see you around.


I can be reached at xxxxx

or

xxx@yahoo.com


Thank you .

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And the best reply I got from one of the HR community member is below :
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Slm XXXXXX

I see that you have the qualities / traits to be a good HR person , friendly , approachable , cooperative and accommodating - and think that we are underutilising your potential doing routine backroom processes at GSC. And true enough , you have found your work repetitive and boring , and are now leaving to find a more challenging position.


I have no doubt you'll do well in mainstream full-blown HR in your new place ; doing presumably everything from recruitment / sourcing , comben/rewards , training & devpt , welfare etc , but hopefully not too many IR cases to deal with difficult employees and weed out the badhats.


You should continue to be happy-go-lucky as we HR people need to have a fairly good sense of humour dealing with people , otherwise we'll soon go bonkers hearing their complaints and sometimes rediculous demands.


May I share with you some cardinal rules in HR - I'm sure you have heard of them before , but there's no harm revisiting these points;


-Treat others the way you would like to be treated.


-Formal HR training advantageous - but what needed most is good common sense and a big heart.


-Praise in public , reprimand in private


-Dosa dengan Allah senang dilupus dengan taubat , tapi injustice right/correct the wrongs we did to them


-Have thick ears and patience - Listen 80% and speak 20% . Let them speak and pour their heart out Listen to them and in most cases , 75% of problem already solved.


-Firm but fair


-Handbooks and manuals give guidelines that covers at most 70% of situations - but at the end of the day , we should intepret it fairly and do the right thing. " Tiada perlu ketaatan dalam perkara2 yang melanggar hukum ugama"


-Core value Respect and responsibility - one element is not to use words / actions that offend other people.


--The pen is sharper that a sword - careful with emails/letters , not to use big fonts and red colour. Terlanjur perahu boleh gostan , terlanjur kata membawa padah. Don't rush , baca betul2 3-4 kali baru send


-Can use polite words / sentences that can still deliver the same message. There are many ways to skin a cat.


-Nabi tanya sahabat2 siapa orang muflis. Mereka kata orang yang kehilangan semua duit dan harta. Nabi SAW bilang simuflis ialah orang yang membawa bersamanya bergunung pahala ke akhirat , kemudian orang yang dizaliminya didunia menuntut hak mereka didepan Allah. Bila terbukti , pahala2 nya diberikan kepada orang2 yang menuntut . Ramai datang mengadu , dan apabila pahalanya sudah habis dan masih ada yang datang , dosa2 orang yang menuntut pula dilonggokkan keatas dia.


Kita orang2 HR ada harapan dan berpotensi besar jadi muflis - examples , unfair distribution of bonus/increment , unfair promotion exercise , delayed confirmation , complaints swept under the carpet ,favouritism / cronyism , ,


-Siapa yang membantu saudara nya yang dalam kesusahan , dia akan dapat pahala 10 tahun ittikaf - pahala satu malam iitikaf , dia akan dijauhkan dari neraka sebanyak 3 parit . Luas satu parit jaraknya antara bumi dan langit.


- Customer service.

The employee is our most important customer - he is not dependant on us , we are dependent on him.

He is not an interruption to our work , he is the purpose of it.

He is not an outsider to our business , he is part of it.

We are not doing him a favour by serving him , he is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.


My best wishes to you and pse do keep in touch


TQ and regards , YYYY

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When I finished reading this email, I broke down in tears. This email, is like the basic guide on how to become a HR with a HeaRt. This person, who I look up as if he was my own dad, is a veteran in the HR community. He served the Group faithfully for 30+ years. Because of his principles, he is denied by the senior management to be the Head, another old brat got the position. But like I said, a sharp man. A wise man. He is my mentor. I hope I can become like him.


Amin..


New Office

Well, 1st of March 2012, I embarked again on my career journey. As the Head of HR on above company. Well, I am not going to lie. On the first day, I really felt cheated because during the interview, they told me that I will only handle strategic HR matters and they have a couple of staffs handling HR Admin stuffs like data and payroll. When I arrived, the ex HR Manager to me that its a one man show and I have to do everything. Holy fuck. I am a manager, I cant see myself updating the system. Back in my old place, executives did that. I felt devastated. I felt cheated, I felt screwed. The I met several old friends from the neighboring office, who I used to liase with. They told me to keep my cool and take this as a challenge. Well they were right.
I went home and I shared the story with my wife. She, gave me the strength to rise back and gave me the confidence that I lost. She made me realize that, I was finally given a challenge that I can answer, by defeating my own negative thoughts and learn A-Z in Admin HR as well as Strategic HR. Fuck yea. I am not going to fail. No sir. Never Say Die. That was the motto of VICC Band's Brass section, and now is the perfect time to hold it. Like the old Malay saying, " Gengam Bara Api Biar Sampai Jadi Bara " .. or " Hold the flame until it turns into ashes" or something like that.
This morning, I talked to my admin staff. She told me sad stories, about how management is not appreciating the staffs, how short handed she is and other sobbing stories.

Now I understand why God put me here. I got to help these people...

Friday, February 17, 2012

Funeral for a Friend

Daniel Ng,
1980 -2012
Yesterday, I received a message from my Blackberry Messenger Group, that a comrade of ours, from the days of Victoria Institution Cadet Corps Band, Retired Warrant Officer II, Daniel Eng, passed away. Without noticing, tears were racing down my cheeks. I have not seen the man for 13 years. But the feeling knowing he is somewhere in Singapore, gave me false comfort.

Daniel to my batch, was not only a comrade in the Corps, he was a tutor, a companion, a cheer leader, a very kind hearted man. The Drum Major of our Corps, he touched our souls with his friendship, his kindness and best of all, his honesty. A man full of laughter, always seeing the positive sides of everything. He was very special to me. He basically recruited me to join the band. We were peers, we got beaten up together, marched together, learned our bass solos together and by the end of the parade, we will walk home together, sharing views and hopes for the band. He played the Sousaphone, I played the Bass Trombone

A man ahead of his time, loved by many friends, respected by fellow bandsmen and feared by other bands' Drum Major. Some said he was too fat to be the Drum Major, well, he proved them wrong. He stood tall, with the mace in his left arm, and the pipers cape to seal his deal.

He was attacked by stroke, in Singapore. I rallied up my batch, and we decided to meet up on 3rd of March. I hope I can see all of them, death ironically, brings people together. Life is to be cherished, will death, is just another step in our journey.

Daniel, I know you can read this, I am missing you buddy. I'd give the world if I can just hear you nagging me about not polishing my boots, or how my hair is too long to be one of the officers. I thank you for your friendship, and I value your advise. I still can remember the path we took to Klang Bus Stand, after parades. I envy you and your rock hard spirit, your positive thinking and your majestic presence in front of the bandsmen. My life wouldn't be the same. and I am not sure how I am going to hold my tears when I meet the rest of the gang next week. Rest easy buddy.





This is Retired Sergeant Jimmy Najib, signing off.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I resigned

Today, 31st January 2012, I resigned, after almost three years with Malaysia's well renowned GLC, which focus on palm oil plantations as its core business. I got another offer from another company, with better package and learning experience. At first, before floating the letter to my boss, I was doubting myself. You see, here in my current company, we have damn loyal staffs who serve the Group for 38 years. Let me spell it out for you, thirty eight freakin years. Makes you wonder doesn't it?

At first, when I joined the Group, I was thinking, this is the place that I want to retire. This is the place that I want to devote my career to. This is he place, I want to grow old with. I was wrong. Politics here is like daily hurricane. Casualties everyday. The gap between the staffs and the management team are indescribable, especially in the terms of daily wage etc. That, and the fact that once you are good at doing something, you will be stuck there doing the same thing for eternity. Well, at least until they can find single attractive girls to replace you, which you will have to train, for no reason. This is a common with male managers, once they let the dick do the thinking for them. Classic example; a senior exec lays out a manpower planning in front of a General Manager, asking for his feedback. Astoundingly, the GM asked back the poor guy," What's your opinion on it?" Yep, that's the dick talking all rite. And this guy manages the most profitable arm of the Group. What a joke.

Well, I don't what to sound like a sour grape. I learned a lot of things, succeeded in lots of projects and most importantly, I managed to meet lots of young, honest talented people. These people in my opinion, pushes the lifeline of the Group, but not recognized as the management teams cant see them riding their motorbikes or driving their old Wiras from their Beemers' dashboard. Cant blame them 100%. These people, made lots of things possible, and the dinosaurs of the Group watch in envy. Life is simple. Evolve or die. I went to one of the offices today, and to my dissapointment, after countless of application to join them, they still hire skirts there, for at least 80% of the new hirings.

The company that I am going, is located further from my place. Its smaller in operations scale. But hey, it offers me something that my current place can't; new learning experience. Well, the money is good too , chuckles.Sure, its not as shiny as the current company, but I believe people make the brand. Not vice versa.

So I will be reporting for duty on the 1st of March. This will be my fourth job. I give myself 2 years to learn everything, before I make my next move. Actually my notice period is three months, but since the next company is ready to pay my notice period, well, it is going to be a quick shortcut for me then. Plus February is a short month. Well, what ever it maybe, I will as usual, blend it, respect the culture, recognize possible allies and get up close and personal for possible, 'adversaries' Life as I see it, goes on..