Winning the war for talent
By LIM WEY WEN wwen@thestar.com.my
Are hefty paychecks and good career prospects the only aspects
talents look for in a base country? The answers may be the key to a
country's success in bringing its best brains home.
THERE is
a global war being waged as companies and countries struggle to keep
their best within their borders while they try to woo the world's
brightest.
And if salary perks and benefits offered by countries
like Qatar, China, Singapore and Malaysia for returning experts and
expatriates are anything to go by, the “
War for Talent”, a term coined
by research giant
McKinsey & Company in 1997, is still going strong
despite the global economic slowdown.
But 13 years after the term
was coined, the landscape of the war has greatly changed. Most notably,
the “weapons” used to attract talents have changed.
While salary
packages and fringe benefits used to be one of the most powerful
magnets for talent, it may not be enough in the current human resource
climate.
Dr Tan: ‘When you have the brains or energy, you want to go to the best place to learn from the best’ >>
David Lee, author of the
Insights: The Journal of the Northeast HR Association
article titled “Becoming a Talent Magnet: How to Attract and Retain
Great Employees”, says that competitive pay and a good benefits package
although important are not enough to attract and retain “the best of the
best”.
Quoting a study by another
US consulting firm
Kepner-Tregoe of Princeton, Lee, an executive coach and founder of US
consulting and training firm HumanNature@Work, points out that 40% of
the employees surveyed felt that increased salaries and financial
rewards were ineffective in reducing turnover.
Hence, the vital
question for most
human resource managers and national talent
development organisations is “What are the world's best looking for?”
Lee
says the proverbial carrot lies in the intangible, such as pride in
where they work and what they do, appreciation from their managers,
opportunities to learn and grow as well as respect.
Interviews with
Malaysian diasporas and experts who have returned seem to support the trend.
Although
many of them acknowledge that salary packages and career prospects
matter, it is often not a deal breaker when it comes to their decision
to remain abroad or return home.
Wong: ‘If Malaysia wants to attract talents, it must be able to provide a conducive environment’ >>
One of the main attractions for talents is the environment for them to develop and excel in their fields of interest.
When
Kuala Lumpur-born consultant psychiatrist and analytic psychotherapist
Dr Tan Eng-Kong left for a sabbatical in
Australia in 1976, he knew he would get to work with some of the best psychiatrists in the world.
“At
that time, Australia invited the best of American and British
psychiatrists to its country, and I was lucky to be able to take a
sabbatical from lecturing in Sydney,” says Dr Tan, who was in Kuala
Lumpur recently.
As he found greater opportunities to practise
his field of interest psychotherapy in Australia, he chose to stay there
and build his career.
“In those days, the field of psychotherapy
was not developed yet in Malaysia. So, I had to stay back in Australia
just to practise,” says Dr Tan, who has now spent over 30 years building
a successful career in Sydney.
While psychotherapy is currently
gaining popularity among local mental health professionals, Dr Tan still
feels it is more popular and better received in the West.
“When
you have the brains or energy, you want to go to the best place to learn
from the best,” says Dr Tan, who still visits Malaysia regularly to
share his expertise with local mental health professionals.
Dr Lam Wei-Haur,
who has just come back under the returning experts programme (REP)
after spending six years in Britain and two years in China doing
research in ocean renewable energy, shares a similar experience.
“Funding
for research at a post-graduate level was limited when I finished my
undergraduate studies in 2001. I was lucky to obtain a scholarship to
further my studies in the
UK,” says Lam, who is now an associate
professor in
Universiti Malaya's department of civil engineering.
Although the tax cuts and benefits made the transition back to
Malaysia easier, I came back because I felt I could contribute more to
my field of research back home. - DR LAM WEI-HAUR >>
“However,
after six years of research in the UK, I wanted to learn about the
system of research and development in China,” he adds.
Lam, who is
in his 30s, says he came back because he felt he would be able to
contribute more to the field of ocean energy in Malaysia.
“Although
the tax cuts and benefits such as a permanent residentship offer for my
spouse made the transition back to Malaysia easier, the reason I came
back is because I felt that I could contribute more to my field of
research here, back home,” he explains.
There may be more established
research institutions and teams overseas but having the opportunity to
work with researchers in a developing nation such as Malaysia is like
“sketching on a white piece of paper” for him.
On worries that
Malaysia may not have sufficient funding and infrastructure for
research, Dr Lam says researchers have to look for opportunities
themselves.
“Our Government is now very supportive of scientific
research and there are a number of sources researchers can go to for
grants. We must understand that opportunities do not come to us if we do
not make an effort to ask or look for it,” he stresses.
While
Dr Hood Azlan Mohd Thabit,
35, is determined to return to Malaysia to continue his research in
endocrinology (specifically in diabetes) after his post-graduate
research in Cambridge, he agrees that the base country of a scientist or
researcher is of marginally less importance compared to the research
network and collaborations he could forge with other researchers around
the world.
“It is very difficult for an individual or group to do
research on its own, not just because the world is more globalised now,
but because it is so easy to collaborate through the Internet, they
have no excuse not to,” he says.
While certain countries have established infrastructure for research, others have the human resource and expertise, he adds.
“Personally,
it is really for the satisfaction of doing what you do. And coming
home, for most people, is about whether they can continue their work in a
meaningful way,” says Dr Hood.
For corporate social
responsibility (CSR) consultant Wong Lai Yong, who hails from Penang,
the location of her base country does not matter as long as she is able
to contribute to society from where she is.
Since she first
volunteered to read to the blind in primary school, community service
has been in her blood. Today, she continues to serve the people around
her by spreading her knowledge on childcare development and social
entrepreneurship based on her experiences in Japan.
“I've always
realised that education is the best way to bring people out of poverty,
so I think about the ways I can help bring education to people who have
no access to primary education. That is why I have never confined my
contributions to Malaysia alone,” says the cheerful 39-year-old.
She does not plan to return to Malaysia in the near future but even so, she visits regularly to share her knowledge.
“If
Malaysia wants to attract talents, it must be able to provide a
supportive and conducive environment for these talents to perform and
contribute,” she says.
“We might not be able to compete with many
developed nations in terms of salary and benefits, but we can offer
Malaysian diasporas the comfort of home and the company of their family
members.”
Malaysian transplant
Carol Lamb calls
herself a transplanted Malaysian, having settled down in the United
States in the 1980s. Lamb, who now runs communication firm
Fantastic International Inc in Atlanta, says she is often asked in social circles where she is from.
“How
do I convey that I am from a country surrounded by glistening islands
with white sandy beaches, tropical rainforests with unique animal and
plant life, cool mountain ranges with quaint villages, tall skyscrapers
with world-class shopping, a fusion of Asia and British rule? I decided
to build my own website and affiliate with one of the biggest online
travel booking engines on the Internet, Hotels.com,” she tells.
With
the help of Tourism Malaysia and its New York office, she travelled
back to Malaysia and wrote about exciting tourist attractions and sites.
The concept of medical tourism caught her attention and she is now
helping to promote Malaysia as a health tourism destination among
Americans.
“The number of Americans going to Malaysia is small.
This is the reason why I created the Global Marketing Network'. I
promote medical facilities that are in Malaysia at exhibitions around
the US.
“Malaysian medical facilities need to be seen. Malaysia
also needs to be on the lips and minds of people thinking about having
surgery abroad. What better way to do this than participating in
exhibitions?
“Additionally, most Americans do not know that
Malaysia used to be a British colony. They are also unaware that English
is widely spoken, the country has great infrastructure, fantastic
beaches, awesome hotels, scrumptious food and is multi-racial and
multi-cultural.
“Who better to explain all this face-to-face than a Malaysian who knows the country well?”
Weaving a win-win web
BUILDING a global Malaysian diaspora network might seem like a
colossal task but after the encouraging response entrepreneur Winston
Choe received for the first diaspora meetup he planned in Silicon
Valley, he is convinced that it may not be as difficult as it seems.
He
had put out the word on the meetup he planned to link Malaysian
technology companies with professionals and investors in the US in
December, and was pleasantly surprised when he found over 80 Malaysians
in the San Fransisco Bay Area, many of whom he had not met during the
years he lived there.
“What I did was send the word out over the Internet through
Facebook
pages, LinkedIn groups and e-mail lists about the meetup. Within two
weeks, we had to increase our initial cap of 30 people to 50,” said
Choe, a Petaling-Jaya born CEO of his own business networking software
company in Silicon Valley.
In fact, the meetup sponsored by
Talent Corporation
Malaysia (TalentCorp) that features the topic “Malaysian Tech Sector
Opportunities” has attracted 80 interested participants, but Choe had to
limit his audience to ensure quality interaction.
“I am greatly
encouraged by the initial feedback and am confident that the next one
will easily attract at least 100 people,” he said via Skype.
The idea of a meetup in Silicon Valley came up when Choe was in Malaysia in October for a workshop organised by TalentCorp.
“This
meetup is a follow-up to the workshop we did in Kuala Lumpur in
October,” said Choe, who is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs
build their businesses.
“My goal is to allow professionals (in
Silicon Valley) to explore cross border opportunities between the United
States and Asia,” he added.
Before the meetup, held at the Intel
Santa Clara campus, Choe had selected four MSC companies and coached
them to make a 15-minute business presentation to Silicon Valley
professionals and investors. At the meetup, he also presented a win-win
model for Malaysian diasporas to contribute to various sectors in
Malaysia.
“After the workshop in Kuala Lumpur, we realised that
what Malaysian start-ups need most are funding, market access and global
partners,” said Choe.
The win-win model he suggested is focused
on enhancing these three aspects for Malaysian companies as well as
professionals and investors abroad.
In terms of funding,
Malaysian diaspora with successful business ventures can introduce
Malaysian companies to investors in the West, and Malaysian companies
can reciprocate by introducing them to investors in Asia.
“While
Malaysian diaspora can help Malaysian companies access the US market,
Malaysian companies can serve as a gateway for them to access the Asian
market.
“What we are trying to do now is to build a global
(Malaysian) diaspora network with physical meetups, workshops and also
online social tools, and our objective is to accelerate various sectors
in Malaysia, starting with infotech,” he said.
As a result of the
meetup, Choe made eight qualified introductions between professionals
at the workshop and three MSC companies that presented that day.
A LinkedIn group has also been set up to connect participants of the workshop.
“A few participants have expressed interest in helping me organise more of such meetups,” said Choe.
With
their help, Choe's goal in 2012 is to organise similar meetups across
the world in cities such as New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Melbourne
and even Singapore.
“This represents about 80% of the Malaysian
diaspora population, and we hope that they can take this platform and
replicate it,” said Choe.
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