Having announced its plans to hire 2,000 more staff in Singapore by 2012 to meet business requirements last week, HR for Standard Chartered Singapore lays out a well-thought plan to support its line managers.
Large-scale hiring expansion planned at Standard Chartered Singapore
The large-scale hiring spree means Standard Chartered (Stanchart) will increase its staff strength from a total of approximately 6,000 employees to 8,000 in Singapore by 2012. The new hires will include relationship managers, and technology, risk management and compliance personnel from junior to senior levels. D M Arulraj, the bank’s regional head of human resources in Singapore and Southeast Asia, says HR is well-prepared for the recruitment drive and committed to ensuring the bank has a good employer brand.
There is a “very structured” resourcing process in place, according to Arulraj, with dedicated teams using tools such as the internet, job boards, headhunters and search firms to hire people. But it starts from understanding the line business units’ needs first, he says. “It’s making sure we match the right people to those needs [and] we have a robust process of accessing the talent pools from all over the world to come and work in Singapore,” he says. “And at the same time, making sure this is a great place to work.”
In order to do that, Arulraj says it’s important to ensure the bank is creating a good working environment where employees can learn and grow. It’s also making sure they feel happy and engaged so they would recommend the bank to people they know. “If all my people can say very confidently their friends want to work for us, that’s my net promoter score [a performance objective system used in Stanchart].”
While the bank would love to hire more locals this time, Arulraj says there is historically a 70/30 split in the candidate demographics with 30% hired “from all over the world”. He expects that trend to continue. “At the end of the day, we would hire whoever is interested in working for Standard Chartered Singapore,” he says. “The thing is making sure they fit into our culture and we can offer something that is different from whichever organisation they are in.”
Besides the planned recruitment drive, Standard Chartered Singapore recently opened a new business facility in Changi Business Park as part of its expansion plans to match its strong business growth in Singapore. The 225,000 square feet facility currently houses around 2,000 non front-line employees in human resources, technology and trade operations.
Sources and references: HRO; Topics: Standard Chartered Singapore