NEWS
Singapore Boardroom Still Mostly Off-limit for HR
Singapore boards slow to seek professional HR expertise to solve executive compensation issues compared to their U.S. counterparts, according to Aon Hewitt and the University of Southern California.
30 March 2011

Singapore | The survey - Pay at the Top: A comparative Study of When HR Make a Difference - polled 78 HR professionals at 66 companies, and found that while 83 per cent of U.S. respondents in the survey said they call on their HR for help to resolve executive compensation matters, only 50 per cent of the Singapore respondents were found to do the same.

The survey also found 19 per cent of Singapore boards look to HR in matters relating to board compensation, compared to 44 per cent of U.S. respondents. Further, 40 per cent of Singapore boards seek HR's guidance when making decisions on executive succession planning, versus 65 per cent of boards in the U.S.

"The difference between the U.S. and Singapore data could be due to Singapore's relative youth in the development of its corporate governance framework relating to human capital issues," says Na Boon Chong, Managing Director, Executive Compensation and Performance, SEA at Aon Hewitt who was a joint author of the survey. "As these increasingly complex issues gain more attention at the board level, we would expect boards turn more to their HR and/or external advisors," he added.

Edward E. Lawler III, Director of the Center of Effective Organization (CEO) in the Marshall School of Business at USC says: "It is worth mentioning that our study indicates HR in Singapore can get into the boardroom by gaining competence in executive compensation and business understanding." Professor Lawler says there is a likelihood that Singapore will catch up in due time with U.S. practice as more companies come under the pressure of more stringent legislations governing executive compensation.

Other highlights of the survey are:

The joint survey was done by Aon Hewitt and the Center for Effective Organization (COE)) at the University of Southern California (USC). Singapore Institute of Directors helped Aon Hewitt conduct the survey among companies listed on the stock exchange. The survey sets out to explore how HR can contribute to strategic decision making at corporate boards. Results were compiled in 2010 and the report's findings are released in 2011.

The survey was managed by a contributing team comprising :-

Source : Aon Hewitt