HRDF: Managing People In The Pathway To Organisational Success

Photo above: Delegates from the previous HRDF Conference and Exhibition.

HRDF’s efforts to inspire the workforce and develop the nation

News reports over the years have brought alight the fact that Malaysia lacks a skilled workforce.

As a country that is heading towards achieving a high-income nation status by 2020, this is not an issue to be taken lightly as the strength of the human capital affects the country’s economic progress.

Aware of this matter, the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia thus established an agency under it known as Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) or Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Bhd (PSMB) in 1993.

With an aim of fulfilling Malaysia’s aspiration to attain the status of a developed country by the year 2020, HRDF envisions to be the driving force in training and development of the country’s workforce, with a mission to enhance the knowledge, skills and capabilities of the workforce through effective management of its fund.

This entails encouraging employers covered under the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad Act, 2001 to retrain and upgrade the skills of their employees, apprentices and trainees in line with their business needs and the development strategy of the country.

People management

An important element of people management is developing a symbiotic relationship between employers and employees.

How does this help in taking an organisation to success?

According to the chief executive of Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) Yang Berbahagia Dato’ CM Vignaesvaran A/L Jeyandran, symbiosis is critical to human resource development, and employers will reap huge benefits in the form of increased productivity if they continually improve their employees’ skills.

“Increased productivity will then lead to higher revenue, translating it to higher wages for employees.

“This in turn would increase household spending power which would help businesses grow; thereby creating a positive feedback cycle.

“The concept is a simple one to grasp and HRDF’s role is to advance employees’ skills, so as to sow the seeds for this household-business cycle.”

Malaysia chairs Asean 2015

With the advent of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) to foster economic integration among its member countries by 2015, comes increased competition in the marketplace than ever before.

Human resource management (HRM) will thus become a pillar on which businesses can rely upon on its quest for success.

HRD Awards 2015

Apart from aiding in people management, HRDF has taken to providing recognition to deserving organisations by hosting an annual HRD Awards ceremony.

“The purpose of the awards is to recognise the tireless contribution of industry players, specifically employers and training providers who are registered with HRDF, says Vignaesvaran.

“The HRD Awards is the highest national recognition in the field of Human Resources Development, awarded by PSMB under the Ministry of Human Resources and has since its inception in 2001 grown to become recognised as the most prestigious HR Award in the country.”

The criteria of eligibility include:

1. Recognition to employers:

Who have contributed significantly in the field of human resource development in their organisations
Who have promoted enculturation of learning and development environment to enhance the competencies of their employees

2. Recognition to training providers:

Who have consistently provided and delivered quality training programmes to HRDF and non-HRDF registered employers
Who have adopted systematic methods of developing training curriculum and programmes

The winners of the award will be recognised as national top achievers in the human resource field where the names of their organisation will be advertised in mainstream newspapers as well as featured in the HRDF website.

As part of the recognition activities, the winners will also be invited to be guest speakers at PSMB’s Annual Conference, HRD CEO Talk Series, HR Clubs, Peer Mentoring Sessions and other related programmes.

This year’s HRD Awards ceremony will take place at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur on Dec 8, 2015. This will take place during the HRDF Conference and Exhibition, which will commence on the 8th to the 9th of December at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).

HRDF Conference and Exhibition 2015

According to Vignaesvaran, this is one of the major events planned in Malaysia in 2015, which is meant to address the implications of the major shift in the country’s economic environment.

“With the theme of ‘People, Prowess, Progress’, the conference this year reflects our commitment in supporting the Government’s aspirations of accelerating the growth of human capital and simultaneously uplift the nation’s economy,” he explains.

Targeted to HR practitioners, the conference will feature discussions surrounding topics related to Malaysia’s human capital potential – from recognising the advantage of multi-generational talent to leveraging on synergies and nurturing new skills; from managing a diverse workforce with various ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds to enabling cross border movements for optimising resources.

This year’s conference will feature a selection of speakers with expertise in the field of human resource such as Maybank Bhd group chief human capital officer Nora Abd Manaf, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Wira Dr Hj Ameer Ali bin Mydin and PETRONAS senior vice president of Group Human Resource Management Dato’ Raiha Azni Abd Rahman,to name a few.

Concluding thoughts

In regards to the aforementioned initiatives, Vignaesvaran says, “We hope through the conference and awards, we will be able to inspire others to develop their talent in order to improve the quality of the workforce and life of the nation as a whole.

“HR practitioners, employers and trainers will be able to gain valuable insights that will help drive a collective mutually beneficial collaboration to build a globally competitive workforce that will drive the AEC.”

As a custodian and authoritative institution well positioned to offer robust and prudent solutions, HRDF continues to engage with multiple stakeholders of the industry to continuously expand its role as well as opportunities to build the nation’s human capital resources.