HR veteran Riaz Saiyed reflects on human capital challenges in the age of rapid change

What does it take to manage people in industries that are dominated by machines? That is one of the most pressing questions Human Resource professionals face today, says Riaz Saiyed, a HR veteran who has spent his career in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical and construction sectors.

“Manufacturing, pharmaceutical and oil and gas industries are more process-oriented and technology-driven. HR professionals within these industries mainly face issues relating to employee engagement, training and skill development,” notes Riaz, currently the Vice President of HR for ChemOne Holdings, a Singapore-based group that develops, owns and manages major petrochemical facilities in Southeast Asia.

In the construction sector, he points out, the critical issue is planning the manpower requirements for each project, attracting those with the necessary skills, dealing with high employee turnover, and creating a safe working environment.

Additionally, these industries face another common challenge — the increase in automation. While this means productivity and safety gains, it also requires retraining for some and job loss for others. “Skilled employees look at automation as an opportunity, and unskilled workers look at it as a threat,” Riaz points out. “Research conducted on the replacement of labour in production processes by machinery found that people are more anxious about the change that they would need to bring to themselves and their skillsets, than they are about potentially losing their jobs.”

This issue is thornier because of the longstanding shift from collective bargaining to individual bargaining across all sectors. Weak labour unions have troubling implications for the industrial and manufacturing sectors as automation accelerates. In 2019, for instance, labour unions from six Southeast Asian countries stated their belief that workers were not being trained effectively as companies preferred to eliminate jobs rather than retain workers.

Riaz believes that HR departments can play an important role in helping workers who are anxious about change. Transparent communication will alleviate employee anxiety and bring them on the journey of change together. Focusing on employee training and development will improve employee performance and productivity. “HR can provide peer support and mentorship programmes to help employees, which would improve the chances of successful organisational change.”

Indeed, Riaz has had memorable experiences of implementing organisational change. Born in Nagpur, India, he studied History & Economics at the University of Baroda, and earned a master's degree in Personnel Management at Pune University, where he also completed a one-year diploma course in Labour Laws and Labour Welfare. He has worked for manufacturers of agricultural products, air-conditioners, chemical and pharmaceutical products, and his longest tenure of 11 years was with Essar Projects, an engineering procurement and construction conglomerate.

In 2005, as a HR manager for a pharmaceutical company, he was tasked with controlling the attrition rate and settling disputes with the workers’ union and vendors. This was done through “mediation, persuasion and influencing”, he says. Ten years later, as the HR Head for an Essar Projects company, he found himself in a similar situation when he had to execute a restructuring and downsizing exercise. Thankfully, the layoffs were implemented “without any dispute or legal hassles, which required not only interpersonal skills but also empathy and the ability to communicate at the emotional level with the affected employees”.

While his career has given him opportunities to master such change management skills, as well as take the lead in policy design and operational management, Riaz felt that it was time to push himself further in 2018. “I had become acutely aware of my skills gap with regards to new trends in HR and started to explore ways to bridge the gap.” He decided to take a sabbatical from his career and enrolled in SMU’s Master of Human Capital Leadership (MHCL) programme.

It was a homecoming of sorts, as Singapore had been the site of his first overseas assignment back in 2011, when he was deployed by Essar Projects to set up the HR system for the construction of the Jurong Aromatic project on Jurong Island. Dealing with government bodies, banking institutions, local vendors and staff, he experienced first-hand the stringency, transparency and digital accessibility of Singapore’s systems and processes, and lauds the gender equality, cultural diversity, safety and environmental norms that he saw here.

“Having worked in Singapore from 2011 to 2015, I was aware of SMU's formidable reputation in management research and education and was convinced the MHCL course was right for me,” says Riaz. His goal was to shift from an operational HR focus to strategic management, and the course gave him the tools to do that. Riaz found the modules on corporate communication, reward management and negotiation, and human capital analytics and research to be invaluable.

“The curriculum empowered me to find evidence-based human capital solutions that impact businesses’ bottom line,” he says. “This was a journey that I will never forget as I gained a better understanding of myself and how far I can be pushed.”

The experience will stand him in good stead during this time of COVID-19, as the pandemic has thoroughly redefined the role of HR. With more employees working remotely, HR departments must come up with new ideas “to maintain the organisational culture and assure effective remote team communication and management, which is the key to employees’ productivity”, says Riaz.

Supporting employees’ physical and mental wellbeing during a time of job insecurity is also crucial, and any necessary, rapid policy change and layoffs would be tough to implement without damage to a company’s reputation if a competent HR team is not in place, he adds.

In the construction and manufacturing sectors, manpower shortages caused by the virus spread means that HR is now tasked with looking for replacements, and working on more rigorous health, safety and environment systems that will ensure safe living conditions for workers’ quarters.

“Without a strong HR department, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to overcome these unprecedented challenges,” Riaz believes. “HR managers are change agents, and in this time when every organisation is changing, HR managers have a crucial role in defining what change means and how to transition smoothly to the desired state.”