COVID-19 has thrown a curveball to people, institutions, and businesses around the world, challenging relationships, systems, and processes that used to work perfectly well. In the Asia Pacific, the recent SAP Qualtrics’ survey “The Other COVID-19 Crisis: Mental Health” has shed awareness on the pandemic’s impact on employees’ mental health, which can eventually affect an organisation’s financial health. The study revealed that during the health crisis: 66{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of employees in the region felt more anxious; 64 {aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} felt more stressed, and 36{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} experienced mental health decline.

This year, many organisations’ Human Resources faced unexpected challenges and acquired learnings that are paramount in strategising for 2021. Aaron Green, Senior Vice President and Head of SAP SuccessFactors across the Asia Pacific and Japan, shared in an interview with People Matters how SAP and HR technologies can aid HR in overcoming the plight of looking after their employees’ overall well-being while driving digital transformation and achieving company’s bottom line.

“As the pandemic has dramatically impacted countries, organisations, and communities across the world, leadership has been stress-tested. There’s no question that organizations will need a disciplined focus on the viability and financial health. However, a human crisis demands a more human approach,” said Green.

He stressed that at these unprecedented times, while great leaders rethink the entire business models for the organisation’s short-term survival, it is equally pertinent to focus on building a resilient team in the long run. Green said that the three major characteristics they are seeing as key to leading the people through turmoil are empathy, decisiveness, and flexibility.

Accelerating Transformation

Green explained that though the global health crisis has compelled many organisations to fast-track their workplace restructuring, which includes embracing remote working and adopting technologies like AI, the changes in the new world of work has already been in progress even before the pandemic. 

He shared that over the past decade, there has been an increase of 91{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} in the number of employees working remotely according to a 2019 FlexJobs report and AI adoption has been on a growing trend. According to a 2020 Deloitte survey, 71{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of executives plan to invest in AI in 2021. 

“Overall, organisations are looking at HR technology to drive their overall digital transformation – by harmonising data, streamlining processes, and creating experiences that help employees be productive. The urgency of these transformations has been accelerated because having the right technology in place enables businesses to be agile and flexible, and quickly respond to changes,” Green further said.

SAP and HR Technologies

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, SAP has been charting the course for HR through solutions that would help leaders gain visibility into operations as well as the flexibility to adapt plans and contingencies.

“SAP is leading the HR market with Human Experience Management (HXM), which replaces top-down HR processes with experiences that put people at the center of the organisation. At a time when we are working and living with constant change and uncertainty, HXM helps make technology work better for people,” Green said.

Below are some of SAP’s HR solutions that are helping organisations survive and thrive in the time of COVID:

• SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central enables organisations to streamline HR processes with a flexible, cloud-based human resource information system (HRIS). The cloud-based core HR solution has recently reached over 4,000 customers worldwide.
• SAP SuccessFactors Learning, which provides training and certification using SAP’s visual learning guides, has reported an increase of 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} usage year over year.
• SAP Litmos, which offers a completely free Remote Readiness & Productivity Academy for anyone working remotely, has increased usage by 95{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} year over year with nearly one million SAP Litmos courses assigned in that same period.
• SAP Qualtrics Remote Work + Onsite Pulse tool has helped many organisations check in on their employees and make informed changes. 
• SAP Work Zone for HR connects multiple applications from across the business into a personalised digital workplace for employees, enabling organisations to push top-down communications without IT involvement.

“At SAP, we are continuing to deliver on our HXM vision with new capabilities and solutions that help people be more productive, develop new skills, and do their best work. To excel in our new normal, organisations need to create dynamic, engaging, and employee-centered experiences that support individuals by empowering them to be in the driver’s seat of their own career journey,” Green emphasised.

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On the 19th of June 2020, Singapore has entered Phase 2 of its three-phased safe re-opening to sustain the efforts of the city-state in managing the pandemic. Under this phase, limited close contact amongst individuals as well as maintaining hygiene and safe management principles are widely implemented. For business owners, they have to ensure telecommuting by default, where possible.

While remote working has become more common than it used to be, there are still pitfalls that both employers and employees encounter as they work together to thrive in the new world of work. For the Singaporean workforce, a recent Qualtrics survey has shown that having robust training support is a key factor that affects employees’ job satisfaction.

New Initiatives for Local SMEs

SAP’s recent initiatives to support local businesses’ hurdles on managing remote working couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, especially for Singapore who has been steadily on Phase 2 (Safe Transition) and is prepping for Phase 3 (Safe Nation), the country’s new normal (Safe Nation). Now, SAP has opened up access to SAP Litmos, SAP’s cloud-based eLearning management platform, and SAP SuccessFactors, its cloud human capital management solution, to equip organisations, and consequently, their employees on their journey to recovery.

Eileen Chua, Managing Director at SAP Singapore, acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted traditional ways of working and business operations. She stressed that the silver lining in this global crisis is that organisations have accelerated their digital transformation and have seen the value of business agility and diversity of skillsets that are crucial for long-term recovery. She said:

“As Singapore continues its acceleration towards a digital economy to power growth, technology will be a cornerstone in an increasingly data-driven, digital future and will be found not only in the backend but also every touchpoint of the business and facet of society.” 

“Through opening up access of SAP Litmos and SuccessFactors to local businesses in Singapore, we believe these will aid digital upskilling and retraining efforts, where employees are empowered to take on higher-value roles and diversify their skillsets and knowledge, playing a greater role in driving business growth and transformation,” SAP Singapore MD explained.

SAP Litmos and SAP SuccessFactors HXM suite offer local SMEs remote digital tools to enhance employees’ skillsets, strengthen employee engagement, even as organisations transform and redesign their business models.

Upskilling with SAP Litmos

SAP Litmos combines a powerful Learning Management System called SAP Litmos Training with a robust course library called SAP Litmos Training Content. It enables targeted learning that trains and diversifies employee skillsets; boosts employee experience and loyalty; protects the brand by keeping the organisation compliant; and improves KPIs across the enterprise.

AcePLP, a local engineering consultancy and one of Singapore’s most widely used Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) services provider, has recently adapted remote learning to enhance the skillsets of its employees. Recognising the importance of equipping its employees with digital workflows and skills as they embrace remote working, Ivan Tang, Operations Manager of AcePLP, shared:

“As part of our digital transformation journey, we are using SAP Litmos to accelerate hybrid-learning for our 250-strong employees to help increase workflow efficiency for the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries.”

SAP has recently made the customer experience edition of SAP Litmos Training solution globally available on SAP Store, 

Advancing HR with SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite

As businesses ease through remote working, SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite can help organisations continue providing its workforce with experiences that recognise their individual value and consistently motivate them to achieve peak performance levels. 

Local SMEs can leverage SAP Successfactors solutions in bringing their traditional HR processes to the cloud; digitalising and providing analytics on employee feedback management, core HR, and payroll services; and adapting to fluctuating talent needs across recruitment, onboarding, performance, learning and development.

RHT Management Services, a leading professional services company headquartered in Singapore, and PSB Academy, one of Singapore’s leading private education institutions, have successfully rolled out SAP SuccessFactors to help digitally transform their HR processes. 

“With SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite, we aim to deliver the exceptional employee experiences to help create a more flexible, engaged workforce and a more resilient business,” said Shan Gandhimani, Chief Information Officer.

“Shifting our manual HR processes to SAP has definitely improved employee experience and organisation efficiency. Information is available 24/7 and approvals can be done on-the-go, not to mention the ease of process tracking and record-keeping, too,” said Cecilia Yeoh, Vice President of Human Resource.

According to a SuccessFactors implementer DDG (Daya Dimensi Global), SMEs in Singapore have been leveraging existing government grants to digitalise their workforce and support their employees’ development and wellbeing remotely such as SME Go Digital grants for SAP SuccessFactors.

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