HRM in Singapore Airlines

Introduction

• Human resource management is one of the most important part in a business, as human
resource is responsible for the growth and success of the business. Human resource
management is one of the responsible elements in the corporate social responsibility of an
organization. Corporate social responsibility is a business aspect that helps to develop a
sustainable business through the delivery of social, economic and environmental benefits
for the stakeholders. Organizations has their CSR policies, which act as the self-regulatory
mechanism, with the help of which, a business organization monitors and evaluates its own
compliance with the corporate ethical standards, spirit of law and national/international
standards or norms (Lovelock, 2011). In this assignment, the focus would be the analysis of
Singapore Airline’s human resource management related aspects. Two domains in the human
resource management has been selected for discussion; these are “responsible HRM” and
“labour practice” in Singapore Airlines.
 Background

• Singapore Airlines Ltd. is a public airlines company, which includes many airline related
subsidiaries. The company was the launch customer for Airbus A380, which is the largest
passenger aircraft throughout the world (Singaporeair.com, 2016). The organization hires
the best possible employees for improving the services provided by the organization.
Human resource management (HRM) is the process of attracting, developing and keeping
the right people in the quality workforce. In human resource management, the key functions
are recruitment, selection, training and remuneration. Recruiting skilled employees for each
designation is vital for maintaining the corporate image of the organization. The
organization includes both external as well as internal recruitment. Through external
process, the organization recruits experienced employees suitable for each job. After
recruiting skilled employees through screening, effective strategies are used for retaining the
potential employees
 Responsible Human Resource
Management of Singapore Airlines

• Singapore Airline’s human resource strategies are way more superior to any
other airlines organization. It allows them to have an extra competitive edge
over its rivals. Five most important elements that make up Singapore Airline’s
human resource strategy are hereby mentioned below:
 Recruiting Right People

• Recruitment is one of the most important strategies of Singapore Airlines

that is performed by its human resource department. Their recruitment
strategy includes group and on-to-one interviews along with English
language competency test. Human resource department always looks to
recruit candidates who can empathies with passengers and are friendly and
humble. According to Heracleous & Wirtz (2012), SIA receives nearly 10,000
applications to join its cabin crew, but HRM department selects only 900
from them
 Training Service Champions

• Human resource department of SIA helps its newly recruited cabin crew to
join an intensive 15-week training course which is known as the most longest
and comprehensive in the global airlines industry. HRM department of the
organization has facilitated this training facility so that new cabin crew
candidates can provide gracious service with confidence. The organization
also has an internal initiative known as Transforming Customer Service.
Primary objective of this service is to develop team spirit among the
employees in key operational areas such as engineering, ground services, sales
support and flight operations.
 Esprit de Corps
• Human resource department of SIA is also responsible for creating esprit de
corps among its employees by grouping them into wards. Each ward includes
180 crew members who are led by a ward leader acts as counselor. Besides,
HRM department has also facilitated inter-ward games, overseas bonding
seasons and regularly scheduled full-day engagement sessions on the ground.
 Empowerment for Quality Service

• Human resource department of SIA is responsible for providing a clear

concept to the employees about their limitations while taking decisions.
Employees are also guided properly by the management so that
empowerment can be done of the staffs.
 Reward System

• After making sure that right people are placed in right positions, human
resource department of the organization then ensures that the team is
delivering service excellence. Thus, they have implemented several reward
systems not only to motivate the employees but also to retain those. SIA
human resource management have implemented several reward systems such
as symbolic forms of recognition, share options based on individual
performance and connecting variable pay components to individual staff
contribution.
 Employee Retention

• Executive vice president of Singapore Airlines stated that they management of the
company mostly sees training not as a cost item but at as an investment. Secondary
purpose of the organization is to make sure that the new recruits come out of
training “better equipped and higher skilled to serve their customers. Human
Resource Management of the company also makes sure that employees are rotated
across different divisions in the company. Along with traditional reward systems
HRM of SIA also provides rewards such as recognition schemes, profit sharing
bonuses. These processes help the management to attract new candidates and retain
existing employees.
 Internal Communication

• Employee communication programs are extremely important for the mission and
corporate values of the organization. This system exists in the People Network
Department under human resource department of the organization.The main
purpose of this system is to create sustaining well-built relation among the
employees via sharing core values and strategic decisions of the organization with
them. In this communication strategy, methods such as print materials, online
interaction channels, extra curriculum activities and one-to-one sessions are vastly
used. Union members are also asked to participate frequently in these
communication operations. Thorough the communication system, the organization
tries to enforce union and management relations and motivate a sense of
ownership.
 Strength and Weakness of SIA’s Responsible
Human Resource Management

• Singapore Airline’s human resource department is known to have no weakness within their
strategies and procedures. As it is discussed above, the human resource organization is
maintaining the goals and objectives of the organization by implementing best practices in
their departments. According to Sawitri and Muis (2014), three most major responsibilities
of a human resource team is to recruit candidates who can meet the organization goals,
promoting training services and implementing proper reward and compensations system.
Human resource of Singapore Airlines does the same. They recruit only best candidates in
every sector of its organization and provide them with a 15 weeks training in order to
develop their skills (Fan & Lingblad, 2016). Besides, the organization is also giving away
several reward systems in order to implement motivation among them. He only weakness
that is seen in their HRM is their relation with pilot union that is discussed in element one.
 Social Responsibility of Singapore Airlines

• As a leading global airlines Singapore airlines has characterized the importance of

active participation and support provision to the communities or society they serve,
which is one of the major social responsibility in Singapore airlines. The
organization is supporting charities and non-profit organizations, for many years.
The organization has significant contribution in sponsoring the initiatives for
promoting sports, education, arts, environment and heritage conservation. SIA
offers the support through financial donation, staff volunteerism and rebated air
tickets. With the help of Singapore charity gala in October 2014, the organization
provided $2.5 million for the community chest of Singapore. Singapore Airlines is
the Diamond partner in SG Care & Share 2015 event, where SIA employees
distributed goodie bags to the elder people for celebrating the Chinese lunar new
year.
• The organization is committed to improve Singapore arts scene, thus, the
organization has contributed to Singapore Symphony orchestra, Singapore
Lyric opera, Singapore dance theatre and Singapore Chinese orchestra.
Singapore airlines has committed towards the protection and restoration of
Harapan rainforest. It is the result of the company’s values, that the
organizational efforts towards environment should be focused on
contribution towards the well-being of the earth. The organization has
focused upon the “development of an ecosystem restoration resource centre
at Harapan” for strengthening he capacity development, training, knowledge
management, policy work and communication by Burung Indonesia, for
implementation and improvement of government of Indonesia’s ecosystem
restoration concession policy. In Australia, Singapore airlines took the
commitment of supporting children’s causes and arts, since 1967.
• The organization is also significant responsible towards the environmental
protection. “SIA believes that we have a long-term responsibility to help
protect the environment”. The organization implemented the SIA’s
environmental policy as a part of their commitment towards the
environment, which include three steps, “Educate, Ensure and Established”.
To manage the flight related environmental impact, the organizational key
initiatives include “regular fleet renewal, engineering measures, participating
in the ASPIRE program, adopting flight operation procedures, improving
flight operation procedures, engaging route-planning procedures, actively
participating in international discussion, developing performance
improvement packages, working on initiative and employing mobile ground
power units and pre-conditioned air units.
 Strength and Weakness of Social
Responsibilities of Singapore Airlines

• The introduction of the environmental policies is reducing the

environmental impact, imposing a positive brand image upon the service
users. In addition, the commitment of the organization towards the
international social support and social welfare initiatives enhances the
organizational network and strengthens the brand image in the international
airlines industry. In contrast, the organization is investing huge amount in
making environment friendly flight equipments, which are enhancing the
cost of production and maintenance, thereby reducing company’s sole profit.