Diversity is not only in form, like gender, race or age, but also in action

IN A recent Aon pulse survey covering 1,500 companies globally, improving diversity and inclusion emerged among the top three priorities when it comes to implementing 'future of work' strategies.

A good 78 per cent of US-based companies cited diversity as the most important issue, compared to 70 per cent in Singapore.

We often hear it argued that diversity in business is an import of a largely Western narrative that's not entirely relevant to Asia.

Indeed, it would seem it is less of a priority to business leaders in Asia where deploying resources flexibly, and agility and resilience took greater priority.

However, diversity makes for the third priority for businesses in the Asia-Pacific over many other factors such as skills-based planning and location strategy, by a robust response of 66 per cent.

THE DIVERSITY PROBLEM

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Diversity is a complex subject to tackle; the word implies breadth or range without many measurement specifics.

The cultural norms and demographic differences in a non-monolithic region like Asia vary in focus and approach.

However, while one country might focus on gender and another on ethnicity, the statistic that resonates is that diverse companies produce more revenue.

It is undeniable common sense to adequately represent the communities in which we operate. But the ability to drive true innovation, the propensity to take measured risks and then manage them, only comes through a diverse set of thoughts, skills and capabilities. In other words, diversity not only in form, such as gender, race or age, but also in action.

DIVERSITY IN ACTION

The pandemic has proven that large multinational companies can operate from anywhere in the world. This has underscored the importance of remaining attractive to these companies so Singapore can continue to develop the potential of its people. Indeed, Singapore's sustained success as a global business hub is conditional on access to both global capital and talent.

Despite a growing local/foreigner divide stemming from fears of a lagging job market, Singaporeans make up about 85 per cent of the nation's labour force, retaining a massive competitive advantage in the global economy.

Even amid low wage pressures, Singapore workers have seen their pay continue to rise, according to all available numbers, and outpacing the general cost of living.

Coupled with the government's ongoing efforts to improve the employability of the local population (via the Jobs Growth Incentive Scheme, for instance), drive reskilling (SG Innovate), and develop Singaporean talent ('Adapt and Grow'), there is a significant opportunity in diversity to help protect this advantage.

Much like Western regulators mandating transparency on gender pay differentials and cultural demographics, in Singapore too there is a clear need to understand the global and local talent diversity and then target interventions appropriately.

BUILDING BALANCE

"Plant trees you will not see grow" was a phrase used by the All Blacks rugby team to articulate how they build legacy and culture. Invest now even if you are not around to see the returns.

However, in the fast-paced digital era, the same principle can be embraced, integrated, and the benefits are likely to appear within the tenure of most senior leaders. Ongoing progress monitoring through data and analytics will also allow us to track impact and understand the future implications of our current decisions.

There is a growing chasm between skills available locally versus those that need to be imported. The recent Tech.Pass announcement is a testament to this issue. Singapore SMEs too need to embrace digital technologies better, but there seems to be a gap in understanding how they can source or afford the right talent/upskill their current workforce.

Yet the very process of bringing in foreign capability to address these gaps could be perceived as counter to the investments being made by the government.

Building a balanced diversity is the simplest answer. A mixed group of experiences makes sense for the control and risk functions; a group of people that understand the regulatory environment and how a business makes money and a group of people that have digital capabilities to translate this into marketable products and opportunities. Getting the best people into the right roles cannot be left to chance and will need policies that drive diversity.

SKILLS OF THE FUTURE

While the government can provide the policy framework and financial incentives, employers play a critical role as well. They need to understand the future skills demand and their workforce capabilities, and plan accordingly to bridge any gaps.

Workforce capabilities go beyond hard technical or functional skills, making soft skills or attributes such as empathy, inclusivity, collaboration, ability and curiosity to learn imperative traits. Hard skills needed are for the here and now. Soft skills or attributes are a cushion for the future.

Some examples include - foreign experts brought in to transfer skills to locals need to have empathy to be able to see from the trainees' viewpoint and encourage learnability; those brought in to bring diverse views to the table need to be collaborative while being inclusive of cultural differences; locals trained in today's skills need to be agile and curious in learning yet-to-emerge future skills.

The goal should be to bring diverse individuals together and build an environment where the benefits of diversity can spread across and trickle down. For the trickle-down to be successful, companies must know their people well in addition to the business trends and manage foreign and local talent in such a way that they work symbiotically to meet tomorrow's challenges.

From the environment, social and governance (ESG) perspective, it is a social responsibility, whether of a foreign MNC or a Singapore company, to invest in local employment. To ensure that the local/foreign talent divide isn't further exacerbated, skills localisation efforts need to be executed and communicated in a way that the value and benefits are clearly understood by the local populace. The important thing to note here is that as you build diverse teams, the mathematics of diversity becomes mind-boggling. Tracking diversity and its impact is the challenge, beyond merely encouraging it. Singapore's conducive public policies and strength in planning and executing targeted interventions means that diversity is not a problem, but an opportunity.

• The writers are from Aon. Peter Bentley is global chief commercial officer & Future of Work leader, Human Capital Solutions, and Na Boon Chong is managing director & partner, Human Capital Solutions, South-east Asia.