By Chua Hian Hou

Taking good care of its shift-working doctors and nurses has given Singapore General Hospital (SGH) top honours for its human resource (HR) practices.

The hospital yesterday walked away with the most awards from the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), clinching nine, the most of the 35 organisations surveyed.

Media company Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and HSBC led among firms in the private sector, taking home six awards each.

SGH was lauded for providing a workplace with a good work-life balance. It also won praise for its efforts in corporate social responsibility, workplace safety and the use of technology in managing human resources.

Ms Anna Fok, the hospital's HR director, was honoured as a leader in the field.

The Ministry of Manpower and the National Parks Board (NParks) came in as joint runners-up, with seven awards each.

Other big winners included the Public Service Division and IBM, with five awards each, and fast-food chain McDonald's, last year's top dog, with four.

The awards were handed out at a glittering ceremony held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel last night.

The winning companies, said an SHRI news release, were those that demonstrated a 'willingness to invest in their workers' and offered a 'good working environment' with 'fair employment practices'. A total of 35 entries ranging from large multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises won awards, with the top eight receiving additional 'corporate awards'.

Fifteen individuals, ranging from company chief executives to HR professionals, were also honoured for 'their hard work, relentless efforts and contributions to ensure that the workforce is geared to head on new challenges', SHRI said.

More than 600 executives and HR practitioners attended the awards ceremony, where the guest of honour, Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi, handed out the trophies.

Human resource is 'an integral element in an organisation's success and continuity', said Mr Abdullah.

This is especially true for Singapore, a nation whose only resource is its people, he said in his speech at the event.

To attract talent, said SHRI president Lim-Ho Geok Choo, 'a fat pay packet alone is no longer enough'.

Companies that want to hire and keep talented employees, she said, need to have 'good HR practices, policies and winning HR strategies'.

SPH's acting executive vice-president for human resources, Ms Mable Chan, said the company's harvest of wins 'shows that we are a good place to work in'. It would spur SPH to do even better in the future, she said.

NParks' HR head, Ms Valerie Lee, 39, who scooped up an individual award for being a leading HR professional, said she was 'very honoured', and thanked her driven and committed team for helping her score the award, her first.

Ms Lee has been in HR for 17 years, of which the last three have been with NParks.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 5 July 2008.