A senior manager busy at work at Dayabumi. Meeting after meeting. Chasing KPIs. Complained or chest pain and collapsed.
I did not know him in person. Saw his name in emails, cc-ed to me many times.
Semoga Allah ampun dosanya dan reda dg amalannya. Alfatihah kpd seorang sahabat.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Death at 54
More death at 48
Another friend passed away this week. Aged 48, about my age. Kidney transplant went wrong, despite donated by own brother. I knew him when he was IT manager at Optimal plant in Kerteh. A softspoken man from Tawau, Sabah.
Semoga Allah menerima amalannya dan mengampuninya. Alfatihah buat Sdr Rauf.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Morning routine
One of my morning routines is climb this stairs up to fifth floor where I work. The building is 5-storey in Lutong, suburb of Miri, Sarawak. I hv done this without fail everyday since the dawn of 2013 when I am not outside Miri.
Ya Allah, grant me health and wealth so that I could do and give more.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Brand new generation in Sarawak
Had opportunity to interview few candidates in Feb 2013 to fill in various entry level positions. Candidates were all fresh graduates. All ladies, unfortunately. One candidate really impressed me. She was cool but confident. Her English was 100% Malaysian, no slang, normal and natural. Fair complexion like Local foochow Chinese, but she was not. Her paper qualification also impressive. A beauty with brain indeed and should be an asset to the Company if developed properly by HR and superior alike.
Lesson learnt:
Interracial marriage does wonder and must be promoted to create new breed of Muslim. If you cannot develop further or change their attitude or mindset, you can alter their DNA by interracial marriage.
In Sarawak it is the norm.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Death in Labuan
15/2/2013:
I heard the news at about 5 in the afternoon my staff Ali via sms, who got it from his counterpart in Petronas Methanol Labuan. Then I quickly texted and whatsapped close friends who knew him. Untimely death. A committed man to work whom I knew since I joined HR fraternity at Ethylene plant in Kerteh in Dec 2004. Just met him last December in KK Sabah when we were SI panel together interviewing some candidates from Sabah Forestery meant for methanol plant in Labuan. He told me about being alone in Labuan when the family were in KK. He told me about his empty house in Sierra KK which had been ransacked and looted and his plan to rebuild. What an ambitious man with strong drive.
Salam terakhir buat En Hardy Mohd. Semoga ALLAH SWT merahmati tuan di sana.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Death at 46
When En Azli Paat died at the age 46 last week, a force inside me insisted that I reevaluate my priorities in my life. He was just 46, with 10 kids. The fact that he appeared on TV3 last 2 weeks to give comments on government's rebate scheme for youth to own a smartphone, then to be dead - forgive my words - two weeks later, sent a sharp shrivel down my spine. Not many characters I met left such an impact. He said first question to ask is not what brand of mobile good for me, but what is is for. He was a simple man, but with a complex mission, I could sense it, from the way he explained to audience. Yes with drive and belief. I think I can relate well to him, because we fight the same cause.
To him, may Allah bless you. To those left behind including yours truly, your time will come. What have you prepared?
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Dragging left foot
another working day in miri, sarawak. izan - still stranded with left leg in casting - complained about how difficult it is to move about on ground floor. so i said - honey life is hard. Really hard. The harder it is, the better in reward.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Bigger hard disk and memory for my old desktop PC
It was a very reliable Compaq Presario desktop PC which followed me to Yangon, Myanmar and later Miri, Sarawak. With only 80GB SATA hard disk and 512MB DDR memory, it is under capacity now. It was high end spec and strong then. But now it is nothing, even compared with Atom-powered Toshiba NB520 which came with 2GB RAM and 320GB space.
So, on one trip to KL. I dropped by at Malaysia's famous IT market, owned by Mr Low Yatt, to shop for 500GB SATA internal hard disk (RM205), SATA cable (RM5).
Days before I went to GM Klang and managed to get 2 pieces of 512MB RAM (RM45 each).
Came back home and DIY the installation, and alhamdulillah, it works! My PC hardware knowledge still sound. Now my old faithful is much faster with upgraded components, i.e. 2.5GB DDR (2 X 256MB plus 2 X 512MB) and 580 GB hard disk (original 80GB plus new 500GB). The brain is still the same -- AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0Ghz. No complaint.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Using performance appraisal system as a catch-up plan
Among new item added is new salary adjustment. Somehow during the latest revision issue surfaced as not all operators benefited from the adjustment. Some were considered not eligible. Salary people in HQ said anomalies were inevitable in big population and the approach adopted is the option with less adverse impact. And this resulted in some junior operators left out. They came compaining
to the management and CEO promised he would do something. CEO asked HR to look into the matter. I said salary is one of the policymatters managed by the HQ not by the branch HR manager. What the affected staff could do is work extra hard to catch up with their colleagues. Working harder normally translates into better performance rating. Better rating in turn translates into higher annual increment. HR and CEO met the affected staff during breakfast meeting. We explained the process and calculation and everything we wanted them to know. They bought in. Subsequent HR examined their performance ratings and push one notch higher.
Lesson learnts: Anomalies do happen in any salary revision implementation. Use less damaging approach. Arrange for engagement session. Explain. Don't apologize.
Resigning at 24
While most fresh graduates are so excited to join the labor market after 5 years of burning midnight oil, this one chap strikes different cord. He tendered 24-hour resignation notice just after joining the company in Feb 2012. Reason given is to be closer with family in Melaka. The pressure from the wife and his in-laws seemed so intense that it finally broke down his determination and perhaps sanity to decide wisely. Yes living separately due to work location is not a cuppa tea for every married man or woman. Highest degree of understanding and trust are prerequisites.
In this case, there is an option, Plan B. Be a weekend husband until your transfer is approved. But he has different plan. Wish him all the best.
Rezeki masing-masing.
Resigning at 48
Resignation is for the brave and bold only. Making a decision to resign is not a cup of tea. Especially resigning from a well-paid job. Or from an established and reputable company, like this company. Many I met said they had to think over and over and over again before coming to a decision to quit. Quit checklist so lenghty. WHo will pay the bills? All sorts of bills -- water, eletricity, gas, ASTRO, Celcom broadband, cukai pintu, manitenance fees if you are staying in condominium. All sorts of monthly committments -- house rent, home 1 installment, home 2 installment, car 1 installment, car 2 installment, children school fees, childrens pocket money, airtime reloads for all the mobiles you and kids have. School bus fares, petrol money for car 1, petrol money for car 2, money for old mother back home, maid salary. Eat-out expenses, yes once in a while kids and their mom crave for some kinda western meals at McD or KFC or pizza hut. All those are not cheap and are in different league as nasi lemak or mee kolok. They cost a bomb for a penniless. Being used to travel on now-everyone-can-fly airline, you need to continue the tradition. Sedekah to masjid, haji, umrah. All those activities need to be revisited once you resign from the company.
You see that the quit checklist is pretty long, thats why I said tendering resignation notice is for the bold only. It is certainly a collective decision, should be supported by a spouse, more so if you are the sole breadwinner in the family. In this organization where there is no pension scheme, only KWSP savings is your goldmine, quitting anytime makes no difference. Quitting means you simply lose income from the company you are quitting from. But quitting closer to retirement age has an advantage. You can withdraw from KWSP to do things you want to do and enjoy doing it.
Friday, May 04, 2012
Pushing factors
Another exit meeting for HR people. The intent is not to persuade him to stay, but to make sure others do not follow him. One staff leaves, one more headache for a recruiter. To find a replacement, with equivalent experience, is an uphill task, a time consuming process.
To get to the bottom, probing must be structured, questions aked one after another. Some will hide the actual reasons, so as not to hurt current superiors or company. Or not to be seen greedy especially when monetary compensation is concerned. However reasons of staff leaving could be summarized into 2: pushing factor or pulling factor.
As for this procurement guy, he was rather straightforward, blaming superiors for not keeping promises. He talked like he is a caring family man but his the problem is his family is not in Miri. So the reason for leaving is to be closer with the family --- personal reason, I'd say.
His story started in October 2011. He was told he is too new in Miri to be considered for transfer to KL. He began to accept the fact and activated Plan B --- bring the family to Sarawak. He worked hard to transfer the teacher wife to Miri area to the extent of seeking recommendation from Deputy Prime Minister Office in Putraja, via his brother's UMNO political link. The wife transfer was about to materialize when suddenly the superior promised him that he could go back to KL in March 2012 due to department downsizing. With this good news, he dropped everything about bringing his wife to Miri, putting DPM recommendation letter into a dustbin. He felt guilty to everybody who helped him -- his brother and above all to DPM. He waited for March. Came January, the superior dropped a bombshell on him. He was not releasable for reasons that downsized structure still needed experienced personnel like him to stabilize the operation. He got frustrated so much. All his plans came down to ashes. You know what happened next -- this Plan C.
I could see his points.
On the exit interview form, I summarized what I heard and ticked the PUSHING FACTOR.
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Regret? Yes I had a few.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Double parking
The above situation is called 'double parking' in our organization. It is not a good HR practises anywhere. But somehow we have to have it. A young female process engineer came sobbing into the HR Manager Room. So innocent. She is worried that in the same position in her dept org chart, there is another name alongside with hers. It took some time to explain why it happened.
Why it happened? It could either be:
1. The incumbent in the box was away from the dept doing other things on assignment basis. In this case he is still in the box. At the same time the manager wants somebody to do his/her job. Someone comes into the position, thus 2 names.
2. The second name just borrow the box while waiting for another approved box or waiting for the new structure approved.
3. To secure the competent staff, even though no position available.
Her case was no. 2. The way forward is to relocate the other name to another empty box (read: position) in other dept. ANd we did that. The challenge is you must find other vacant box and once you found it, you must seek the approval from dept head to relocate the body (read: staff) there. After all, mobility of staff is a willing buyer willing seller business.
There are also cases of triplr parking.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Salary adjustment based on working experience
Finance department is one of the depts most dependant on contract staff. This is about one of their account clerks. The original work order stated that we needed an account clerk with 5-year working experience. The contractor managed to find a person meeting the spec, initially. Somehow mid-contract she resigned and they could not find equivalent replacement quickly. Since line dept (Finance) required the body immediately, they compromised the criteria and took in the whoever replacement clerk being offered by the contractor at the original work order value.
What we did is reduce her salary by reducing the work order value awarded to her company, upon the beginning of the new fixed-term contract.
The line manager has met her to alert her of the new contract to be offered. She took it positively.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
HR Manager is a member of many steering committees.
HR Manager is member to all such committees. Attending meetings is the order of the day especially when the CEO is in town.
Today’s tender committee meeting, we discussed about whether or not to award this one particular bid to this one particular bidder. The bid was about the supply vessel to support the shutdown of our platform off Andaman Sea. I was no technical guy but I could contribute to the meeting by offering views from business or HR perspectives. I was IT Manager last time. I was HR Manager from downstream last time. When I was transferred to upstream, I need to learn a lot about upstream and E&P business. The management expects me to ‘run’ immediately at the new job. By the virtue of being a member of this committee member, I manage to reduce the learning curve.
Lesson Learnt:
Learning about the business is made simpler if you join many high level meetings. No matter how technical the subject matter is, at this level, it all boils down to business decision.
Networking dinner in Yangon
Yangon was not a bad place after all. Not what like Americans and Westerners had described in their one-sided media or Lonely Planet guide book who maintained a chapter on whether or not to visit Myanmar. Those were politically-motivated rubbish.
Halal food is important criteria for principle-hardened individual like me. Halal food outlets are many here, if not abundant, in this city of 6 millions.
Today I got a call HR Manager from PTTEP, our partner in Yetagun project in Myanmar. He wanted to meet me over dinner to get to know the new HR Manager from a partner company. I responded in affirmative as I was also at the receiving end. I was new in this country, in this city and a need to establish network with other multinational companies operating in Myanmar was of paramount importance.
We set the date on the phone. Followed up later with the venue via email. We met a week after that at Mai Thai Restaurant, a halal outlet, on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road. Mr Sarapong was accompanied by his Finance Manager, a lady in early 40’s who spent 3 years in Jakarta before her assignment in Yangon Office. She talked in Bahasa Indonesia quite fluently. I was accompanied by my colleague from INSTEP who happened to be in Yangon on business matter on the same day.
They ordered food before we arrived – prawn spring rolls, fried fish in chili, tomyam goong --- yes their national dishes – bean sprouts and of course rice. We talked about so many things that night. Over Thai dishes in a Thai restaurant, the topic of main interest was not surprisingly on Thais and Thailand . Thais just got the new Prime Minister Mr Abishit after existing PM was driven out of office by yellow-shirted Thaksin followers. They did not bank high hope either on this Obama-like young prime minister, for the same reason Obama was initially rejected by Democrat Hillary Clinton’s supporters.
I managed to ask on how PTTEP outsourced their non-core functions. Not much info I got as PTTEP is relatively newer oil and gas player in Myanmar compared to my organization. Their track record was not proven as yet.
After the dinner, I walked up the hill to my apartment from the restaurant. At 9pm, Kaba Aye Pagoda Road was busy as usual. And dusty as usual.
Lesson Learnt:
You may have some agenda in mind during networking session but remember the other party also has theirs. It is more appropriate to let the host complete their agenda first. Don’t worry you will have enough time to cover yours.
Myanmar - land of pious people
Their ladies are not exceptional. Ladies make good HR personnel, everywhere, in Malaysia or overseas, because of their caring and loving and maternal instinct. That statement is correct even in Myanmar. I have four lady executives under me in Yangon, taking charge of four core HR functions respectively namely HR Planning, HR Development, Training and Employee Relations.
These are local Burmese ladies with fairly high degree of commitment to work. Three of them are working moms. One is still single. They are my staff and I have to get to know them in order to understand them. They are important to me during performance appraisal as they provide me the feedbacks on me to my superior. I will describe each and every one of them in more details in future posting, God willing.
But I must say pronouncing and thereafter remembering their names is a struggle for me.
Yangon, here I come
Myanmar is also known as the Golden Land, probably because of golds are everywhere in every pagodas in this low-key country.
You may want to refer to this travelogue www.bumisepi.com for info on Myanmar or in particular Yangon. I noted that most entries in this website are in Bahasa Melayu. The webmaster told me it is his policy to uphold the national language of Malaysia in his website. I could not agree more. Well, get somebody to translate them to BM. They are some cool stuff there.

