On September 10 and 11, I delivered a two-day workshop for the ETELS Training Networks in Kuala Lumpur. KL, as the cognoscenti call it, is a beautiful city. Compared to Singapore, it is dirtier and the infrastructure needs a lot of work. However, the city has large green areas and the largest bird park in the world. It also has an orchid garden, a hibiscus, the national flower of Malaysia.
Whenever I travel to someplace new, I allow at least an extra week to acclimate to the time zone, see the area, and most importantly, learn the culture.
The workshop is titled "Winning Employee Retention Strategies" and the program producer had so many delegates to sign up that she had to tell the sales people to "stop selling." It's interesting that in both Singapore and KL, I am speaking to record audiences. It's also exciting that there is a great desire to take action on the part of the human resource professionals.
The material, though Asianized, is similar to what I teach in the Employee Retention Specialistâ„¢ Program in the United States. In the US, the audiences are, at most, 1/3 the size of the Asian audiences.
What do Asian HR professionals know that US HR professionals have yet to learn?
In truth, I don't think the Asian folks are suffering worse than their US counterparts. They do seem to have a significant motivation to take action.
Or perhaps they are: last night, I heard a fascinating statistic: Malaysian engineers are being pirated by the Saudis and others for ten times the salaries they were receiving from the companies here in Malaysia. Perhaps that is why?
Looking Forward. . .
Joyce Gioia-Herman
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