Sime Darby Embarks on Talent Exchange Programme

Kuala Lumpur, 25 June 2014 – Sime Darby Berhad is embarking on a Talent Exchange Programme to provide high potential employees with the opportunity to acquire essential skills externally, as part of its continuous effort to nurture and develop talent.

The objective of the programme is to develop and create a platform that would mutually benefit the employees of the participating companies. By leveraging on each other’s expertise and exposure to best practices from local, regional and global operations, employees will gain experience through on-the-job learning in each other’s organisation.

The talent exchange initiative with four consultancy firms, Accenture, Aon Hewitt, Frost & Sullivan and Towers Watson, is believed to be the first such collaboration in the country between a government-linked company (GLC) and the private sector. All four firms, who are global players in their respective fields are business partners of Sime Darby.

Accenture is one of the world’s leading organisations providing management consulting, technology and outsourcing services. Aon Hewitt is a leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Frost & Sullivan is the world leader in growth consulting and the integrated areas of technology research, market research, economic research, corporate best practices, training, customer research, competitive intelligence, and corporate strategy. Towers Watson meanwhile is a leading global professional services company offering consulting, technology and solutions in the areas of benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management.

At a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony with the four firms, Sime Darby President and Chief Executive Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd Bakke Salleh said Sime Darby’s priority has always been to nurture home-grown talent and provide them with opportunities to realise their full potential and advance their professional career with Sime Darby. 

“The consulting firms and Sime Darby represent two realities, each with its own approach and there is much to learn from each other.” 

“Consistent and structured talent development interventions are key to ensure our people are highly competent and ready to take Sime Darby to greater heights. We want to ensure our employees are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to respond to the increasingly complex challenges we face in our business today,” he added. 

Janet Yap, Accenture Country Managing Director Malaysia said, “We applaud Sime Darby for taking this innovative and forward-looking approach in addressing significant talent concerns that conglomerates face today. Both companies share a mutual passion and commitment in realising the strategic importance of talent as well as tackling challenges related to it. This new programme will further cement our long standing and successful relationship with Sime Darby especially in the areas of accelerating talent development.”

Meanwhile, Aon Hewitt’s Malaysia Practice Leader – Talent and Management, Dr Jens Ballendowitsh said: "Aon Hewitt believes in developing strong partnerships and we have had the privilege of working together in the last few years with Sime Darby. This programme reflects Sime Darby’s ongoing commitment to growing talent at all levels of the organisation. Aon Hewitt shares this vision and we believe that the Talent Exchange Programme will provide a unique opportunity to both firms to develop leaders for the future.”

Frost & Sullivan’s Partner/Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Manoj Menan said: “We are thrilled to be part of this unique initiative by Sime Darby. Organisations need to continuously try to find innovative approaches to develop world class talent to compete in the global market place. We salute Sime Darby for taking the lead in developing this programme. We sense their enthusiasm to be innovative and build the culture of innovation.  This will be a great learning experience for all of us and pave the way for more such collaborations,” he added. 

Towers Watson Malaysia Managing Director, Lim Chin Han said: “Towers Watson has been partnering Sime Darby for many years and we are proud to be associated with a Human Resources team that has grown and evolved with the needs of the various businesses in the Group. Sime Darby has one of the most progressive and participative Learning & Talent Development team integrating leadership programmes with coaching & mentoring, job rotation and international assignments. In line with its objective to be a high performing company, Sime Darby is leading the way for future workplace collaboration through this Talent Exchange Programme. We congratulate Sime Darby and look forward to seeing this wonderful initiative becoming a reality.”

The Talent Exchange Programme will involve a one-to-two year placement between employees of Sime Darby and the four consultancy firms, consisting of a reciprocal programme with a one to one exchange of talent and a unilateral programme with only one party nominating a candidate for the programme.

The scope of the exchange programme will cover areas such as management consulting in strategy and human resources, shared services in information technology and business process outsourcing, system implementation, actuarial, insurance as well as merger and acquisition.