One used video game technology to train police officers. The other tweaked jobs in its hotels to employ the disabled and the illiterate.
For their innovations in human resources, the Dubai Police and Indian hotel chain Lemon Tree tied for the Asian Human Capital Award 2015, given out yesterday at the Singapore Human Capital Summit.
The award, sponsored by the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) and the Ministry of Manpower, honours organisations in the region for exemplary people management practices.
The Dubai Police won the award for designing virtual game technology to train officers in scenarios ranging from traffic accidents to crime scene investigation. This technology has saved the force about $33.1 million over the past five years and improved performance. For instance, investigators trained via the virtual simulations did better than their classroom-trained peers when evaluated on tasks performed at the crime scene.
The award also recognised Lemon Tree Hotels, which currently employs 400 workers with disabilities, or 13 per cent of their staff.
Chairman and managing director Patu Keswani said it is possible to tailor job scopes around a disability. For instance, an employee who is hearing-impaired could be assigned to a noisy machine room, while one with Down syndrome could work as a restaurant steward.
Lemon Tree also lowered its educational entry barriers from requiring a college degree to accepting the barely literate. To make up for the gaps in knowledge, it has an in-house training academy.
Yesterday, HCLI also announced a new programme to groom those in senior HR roles for regional leadership, to start in the first quarter of next year with a cohort of about 30.
Said HCLI chief executive Wong Su-Yen: "There are a lot of opportunities for people to learn about HR functional capabilities, but we're really trying to focus on the dimension of how to get HR to be more strategic."
Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, the guest of honour, stressed at a dialogue yesterday the need for long-term human capital planning and short-term goal fulfilment.
Into its seventh year, the summit started at Marina Bay Sands yesterday and ends today.
