Throughout history, we have earmarked special days of the year to acknowledge great achievements and significant breakthroughs that have advanced our societies. The purpose is to recognise these feats achieved by the great many. Perhaps, the underlying tone is also to inspire others to follow and the will to want to do better. Similarly, on the 26 September of each year, we mark a very special day, a rather low theme, low affair and probably insignificant in the commercial retail world as well – This day is none other than our HR Professional Day. This day will come and pass like many others since it was first mooted in 2013 with likely no special discounts on social media, no special announcements by the media and etc.

Not that we, as HR professionals clamour for, but, here at the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) – it is a significant day and especially this year. 2020 is not only a new decade, it is a very symbolic one where all HR Professionals have come together to ensure that our workforce is safe, productivity levels are kept at pace, ensuring that we transit our workforce through reskilling and upskilling, managing the remote working conditions of our people and all these done at an intensive pace. We can never say in front of our workforce that we are having a bad day, we can only bravely put up a confident, employee and business-centric and caring front. Though the reality is that we have had bad days but have courageously soldiered on, working in the trenches with our business leaders.

Why is 2020 a momentous year? Not because it is a new decade, it WILL become a year for all HR professionals to look back with pride on what we had done thus far amidst COVID. We hope to inspire future generations of HR professionals to look at doing better in a collective manner, doing better than what we have done!

26 September might come and go without pomp and party streamers, but here at SHRI, we would like to say THANK YOU to all HR Professionals who are soldiering on!

Alvin A. Goh
Executive Director
SHRI