Abdul Rahim is the Director of Human Resources at the Conrad Centennial Singapore, where he joined the hotel in February 2018. What started out initially as a part-time job during school holidays, Rahim discovered his passion for hospitality and built his career in this exciting industry. Upon completing his national service in the Police Force, Rahim joined a five-star hotel working at the Front Office. He then took up a part-time Hotel Management program to support his ambition and rose to the rank of Front Office Manager. In 2004, Rahim decided to expand his horizons and sought for opportunities beyond Singapore and took up a Front Office Manager role in a five-star resort in The Maldives. It was during this time, Rahim expressed interest in Human Resources. Never resting on his laurel, Rahim took to the challenge and became the Director of Human Resources and subsequently moved as the opening team for a five-star resort in Seychelles.

While being busy pursuing his career ambitions, Rahim also cared for his beautiful family of a son and two daughters, with a highly supportive and loving wife. Now back in Singapore, Rahim loves doing what he does best, developing people, talent and their careers.

Gender equality gaps remain large in many countries in the APAC region. How do you see gender diversity in APAC?

In most countries in APAC, perceived traditional gender division and norms still persist. There is still a strong cultural belief that men are the breadwinner of the family and women are typically homemakers. Moreover, there is a tendency for women to make career sacrifices post-marriage and with the arrival of their own children. The society also has unconscious bias with stereotyping of jobs on the basis of gender. Nevertheless, over the years the perceived gender division gap is narrowing and this is a positive change.

What measures are you taking to ensure gender diversity and are you getting the benefits already?

Interestingly, we have a near to equal male (50.4 percent) to female (49.6 percent) ratio at Conrad Centennial Singapore. Furthermore 59 percent of the managers at the hotel are females. Here at Conrad, we pride ourselves in recruiting on the basis of meritocracy. We truly believe in recruiting the most suitable person for the role regardless of gender, social, ethnic and religious background.

In all our job advertisements, we never state any gender preferences. We also celebrate and share success whenever we bridge any gender differences. At the hotel, we support Women’s Week and organize talks and workshops for single mothers, providing them with a tool to pursue a balanced family and career path.

It’s widely acknowledged that organizations pursue diversity and inclusion not just for ethical reasons, but also to realize enhanced business results and better financial performance. What's your take on this?

Diversity and inclusion make sense for any business. Organizations need to understand the different working behavior and how these can complement one another. Women are naturally nurturing and supportive, qualities which are essential in the service industry. Conrad Centennial Singapore holds inclusion close to our heart, as we work closely with Delta Senior School to provide training and job opportunities to individuals with special needs individuals. The workforce of the hotel also consists of 15 percent of individuals aged 54 years old and above, valuing the experience that this senior staff brings to the organization.

While it’s the responsibility of D&I managers to ensure diversity and inclusivity, how can boards ingrain inclusion into their organizational strategy?

Boards need to be aware of any unconscious bias and take necessary steps to reduce or eliminate it during the decision-making processes. It is also imperative that the board itself is diverse and set targets and goals with measurable KPIs to achieve diversity.

Do you think it’s time to have diversity, equity, and inclusion dashboards which show  the retention rate for women, the number of women in leadership positions, employee engagement numbers, and so on?

Our society needs to work toward the aim of making inclusion a natural behavior that needs no measurement or reminder. Meanwhile, as we progress towards this stage, the dashboards can serve as reminders for us.

At the Hilton Group, we take inclusion sentiments seriously and ensure our team members feel welcome and included. Every year, the company conducts a global survey amongst all team members (GTMS – Global Team Member Survey) to gauge on this matter.

Conrad Centennial Singapore’s GTMS results show that 82 percent of the team members of the hotel strongly feel that we have the right work environment that enables them to perform at their best. 81 percent of the team members at our hotel would strongly recommend the hotel as a place to work in.

D&I has never been that critical it is today. However, it continues to be frustrating and challenging for companies. Why is this gap?

Unfortunately, unconscious bias is still prevalent and it is hard to get 100 percent acceptance due to strong ingrained cultural beliefs. We are in a transitional stage and it is positively reassuring to see that the younger workforce are celebrating diversity and are vocal about it.