OUR PEOPLE
Healthier You Healthier SG
“NHG is focused on building a culture of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual wellness aligned to our River of Life framework. We believe that mental wellness is central to satisfaction and productivity in the workplace. When our workforce is healthy, it would lead to better and more sustainable health outcomes for our population.”
PROFESSOR PHILIP CHOOGROUP CEO, NHG
Our people are the cornerstone of NHG, and we are committed to co-creating a safe and collaborative environment for staff to grow and excel in their professions. As the NHG Family embarks on Healthier SG, we are stepping up our efforts to look after the health of our workforce, and empowering them to practise healthy habits at work and home.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its waves of new variant infections brought about significant workforce challenges across all sectors in Singapore, including healthcare. The challenges faced were not in numbers alone, but also the physical, mental, and well-being of staff. With strong support from one another, staff worked tirelessly to provide care to patients and the population. Such resilience is one of the hallmarks of public healthcare.
At NHG, we seek to:
GROW TOGETHER
Our staff will be imbued with the knowledge and expertise to provide better care to our population.
THRIVE TOGETHER
a) Stay connected — co-create sustainable ways to connect meaningfully, encourage, and motivate one another.
b) Design activities — rejuvenate the body, mind, and soul, including fitness for charity and mental well-being initiatives.
c) Build a supportive workplace — a purpose-filled work environment where staff feel supported, engaged, and valued through meaningful platforms.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE FOR PEOPLE MANAGERS
NHG is committed to developing our people managers. In March 2022, we piloted the first NHG Community of Practice (CoP) for People Managers to learn alongside and glean insights from one another. The inaugural session was attended by 15 participants from across NHG Institutions, and it focused on the topic ‘Collaborating as a Team’. They acquired useful tips and techniques on how to build and strengthen team-based partnerships in NHG. More CoP sessions on various people management topics were rolled out every quarter in 2022.
LEADERS NETWORK AND MENTORING SERIES
To further develop NHG’s leaders, we are enhancing our mentorship and coaching framework to help guide leaders in their career journey. A new leadership mentoring series began on 8 April 2022 with the aim of co-creating a mentorship framework for NHG. Hosted by Professor Chua Hong Choon, Deputy Group CEO (Strategy and Transformation), NHG, this first of three sessions highlighted the key parameters needed to curate the framework. It is set to be launched by end-2022. A coaching series for the same purpose would follow.
This series augments the regular Leaders Network sessions organised for NHG’s alumni of the Healthcare Leadership College programmes. Together, they serve to broaden the mentorship and coaching opportunities to a wider pool of talents. They also complement the NHG Collective Leadership (CL) team and system level initiative that equips our leaders with skills and mental models to foster meaningful relationships and build high-performing teams.
HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP 360
As part of our efforts to groom public healthcare leaders further, a Healthcare Leadership 360 (HL360) tool was established and launched in FY2021. Led by the MOH Holdings in collaboration with the three public healthcare clusters, the HL360 tool was developed based on the ONE Leadership Framework for sectoral leadership development.
Since its launch, 132 NHG leaders across different levels and job families have utilised the new tool to gain multi-perspectives on their leadership strengths and developmental needs. Moving forward, NHG will be using HL360 as a benchmark to identify the areas for development for more leaders and talents across NHG Institutions. Plans to roll out executive coaching to support these leaders in bridging development gaps are also in progress.
MOH-NHG TOWNHALL
In October 2021, a Ministry of Health (MOH)-NHG virtual Townhall was held with some 500 participants. MOH gave an update on Singapore’s COVID-19 strategy, including Protocols 1, 2 and 3 for Antigen Rapid Test (ART) testing and self-care, and future steps to make the nation COVID-19 resilient. The event featured a panel dialogue session comprising Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen; Senior Minister of State for Health (SMS) Dr Janil Puthucheary; Permanent Secretary for Health Mr Ng How Yue and other MOH officials; as well as from NHG – Professor Philip Choo, Group CEO; Professor Jason Cheah, Deputy Group CEO (Accountable Care); Professor Eugene Fidelis Soh, Deputy Group CEO (Integrated Care); Professor Lim Tock Han, Group Chairman Medical Board; and Professor Leo Yee Sin, Executive Director of National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). The session was moderated by Professor Chua Hong Choon, Deputy Group CEO (Strategy and Transformation), and Professor Benjamin Seet, Deputy Group CEO (Education and Research). Insights shared by Dr Ng included the importance of ground feedback, and how Government policymakers and administrators identified ways to better support the stretched healthcare workforce. Both Dr Ng and Professor Choo also expressed their gratitude to healthcare workers for supporting Singapore through the different pandemic phases.
The virtual Mental Wellness Summit was launched in March 2022. It seeks to strengthen staff’s
capacity for empathy and resilience through in-depth discussions with subject matter experts.
NHG EMPLOYEE PULSE SURVEY
The repeated resurgence of COVID-19 cases from new variants was a stressful time for the healthcare workforce. While initiatives are in place to ensure their well-being, NHG saw the need to closely monitor staff morale, resilience, and their capacity to handle future adversities. Between February and April 2022, we conducted an inaugural pulse survey to better gauge the well-being of staff across NHG Institutions. The results showed that NHG staff are generally resilient, with more staff giving favourable responses on all areas surveyed. These pulse checks will continue to run once every six months.
NHG-SWC CO-FUNDING SCHEMES
The NHG Staff Well-Being Committee (NHG-SWC) co-chaired by Professor Chua Hong Choon, NHG Deputy Group CEO (Strategy and Transformation), and Mrs Olivia Tay,
NHG Group Chief Human Resource Officer continued to identify, design, and roll out initiatives to engage staff, and boost employees’ resilience by promoting Joy in Work.
In FY2021, the NHG-SWC Co-Funding Scheme for Staff Mental Well-Being supported the scale-up of several mental health initiatives in response to the pandemic. To-date, four institutions have sought support from the Scheme to augment their staff well-being efforts.
Under NHG’s Zest For Life framework, the new workplace health initiatives implemented to improve employees’ physical, emotional, and psychosocial well-being, included the launch of the virtual Mental Wellness Summit themed ‘It’s OK Not to Be OK’ in March 2022.
MENTAL WELL-BEING INITIATIVE
The HQ Mental Well-being Initiative was launched in January – March 2022, with the objective of raising awareness on mental health and addressing work burnout. As part of this initiative, a heart-warming video, titled Expressing Gratitude – At the Workplace, showcased five NHG staff sharing their personal stories regarding being grateful to their colleagues. Other wellness interventions and activities — including virtual exercise programmes, mindfulness sessions, positive psychology, and mental resilience and self-care lunchtime workshops — were organised to enhance camaraderie among staff and encourage team-bonding.
Another initiative, the NHG Peer Support Programme, aims to build a resilient workforce by giving employees a platform to support each other, and work towards improving psychological well-being in the workplace.
HQ VIRTUAL STAFF FIESTA 2021
NHG continued to promote engagement and social bonding for staff during the year, with more activities organised virtually. A HQ Virtual Staff Fiesta centred on the theme ‘Around the World’ to affirm staff resilience and dedication was held in August 2021. Its fringe activities with mini-games to inject fun and togetherness were held over three weeks, and they culminated in a main event on 20 August for more than 480 staff from NHG Corporate Office, NHG Diagnostics, and NHG Pharmacy.
APPRECIATING OUR PEOPLE
To show care and thank all staff in NHG Family for their contributions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, NHG Management gave away 28,000 appreciation packs to the staff, including service partners between February and April 2022. Each gift pack of a mobile massager and wireless phone charger was accompanied by an appreciation letter from Professor Philip Choo, Group CEO, NHG.
The collective experience in managing the pandemic has enabled us to Emerge Stronger Together!
FITNESS FOR CHARITY
Fitness for Charity (FFC) was launched in 2021 in place of the Charity Carnival to promote healthy living among staff, while raising funds for charity. Participants had to achieve their fitness goals during the challenge period from 14 to 20 February 2022. Colleagues showed their support by pledging a donation based on the goals to be achieved by the participants. Some S$11,702 was raised from NHG HQ and staff donations for Beyond Social Services, which supports disadvantaged young people and their families to move beyond their problems. It was the charity selected by NHG staff.
From left: Lifewise, Jan - Mar 2022, Issue 91 (GCC, NHGHQ)
This issue also won the BEST MAGAZINE INFOGRAPHICS, THE WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWS PUBLISHERS (WAN-IFRA) Asian Media Awards 2022. | aha, Jul - Aug 2021,
Issue 3, KTPH
From left: Lifewise, Jul - Sep 2021, Issue 89 (GCC, NHGHQ) | Lifewise, Oct – Dec 2021,
Issue 90 (GCC, NHGHQ) | Imagine, Feb - May,
2021, IMH
Lifewise, Apr - Jun 2021, Issue 88
[Article on page 8: ‘Breaking the Chain of Transmission’] (GCC, NHGHQ)
Behind the Mask: A Healthcare Worker’s Story of the Pandemic [published on International Migrants Day - Ms Vithya] (GCC, NHGHQ)
From left: NHG Corporate Yearbook FY2020: Collective Leadership – Emerging Stronger, Together (GCC, NHGHQ) | Embracing A New Normal In Primary Care FY2020 Annual Report, NHGP
From left: Together@NHG - 31 Dec 2021
(GCC, NHGHQ) | Transforming Primary Care,
Issue 13 - Mission: Vaccination (COVID-19 Vaccination Drive), NHGP
Webinar hosted by a panel of NHG medical experts to address concerns and questions on COVID-19 vaccines (GCC, NHGHQ)
APEX 2022 AWARDS
NHG and our Institutions clinched 12 awards across multiple categories at the APEX 2022, an annual US-based competition which recognises excellence in publishing. This year’s APEX received some 1,200 entries from professional communicators worldwide.
NHG’s print and digital publications, videos, and webinars continue to serve as channels for public education on health matters. They also provide insights into NHG’s vision of Adding Years of Healthy Life, and the innovation, collaboration, and developments happening across our Institutions as we move towards a Healthier SG.