The team mentored by DecodeHR took top prize in the 4th SHRI hackathon, but we were blown away by the quality of all the finalist presentations. We showcase the Top 3 winners.

Over more than a month, youths from 12 tertiary institutions in Singapore and the region worked hard to come up with innovative and feasible ideas to solve HR problems – which have become more challenging in today’s ever-changing work environment.

They were taking part in the 4th SHRI Hackathon, an annual problem-solving fest to groom future HR leaders. The Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI) is Singapore’s professional HR body.

The youths were matched with businesses - DecodeHR, Crimson Logic, Under Armour, Far East Organisation and Rewardz - and their brief was to come up with solutions for specific case statements which each business outlined.

The businesses also mentored the teams, supplying information for their pitches and helping them to refine their ideas.

DecodeHR - which was participating in the SHRI Hackathon for the first time - mentored four teams, of which two made it to the final.

Our Head of Technology, Annie Kok, who was also a judge for the morning segment, said,

“All the student teams demonstrated so much effort and innovation - from rigorous research, professional pitches to simple implementable solutions. I’m heartened to see the potential in our youths.”

Evelyn Chow, our Managing Director, added,

“DecodeHR supported the SHRI Hackathon as we firmly believe in the importance of nurturing our young people and in the process, we have always been inspired and encouraged by their energy, creativity and sheer enthusiasm. It definitely works both ways.”

A mentoring session with the HACKIT team from Nanyang Technological University

From the initial field of 28 teams, this was narrowed down to six teams which slugged it out in the final, a presentation over Zoom which took place on Saturday, 14 August.

These teams were judged by SHRI Executive Director Alvin Aloysius Goh, HR/OD Director from INSEAD Stephane Michaud and Chief Strategy Officer from Epitome Global Syed Ali Abbas.

Here, we highlight the top three winners.

1st Prize – Bob the Blender (Team from Singapore Polytechnic)

Company – DecodeHR (HR consultancy)

Case statement – How might we re-think learning and development in an agile world? How can we inspire our workforce, including remote and diverse team members, while aligning with the organisation’s culture?

Using the acronym AGILE, the team impressed the judges by building their own learning and development app from scratch.

It is based on AV learning, gamification, inclusion and diversity (to take into account DecodeHR’s workforce who also come from the Netherlands and Taiwan), learning theory and evaluation.

Interesting features include:

Audio-only content for people who want to learn on the go.
Bite-sized micro-learning modules of 2-5 minutes.
Gamification including progress bars, the awarding of certificates and quizzes.

The Bob the Blender team also stood out for their presentation skills.

Dressed in hard hats and suspenders made from safety tape – in a nod to kids’ TV icon Bob the Builder who is a construction worker - the energy level from the group was arguably the highest amongst the six finalists.

Noted one viewer in the comments, “They are like TV show hosts, you can’t look away!”

On their win, a student from the team said, “The other teams did a great job too, they were very impressive!”

2nd Prize – Success Factors (Team from Singapore Polytechnic)

Company – Under Armour

Case statement – Propose onboarding and offboarding digital and paperless solutions for retail team mates in Under Armour

To try and solve the problem of new hires having to fill in a deluge of forms and HR having issues with managing the paperwork, Success Factors built a fun app for Under Armour staff – My Marathon.

Those who join the company download the app and go through a “marathon” with flags representing onboarding stages.

Interesting features include:

A wellness component where staff can click on mood indicators which mean “Everything’s great”, “I’m OK” or “I need some assistance”.
Implementing Robotics Automation Processes on the back-end, which can cut down the time taken for a specific HR process from 6 minutes to 5 seconds.
Staff profiles that show their interests and hobbies, not just their job title or email.

3rd Prize – G5 (Team from RMIT Vietnam – Saigon South Campus)

Company – Under Armour

Case statement – Propose onboarding and offboarding digital and paperless solutions for retail team mates in Under Armour

This is the first year that teams from the region have been able to participate in the SHRI Hackathon. Taking the 3rd place was the team from RMIT Vietnam.

They built an app – UAReady – which offers convenience and fun (gamification) for new hires. The group shared that 69 percent of new hires stay for three years or more if they have a great onboarding experience (Hirsch, 2017).

Interesting features include:

A rewards system where the earning of badges can be exchanged for Under Armour coupons.
Wellness challenges like step challenges, which could involve tagging other people in the company as partners to encourage collaboration and interaction.
As part of the offboarding process, to encourage those who leave the company to become part of the “Under Armour Alumni Society”, where they would be brand ambassadors encouraging others to join the company.

Unlike Bob the Blender and Success Factors, which were more fun in presentation, the RMIT team was corporate, polished and professional in approach.

As one judge noted, they would not look out of place in a corporate boardroom.

To watch the full recording of the SHRI HR Hackathon 2021 finals, please click here.

Special thanks to our DecodeHR teams - All Stars Kaplan Singapore, Immortal Assets Nanyang Polytechnic, HACKIT Nanyang Technological University, and Bob the Blender Singapore Polytechnic.