Only 19% of Singapore boards consult HR in matters relating to board compensation:Aon, USC

This is compared to the 44% of U.S. respondents who consult the HR, according to the survey conducted by Aon Hewitt and University of Southern California.

According to the findings, Singapore boards have been slow to seek professional HR expertise to solve executive compensation issues compared to their U.S. counterparts.

The survey - Pay at the Top: A comparative Study of When HR Make a Difference - polled 78 HR professionals at 66 companies, and found that while 83% of U.S. respondents int he survey said they call on their HR for help to resolve executive compensation matters, only 50% of the Singapore respondents were found to do the same.

The survey also found 40% of Singapore boards seek HR's guidance when making decisions on executive succession planning, versus 65% of boards in the U.s.

"The difference between the U.S. and Singapore data could be due to Singapore's relative youth in the development of its corporate governance framework relating to human capital issues," says Na Boon Chong, Managing Director, Executive Compensation and Performance, SEA at Aon Hewitt who was a joint author of the survey. "As these increasingly complex issues gain more attention at the board level, we would expect boards turn more to their HR and/or external advisors," he added.

Edward E. Lawler III, Director of the Center of Effective Organization (CEO) in the Marshall School of Business at USC says: "It is worth mentioning that our study indicates HR in Singapore can get into the boardroom by gaining competence in executive compensation and business understanding."

Professor Lawler says there is a likelihood that Singapore will catch up in due time with U.S. practice as more companies come under the pressure of more stringent legislations governing executive compensation.

The survey also found that HR professionals are more likely to be invited to contribute to strategic decision making based on how sophisticated their business leaders are on wider HR management issues.

According to the findings, the Singapore data shows a significant statistical relationship between a board's request for help and how much technical knowledge HR has on executive compensation.