HR Magazine 2022 Q2 Summer

26 Moments that matter Rajni Sharma, SAP, discusses how cloud-based technologies are helping HR eliminate biases.

42 Guide to Blockchain, AI & HR Tech HR Magazine’s first-quarter conference g ave HR insights on t he hottest tech trends.

48 The Everyday Behaviour Project Mayer Brown and Women in Law Hong Kong join forces to tackle gender disparity in Hong Kong’s legal sector.

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Going green HR’s role in corporate sustainability

SUMMER 2022

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THE FUTURE IS CREATING OPPORTUNITIES We are a diverse workforce in an inclusive workplace, built by the talents of all.

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Advis or y Mar ke t s

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EDITOR'S NOTE

Editor's Note Editorial

What’s new?

Managing Editor

In the news, Hong Kong was named the most

James G. Linacre

over worked cit y in t he world by BPO (P4).

Across Asia, workers continue to shift their

Art & Graft

priorities and now factor in a ‘worth-it’ equation

Head of Design

when considering their future work options

Matthew Ku

(P9). Elsewhere, investment in L&D looks set to soa r in the months a head as L& D tea ms

Designer

become catalysts in smoothing the transition

Heidi Chan

to a digital workplace.

Images

Moments that matter

Shutterstock, Freepik, Pexels, Unsplash

We spoke to Rajni Sharma, Managing Director Hong Kong & Macau, SAP, about what it means to

Editorial Enquiries

be a female leader in a male-dominated industry.

James G. Linacre

Sharma also shared her insights on how cloud-

Tel: (852) 2736 6339

based technologies are helping businesses and

james@excelmediagroup.org

HR teams eliminate biases across their talent management processes.

Advertising & Sponsorship

The Everyday Behaviour Project

Poppy Lai Tel: (852) 2736 6339

Now that the worst of the fifth wave is over,

I spoke with Susanne Harris and Amita Haylock,

poppy@excelmediagroup.org

Hong Kong is opening up once again which

Partners, Mayer Brown who joined forces with

means we are back on the ground baby! The HR

Alison Tsai, Chairlady, Women in Law Hong Kong

Aamir Khan

Magazine team and I are excited to be putting

and APAC Legal Counsel, Mandarin Oriental

Tel: (852) 2736 6339

together in-person events over the coming

Hotel Group, to star t a project that aims to

aamir@excelmediagroup.org

months and look forward to connecting with

bring to light the causes of female attrition

you all there. It’s been a busy quarter with lots

in Hong Kong’s legal sector as well as tackle

happening behind the scenes to make the rest

wider gender disparity issues.

Subscriptions

of the year go off without a hitch.

Jane Cheung Tel: (852) 2736 6375

Fax: (852) 2736 6369

HR Magazine Events

Our cover story (P18) examines the importance

Our first-quarter conference was a resounding

of ESG objectives in a business and global-citizen

success with exciting keynotes that explored

context. We also explore HR’s role in aiding their

Intelligent Automation a nd Vir t ua l Rea lit y

Excel Media Group Limited

organisations to achieve their sustainability

as a training tool. Our speakers also engaged

Shops 3 - 5, G/F

objectives through manpower policies. We also

in a stimu lating pa nel d iscussion where

Pak Sha Wan Centre

spoke with Venisa Chu, Regional Sustainability

they explored hybrid work and if it is really

Lot 523, DD 210

Director, L’Occitane Groupe who shared how

here to stay. Read the full recap of the day’s

Hiram’s Highway—Hebe Haven

the group's HR team is driving the company

events (P42).

Sai Kung, New Territories

towards its green goals. She also shared how the

Hong Kong SAR

organisation is transforming through sustainable

Now that this qua r ter is over, I’m going to

talent management practices and provides tips

risk a mission impossible and try to leave and

that HR can look to to drive their business’

return to Hong Kong in under 2 weeks for a

sustainability mission forward.

whirlwind visit back home to the UK and Ireland.

subs@excelmediagroup.org

Published By

Printed By Promise Network Printing Limited

Wish me luck…

Blk B, G/F Phase 4, Kwun Tong Ind Ctr

This stor y has inspired a new section of the

Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon,

magazine ‘HR Sustainability’ which you will see

Hong Kong SAR

in the magazine from the Autumn issue onwards.

Enjoy...

Also new for this issue is the HR Opinion section ( P50) wh ich is a n u naba shed com menta r y on diverse HR topics that feed into a much wider discourse.

James G. Linacre, Assoc. CIPD

No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent from the Publisher. Copyright of all material is reserved

throughout the publication. Contributions are welcome but copies of work should be kept, because HR Magazine takes no responsibility for lost submissions. The views, conclusions, findings and opinions published in this magazine belong to those expressing such, and do not necessarily represent those of the Publisher or editorial team.

1

CONTENTS 2022 Summer HR News

HR Features

HR Legal

04

Hong Kong News

24

48

06

APAC News

10

International News

26

Moments that matter

12

HR Events

28

Gain an edge with employee share plans

14

HR Moves

30

The flexi-office of the future

16

HR in Numbers

32

For the greater good

34

Filling in the gaps

The Everyday Behaviour Project

experience challenges

Cover Story 18

Greater China’s employee

HR Community

HR Opinion 50

HR Books 52

Going green - HR's role in corporate sustainability

36

A guide to blockchain, AI & HR tech

40

Skills as currency

42

Redefining the employee experience

46

Harnessing the power of psychology

Enough with performative activism

Inside/Out - 8 success keys to help millennials thrive

Classifieds

and technology 53

Classifieds

24

28 2 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

26

30

40

42

3

HR NEWS HONG KONG NEWS

Hong Kong News Hong Kong world’s most overworked city

working hours legislation to better protect

12-hour days, six days a week, illegal. The Chinese

The recently published Work-life Balance Cities

employees’ health though such progress has

government commented that workers deserve the

Ranking 2021 by BPO has revealed that Hong Kong

stagnated due to a lack of consensus between

right to rest days and holidays and that employers

is the world’s most overworked city with 30% of

labour organisations and the Government. In

have a statutory obligation to adhere to the

workers putting in more than 48 hours per week.

2018, the HKSAR Government instead announced

country’s standard working hours — eight hours

Rival Asian metropolises Singapore and Bangkok

that they would focus on formulating non-binding,

per day and no more than 40 hours per week.

rank second and third respectively.

sector-specific guidelines on working hours for 11 industries including catering, construction,

With a shift in Mainland Chinese efforts to

Work-life balance is a relatively new concept

property management, hotels and tourism,

protect workers’ rights by cracking down on the

in Hong Kong’s working culture, especially in

retail and care home services. Supposedly, the

996 culture, perhaps it is time for the HKSAR

the service sector where the six-day week still

guidelines were to be published in 2020 with a

Government to standardise working hours and

dominates, and many white-collar workers work

review of their effectiveness to come in 2023 yet

establish an agenda to expedite the enactment

extended hours. Though most contracted hours

this has failed to materialise. This means that it is

of any such legislation. Any such changes would

tend to be 9 am – 6 pm intense societal pressure

unlikely that legislation on standardised working

have an impact across the entire labour market,

combined with an overtime culture sees many

hours will be enacted in the near future.

economy, and wider community. The Government would need to find the right balance between

employees working late or even on weekends.

On the other hand, in Mainland China, the PRC

employers and employees when safeguarding

Previously, the Hong Kong Government made

Government declared that the notorious 996 work

rights and ensuring the competitiveness of Hong

progress towards introducing standardised

culture — where employees are required to work

Kong in the long term. T

4 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HONG KONG NEWS HR NEWS

Half European businesses signal exit from HK

Hongkongers hesitant to upskill

Third of HKers to change employers by June

The latest findings from Randstad’s Hong

Statistics from Randstad’s annual Employer

A recent survey conducted by the European

Kong work monitor report have revealed

Brand Research survey have shown that 31%

Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong has echoed

that Hongkongers are the least likely in Asia

of Hongkongers plan to change employers in

sentiments from The American Chamber of

Pacific to take action to upskill themselves. The

the first half of 2022, marking an eight per cent

Commerce in Hong Kong in that half of European

revelation seemingly puts Hong Kong’s workforce

increase from 2021. Similarly, the percentage of

companies are reconsidering their presence and

at a disadvantage as they fail to increase their

respondents who are not afraid of losing their jobs

looking to exit from the city by 2023. The survey

attractiveness as this impacts their ability to

and intending to change employers increased by

conducted at the beginning of the first quarter of

negotiate higher salaries.

eight per cent to 20% this year.

the year, polled over 260 representatives across consultancy, financial services, telecommunications

More than one in five respondents had changed

and retail.

employers between July and December 2021.

The top three drivers motivating job switchers to

The online survey, conducted prior to the recent

search for a new employer last year were work-life

relaxation road map unveiled by Chief Executive

balance (53%), salary and benefits (51%), and the

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, revealed that the city’s

financial health of the company (47%). More than

stringent COVID-19 measures were the main reason

two in five respondents who were afraid of losing

why businesses are considering heading for the exit.

their jobs planned to change their jobs in the first half of 2022, marking a nine per cent increase from 2021.

The results showed that a quarter of European companies will completely exit the city within the

Of those surveyed, one in ten felt that learning

next 12 months whilst a further 24% are planning

and development were irrelevant to their

for a partial move. A third of companies are unsure

employability while two in ten said that L&D

of their future preferring to adopt a wait-and-see

was not needed to stay relevant to market

approach whilst 17 per cent stated they do not have

changes. Furthermore, almost a quarter of Hong

any plans for relocation.

Kong workers said they do not require a skills assessment test from their employer or wish

Ineffective assistance

to find out what skills they are lacking. The

The survey also polled respondents on the Hong

majority of the 77% who did desire to identify

Kong Government's handling of the pandemic. Only

which skills to develop were aged between 25 to

two per cent of participants rated the Government’s

35—highlighting the need for HR to help younger

assistance a five out of five whilst the average score

generations prepare to future ways of working.

was much lower at 2.2. Companies also cited their difficulties in bringing in talents to Hong Kong

The lack of motivation to upskill is seemingly

with quarantine requirements, travel restrictions

at odds with Hongkongers’ perceptions of

and ongoing separation from family members as

their future employability. 70% of respondents

well as school closures as the biggest drawbacks

acknowledged that it was increasingly challenging

to securing talent.

for them to identify which skills to develop as the world of work continues to change. 36%

Natalie Sun, Managing Director of Search and

A representative from the ECCHK commented,

also noted that they had a lack of clarity about

Selection in Greater China, Randstad commented,

“The ongoing zero-COVID strategy has come

their personal and professional goals since the

“Hongkongers are feeling increasingly stressed

at a very high cost for Hong Kong’s business

pandemic began.

and overworked, especially this year. Due to

community. The single biggest advantage of

being unable to travel and having their social

Hong Kong is its connectivity to the world and

HR professionals in Hong Kong could do more

interactions limited due to the strict pandemic

position as a connector to the Mainland, yet it

to highlight the importance of developing skills

restrictions, many employees are throwing

has been almost completely disabled. Among

and could dedicate time to assist employees

themselves at work to distract themselves –

others, we recommend that the SAR Government

identify relevant skills for development. A

but this has led to negative repercussions for

allows fully vaccinated and tested incoming

sustainable approach of ensuring that talent

their mental health. Job seekers are hence

travellers to isolate at home and to expedite the

development meets organisational strategies

more motivated to find a company or manager

adjustment of the travel requirements to bring

will ensure that HR can bridge the widening

that genuinely cares about their well-being of

them in line with the Government’s latest guidance

skills gap and ensure their business has what

their staff once the hiring market becomes

on self-isolation.” T

it needs to succeed. T

active again.” T

5

HR NEWS APAC NEWS

APAC News Singapore’s bullish hiring plans Manpower Group recently released its employment outlook survey for the second quarter of 2022 and found that Singapore has a robust hiring outlook for the coming quarter. The poll of over 500 Singapore employers revealed that four in ten employers plan on hiring in the coming three months whilst twofifths are planning to keep their workplace steady.

The results reveal an 11-year high with Singapore employers reporting a Net Employment Outlook of +25% — an 11% increase from the first quarter.

Additionally, ten out of 11 sectors report positive hiring intentions with the strongest hiring sentiments being reported by companies in the IT, technology, communications and media sectors.

However, employers in the restaurant and hotel sector reported the weakest hiring climate with a negative 3% outlook.

Philippines next line for four day week

move including Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi who

The Philippines is the latest nation to consider

added his support to an extension of work-from-

implementing a four-day workweek amidst soaring

home arrangements.

costs of living and fuel prices. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)

Senators Panfilo Lacson and Win Gatchalian

chief Karl Chua, explained that the scheme could

—the chair of the Senate committee on labour,

save costs by conserving energy and reducing fuel

employment and human resources, also supported

Large organisations (those with 250+ employees)

consumption. Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte is

the move. Lacson stated, “As long as daily wage

reported the strongest hiring intentions followed

expected to make a formal decision on the proposals.

earners will be compensated for their extended

by small and micro-sized businesses. Medium-

hours of work which should be equivalent to five

sized businesses (50 - 249 employees) reported the

days, I will support that four-day workweek.”

weakest hiring intention with only 4% of businesses The move comes as several other markets toy with

indicating their hiring plans.

the idea of a compressed workweek. Belgium recently As talent acquisition strategies begin to ramp up,

announced its intention to move towards a shorter

employers are seeking to retain their workforce

work week and several companies in the UK, Canada,

with 71% of employers planning to give their

US and New Zealand have held large-scale trials.

staff an increase of 3% or more. Employers in IT, A shortened workweek can positively impact

manufacturing and retail are among the most generous, where the increments will be the

Chua commented, “Every Filipino will still work

employee sentiment with affected individuals

largest with 20% of organisations in these sectors

40 hours per week but instead of five days, it will

reporting lower levels of burnout and higher levels

indicating a raise of 5% or more against one in ten

be four. Instead of eight hours per day, it will

of well being compared to those working five- or

overall. Additionally, 81% of employers reported

be ten.” Though the idea was initially proposed

six-day weeks according to a Gallup poll. Along

intentions to give staff bonuses of one month or

for government staff, Chua encouraged private

with improved well-being, employees will have

more with the most generous organisations being

businesses to adapt their working patterns. Several

a greater sense of work-life balance if the move

in the finance sector. T

cabinet members have also echoed support for the

goes ahead. T

6 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

APAC NEWS HR NEWS

Trends shaping employer-provided healthcare Mercer Marsh Benefit’s health trends report has unveiled the latest trends that are driving the future of employer-provided healthcare and how business leaders can manage costs and risks amid a changing world. The survey of 210 insurers across 59 countries discovered that the number of claims has increased by 9.5% on average and by as much as 10% in Asia Pacific, suggesting that employers should brace themselves for increased renewal premiums to compensate for the volatility.

The report also notes COVID-19 as well

When it comes to providing access to mental

As DEI becomes a hot topic within

as emotional and mental risks are the top

health prevention, management and treatment

organisations, so too does its influence

influencers of employer-provided medical

as part of their insured medical plans, businesses

b e g i n to e x te n d i n to t h e i n s u r a n c e s p a c e .

costs with two in three insurers expecting to

in Asia provided the least adequate resources

The report highlights that health equality in

cover inpatient COVID care in 2022. However,

with almost a third stating they did not

medical plans is becoming a growing priority

cardiovascular risk along with cancer and

provide any plans that covered mental health

with up to 30% of insurers making changes

circulatory diseases remain the top areas that

services. Meanwhile, only 34% of businesses

to facilitate more inclusive medical plan

influence sponsored group medical costs.

cover outpatient treatment costs and only 21%

designs. Changes include enabling access to

It is important that HR and leaders take

provided access to preventive measures such as

doctors who share the same gender, ethnicity

preventative actions and encourage employees

resilience or mindfulness coaching. It is vital that

and background as the employee as well as

to continue with positive lifestyle changes

businesses develop a mental health strategy for

enabling more inclusive access for LGBT

and self-care measures in order to mitigate

their workforce, one that not only supports those

employees such as allowing partners of the

potential health risks.

off sick but also enhances their overall well-being.

same gender to be named on medical plans. T

If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don’t want to be.

Dale Carnegie Author - How To Win Friends and Influence People

Corporate Training | Leadership | Presentation | Communication

hk@dalecarnegie.com | +852 6647 2523 | www.dalecarnegie.com.hk

HR NEWS APAC NEWS

Taipei best city for Kickstarters In a global data study of the best cities for business ideas by Money.co.uk, Taiwanese capital Taipei came out on top. The survey analysed data from Kickstarter campaigns between 2016 and 2021— considering the success and failure rate, number of backers and amount of capital, in cities around the world and ranked each location out of ten.

Taipei led the rankings of the most successful campaigns with a ranking of 9.3 out of 10.

Kickstarters in the city had an average success rate of 8.4 out of 10 and raised US$ 12.4 million from one backers giving it a 10 out of 10.

Demand for L&D professionals soars

focus areas of L&D programmes in each region.

The 2022 Workplace Learning Report by LinkedIn

In APAC, upskilling and reskilling were top of

As crowdfunding makes it easier than ever for

Learning has discovered that there has been a

the list followed by leadership and management

the public to invest in businesses, other Asian

94% increase in demand for L&D professionals

training and digital upskilling. In EMEA, the

powerhouses also ranked in the top ten worldwide.

over the past year. Similarly, L&D professionals

top three remained the same though leadership

Seoul came in third place with a final score of 8.2

reported that they expected to see increases to

training pipped upskilling to the top of the

whilst Hong Kong ranked fifth with a score of 7.7.

their budgets in the coming year with 57% of

focus list. Over in North America, ensuring

Also sliding into the top 10 was Tokyo which was

those in Asia Pacific believing so—the highest

talents are digital-ready did not appear on L&D

named the eighth-best city for Kickstarters with

percentage worldwide.

professionals’ radar and was instead beaten out

a final score of 6.6. The remainder of the top

by programmes focused on diversity, equity

10 comprised European capitals Warsaw, Kyiv,

It is unsurprising that the demand for talent

Stockholm, Zurich, Amsterdam and Oslo.

development professionals has risen, given the

and inclusion.

role they have played in helping workforces

As L&D leaders are placed at the forefront of

Salman Haqqi, a spokesperson from money.co.uk

transition to new ways of working and adapting

organisational transformation, it is crucial that

offered guidance on using crowdfunding to

to online work environments. As such, L&D

they understand the opportunities and challenges

generate investment for business ideas. Ensuring

specialists will continue to influence how their

t h e y w i l l m e e t. A s d i g i t a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n

that the campaign has a targeted message is of

organisations adapt to change with 72% of

intensifies, so too does the ever-widening skills

utmost importance as is building a community

L&D leaders believing that it has become more

gap. As development specialists take centre

before launching the crowdfunding campaign.

strategic to their company whilst 87% felt as

stage, it is equally important that they tackle

For those with ideas, it is best to look into what

though learning had helped their organisation

silos, break down walls and think holistically

fundraisers are already out there and ensure that

adapt to change.

so that the business can retain key talent.

the product has a clear reason why people would

Furthermore, by collaborating with their HR

want to back it. Also essential is allowing sufficient

Regional priorities

peers and aligning stakeholder expectations, they

time for planning to give the project the optimum

The survey conducted across North America,

can be sure to unlock the key to success for years

chance of success. T

EMEA and APAC also examined the primary

to come. T

8 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

APAC NEWS HR NEWS

Make commuting worthwhile — business leaders told Microsoft has released its second annual Work Trend Index report which has outlined five urgent trends that business leaders need to address. The report—Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work, makes clear that the past two and half years have created a long-lasting impact and have fundamentally changed how people define the role of work in their lives.

Most notable is that employees now factor in a ‘worth-it’ equation when considering their employers for the years ahead. 64% of employees in Hong Kong responded that they were more likely to prioritise their health and well-being

almost four in ten hybrid employees saying that

With over two-thirds of employees in Hong

over work than before the pandemic compared

they were unsure when or why they needed to

Kong and 61% of APAC workers considering

to 57% in Asia Pacific. Work-life balance and

return to the office. Similarly, few companies

fully remote work in the year ahead, businesses

mental well-being were also cited as the

( 28 % ) h ave c re a te d n e w te a m n o r m s th a t

cannot solely rely on the office to recoup the

top motivating reason why employees were

ensure time spent together is intentional and

social capital that has been lost over the past

leaving their roles. Generationally, over half of

beneficial. This data indicates that business

two years. Cally Chan, General Manager,

Gen Z and millennials indicated that they

leaders must establish the why, when and how

Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau commented,

were considering changing employers in the

of the office and define the purpose of in-

“There is no erasing the lived experience and

year ahead.

person collaboration. Organisations that fail to

lasting impact of the past two years, as flexibility

create team agreements, define hybrid meeting

and well-being have become non-negotiable for

Make the office worth the commute

etiquette and rethink how the office space

employees. By embracing and adapting to these

The report also examined respondents’

plays a supporting role risk missing out on

new expectations, organisations can set up their

attitudes toward returning to the office with

key talent.

people and business for long-term success.” T

HR NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS

International News Investment in L&D set to continue

from leadership teams that HR will need to tackle

Brrr… icy showers cool rate of sick leave

New research data from TalentLMS and SHRM

successfully to secure additional L&D investment.

Looking to forgo that morning coffee to wake

indicates that companies will invest even more

you up? Wanting to bolster your immune system?

money in learning and development this year. As

Growing gap

A cold shower in the morning could be the

the pandemic enters its third year and amidst a

To meet the widening skills gap, many businesses are

solution to these problems and more according

deepening skills gap, leaders are turning to L&D

turning to upskilling and reskilling their staff to build

to new research. A recent large-scale study in the

teams to become catalysts in smoothing the transition

new competencies among employees. Unsurprisingly,

Netherlands has revealed that people who took

to digital workplaces. The survey pulsed employer

86% of HR leaders agreed that closing the skills gap

cold showers were less likely to take time off work

and employee perspectives on their upcoming L&D

is an important training objective and in order to

due to sickness.

budgets, the key in-demand skills and the training

achieve it, they are establishing a variety of initiatives

desires of employees against what employers offer.

and different types of training.

The results indicate that over two-thirds of HR

As for meeting training expectations, employees

Managers agree that their L&D budgets will increase

and employers were reportedly in sync with both

in the coming year while over half of HR leaders

reporting similar levels in expectations. As for content,

will provide their employees with upskilling and

employees prioritised hard skills while employers

reskilling training in 2022. The majority of HR

were seemingly more focused on self-management

professionals indicated that their average L&D

skills. As for soft-skills, collaboration, teamwork,

budget is between US$ 500 – 3,000 (57%) though 15%

leadership, adaptability and creativity were reported

reported that their organisations had set aside more

as the most in-demand by employees and 76% of

than US$ 5,000 per employee for training and

organisations will be offering training in these areas

development purposes.

in the coming year.

Despite seeing investment, more than half of HR

When polled on how their employers could look

their daily warm shower with blasts of cold water

professionals surveyed agreed that organisational

to improve their training programmes, employees

(30, 60 and 90 seconds), whilst the control group

leadership teams often see L&D as a cost rather than

voiced that leaders could align the training with

were not exposed to the cold water. After a three-

an investment against 85% of HR leaders who believe

job responsibilities, update training content more

month follow-up period, the study found that the

it to be beneficial to their organisation. This clearly

frequently as well as making training more social in

groups that had cold water exposure saw a 29%

indicates that there are still hesitations and roadblocks

order to increase training effectiveness. T

reduction in their absence from work.

The study divided 3,000 participants into four groups. Three of the groups were asked to end

Though the reasons are still unclear as to why the cold-water blast stops people from getting ill, some researchers suggest that it may have something to do with boosting the immune system. A study conducted in Czechia showed that being immersed in cold water three times a week led to an increased immune system.

Cold water has also been proven to improve circulation. Cold water decreases blood flow to the skin and when stopped, the body needs to increase the amount of blood flow in order to warm up. Some scientists believe that this could lead to better circulation. One such study examined cold water immersion after exercise and saw improvements in blood flow to muscles after only four weeks.

10 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

INTERNATIONAL NEWS HR NEWS

Shifting attitudes towards switching jobs

Most popular sectors

As pandemic-induced effects such as the great

Respondents indicated that they would be

resignation continue to wrangle the professional

interested in moving into new sectors with

sector, employee job attitudes have undergone a

creative arts and design, environment and

profound shift. As the majority of the world begins

agriculture, accountancy, banking and finance

to live with COVID, research from Moneypenny in

being the top three most popular choices.

the UK has shed light on office workers’ attitudes

Gen Z and those 35 - 44 were most likely

towards switching jobs in a post-pandemic world.

to move into the creative industry space whilst those 25 – 34 were most likely to move

The data discovered that half of those surveyed

into business, consulting and management.

Aside from the physical benefit of a boosted

put their pre-pandemic job search on pause for the

However, 15% of the respondents admitted

immune system, research has also shown that cold

last few years citing job security reasons. However,

they did not know what sector they would

showers have mental health benefits too. Cold water

from an age perspective, those between 18 – 24

like to move into yet.

immersion has been shown to increase alertness

years old were most likely to say that they were

and improve brain function in adults if applied to

planning to change their job before COVID hit the

The

the face and neck. Additionally, it may be beneficial

scene and almost half have successfully done so.

important aspects that British job seekers

in alleviating symptoms of depression due to the overwhelming electrical impulses sent to the brain.

survey

also

uncovered

the

most

are looking for in their new employers.

All pandemic restrictions have recently been lifted

46% cited salary as the most important

in the UK which has inspired almost a third of

consideration with general flexibility and

Though there is ample evidence of the benefits of

British employees to consider changing jobs, half

remote or hybrid working rounding out the

cold-water immersion, before rushing to turn on the

of whom have started the process or have already

top three. Furthermore, almost two-thirds

cold tap, it would be wise to be aware of potential

begun applying for new roles. Men were more likely

said that the most important aspects of a

risks. A sudden gush of cold water is a shock to the

than women to respond that they were considering

job have changed since the pandemic though

body and could be potentially dangerous to those

changing their job in the near future as well as

the remaining third said their priorities have

with heart disease or heart rhythm irregularities. T

those in the 18 – 24 demographic.

stayed the same. T

SMEs risk losing female talent

Nearly half of SME employers said that competition

Findings from Sodexo Engage’s SME Guide to

with corporates who are able to offer more flexible

Loyalty and Engagement report have revealed

working was their biggest challenge in attracting

that SMEs are at risk of losing up to 41% of their

and retaining talent whilst from an employee

female talent in the coming year. The report

perspective, engagement and motivation were

surveyed SME employees and employers in the

reported as the biggest challenges. Jamie Mackenzie,

UK to better understand how SMEs can thrive

Director, Sodexo Engage commented, “People

in a changing world, the challenges they face and

expect to be paid a fair wage but as our research

what employees think of their organisation.

has shown, there are other ways for employers to make their staff feel valued and appreciated, which

In the UK, the number of SMEs sharply rose by

in turn will motivate them. Introducing flexible

61% between 2020 and 2021 and now accounts

working and more personalised perks can go a long

for three-fifths of the British employment

way in building happier, more engaged workforces.”

sector. 42% of SME employees indicated that HR know full well that a successful reward and

they preferred to work for an SME over a larger organisation because it offers a ‘family feel’ and

organisations with 57% of SME employees

recognition programme can help motivate,

in particular, this sentiment was felt amongst

preferring to work for bigger businesses. 70%

engage and encourage positive behaviour across

female employees with half citing this reason.

of males and 41% of female employees felt this

the company. To better understand how SME

Other reported reasons why employees are

way whilst almost a third indicated that they

employees want to be rewarded, cash or bonuses

attracted to work for SMEs included a chance for

are looking to leave their role at an SME in the

were the most popular choice of reward followed

a better role, opportunities for promotion and

next 12 months to move to a larger organisation.

by a public thank you and promotion opportunities.

having greater responsibility in their roles than

Surprisingly, talent reported that they were

However, it is important that employee rewards

in a large organisation.

not enticed by the better salaries on offer at

are directly aligned to the organisation and

larger corporates rather, they desired the better

its employees and those being rewarded are

Yet, the picture is not all rosy. In the war for

perks, roles and work-life balance that they

done so in a way that incentivises them on an

talent, SMEs face stiff competition from large

could provide.

individual level. T

11

HR NEWS HR EVENTS

HR Events JUNE

JULY

15

21 – 24

ESG Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development

HKTDC Education & Careers Expo 2022 Organised by the HKTDC

Organised by the Italian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong Time

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Website

https://www.icc.org.hk/events/893/webinar-esg-challenges-

Email

icc@icc.org.hk

Venue

Online

Contact

and-opportunities-for-sustainable-development/

Location

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

On-ground

Website

https://event.hktdc.com/fair/hkeducationexpo-en/HKTDC-

Email

exhibitions@hktdc.org

Tel

+852 2240 4010

Education-and-Careers-Expo/ Vicky Chan

AUGUST

HR Tech Live North America Organised by HR Exchange Network

24 – 25

Online

Website

https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/events-hr-tech-north-

Email

contact@hrexchangenetwork.com

24

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Venue

Contact

Sarah Chan

21 – 23 Venue

Time

|

Revive Tech Asia 2022 Organised by Revive Tech Asia

america?utm_medium=portal&mac=IQPCCORP

CONFERENCE

HR Magazine Conference: L&DERSHIP Cultivating Tommorrow's Talent Organised by HR Magazine

Venue

Asia World Expo, Hong Kong

Website

https://revivetech.asia

Contact

Jay Wong

Location

Asia World Expo

Email

j.wong@revivetech.asia

Tel

+852 5427 9337

25 – 26 Tech HR SEA Organised by peoplematters

Time

8:30am - 3:30pm (HKT)

Website

https://hrmagazine.com.hk/event/hr-magazine-live-

Email

aamir@excelmediagroup.org / poppy@excelmediagroup.org

Tel

+852 2736 6339

Location

Contact

Regal Hongkong Hotel, 88 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay ldership-cultivating-tomorrows-talent/ Aamir Khan / Poppy Lai

12 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

Time

TBC

Location

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Email

sugam.sharma@peoplemattersevents.com

Tel

+91 956 071 5443

Venue

hybrid / Singapore

Website

https://singapore.techhrconference.com/

Contact

Sugam Sharma

HR EVENTS HR NEWS

SEPTEMBER

26 – 27

14

Forbes Global CEO Conference Organised by Forbes

WORKTECH22 Singapore Organised by UNWIRED Ventures

Venue

Singapore

Email

info@forbesasia.com.sg

Time

9:00am - 5:00pm

Website

https://worktechevents.com/events/worktech22-singapore/

Tel

+44 208 9778 920

Venue

Singapore

Email

info@unwired.eu.com

20 – 21

Website

https://forbesglobalceoconference.com

Contact

Tina Wee

OCTOBER 5–6 ReThink HK 2022 Organised by EnviroEvents (ReThink Limited)

Digital Innovation in HR & Workplace Management Organised by Terrapinn Venue

Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore

Website

https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/hr-learning-show-asia/

Contact

Laura Pickard

Location

1 Raffles Blvd, Singapore 039593

Email

laura.pickard@terrapinn.com

23

Venue

Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre

Website

https://rethink-event.com/event/

Contact

Carmen Ip

Location

Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Email

carmen.i@rethink-event.com

NOVEMBER |

CONFERENCE

8–9

HR Magazine Conference: Dynamic Diversity Organised by HR Magazine Corporate Learning APAC Organised by HR Exchange Network Venue

Online

Website

https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/events-corporate-

Email

contact@hrexchangenetwork.com

learning-apac?utm_medium=portal&mac=IQPCCORP

9 – 10

Time

8:30am - 3:30pm (HKT)

Website

https://hrmagazine.com.hk/event/hr-magazine-

CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition

conference-dynamic-diversity/

Organised by The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Email

aamir@excelmediagroup.org / poppy@excelmediagroup.org

Tel

+852 2736 6339

Location

Contact

Regal Hongkong Hotel, 88 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay

Poppy Lai / Aamir Khan

Venue

Manchester Central

Website

https://events.cipd.co.uk/events/

Location

Manchester, United Kingdom

13

HR NEWS HR MOVES

HR Moves Stella Sung

Dr Eden Woon

Monna Nevils

SVP, Head of Benefits

President

Chief Human Resources Officer

Lockton Asia

The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Trintech

firm

The American Chamber of Commerce in

Global cloud-based financial close solutions provider

Lockton Asia has announced the appointment

Hong Kong (AmCham HK) has announced the

Trintech has announced the appointment of Monna Nevils

of Stella Sung as Senior Vice President, Head

appointment of Dr Eden Woon as President

as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). With a focus

of Benefits and Health – North Asia. Sung will

beginning 1 September 2022. Woon will succeed

on employees, Nevils will help Trintech continue to build

be based in Hong Kong, overseeing business

current President, Tara Joseph, after her five

an engaged, inclusive, and high-performing culture. She

for Greater China and North Asia.

years of service. Woon is an experienced

will lead all aspects of human resources, including talent

business and academic leader who has served

acquisition, learning and development, organisational

in government and NGOs.

development and effectiveness, compensation

Independent

insurance

brokerage

“As Lockton Asia broadens and deepens its

and benefits, diversity and inclusion programmes, and

benefits capabilities, Sung brings a wealth of

benefits systems.

industry expertise that will only elevate the

Since 2018, Woon has served as the President

client solutions that we can deliver to create

of the Asian Institute of Technology, an

meaningful impact,” said Rachael Tay, Regional

international graduate university in Thailand,

Nevils has more than 20 years of experience holding

Head of Benefits APAC.

and also serves as a special advisor to the Shaw

global HR leadership roles spanning industries such as

Foundation of Hong Kong. Woon was formerly

technology, real estate, banking, and healthcare. Prior to

Prior to joining Lockton, Sung held senior

the Vice President for Institutional Advancement

joining Trintech, Nevils was the VP, HR - Americas; Global

positions in Bupa Asia Limited, Cigna, AIA

at the Hong Kong University of Science and

HRBP, Product Marketing for Datalogic. She also served as

Hong Kong and Aon. She holds a master’s

Technology as well as Managing Director for

the Chief Human Resources Officer for Behavioural Health

degree in human resources and non-profit

Li & Fung Group’s China office, Toys ‘R’ Us

Group (BHG). Nevils earned her MBA from the University

management. Sung has over 20 years of

China as well as the former Vice President of

of Houston and an undergraduate degree in business from

industry experience in health, benefits and

Starbucks Coffee Company. Woon also served

Lamar University. She is also a certified trainer and coach

well-being with expertise in strategic planning

as the CEO of the Hong Kong General Chamber

and has her Senior Professional in Human Resources

and healthcare counselling.

of Commerce.

(SPHR) certification.

14 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR NEWS HR IN NUMBERS

HR in Numbers

87%

9 in 10

50%

APAC businesses planning to pay

Recruitment firms with digital

HR professionals feel responsible for

Hays 2022 Asia Salary Guide

Bullhorn Global Recruitment Insights

Group Risk Development (GRiD) survey

bonuses in 2022

transformation strategies

employees’ financial well-being

and Data report

1/3

92%

HR professionals feel burntout

Salary increase when changing jobs

Employees want paid

HR and the Great Resignation survey,

Link International 2022

AllVoices

Asia Pacific Salary Guide

53%

16 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

mental health days

Qualtrics Experience Management Survey

HR IN NUMBERS HR NEWS

10%

2/3

15%

Increase in benefit

Hong Kong workers considering

Workforce boomeranged to

Mercer Marsh Benefit 2022 Health

Microsoft, Great Expectations,

Workplace Trends Corporate Culture and

Trends Report

Making Hybrid Work Work

Boomerang Employee Study

5%

41%

86%

Hongkongers working over 75 hours

Female talent SMEs may lose

Employers confident in developing

The Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon

SME guide to Loyalty and

Cornerstone OnDemand, Thriving in the

Labour Unions

Engagement, Sodexo Engage.

Global Skills Shortage

claims in Asia

per week

fully-remote jobs

in 2022

former employers

employees’ skills

17

Going green HR’s role in corporate sustainability

Sustainability — the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance, as defined by the Oxford dictionary. Ecological activism has taken the corporate world by storm in recent years as governments and organisations across the world finally catch on to what scientists have for decades been saying; the Earth’s resources are not infinite.

COVER STORY

The notion of sustainability has in recent years

families and the wider community. As a result,

natural resources, it is only natural that a sense

begun to transform fundamental business

sustainable human resource management has

of eco-activism, conservation and sustainability

principles and the way organisations go about

arisen and combines the idea of sustainability

has developed amongst the wider public. This,

doing business. Marketing departments have

with the soft approach of human resources.

in turn, has extended into the business world

long been the main resource that businesses

with workers now signalling that sustainability

have used to push their green agenda but being

The sof t-st yle approach aims to achieve

is more influential than ever when it comes to

environmentally friendly now affects the wider

f ina ncia l resu lts t h rough a n employer-

making ‘where-to-work’ decisions.

business picture including compliance, risk

employee relationship-building approach.

management, governance, carbon footprints

This method has proven to be effective in

and stakeholder expectations.

retaining employees for a longer period of time, encourages them to share knowledge,

Arguably, the most important contributions

enables them to work more productively and

that businesses ma ke to societ y are by

generates creative ideas in order to achieve

creating jobs, paying wages and providing

business goals. Furthermore, there have been

meaningful and productive work to promote

numerous studies that indicate a positive

human development—all of which are HR’s

correlation between sustainable HR practices

primary concerns. Notably, sustainability has

and company performance—mainly in terms

begun to transform the way Human Resources

of the environment.

professionals act, think and work to the extent

Generational values

that it now influences people strategies from

Driving the bottom line of the business is part

The Future of Workplace Sustainability Report

recruit to retire.

of the reason that HR should care to implement

by Unily discovered that two-thirds of office

sustainable HR practices; however, the bottom-

workers are more likely to work for a company

Green HR

line does not take into consideration the

with strong environmental policies whilst

Employees are no longer seen simply as tools

paradigm shift in talent demands and their

a further 72% were concerned about their

to be used to achieve organisational financial

new-found employer expectations.

company’s environmental ethics.

needs to be valued and preserved in order for

As the world grapples with the ever-growing

Unsurprisingly, perhaps because they have

them to make contributions to their companies,

threat of climate change and depletion of

inherited a scorched Earth, it is the younger

goals but are now viewed as a resource that

19

COVER STORY

organisation and is able to leverage this to achieve integrated diversit y and inclusion objectives. By adding value and empowering employees to get involved with organisationally aligned, sustainable initiatives, HR in turn extends its role beyond the boundaries of the office and into the wider global community.

Sustainability’s effect on HR Aside from talent acquisition and engagement, sustainability’s impact can also be felt across lea r n i n g a nd de velopment depa r t ments .

According to Unily, 63% of employees want to learn green skills and 46% feel as though they need more training on their organisation’s env iron menta l goa ls. Chu ex pla ined how L’Occita ne is add ressing t hose dema nds, “We are currently leveraging Climate Fresk— a multi-player climate game to roll out to all our employees to learn about climate change a nd its ef fect on the world. We a lso have specific training for our front-line staff that equips them with the ability to communicate ou r rec ycling a nd ref i ll produc ts a s well as understanding unconscious biases and inclusive customer behaviour.”

generations t hat feel t he strongest when

the best talent, raises recruitment standards

it comes to corporate ESG. The Millennial

a nd bu ilds bet ter tea ms but ca n a lso a id

E m p lo y e e E n g a g e m e n t S u r v e y b y C o n e

HR professiona ls in adding va lue to their

Com mu n ications d iscovered t hat a rou nd

employees’ experience. Eight in ten millennial

two-thirds of millennials strongly consider

employees i nd ic ated t h at t he y wou ld b e

a business’ social and env ironmental

more loyal to a company that helps them to

commitments before taking a job and w ill

contr ibute to env ironmenta l and societa l

not do so if the organisation does not display

issues whilst nine in ten would find their job

st rong E SG v a lues. G en Z a re e ven more

more fulfilling when they are provided with

inclined towards sustainable notions as it has

opportunities to make a positive impact to

been proven to influence everything from their

environmental causes.

shopping habits to brand loyalty.

Understanding the situation According to Deloitte, Gen Z are also more

One such compa ny t hat u ndersta nds t he

likely to report that it is important that they

importance of environmental sustainability

E SG is a lso i nc rea si n gly bei n g l i n ked to

work for an organisation whose values align

is Groupe L’Occitane. Venisa Chu, Regional

compensation plans with several companies

with theirs, with social and environmental

Sustainability Director – APAC, explained, “Our

incentivising their executives by linking their

values being of the utmost importance.

sustainability goals can be highlighted through

rewards with corporate sustainability goals.

three main priorities: climate, biodiversity

Though only a tiny minorit y of companies

Similarly, in the UK, health insurance company

and diversity and inclusion. These priorities

have such practice in place, linking executive

Bupa found that almost two-thirds of Gen Z

are universal across all countries, brands and

comp en s at ion to E S G g o a ls is a w ay for

consider it important for their employers to

departments. The ambitions under these pillars

companies to put their money where their

act on env ironmental issues and six out of

are to contribute to a carbon net-zero world,

mouth is. According to Willis Towers Watson’s

te n wou ld c ho o s e to re m a i n lon g e r w it h

a nature-positive world as well as one that is

FTSE 100 Director’s Remuneration Report

env i ron ment a l ly resp on sible employer s .

fair and inclusive.”

2022 , 65% of FTSE 100 companies already

Upholding sustainabilit y as a core organi-

Embracing susta inabilit y ensu res t hat

payments with an additional 17% disclosing that

sational value helps a company to attract

HR bu ilds a positive cu lt u re w ithin their

they plan to introduce ESG metrics in 2022.

include ESG metrics in their annual bonus

20 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

COVER STORY

However, ESG metr ics a re less preva lent

Signalling commitment

i n lon g - te r m i nc e nt i ve pl a n s w it h on l y

It is important to realise that integrating

38% of FTSE 10 0 compa nies hav ing such

sustainability practices into a business is a

practice in place. It should be noted however

complex and multi-layered process that is

t hat 10 0% of t hese compa n ies include

inclusive of other social and environmental

environmental objectives, specifically carbon

responsibilities. This process demands thought-

emissions reductions, as key metrics for their

provoking discussions that ask the tough

directors’ performance.

questions: how is the company committed

HR is undeniably one of the key roles

to enacting these changes, what actions will Overall, between 5 – 10 percent of European

it take, how will it involve employees in this

compa n ies now lin k t heir E SG metr ics

process and how it will be communicated

t o e x e c u t i v e r e w a r d s a c c or d i n g t o S & P

to them?

G l o b a l ’s E S G p o d c a s t . B y d o i n g s o , i t incentiv ises ma nagement to cha nge their

As HR will be involved in several pieces of

behav iour to lead and sig nals appropriate

the puzzle, it is key to acknowledge the role

behaviour and transparency to current and

they will play in redefining their employer’s

prospective employees.

brand. Some aspects that HR will be involved

in carrying out sustainability goals.

in include facilitating conversations with Many businesses will rely on engagement from

employees and the board, defining a green

their employees to achieve their ESG goals. This

code of conduct, launching equity initiatives

is perhaps the most important area in which

and engaging with employees through training

HR will contribute towards the overall goal of

and leadership development.

creating sustainable business practices as without HR’s involvement, it will be impossible for the

Chu elaborated, “HR is undeniably one of the

business to achieve its sustainability goals.

key roles in carrying out sustainability goals.

Venisa Chu Regional Sustainability Director APAC, Groupe L’Occitane

21

COVER STORY

HR’s steps to driving business sustainability Define the company’s ESG purpose

1 2

HR should first work alongside their leadership team to define the company’s ESG purpose and how, together with employees, they can achieve it. Once it has been refined, the company’s code of conduct can be built around the newfound purpose and gives focus to organisational objectives.

9

Once the company’s purpose has been redefined and the objectives have been crystalised, it is time to review existing processes and work practices. This is a chance to realign them with the new sustainability goals. Any area that is not up to standard will need to be addressed, a code of ethics developed and relayed to all employees about the necessary changes.

8

This should be done continuously against ongoing or newly arising social and environmental issues to keep the business ahead of the curve.

3

Now that your existing employees are aware of the new business practices and objectives, it is time to turn your attention to new hires. HR will want to ensure that the organisation’s ESG goals are a key factor in the recruitment process and onboarding period. This means opening and discussing sustainability goals and attitudes with candidates.

This is an essential factor in order for the business to find the right people who will fit into the green organisational culture and will work alongside existing employees to achieve the ESG goals.

Attention should be paid during the onboarding process also where each new recruit is carefully informed of the importance of the sustainability goals.

4

Provide green training

Laying out the company’s goals in step one will allow HR to examine the real environmental and societal impact that the goal will have as well as identify how each individual within the organisation can play their part. This identifies areas for training and should be given to those who need it.

Green training encompasses everything from greener lifestyle habits to specialised knowledge. This could be in the supply chain department who needs to be informed about sustainable sourcing or ensuring that partner companies pay fair wages.

5

Finally, HR and leadership should actively listen to employee requests and create opportunities for them to contribute their own sustainable ideas to the workplace.

A dedicated email address is one way to do so.

Once ideas have been submitted, acknowledged and deemed feasible they can be actively implemented which will further enhance engagement, satisfaction and a host of other critical business metrics.

Review existing practices

Integrate ESG into talent acquisition

Promote employee ideas

7

Enable volunteering opportunities

Another way to increase employee enablement is to actively encourage them to join volunteer schemes, take time off to engage in charity work and nominate causes that they believe the organisation should support. One such way would be through paid volunteer leave or to create a global volunteer month.

Nurture accountability

At the top, the CEO and leadership team are the driving force behind a sustainable business model but it is not enough. HR’s concern should be to unite the entire workforce behind the sustainability goals across all levels and geographies. One such way is to have sustainability champions in every story or green ambassadors throughout the organisations.

This is a way to help employees feel enabled to contribute to the sustainability agenda and creates a key reason for new joiners to want to enter the company.

6

Offer rewards

As discussed, linking rewards to ESG goals is an increasing trend amongst leadership yet the organisation’s goals should be incorporated across all employee levels and built into performance reviews with clear incentives attached to them.

Offering a reward programme at all levels will not only deliver tangible results and measurable business gains, but will send out a clear message—sustainability is just as important as any other KPI.

Start small

Having a huge impact, like any other objective, is best achieved through a series of small steps. One such way is to create a paperless organisational experience. This can be done one process at a time starting with the talent acquisition or performance management process. Smaller still, set up a recycling station in the office.

Alternatively, an entirely digital HR system eliminates physical paperwork across most talent management processes. Enabling digital employee self-service of things such as leave requests, learning and development or performance reviews is not only greener but gives employees more ownership over their green journey.

22 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

COVER STORY

One of the highlights of how HR has supported our commitments is by engaging all of our employees (both corporate and retail) to make the commitments relevant to their roles within their respective functions. It takes a systematic approach to meet our employees where they are to elevate their sustainability knowledge and upskill them to professionalise their roles in contributing to the organisation’s ambitions.”

Another aspect in which HR will play a pivotal role in is by encouraging employees to engage with social or environmental causes. Cone Communications found that 83% of employees would be more loyal to their company if it helps them to contribute to environmental and societal issues whilst 88% would find their job more fulfilling when provided with opportunities to make a positive impact to environmental causes.

Chu shared L’Occitane’s approach, “Across APAC, we have hosted different events for employees to engage in. For example, in Shanghai, a one-day recycling event was hosted in the office and the weight of the recyclables was measured to succinctly communicate their achievements—aligning the contribution of recycling to the group’s climate ambition targets. In Hong Kong, we organised an urban farming activity and donated the resulting

While Citi employees can only take this leave

Developing more susta inable practices is

crops to charity—the time spent on this activity

twice at most and must have worked for the

undoubtedly impor ta nt to ensure a clea n

was eligible for paid community service leave.”

company for at least five years, it is a practice

future planet, healthy and happy employees

that others may turn to for inspiration in order

a nd ma ny ot her touchy-feely issues t hat

to draw up their own volunteer leave policies.

some business leaders tend to br ush of f.

However, sustainability is good for business

Hanging in the balance

a nd is somet h ing t hat ever y for wa rd-

Having people change their habits and develop

t h in k ing compa ny shou ld be consider ing

greener ways of thinking is the right start to

when it comes to developing strategies for

ensuring our planet’s sustainability; however,

improvement and growth.

all too often the emphasis is placed on people as

Enabling staff to take paid time off to engage

individuals to make necessary changes in order

A critical point has been reached and our

to avoid a global environmental collapse. Yet,

shared env ironment w ill not be able to

there is a giant elephant in the room that few

withstand prioritising short-term profitability

seem willing to address.

over the drastic need to reduce emissions and

in volunteer work has become an increasing

change behaviours for very much longer. HR

trend in recent times. In April, the Singapore

Of all the global CO2 emissions, 71% of them

ultimately has an important choice to make;

arm of Citibank added a volunteer leave

come from just 100 companies. This statistic

will it continue to enable businesses to stray

programme to its arsenal in a bid to attract

alone highlights the absolute importance of

from a path that is increasingly out of touch

and retain talent. Eligible employees can take

needing to take action beyond the individual and

with the needs of its people, society and our

up to a month of paid leave to lend their skills

to make substantial changes to the way business

mother Earth or, will they unite corporations

to charities as volunteers with Citi paying their

in the twenty-first century is conducted. Should

and workers and pledge themselves to ensuring

full base salary for that month. In addition,

organisations be allowed to continue to emit at

that our businesses, people and planet are

employees will continue to be fully covered by

the same pace as they have done over the past

capable of enduring for centuries to come?

the company’s medical and health insurance

several decades, then the entire world is heading

and continue to accrue their annual leave.

down an all but assured path of self-destruction.

After all, if there is no Earth, there is no profit. T

23

HR FEATURES

Greater China’s employee experience challenges

For the past several years, Pat Bolster, Head

to adopt new mindsets and continue to define

of Greater China, Qualtrics, has been helping

and iterate new ways of working. As people’s

organisations across the region to improve the

decisions are being inf luenced by multiple

experiences they deliver to their customers

factors, organisations need to have the ability

and employees. Bolster took time out of his

to identify and respond to the issues that are

schedule to speak with HR Magazine about

having the largest impact quickly and easily.”

In business today,

common challenges that businesses in Greater China are facing, how digital tools can design

Holistic & realistic experiences

and improve organisational offerings and how

Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been

an improved employee experience adds value

a profound realisation amongst HR professionals

to the organisation.

that the employee experience is one, if not the most critical area of people management

“Investing in and prioritising programmes and

that businesses need to at tend to. Bolster

tools to improve the employee experience (EX)

shared, “The traditional, annual approach to

are critical to overcoming some of the biggest

measuring employee engagement is no longer

challenges facing HR and business leaders right

sufficient as businesses will lack the insights

now, and in the future,” commenced Bolster.

and understandings they need to continually

When quizzed about the top three challenges that

evolve and align with shifting expectations.

HR leaders are faced with Bolster revealed, “From

As it stands, HR leaders need to listen across

conversations I have had, the most pressing

the employee lifecycle and at key moments

challenges are attracting and retaining talent,

throughout the employee journey.

planning a safe return to the office and creating the right hybrid work strategies. In order to

“The EX also needs to be personalised. For

overcome these challenges, organisations need

example; the expectations of a long-tenured

24 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

every experience matters.

Pat Bolster Head of Greater China, Qualtrics

HR FEATURES

Finally, the system allows leaders to act with empathy and speed by automating workflows and AI suggestions on appropriate courses of action based on employee history.”

As HR leaders stress the importance of the EX to attract and retain talent, there is an additional benefit that arises; a better customer experience (CX). As Bolster put it, “In business today, every experience matters, and employees are pivotal to your customer’s experience. By better supporting and meeting the diverse needs of the entire workforce, employees are empowered to do their jobs. Research has shown that organisations with high levels of engagement achieve up to four and half times more revenue growth than those with low levels.”

The intrinsic link between EX and CX can help define the success of organisational initiatives as they are easily translatable to business performance.” T employee are likely to be different from those

Integrated Capabilities

of a new joiner whilst the needs of someone

Bolster elaborated, “By better and more

during onboarding will be different to those

frequently understanding the complete EX —

of a n employee that has just completed

from the levels of well-being to the drivers of

a tra ining module. Technolog y equips HR

retention, organisations can use technological

leaders w ith these insights and facilitates

tools such as Qualtrics to quickly and confidently

customisation for each individual at each moment

design new and improved offerings that are

to optimise outcomes.”

aligned to changing employee expectations.

One such way Qualtrics helps employers deliver a better EX is by making it quick and easy to

HR leaders need to listen across the

comply with office vaccine mandates. As some employers require proof of vaccination to enter the workplace, there is a new purpose-built

employee lifecycle

system where employees can confirm their vaccination status, upload recent test results and screen for COVID-19 symptoms. This new

and at key moments

feature has enabled businesses across the globe to support a fast, safe return to the office and Nowadays, it is equally important that the

has allowed them to quickly establish workplace

employee experience extends far beyond

resilience, stay ahead of rapidly changing

how engaged talent are with their roles.

situations as well as protect sensitive employee

Engagement, simply put, is one piece of a

health information.

throughout the employee journey.

much larger puzzle. The EX of today should be a holistic, realistic view of an employee’s

“Qualtrics also boasts three core integrated

day-to-day reality that encompasses a variety

capabilities that help HR professionals seamlessly

of factors including engagement but also

and easily manage workflows. Foremost is

expectations, DEI, sense of purpose, physical

the proactive ability to connect with and ask

health and mental and emotional well-being.

employees how things are as well as tap into the wider business discussions on social media.

With a newfound push toward improving EX

Furthermore, Qualtrics allows insights to be

across the entire talent lifecycle, HR has a

captured and used to create experience profiles

myriad of tools at its disposal that enables the

for each employee. This function connects with

employee experience to be fully redefined and

data from the HRIS systems to orchestrate the

expanded to address new workplace issues.

ideal experience aligned to individual needs.

Pat Bolster Head of Greater China Qualtrics

25

HR FEATURES

Moments that matter HR Magazine recently talked with Rajni Sharma, Managing Director, SAP Hong Kong & Macau to discuss what it means to be a female leader in the male-dominated tech space and how cloud-based technologies are helping HR teams to eliminate gender biases.

The best possible example I can be is by being.

Rajni Sharma rose through the ranks at SAP, a

everything I do. Many female leaders have paved the

global business solutions provider, to become the

way for me to fulfil my role and I know I need to be a

Managing Director for Hong Kong and Macau last

role model so many more can follow in my footsteps.

October. Sharma’s leadership comes at a time

People often ask me, as a woman in business, how I

when female workforce representation in the

set an example for other young female leaders and

technology sector is on the rise. Females account

my response always remains the same. The best

for 32.9% of the total workforce in large technology

possible example I can be is by being. By working

organisations according to Deloitte’s Women at

hard to get as far as I can so others can aspire to that.

Work report. Ruminating on her career Sharma

I know for sure seeing strong female leaders from all

commented, “I never intentionally planned to be

different backgrounds throughout my own career

in the world of technology when I was in school.

journey has inspired me to think I can do it too. I

However, I stumbled into it through a great start

once read a quote by Michelle Obama ‘you cannot

as a marketing intern at another multinational

be what you cannot see.’ To me, it means ‘belief’

technology company. Since joining SAP, I have had

and ‘representation’ and has stuck with me ever

endless opportunities to travel the world, work with

since. For a young graduate or intern starting their

amazing colleagues and most importantly, make

career like I was not so many years ago, thinking if

the world run better through empowering global

she can do it then I can do it too.”

organisations with our technology.”

Certainly, that importance carries its weight into all Rajni Sharma Managing Director Hong Kong & Macau SAP

26 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

Moving in sync

that Sharma does. Sharma does not shy away from

Sharma disclosed what it means to her to be a

the challenges that she has faced throughout her

female leader, “Being a female leader in a male-

career and rather than succumbing to self-doubt,

dominated industry is incredibly important to me.

Sharma instead channels her energy into something

The significance and responsibility of this is not

positive and productive. “When I am making tough

something I take lightly, and I carry it with me in

decisions, I often pull together all background

HR FEATURES

information, risk analysis and my team’s thoughts,

by all employees whether they work from home or

then align with the best-case scenario and find the

in the office. Additionally, progress of projects

best way to reach it. The most important thing is to

and tasks is tracked in real-time enabling

see it as an opportunity for growth—for my team,

transparency across all levels. Team leaders are

for our businesses and myself. Having this type of

able to easily identify where help is needed and

growth mindset enables us to focus on tackling

can adjust resources as required. During their

the challenge, learn from it, and ultimately deliver

downtime, employees can find tailored learning

the results. Sometimes we may have to find some

and development materials to ensure that their

middle-ground with our expectations, so it is also

skills are up to date. Line managers can track their

very important that we constantly communicate

progression and suggest further learning content.

our progress, changes and that we move forward

All these processes can be accessed on mobile

in sync with our customers and partners.”

devices or desktops, providing a much-needed digital gateway to their workforce.”

Digitally enabled operations As the effects of the pandemic linger, they not

Sharma also points to how SAP’s solutions are

only have taken a heavy toll on workers but have

enabling businesses to surmount recent obstacles,

continuously put pressure on organisations to be

“We have supported organisations across sectors

agile and responsive in managing their workforce.

to chart their cloud transformation journey. RISE

Combined with a shift in expectations towards

with SAP, our business-transformation-as-a-

corporate ESG initiatives, businesses are now

service offering, has enabled our clients to zero

required to be more transparent and strive for

in on digitally optimising their operations and

greater diversity, inclusivity and focus on their

growing their business with SAP S/4HANA Cloud

employees’ well-being. Sharma commented, “For

(our next-generation enterprise resource planning

me, inclusiveness in the workplace is all about

application.) RISE users are also tapping into our

leading by example. The best way to encourage

Business Technology Platform that provides them

people and create an open environment is by

with the necessary business insights through AI,

embracing inclusiveness in your own team to

data modelling and visualisation.”

ensure each person feels comfortable to be

A digitally-enabled HR is usually the first place that organisations turn to on

their true authentic self. The reality is that nowadays, business continuity relies heavily on how organisations manage their teams to

their

juggle multiple challenges, including disrupted supply chain and manufacturing, managing a remote workforce, ensuring employee safety, and

digitalisation

fulfilling online orders.”

Sharma nods to how businesses can leverage

journey.

technology to achieve greater inclusiveness, “A digitally-enabled HR is usually the first place that organisations turn to on their digitalisation journey. SAP SuccessFactors, as a cloud solution, enables organisations to detect gender-biased language in job descriptions so that they can equally attract talents from both genders.

SuccessFactors also provides data analytics of key HR metrics including KPIs, learning completion, high performer growth rate, attrition

Reflecting on her SAP journey, Sharma adds,

and operating expenses. This gives decision-

“There are so many highlights however, for me,

makers a panoramic view of their employees and

the small moments are what matter. The people I

by having data-driven visualisation of human

work with, the purpose and impact we have in what

capital metrics, they can formulate appropriate

we do and ultimately the change we are creating

initiatives to better support their employees.

for future generations. I am encouraged to see

Rajni Sharma Managing Director Hong Kong & Macau SAP

gender equality movements in the technology “In terms of human experience management and

industry that are helping create an equal

employee development, SAP SuccessFactors can

footing for women. By working together with

facilitate teams’ communication and collaboration

technology, I believe we can reshape the game's

as it is a cloud-based platform that can be accessed

fundamental rules. T

27

HR FEATURES

Gain an edge with employee share plans

28 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR FEATURES

A unique benefit that can attract and retain talent China’s economy is expected to grow in 2022, with the Bank of China predicting a five per cent increase for the year ahead. Coupled with ‘The Great Resignation’ phenomenon, it is having a significant impact on China’s job market.

Companies across Greater China are working hard to attract and retain the talent they need to keep pace with the growing economy, resulting in a surge in recruitment activity.

It is widely reported that employees today are

Make an ESP work for your business

considering factors beyond pay when selecting

W hen deciding whether to launch an

a company to work for. A n employee share

employee share plan, there are many aspects

plan is one approach that can assist companies

to consider such as plan type and structure,

to reinforce their EVP—demonstrating the

which will vary depending on the employee

value they place on their employees and the

base and organisational goals. For example,

role they see them playing in the success of the

an execution plan is t y pically designed to

organisation. When companies have an employee

d r ive per for ma nce a nd i ncent iv ise st a f f

However, accounts continue to emerge indicating

share plan, they are inviting their employees

to reach goa ls a nd f u lf il K PIs, whereas a

t h at compa n ies a re st r u g gl i n g to sec u re

to become shareholders, leading to a culture of

broad-based plan is t y pica lly desig ned to

candidates at the final stages of the recruitment

employee ownership.

re w a rd employees for t hei r tenu re w it h the organisation.

process. Higher dropout rates are being recorded during sorting and selection due to applicants

Computershare has been tracking the uptake in

receiving offers from other organisations mid-way

employee share plans across Hong Kong-listed

through the recruitment cycle. Companies are

companies for the past nine years and has found

also beginning to realise that power has shifted

that over 80% of Hong Kong-listed companies

into the hands of candidates, with workers in

now offer some form of an employee share

some industries spoilt for choice and as a result,

plan. Traditionally used to reward executives,

becoming highly selective about which company

a share plan is a tangible way a company can

they work for.

show prospective employees the value they place on their staff, by enabling them to share in the

So how can HR ensure its company gains a

company’s success. Employee share plans have

competitive edge over its sector peers? A n

evolved beyond executive-level rewards in recent

employee share scheme could be the key to

years, as organisations begin to realise they can

attracting and retaining valuable employees.

help retain talent and offer an advantage against competitors in the recruitment market.

Finding the competitive edge Nowadays, the criteria that employees critique

A significant increase in the annual investment

prospective employers against extends far beyond

and allocation of wealth to employees through

traditional compensation and benefit measures.

company share awards has also been uncovered

As societies and businesses begin to emerge from

as part of Computershare’s research. Since 2014,

the pandemic, many employees are considering a

Hong Kong-listed companies have increased their

Whether you are new to the world of employee

broader range of factors such as company culture,

annual share allocation by over 70% and there

share plans and need help getting started,

flexible working options and opportunities for

has also been a 90% increase in the number of

managing your plan in house and needing

growth when making career decisions. As such,

employees receiving awards from their employers

more resources or simply wishing to outsource,

businesses are understanding the importance

over the same period. The data shows that this

Computershare can help by offering bespoke

of articulating their employee value proposition

kind of benefit is now being extended far beyond

solutions to help you deliver the right plan for

(EVP) in order to attract and retain talent.

its traditional boardroom setting.

your business. T

29

HR FEATURES

The flexi-office of the future The demand for flexible and coworking spaces has never been higher. As companies continue to redefine their workplaces, one provider is going the extra mile to ensure that its members are well-positioned to leverage their workspace to their advantage.

HR Magazine recently spoke with Nadia Zhu,

employees excited about going back to the

Regional Managing Director – Hong Kong,

off ice, ideally at a location that is close to

Macau a nd Ta iwa n, The Executive Centre

their home. Flex ible spaces a re not a new

(TEC) to discuss how f lexible workspaces

concept but have become more mainstream

a re suppor ting the f ut ure of work. The

as pa r t of the globa l shif t towa rd ag ilit y

Executive Centre has over 165 centres in

a nd innovative space solutions.

33 cities a nd has been prov iding premium f lexible workspaces across Asia Pacific and

“In the of f ice of the f ut ure, one that

the Middle East for a lmost 30 yea rs.

facilitates f u lly remote, hybr id, a nd onsite employees, technolog y w ill play a big

Flex is key

par t in off ice design whether it is to boost

Zhu first joined TEC in Shanghai before rising

productiv it y, facilitate remote working,

through the ra n ks to helm the compa ny ’s

promote hygiene, or enhance audio-v isual

headquarters in Hong Kong. Discussing the

experiences to boost morale,” said Zhu. “All

shift towards agile and innovative workspace

TEC Centres prov ide secure a nd reliable

solutions, Zhu commented on the role that the

net works a nd our ex per ienced IT ex per ts

office space plays in cultivating organisational

can provide on-site tech support if needed.

culture “First of all, f lexibility has become

Privacy and data security are also important

key to the f ut ure of ma ny org a nisationa l

elements that businesses need to consider

workplace strateg ies as they have needed

for their futureproof workspaces. As such,

to scale rapidly up or dow n. Furthermore,

TEC provides customised IT solutions that

resea rch has show n the impor ta nt role

f it specif ically to members’ requirements.

that workplaces play in ta lent retention.

We a lso prov ide pr ivate ser vers to those

Hav ing an attractive workspace w ill ma ke

that have special privacy or security needs.”

30 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

In the office of the future, technology will play a big part in office design.

Nadia Zhu Regional Managing Director The Executive Centre

HR FEATURES

Heart and Soul Zhu elaborates how TEC has leveraged its experience as a premium workspace provider to address the core business demands of its clients. Of fering a broad range of private, virtual and coworking solutions with f irstclass ser vice, TEC has an extensive histor y of ser v ing mu ltinationa l cor porations, small and medium-sized businesses as well as sta r t-ups. Based on a ‘members f irst’ philosophy, TEC has created a communit y of like-minded professionals and strives to prov ide businesses w ith a n oppor t unit y to work sma r ter, not ha rder a nd achieve off ice space f lexibilit y, cost-effectiveness a nd tea m productiv it y.

“The heart and soul of TEC Centres are its Engagement Teams, groups of highly trained conc ier g e p er son nel w ho prov ide lo c a l knowledge and business support to members, ensuring a smooth transition into their new city, and daily support when needed. The

Heath & safety

regulations in all of our Centres across our

Engagement Team looks after its members’

As workers across the globe begin returning

Asia Pacif ic footprint. To ensure a COV ID-

businesses as if they were their own,” said

to the off ice, health and safet y remain top

sa fe workspace, we have enforced socia l

Zhu. Additional perks such as the onsite IT

pr ior it y for workers a nd business leaders

distancing principles and made it easier to

support, full-time baristas, and Tesla chauffeur

alike. Zhu points to the steps TEC is taking

work sa fely by increasing v isua l cues a nd

service are all aimed at creating a truly unique

to ensure its members’ safet y, “The health

boundaries. We have increased our sanitation

experience for TEC members. Akin to a luxury

a nd sa fet y of our members a nd our sta f f

frequency at high touch-point locations and

five-star staycation, TEC has paid attention

a re of the utmost impor ta nce to us a nd

placed hand sanitisers, protective g uards,

to the details to deliver a bespoke luxur y

we a re put ting ever y precaution in place

a nd a ir pur if iers throughout our lounges,

working experience.

a nd according to the loca l gover nments’

coworking spaces a nd meeting rooms.” T

31

HR FEATURES

For the greater good In a recent survey, CLP Group was named Hong Kong’s most diverse employer. HR Magazine spoke with Priscilla Chau, Human Resources Director, CLP Power to better understand how the Group's Hong Kong subsidiary is championing diversity and empowering women in a traditionally male-dominated world.

CLP Power’s overarching diversity agenda and

of society. As Chau explained, a core emphasis

emphasis on valuing people has extended deep

of the Group's Hong Kong subsidiar y is to

into every aspect of its employees’ experiences.

emphasise the importance of educating the wider

“Diversity is at the core of everything that we do, and we aim to treat all of our people fairly

We view diversity as a

everyone feels valued and comfortable and at the

very real business need,

our employees will not feel valued. This is the

YOU Kindergarten Visitation Programme, sees both our male and female engineers engage with local kindergartens to raise awareness.

same time, is engaged. If we do not have a diverse team, then we will not be able to innovate, and

to invest resou rces into public educat ion programmes. One of our programmes, POWER

regardless of their attributes,” commenced Chau.

“Our goal is to create an environment where

community. “As a business, we have an obligation

not just a CSR topic.

Other programmes also bring greater visibility of women in the power industry. As this sector

overarching archetype that defines the long-term

has traditionally been male-dominated, we have

sustainable growth of our business. We view

faced the challenge of attracting more female

diversity as a very real business need, not just a

candidates head-on and prioritised initiatives

CSR topic.”

that aim to break down gender biases and stigma

Extended Reach CLP understands the implication that businesses in the twenty-first century need to be responsible for bringing about change for the greater good

32 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

Priscilla Chau Human Resources Director CLP Power

within society.”

As more companies seek ways to improve their diversity positioning, CLP Power’s approach extends far beyond its community outreach

HR FEATURES

approaches rolling out to improve worker visibility. “It is important that different groups of employees feel seen and visible. We found that a number of our plants and manufacturing facilities lacked the adequate infrastructure for women such as female changing rooms or breastfeeding facilities, so we redesigned those spaces. A design thinking approach that we undertook to attract female engineers was to reexamine the way in which their work garments were designed. Rather than the unf lattering, traditional one-piece jumpsuit, we created a two-piece garment that is much more practical for female engineers,” Chau explained.

Success through metrics Measuring the success of diversity initiatives programmes to a much more macroscopic level.

is no easy feat. Research from Culture Amp

As Chau put it, “When it comes to understanding

discovered that only 27% of businesses with DEI

the perspectives of colleagues from different

initiatives know how to measure their success.

backgrounds, our approach goes far beyond just

Chau shared her approach, “DEI is not quite

gender. We extend diversity right the way down

as challenging to track as you would imagine

to a macro level, to the front-line operators who

as it can easily be translated through numbers

are just as equally important to our business.

We ensure that every employee has a chance

We continue

In the f uture, we plan to ex periment w ith

to strive for greater

of employees to come forward. and propose

representation to ensure that

encountered on their quest for greater diversity

we have seen the number of women in CLP gradually increase and last year achieved a 30 This does not mean we are satisfied, and we continue to strive for greater representation of not only women but other fringe groups

Subtle changes from the top A n obstacle HR professiona ls m ight have

to keep track of these metrics and redesign our

per cent target of women in leadership roles.

activities that would make cultural sense to that group.”

engineering positions. Our dataset enables us strategies as needed. Since we began tracking,

our engagement approach by enabling selfnominated representatives from different groups

target through 2030 to increase the ratio of the female workforce and women in leadership and

to get their voice heard, express how they feel and advocate for the resources that they need.

and KPIs. For example, we have an aspirational

everyone has

to ensure that ever yone has ba la nced a nd

balanced and equal

Nodd i ng to how busi ness leaders ca n get

equal opportunities.”

is assuring multi-stakeholder buy-in and getting senior business leaders to understand the benefits that diversity can bring to the entire organisation. assuring their buy-in, rather it is about them understanding the true meaning of diversity

started on their diversity journey Chau shared, “Nowadays, leaders need to think of diversity

Chau doubled down, “The biggest obstacle is not

opportunities.

as an important business topic especially those that are wanting to see growth and to capture

and how they understand the value it brings

the younger generations of talent. Business

to the whole organisation. Some leaders might

leaders need to be aware of the Gen Z habits of

already be aware of the importance and have

well researching a prospective employer’s value

undergone training, but work is still needed on an

proposition to see if they truly value diversity. In

ongoing basis. That is why we are incorporating

order to achieve greater DEI, there needs to be

unconscious bias training into our leadership

a firm company commitment toward achieving equality that is empowered from the top down.

curriculum to tackle it from the top down. This includes mandatory annual training that teaches our leaders the importance of diversity as well as an appropriate code of conduct.”

Priscilla Chau Human Resources Director CLP Power

Leaders should then examine how their company values translate to cultural values in society and find ways to give new meaning to old traditions.

Finally, different groups of employees need to

It is not just CLP Power’s leadership team

be made. visible within the organisation so that

that has been transformed with more subtle

their colleagues can celebrate their success.” T

33

HR FEATURES

Filling in the gaps HR Magazine recently spoke with leaders from several small non-profit organisations in Hong Kong who have joined forces to create a framework that enables smaller NGOs to better manage their human resources. The trio also discussed the viable career pathways on offer in the non-profit sector.

Sue Toomey, Executive Director, HandsOn Hong Kong Toomey was first drawn into the non-profit sector in order to put the skills she had learnt from her corporate career to mobilise people and issues forward, empowering others to use their passion and their talent for worthwhile causes.

Lucinda Pike, Executive Director, Enrich HK Pike has always been driven by the quality and access to education, especially for women and marginalised groups. The diversity of Hong Kong drives her work in providing education and enabling access to education for women in marginalised groups.

Wisniewski Otero explains, “What makes nonprofits special are its people. As any company

Victoria Wisniewski Otero, Founder & CEO, Resolve Foundation Wisniewski Otero's multicultural upbringing solidified her commitment to global citizenship.

Being the Founder of her NGO, she has spent the last four years empowering emerging leaders from all walks of life to find their voice and purpose to make a positive social impact in their communities.

No other sector has stepped up like the non-profit sector when society has needed them the most. From addressing socio-economic deficiencies to giving

in the private sector would agree, the people are what give an organisation its DNA and are

The belief in the value and potential of people is what unites all of us.

the ones that compel the organisation’s mission forward. We wanted to recruit and retain those talents in the NGO sector and ensure that they were fulfilled as well as able to see a development pathway and a career trajector y. We came together as we all were at similar stages in our HR journey. The belief in the value and potential of people is what unites all of us in this project.”

Toomey added, “We felt that it was important to give clarity and transparency to our hiring and performance review processes. Sampling

underprivileged and fringe members of society

this framework in our teams enabled us to build

the chance to start over again, NGOs have long

a robust performance review process allowing

played an important role in filling in the gaps in

us to focus on how the work was done, our people’s attitude and willingness to embrace

society. Yet, smaller NGOs often suffer from a lack of HR expertise which can result in manpower woes.

Joining forces

Victoria Wisniewski Otero Founder & CEO Resolve Foundation

uncertainty as well as adaptability during times of uncertainty. The framework enables our people to reflect on their own performance and

This issue inspired the trio to join forces and

build the skills and their development paths

devise an HR-based competency framework as

moving forward.”

34 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR FEATURES

The framework was created with the help of a

“Right from a talent’s very first interaction with our

long-term volunteer from the HR sector—Emily

organisations, they will be asked questions related to

Woodward, Director, Leathwaite who dedicated

the competencies which demonstrate a higher level

six months of her time to devise a competency

of professionalism and sets expectations around

framework rooted in HR best practice. With

the skills and types of talent that are sought after.”

broad application from entry-level to C-suite, the framework is a useful tool to give feedback

Collaborating with HR

and also assess volunteer positions. Driven

The trio also shared how HR can add value to the non-

by f ive competencies— Strateg ic Mindset,

profit sector or further enhance the framework, “HR professionals could help promote the importance

Stakeholder Engagement, Results-Focused, People Development and Mission-Driven, the

Toomey furthered, “Whether your business is

of volunteering, particularly in this case, skilled

framework creates a common language within

non-profit or for-profit, what people need to bring

volunteering beyond the mandated pro-bono hours

NGOs about the skills and behaviours that

to the table is very much the same—skills such

and more about passion projects and belief in the

everyone is expected to embody in serving the

as a strategic mindset and being results-oriented

impact that can be made,” said Toomey. “If employers

non-profit’s noble mission.

are needed for the organisation to thrive.”

could enable an environment which supports skilled

Pike shared, “We recognise there are talented

Enabling impactful careers

or sabbaticals to engage in volunteer work it would

people working in the [NGO] sector and what

P i ke add ressed how t he f r a me work a i ms

show their organisation’s commitment to social

we aimed to achieve with the framework was to

to cha llenge t he perceptions of t he NGO

causes,” furthered Wisniewski Otero.

show people how they could have a career in the

sector, “Something that we want to see shift

non-profit space and what kind of capabilities

is how t he NG O sec tor is perceived. The

Pike concluded “Sometimes there might be projects

and talents that they would need to work on.”

competency framework displays the breadth

that HR professionals are thinking through for their

and depth of skills that are required to drive

companies that would be of tremendous benefit to

The framework enables easier identification of

societal change. One thing we would love to

non-profits. Things such as hybrid working policies,

volunteer strengths and areas for improvement.

see is having a career in the non-profit sector

leadership development and capacity building are all

It also enables smaller NGOs to easily deploy

referred to as having a social impact career.

ways HR, as skilled volunteers, can get involved in

their talent to causes and initiatives that align

There is often a notion that a career in the

the many different aspects of non-profit operations.

with their areas of expertise, streamlining the

NGO sector is temporar y or is volunteer-

Whether it be an ongoing engagement or specific

resource allocation process.

driven but what we aimed to show is that it can

HR projects, working alongside NGOs will show

be sustainable. People with HR backgrounds

HR’s commitment to broader societal change and

can make a difference to NGO causes, not only

how they are committed to helping their employees

in developing tools but also helping on the

do good.” T

volunteering such as through paid volunteer leave

recruitment side and helping the organisations take their people’s development seriously.”

Whether your business is

Wisniewski Otero added, “If we can shift the mindset from non-profit work is something you

non-profit or for-profit,

only engage with in your free time but something that you can dedicate yourself to as a vocation then

Working alongside

there will be future generations who aspire to lead

what people need to bring

an NGO which would be a measure of success. We need dedicated people to lead in this profession

NGOs will show HR’s

and NGO leaders have a mindset of investing in

to the table is very much

the people behind the organisation to support the

the same—skills.

Toomey summarised, “We want to continue

capacity building of the NGO.”

expanding our recruitment of people with a diverse

commitment to broader societal change.

range of skills and backgrounds to add greater value to the important work that NGOs do. Many people may not realise that they can have a long and fruitful career in the non-profit space. Ensuring that our Sue Toomey Executive Director HandsOn Hong Kong

people are reflective of the communities that we serve and careers are accessible to people from all socio-economic backgrounds are what led us to implement the competency framework in our

Lucinda Pike Executive Director Enrich HK

recruitment process.

35

HR COMMUNITY

We are now accessing more data than ever …

A guide to blockchain, AI & HR tech

it is important that leaders be aware of the different data privacy legislations.

HR Mag a zine’s f irst qua r terly conference

years, technological development continues to

of the year delved deep into the technolog y

outpace adoption.

world a nd up d ate d H R le a de r s on t he l ate s t v i r t u a l to ol s t h at a re sh api n g t he

Rise of the (auto) Machines

HR la ndscape in t he yea rs a head. Join ing

One new development is intelligent automation

t he H R M a g a z i ne te a m on t he d ay we re ,

(IA), a blend of artificial intelligence (AI) and

Florence Mok, Managing Director, North Asia,

robotic process automation (RPA) that has

BIPO, Floyd Newsum, Manag ing Director,

been used to eliminate low-value, repetitive

R PA ( Hon g Kon g) Ltd , F lore nc e Ts a n g ,

tasks. Newsu m sha red, “I A is a sof t wa re-

Director Leadership Development and Talent,

based robot that loves these t y pes of tasks

A I A I nter nat iona l a nd Ca ssady W i nston ,

a nd is able to conver t e x p en sive m a nu a l

Executive Director, Talent & Performance,

business processes into faster, more accurate

S&P Global.

a nd lower co s t autom ate d pro c e s s e s .

T he y a l s o f re e e mplo ye e s ’ t i me up,

Florence Mok Managing Director North Asia, BIPO

36 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR professionals have been presented with

enabling them to focus on more meaningful

an array of never-before-seen technologies

business activities.”

and tools that have helped them to leverage their organisation’s talent, helping them to

Embracing automation within an organisation

break down barriers and redesign their talent

may do little to ease employees’ fears about a

management process from head to toe. It has

robot-led takeover à la Rise of the Machines

also given rise to employees embracing hybrid

though, employee fears aside, I A does not

working and new ways of communicating and

pose a t h reat to h igh ly sk i l led, busi ness -

learning. Even with the rapid pace at which

critical roles. HR may instead look at ways of

organisations have digitalised over the past few

incorporating IA across the entire spectrum of

HR COMMUNITY

HR operations—from hiring to engagement,

been successfully integrated into AIA’s talent

and learning and development.

development process, providing employees with a safe space in which they can experiment

Newsum shared one such application that is

with progressive technologies without fear

enabling organisations to identif y the best

of repercussions.

and most diverse talent. “The starting point of creating a tr uly diverse workplace is to

Ts a n g el a b or ate d , “ T he f u l l y i m me r si ve

look at ways of eliminating both unconscious

artificial environment transports the learner

and conscious bias from the hiring process.

to a new location in which they are free to

B y u si n g s of t w a re t h at fo c u s e s on t he

explore. Computer-generated objects appear

elimination of sex and race discrimination in

as well as virtual humans, all of which can be

the workplace, IA technology can be leveraged

interacted with. Think of it as a flight simulator

to implement ‘blind-hiring’. The bot extracts

that can teach not only hard skills but soft

data f rom t he C V databa se a nd per for ms

skills such as leadership, resilience and change

analytics related to gender and race—removing

management ones too. VR enables experiential

biased wordings, to create a new blind C V

learning which has been proven to improve

t h at is u sed b y t he h i r i n g m a n a g er. T h is

information retention. After our employees

process blinds gender and ethnicity and puts

took part in the VR learning, we discovered

candidates on an equal footing. IA software

that the VR experience was extremely powerful

can also be customised to eliminate other

as employees were retaining information and

unconscious bias-inducing information such

applying it to real-world scenarios.”

Confidence is a crucial driver for success.

as names of universities, or where a candidate lives which will improve the inclusivity of the

One of the ways VR learning accelerates the

company culture. Though automation alone

learning process is by creating str uctural,

is not a silver bullet for improving business

realistic and safe situations where employees

outcomes, it is a good piece of the puzzle that

can f ind comfort in know ing that they can

will aid organisations to realise their diversity,

practice over and over again without fear of

community and social responsibility goals.”

repercussions. “Confidence is a crucial driver for success and under challenging circumstances

Safe space for development

such as receiving negative feedback, people may

I A is ju s t one of t he m a ny tech nolo g ic a l

wish they could practice handling the situation

adv a nces t h at m ay soon be com i n g to a n

in an immersive low-stress environment. What

organisation near you. Another increasing trend,

we saw was that VR based training resulted

one that is on the minds of many businesses, is

in increased conf idence levels and saw an

how to successfully incorporate Virtual Reality

improvement in employee abilit y to apply

(VR) into their talent management strategy.

the learning on the job by as much as 39%,”

Taking to the screen, Tsang shared how VR has

shared Tsang.

Florence Tsang Director, Leadership Development & Talent AIA International Ltd

37

HR COMMUNITY

solutions available and how those options can be built into their existing system.

In add it ion to prov id i ng a sa fe space, V R learning content prov ides vast amounts of data that can be analysed so that learning

Serving the people

programmes can be further refined, retuned

S w itch i n g g e a r s , t he p a nel l is t t u r ned to

a nd en ha nced. Content ca n be ta ilored to

discuss specific initiatives that were rolled

address specific needs and weaknesses. The

out to support their employees when working

d at a c a n a ls o b e le ver a g e d to de ter m i ne which employees need more upskilling and what areas they need to focus on. Whilst VR may not fully replace in-person learning, as part of a blended learning curriculum it can help business leaders tackle key challenges whilst enabling their people to refine their skills and achieve their full success.

HR’s shifting priorities A f ter sha r ing their insights, Newsum a nd Tsang joined Mok and Winston for a panel d iscussion t hat ex plored how tech nolog y is being levera ged by HR professiona ls to support hybrid working employees.

Winston noted how S&P’ Global's organisational fo c u s h a s e vol ve d si nc e t he s t a r t of t he pandemic, “In the beginning, we focused on health and safet y and business continuit y, now we are transitioning to think about the future and what that means implication-wise and what opportunities this opens up. Some new ways include ways of structuring talent footprints and how we can get the best out of our people. As talent expectations have changed as a result of hybr id working one

The starting point of creating a truly diverse workplace is to look at ways of eliminating both unconscious and conscious bias from the hiring process.

from home. The need to ensure employees have the right technological resources was front and centre though it was noted that the more pressing issue for HR was a more human issue than a technological one.

Winston elaborated, “ The ha rdest pa r t of this process was to rethink the way in which we assess talent and assess their outputs in a fair and realistic way.” Newsum added, “At the end of the day, we are all humans, and we enjoy interacting and spending time working with one another. To encourage collaboration, we took t he Scr u m pr inciple of t he ‘da ily stand-up’ and virtualised it. Every employee comes together on a daily basis to touch base and coordinate the activities we are working on. If there are any issues or blocks, we note those down and take them either off line or to another virtual room. It is important to remember that technology serves people, not the other way around.”

Tech nolog y cer ta i n ly adds v a lue to tea m processes a nd collaboration, w ith st udies showing that it has helped teams become more innovative, collaborative and creative thanks

of t he p oi nt s it h a s r a i s e d i s how to fe el

to its wide-scale use. As technology continues

connected as a community.”

to shape the working landscape its function as a tool for work has been expanded to focus on building trust and organisational culture.

C u lt i v at i n g te a m com mu n ic at ion a nd collaboration when remote working has been a challenge for many if not all HR practitioners

Ou r pa nellists h igh lighted t he impor ta nt

over the past few yea rs. Cer ta inly, ta k ing

role that technolog y has played in enabling

i nto a c cou nt g e ne r at ion a l a nd p e r s on a l

everything from communication, team building

communication preferences have been key

to establish ing persona l a nd professiona l

touchpoints that have needed to be addressed.

b ou nd a r ie s — i nclud i n g cle a rl y de f i n i n g

A not he r m ajor conc e r n f rom a bu si ne s s

working hours in emails to help employees

perspective has been data privacy and security.

find a better balance between their personal and professional lives.

Mok pointed to the role that HR professionals play in safeguarding their organisation’s data.

“Given that we are now accessing more data than ever from different locations and sources and across multiple countries, it is important

Floyd Newsum Managing Director RPA Hong Kong Ltd

Switching off Gone are the days when employees could leave the office in the evening and simply switch off.

Thanks to the technology in our pockets, it has

that businesses be aware of the different data

become more difficult to distinguish a clear

privacy legislations such as GDPR, PDPA etc.,

boundary as to when the working day ends. It

and that they are in compliance with them. If

is imperative that HR give clear guidance along

HR are unsure of the best ways to safeguard

the lines of ‘unless essential, do not answer’ in

their employee or business data, they should

order to reduce the risk of employee burnout.

seek adv ice on the appropriate technolog y

Technology has given HR and employees the

38 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR COMMUNITY

Newsum had the last word, “It is important to take a ‘people-first’ technology approach, and HR should remember that technology is created to serve people. If it is not making your employees’ lives better, if it is not making your customer experience better or if it is not making your organisation a better place to work then it is a l l for not h i n g. Fol low i n g a people -f i rst approach will allow those benefits to naturally fall into place.” T

power to define what works for them. Instead

effectively measuring performance without face-

of focusing on set working hours, HR should

to-face contact.

A time of great

instead let employees work to schedules that best suit their needs as long as there is a

As Newsum pointed out, “It is all about having

culture of accountability to ensure that projects

an output-based performance culture. When you

are completed.

create a task or a tool where everyone outlines what type of work they are doing, you specifically

As Tsang elaborated, “Another way we can get

ask about metrics. This creates transparency

away from this ‘always on’ culture is to take a

about what each team member is responsible for.

top-down approach. It is important as a people

Those discrete elements such as when or where

manager to ask and remind your team members

you work do not really matter. As long as you get

to stop working because no matter how long you

everything you need to get done, done that is all

spend working, you will never be able to finish

that matters.”

change means there is a great opportunity for all of us.

all your tasks. Another approach would be to educate other senior leaders to take the same

People-first technology

approach or use the delay send feature for out of

Rounding off the panel session, our speakers

hours emails unless they are very urgent.”

pointed to the key points that HR needs to push in order to leverage AI and HR tech more

Winston added, “Some of this can be attributed

effectively. “The main point that remains at

t o g e n e r a t io n a l d i f fe r e n c e s a s y o u n g e r

the top of the hierarchy for many organisations

generations are more experienced in switching

is technolog y adoption and deployment as

context and media so quickly. The good old days

the majority of businesses are also seeking to

of people logging in and sticking to one task for

establish a digital workforce. Another push

four hours seems to be going away and that is

would be to ensure that all of our talents have

because younger generations are more familiar

the necessary skills they need to go alongside any

with integrating many different tasks and types

deployment,” summarised Mok.

Cassady Winston Executive Director, Talent & Performance S&P Global

of commitments into their day. This is a good opportunity to personalise their experience and

Winston noted, “There is risk and there is a

to show them a bit of trust—allowing people

reward for organisations to be ahead of the

to work in the way that works for them. If you

cur ve. Where we work, our connections to

squeeze them at both ends, asking them to be

colleagues and company brands are all changing.

online from 8 am and respond to messages

It is a great time for HR to open their minds and

at the weekend, you will end up creating a lot

help our business leaders open theirs as well.

of resentment.”

A time of great change means there is a great

LIVE

opportunity for all of us.”

This is a fine tightrope that HR and business leaders must carefully tread. HR in the workplace of

Tsang added, “HR should indeed be more open-

the future has an important business leadership

minded and embrace technology, especially on

position to play and must be accountable for

the AI side as it can help promote values and

preventing burnout whilst at the same time

bring out a more objective evaluation of people.”

Powered by

39

HR COMMUNITY

Skills as currency HR Magazine recently partnered with Workday to host a Livestream in Taiwan. Our team were joined by Joyce Wen, cofounder and CEO, The Job, Fiona Lee, Talent Transformation Associate Partner, IBM and Bing Wang, Senior Solution Consultant, Asia, Workday. The event focused on the important role that upskilling plays in cultivating a culture of innovation and enhancing organisational competitiveness.

Opening the session, Wen remarked, “Since this Chinese New Year, businesses in Taiwan have clearly been faced with the great resignation.

This has not only impacted those in low- to medium-level roles but there have also been many departures at senior management levels.

As such, the great resignation has panicked many companies who are now seeking ways to retain their staff. HR strategy in Taiwan has shifted dramatically over the past two years.

Digital acceleration has been intensified and the ways in which organisations operate and the overall business market have changed.

Organisations

are

remaining

agile

by

responding to these environmental changes by deploying new initiatives to enhance the skillsets of their talent.”

Technology enables us to make quicker, more agile responses to employee needs.

Fiona Lee Talent Transformation Associate Partner IBM

40 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

Areas for investment

Lee elaborated how IBM’s data platform

Lee reiterated the value of skills by sharing

is capable of div iding each employee’s

insights into IBM’s approach. “At IBM, we

skillset into different categories such as

see skills as a currency, and they are ver y

soft skills, leadership or technical skills.

important to us in order to remain agile. We

Subsequently, each skill is able to be rated

believe skills are valuable pieces of information

for competency so that the platform is

and are important throughout the employee

able to show the employee’s prof iciency

lifecycle. As a business, we have shared the

in that skill area. “Apart from measuring

common challenges faced by all over the last

competencies, the platform also allows us

couple of years; how to source quality talent;

to identif y ways to help support the growth

how to retain, and how to train them so that

of our talent. Nowadays we have the ability

they are ready for the future of work.

to leverage technolog y to help collect the necessary data rather than using traditional

“ We have also spent the pandemic re-

assessments, yearly reports or performance

examining how HR can support business

rev iews. Technolog y, in turn, enables us

expansion in the future. What we did was focus

to make quicker, more agile responses to

on data and our HRIS platform. This allowed

employee needs. Managers can check on

us to identif y what skills we have to spend

performance, prov ide feedback and even

and provided us with the insights needed to

suggest necessary learning content. It is us,

identify areas for investment. This has enabled

as HR, that play a critical role in bridging

us to devise an overarching support strategy

the gap bet ween technolog y and data to

for our long-term development.”

drive organisational change.”

HR COMMUNITY

to emerge stronger than ever before. Think of AI as a personal coach that helps you find out the way to develop your talent's skills and the learning content that they need.” The system also boasts a deeply personalised, experience-centric design that ensures talent discovers learning content that is relevant to their career journey whilst ensuring that the business cultivates the skills it needs to adapt to market demands.

As HR continues to navigate the post-pandemic world, sustainable talent is the future of business. It is now more important than ever that business leaders identify organisational needs and invest in sustainable talent development. Going forward, HR will be the bridging force that will enable businesses to tap into their skill reserves whilst leveraging technology and data to drive sustainable talent management processes. T

HR strategy in Banking on skills Wang shared his digital transformation expertise and highlighted how skills can be a

Taiwan has shifted

key metric that HR leaders can leverage to their advantage. “Skillsets provide vast amounts

Think of AI as a personal

of complex data that organisations can tap into. In order to leverage that information, businesses should first use it to build a ‘skills

coach that helps develop

dramatically over the

bank’. This bank acts as a database that allows

past two years.

them to easily search for necessary skills as well as enabling them to build an effective

your talents' skills

talent development strategy.”

and learning content

Joyce Wen Co-Founder & CEO The Job

they need.

Wang pointed to how Workday’s platform

LIVE

incorporates AI technology that adds value Bing Wang Senior Solution Consultant, Greater China Workday

to the talent development process, “Machine learning is utilised to identify and leverage your

talents’

skills,

create

meaningful

Powered by

employee experiences, unlock individualised career pathways and cultivate opportunities that will enable your organisation and talent

41

HR COMMUNITY

Redefining the employee experience HR leaders shared with the HR Magazine community how they are leveraging their HRIS and feeling empowered to reinvent engage and

Sometimes you will discover hidden strengths which means you are doing

diversify across their talent lifecycle.

better than you thought.

Francis Chan Head of HR Centre of Excellence SAP

42 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR COMMUNITY

HR Magazine hosted a Livestream event in

leadership and HR team to determine whether the

partnership with SAP. The event brought together

organisation has the required skills and expertise

Francis Chan, Head of HR Centre of Excellence

to take on new initiatives.

SAP, Philip Lee, Human Resources Director, Asia The Clorox Company (TCC) and Winnie

For businesses that may be going through slower

Tsien, Head of Human Resources Hong Kong,

times, now is a great time for employees to

Macau and Taiwan Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) for

spend time on functional training that improves

a friendly fireside chat and exhilarating panel

their job capabilities and aligns with their

discussion on how they are using technology to

career development—allowing them to grow

revamp traditional HR touchpoints within the

professionally and personally. This is also a key way

employee lifecycle.

organisations can hold the fort and retain talent.”

HR goes digital Kicking things off, Chan opened up about the

A good system should allow goals and targets to be set,

changing face of the employee experience as a result of the pandemic, “The COVID pandemic has brought about disruptions to the business

easily communicated

environment and has accelerated the work from home practices of many organisations. As a result, the need for technological solutions at every step of the employee journey—from recruit to retire, has arisen. We are now seeing candidates apply for

Expanded new points

jobs, interview, undergo professional credentials

Given the rapidly changing business environment

checks, sign employment contracts and complete

over the last few years, there are a number of

necessary documentation all using HRIS and

viewpoints that business leaders and HR teams

without physically meeting anyone or stepping

need to consider when assessing their employee

foot in the office.”

experience. Chan explained, “It is really important

and aligned quickly.

that HR listens to their employees and understands Chan continued, “Many companies have had to

their sentiments so that they can prioritise

rapidly change the focus of their strategies and

and allocate resources accordingly. In general,

this is where HRIS can assist. A good system

engagement surveys are not sufficient as there

should allow goals and targets to be set, easily

is a need to be very specific and to ask questions

communicated and aligned quickly. However, it

around time-sensitive subjects. For example, if

is important that plans are put into action, just

an organisation is considering hybrid work, they

saying what you are going to do differently is

may want to learn about productivity levels or

not enough.

employees’ feelings about working remotely.”

As many organisations take on new initiatives

Chan explained how SAP SuccessFactors—SAP's

and establish new roles that are not part of the

comprehensive HRIS system that addresses key

traditional business process, they will need to find

HR functions including engagement, payroll and

out who can take on these new responsibilities.

learning, is capable of providing a comprehensive

This is where the importance of having an up-

employee journey from recruitment to retirement.

to-date talent inventory comes in as it allows the

A new feature, Oppor tunit y Marketplace,

Francis Chan Head of HR Centre of Excellence SAP

43

HR COMMUNITY

places employees at the centre of their journey

Tsien added, “At JLL, the way we looked at it

and enables them to take ownership of their

was to make sure all the touchpoints are digital

personal development by using intuitive learning

and understand what kind of people experience

opportunities that are relevant to their role

we wanted to provide. At first, we focused a lot

and career aspirations. Also included in SAP

on the onboarding experience, as it is the first

SuccessFactors is Qualtrics—a solution that enables comprehensive employee experience

Employees are

aspects including trust and leadership, pay and

looking for a seamless

design and hybrid working ensure that the solution

look like and how we could quickly ensure new joiners can understand the firm and meet their colleagues in a virtual way. We also digitalised

benefits. Newly rolled out features such as vaccine management as well as surveys on workplace

comes onboard, especially during the pandemic experience. We visualised what that would

management. This enables HR teams to create sur veys that focus on specific engagement

impression of the company when a new joiner

experience, one that

many administrative processes which freed up time for us to focus and engage employees at a higher level.”

is relevant to the workplace of the future.

is less process-driven,

Lee shared details on the work undertaken at TCC, “We launched ‘the future of work’ initiative

more intuitive and

that included all the roles and jobs with the company and reviewed each one and categorised them into three types —completely remote,

easier to access.

dynamic hybrid or on-site. We then assigned this type to each individual based on the job they do, and they are responsible for crafting out a way that works for them. For example, those in a dynamic role have to consider, what does

Seamless experiences

hybrid mean to them, which days will be remote,

After rounding off our fireside chat, Chan joined

which will be at the office and when they do go

Lee and Tsien for a panel discussion where our

to the office, what are the activities they will

speakers shared the work that has been done

be engaged in. This provides them with a high

within TCC and JLL to redefine their employees’

degree of flexibility but at the same time, takes

experience. Lee shared, “When organisations begin

on board employee preferences and allows them

to think about their employee experience, one of

to contribute to their experience.

the key factors to consider is ‘what do employees want?’ and how things have evolved. Employees are looking for a seamless experience, one that is less process-driven, more intuitive and easier to access. A lot of people across the workforce are

Chan echoed the calls to connect employees with Philip Lee HR Director, Asia, The Clorox Company

the mission and value of the organisation, “At SAP, we have engaged much more in communication with employees on current events such as the

looking at how to leverage technology to enable

situation in Ukraine and broader issues such

a one-stop-shop for HR with many companies

as gender equality and sustainability that has

currently revamping processes — what works and

helped them to connect to the company and has

what would really work in the future.”

augmented that part of the employee experience.”

44 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

HR COMMUNITY

Connecting to values

result of the pandemic in that people are looking

Certainly, connecting employees to organisational

for actions taken that are relevant to them. This

values ensures longevity and long-term success

means, as a company, we need to divulge that

t hou gh equa lly impor ta nt is t he need to

information in a bite-size format more frequently

successfully integrate both physical and digital

rather than just once a year, it is a lot of work but

employee experiences. Chan shared how technology

definitely worthwhile.”

can be leveraged to enhance both, We offer a

The essence of employee feedback is about asking the right questions to collect the right

solution called ‘Work Zone’ that allows teams to

Chan shared some top-notch advice on how HR

chat, share files, connect different applications,

could tackle employee feedback, ”We recommend

and for work collaboration. Interestingly, we have

that you really think about the areas you want to

seen collaboration tools be used not only for work,

work on, whether it is employee motivation, your

but also for team building and encouraging social

brand, value proposition et cetera. Once you have

interactions as well. The way we recognise and

an idea, ask your stakeholders so that you have

engage employees is extremely different. Nowadays,

a baseline. Sometimes you will discover hidden

it is difficult to give them a pat on the back, so we

strengths which means you are doing better than

need new tools to be able to do it virtually such

you thought you were and do not have to make

as the ability to give a colleague a badge, say a

investments or run initiatives in those areas.

few nice words or even allocate a cash bonus as

After you have implemented your strategies to

a token of appreciation which is something that

improve those in-need areas, it is important to

we have implemented.”

do pulse surveys to see the effects and if you have met your targets.”

Adding value

information.

Our panellists concluded the day’s sharing session on how technology can add value to the employee experience. Tsien shared, “We extended our HR Direct knowledge management system to all employees so that they are able to search for information very quickly from within the platform.

One of the challenges we faced was how to shift from asking questions directly to encouraging our people to use their initiative. Now it is much easier for them to get information relating to things such Cascading information

as their medical policies and they do not have to

Integrating staff preferences and work interactions

wait for HR to respond to their request.

contributes to a seamless employee experience.

Winnie Tsien Head of HR Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Jones Lang Lasalle

A not her cont r ibut i n g comp onent is t he

“Another way technology has added value to JLL

incorporation of employee feedback, Tsien

is by offering mental health support. Sometimes

commented, “The essence of employee feedback is

it is a simple event such as yoga or meditation

about asking the right questions to collect the right

exercises or larger activities such as focus groups

information. At JLL, we opted not to survey our

with clinical psychologists to help them manage

staff as frequently as we were aware that they were

their emotions. If HR are able to select the right kind

being asked to fill in many surveys since the onset

of system, your people will be very appreciative and

of the pandemic. One of the ways we compensated

the organisation will see many benefits.”

was to do more focus groups or lunch-and-share

LIVE

sessions that were customised to segment types

Lee concluded the session by sharing how

as we believe that people at different life stages or

technology has helped support mental wellbeing

roles will have different needs. Whilst we might

at TCC, “We have just rolled out our EAP across

not be able to accommodate every single need, we

Asia Pacific. Rather than being a resource employee

are able to at least acknowledge and, in the future,

can access once they feel distressed, it is a wellness

find the appropriate time to run an initiative that

programme that instead focuses on providing

will address their need in a more powerful way.”

the necessary preventative tools to employees.

For instance, we have ‘Employee Wellness 101’

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Lee added, “What is especially important as more

which helps inform employees about the tools

companies adopt hybrid ways of working is that

and removes any stigma. If we as an employer

actions are taken as a result of feedback. Information

can provide a platform to relieve some of that

gained should be cascaded and shared in a timely

stress from our workforce, then that is what we

manner which is something that has evolved as a

should be doing.” T

45

HR COMMUNITY

Harnessing the power of psychology and technology HR Magazine recently joined forces with Talogy to host an event that explored how a blend of psychology and technology can be harnessed to transform the talent management process.

The right fit Yoke Wah Yap, Head of Regional Talent Development (APAC), BASF, shared her experience of using a psycho-technological approach to make accurate hiring decisions. “HR might think they hired the best candidate, but attrition is an ongoing issue for many businesses. If we look deeper into the causes, it is always due to culture and job fit. Embedding the strengths of psychology and technology to find the right talent has accelerated the efficiency and accuracy of the hiring process as we have a deeper holistic understanding of the candidates.”

Neil Cowieson, North Asia Manager, Talogy, kicked things off by exploring Talogy’s ethos, “We believe

A blended approach allows us to deliver psychological insights in a way that businesses can trust, quickly, more efficiently and securely

that the secret to hiring and developing the right people is at the intersection between psychology and technology. Our approach streamlines [talent management] processes and improves candidate and participant experience enabling us to deliver psychological insights in a way that businesses can trust, quickly, more efficiently and securely.”

Pillars for success Kit Lam, Managing Director Hong Kong, Talogy shared her psychological expertise. “When we talk about evaluating the assessment process, four factors come to mind which are crucial for success. Accuracy is the first factor, as it should give HR insights into the candidate’s major skills and competencies that are role-critical. Secondly, there should be no adverse impact when it comes to specific groups such as gender or ethnicity. Third, how talent assessment

Psychologists can conjure a view that works with the company to help them unpack the success formula behind the target role

can be enhanced. Finally, the process should excite and engage.”

Lam also noted, “A good talent assessment process Neil Cowieson North Asia Manager Talogy

can satisfy internal stakeholders and make them feel more positive and engaged towards the company.

This will have a rippling positive impact across areas such as staff retention, people performance and succession planning.”

46 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

Kit Lam Managing Director Hong Kong Talogy

HR COMMUNITY

and that the programmes were perceived as a fair

Cowieson concluded, “We have seen organisations

process resulting in higher engagement.”

provide stronger support for employee wellbeing as it has been magnified exponentially. That has taken

Any winning talent strategy always

Yap loaned a hiring perspective, “We looked at how

the form of support for leaders as well as support

to build a more dynamic, diverse global team. First,

for employees. There has been a tremendous uptick

we examined the infrastructure and processes to

in the use of well-being and resilience assessments

ensure that they were DEI friendly. Harnessing the

and in leaders finding out what are the particular well-being areas that they can improve.” T

power of this approach has enabled us to build our team differently and achieve greater diversity. We have seen our business leaders take risks on our

starts with

internally available talent who were identified as having critical skills; improving our retention and ensuring that we have people with high agility and

bringing the right

future leaders that will add value.”

Adding value

talents into the

The third pillar driving Talogy’s approach is utility.

Any HR professional looking to switch things up wants to know how a new process can be leveraged

organisation

Technology has allowed us to focus

to add value to existing ones whilst at the same time, be concerned with the ROI. One way that Talogy’s design speaks volumes is by effectively handling

on what is practical,

large numbers of applications during a graduate recruitment exercise. This, in turn, produces efficient data analytics that enables leaders to make Yoke Wah Yap Head of Regional Talent Development (APAC) BASF

what is fairest and

informed decisions as to those qualified to reach the final stages.

what is going to help

Cowieson shared, “The technology enables these assessment tools to be hosted and seamlessly run through in a quick and efficient way, though the ROI is

Lam explained, “Psychology can conjure a view that

not just efficiency and speed. Our research discovered

works with the company to help them unpack the

that the proportion of qualified candidates reaching

success formula behind the target role. For example,

the assessment centre stage is significantly increased

in-depth job analysis and key stakeholder discussions

by 70%. This means that you may not need to run

can identify critical role success factors. It can also

as many assessment centres at the final hurdle.”

help define accurate ways to measure what it is you

Ng pointed to how the broad utility has benefited

want to measure.”

Baker McKenzie’s learning and development

us achieve the most accurate outcome

processes. “It has brought a humanistic and wellSteven Ng, APAC Regional Head of Leadership &

being aspect to the entire experience. To give an

Learning, Baker McKenzie, added a learning and

example, some programmes are extremely complex

development perspective to the discussion, “Having a

but it has been surprisingly easy to digitalise even

psychological aspect integrated into our development

those experiences that are scenario and roleplay-

centre programmes is a holistic effort between all

based. The technology has allowed us to focus on

teams that ensures that the right talent stays in

what is practical, what is fairest and what is going

the organisation.”

to achieve the most accurate outcome.”

Considering differences

Imitating reality

Another key area in which this approach helps

Rounding off the session, the participants discussed

HR is by eliminating biases. As Ng explained,

the participant experience. Yap shared, “For people

“When developing the next wave of leaders for the

today, it is all about the experience. The new

organisation, having a fair learning experience is

generation of employees is looking for different

particularly important. When we structured our

benefits that a company can provide beyond pay.

development centres, we discussed how to be fair.

These things are constantly evolving, and business

For example, during a roleplay scenario, it may be

leaders must have a keen understanding so that

acceptable for one culture to respond a certain way or

they know how to engage and retain them. This

for another to not say anything. Taking into account

approach provides that unique experience, especially

those aspects ensured that every morsel was covered

for external hiring.”

Steven Ng APAC Regional Head of Leadership & Learning Baker McKenzie

LIVE Powered by

47

HR LEGAL

The Everyday Behaviour Project example, women taking up or being allocated ad m in istrative or secreta r ia l roles such as doing minutes, circulating dial-ins and scheduling meetings despite their seniority."

Tsai said, “One that we do hear a lot about is if you are an assertive lady then you might be called aggressive. If you embody certain characteristics such as speaking up or being opinionated that might be called bossy.”

Haylock pointed to t he mater nit y bias that respondents repor ted, “It is not okay to ask a fema le associate who is going on maternity leave if they are going to come back Amita Haylock and Susanne Harris, Partners,

research will provide us with both qualitative

Mayer Brown and co-chairs of R AW (Retain

and quantitative data about the challenges that

and Advance Women) joined forces with Alison

women face and that men see women facing.

Tsai, Asia Pacific Legal Counsel, Mandarin

Those numbers that Alison [Tsai] mentioned,

Oriental Hotel Group & Chairlady, Women

have not changed for several years now though

in Law Hong Kong (WILHK), to launch the

there has certainly been a trend towards greater

E ver yday Behav iou r P rojec t ( EBP). The

understanding and awareness that has been

initiative aims to tackle gender disparity in

brought about by all manner of things outside

Hong Kong’s legal sector and raise awareness

of the industry. The project aims to be a catalyst

about the issues that women in the sector

for change, to create greater diversity within

face. The trio spoke to HR Magazine about the

leadership across the legal industry."

project and shared their experiences about life as women in the legal sector.

Tsai elaborated, “Research has shown that

afterwards. Why would she not? Would you

Why not do a bit more to improve the workplace

there is the existence of everyday sexism and Early beginnings

microaggressions in the workplace, but what is

Tsai explained the early beginnings of the

missing is Hong Kong-specific and legal-specific

EBP, “When WILHK first started in 2015, we

data. The EBP aims to help firms and HR

examined the statistics of Hong Kong’s legal

understand the reasons why their talent might

sector and noticed that there was significant

be leaving, which will enable them to create a

attrition of female talents. In terms of the

solutions-based approach to attract, retain and

intake, it is rather balanced between males and

develop their talent.”

when there is the opportunity to do so

females but then it drops significantly when it comes to partnership. In 2020, 64% of trainees

Haylock shared, “The real impact will be in the

were female but when you look at the data at

change that is then driven through this project

a partnership level, only 29% of partners were

and how its findings will help HR drive change

female. We were also deeply conscious that

within their organisations.”

many discussions around gender equity were happening within international law f irms

Everyday microaggressions

around the globe and we wanted to leverage

As part of the International Women’s Day

on the work they had done and bring it back to

initiative in 2019, WILHK pulsed its members

Hong Kong.”

on the most pressing workplace gender bias issues that they would like to see reduced.

Harris shared, “The purpose of the EBP is

The top t hree issues h igh lighted by t he

to raise awareness and to fill in the gaps in

society’s members included double standards,

terms of information and understanding. The

maternity bias and corporate housework—for

48 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

Alison Tsai Asia Pacific Legal Counsel, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group & Chairlady, Women in Law Hong Kong

HR LEGAL

those beliefs were transgenerational with

and champion dedicated resources to diversity

younger generations in Hong Kong seemingly

and inclusion,” she added.

holding the entrenched views of their elders.

These are not women’s issues and nor should we expect only women to solve them. Men need to be involved.

Susanne Harris Partner Mayer Brown

Harris added, “Though people understand and

Haylock noted, “If your firm does not already

agree that gender equality is important, there’s

have a dedicated DEI person within their HR,

a real challenge when it comes to breaking down

there absolutely must be a designated person

some of these more ingrained societal views.”

who will look at the company’s DEI goals and how they are met. HR would be the most

Challenging traditional societal values is

effective as they are able to look at these issues

one area that will take a huge, coordinated

on a macro level and ensure that the firm is

effort. A nother is the astounding pay gap

ticking the right boxes and being inclusive.”

b e t we e n me n a nd wome n i n t he le g a l sector. "The ACC (Association of Corporate

Tsai concluded, “Frankly it is alarming to see

Counsel) and LawGeex repor t concluded

the numbers of females in the Hong Kong legal

that the typical General Counsel in the US

industry keep dropping and it is a shame to see

was male, between the ages of 35-54 , most

that people who have worked so hard to get

likely attended Harvard and was most likely

there leave the industry. It is critical that we

to be based in Ca lifor n ia or New York .

work as a collective body to be able to improve

A larmingly, male GCs made 39% more on

the workplace experience. Why not do a bit

average than their female counter par ts,”

more to improve the workplace when there is

Tsai shared.

the opportunity to do so, so that the company, career, or profession that you love and are

Heteronor mative, white, ma le, leg a l a nd

passionate about can thrive.”

business professiona ls a re u nd isputed ly subject to less bias and paid significantly more

The EBP will take place across Hong Kong in

than their female counterparts but as Harris

the coming months with results expected to be

explained, it is absolutely crucial that they

revealed towards the end of the year. T

ask that to a man?” Haylock shared. “It is not

cannot leave women to fight alone to achieve

okay to ask, ‘Are you going to go in-house how

gender equity. “These are not women’s issues

now that you are a mother?’ People think these

and cannot be solved by women and nor should

are very simple questions and are just being

we expect only women to solve them. Men need

inquisitive, but it is not right, especially in

to be involved in this. The EBP aims to help

2022,” she added passionately.

them understand and be aware of these issues and provide them with key data that they can

Harris reflected on her experiences, “What

use as a starting point for their own discussions.

might be seen as a minor passing remark can

Given that so many men hold critical leadership

really be impactful. Sometimes, it is the way

positions, lending their voice will help bring

that people bring their own family values

about change. It is reassuring that we have some

and experiences to work unintentionally and

strong male allies within Mayer Brown that

transfer those views onto those they work

have actively been involved with DEI activities

around. For example, a woman’s role within a

and their willingness to speak up has increased

family is not as the breadwinner, or they might

exponentially which gives hope that we are

be concerned about how you are going to look

making good progress.”

after the kids, or your ability to take on jobs where you have to travel. Those questions do

The driving force

not get asked of our male colleagues at the

A s H R is t he d r iv i n g force beh i nd DEI

same frequency or in the same manner.”

conversations both in the cor porate and

The real impact will be in the findings that will help HR drive change within their organisations.

legal spaces, the trio pointed to how HR in Challenging traditional stereotypes

both sectors can help their f irms achieve

Last year, research released by The Women's

greater equality. “Everyone understands how

Foundation showed suppor tive at tit udes

competitive the working landscape is and it

toward gender equality in Hong Kong from

is not going to become less competitive, so

both men and women. However, many—both

you need to have the best people. If you want

men and women, were failing to take concrete

to have the best people, you cannot exclude a

actions to improve gender equality as a result of

whole gender from reaching their full potential.

traditional family values. Respondents reported

If you do, you do so at your own peril,” said

that their home life would suffer if gender

Harris. “HR are able to advocate for these

equality was achieved and most surprisingly,

issues, are able to tap into global best practices

Amita Haylock Partner Mayer Brown

49

HR OPINION

Enough with the performative activism intimate sessions might seem like a fantastic idea from a well-being perspective yet, there is no need for employers to know everything about an employee’s emotional, financial or spiritual wellbeing. Some things are simply best kept outside of the organisational orbit.

Undoubtedly, mental health advocation and well-being should be organisational priorities however, in tandem, there should be a careful balancing of how these initiatives are carried out with careful consideration on the implications of the initiatives.

In today’s ‘tight talent market’ – forgive the quotations

On a higher level, there is a sense of delusion that

Out of touch

as you will see why, organisations have been focusing

sending emails on the benefits of mindfulness or

Moreover, the push for well-being is increasingly out

on strengthening their employee experience and

offering a yoga class will simply alleviate employee

of touch with the reality of many employees’ day to

corporate initiatives as ways to attract and retain

grievances, reduce turnover and make employees more

day life. Take a single working parent for example.

talent. The problem is that there is no such thing as a

engaged. Throwing resources at problems without

They may work a demanding job that requires labour-

tight talent market. Simply, what it comes down to is

actually taking on board what issues employees are

intensive shifts with a constant need for unpaid

that empty gestures and grandiose ideologies and talk

facing will do little to alleviate attrition or improve

overtime. After their extended workday, they are

about ‘doing the right thing’ are simply not enough to

employees’ experience.

responsible for the care of a five-year-old child with disabilities. When are they supposed to find time to

motivate employees to work.

Some tone-deaf employers even shift the blame to

practice their self-care? On their commute? On their

Since early 2020, organisations across the globe have

their employees and say their lack of engagement

break? In the shower?

suffered mass casualties as employees decide to ditch

and stress on the fact that employees have simply not

their workplaces in favour of roles that give their life more

practised enough self-care.

meaning. According to Workplace Intelligence, more than 15 million people have resigned from their roles in

Preventive measures or extra responsibilities?

the past 12 months and many HR professionals expect

The problem with the push for self-care is that it

to see turnover increase within their organisations

burdens employees with an additional source of stress

this year.

as it demands that they take time away from what they were doing that might have actually improved their

In this time of war, companies decidedly launched a

situation. Constant changes in expectations combined

counter-attack by implementing initiatives to appeal to

with several ongoing external crises including the cost

Perhaps what employees feel most frustrated about

their employees. Yet, despite ‘valiant’ efforts, employees

of living, war and a pandemic, encouraging employees

is that employers are not focusing on the things that

have realised their worth and there has been a huge shift

to find time to practice self-care can feel like a burden

could actually make an improvement to employees’

in their mindset when it comes to their skills and what

rather than a genuine effort to remedy their problems.

lives and mental health. Paying an actually liveable wage, providing quality health insurance, ensuring

they are willing to put up with.

Besides, some well-being initiatives might do more

workloads are reasonable and enabling access to

No longer afraid

harm than good. Holding sharing circles where

childcare support are all ways to uniquely address

Many employees are now no longer afraid of voicing

employees are pressured into talking about the state

employee issues.

issues that matter the most to them and are increasingly

of their mental health is a terrible idea. All it takes is

taking to social media to call out businesses and their

for one person to over-share to create an environment

Yet for some, it will remain easier (i.e. cheaper) to send

leaders who fail to understand the real-world challenges

that forces others to contribute something that is well

out those emails or offer that new yoga mat. In the face

they are faced with. The rise of the anti-work movement

beyond their comfort zone.

of fierce competition, continuing in this manner will prove to employees how nominally businesses value

makes clear that it is not a case of ‘no one wants to work anymore’ rather it is a case of ‘no one wants to pay

Furthermore, this risks coming across as overly

them and only then will they experience how serious

workers what they are worth.’

intrusive into employees’ personal lives. Scheduling

a turnover problem can really be. T

50 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

MSc Business Psychology Reg. No.: 253035

Fully recognized in the UK Same qualification of the home programme offered in the UK Ranked #1 in the UK and #26 in the world for quality education (The Times Higher Education University Impact Ranking 2019) Attainable in 18 months: 7 taught modules (in HK) + dissertation (can be done anywhere)

September 2022 Intake Early Bird Offer HK$1,000 by 29 Jul 2022

Mostly assessed by coursework Taught by University of Worcester and Local Faculty Affordable: $89,600

Information Seminar

Date:

Wednesday, 20 July 2022

Time:

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Mode of delivery:

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Registration:

www.hkma.org.hk/uw/mscby

Please feel free to contact Ms Eva Lock to arrange a one-on-one consultation.

It is a matter of discretion for individual employers to recognize any qualification to which these courses may lead.

2774 8500 / 8501

Ms Eva Lock 3958 4800 Ms Cathy Lee 2774 8527 mscby.worcester@hkma.org.hk MHRJ2206241

HR BOOKS

Inside/Out – 8 success keys to help millennials thrive

by Danny R. Khursigara

We all want to get the most out of life and

Inter t w ined w it h t h is t hought-provok ing

set out with the best intentions to realise our

narration are interviews with individuals from

dreams. Yet, along the way, life can sometimes

various backgrounds and life experiences who

go awr y, causing us to become side-tracked

share freely and openly about the challenges they

and end up on a trajectory that is unplanned,

have faced and the creative solutions they used

u nw a nted a nd u n f u l f i l l i n g. Enter D a n ny

to overcome them.

Khursigara and his eight keys that can help anyone—not just millennials, rediscover their

In s ide/Out ’s eight keys seek to u nlock the

life’s purpose and find meaning in their life

limitless potential that can help solve the debate

once again.

of those pressing questions that often weigh down people’s confidence and certainty in an

About the author Danny Khursigara is the founder of FreedomOne International Consulting, an

In s i de/O ut is a succinc t in it iat ion into

ever-changing world. By encouraging readers to

t h e w o r ld o f e x i s t e nt i a l i s m t h a t w h ol l y

“go beyond the superficial” and “to make success

encapsulates the zeitgeist, new-age,

a habit”, Khursigara helps readers to commit to

Coaching and Business Transformation.

m a n i fe s t at ion mo ve me nt t h at h a s t a ke n

making a difference to their lives, “If you have

the ‘TikTok’ generation by storm. Blending

ever wanted to make a difference in someone

He is also a Partner at Owlpha-Omega,

this movement with Khursigara’s corporate

else’s life, start by making a difference in your

Switzerland. As a Canfield Training Group

p er sp ec t ive e f fec t ively d ist i l ls t he ei g ht

own,” he writes.

certified Success Coach and Trainer and

keys into rea listic, relatable scena r ios

organisation that specialises in Executive

with over 19 years of industry experience in

a nd pr ac t ic a l t ips t h at help re ader s f i nd

Rather than being an off-the-shelf guide to

greater meaning in their life—both at home

manifestation, Inside/Out adds tremendous

COO and CFO capacities for international

and at work.

value to readers of all ages, backgrounds and

banking institutions, Khursigara’s expertise

professions with relatable explanations, realFrom u npack ing how to identif y persona l

world scenarios and practical advice that can

lies in helping corporate leaders including

needs a nd fea rs that a re holding you back

easily be followed.

empowering, entrepreneurs, managers

to building up the resilience to realise your

and individuals on how to accelerate the

full potential, Inside/Out guides readers on

As each key is unlocked, Inside/Out serves as a

a journey that is peppered with meaningful

call to action for those that are seeking a higher

questions a nd ma ntras t hroughout t he

purpose beyond a superficial career and lifestyle

narrative. From the get-go, Inside/Out gently

and culminates in Khursigara imparting the

encourages readers to ponder the meaning

essential answer, “There may always be obstacles

more success, happiness and fulfilment in

of their existence, their plans for the future

that hold you back in life; however, you are strong

business and life as both are intertwined.

and the reality that they want to bring about

enough to remove your largest obstacle, which is

for themselves.

most always your own self.” T

52 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

achievement of their personal, professional and business goals that ultimately leads to

HR CLASSIFIEDS

HR Classifieds Index Business Process Outsourcing 53 Co-working Spaces 54 Consumer Goods 54 Education / Corporate Training 54 Employee Well-being / Insurance 56 Financial Services 57 Gender Equity 57 HR Consulting 57 HR Technology Solutions 59 Leadership Development 60

Legal / Employment Law / Tax MICE Venues / Event Organisers Photography / Videography Recruitment / Executive Search / Staffing / Outsourcing Retail Relocation / Logistics Serviced Apartments / Hotels Staff Benefits

60 61 61 61 62 62 63 64

BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING BangMang Group was established in 2007 and provides Full-service HR solutions. As of February 2019, 163 branches have been opened and cover over 300 cities in China. In the past 10 years, over 10,000 companies and 300,000 employees chose BangMang as their strategic HR partner.

BangMang is dedicated to power business success with extraordinary HR.

Hong Kong BangMang Outsourcing Company Limited Unit 02, 11/F, Sunbeam Commerical Building, 469-471 Nathan Road, Hong Kong

Hong Kong BangMang Outsourcing Co., Ltd established in 2015 provides outsourcing services includes full-service HR solutions, Recruitment, Employee Leasing, and Employment Training. Our business partners cover Hong Kong, Mainland China, the USA, and other overseas regions. We are dedicated to provide the best HR services for your business goals.

Tel: (852) 2116 1600 Mr Law: (852) 6904 3721 adminhk@50bm.com 50bm.hk

TMF Group helps global companies expand and invest seamlessly across international borders. Its expert accountants and legal, HR and payroll professionals are located around the world, helping clients to operate their corporate structures, finance vehicles and investment funds in different geographic locations. With operations in more than 80 countries providing managed compliance services, TMF Group is the global expert that understands local needs.

TMF Hong Kong Limited 31/F, Tower Two Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Tricor Business Services draws on our diverse professional expertise, backed up by the latest technologies and systems, to provide a comprehensive range of services, including but not limited to: Business Advisory; Accounting & Financial Reporting; Treasury & Payment Administration; Human Resource & Payroll Administration; Tax Services; Trade Services; Trust Assets Administration; Fund Administration; Governance, Risk & Compliance; and Information Technology Solutions.

Tricor Services Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong

Our work processes and controls in the rendering of accounting and payroll services are externally audited by Ernst & Young Hong Kong and accredited each year in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3402.

Tel: (852) 3188 8333 Fax: (852) 3188 8222 info.apac@tmf-group.com www.tmf-group.com

Tel: (852) 2980 1888 Fax: (852) 2861 0285 info@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

53

HR CLASSIFIEDS

CO-WORKING SPACES

The Executive Centre is recognised as the leader of premium flexible workspaces and event places across the Asia Pacific & Middle East through their 27+ years of experience providing corporate real estate solutions to industry leaders, MNCs and professional networks.

At the heart of their growth is a Member-First philosophy to foster connections between our growing membership, giving them opportunities to connect, share information and benefit from a robust event series across all of our locations.

The Executive Centre 150+ Centres in 32 cities Level 15, AIA Central No.1 Connaught Road Central Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2293 2787 Email: hongkong@executivecentre.com https://www.executivecentre.com/

Commons Workshop is an event space located in core CBD, on 353 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai. Enjoying panoramic sea view of Victoria Harbour on high floor (28/F), it is a grade A event space with industrial design and decorated with green plants to provide a comfortable environment. With well-equipped and one stop related event service and arrangement, it is specially tailor-made for different types of events, whether you’re hosting corporate trainings, seminars, product launch, press conference, networking events, business meetings, photo shooting, advertisement filming, etc.

Commons Workshop 28/F Sunshine Plaza 353 Lockhart Road Wan Chai Hong Kong

Compass Offices is a leading flexible office space provider in Asia Pacific.

Founded in 2009, Compass Offices has grown to 9 cities, serving over 20,000 satisfied clients. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, growing start-ups, entrepreneurs, independent professionals and enterprise teams.

Compass Offices Level 12, 20, 29, 38, Infinitus Plaza, 199 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 3911 0600 Fax: (852) 3911 0601 Email: sales@commons.hk https://commons.hk/

Email: hksales@compassoffices.com https://www.compassoffices.com/

cozy event space is your ideal venue for corporate and private events, ranging from training sessions, team building, seminars, meetings, conferences, workshops, parties… the possibilities are endless.

Our versatile multi-purpose space may accommodate up to 50 seats in a seminar setting, and the layout may be freely configured according to your requirements.

We are located in a brand new premium office building in Sheung Wan, and are the only tenant of the floor, which attributes are well appreciated by corporate clients that prefers a prestigious, modern and private venue.

cozy event space 17/F Skyway Centre 23 Queen’s Road West, Sheung Wan,Hong Kong Phone No.: +852 5741 6863 E-mail: cozy@werkspace.com.hk

To meet the flexibility required by many businesses, the space may also be rented in weeks or months for temporary office use for up to 20 staff members, with two rooms that may be used as meeting rooms or managers’ rooms.

Contact us today to schedule a site visit or to obtain a quotation!

CONSUMER GOODS Clorox is a global company with leading brands that have become household names: our namesake bleach and cleaning products; Ayudín® and Poett® home care products; Pine-Sol® dilutable cleaner; Fresh Step® cat litter; Kingsford® charcoal; Hidden Valley® and K C Masterpiece® dressings and sauces; Brita® water filtration products; Glad® bags, wraps and containers; and Burt's Bees® natural personal care products. We manufacture products in more than two dozen countries and market them in more than 100 countries. Clorox trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLX.

Clorox 21/F Greenwich Centre, 260 King’s Road, North Point, Hong Kong SAR Ivy Li Tel: (852) 2919 1166 Email: ivy.li@clorox.com https://www.cloroxhongkong.com/ https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/

EDUCATION / CORPORATE TRAINING

54 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

ACT is a corporate L&D consulting and training company based in Hong Kong & Singapore with over 15 years’ experience in people training and development that partners with forward-thinking organisations and leaders who understand the importance of their greatest asset - their people.

Asia Corporate Training Ltd. 13B, Shun Pont Commercial Building, 5-11 Thomson Road, Wanchai, HONG KONG

The acronym for the company name, ACT, simply and powerfully represents the philosophy of taking ACTion: to understand how one’s belief will lead to specific behaviours which will result in specific outcomes. ACT believes that selfawareness of how we think and act is critical for personal growth, to translate into leadership effectiveness, contributing to greater corporate success as a result.

Tel: (852) 25756470 contact@act-asia.com.hk www.act-asia.com.hk

HR CLASSIFIEDS

As a trusted international organisation and a global leader in English training, the British Council has over 70 years’ experience in English assessment. We develop and deliver English language programmes for businesses in Hong Kong.

Aptis, British Council’s English testing tool, is a robust four skills test used by corporate businesses, government organisations and educational institutions.

It provides an accurate and affordable way to benchmark language levels of employees for recruitment or career advancement purposes. With results available in as little as 24 hours, Aptis assesses ability in the areas that HR want to focus on – in individual skills or combinations of speaking, writing, listing and reading.

British Council 3 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2913 5100 aptis@britishcouncil.org.hk www.britishcouncil.hk/en/ exam/aptis

BPP is a global leader in professional education and training, working with the world’s leading global organisations to reach new levels of productivity, value, and growth. We work with you to create educational programmes to upskill and cross skill your employees and build your workforce set for the future.

BPP Education Group 80 Robinson Road #02-00, Singapore, 068898

• Offer leadership development programs and consulting services in the area of High EQ leadership, Change Management, Growth Mindset and Advanced communication with diverse stakeholders • Programmes based on the latest scientific research & Asian organisation context to inspire behaviorial change • Provides services in the area of customized 360 rollout, LEA 360, MBTI, EQi-2.0 and Strategic Management • Clients including John Lewis, Hang Lung Properties, Hong Kong Government, Jardine Matheson, Amadeus, Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI), Citic Telecom CPC, Value Partners, YMCA, HKUST, Chinese University and City University of Hong Kong

Chorev Consulting International Unit B, 3/F, Kin On Commercial Building, 49-51 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Founded in 1912, Dale Carnegie has evolved from one person's belief in the power of self-improvement to a performance-based corporate training company with offices worldwide.

Dale Carnegie Training 1/F, 380 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

At Dale Carnegie, we commit to delivering a transformational experience in the design and delivery of our programs. Dale Carnegie's original body of knowledge has been constantly updated, expanded, and refined through nearly a century's worth of real-life business experiences. We provide training and consulting services to companies of all sizes to increase knowledge and performance. The result of this collective, global experience is an expanding reservoir of business acumen that our clients rely on to drive results.

Tel: (852) 66472523 hk@dalecarnegie.com dalecarnegie.com.hk

Tel: (65) 9338 7331 http://www.bpp.com/asia-pacific

Tel: (852) 3568 2747 Fax: (852) 3544 3300 http://www.chorevconsulting.com/

Dale Carnegie's focus has always been people connecting with people.

Whether it be personal interactions, business engagements, or public forums – we believe in building positive relationships which leads to profitable results.

Dew-Point International Ltd. is a leading provider of training and management consulting services throughout Asia. We assess the specific needs of our clients and respond with customised, practical training programmes and consulting services. Established in 1973, we combine in-depth knowledge with genuine enthusiasm and highly dynamic training techniques to create productive and effective learning experiences. DewPoint enhances organisational and individual effectiveness by building the capacity within organisations without the need of continued outside help. Through assessment, skills training, team facilitation and executive coaching, we have ensured the long-term success of countless clients.

Dew-Point International Ltd. 21/F., Ritz Plaza,122 Austin Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Growth Academy Asia reimagines the L&D landscape by providing HR with cutting-edge, tech-driven learning and development solutions. Founded in 2021, the Hong Kong-based learning company focuses on HR matters such as leadership development, onboarding and diversity and inclusion.

Its mission is to enable individuals and teams to reach their full potential through immersive training programmes backed up by science and tech.

Integrating technology, AI, and game theory into their products allows them to measure what matters and produce comprehensive personal and team action plans to enable participants to engage with their continued learning journey with confidence and measurable results.

Growth Academy Asia Unit B, 2/F, 708-710 Prince Edward Road East, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2730 1151 Fax: (852) 2730 0164 info@dew-point.com.hk www.dew-point.com.hk

Stuart Harris, Founder and Managing Director Tel: (852) 3002 2472 hello@growthacademyasia.com https://growthacademyasia.com/

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HR CLASSIFIEDS

The PTI Group is a consulting, training, and publishing group. In conjunction with the internationally-renowned professional association, International Professional Managers Association (IPMA) of the UK, we offer pure online distance learning courses (PDLCs). IPMA’s website: http://www.ipma.co.uk/ conferences.

Our “Financing & Capital Raising Professional™ (FCRP™)” and “Environmental, Social & Governance Expert™ (ESGE™)” programmes seek to enhance candidates’ practical & international knowledge in raising funding for companies (bank financing, IPO, private equity etc.) and ESG respectively. Upon qualification, candidates can use respective professional designations, awarded by IPMA.

The PTI Group 20/F. Wellable Commercial Building, 513 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3511 9288 info@the-pti.com www.the-pti.com

Raise your colleagues’ ability to add value through practical & international

The Vocational Language Programme Office aims to offer quality vocational English, Chinese and Putonghua training for working adults to meet their language needs. We have run various courses for public organisations and private corporations before, such as HKSAR Water Supplies Department, Hospital Authority and Pizza Hut Hong Kong Management Limited.

With the support from the Language Fund, the QF-recognised Vocational English Enhancement Programme offer to enhance the practical English skills of the Hong Kong workforce. Individual corporations can enjoy great flexibility by hosting the VEEP courses at their training venues and according to their preferred schedule. On completion of the course, learners will be reimbursed 60% and will receive certificates issued by the Vocational Training Council and LCCI.

H.R. Solutions specialises in training in leadership, performance management, sales and general skills development including negotiating, project management, presentation skills and communication skills. We are official partners of Think on your Feet® and engage-universe, and accredited DISC and MBTI® facilitators.

Based in Hong Kong, we work regionally with local languages delivery as required.

Our workshops incorporate simple frameworks and processes to provide effective, structured learning, supported by tailored experiential exercises, cases and role-plays. Our long-term development programmes combine classroom training with on-the-job learning, ongoing coaching and on-line resources as appropriate. We aim to ensure participants can apply the skills immediately in the workplace for better team performance and superior business results.

Vocational Language Programme Office Vocational Training Council Room 437, 4/F, Academic Block, 30 Shing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2595 8119 vlpo-veep@vtc.edu.hk www.vtc.edu.hk/vlpo

H.R. Solutions (Int’l) Ltd. Room 2802, Tower Two, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2573 0501 abrophy@hrsolutions.com.hk www.hrsolutions.com.hk

EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING / INSURANCE

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Holistic Wellness Hong Kong (HWHK) regularly organises different types of events, lectures and workshops, all of which have been carefully and scientifically designed to help participants manage their emotions, cope with stress and improve interpersonal relationships and work performance.

Holistic Wellness Hong Kong Unit C, 8/F, Hung To Center 94-96 How Ming Street Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

HWHK is committed to promoting the practice of Holistic Wellness to the general Hong Kong public in their daily life and work. They offer many different kinds of personal and corporate training services.

Tel: (852) 9794 1363 (Raindy) Tel: (852) 9454 5687 (Vincent) contact@hwhk.org www.holisticwellnesshongkong.com

Hong Kong Adventist Hospital—Stubbs Road is one of the leaders in medical services, providing organisations with many comprehensive health assessment packages to choose from. The hospital works closely with HR and Benefits specialists to design tailor-made programmes to satisfy your staff’s unique requirements. The checkups not only assess staff’s health status and identify the risk factors, it also provide preventive programmes to help clients fine-tune their lifestyles for healthy living. All the services are supported by experienced professional staff using advanced equipment in modern facilities.

Hong Kong Adventist Hospital­— Stubbs Road 40 Stubbs Road, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3651-8835 Fax: (852) 3651-8840 www.hkah.org.hk

HR CLASSIFIEDS

Major Compare is a leading international employee benefits consultancy, risk management advisory and business insurance brokerage firm. It works with companies of all sizes both in Hong Kong and around the world to advise and implement customised employee benefit plans with the goal of retaining and attracting employees. Through industry specific due diligence Major Compare also help reduce HR overheads with policy management and by ensuring your company is fully and properly insured with the guarantee of the lowest premiums. All services provided by Major Compare are completely free to their clients.

Major Compare 1/A, 128 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3018 1353 www.majorcompare.com.hk

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers is a leading international health insurance brokerage specialising in providing comprehensive coverage options to individuals, families, and companies throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Working with over 120,000 clients in 150 countries, Pacific Prime can deliver advice in more than 15 major languages. With offices strategically located in Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Pacific Prime is able to provide immediate advice and assistance to policyholders located around the world. Pacific Prime works with over 60 of the world’s leading health insurance providers, giving customers unprecedented access to the best medical insurance products currently on the market.

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers Ltd. Unit 1 - 11, 35/F, One Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2586 0731 Fax: (852) 2915 7770 info@pacificprime.com marketing@pacificprime.com www.pacificprime.com

Total Loyalty Company is leading provider in corporate wellness and staff engagement solutions in Hong Kong for companies of all sizes. We curate solutions based around wellness events and campaigns, staff discounts, regular communications, all provided through a programme website and app, branded as your internal program.

Total Loyalty Company Unit 2106, Westlands Centre, 20 Westlands Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2536 9010 Fax: (852) 2536 9008 www.totalloyalty.asia

Underpinning our wellness programs is our unique TLC Wellbeing Survey, allowing each employee to develop an instant set of metrics of their total wellbeing and create an individualised wellbeing plan. As well a company-wide summary (anonymous data) can enable TLC to help each client develop a meaningful and targeted wellbeing campaign for staff.

More than just yoga classes and steps challenges, the TLC Corporate Wellness programmes provide practical and impactful programmes that make a positive difference.

FINANCIAL SERVICES Societe Generale is one of the leading European financial services groups.

Based on a diversified and integrated banking model, the Group combines financial strength and proven expertise in innovation with a strategy of sustainable growth, aiming to be the trusted partner for its clients, committed to the positive transformation of society and the economy.

Societe Generale Level 34, Three Pacific Place 1 Queen’s Road East Hong Kong (regional Head Office)

FLEXImums stands for mums who want to work! FLEXImums was established with the vision to empower and connect working mothers and mothers returning to work with full-time and part-time jobs. FLEXImums’ portfolio of clients extends across all sectors, from public to private and SMEs to large multinationals.

FLEXImums info@fleximums.com (852) 6540 0526 www.fleximums.com www.genderequityconference. com

atrain is a premium consultancy in leadership assessment, talent management and organisation development. Headquartered in Germany, we have offices in Europe, United States, South America and Asia.

atrain Limited Unit 1201-3, 135 Bonham Strand Trade Centre, 135 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan

Tel: (852) 2166 5388 https://www.societegenerale.asia

GENDER EQUITY

HR CONSULTING

90% of our consultants are business psychologists. We bring together the best of business strategies and the psychological approach to develop solutions tailor-made to your requirements. We explore and research innovative concepts, and help you to cultivate the company culture you envisage.

Our international presence and culturally diverse teams enable partnerships with multi-national corporate clients for their business growth and success.

Tel: (852) 2522 9018 info@atrain-apac.com www.atrain-apac.com

Put us to the challenge—you will not be disappointed.

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HR CLASSIFIEDS

Atrium HR Consulting is a joint venture between Alliance Group International and RamsaySmith, bringing together extensive experience and a wealth of specialist knowledge. Atrium’s aim is to help businesses achieve the highest possible level of performance by maximising efficiency, cost savings and results.

Atrium’s services are used and trusted by more than 25% of the Fortune Global 500. Building upon their current client base, resources and an established global infrastructure they work to deliver a professional customer-focused service around the world.

Atrium HR Consulting.

22/F OVEST, 77 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Contact person: Pauline Williams Tel: 852 2891 8915 info@atriumhr.com www.atriumhr.com

Today Atrium supports clients across 180 countries with their recruitment, training, employee benefits and wellness programmes.

Flex Human Resources strives to provide small and medium-sized Hong Kong businesses with comprehensive, reliable and cost-effective HR outsourcing and consulting services.

Our services include recruitment and selection, headhunting, payroll processing, benefit administrations, performance management, training and development, employee surveys, HR analytics and projects, etc.

With strong talent databases, we also provide staff leasing and outsourcing for companies in Hong Kong, China and overseas.

Tel: (852) 3466 5279 info@hroutsourcing.hk www.HRoutsourcing.hk

The Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) was established in 1960. The HKMA is a non-profit making organisation which aims at advancing management excellence in Hong Kong and the Region. With a commitment to nurturing human capital through management education and training at all levels, the HKMA offers over 2,000 training and education programmes covering a wide range of management disciplines for approximately 48,000 participants every year.

Hong Kong Management Association 14th Floor, Fairmont House, 8 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong

Korn Ferry is the pre-eminent global people and organisational advisory firm.

We help leaders, organisations and societies succeed by releasing the full power and potential of people. Our nearly 7,000 colleagues deliver services through Korn Ferry and our Hay Group and Futurestep divisions. At Korn Ferry, we build design and opportunities and attract and ignite talent. Since our inception, clients have trusted us to help recruit world-class leadership.

Today, we are a single source for leadership and talent consulting services to empower businesses and leaders to reach their goals.

Korn Ferry International (H.K.) Limited 15/F, St. George’s Building, 2 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2971 2700 Fax: (852) 2810 1632

Through our vision, research and tools across 80 offices and 3,400 employees, we convert potential into greatness. Our solutions range from executive recruitment and leadership development programmes to enterprise learning, succession planning, and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).

Organisations around the world trust Korn Ferry to manage their talent—a responsibility we meet every day with passion, expertise, integrity and results.

Tricor Consulting Limited is a member of the Tricor Group dedicated to creating value for clients and strengthening their organisational capabilities through: Strategic Management—Shaping your future and making it happen — Organisation Structuring—Aligning organisation structure with strategies HR Consulting—Maximizing performance and return on investment of human assets Talent Management—Cultivating talents to create competitive advantage Director Remuneration and Board Evaluation—Ensuring appropriate remuneration of senior executives and building an effective board Training Resources Consulting—Maximising business impact of training with ondemand scalable resources. Change Management—Partnering with clients to drive and enable organisation transformation

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FLEX Human Resources Unit 705, 7/F, Tamson Plaza, 161 Wai Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2526 6516 Tel: (852) 2774 8500 Fax: (852) 2365 1000 hkma@hkma.org.hk www.hkma.org.hk

General inquiry: kornferry.hongkong@kornferry.com Leadership and Talent Consulting: ltc. hongkong@kornferry.com www.kornferry.com

Tricor Consulting Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2980 1027 Fax: (852) 2262 7596 john.kf.ng@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

HR CLASSIFIEDS

HR TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

At BIPO, we help businesses transform and digitalise, enabling them to thrive and realise their growth ambitions. Around the world, we support over 1,600 clients across 87 countries and regions with a new generation of HR solutions. Our comprehensive suite of service products from our award-winning cloud and mobile-based HR Management System (HRMS), multi-country payroll calculation, overseas landing services, Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) to attendance automation provide clients with a multi-regional, integrated and seamless user experience.

BIPO C1, 22F TML Tower, No. 3 Hoi Shing Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong Florence Mok: Tel: (852) 3643 0295 Email: florence.mok@biposervice.com https://www.biposervice.com/

COL Consulting Limited (COL) is led by dedicated and enthusiastic ICT professionals and is at the forefront of an array of HRMS providers to attain Excellent HR Information System Provider at HR Excellence Awards 2014 by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM).

COL Consulting Limited (COL) Unit 2502, 25/F, 9 Chong Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

With domain expertise in business applications, our certified team of professionals delivers the best practice Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions ranging from the award-winning HR Pro, the web-based and mobile compatible employee selfservice portal to Talent Management system for MNCs, enterprises and SMEs.

Tel: (852) 2118 3999 Fax: (852) 2112 0121 colmarketing@colconsulting.com.hk www.colconsulting.com.hk

COL is an Oracle and Cornerstone OnDemand certified partner. COL has cultivated comprehensive professional services capabilities with the CMMI Level 3 qualification to cope with the proliferating demand for digital transformation.

With strategic offices in Hong Kong, China, the UK and the US, DaXtra is a world leading specialist in high-accuracy multilingual CV parsing, semantic search, matching and process automation technologies. Our solutions are compatible with most leading recruitment ATS and CRM systems and are designed to bring efficiency and automation, while dramatically reducing the overall cost of hire.

Over 1000 organisations globally use DaXtra products every day – from boutique recruitment firms to the World’s largest staffing companies, from corporate recruitment departments to job boards and software vendors.

Daxtra Technologies (Asia) Ltd. Unit 401, OfficePlus 93-103 Wing Lok Street Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Ramco Systems is a next-gen Enterprise software player disrupting the market with its multi-tenant cloud and mobile-based enterprise software in HR and Global Payroll. Part of the USD1 billion Ramco Group, Ramco’s employees are spread across 24 offices globally and focus on Innovation and Employee Experience to differentiate itself in the marketplace. Combining Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, and with next-gen features such as Chatbots, Voice, and Facial recognition-based workforce management, Ramco Payroll (offered as platform & as managed services) manages 50+ country payroll covering Greater China, APAC, Middle-East & Africa on one single platform.

Ramco Systems #761, 7/F, 181 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong

SuccessFactors, an SAP company, is the leading provider of cloud-based Business Execution Software, which drives business alignment, optimises workforce performance, and accelerates business results. SuccessFactors customers include organisations of all sizes across more than 60 industries.

With approximately 15 million subscription seats globally, we strive to delight our customers by delivering innovative solutions, content and analytics, process expertise, and best practices insights. Today, we have more than 3,500 customers in more than 168 countries using our application suite in 35 languages.

SuccessFactors 35/F, Tower Two, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, HK

Tel: (852) 3695 5133 asia@daxtra.com www.daxtra.com

Rohan Raghunath Tel: +852 95166231 Email: rohan.raghuanth@ramco.com https://www.ramco.com/

Tel: (852) 2539 1800 Fax: (852) 2539 1818 info.hongkong@sap.com www.successfactors.com

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT For over 20 years MDS has been the market leader in talent development, leadership training, sales effectiveness and executive coaching, producing great results for global companies in the Greater China and APAC regions.

MDS is the certification centre and distributor of leading personality and leadership assessments for talent development programmes including the MBTI® and FIRO® , Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA360™) and GMI® , Strong Interest Inventory ® for career planning, Sales Performance Assessment™ (SPA™) for sales development, and TKI® for negotiation skills.

From MDS offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei we manage an outstanding team of international trainers and executive coaches delivering a vast collection of leadership and sales programmes including the Miller Heiman products.

Management Development Services Limited Room 1701–3, Kai Tak Commercial Building, 317–319 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2817 6807 Fax: (852) 2817 9159 mds@mdshongkong.com www.mdshongkong.com

In 2016, MDS launched the Smith-MDS partnership with University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. The partnership draws on a world-class faculty, facilitators and executive coaches to deliver leading edge executive development solutions.

LEGAL / EMPLOYMENT LAW / TAX DLA Piper has been doing business in Hong Kong for 20 years. It has close links with our other offices in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US. Together, we provide clients with a seamless global capability to meet their business needs. Staffing the Hong Kong office is a vibrant team of over 130 locally and internationally-trained partners, lawyers, consultants and legal executives. Our lawyers regularly assist clients with their multi-jurisdictional cross-border activities throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Reflecting the international diversity of our clients, our people in Hong Kong all speak English, with individuals speaking Putonghua (Mandarin), and a wide range of Asian languages and dialects including Cantonese, Korean, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese as well as French, German, Italian, Punjabi and Spanish.

DLA Piper 25/F, Exchange Square Block 3, 8 Connaught Pl, Central Tel: (852) 2103 0808 http://www.dlapiper.com

At EY, our purpose is building a better working world. The insights and quality services we provide help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY 22/F CITIC Tower, 1 Time Mei Avenue, Central, Hong Kong

Hugill & Ip is a young independent law firm, but with decades of experience providing bespoke legal advice and exceptional client service to individuals, families, entrepreneurs and businesses, in Hong Kong and internationally. The firm’s core team comprises partners who are recognised as leaders in the areas of Dispute Resolution, Corporate & Commercial, Family, Probate & Trust and Employment.

Hugill & Ip Solicitors 2308, Two Lippo Centre 89 Queensway Hong Kong

Hugill & Ip’s Employment practice is constantly developing to keep pace with the law and has gained a respected position with employers, employees and among our peers as being at the forefront of providing practical and straightforward advice in a complex and fast-moving area of law.

Tel: 2846 9888 Tel: 2868 4432 https://www.ey.com/

Tel: (852) 2861 1511 e​n quiry​@ hugillandip.com www.hugillandip.com

Whether advising individuals or companies, the firm provides advice that is results-driven. With extensive knowledge and experience of employment law in Hong Kong, Hugill & Ip is able to advise on all options but will also “come offthe-fence” and offer advice that achieves a practical solution

WTS is a tax and business consulting firm providing assistance in the strategic planning and management process of intercompany assignments’ cost and compliance.

Our Global Expatriate Service specialists advise on expatriate issues relating to corporate tax, personal tax, social security matters and process consulting across Asia. Our expertise therefore enables us to identify assignment related risks at an early stage and optimise tax and social security payments for companies and their employees while keeping the administrative burden to a minimum. In conjunction with our international network, we can assist you in almost 100 locations worldwide.

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WTS consulting (Hong Kong) Limited Unit 1004, 10/F, Kinwick Centre, 32 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2528 1229 Fax: (852) 2541 1411 claus.schuermann@wts.com.hk www.wts.com.hk

HR CLASSIFIEDS

MICE VENUES / EVENT ORGANISERS

AsiaWorld-Expo is Hong Kong’s leading exhibitions, conventions, concerts and events venue, yet it is also an ideal venue for annual dinners, worldclass conferences, cocktail receptions, media luncheons and sumptuous banquets. With Hong Kong’s largest indoor convention and hospitality hall, AsiaWorld-Summit which seats up to 5,000 persons, together with a full range of meeting and conference facilities, award-winning chefs and attentive hospitality staff, AsiaWorld-Expo is definitely your choice for an unforgettable event.

AsiaWorld-Expo Management Limited AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong, China

Rockbird Media is an events management expert that aims to organise best-quality events that will bring impact to its clients’ business growth. We aim to spread this principle in Asia and the Pacific, and even globally. We don’t just organise events. We create the kind of experience that people talk about, the ones they cannot get enough of. It is who we are.

Rockbird Media https://rockbirdmedia.com/

I am an independent videographer based in Hong Kong, specialising in event videos, interviews, brand videos and many more. My love of watching films and tv shows prompted me to discover all the intricacies within film making.

I believe a good video requires a great team and careful attention to detail which leads to an effective video.

Paul Fukushima Tel: 6356-1700 Email: fukushimapaul@gmail.com https://fukushimapaul.wixsite. com/home

Tel: (852) 3606 8888 Fax: (852) 3606 8889 fnb@asiaworld-expo.com www.asiaworld-expo.com

PHOTOGRAPHY / VIDEOGRAPHY

RECRUITMENT / EXECUTIVE SEARCH / STAFFING OUTSOURCING

Headquartered in Switzerland, Adecco is a Fortune Global 500 company with around 5,000 offices in over 60 countries and territories around the world.

We possess the skills and global intelligence to develop human resource strategy for the highest levels, yet remain close to clients, local markets and needs. Adecco Hong Kong has over 30 years of experience in the region, with a comprehensive service offering that includes permanent placement, temporary & contract staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, HR consulting & assessment services, employment contract services, recruiting projects & overseas search, payroll outsourcing & administration services, and training.

Adecco Personnel Limited 12/F, Fortis Tower, 77-79 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Elabram Group is responsible for the global business of Elabram HR Solution, Elabram Telco, XRemo, and WMS, with a more than 20 years history and core competencies in human resources and telecommunication consultancy.

Elabram Group Level 23 Nu Tower 2, KL Sentral, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur 50470, Malaysia.

The company has successfully placed more than 83.000 talents and served more than 118 clients worldwide. In its four business divisions, Elabram Group is continually expanding its capability and innovation to align customer needs.

Established in 1996, Frazer Jones is a Human Resources Recruitment Consultancy. Contact us to find out how we can assist you in your next Human Resources hire or if you are looking for a change in your HR career. As part of The SR Group, Frazer Jones has wholly owned offices in Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Dubai, London, Düsseldorf and Munich and has access to the best HR talent around the world.

Tel: (852) 2895 2616 Fax: 2895 3571 hongkong@adecco.com http://adecco.com.hk/

Mikel Yaw Tel: +60338317888 Email: enquiries@elabram.com https://elabram.com/

Frazer Jones 1918 Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2973 6737 info@frazerjones.com frazerjones.com

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Headquartered in the Netherlands, Randstad is a Fortune Global 500 Company and the second largest recruitment & HR services provider globally, with operations spanning across 39 countries with over 29,700 corporate staff that help talented people develop their career potential and provide companies with the best people to reach their business goals. Founded in 1960 by Frits Goldschmeding, our Asia Pacific operations reach across Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. Randstad Hong Kong was established in 2009 and specialises in permanent and contract recruitment across specialized areas including Accounting & Finance, Banking & Financial Services, Construction, Property & Engineering, Information Technology & Telecommunications, Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain & Logistics.

Randstad 5/F, Agricultural Bank of China, 50 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tricor Executive Resources has for the past 28 years built an unrivalled reputation for integrity and professionalism in the executive search business.

Our team of specialist consultants and researchers provide a range of practical and innovative solutions to help you search for the right talent to meet your business needs. We utilize in-depth research, intense resourcing and a highly focused approach in the identification of qualified candidates in the appropriate industry sector. Our clients consists of multinationals, publicly listed and private companies as well as family-owned and start-up companies.

Tricor Executive Resources Limited Level 54, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2980 1166 Fax: (852) 2869 4410

We also provide advice on HR best practices to enhance your human capital. Our HR Solutions can help drive your business performance through the effective use of talent. These include Compensation and Benefits Benchmarking; Soft Skills and Management Development Training; Performance Management Systems; Talent Assessment Centre; Human Resource Outsourcing; Career Counselling and Talent Transition Management and Employee Engagement Surveys.

Tel: (852) 2232 3408 www.randstad.com.hk

fiona.yung@hk.tricorglobal.com www.hk.tricorglobal.com

RETAIL

KAS Group Asia (KGA) is the exclusive direct sourcing arm of Kmart Group that operates the iconic retail brands Kmart Australia, Target Australia and Catch.

KGA’s operations span the largest sourcing markets across Asia including China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam, supporting an annual sourcing capability of US $ 2.5 billion.

KAS Group Asia (KGA) 10/F, Trade Square, 681 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Asian Tigers, has provided international relocation and moving service to the Hong Kong market for more than 40 years. We move people internationally, regionally, and even within Hong Kong itself. Our experienced, multilingual staff enable Asian Tigers to deliver low-stress relocation services. Perhaps you are responsible for coordinating your office move and would like to know more about ‘low down-time’ office relocations. Whatever your needs, wherever you are headed, Asian Tigers can help facilitate and streamline your relocation. Give us a call and find out how we can assist you.

Asian Tigers Mobility 17/F, 3 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Crown Relocations, a worldwide leader of global mobility, domestic and international transportation of household goods, and departure and destination services, has over 180 offices in more than 50 countries. From preview trip and immigration assistance to home and school searches, orientation tours, intercultural training, partner career programme, and ongoing assignment support, Crown offers the best relocation solutions to corporate clients and transferees across the world.

Crown Relocations 9 - 11 Yuen On Street, Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories

Lavina Mehta Tel: (852) 2732 3402 Fax: (852) 2730 1051 Email: lavina.mehta@tgasourcing.com http://www.kmart.com.au/ http://www.target.com.au

RELOCATION / LOGISTICS

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Tel: (852) 2528 1384 Fax: (852) 2529 7443 info@asiantigers-hongkong.com www.asiantigers-mobility.com

Tel: (852) 2636 8388 hongkong@crownrelo.com www.crownrelo.com

HR CLASSIFIEDS

SERVICED APARTMENTS / HOTELS

Four Seasons Place, the epitome of luxury and elegance, Four Seasons Place creates a relaxed and homely living environment amidst the surrounding opulence. With 519 serviced suites designed by internationally renowned designers, guests can choose from a range of stylish accommodations from studios and 1/2/3-bedroom suites to penthouses that open up to spectacular views of Victoria Harbour. It also features a rooftop heated pool & jacuzzi, sky lounge, gymnasium, sauna and multi-purpose function room to meet business and recreational needs. Heralding a comfortable, hassle-free living experience, all guests are pampered with personalised hotel services from VIP airport pick-up to 24-hour multi-lingual concierge services.

Four Seasons Place 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong

GARDENEast is prestigiously located at the heart of Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, boasting 216 luxurious units in 28 storeys.

GARDENEast Serviced Apartments 222, Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Each of our luxurious units is subtly unique. Spacious studio, studio deluxe, deluxe 1-bedroom, executive suite and twin-beds in selected rooms, with their sizes ranging from 395 to 672 square feet, are comfortably-appointed with an all-encompassing range of fittings and furnishings. The landscaped gardens offer a relaxing lifestyle, peace and tranquillity of green living and a diverse choice of dining and entertainment is right on your doorstep.

Tel: (852) 3196 8228 Fax: (852) 3196 8628 enquiries@fsphk.com www.fsphk.com

Tel: (852) 3973 3388 Fax: (852) 2861 3020 enquiry@gardeneast.com.hk www.gardeneast.com.hk

The HarbourView Place is part of the Kowloon Station development, located at a key harbour crossing point. Located atop the MTR and Airport Express Link at Kowloon Station. The junction of major rail lines, three minutes to Central, 20 minutes to the Airport, a mere 30 minutes to Shenzhen and 60 minutes to Guangzhou. It is a place for the best view of Hong Kong and Kowloon and is an icon property at Harbour Gateway. Located next to International Commerce Centre, the fourth tallest building in the world, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong and W Hong Kong, guests can enjoy a premium luxury living with the large shopping mall Elements and Hong Kong’s highest indoor observation deck Sky100.

The HarbourView Place 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Conveniently nestled in the East of Hong Kong, Kornhill Apartments is one of the biggest apartment blocks in town, featuring a total of 450 units with a variety of unit configurations designed to suit every need imaginable.

Kornhill Apartments 2 Kornhill Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong

Notable for cozy and contemporary décor, as well as superior amenities and services, the complex is located next door to Kornhill Plaza where you can relish a wide array of shops and entertainment choices.

Tel: (852) 2137 8101 Fax: (852) 2568 6256 kornhillapts@hanglung.com www.kornhillapartments.com

The apartments are an excellent choice for corporate clients who cater for visits by expatriate colleagues. Units include studio, one to two-bedroom suites and deluxe three-bedroom suites.

Regal Hotels International is one of the largest hotel operators in Hong Kong, currently owns and manages twenty-three hotels. Committed to exceeding the needs of each and every guest, all Regal Hotels provide first-class international guestrooms and facilities including state-of-the-art meeting and banquet rooms.

Tel: (852) 3718 8000 Fax: (852) 3718 8008 enquiries@harbourviewplace.com www.harbourviewplace.com

Regal Hotels International 11/F, 68 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, CN https://www.regalhotel.com/

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HR CLASSIFIEDS

Vega Suites, is the stylish suite hotel in Kowloon East. Located atop the MTR Tseung Kwan O Station, Island East and Kowloon East are only 3 MTR stops away. The integrated complex becomes a new landmark creating a comfortable, relaxing and home like living space for guests. The all-encompassing landmark development comprises two international hotels & luxury residence The Wings.

Situated directly above the trendy PopCorn mall, connected to one million square feet of shopping, dining, leisure and entertainment. There is a lustrous selection of units – ranging from Studio, 1-Bedroom, 2-Bedroom to 3-Bedroom with flexible staying terms.

Vega Suites Atop Tseung Kwan O Station 3 Tong Tak Street Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong

V is a collection of award-winning hotels, serviced apartments and private residences in Hong Kong.

V Hotels and Serviced Apartments Unit 5702, Cheung Kong Centre, 2 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 3602 2388 Fax: (852) 2891 1418 reservations@thev.hk www.thev.hk

Bringing our philosophy of eat, shop, live easy, each V is nestled in a plethora of restaurants, amidst excellent shopping hubs and surrounded by an extensive transportation network. V Wanchai and V Wanchai2 are minutes walk from HKCEC, whilst the Lodge connects to 5 railway systems.

Each V is urban, contemporary, but calm and quiet. Our two Causeway Bay properties host penthouse and terraced apartments for families and elegance entertaining, whilst V Happy Valley features an outdoor water garden.

Tel: (852) 3963 7888 Fax: (852) 39637889 enquiries@vegasuites.com www.vegasuites.com.hk

Each V carries a different design motif, yet shares one critical ingredient – we deliver a high standard of comfort and good honest service.

STAFF BENEFITS

Nespresso provides a range of machines dedicated to professional use that meet the different needs and expectations of our customers. Zenius is the one of the latest innovation in the professional machine range by Nespresso and comes at an affordable price. It is intuitive to use, reliable and integrates the latest technological advances by Nespresso. Zenius is the ideal machine for small and big companies looking for quality and simplicity. At Nespresso we want to make it possible for you to make the same full-bodied espresso offered by skilled baristas. Your business can benefit from years of Nespresso expertise in premium Grands Crus coffees, innovative machines and excellent customer support.

Nespresso, Division of Nestlé Hong Kong Ltd. Unit 505, Manhattan Place, 23 Wang Tai Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong Tel: 800 905 486 Fax: 800 968 822 CRC.HK@nespresso.com www.nespresso-pro.com

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64 HR MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022

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