Quick Reads

liFE & WoRk 38% of workers say the pandemic contributed to a career setback: Survey

According to new research from global staffing firm Robert Half, 38 percent of professionals said their career has stalled since the start of the pandemic — and that number jumps to 66 percent for those ages 18 to 24. In a separate poll, 59 percent of senior managers revealed that they postponed promoting top performers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 78 percent of those respondents worry about staff retention as a result. Nearly 1 in 3 respondents said they had a shift in perspective due to the pandemic and want to pursue a more meaningful or fulfilling job.

divERSity Only half of the employers have made progress on inclusion: Report

Despite efforts to make workplace culture more inclusive, many companies still seem to struggle with diversity and inclusion, according to a new report by culture training platform Emtrain. The report, which analyses data from over 83,000 current employees between September 2019 and April 2021, found that only half of the employees believed that their workplace culture is healthy in terms of D&I, or that their organization has a genuine commitment to inclusion.

RECRuitMEnt Amazon hiring 75,000 workers in the US and Canada

Amazon has announced that it is hiring 75,000 workers in its fulfillment and logistics network across the US and Canada, less than a year after its last major North America hiring spree. The new roles will for the most part be permanent, with average starting pay of US$17 per hour–up from US$15 per hour during its last mass hiring, following the introduction of wage increases in April. In addition, workers in some locations will receive signon bonuses of up to US$1,000.

CoMPEnSation & BEnEFitS 7 in 10 businesses in Australia plan to increase salary this year

New independent research by Robert Half reveals that over four-in-five (82 percent) Australian businesses are concerned about losing their top talent due to the impact of COVID-19, driving a reappraisal of remuneration and alternative benefits in the professional services sector.

For many companies, residual revenue loss from 2020 combined with lingering economic uncertainty is causing wages to flatline, with national wage growth forecast to be a modest 1.5 percent for the year ahead.

As part of an aggressive recovery plan, 70 percent of Australian businesses are continuing to offer remuneration at higher-than-pre-COVID-19 levels to retain talented staff with crucial skills for post-pandemic recovery.

HR tECHnoloGy Capgemini to acquire Multibook's SAP business

Capgemini announced on 9 May that it has signed an agreement to acquire Multibook's global SAP services business. Multibook, a Japan-based software specialist, operates its SAP services business primarily in Japan and across Southeast Asia,

HR tECHnoloGy impress.ai secures S$4m in pre-Series A funding

impress.ai, a Singapore-based enterprise recruitment solution platform, has successfully raised S$4 million (US$3.02 million) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Summit 29K and with the participation of SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore. According to the announcement released today, the funds will be used to drive expansion into new markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia, accelerate product development, increase marketing outreach, and attract more expert talent to join the team. impress. ai was founded by Dr Amrith Dhananjayan, Sudhanshu Ahuja, and Dr Vaisagh Viswanathan. It launched in January 2017. along with a subsidiary in the US. The size of the deal has not been disclosed, but it is expected to help Capgemini broaden its

HR tECHnoloGy interviewIA raises US$2m in seed round

Interview workflow management startup interviewIA has raised US$2 million in a seed round led by the Colorado Impact Fund, with participation from FirstMile Ventures, Rockies Venture Club, Outbound Capital, Dasein Capital, Stout Street Capital, and Service Provider Capital. The funding will go towards strategic hires, product development, and growth initiatives. The platform has been under development since 2018 and integrates interviewer support, HR transformation, structure, and data-driven interview outcomes. It aims to reduce bias in the hiring process and thereby make hiring more equitable and assist employers in assembling a more diverse workforce. reach across Southeast Asia, including expanding its presence in Thailand where Multibook currently has much more substantial operations than Capgemini. Multibook's SAP business segment employs about 80 people, all of whom will most likely transfer to Capgemini along with the business. Multibook CEO Tadaaki Murayama is also expected to join Capgemini as part of the acquisition.

talEnt aCquiSition HR Path raises €113 million and acquires an American company, Whitaker Taylor

HR Path, a member of French Tech, has announced a €113 million financing from banks. This new round of financing came in from Société Générale, BNP, Crédit Agricole, Banque Palatine, LCI and Caisse d'Epargne. HR Path plans to expand its value proposition in all countries where the group is already present, with priority given to the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. HR Path also announced the acquisition of Whitaker-Taylor is an HR technology consulting firm with expertise in SAP SuccessFactors and SAP HR.

Newsmaker oF the moNth

India’s brutal second wave –and the way forward affected employees recover, enabling medical helplines and aligning medical resources, converting office spaces into COVID-19 isolation centers, organizing testing camps and vaccination camps, and offering financial aid –-Indian companies are wading the extra mile to help employees "heal" amid the crisis. Some companies also offered advance salaries, covered hospitalization expenses, and even announced that they support the children of employees lost due to the pandemic by bearing education expenses up to graduation. From mobilizing the private sector to act and accelerating

The brutal second wave of economy could not just falter – medical supplies and oxygen, COVID-19 in India has left a but become a “drag for the global and reviewing the impact on the trail of lasting devastation. economy”. economy, the Central and State It caught the country completely The impact on businesses has governments of India have an off-guard and pushed back the been unparalleled. From losing arduous task of ensuring that progress over the past year on employees and family members life is back to normal. Over 40 the pandemic. For over fifteen of employees to the disease to countries mobilized aid for the days, citizens in the national stalling operations due to vari- Indian COVID-19 relief effort. capital, New Delhi faced a severe ous emergency restrictions that oxygen crisis, leading hospitals came into force, businesses are The way forward sent out multiple SOS requests, struggling – especially small and There are many uncomfortand this eventually spawned a medium-size businesses already able questions on governance black market for essential medi- reeling from last year’s extended and leadership that have put cines. Ordinary citizens took to lockdown. The second wave has the spotlight back on the lack of organizing relief on social media spurred its own share of lock- preparedness for the scale of the to tackle the shortage of critical downs at the state level. It has, crisis. But all is not well in India. care hospital beds including ICU once again, caused migrant work- At the time of writing, there is and Ventilators. Elsewhere in ers to return to their hometowns. another brewing crisis that will India, the second wave was just determine the way forward for as violent. With the virus making Tackling the second wave India’s COVID-19 fight —will its way to the rural heartland, its Even as companies doubled down the country be able to vaccinate impact turns catastrophic. on the COVID-19 relief meas- enough people before another

At the height of the crisis, ures, many companies took deadly wave takes over? Will India was contributing close to steps to proactively support the vaccinated be immune to half of the world’s COVID-19 their employees and their fami- another (possibly) stronger varicases. And according to the US lies. From extending sick leaves ant? Only time will tell. Chamber of Commerce, India’s for upwards of 14 days to help

aiR FRanCE-klM aPPointS StEvEn Zaat to SuCCEEd FRédéRiC GaGEy aS GRouP CFo Air France-KLM announced that Group CFO Frédéric Gagey (64) will retire and leave his current position as of July 1st, 2021. Steven Zaat, currently serving as CFO of Air France, will succeed Frédéric Gagey as Air France-KLM Group CFO, on July 1st, 2021. Frédéric Gagey and Steven Zaat will work together to conduct a seamless transition of responsibilities.

FaRid BaSiR JoinS MBSB Bank aS tHE CHiEF PEoPlE oFFiCER Farid Basir has been appointed as the Chief People Officer of MBSB Bank which was incorporated in November 2005 is a whollyowned subsidiary of Malaysia Building Society Berhad. Prior to joining MBSB Bank Bhd, Farid's previous stint in the financial industry was his role as the Chief Human Capital Officer at Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd. In 2018, he left Bank Rakyat, to take on a challenging post at Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) – which also happened to be his first employer, where he was previously bonded to serve under a tertiary scholarship agreement.

oxFoRd FinanCE aPPointS david HiCkMan to ManaGinG diRECtoR Oxford Finance LLC, the finance firm that provides senior debt to life sciences and healthcare services companies worldwide, announced David Hickman’s new position as Managing Director of business development in Oxford’s life sciences division.

FlEiSHManHillaRd aPPointS a

CHiEF divERSity & inCluSion oFFiCER

FleishmanHillard has appointed

Adrianne C. Smith to Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, from WPP where she previously served as its first Global Director of Inclusion and Diversity. In her new role, she will advance FleishmanHillard’s global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) strategy and continue its ambition to become the most inclusive agency in the world.

udEMy aPPointS SaRaH BlanCHaRd aS CHiEF FinanCial oFFiCER Udemy announced the appointment of Sarah Blanchard as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Blanchard brings over 20 years of operational and financial experience. Blanchard most recently served as CFO and COO at Omada Health, a digital care company that makes it possible for people with chronic conditions to achieve long-term improvements in their health.

BnP PaRiBaS aPPointS SandRo PiERRi CEo oF BnP PaRiBaS aSSEt ManaGEMEnt BNP Paribas announces the appointment of Sandro Pierri as CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management, its asset management arm, with effect from 1 July 2021. Based in Paris, Sandro Pierri will report to Renaud Dumora, future Deputy COO of BNP Paribas, in charge of the Investment & Protection Services Division of the Group which includes BNP Paribas Asset Management, alongside BNP Paribas Cardif, BNP Paribas Wealth Management, and BNP Paribas Real Estate. He succeeds Frederic Janbon, who will become Special Advisor to Renaud Dumora, to ensure the transition, before leaving the Group at the end of the year to pursue other professional opportunities.

SkyWoRkS SolutionS aPPointS

HEad oF HR FoR aSia PaCiFiC

Karen Lim has joined Skyworks

Solutions as Head of HR, Asia

Pacific, and Greater China

region. Skyworks Solutions is an American semiconductor company. Prior to joining Skyworks, Lim served in the energy management industry as the Cluster HR Director for Singapore, Malaysia & Brunei at Schneider Electric. Lim graduated with a Bachelor of Business Management in marketing from the Queensland University of Technology.

alEx PuSEnJak JoinS FluEnt CoMMERCE aS GloBal HEad oF PEoPlE Fluent Commerce, the distributed order management platform for omnichannel retail, announces that Alex Pusenjak has joined the team as Global Head of People. Pusenjak will be focused on building and rolling out a robust People strategy for the next phase of the company’s growth. In his most recent role, Pusenjak oversaw the human resources function across Asia Pacific for Datto, a leading provider of cloud-based software and security solutions purposebuilt for delivery by managed service providers.

JoHnSon ContRolS aPPointS viJay SankaRan aS Cto Johnson Controls, the global leader for smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings appointed Vijay Sankaran as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, a new role aimed at accelerating product software engineering development and expanding customer solutions through the OpenBlue digital platform. Sankaran has held leadership roles in technology transformation across a spectrum of industries and most recently was Chief Information Officer and Head of Innovation at TD Ameritrade. vMWaRE aPPointS RaGHu RaGHuRaM aS CoMPany'S nEW CEo VMware has named its co-Chief Operating Officer Raghu Raghuram as its new Chief Executive. This step has also prompted Sanjay Poonen, the business software company’s other co-COO, to depart. Raghuram is tasked with guiding VMware as a company free from majority owner Dell Technologies, which earlier said it would spin off its 81 percent stake in the cloud computing giant in exchange for a special cash dividend of $9.7 BN. Raghuram’s predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, was named Intel Corp.’s chief executive in February.

SWaMinatHan SuBRaManian REJoinS FullERton aS CHiEF PEoPlE oFFiCER Fullerton India has appointed Swaminathan Subramanian as its Chief People Officer. He was previously with Sterlite Power, where he led the HR function as Group Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for India and Brazil before rejoining the Fullerton India family. Swaminathan has over 23 years of global experience in various HR leadership positions in places such as Africa and the Middle East.

tECH MaHindRa announCES aPPointMEnt oF WEllnESS oFFiCER Tech Mahindra announced the appointment of Meghna Hareendran as the ‘Wellness Officer’, with immediate effect. In order to address workforce well-being amidst the COVID crisis, the new role has been created to institutionalize holistic wellness of all associates and to ensure access to medicine, hospitals, and other medical supplies, while maintaining the mental well-being of the Tech Mahindra family. Meghna will work as a central program manager to take care of the healthcare needs of the associates and will also be responsible for managing relationships with Tech Mahindra partners and vendors to ensure a comprehensive suite of wellness offerings to them.