Quick Reads

funding and inVEstMEnt Degreed raises US$153m in Series D

Upskilling platform Degreed has raised US$153 million in a Series D funding round co-led by Sapphire Ventures and Riverwood Capital, almost doubling its total known capital raised—it is estimated to have drawn approximately US$335 million in investments to date. This latest investment, which values the company atUS$1.4 billion, comes less than a year after a U$32 million round last June that was led by Owl Ventures. The company says that the funds will be used to “accelerate product development, enhance data infrastructure, fuel global expansion, and pursue strategic acquisitions.” Some of the areas it plans to improve are reporting, analytics, security, and integration with other platforms or functions.

lifE @ work Work From Home drives employee happiness: Study

The majority of U.S. workers’ job satisfaction is back to prepandemic levels, find a study by the People management platform Hibob. With ongoing remote work, the allowance of flexible work schedules, the ability to be autonomously productive, and time saved without a commute are contributing and shaping the next normal where a hybrid working model leads the way. The study also showed that with strong job satisfaction while remote, the rollout of the vaccine will not prompt employees to run back to the office five days a week.

acquisition Hitachi to acquire GlobalLogic for $9.6 BN

Hitachi Ltd has announced its plan to acquire US-based software company GlobalLogic Inc for $9.6 BN, including repayment of the debt. The acquisition is part of Hitachi's ongoing business portfolio overhaul, which includes the $7 BN acquisition of ABB Ltd's power grid business last year and a series of divestitures of its domestic hardware subsidiaries. San Jose-based GlobalLogic is currently owned 45 percent each by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Swiss investment firm Partners Group. The rest is owned by the company's management.

coMPEnsation & bEnEfits ‘Financial well-being is a new top priority for Singapore employers’

40 percent of employers in Singapore rank financial wellbeing as the most important part of their employee wellbeing strategy, according to new research by Aon. And they are acting on it: the 2021 Trends in Retirement & Financial Wellbeing survey found that companies are now incorporating financial well-being programs into their employee engagement and talent attraction strategies and that some 70 percent of Singapore employers are likely to offer their employees some form of financial education over the next two years.

Part of the underlying issue is that many employees in Singapore may not have adequate savings for their retirement. While Singapore citizens and permanent residents receive Central Provident Fund benefits and some companies also offer top-up contributions to CPF on top of the statutory contributions, Aon's figures show that close to 40 percent of the working population in Singapore are foreigners who do not have access to CPF and are likely to have foregone their retirement benefits in their home countries.

talEnt ManagEMEnt HR tech company Phenom raises $100M in Series D funding round

Phenom, the AI-powered talent experience platform, announced a $100 million Series D round. B Capital Group led the round, which also had participation from Dragoneer Investment Group, OMERS Growth Equity,

EMPloyEE rElations ‘50% of global workforce are confident about the future'

According to the latest PwC Hopes & Fears 2021 survey, released on April 1st, 50% of the world’s workforce are reportedly ‘excited or confident' about

talEnt acquisition Career platform Glints raises $22.5 MN in Series C funding

Singapore-based career platform, Glints has raised $22.5 MN in Series C funding led by Japanese human resources management firm PERSOL Holdings. The new capital will be used on Glints’ expansion in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan and hiring for its product and engineering teams. and GoldenArc Capital. The capital ensures Phenom can remain focused on fulfilling its purpose — to help a billion people find

the future. This news comes despite the disruptions of the last year, in which an estimated 114 million people lost their jobs according to the ILO. After a year of uncertainty, the results show respondents are keen to work for a purpose-driven company. Overall, 75% of workers worldwide want to work for organizations that will make a positive contribution to society. A sizeable majority (77%) of respondents are eager to learn new skills or retrain, while 40% of workers say that they have improved their digital skills during the pandemic, finds the study.

Glints Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Oswald Yeo said this is the largest funding round to date for a talent platform in Southeast Asia, and brings the startup’s total raised to $33 MN. the right job — above all else. With the new funding, Phenom continues to innovate its Talent Experience Management (TXM) platform. Sierra Ventures, AXA Venture Partners, WestBridge Capital, AllianceBernstein, Karlani Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, and Sigma Prime Ventures joined previous funding rounds, and continue to support Phenom’s purpose today.

coMPEnsation & bEnEfits Companies are rethinking their geographic pay policies

The increase in full-time remote work has prompted 44 percent of organizations to either modify or consider modifying their policies around geographic pay or localized compensation, according to a recent study by WorldatWork. The study, which looked primarily at organizations' US operations, attributes this move at least partly to the high percentage—67 percent—of employees who expect their compensation to reflect their location. According to the findings, organizations with more locations are more likely to consider creating a geographic pay policy, especially if large numbers of their employees work remotely full-time. 41 percent of organizations will handle the resulting pay differentials by applying a premium or discount to existing pay, but 33 percent will go to the additional effort of creating a separate base pay structure for each geographical location.

Newsmaker oF the moNth

The haves and the havenots of ‘return to work’

On April 5th 2021, Singapore announced that 75 percent of the staff can return to office – declaring that working from home is no longer a default mode. For the first time in over a year, Australia and New Zealand allowed quarantine-free travel in a trans-Tasman travel bubble as both the countries effectively contained the virus spread. As of April 20, Israel lifted its mandatory requirement to wear masks outside, while fully opening up its educational system. These countries, however, are the exception and not the norm.

For the vast majority of countries around the world and in South East Asia – the fight over the second or third wave of the virus has been starkly different.

In India, the unprecedented rise in cases has pushed many states to reconsider lockdowns, night curfews and to restrict business activities to essential services. Many major European economies including Germany, France and the UK have had to lockdown and scale up their vaccination programs quickly.

In this changing context, ‘return to work’ still seems far away for many people around the world. The worst hit countries are the low-income economies and the worst hit businesses are micro, small and medium enterprise sectors that can’t afford to have the majority of their staff working from home. The pace of vaccination is having an impact on the return to work plans for most countries. In India, for example, throughout the month on April, Vaccination was only available for those aged 45 years and above, while the large majority of the working population is below that age. However, the government announced that vaccinations will be open to anyone above the age of 18 from May.

The pandemic continues to push the global inequities that can only be won by the equitable access to vaccines. As one WHO notes says “Nobody wins until everyone wins”

Apart from the macro factors that continue to dictate whether a complete return to work is possible, the decision on whether a company would opt for permanent WFH, or a hybrid workplace environment, or an office first model will be dependent on the company’s own cost benefit analysis, it’s culture and the productivity that could be gained or lost in the process.

There continue to be varied outlooks on WFH, while some companies like Microsoft have been fairly liberal with their policies, still others (JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs) feel that WFH is an aberration and that it is difficult to mentor new employees and can undermine the culture of the company. From what it looks like, ‘return to work’ efforts are going to be varied. And it will be dependent on many factors, not just the availability of vaccines.

EX-goldMan sacHs to lEad citi grouP's diVErsity stratEgy Citi Group has hired Erika Irish Brown from rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc to lead its global diversity strategy. Brown joins Citi as its Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer after leading similar efforts at Goldman Sachs since mid-2018. Brown previously worked at Bloomberg in the same role. Goldman named Megan Hogan to replace Brown, according to a staff memo seen by Reuters. The role of Chief Diversity Officer has taken on renewed prominence as corporations work to address inequality and systemic racism roughly one year after George Floyd's death in Minnesota.

accEnturE aPPoints sHwEta a talwar as VP- talEnt & Hr oPErations Global IT and professional services company Accenture has appointed Shweta A Talwar as Vice President - Talent & HR Operations. She is responsible to work with global clients on their Talent & HR operations and delivery requirements. Talwar has more than 17 years of experience as an HR leader, Strategic Advisor, Talent Partner and working globally with Executive Leaders. Before joining Accenture, she was working with Everest Group for more than four years, first as Director - HR and later as Vice President - Human Resources.

wiPro aPPoints saraH adaMgEdgE as Md for australia, nEw zEaland Wipro Limited announced the appointment of Sarah Adam–Gedge as the MD for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Sarah has experience in leading digital transformation initiatives for large organizations globally. She has worked in project and service-based consultancies for more than 25 years across Australia and New Zealand, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa, and Latin America. As the P&L leader for ANZ, Sarah will focus on Wipro’s vision for business growth, revenue expansion, client relationships, talent development, industry connections, and brand building.

canon india aPPoints Manabu yaMazaki as nEw PrEsidEnt & cEo Canon India Pvt. Ltd., the global leader in imaging technologies, announced the appointment of Manabu Yamazaki as the new President & CEO for Canon India, effective April 1, 2021. In his new role, Yamazaki will be spearheading Canon’s business strategy and operations in India. Before his new role, he was working as the Chief Regional Officer for the brand in Eastern China, overseeing various functions in the APAC region. Yamazaki has been associated with Canon since 1989 and has also been a notable contributor in business management across European, Middle Eastern, Russian, and African markets.

MarsH MclEnnan aPPoints JasPrEEt singH baksHi as tHE Hr lEadEr for global in-HousE cEntrE, india Jaspreet Singh Bakshi has joined Marsh McLennan as the HR Leader for Global in-House Centre, India. In this role, Jaspreet will be accountable for a unified India people strategy and HR initiatives across the India GIC. Jaspreet carries with him over two decades of experience in designing and implementing human capital solutions. His career spans across industries – FMCG, ITeS, BFSI, EdTech; and roles in Business and HR.

tHE claiM consultants aPPoints cEo, MiddlE East

The insurance-tech start-up, The

Claim Consultants announced the appointment of Rakesh Rachwani as CEO, Middle East.

Rakesh Rachwani has around 28 years of experience in the financial planning industry with expertise in Life Insurance, Investments, and Wealth Management and was previously the Co-Founder of Protect4Less. His past work experience includes working with leading brands like Compass Financial Solutions and Veritas Financial & Management Services.

VolVo cars aPPoints bJörn annwall as cfo Volvo Cars has appointed Björn Annwall as Chief Financial Officer, effective 19 April 2021. He is the successor to Carla De Geyseleer, who has elected to step down from her position for personal reasons. Björn Annwall has been a member of the executive management team at Volvo Cars since joining the company in 2015. He has been head of the EMEA region since 2019, during which Volvo Cars has markedly increased its market share in the region thanks to strong plug-in hybrid and pure electric sales.

randstad india intErnally ElEVatEs cfo VisHwanatH Ps to Md & cEo HR service providers Randstad India, announced the appointment of their current CFO, Viswanath PS as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective July 1st, 2021. The finance chief takes over from Paul Dupuis, who served as the MD and CEO of Randstad India for the last four years and is now taking over as MD of Randstad Japan. Starting his stint at Randstad India in 2014 as the Head of Shared Services Centre (SSC), Vishy took over as the CFO in 2016. Vishy has proven to be a strong leader; both strategic and tactical. He is also a dynamic, peoplefocused leader with a track record of building high-performing teams across a wide span within the organization. uob aPPoints Eric liM as cHiEf sustainability officEr UOB has appointed Eric Lim as its first Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). In the new role, Lim will lead a dedicated Corporate Sustainability Office and focus on achieving the Bank’s sustainability objectives of helping businesses to advance responsibly, steering consumer wealth to sustainable investments, and fostering social inclusiveness and environmental well-being. Given the importance of sustainability to the Bank’s overall strategy, the CSO role will report directly to Wee Ee Cheong, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), UOB.

kPMg uk aPPoints nEw cEo KPMG U.K. picked Jon Holt as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Bill Michael, who resigned after telling employees to “stop moaning” about the pandemic. Holt was appointed “with overwhelming support” following a vote by partners, the firm said in an emailed statement. He will start in his new role immediately and will serve until the end of September 2025, KPMG said. Holt is currently KPMG UK's head of audit. He will take up the new role immediately and serve a tenure until 2025. "I’m very grateful for the support of the partnership and excited about the future for our firm," Holt said in a statement.

aViVa aPPoints rob barkEr Md, uk saVings Aviva announces today that Rob Barker has been appointed Managing Director, UK Savings & Retirement* with immediate effect. Rob was previously MD of Aviva’s Health and Protection business. He will report to Doug Brown, Chief Executive of Aviva UK and Ireland Life. “Rob’s record in driving innovation, growth, and profitability, across multiple product lines and distribution channels, in his more than 20 years in our industry, makes him ideally suited to lead our growth plans," said Amanda Blanc, Aviva Chief Executive Officer.