HR Q&A

GUEST EXPERT - Richie Chan: What would you describe as the challenges for HR professionals working within the banking sector in Taiwan?

Answer:

Richie Chan
Regional HR Business Partner, Global Transaction Services, Asia Pacific
RBS
Based in Singapore

There are far fewer foreign banks in Taiwan compared to locations such as Hong Kong, Singapore or even Shanghai. So one important challenge for HR professionals in foreign banks in Taiwan is the relative shortage of talent with specialised technical skills. So for example if your company needs someone in compliance, or with specialised product or sales experience, you often have to choose from a small pool of talent in the 4 or 5 other major foreign banks in Taipei. On top of this is the hurdle of English skills - there is a natural glass ceiling for talent development and succession planning for any senior role that requires interaction with regional or global colleagues.

Another significant challenge is the fact that recent deregulation and rapid growth of the China banking market has put a further squeeze on the HR talent base in Taiwan. China has attracted a large cross-section of competent banking and HR talent from Taiwan, and current restrictions on "mainlanders" coming to Taiwan has meant that this flow is primarily one-way.

In the face of this limited talent supply, the critical challenge therefore is how to build a steady pipeline of local talent early on, especially because certain skills such as English language skills can be difficult to be developed further down the track. So the HR leader needs to be very much in tune with the career lifecycle of high potential talent. Building a powerful brand as the best employer, identifying and attracting young talent with the right qualities, creating motivational career tracks for them, managing their compensation closely to retain them, and taking reasonable risk to assign relatively young managers to stretch assignments are all critical in this respect.

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