Driving Change - the HR Transition from Management to Enablement

In the second week of May, ChapmanCG’s China team visited Shanghai and Beijing for a series of HR leader roundtable sessions. Five meetings were co-hosted by Deutsche Bank, Goodyear, IBM, IHG, and Thompson Reuters, where over one hundred HR leaders from various industries gathered in different groups for sharing and discussion. The broad theme for this series was ‘Successfully Managing Change, Preparing China/Asia for the Future Workplace.’ Interestingly, the participants chose a number of different angles on the subject, from diversity to innovative sourcing strategies, and the flexible workplace to high potential talent development. As the discussions developed, a number of underlying themes became clear, and following are some of the key takeaways.

The Growth Environment has Changed

China has been a hotspot for many industries and organisations over the past 30 years. There was a time when double-digit growth was the default or minimum expectation, when all companies needed to do was to be there and capture the opportunities. Those days have passed. Although China is still considered an important growth engine, organisations are now facing severe competition from other multinational companies that have entered the market, as well as local companies. Growth has slowed down and global HQs are exercising more scrutiny when it comes to the resources organisations put in this market and the ROI. Some companies have had to review their Compensation & Benefits policies (particularly sales incentive schemes) or even reduce the level of merit increase, to cope with the slow growth. Developing leaders who can be successful in a slower growth environment has also become a necessity and priority.

Diversity & Inclusion has New Implications

Diversity & Inclusion has always been a focus area for global organisations, although it has different implications and thus requires distinct strategies in individual regions and markets. In China, gender diversity is generally not an issue. Most industries, including financial services, healthcare, and even technology and industrial, have a healthy percentage (over 50%) of female employees. With this, organisations are actually facing unique challenges going forward. For instance, with the new ‘second child’ policy, employers will have to be prepared for a peak of maternity leave applications by female employees, and they will need to develop workforce plans to deal with the effects.

Innovation is Not Always Breakthrough

Innovation doesn’t always have to be a total revamp or a significant breakthrough; it can also mean continuous improvement of small details. As more and more Gen Y and millennials, who are now called ‘digital natives’, become the dominant force in the work world, a more ‘connected workplace’ is critical. Flexible/mobile workplaces enabled by technology have become the new trend. Leveraging social media platforms like WeChat for effective employee engagement, talent resourcing, and employer branding is enabling the use of significant creativity without a large cost outlay.