Culture & Business Transformation
Talent Acquisition Leaders Gather at Google to Prepare for Change
- Date:
- 23 May 2016
On 20 April, ChapmanCG co-hosted an HR Leaders gathering with Google at the company’s Singapore offices. The topic of ‘Successfully Managing Change: Preparing Asia for the Workplace of the Future’ stimulated interesting discussions among the 21 Talent Acquisition Leaders present, and a number of key insights were shared. Hosted by Kerry O’Shea, the TA Lead for Sales, SEA/China with Google, the event saw the participation of leaders from a diverse group of industries including technology, FMCG, pharmaceutical, hospitality, media, oil and gas and consulting.
Challenging Convention
Kerry started the meeting by challenging conventional TA practices. Traditionally, Asia has looked towards and even adopted western models for managing commerce and the economy. However, the success of the Japanese economy is instigating a rethink about the potential of an insular approach to economic recovery. China, a serial infringer when it comes to copyright laws, is known for duplicating existing inventions and incorporating marginal innovations, but the country is now coming up with more innovative business ideas on its own. Asia, formerly a ‘follower’ of the U.S. and Europe in the corporate world, has turned the tables and is now leading the change with some of the region’s best practices being emulated by the West.
We are seeing that in China and other Asian countries, MNCs are having to rethink their Employee Engagement models, as these international companies are losing talent to local conglomerates, which are becoming more appealing as employers of choice. Asia’s time has come due to a combination of the increasing market potential, revenue contribution, lower costs, large talent pool, innovations, values and of course the calibre of its HR.
How is HR in Asia Leading and Contributing to This Change?
Global HQ is not only listening to Asia, Asia is increasingly leading and influencing practices and views. In Talent Acquisition, the need for customising the Employee Value Proposition to take into consideration the diversity in Asia is becoming increasingly important, especially in markets like China, India and Japan. The ability to do this will differentiate the employer in the market. Microsoft HR in APAC is now finding that it has increasing influence with HQ, due to the strong working relationship and chemistry between TA, the larger HR team and the business stakeholders. Schneider Electric mentioned that a third of its global leadership team is now based in Asia, and it also has its fair share of Asian leaders based in Europe. All of this is contributing to Asia’s transformation from ‘follower’ to ‘leader’ when it comes to business practice.
