Bloomberg’s People and Performance series, hosted in partnership with Elliott Scott HR, was held in Singapore on 27th September. Launched in 2015, this is the seventh event in the series and marks the fourth event of 2016.
It provided the opportunity for over 80 senior-level HR professionals to network over drinks and canapés, before hearing insights from thought leaders on the challenges most pertinent for HR in the region.
The theme was on how HR must lead from the front to drive innovation throughout the business. With organisations faced with technological and cultural disruptions at an ever accelerated pace, how well corporates respond dictates their ability to survive or thrive. Continuous innovation has become a critical focal point across all industries, raising the question of how the Human Capital function can support innovation, and whether HR needs to reinvent itself to stay relevant as a business enabler.
The event was introduced by Vandna Ramchandani, Head of Recruitment, Philanthropy and Engagement for AsiaPacific at Bloomberg. Steve Monaghan, Head of Edge at AIA presented the keynote, discussing how the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and the digitisation of HR will impact the job market globally in the future. He had a sobering prediction – that AI will affect 70% of the job market. This could prove to be highly disruptive, or offer new opportunities to companies who are willing to learn, grow and transform. If ‘the robots are coming’ soon in our future, making entire departments redundant in the process, HR functions need to be thinking now about their strategy to retrain, reskill or retool these talent pools.
Fostering an innovative environment is also key to an organisation’s future success. Steve noted that HR needs to tap into the aspiration already inherent in people to positively impact their organisations. Creating an environment where employees are encouraged to come forward with fresh ideas is vital to this process.
Attracting the right workforce, namely the innovators, is also important in order to have the skills needed for tomorrow’s workforce. HR needs to consider whether they build this talent pool of innovators from within the company, or buy them in from outside. Once they are on-board, the question will be how they reward and incentivise them for the long-term.
The keynote was followed by a panel discussion, facilitated by Vincent Romano, Managing Director of South East Asia at Elliott Scott HR, and included Chee Tung Leong, Co-Founder and CEO at EngageRocket; Juhi Singh, HR Business Partner at AXA and David Miao, Head of Data Management Asia Pacific at Bloomberg.
The panel discussed how AI will have a competitive advantage in roles with highly repetitive tasks. And while this may cause redundancies for some employees, it will also present a need for newly specialised talent – namely, the data analyst.
This new breed of workers have different wants, needs and aspirations beyond the typical HR talent profile. Workplaces will need to adapt their mind-set on how they manage this talent.
Juhi shared how AXA have developed their talent management strategy with innovation in mind. AXA initiated a strategic workforce plan which maps out skillsets needed in the next two to three years. This way, they can anticipate what their staff will need to learn and provide them with the right tools and skills to do so.
Vincent asked the panel if the future of HR and learning was in gamification. The panel agreed that gamification tools like mobile apps, could be useful motivation tools, however the problem is the usage cycle – the initial hype and novelty inevitably dies down. Tools that engage employees longer term is the real challenge.
Elliott Scott HR would like to thank Bloomberg and the speakers for their contribution to making the event a success.
To find out when the next event will be held, or for more information, please contact Group Marketing and Communications Manager, Malinda Zerefos atmz@elliottscotthr.com.
