The future of digital work takes shape at HR Tech Asia 2026
- Josephine Tan
The conversation around AI in the workplace has, for too long, been dominated by speculation. What the Worktech & AI track at HR Tech Asia 2026 promises instead is something more grounded: a series of conference sessions led by practitioners who are already living with the consequences of their choices– and who have hard-won perspectives to share. Running across 5 and 6 May 2026 at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, the track takes on everything from performance measurement and remote collaboration to the governance of machine judgment in hiring and promotion decisions.
The track opens with a provocation from Ruth Kerr, Head of People and Culture, PropertyGuru Group, whose session Rethinking Performance: People Outcomes over KPIs challenges one of the most entrenched rituals in corporate life. Kerr will argue that the dominant KPI-driven approach to performance management measures gaps rather than growth, and that organisations willing to extend genuine trust to their people might find themselves measuring something far more meaningful. Her session will explore the promise of real-time recognition and feedback loops as a replacement for the annual review cycle that so few employees or managers actually value.
Michael Angela E. Malicsi, CHRO, UnionDigital Bank, takes on the anxiety that shadows much of the AI conversation in AI Coworkers: Partners in Progress, Not Competition. His argument is that the most effective human-machine teams are not those in which AI replaces human work, but those in which algorithms absorb the repetitive and the risky – freeing people to focus on the creative and the complex. Malicsi will examine how AI can be embedded into workflows in ways that actively boost morale and generate shared wins rather than quietly eroding the sense of contribution that gives work its meaning.
The remote work dimension of worktech gets its moment in a fireside chat between Tanvi Choksi, CPO, Savills Asia-Pacific, and Sameen Khan, Regional HR Director for Asia-Pacific, Grey Global. Titled Collaboration Rewired: Solving Remote Realities, the session moves beyond the familiar complaints about Zoom fatigue to examine how organisations can design digital interactions that genuinely energise rather than drain – mastering asynchronous working so that global teams can move at pace without burning out, and choosing technology that builds trust and team chemistry across screens.
Lance Bradshaw, Director of HR Workforce Transformation, Intermountain Health, closes the first day with perhaps its most forward-looking session. The Agent-Powered Enterprise: Deploying AI’s Next Frontierexamines what happens when AI agents become genuine members of the organisational workforce – not tools to be operated but partners to be led, coached, and quality-checked. Bradshaw will discuss that this shift demands a new kind of human skill: the ability to shape AI behaviour so that agents reflect and reinforce organisational values as they execute tasks at scale, reimagining corporate structures as living blueprints for human-machine collaboration.
Day 2 opens with a keynote from Quah Ley Hoon, Group Chief Corporate Officer, CapitaLand Investment, who will address the question of trust head-on. In From Hype to Human Impact: Engineering AI That Works for People, Quah will share that AI earns belief not only through capability but also through clarity, control, and consistent performance; and that the real design challenge is to build systems that amplify human strengths rather than simply automating them away. Her session will also explore what she calls listening machines: AI that evolves through human feedback rather than raw data streams, ensuring that the technology remains genuinely responsive to the people it serves.
The track closes with a panel that puts the trust question in its sharpest form. Digital Gods or Glitchy Servants? Rethinking Trust in the Age of Machine Judgment brings together Effin Jamalludin, Group Head of Talent and Organisation Effectiveness, ESR; Benjamin Boh, Regional Vice-President, Domino’s Pizza International; and Uday Burra, Head of People Care, India, China and APJ, Nokia Singapore. The panel will discuss the faith-or-fear divide that characterises how many leaders currently approach AI – either over-relying on algorithmic hiring tools or rejecting them outright – and examine the more uncomfortable reality that machine judgment is already shaping promotions, pay, and performance reviews across the region. The panellists will also explore what it takes to transform AI from a mysterious gatekeeper into a visible, accountable partner in people decisions.
HR Tech Asia 2026’s Worktech & AI track ultimately reflects a broader shift in mindset – from viewing AI as a tool for efficiency to recognising it as a partner in shaping the future of work. For HR leaders, the challenge lies in ensuring that this partnership delivers not only productivity gains but also stronger engagement, trust, and long-term organisational resilience.
HR Tech Asia 2026 will take place from 4-7 May at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. Register here for HR Tech Asia 2026 to join the leaders shaping Asia’s workplace future.
