Be ready for the future of work by winning the talent war

It has become far more common for employees to expect and demand more from their employers, including a greater understanding of their needs, simpler work processes, a more enjoyable work environment, and more opportunities for professional growth.

To provide HR leaders in South-East Asia with the insights and strategies they need to win the war for talent and engage and retain their most talented employees, HRM Asia, in partnership with Accenture and Oracle, organised the Win the War on Talent: New Strategies to Be Business-ready For Future Work webinar.

Moderating a panel discussion at the webinar, Nesan Govender, Managing Director, South-East Asia and Consulting, Accenture, highlighted that the employment market is in a state of change with plenty of competition and tension over talent challenges. And as the digitisation of work continues, organisations need their workforce to acquire new skills that exceed what is currently available in the workforce.

Many of these changes revolve around digitalisation, he noted, but organisations are also moving up the value chain to think about how to monetise data and generate more revenue. Additionally, some organisations are realising that they are part of a broader ecosystem, where industries are interconnected, which all have significant implications on their talent agenda.

He explained, “Employee experience is at the core of everything. When we think about employee experience, it’s really about the design and delivery of a personalised work environment that inspires people to perform at their very best. It amplifies the whole human potential and helps organisations to flourish. Physical, digital, and human elements all come together to create the total experience.”

Joining Govender during the panel discussion was Monir Azzouzi, CPXO and Board Director of GOTOKO; Krystie Bryant, Director, Corporate Services, Central Coast Council; and Rowan Tonkin, Senior Director, HR Transformation, Oracle.

In terms of creating personalised employee experiences, one of the main challenges facing organisations is how to create a tangible engagement experience, said Tonkin.

He explained, “There can be a theoretical, a strategic or imperative aspect to this in an organisation. It manifests itself in the way people feel and experience when they come to work. The biggest concern is how to relieve some of the frustration employees have at work because they may encounter systems, technologies, managers, and cultural cues that take away their enjoyment from work.”

Azzouzi added that managing the people experience requires managers to be involved, and IT plays a big role in personalisation. He elaborated, “We create journeys for every single moment and process by putting these three departments together at GOTOKO. When we talk about people’s experience, it’s about supporting them in their journey and making sure we cover all aspects of what they need.”

He shared that GOTOKO conducts surveys with employees to measure specific areas of the company’s performance, how they feel about the company, and how the company can improve the people experience to achieve better results. “Some aspects can be measured financially, but there are others that cannot. Hence, measure what is improving and provide feedback to the leaders, because the leaders care about their people,” he suggested.

In addition to creating a positive employee experience, Govender stressed that a greater focus on skills development is similarly needed. “About 10 years ago, the half-life of skills used to be around eight years. Now we’re finding the half-life of skills is between two and three years,” he explained while also citing the third edition of the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, which stated that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025.

To foster a culture of learning to bridge skills gap in the workplace, Bryant shared that her agency seeks out candidates who are interested in diversifying their careers. She said, “It’s a combination of bringing in the right people that have that level of agility but equally creating the pathways for them to tackle the things that are meaningful for them.

“The key to success is getting the right people in the door. There is a hunger for individuals with greater responsibility to pursue their interests, but our role is to create those pathways, create those tools and information, so that they can do so effectively.”

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