Day 1 of HR Tech Asia 2025: Building tech fluency and inclusive AI for the future of work

Asia’s largest gathering of HR and workforce management leaders took centre stage as HR Tech Asia 2025 unfolded from 5 to 8 May at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. Rebranded from HR Tech Festival Asia, this year’s event marked a bold new chapter as it joined the global HR Executive family, delivering unparalleled insights under the theme: (Re)Align, (Re)Define & (Re)Invent.

Organised by HRM Asia, HR Tech Asia 2025 officially opened with a Special Address by Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Manpower, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore. She highlighted the urgent need for organisations to harness technology amid rapid digital transformation and a shift towards skills-based hiring.

“Despite Singapore’s high digitalisation, only 54% of enterprises have adopted HR tech solutions,” she noted, encouraging organisations—especially smaller ones—to leverage tools like automated payroll and digital onboarding to reduce administrative burdens.

Gan also called for HR professionals to build technology fluency and ensure inclusive practices, emphasising that AI must be implemented thoughtfully to avoid bias. “HR leaders must balance innovation with fairness, preserving the human elements that help organisations thrive,” she said. She urged HR leaders to take bold steps in creating efficient, inclusive workplaces, reaffirming Singapore’s commitment to adapting and transforming for the future of work.

Building on this call for transformation, Brian Sommer, Founder of TechVentive, delivered a powerful opening keynote urging HR leaders to rethink their approach in an AI-powered world. He highlighted how AI is already embedded across HR functions—from recruitment to performance management—yet few organisations fully understand its implications.

“AI is changing not just HR software, but how work gets done,” Sommer warned. He emphasised that traditional methods of selecting HR technology, like RFIs and feature checklists, are no longer effective, as AI capabilities vary widely across vendors. Instead, he called for HR teams to build AI fluency and critically assess how AI aligns with organisational needs, security, and data ethics.

Sommer also flagged emerging challenges, such as job candidates using AI to perfect resumes and interview answers and urged HR leaders to develop policies around AI-generated content.

A lively leadership panel discussion followed, featuring leaders including Dr. Fermin Diez, C-Suite Leader, Top HR Influencer, Board Director, Speaker and Author; Goki Muthusamy, Senior Vice-President, Head of People, Asia-Pacific, Visa; Quah Ley Hoon, Group Chief Corporate Officer, CapitaLand Investment; Matt MacInnis, Chief Operating Officer, Rippling; and Anish Lalchandani, Global Head of Talent Management, A.P. Moller & Maersk. The conversation explored how organisations can accelerate digital maturity, anticipate critical skills, and focus on transformation initiatives that deliver real business value.

Quah highlighted the critical need for HR teams to deeply understand the business landscape they support. “It’s very important for HR teams to know the business level—what are the emerging trends, how they affect business—so we can adopt a strategic HR perspective in talent management, retention, and recruitment,” she shared. She emphasised that while HR professionals often focus on technical methodologies, true business partnering requires aligning HR strategy with organisational trends like digitalisation, decarbonisation, and disruption. “If HR isn’t aware of these shifts, how can we recruit ahead of time and plan for the future?”

MacInnis reflected on the transformative potential of AI in democratising knowledge and talent access globally. “AI allows you to take the wealth of knowledge in someone’s brain, no matter their culture or location, and communicate it in a way that others can understand. That’s levelling the playing field for talent globally by inserting a little AI ‘juice’ between the humans,” he explained.

Offering practical examples from Visa’s journey, Muthusamy shared how the organisation continues to progress from automation toward more advanced digital capabilities. “We’re honestly still doing a lot of automation in HR. It’s not necessarily all AI yet,” she noted. She pointed out that HR functions often receive technology investments later than other business units, but emphasised the importance of advocating for resources to drive meaningful change.

Meanwhile, Lalchandani spoke about the role of agility in navigating today’s volatile global environment. “We moved into scenario planning because agility is key. In industries influenced heavily by external factors, you have to be ready to pivot—sometimes within hours—based on new tariffs or global events,” he shared. He underscored how building organisational agility through workforce planning enables businesses to remain resilient amidst uncertainty.

In another insightful session, Kung Teong Wah, Co-Chair of the Job Redesign Expert Panel at the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) and General Manager of PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering, tackled misconceptions around job redesign. He shared how his organisation approached transformation in phases—starting with leadership buy-in and aligning workforce transformation with ROI. “Leadership is critical in change,” he stressed, noting that without top-level support, HR initiatives often face roadblocks.

Through a structured approach involving job enrichment, capability uplift, and pilot initiatives across learning and talent acquisition, his team managed to keep payroll flat while increasing salaries by 10-22% over three years—a testament to the impact of job redesign. “We get to keep people. Our turnover is low,” he shared, underscoring the role of strategic redesign in boosting retention and employee value.

The conference also featured Dr. Corrie Block, CEO of Paragon Consulting, who delivered a thought-provoking session on how love can be a transformative force in leadership and organisational culture. Rejecting the conventional association of leadership with authority or fear, Dr. Block challenged the audience to embrace love as the highest form of empathy, trust, and respect in the workplace. “It is easy to rule through fear, but it takes a rare leader to lead through love,” he shared, quoting Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.

Drawing from personal experiences and leadership insights, he recounted his journey of realising that love—while often considered unprofessional at work—is a powerful, untapped element of leadership. “We intentionally exile the highest quality of human relationships from the place where we spend the most time with each other,” he reflected, encouraging leaders to foster cultures where employees feel genuinely valued, respected, and cared for.

The future of AI in HR took center stage in a dynamic session led by Oracle’s Harkanwal Virdi, Senior Director, HCM, Asia-Pacific; Emily Ng, Head of Applications, Singapore; and Rachna Sampayo, Senior Vice-President, HR, JAPAC. Harkanwal encouraged the audience to “love the way we work” by leveraging AI and generative AI to automate routine tasks, freeing up time to focus on work that brings greater meaning and satisfaction. “The very beginning of how we start finding broader love at work is by freeing up our time to do what we really love,” he shared.

Building on this perspective, Sampayo highlighted how HR leaders must move beyond traditional resource management to become architects of the workforce, empowering employees as co-designers of their own experiences. “Your employee experience is not just about rolling out practices,” she explained. “It’s about giving opportunities to be co-pilots, making the experience very personalised.”

HR Tech Asia 2025 proudly acknowledges the support of its Platinum Sponsors Oracle and Paradox, along with Gold Sponsors Cornerstone, Rippling, and ServiceNow, and Silver Sponsors Dayforce and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP).

Day 2 of this pivotal event continues today, and further insights will be available in the post-event article on the website next week.