How CHROs can drive organisational change as HR priorities shift

As the world continues to recover from the pandemic, organisations have come to realise the importance of redesigning their workplace models with a focus on human experience, sustainability, and design thinking. This has created a need for HR and business leaders to step beyond traditional HR functional management to embrace new paradigms of people and work.

At HR Tech Festival Asia 2023, the CHRO Symposium powered by Workday will offer an exclusive programme lineup that connects senior HR and business leaders with visionary experts and industry thought leaders to explore the latest trends, technologies, and solutions that help organisations navigate the challenges of the new normal.

Join Gaston Carrion, Managing Director, Talent and Organisation Lead, Growth Markets, Accenture, as he shares his insights on the new paradigms of people and work in 2023 and beyond. In his session, titled Unveiling the New Paradigms of People and Work – Strategic Initiatives HR Leaders Should Be Prioritising in 2023, Carrion will discuss the challenges HR leaders face in the ongoing shortage of talent, and how the demands placed on organisations are shaping HR priorities.

In her presentation titled The Evolving Role of CHROs in the Region – What’s Ahead For HR Leaders Across Asia-Pacific, Elisa Mallis, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Center for Creative Leadership, will focus on how the roles of CHROs are becoming increasingly important as ways of working and employee expectations change.

Dr Tanvi Gautam, HR Influencer, Keynote Speaker, Best Selling Author and Transformational Leadership Expert, Leadership, will be up next to discuss the importance of approaching culture transformation and talent with a human-centric lens in the post-pandemic world. Her keynote presentation, titled Built for Humans: The Quest for High-Performance Human-Centric Cultures, will delve into what it truly means to be human-centric and how to create sustainable change that goes beyond mere slogans and passing trends.

Roop Kaistha, Regional Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, AMS, will present on Running Out of Talent? Break the Cycle. As organisations grow faster than they can produce talent, ongoing skill shortages are becoming increasingly prevalent. Strategic talent management is essential, and organisations should consider hiring from other fields based on skills and potential. In her presentation, Kaistha will explore the significance of skills-based hiring, sourcing strategies to overcome the skills shortage, and how to blend technology and personal touch to establish a nimble talent acquisition team.

Shruti Jana, Vice-President, Global People Partners and Organisational Effectiveness, Workday; and Wong Pei Woan, Director, CHRO and CIO Solutions, Asia, Workday; will be presenting on the topic of Managing Change and Navigating Uncertainty Through Meaningful Employee Experiences. This session will focus on the challenges, strategies, and practices necessary for leveraging personalised, data-infused employee experiences to drive engagement and productivity.

In his presentation titled Using Data Like A CFO: A Guide for Today’s CHRO, Paul Rubenstein, CPO, Visier, will provide examples of building and scaling a people analytics practice, using data to align talent decisions and promote accountability, transparency, and fairness. Attendees will also learn how to use people analytics to reduce attrition rates and increase workforce diversity, as well as how to bring together productivity and financial data with people data.

To conclude day one of the CHRO Symposium, Tim Sackett, President, HRU Technical Resources, will lead an exclusive CHRO workshop titled The Future of Talent Isn’t What You Think. In this workshop, Sackett will address the talent problem facing most industrialised nations and provide insights into the future of HR and the changes organisations will need to make in order to attract and retain top talent.

READ: Redesigning work and the workplace to elevate the human experience 

Kicking off day two of the CHRO Symposium is a presentation by Rob Squires, Vice-President, Regional Head of Asia and Japan, Ceridian. In his session titled The Rise of The Flexible Career Experience, Squires will explore the idea that workplace flexibility goes beyond remote work and scheduling autonomy. According to Ceridian’s 2023 Pulse of Talent, many employees feel that they are missing out despite job flexibility gains and feel stuck in their current roles in the past year. The presentation will provide insights on how organisations can embrace career flexibility to build resilience, move faster, and work harder.

Dickson Tang, Keynote Speaker and Author, will present Asia-Pacific CHRO Discussion: Accelerate Business Growth with Creative Leadership in A Hybrid Work Environment. Besides discussing how creative leadership can accelerate business growth in a hybrid work environment, Tang will also share a 3i model (individual mindset, ideas, infrastructure) to inspire and unlock creativity among the workforce.

In her session titled topic TA as a Revenue Driver: How Global Brands Use Conversational AI To Save Money, Do More with Less, and Create World-Class Experiences, Eleanor Vajzovic, Global Head of Strategic Solutions, Paradox, will focus on how HR and TA leaders can leverage conversational AI to automate repetitive hiring tasks and position themselves as revenue drivers.

Attendees will gain insights into how automation is transforming organisations by enabling them to hire faster and create better experiences for candidates. The session will also showcase success stories from global brands like General Motors, McDonald’s, and Nestlé, who have achieved significant cost savings by reducing their cost per hire by 30% and meeting their hiring targets ahead of schedule.

Following Vajzovic’s presentation, Christopher McNamara, Chief Revenue Officer, Remote, will take the stage to discuss Sustainable Global Hiring in A Tough Economic Climate. This session will delve into the challenges HR teams face in a high-inflation and uncertain macroeconomic environment, where recruitment is a real challenge due to low unemployment rates and a shortage of highly skilled talent in many Asian countries. McNamara will share insights from Remote’s 2023 Global Workforce Report and provide tips on finding cost efficiencies, accessing remote-working talent, and preparing competitive compensation packages without compromising the budget.

Joanne Flinn, Chairwoman of The ESG Institute, will conduct an exclusive CHRO workshop titled ESG and the Roles of the CHRO. This workshop aims to help CHROs understand the critical role they play in addressing sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) challenges. Flinn will share key findings from the State of Sustainability Survey and conduct a Sustainability Readiness Profile to assess participants’ preparedness for sustainability initiatives.

Rick Hammell, Founder and CEO of Atlas, will thebdeliver a presentation on Unlocking Global Talent: Grow Your Business with Employer of Record. The session will address the challenges faced by CHROs in hiring and managing remote and global talent for business growth and expansion. Hammell will explain how an Employer of Record can offer compliant solutions for hiring and managing employees in multiple countries, while providing actionable insights and strategies to quickly onboard the right talent while offering an excellent employee experience.

The final session of the CHRO Symposium will be a panel discussion titled The Next Big Thing for HR: Business Trends For 2023/24 and Forecasts for HR Leaders. As organisations in Asia Pacific continue to face attraction and retention challenges, this discussion will delve into some of the important business trends for the HR industry in the coming years. Moderated by Alvin Goh, Executive Director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, the panel will feature senior HR leaders such as Low Peck Kem, CHRO and Advisor (Workforce Development) at the Public Service Division of the Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore; Carolyn Chin-Parry, Digital Innovation Leader at PwC Singapore; and Steven Businovski, Organisational Development and Learning at BHP.

The CHRO Symposium powered by Workday will be held during the HR Tech Festival 2023, which is taking place from 10-11 May 2023 at Suntec Singapore Exhibition and Convention Centre. Click here to register for HR Tech Festival Asia 2023 and stay ahead of the curve in preparing for success in the HR industry in 2023 and beyond!