TALENT STRATEGY
Getting talent moving APAC-CENTRIC STRATEGIES
Alongside new surveys spotlighting Asia Pacific’s talent trends, March’s
Worldwide ERC Shanghai summit offered a wealth of interesting insights into Asia Pacific-oriented talent mobility strategies. Ruth Holmes reports from the conference, and examines the data to see how forward- thinking employers are innovating and using mobility to make a difference.
A
sia Pacific’s next generation of business leaders are looking for more from their working lives. Satisfaction and a positive work environment rank highly on the list of the most desirable
factors for employers, according to the latest Universum talent survey for the Asia Pacific region. The study of 113,000 business, IT and engineering students in ten
countries found that, when it comes to career aspirations, a friendly workplace now takes precedence over “large remuneration packages and working for employers with the strongest market position”. Commenting at the study’s launch in July 2015, Mike Parsons,
Universum’s marketing director for APAC, said, “With Asia booming like it is, we’re seeing increased competition between non-Asian MNCs and large Asian corporations for the very best talent.” With employers reportedly finding recruitment in the Asia Pacific
region twice as difficult as elsewhere, according to a survey by recruiter Harvey Nash, they are being advised to “think far more creatively” about how they attract talent. Universum also found APAC’s Millennials looking for creativity
and dynamism. With the current agenda for greater innovation in mobility, there are further opportunities here for talent management and mobility to deliver in terms of employer attractiveness. Understanding and responding to employees’ needs and expectations
in local markets – for instance, in the cultural aspects of a move and family considerations – as well as their appetite for mobility and international experience, could be a key for businesses looking to secure the edge.
Mobility and talent management Companies in highly competitive and fast-moving sectors, such as data analytics, are seeing the benefits of incorporating mobility into their talent management programmes, and are doing this on a regional as well as an international basis, as the increasing numbers of regional and international assignments testify. Vashist Kommunuri, Asia HR director at worldwide payroll service
provider Automatic Data Processing (ADP), described to delegates at March’s Worldwide ERC Shanghai conference his company’s successful
approach to engaging and developing people with key skills. Regional, as well as international, mobility has a key role in talent development and retention in this tiered approach. “Not everyone can be offered international expatriate assignments,
and not every organisation is in a position to offer those high-potential talents extended assignments,” said Mr Kommunuri. “But apart from expatriate international assignments, there are
other ways to really engage the talent through short-term assignments or rotational assignments within the organisation. “For example, we have operations in India, the Philippines and Japan.
When it comes to mobilising the talent, it becomes much more feasible to move talents on short-term and rotational assignments within the region, rather than looking for expatriate assignments.”
Making ambitions known Within the realm of mobility as an attraction, development and retention tool, there was support from Worldwide ERC’s Global Thought Leaders Senior Strategists’ panel for encouraging employees to make their career ambitions known. The panel advised individuals with global aspirations to communicate this with their line managers and talent development teams. Fellow speaker Johnny Xiong, director of talent management and
development at the Coca-Cola Company, covering the greater China and Korea business unit, supported this view of employees making their career ambitions known. “You really need to have the very personalised conversation
linked into the business. We cannot wait for our leaders to say so- and-so is performing well, doing excellent work, and maybe has the potential. You can’t wait for that. If you have that global aspiration, communicate it, and show it.” Supporting this trend, some employers are now offering self-
initiated, often self-managed and lump-sum, moves, as well as greater localisation of packages, for certain employee populations keen to build their careers on an international stage, as well as, perhaps, to contain costs in the wider business.
10 | Re:locate | Summer 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68