The 2017 HRO Today Forum APAC will offer winning strategies and workshops for better talent acquisition and management.
As the summer draws to a close, HR professionals from all over the APAC region are gearing up for September and the HRO Today Forum APAC: a much-anticipated event that will supply insights and best practices to “Drive Corporate Strategy.” The forum will take place at the Excelsior in Hong Kong and is sure to be an industry highlight for 2017.
In addition to a programme packed with interactive workshops and helpful case studies, the 2017 HRO Today Forum APAC will offer numerous networking opportunities and solutions to some of the industry’s most pressing problems. Attendees will include leaders from HR and HR operations, learning, payroll, technology companies, talent acquisition, and change management, amongst others -each with insights from their own experiences at mid-market and large-market organisations.
“I’m looking forward to gathering insights on the talent acquisition challenges that organisations are facing across Asia Pacific and networking with thought leaders. Last year there were great insights into how some organisations were implementing leading-edge talent acquisition solutions across Asia. I loved the gamification case study,” recalls Nicole Cook, managing director of Australia and New Zealand at PeopleScout APAC.
All of the programming for this year’s event will centre around the theme Drive Corporate Strategy. This theme reflects HR’s need for winning strategies that resonate organisation-wide and help corporations realise overarching goals. HR executives who maintain a strategic focus are likely to achieve a larger impact for their organisation and see major improvements in important metrics such as programme ROI, engagement, and retention. The agenda will provide examples of effective HR strategies and cover topics relevant to the APAC region like the talent shortage and boomerang employees.
Another talking point will be the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment. With the current rate of technological growth, it won’t be long before AI takes over many traditional HR functions. Randstad Sourceright’s Talent Trends report -a global online survey of C-suite and HR leaders -found that 36 per cent of respondents had increased their use of AI and robotics over the previous 12 months, up from 18 per cent who said they had done so during the fourth quarter of 2016. So, what are HR practitioners doing to prepare? Forum attendees will hear presentations about the future of AI in the talent acquisition space, including an interactive workshop from Cook.
In her presentation, “The Digitisation of Talent Acquisition,” Cook will discuss not only the tasks that AI will replace, but also all of the ways that automation will make the jobs of recruiters easier. Technology is constantly changing the talent acquisition industry, and today, tech tools such as gamification, social media and artificial intelligence are critical in attracting and retaining the best talent. Cook’s workshop will educate attendees on what the digitisation of talent acquisition will mean for HR and provide breakout-group opportunities to discuss personal experience with TA tech.
“I’m want to engage in thoughtful conversation around how organisations throughout Asia are innovating their talent acquisition process with technology and what some of their challenges have been,” says Cook. “I’m hoping they come away thinking about what they need to do to stay on top of the trends in talent acquisition globally.”
Attendees can also look forward to a discussion of total talent management (TTM). Peter Carvalho, president of Agile•1, will lead a workshop called “The Financial Impact of Total Talent Management.” Managing multiple worker classifications under a single umbrella is not without its challenges -or its costs. Done right, TTM, can result in a stronger employer branding message, happier employees, and greater transparency within an organisation. Despite the fact that an estimated 50 per cent of total workforces are made up of non-permanent employees, 51 per cent of companies don’t actually know how many non-permanent employees they have working for them, according the research from SAP SuccessFactors. This needs to change, and better TTM is the place to start.
In this workshop, Carvalho will explain how today, TTM has moved beyond being a mere function of HR and is now an important part of overall business strategy. He will also delve into the role of TTM in making critical business decisions as well as its impact on cost.
Also on the agenda is the Talent Acquisition Leader of the Year Luncheon, hosted by Cielo. Its an opportunity to honour great minds in APAC recruitment and celebrate their achievements. The TA Leader of the Year award highlights talent as an invaluable resource for organisations of all sizes and in all industries. The award winners provide a vital service to their teams by driving talent initiatives, attracting and retaining top performers, and communicating organisational goals and vision to candidates. As of press time, a few nominees were selected, including Gary Chan and Prasanth Naraynan.
Chan is Hitatchi Data Systems’ head of talent acquisition and has worked for the company for the past six years. Leading a team of six across the APAC region, Chan spearheads HR and talent acquisition transformation in the highly competitive, cloud-based tech space. He specialises in acquiring niche talent through a relevant employee value proposition and leveraging HR analytics and social media. Likewise, he consistently establishes on-demand talent pipelines when needed, all whilst keeping a low cost per hire.
As director and CHRO for Carnival Group, Naraynan was responsible for a number of game-changing talent initiatives, including the creation of an online recruitment and selection management system for Pan-India talent acquisition; a group policy manual that makes policies are visible and accessible to all the employees through the intranet; in-house payroll processing through Sensys; as well as employee branding, training, and engagement programmes.
