Because the dreary funding winter soars, at e27, we’re kickstarting a brand new article collection Line of Rent to grasp an organisation’s tradition and hiring philosophies to empower tech staff with the correct development instruments to allow enterprise homeowners to draw expertise.
Paul Thomas is the Asia Chief Individuals and Tradition Officer of SEEK, which operates main employment platforms JobStreet and JobsDB. In his position, he develops and executes human useful resource technique in assist of the general Asia marketing strategy and strategic course.
Thomas is an skilled HR practitioner, bringing over 35 years of broad regional expertise in gross sales, gross sales coaching, manufacturing, human sources, and normal administration throughout a number of industries.
He obtained his Bachelor’s Diploma in Biochemistry from UKM in 1989 and accomplished his MBA from the College of Hull, UK, in 1996.
Thomas discusses his firm’s tradition and hiring philosophies on this candid interview.
What persona traits/qualities do you search for in potential workers?
Our SEEK values are ardour, workforce, supply, and future, and these qualities underpin our success and the attributes we search for in our individuals. We wish motivated workforce gamers who’re passionate and desperate to take possession and have a drive for tempo and progress, and suppose and act for the long run.
We additionally considerably emphasise diversity, equity and inclusion in our seek for expertise. By embracing individuals from totally different races, religions, age teams, skills and backgrounds, we will foster a tradition of creativity with contemporary views, new insights and different ability units that allow us to be extra productive and extra aggressive whereas making a extra optimistic office for all.
By embracing these values, we will fulfil our goal as an organisation and, on the identical time, create actual worth for our prospects. In doing so, we’re enhancing jobseekers’ expertise in trying to find a brand new position, making it simpler for employers to rent the correct expertise and SEEK a greater office.
How do they match into your organization tradition? Inform us slightly extra about it.
Our tradition is constructed on a shared ardour for our goal, prospects, and neighborhood. We search to problem the established order and on attaining actual, tangible outcomes for our prospects at present whereas striving to anticipate what the longer term could maintain in order that we’ve got the agility to assist job seekers and organisations adapt rapidly to modifications.
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It’s a refreshing atmosphere for our individuals. It presents many thrilling alternatives, whether or not you’re new to the workforce or a seasoned chief with many years of expertise.
In Asia, we’ve got a giant ambition to assist 500 million individuals to develop their careers with 5 million organisations by 2025. To attain this, our individuals are the important thing.
We welcome expertise who share the identical beliefs, ardour and zeal and are dedicated to mutual respect for one another as we work in direction of a standard purpose of making a optimistic influence for our prospects and neighborhood.
How do you foster transparency and encourage achievement at SEEK?
We firmly imagine in constructing trusting and significant connections amongst SEEKers in any respect ranges. To foster office transparency, we’ve got launched month-to-month city halls and “Ask Me Something” classes the place workers are inspired to ask the management workforce any questions they might have with the peace of mind of a secure atmosphere to talk up.
Moreover, our workers are inspired to share their ideas and issues anonymously via our bi-annual worker engagement surveys, that are then addressed immediately by the management workforce, and motion is taken to handle any issues that come up.
By dwelling out these practices, we attempt to create an atmosphere the place SEEKers really feel seen, heard, revered, trusted and valued, fostering a powerful sense of unity amongst all workers.
Do you have got a psychological well being coverage? What does that appear to be?
The psychological well being of our workers is a high precedence, and as a part of this dedication, we’ve got an worker help program to assist with life’s challenges. This programme supplies confidential counselling providers the place our workers can search the assistance of educated and certified exterior professionals.
We associate with trusted native service suppliers and canopy the prices immediately in order that our workers do not need to pay out-of-pocket bills. To make sure confidentiality, the invoices despatched to SEEK exclude figuring out info from these searching for assist.
WFH or WFO, or hybrid?
Flexibility has all the time been a basic a part of how we work at SEEK. It’s extra than simply when and the place we work, however extra importantly, it’s about creating an atmosphere that meets the wants of our individuals, totally different groups and the enterprise.
We’ve adopted a hybrid working mannequin the place workers can select to work within the workplace a mean of two to 3 days per week. Though SEEKers worth the flexibleness of working remotely, additionally they worth face-to-face interplay with their colleagues.
That is aligned with findings from a current report we simply launched with Boston Consulting Group, titled What Jobseekers Wish Employers Knew: Unlocking the Future of Recruitment, which discovered that 62 per cent of the respondents in Southeast Asia stated they like to work hybrid, however apparently, solely 11 per cent need totally distant. This means that many individuals nonetheless worth in-person interactions and wish to come collectively a couple of days per week to domesticate deeper connections.
To supply our workers a fair larger work-life stability, we’ve got additionally carried out distant working fashions the place they’ll work remotely from totally different places for as much as 4 weeks per 12 months.
We’ve additionally designed an Ongoing Distant Working coverage for our Know-how, Technique, Product and AI groups. Round half of the roles are eligible to work remotely from any nation in our APAC footprint.
How ought to a tech employee put together for the funding winter?
I really feel for these impacted by the current bouts of tech layoffs. Nonetheless, I might additionally wish to encourage these affected to remain sturdy and that this isn’t the tip. Tech expertise remains to be in demand in sectors reminiscent of banking and insurance coverage. These industries are increasing, they usually want individuals with tech expertise who may also help them advance their development agenda.
It is usually a possibility for them to take inventory and re-evaluate what they need over the subsequent few years and what they worth. Maintain an open thoughts; there are various good alternatives on the market, even when these is probably not those that may instantly come to thoughts.
How do you measure the efficiency of your workers?
Our efficiency overview framework focuses on outcomes and behaviours equally, aiming to allow high quality efficiency conversations and enhance individuals’s expertise at work. This encourages an open tradition of asking for, giving and receiving suggestions, which helps everybody to be curious and proceed to adapt and develop.
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That’s why despite the fact that we solely have mid-year and full-year formal efficiency evaluations, the outcomes of the overview classes are by no means actually a shock as a result of the suggestions is given all 12 months spherical.
Past remuneration outcomes, our efficiency overview framework is carefully linked to a person’s profession, development, and studying alternatives – as a result of we all know that studying by no means stops, irrespective of your degree.
When hiring, will you think about a reasonably expert individual with nice honesty or a extremely expert individual with much less honesty?
Honesty and integrity are basic qualities of nice expertise – they usually aren’t simply restricted to roles that work with individuals or contain dealing with delicate info.
Take software program engineers, for instance. They could have a person contributor position. Nonetheless, suppose they lack honesty and integrity of their work. In that case, they might minimize corners simply to satisfy deadlines, which may result in safety vulnerabilities that influence the corporate’s fame and enterprise.
Therefore, I might rent a reasonably expert individual with a powerful work ethic, which is way more invaluable in the long term, particularly as our tradition prioritises constructing belief as we assist one another to succeed.
Do you encourage ‘intrapreneurship’ at SEEK?
We’re large believers in intrapreneurship, and that’s why we conduct hackathons on a bi-annual foundation, the place SEEKers from throughout the enterprise work collectively to create modern merchandise, ideas, prototypes or enterprise case that helps SEEK to ship our goal.
These concepts needn’t be round one thing large, new and glossy; they is also one thing as sensible as a repair for an current back-office drawback or course of. The goal is to foster a tradition of creativity that drives innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit that’s expensive to us as an organisation.
How do you assist upskilling to your workers?
We’ve a variety of inner and exterior studying and growth alternatives to assist SEEKers in reaching their full potential.
For instance, we organise Careers Day each six months, encouraging SEEKers to maintain their diaries free to concentrate on growing their profession plans and take part in profession growth actions.
Throughout this time, we maintain panel discussions that includes senior leaders sharing their profession journeys, information and expertise. Chosen senior leaders may even present one-on-one personal profession mentoring classes throughout capabilities, geographies and job ranges.
Our engineering workforce has a weekly “Sharpening the Noticed” knowledge-sharing session on Friday afternoons the place members can study from each other on the newest tech-related expertise, foster stronger relationships and construct camaraderie.
Externally, SEEKers also can upskill and reskill anytime with our studying and growth associate, Go1, the world’s largest skilled studying and growth platform, which hosts over 150,000 programs from famend training suppliers. For SEEKers endeavor additional training and growth, we provide paid examine and examination depart.
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