HR as a Business Enabler

Oliver Guo, Head of HR Business Partner and Talent Acquisition, CIMB Singapore

Oliver Guo is currently the Head of HR Business Partner and Talent Acquisition at CIMB Singapore, overseeing the entire candidate and employee life cycle, from recruitment and onboarding to offboarding.

With a background that includes starting as a Graduate Analyst at Merrill Lynch before transitioning into recruitment and HR, Oliver brings a unique perspective to the role. Having experienced the business side before moving into HR, Oliver serves as a true business enabler, bridging the gap between HR and business operations. His work ethos is rooted in thinking like a business leader who specializes in human capital, ensuring HR strategies align with overall business objectives.

Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding

Talent acquisition typically resolves the need for the now but incorporating long-term workforce planning is critical to ensure we protect the livelihood of our employees as well. Experience is what you did in the past; skills is what you can do going forward. For existing employees, this can mean identifying the skills gap between their current role and how the role will be evolving over time and providing them adequate training to upskill and succeed in the eventual role which aligns with business goals. It is the job of HR leaders to ensure this gap is bridged and we avoid the unfortunate ending of lay-offs.

In my opinion, a strong employer brand is even harder to build than a consumer brand for example in fashion given there is no touch-and-feel to add to the experience. Hence, the number one priority should be to look internally and ensure our employees are also our brand ambassadors. That means ensuring employees are well-taken care of and generally are happy working for the organization. On the talent acquisition front, this can lead to candidate referrals from employee and I have seen cases even after the employee left for a different industry, he still referred his contacts to us!

Subsequently, it is then about amplifying our brand presence in the market so we can attract even more candidates regardless active or passive to be aware that we are hiring as well as understand our employee value proposition. Aside from working closely with the organization’s brand and marketing team, it can also be working closely with some of your recruitment agency partners to ensure they represent your organization accurately when recruiting on behalf of the organization.

Strong employer brands were not build in a day so organizations need to conscientiously put in effort to build a strong employer brand that resonates with both active and passive job seekers.

AI in HR and Ethical Considerations

The Golden Rule also called the ethics of reciprocity is essentially the principle of treating others as one would want to be treated by them. This should be one of the main ethical considerations companies keep in mind when using AI-driven tools in HR and recruitment – we need to treat candidates and employees fairly i.e. how we want to be treated ourselves. AI-driven tools are definitely a boon rather than bane but effectively and sensibly harnessing them will be critical in defining their success and stay in the mainstream usage.

“Being great in HR is not about implementing and enforcing policies and procedures, it should be about driving business success through people”

At the end of the day, HR is a people function and candidates/employees appreciate that human touch (and empathy) so organizations need to keep in mind that in considering moving any HR-related work to be supported by AI-driven tools.

Talent acquisition – as with many other HR functions – is both an art and a science from being able to advise the business on the job description and how best to attract suitable candidates to interviewing and assessing candidates’ suitability and fit aside from what is represented on paper in the form of their resumes.

That said, increasingly, organizations use AI-driven tools for talent acquisition for example, virtual interviews fronted by AI analyzing your interview answers transcript and facial expressions to determine your eligibility for a next interview round. Behind this though, the need for the human element remains and judgement calls do have to be made – previously there were reports of AI being the downfall of their own success e.g. hiring with the same biasness due to the perceived success of those previous hires.

So I definitely do see more technology coming into play to better support recruiters in their day-to-day administrative work e.g. interview arrangements and essentially filtering out the first layer of noise for candidate shortlisting to leave recruiters with more time to focus on the value-adding work so HR leaders need to be on the ground paying attention to new technologies and make the necessary recommendations to the organizations as to which technologies to adopt.

HR’s Role in Business Strategy

Aside from technology, HR leaders need to have a good oversight of the talent landscape as well e.g. what candidates are looking for and how can employers meet their needs. Post-Covid, especially for candidates with no or limited financial commitments, their career goals could very well be prioritizing their health and mental wellness i.e. doing what they like rather than in the past, when financial needs rank top. This goes back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which might not be ranked the same way or be a pyramid for that matter i.e. all needs are equally important. This allows organizations to reassess their employee value proposition or to create one that truly attracts talent.

I am a firm believer that HR has a seat at the table and increasingly more business leaders feel the same so besides creating value and showcasing the value we bring, it is also understanding what you hope to contribute to the function.

For me, I want to be a business enabler so it means understanding the business first and HR second; utilizing HR data to understand our employees and turn that into tangible business results; transforming processes and policies that slow the function and business down; setting the right culture that moves the organization in the one and same direction; leveraging AI whilst retaining human judgement to ensure the right human decisions are made – we have to own the decisions.

As someone once said, being great in HR is not about implementing and enforcing policies and procedures, it should be about driving business success through people.

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