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Many employers face a recruitment crisis: getting skilled people to aid them in realising their goals is nearly impossible to sustain, yet often decision-makers lack insight as to why. Running a workplace where people proactively contribute, give their best and want to stay on board is not an unattainable dream. In fact, the information companies need to address their problems is in the data resources they likely already have. Sometimes, all it takes is a two-step process. Firstly, accepting the fact that an unequally-rewarded workforce isn’t a happy workforce, and secondly, beginning the journey to change the situation.

The message Tech Wire Asia heard from Kylie Baullo, the Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, at HR and payroll services company ADP, on the Tech Means Business podcast was clear and simple on the necessary processes, and with that message, too, was a great deal of reassurance that organisations are not expected to make sudden, overnight corrective gestures. “It’s fine to realise that it’s a journey,” she said. “Beginning that journey is a great place.”

But of course, ensuring the right steps are clear isn’t a case of embarking in a random direction with no clear understanding of either the starting point or the destination. Before setting off, a business has to be aware of the current situation regarding pay, attitudes, staff concerns, employee turnover, parental policies and much more. Surfacing the relevant data is where ADP comes in.

Advantageously, finance, payroll and HR are the three areas of most companies that were fastest to digitise their processes, and it’s here that a great deal of neatly digitised information already exists. Retrieving it in a meaningful format from disparate data sources is challenging, but doing just that is one of the facilities the ADP platform offers. In the case of less digitally advanced companies, installing modern HR and payroll systems could be a firm first step.

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“First and foremost, having the ability to be able to automate and consolidate that data, all of your HR information, and particularly payroll being a source of truth matters. How you’re storing information is critical,” said Ms Baullo. “And then with that, it’s also making sure that you have the ability to consistently normalise and report on the current status.”

There is an increasing pressure on companies to report their compensation structures, Ms Baullo said. The Australian Federal government is starting to flex its muscles more and more:

She said: “The annual reporting [requirement] for WGEA is for more data. In the last three years, [companies have been able to] respond at a very high level, provide some summary data, submit it and move on. What we’re seeing now is not only the level of information that’s being requested in this reporting, but also the level of planning and visibility that is being asked for in terms of policy, and the ability to be able to report on the effectiveness of that policy.

“Organisations with over 100 employees are required to do this reporting now, and the government’s also shared its planned further enhancements to that reporting over the course of the next two years.”

The increasing amount of detailed reporting demanded by legislators gives every Australian organisation an opportunity to address the gender pay gap, a divide in compensation that’s widened in the last two or three years. Many are unaware that they are operating such an unequal workplace, according to Ms Baullo.

She said: “Two out of five employees that that responded to our survey said they don’t believe their company has thought about, or is doing anything right now, to address gender pay gaps.”

But addressing the gender pay gap isn’t an empty gesture, nor should it be seen as needlessly increasing costs. In a broader context, practices like equal pay enshrined in policy are hugely money-saving. “We’re all in a level of competition for the best talent,” said Ms Baullo. “We all want to have absolutely the most engaged workforce, we want to be able to retain, and continue to grow and develop the people that work in our organisations.

“People want to work at inclusive workplaces, they want to be in a workplace that has policies and procedures that are being clear about the obligations that they’re meeting. It is about securing the best talent, retaining the best talent, and it’s also about having a great Employer of Choice brand.

“People are interested in salaries, but more and more frequently, they’re interested in the entire package that comes along with working for an employer, they’re looking at that inclusive workplace; the way in which work is done, as well as the overarching [issue] of what they earn for the work that they do.”

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Employers of any size benefit from developing frameworks that will attract the right workers at any stage of their growth, plus a solid policy framework future-proofs any organisation against increasing levels of compliance and reporting detail.

Ms Baullo said: “If you’re only just starting to measure, you’re not looking to come up with a very complex policy framework out of the gate. It may just be as simple as looking at how you think about your return on maternity leave policies, or your parental leave. And it may be some of those aspects of total compensation that may help you take that first initial step. I think some of the recommendations that come out of WGEA reporting are also very, very helpful. And what I would also say is, if you measure it, it matters, and once you’ve measured it, you understand where your gap is, and you understand what opportunity you have.”

Technological solutions to human problems are sometimes misconstrued as somehow removing the human element, so it’s important to operate from a human-first standpoint. “We work to make sure that our solutions are always designed alongside people in the core of the business, to be really as simple as they possibly can be for people,” said Ms Baullo.

With over 40 years of experience in the Australian business world, ADP is helping companies be better places to work and as a result, be better businesses. Find out more about ADP and the technology that powers people.

The post People power and the gender pay gap in Australia appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Many organisations are striving to find the right blend between remote and office-based work. Employees too can also be divided on the topic, with many eager to be in-person yet some adamant about their desire to work totally remotely. Knowing the actual sentiment in the organisation is the first step towards creating the work environment that will support a company’s people to thrive.

The Disconnect – Why Us and Them Isn’t Working

There’s clearly a disconnect between leadership and employees on this single issue. It may not have led to a mass exodus per se, but the Great Resignation has caused many to consider quite how estranged they have become from their colleagues and the culture of the working environment. Aside from remote vs office friction, employee leavers cited other reasons for leaving, including:

• Dissatisfaction with a management that’s seen as pre-occupied,
• Lack of professional advancement, personal growth, and fair compensation,
• Limited flexibility in working patterns and a lack of workplace benefits.

According to exit survey data from 2021, the many employees (61%) would still recommend their ex-employer’s organisation as a place to work. But while that figure represents a majority, there’s still clearly a lot of progress that can be made. The survey’s detail reveals most ground can be made up in the area of alignment between employers’ decisions and employees’ perceptions of the motivations for those decisions.

The Realignment – How Working Cultures Make the People Great

What should business leaders look out for? How can they better understand the needs of their workforce? Here’s what we know: what can really connect management with their workforce is a better understanding of the parts of the employee experience that are either enabling or hindering both motivation and engagement.

The only way to reach that understanding is to create a feedback strategy that surveys employees on their perceptions and experiences at work. By collecting the right data, and understanding the insights drawn from the results, managers can take action to create meaningful change for their people.

In a typical business, surveys happen at moments that matter  – six months into a new contract or during performance reviews. But more regular communication between colleagues, management, supervisors and employees can help create insights into the workplace that pays dividends to employees and strategy-makers alike.

The often-used ethos of having an “open door policy,” is highly positive, but done right, the workforce’s sentiments should always be apparent to an engaged management. To get to that stage, companies have to go beyond making sure all personnel have a direct line to management and proactively create two-way communication and feedback loops,

An example of using these policies and practices effectively can be seen with THE ICONIC – a Sydney-based Australian fashion and lifestyle retailer. After seeking employee feedback last year, it was discovered that 50% of the organisation’s workforce wanted more structure in conversations between employees and managers. This finding appeared in the bi-annual Engagement Surveys commissioned by Culture Amp. Maria Koralis, director of people and culture at THE ICONIC, went to Culture Amp for recommendations for “… a solution to start with to formalise what we were [already] doing. Culture Amp gave us the tools to set that up,”

A key feature of Culture Amp is the self-reflection tool. With it, THE ICONIC created an objective approach to performance reviews and optimised collaboration with their staff. In a space where employees can express their motivations and feelings clearly and openly, the individual themselves can learn about the best way forward, in accordance and with the support of their line managers. For THE ICONIC, the workforce self-reflection and feedback environment created positive outcomes in management-workforce discussions.

MATCHESFASHION, a personal luxury shopping brand, realised that in the case of smaller teams, connection and culture were easy to foster. However, as the company grew, it became increasingly more important to build a culture of feedback. With Culture Amp’s surveys, reports, and collaboratively-created action plans, MATCHES was able to better focus on what mattered most to its workforce. People felt they were being heard and, critically, became aware of their role in the way the company wanted to drive change. “Culture Amp created a real shift in our culture, ensuring the relationship between People Team and operations evolved,” shared Victoria Ashley, Head of People and Talent at MATCHES.

The Goal – Rise and Thrive With Each Other

Culture Amp promises a holistic approach to drive employee engagement, development and performance. Beyond providing real avenues for employers to help their personnel develop, it can also deepen trust with the workforce and help to create a culture that values feedback.

The Culture Amp platform is where the relationships that are the mainstay of a modern organisation are built. Management can easily gather opinions (“How are we doing?”, “What do you think about our new direction?”), employees can talk openly about how they feel things are progressing, and the empirical data forms actionable insight into the business’s overall strategy all backed by people science and data.

The space for self-reflection for all parties leads naturally to a culture of peer review and an ability to share personal agendas for growth and development right across the company. And thanks to deep integration with the rest of the IT stack, existing tools, like comms platforms, for example, can be brought into play too. That makes the Culture Amp methodologies part of the existing framework in which people work – not a separate space.

Companies using this technology amplify their people’s voices, their management’s choices and in total, empowering organisations to create a better world of work. To learn more about a product built for everyone in your company, reach out to a representative to learn more.

The post It’s Time to Build Your Workplace Beyond Bricks and Mortar appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Although the prevalence of mental health problems in the workforce continues to cause concern at government level across the region, the recent stay-at-home policies of many employers led not to a sudden worsening of the workforce’s mental well-being but rather a leveling out of the numbers of cases – if Singapore is any example¹. Being “locked down” away from the workplace seemed to have done little to negatively affect mental health.

Conversely, the return to work is leading to what has been termed the “Great Resignation.” The full reasons behind this trend have yet to emerge, but it’s not difficult to see that many workers have had the time (and space) to think through their career choices to date. According to a survey taken in 2021² (the Employment Hero “Employee Movement and Retention” survey), the top reasons for leaving a role are a lack of career development (36%), a lack of appreciation or recognition (27%) and a lack of training opportunities (26%).

But the lack of staff development by companies may be less to do with an unwillingness to put coaching and training in place and more to do with the fact that many are simply not made aware of the situation. Workers struggling with mental well-being in the workplace are unlikely to raise their concerns loudly, whether for cultural reasons³ or through fear of losing their jobs. The economic effects of the last two years are not good, after all.

There have been many studies in the past that equate learning and development throughout a career have significantly positive effects on the subjects; positive influences like better mental health, a greater degree of happiness, better engagement with co-workers, family members and society at large. Most studies⁴ are careful to point out that not every individual benefits to the same extent as others.

However, it seems obvious that with evidence of the desire for personal development, it is the forward-thinking employer who will invest now in their people. But what form should this take? Companies have several choices in this regard, but providing direct coaching for key team members may be the most effective strategy.

Academic studies have shown that coaching is highly effective, particularly when compared with other methods⁵ [PDF], where executive coaching is “confirmed to be more effective than the rest of the techniques analyzed.” By properly equipping leaders and decision-makers in critical parts of the business, companies can drive growth and create a more dynamic approach to the organization’s future.

The nature of coaching in business settings is that it is formulated as a bespoke package for each recipient. But thanks to technology, companies can now access coaching resources and engage staff one-to-one with a worldwide network of expert, qualified and impactful coaches. Instead of choosing from a pool of coaching professionals limited to the local city or area, today’s coaching applications provide the combination of directed, bespoke training at the coachee’s convenience in formats appropriate to today’s digital lifestyles.

The technology in question is used by companies worldwide to put business executives in touch with the developmental resources they need today. In combination with a dynamic and engaged workforce, there’s little stopping the coachees from leading their business’s success.

About CoachHub

CoachHub uses artificial intelligence to match individuals with more than 3,500 certified business and well-being coaches in 70 countries across six continents. Coaching sessions are

available in more than 60 languages. The company has more than 300 employees from 42 nationalities across Europe, North America, and Asia.

(1) https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/poor-mental-health-stable-2020-national-health-young-adults-2322476

(2) https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2021/11/28/has-the-great-resignation-hit-malaysia

(3) https://synapse.koreamed.org/articles/1017812

(4) https://www.jstor.org/stable/4127165

(5) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320259963_Is_executive_coaching_more_effective_than_other_management_training_and_development_methods

The post How Businesses Can Leverage Coaching for Better Performance appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Employee engagement is key to a company’s productivity as engaged workers are usually the most productive workers. In addition, they tie their personal achievements with their companies’ success, so they are more invested in the success of the business and are more likely to stay.   

What’s causing the Great Resignation?

According to a recent Gallup study, engaged workers are 30% less likely to seek new employment; the number jumped to 74% for actively disengaged workers in 2021. It reported that only 36% of US employees are currently engaged in their work and workplace. It is not difficult to see why ‘The Great Resignation’ or ‘The Big Quit’ is happening now following the pandemic’s impact on people’s life situations and priorities.

“Productivity and engagement are two sides of the same coin,” HR and business leadership expert Josh Bersin said at Enboarder EDGE 2020, a virtual event held last year. “You don’t make people happy and then expect them to perform. It’s the other way around. You give them a situation […] where they can perform well, and then they become happy”.

Distanced but not disengaged

With more employees working remotely or choosing to have a hybrid work-office mix, the workforce is becoming distributed, so individuals are distanced from each other. Employers must be more aware and empathetic of their employees to prevent disengagement from arising. Before designing a strategy that aligns talent optimization with business priorities, they must first know what’s going on with their people. It needs to be easy for people to get in touch and have a safe space to share their concerns promptly. Fortunately, there are tools available that allow organizations to connect, communicate and orchestrate people better to craft a more human-centric culture and strategy, such as Enboarder. 

“When your company has an interruption, or your business unit, or your team or your project, your most important skill is in enabling the people, the team, the organization itself to pull you out of that problem,” Bersin said during his Enboarder EDGE 2020 session. “You can’t do it yourself as an HR person or a leader – we have to allow other people to do that with us. And that’s why employee experience is so important.”

Enboarder EDGE 2021 

Enboarder was established in 2015 and now counts over 360 customers, including Shopify, McDonald’s, Cisco Meraki, Scentre Group, EA Games, Canva, and LVMH. The platform has gone beyond being used for onboarding — more than 40% of its customers deploy it for other uses, like ensuring Covid-19 measures are communicated, arranging parental leave, and reboarding returning employees.

This month, Enboarder EDGE 2021 gathers more Experience-Driven Geniuses to share their insights on harnessing the power of human connections for business success. In addition, the free three-episode streaming experience will be launching the People Activation Revolution – an entirely new way to think about how we work in a reality where remote and hybrid work is the new normal. Episode 1 of EDGE 2021 goes live on 19 October. Register and check out the viewing time for your region here.

The post Employee experience front and centre for new HR era appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

A Microsoft global survey released in March found 41% of employees will consider leaving their current employer this year, and 46% are likely to move because they can now work remotely. It also found nearly one in five respondents say they believe their employer doesn’t care about their work-life balance. With job churn becoming a significant risk, HR must cultivate a business culture and community based on empathy and technology support.

HCM APAC President at Rizing Mike Ellis said there are two aspects that HR is considering as companies are starting to return to the office: how the people are coping and how HR can serve the best interest of both the business and the people.

“From the first aspect, HR puts a lot of emphasis on (employees’) wellbeing and mental health. I think there’s a lot of shock and apprehension. We’ve almost settled into two years of being remote, not being around people, and suddenly you are around people,” Ellis explained to Tech Wire Asia in an interview recently. “They’ve had to adjust to being remote and dealing with different things, so we can’t expect them just to drop everything and run back into the office.”

Click the image to download the ebook “Keeping employees engaged in a new world of work”. It gives more information on how to keep employees engaged and productive in the face of dramatic workplace disruption.

Ellis continued: “The other aspect of it is, do we want them to? Is it effective having people in the office? Or do we now look at interactions in the office as being more of a collaboration and team-building/sharing type of activity, rather than ‘I need you to be at your desk from nine to five, so I know that you’re working?’”

These concerns lead to HR taking on more responsibilities as they navigate the corporate, social, digital and even legal transformations. It is a whole new ball game for the human resources department, from retaining loyalty to attracting and hiring new talents.

“We definitely see not just increased workload for HR, but also the changing nature of what they’re being asked to do,” Claire Badger, talent practice director at Rizing, told Tech Wire Asia. “More than ever before, they’re being involved in things like organization design and looking at the best ways to structure the organization, particularly with remote working and how that would look.”

“There’s a lot of different information that HR is being asked to capture or maintain now. Being the gatekeeper, it has to ensure that the business has the information needed to make the right decisions.”

Feeling of isolation and losing the sense of belonging are major demotivating factors for remote workers. As much as technology can be alienating, it too can be used to create a caring and inclusive work atmosphere for the employees wherever they are.

“There’s a need more than ever to have key touchpoints with your employees. You’re not meeting face to face regularly, so there needs to be a way to build that human interaction into the processes you’re running. An (HR) system can help you do that,” Badger said.

Click the image to download the ebook “Keeping employees engaged in a new world of work”. It gives more information on how to keep employees engaged and productive in the face of dramatic workplace disruption.

Rather than handing out the occasional engagement surveys, companies can do more regular “pulse checks” to help address employee concerns, like managing stress and taking time off. “Being able to get those regular real-time sorts of feedback from employees helps managers to have the right conversations with the employees,” she said.

Aside from that, a modern HR system can house more functionality to enhance the employee experience, from rewards to upskilling. For example, more companies are expanding their learning catalogues. “Companies are offering all sorts of different learning channels that they may not have considered before by providers such as LinkedIn Learning. They’re offering employees development opportunities which might not even be related to the business that they work in,” she said. “It’s giving them some other things to think about when they’re stuck in their home, and they can’t get out. It builds on the value proposition that they have for their employees.”

The ebook “Keeping employees engaged in a new world of work” gives more information on how to keep employees engaged and productive in the face of dramatic workplace disruption. It looks at HR’s challenges and how modern HR software can be part of the solution.

Rizing provides consulting and technical services leveraging SAP platforms to enable businesses to achieve a truly intelligent enterprise. Its proprietary apps, such as Synchrony People and Lyra, extend SAP Successfactors’ functionality to optimize the new functions expected of HR.

It is said that every great relationship begins with a conversation. Kickstart it with a Rizing expert who truly understands the business issues for HR and how to solve them.

The post The conversation, work-life balance and more: post-pandemic HR in discussion appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Historically, many SMEs and startups still struggle to stay afloat, even before the pandemic turned our lives upside down.

As it turns out, one of the major reasons why startups fail is not merely due to the lack of funds, but an inability to control funds in an effective manner. 

According to a US Bank study, about 82% of small businesses fail due to cash flow problems brought about by the lack of strong accounting and bookkeeping processes. 

This is due to poor inventory management, delays in the payment of bills as well as improper budgeting, leading to unnecessary expenditures. 

Five reasons why automated accounting is great for SMEs

Saves time, leading to higher productivity

Startups are often already made up of small teams as it is, if not one single entrepreneur, making the process of managing funds a burden in terms of time and effort, thus becoming a hindrance to productivity. With an automated accounting system, the platform or software does the work for you, so smaller teams can focus their efforts on what truly matters — higher level work.

More accurate data

Let’s be real — humans are notorious for being error-prone. But that’s normal, as the saying goes — we’re only human. This is why automated solutions are used — to help with reducing human error. 

Almost-instantaneous data retrieval

Decades ago, financial information was physically stored in multiple files and folders — and for some, across multiple rooms. Now, many have digitalized — somewhat, with excel sheets and perhaps even google sheets. 

But it’s still a manual process in that multiple sheets have to exist, and be stored locally or on the cloud — retrieval is not as simple as an extensive search function built into an accounting platform.

It’s much more convenient to be able to access all the information through an automated accounting system with a simple user interface with advanced search features — even better if it’s stored on the cloud. 

Online storage and retrieval

According to Spendesk, a major burden for many companies and accountancy firms is the need to store paper records for 7-10 years. Thankfully, government tax offices around the world are slowly getting on board with e-receipt storage – digital copies of documents instead of paper files.

Automated accounting software, however, lets you input a received financial document into your company’s ledger, then automatically store the proof of purchase in an appropriate folder. Every document is then accessible to you no matter where you are if it has cloud storage.

Allows for professional development

While this management of funds may be seen as a mundane but necessary part of work for large corporations with a dedicated finance department, the tedious paperwork and time-consuming administrative processes can be an almost insurmountable challenge for SMEs. 

However, modern software unlocks the full potential of finance teams — even accountants. They can now easily move past many of the tedious, manual tasks they’ve often been forced to endure, and finance professionals can focus on management accounting, strategy, and improving communications.

Automated accounting helps accountants, not hinders them

With accurate, up-to-date data on hand, accountants can be the trusted, impactful business partners their companies need.

According to Ishi Singh, Founder of Singapore-based automated accounting startup Counto, “This shake-up in the accounting space is new but very much approaching, with advancements in AI presenting opportunities for firms to reimagine an accounting world where the role of a bookkeeper becomes closer to that of a personal Chief Financial Officer.” 

Singh, a veteran with over 20 years in the business, tech and accounting scene, highlights that their AI-led platform Counto was born out of emerging industry disruptions, where he realised the need for startups to gain a strong hold of their finances in order to thrive and scale, amidst the increasingly software-driven world.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL SKILLS GAP IN APAC?

Jamilah Lim | 25 August, 2021

Offering bookkeeping, tax, and CFO services together with insightful analytics to help companies run and grow their businesses, Counto offers its clients access to their data anytime and anywhere with no limitations. Through AI, it helps automate the manual aspects of accounting for businesses by optimising processes, producing accurate monthly reports and even generating useful financial insights all at affordable prices.

As written by Eva Nagarajah for PWC, research by McKinsey Global Institute found that, “Although going digital is the new buzzword and consumers have largely gone digital, the digitization of jobs is still in the very early stages, even for companies that are at the forefront of digital spending”.

As such, it is imperative that accountants be skilling upwards to negate the risks of obsolescence. “As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and present in all aspects of businesses, accounting professionals can expect a shift towards more strategic and analytical roles,” stated recruitment firm Randstad Singapore.

According to Toh Joo Lee, former accounting and finance manager with Robert Walters Malaysia, the automation of accounting transactions is inevitable and accountants have to constantly stay relevant by providing value-add to the business.

Competition may be stiffer with lesser accounting jobs in the market over time as a result of automation thus there is a demand for higher quality accountants who are able to provide sound business judgment, proposals while still upholding accuracy.

The post Can automated accounting software and platforms help SMEs? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The irony for decision-makers is that employees are any company’s biggest investment and greatest asset, yet they remain one of its highest costs. A new piece of IT hardware procured at great expense wouldn’t be mistreated as a matter of course from the day it arrived. For some, doing the same with people appears to be OK.

Of course it’s all entirely avoidable, and study after study shows that positive, happy employees perform at their very best, day in, day out, for (literally) a lifetime, given half a chance. Conversely, getting it wrong can wreck the business’s chances at the success that most seek.

Starting Early

Like comparing options from multiple retailers before a big purchase, research and investment starts early with new employees. Vetting applicants and interviewing candidates takes time and money, plus there are plenty of other elements to get into place. Training and mentoring, for example, must be planned from a purely operational perspective, plus there are the pastoral elements too — introductions, tours of the premises, a managed settling in process for the new arrivals — in all, it’s a great deal to consider.

Certain parts of that process have evolved a great deal over the last few years. There are obvious changes in work patterns (remote vs on-premises), but even before the COVID pandemic, technology had begun to alter pre-onboarding, onboarding itself and ongoing development, too.

Some IT-related changes have come from the adoption by organisations of digital processes, like digital signing and witnessing of contracts, for example. But the overall experience of a new employee is much influenced by the ubiquity of technology in everyday life.

A prime example of this natural tendency towards the digital might be a young employee given an A4 arch folder comprising a “welcome pack.” To a digital native raised in the smartphone era, that’s not the best experience, nor is it a particularly promising start to a new career.

Hybrid onboarding

The cultural shift in society outside the workplace needs to be reflected in the workplace. Therefore, using technology platforms to onboard new staff seems appropriate, and it’s certainly highly relevant at a time in the evolution of work where the lines between home and office are blurring.

Technology delivering onboarding digitally serves the purpose of encompassing both traditional “welcome to the office” and the newer “wave hello at the camera to your new colleagues” onboarding scenarios.

There’s a great deal more on offer from onboarding technologies than substituting the traditional welcome handshake for a digital equivalent. The same platforms can be used to deliver engaging, exciting mentoring and help via rich, experiential media, for example. Plus, multiple collaboration tools at the fingertips of the new starter and their colleagues can start friendships, build bonds, and start the new hire on the right course faster and with less need for managerial oversight.

There’s little need to train new hires in the physical workings of digital platforms, if the creators of the onboarding suites stick to the norms of interface design that are an everyday part of life. That leaves the field clear to have a software platform that makes immediate and positive connections between the newbie, the organisation and the people in it.

Done well, those connections develop, building excitement for the new career — irrespective of whether the process is all online, all in-person, or some of each.

Not just the money

The big technology companies know well that the very best employees are looking for more than a high salary. That’s why companies like Apple and Google work so hard (and spend so big) on exciting campuses, employee environments and everyday perks of the job. Candidates of the Microsoft caliber pick and choose an employer based on the working experience.

The lessons other organisations and sectors can learn are apparent. Starting off and developing new hires needs to be positive, engaging, and exciting. Just a decade ago, achieving this via technology for remote or hybrid workforces was impractical. But in 2021, technology can not only deliver great onboarding experiences but add more to the processes than its traditional elements ever could.

Staff who are brought into the company smoothly and who are quickly up to speed and comfortable in their surroundings will outperform those left standing at the (real or virtual) threshold, wondering what to do next. Getting onboarding right isn’t especially difficult, considering suppliers of dedicated platforms offer experiential onboarding systems right now.

Engaging early in the new employee’s progress into the organisation and keeping up the positive, helpful, and broad-reaching support will create a body of workers who will do well by their employer. Every employee deserves more than a workplace that is just good enough not to complain about. With systems like that from Enboarder, organisations can make a difference in their people’s lives and an extraordinary difference to the bottom line too.

The post Getting the Basics Right: Onboarding Done Right in the Hybrid Workplace appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

As reported by TechCrunch, Derek Shen, who was key to the company’s 2014 launch into China, has resigned and will be leaving his post by the end of the month. The company’s head of international engineering, Francis Tang, will be stepping up as interim president of China until it finds a replacement.

Since its launch in China, LinkedIn has received much criticism surrounding the censorship of its China-based users, which was a part of the deal to launch in China.

Head of LinkedIn's China operations, Derek Shen announced his exit from the company today. pic.twitter.com/AJ3MOZvCvT

— ChinaTechInsights (@CNTechInsights) June 23, 2017

“It’s clear to us that in order to create value for our members in China and around the world, we will need to implement the Chinese government’s restrictions on content, when and to the extend required,” said LinkedIn in a statement.

In a release tied to Shen’s departure, LinkedIn shared exactly how integral he was to the company’s move into China, despite its controversial nature. The statement also stressed that it’ll push on in China and beyond in the coming days.

“[Derek] has transformed the business from a startup into a viable business in a position of strength and creating economic opportunity for millions of professionals and companies…LinkedIn will continue to ensure its China business operates with the autonomy it needs to create great local product experiences and is also set up to leverage the scale and expertise more effectively in the APAC region and globally,” the company said.

SEE ALSO: LinkedIn celebrates crossing 100 million-member mark in Asia Pacific

LinkedIn’s user base in China, according to China Daily, has reached 32 million to date. While it seems to be a small portion of its global 500 million registered users, if you consider that LinkedIn has grown its China base up from 4 million prior to its localization strategy – then you can see what an impact Shen has made on the organization.

Other social networks have had varying censorship experiences in China. The likes of Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat are currently blocked in the country, with Pinterest recently being added to that list, which makes LinkedIn’s growth in China rather noteworthy.

The post LinkedIn waves goodbye to China chief, Derek Shen appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Lu, formerly a NASA software engineer and part of the marketing team at Amazon, joined Baidu in 2015 to take charge of its content ecosystem business group. According to China Money Network, this group includes Baidu Music, Baidu Novel, Baidu Games, Baidu Post, Baidu Know (a question-answer site similar to Quora), and Baidu Baike.

Baidu Alliance, which is the largest advertising network in the country and accounts for up to 70 percent of Baidu’s traffic and revenue, is also part of Lu’s group.

SEE ALSO: Baidu launches its first commercial AI product, home robot Xiaoyu

Lu said he would stay in the Internet industry, but it is not known what his next move will be.

In November 2016, Li Mingyuan, Baidu’s youngest vice-president and potential successor to chief executive Robin Li, resigned after an internal investigation revealed conflicts of interest surrounding the involvement of a different firm that Baidu had acquired.

According to Fortune, Mingyuan – who was dubbed the “prince” of Baidu at the age of 32 – stepped down and a memo was sent to Baidu employees saying he was involved in “huge’ economic dealings with a person in charge of a separate company”. It did not, however, go into details about the transaction or the name the company in question.

Baidu Vice President James Lu Steps Down https://t.co/gdGXk1RuaR pic.twitter.com/924F5SupSJ

— China Film Insider (@china_film) May 30, 2017

Mingyuan posted a statement on his WeChat account saying his dealings were not “dishonest”, but he was taking full responsibility for this “misunderstanding”.

“Baidu is the company that trained me and the house I grew up in. [I] never ever thought of doing anything immoral,” he said.

In March, Baidu lost four more executives from its Autonomous Driving Unit and its artificial intelligence unit. Andrew Ng, Wang Jin, James Peng and Lou Tiancheng all departed from the company to seek new opportunities.

The post Baidu bids goodbye to VP James Lu, latest in string of executive losses appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Ramco’s HCM on Cloud solution and their Global Payroll offering has more than 450 customers across the globe. HCM on Cloud offers a dynamic approach to workplace management that is modern and agile, while still ensuring employees are engaged with the company’s activities. The solution combines automation and intuition to create an unparalleled and smooth user experience, something that is of great value in today’s modern workforce. In Ramco’s whitepaper titled ‘The Modern Workforce’, Senior HR Professional and Thought Leader Cara Reil wrote: “The employee of today is expressing their desire for freedom and fluidity in the workplace… However, the needs and expectations of these workers also vary greatly across the most generationally-diverse workforce in history.”

This shift in the mindset of today’s working population calls for an overhaul in the way businesses survey their employees and gather information. Ramco’s empsense helps companies collect employee insights to give businesses real-time information into how employees are feeling, so that leaders can make informed decisions on how to improve the work environment. Employees are also taken care of right from the start – Ramco HCM keeps track of courses, modules, and programs that are essential for the workforce, and also maintains training calendars, records participant assessments, and stores faculty and participant feedback. Its intuitive systems identify training needs by matching job requirements with an employee’s abilities, skill-set gaps, and qualifications.

Ramco aims to streamline the processes involved in day-to-day working life, including attendance tracking and leave management. Gone are the days of manual clock-ins – with Ramco HCM, employees can simply clock in via self-service access on mobile. Most recently, the system has started offering clients an option to record NFC and GPS-based time and attendance to keep track of various employees at every level. This feature is particularly useful for businesses with a workforce that is scattered across the globe, or for those who need to track employee movements in highly secure working environments. This gives employees a hassle-free method of clocking in, while providing employers with real-time, seamless accounting of attendance data for payroll processing. Ramco is also implementing conversational Chatbots, that employees are free to use as a virtual assistant to increase efficiency and improve overall employee welfare. Right from leave balance to checking package status, Ramco chatbots can be leveraged for any industry be it Aviation, Logistics or Retail.

Reputed for its unified payroll processing system, Ramco enables companies to run their entire payroll on a single platform. Some of the companies in the APAC region who trust Ramco Payroll are Panasonic, Allegis and Adecco.

Every HR professional knows that the key to running a smooth department is to plan, plan and plan – and Ramco knows this too. With their Workforce Planning, Career Planning, and Succession Planning modules, a business’ HR department feels well on top of things and can successfully take care of each and every employee to help the company reach its highest potential. Ramco’s goal is to give businesses a competitive edge by providing a speedy, agile solution that takes into consideration an evolving workforce.

Find out more here

The post Building a Smarter Workforce with future-ready HCM software appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.