JobStreet hosts HR Leaders’ Huddle, promotes goal of HR professionals as strategic business partners

Dynah A. Basuil, PhD, discusses the future of the role of human resources at the HR Leaders’ Huddle.

The human resources industry is experiencing a major sea change, brought about by the various challenges and needs of a growing pool of younger, higher-skilled workers, as well as new business trends. For HR to create value, it must respond to this change as a strategic partner for their companies, informing and influencing long-term business decision-making.

To help HR professionals get into this strategic mindset, recently at the New World Hotel Makati, JobStreet.com Philippines in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Management, hosted the HR Leaders’ Huddle, which sought to outline how HR divisions can evolve into business partners and drive better organizational performance. JobStreet brought together HR professionals in an environment that allowed them networking opportunities, as well as the chance to learn about this budding trend in the HR world.

The HR Leaders’ Huddle was headlined by the presentation of a paper by Ms. Dynah A. Basuil, PhD, Professor at the Leadership and People Management Department of the Asian Institute of Management. Entitled “On the Right Track? Human Capital Management in the Philippines,” Ms. Basuil’s presentation highlighted the changing landscape of the workforce and how it affects HR as a whole.

Ms. Basuil noted that in the last ten years, the workforce of the Philippines has increased by 20.7% or almost 7 million, and the composition of this workforce has experienced a major shift towards high-skill workers, with 63% more higher-skilled workers in 2017 than in the last decade. She also underscored that much of the new workforce is represented by Millennials as well as Generation Z youth, who have unique needs and attributes compared to the previous.

According to Ms. Basuil, this creates a need for HR to change their practices in how they deal with younger workers, who want to be more engaged, and be assigned work that is customized to their talents so that they can better apply themselves to their jobs.

Present during the event are the following: (from left) host and facilitator, Brian Quenbengco; Jobstreet.com’s Sales Director, Noelle Gonzales; SM Investments Corporation’s Vice President of HR, Facilities and Admin, Joann Hizon; Century Properties Grp, Inc.’s Head for HR & Admin, Ritchelle Cordero and JobStreet.com’s Sr. Sales Supervisor, Paul Andrew C. Tuazon.

           She also shares that there is a measurable change in HR function, with a decrease in record-keeping and providing of HR services, and an increase in strategic partnering, developing HR systems, auditing, and controlling.

What does being a strategic business partner look like, then, for HR professionals? These and other questions were explored in a panel discussion that talked about Ms. Basuil’s work, which was composed of Mr. Robin Bradshaw, Country Manager of Cathay Pacific; Mr. Ritchelle Cordero, Group Head for HR and Admin at Century Properties Group, Inc; and Ms. Joanne Hizon, VP for Human Resources at SM Investments Corp.

These seasoned HR professionals agreed that being part of their company’s initiatives from the very beginning, rather than just being an afterthought, is the key for HR professionals to be strategic partners.

JobStreet Sales Director Noelle Gonzales said that the paper and HR Huddle are only the first step in their goal to help partner companies and jobseekers participate in a new strategy-centric Human Resources landscape, in which HR is a strategic business partner. “You heard our panelists talking about the importance of data for HR professional, and that’s where we’re going to be focusing our efforts to help serve the industry. We’ve disseminated a lot of information, mined from JobStreet’s treasure trove of raw data, and we aim to share that with our partner companies’ HR people, providing whatever helps them whether short-term or in the long run. Through our data analytics product, launching very soon, we can provide everything from data in particular demographics, to perhaps hiring requirements for the next couple of years.”