The CHRO Point of View: Asia PacificEmployee experiences drive business value

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Global OverviewThe Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is fast becoming a driver of change and accelerator of digital transformation. And a select group of CHROs are leading the way. They are transforming the employee experience through innovative technologies that increase productivity, improve corporate results, and engage workers. As a result, they are winning the war for talent.

ServiceNow commissioned Oxford Economics to survey 500 CHROs about the changing nature of the job and its impact on business performance. Respondents are based worldwide, and represent a broad range of B2B and B2C sectors. This report highlights the key findings among the CHROs polled in Asia-Pacific: Australia and New Zealand (45 CHROs combined), Japan (45), and Singapore (45).

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Key Insights:CHROs in the Asia Pacific countries surveyed (Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand) are ahead of their peers in other countries at driving digital transformation to improve the employee experience in their organizations.In particular, the survey results show CHROs in Japan have a clear vision for building a digital HR function, although many are slow to invest in the technology required to make that vision a reality. More than those polled anywhere else, CHROs in Japan prioritize attracting and retaining talent; they have a deep commitment to improving the employee experience; and they are more supported by C-suite leadership in prioritizing the employee experience.

Asia Pacific CHROs value employee experience most. CHROs in Asia Pacific are more likely than global counterparts to prioritize the employee experience: Three years ago, 24% were digitizing parts of the employee experience, vs. 21% in Europe and just 4% in North America, and 33% emphasized creating an amazing employee experience (vs. just 12% in North America).

As a result, Asia Pacific CHROs slightly lead the world in saying their employee experience is perceived as “significantly” or “somewhat” better than their competitors (67% in Asia Pacific vs. 54% in North America and 66% in Europe).

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CHROs say the HR function is a driver of digital transformation

CHROs say their employee experience is better than others

CHROs say they have built a workforce to meet future business objectives to a meaningful extent

Asia Pacifi c

Asia Pacifi c

Asia Pacifi c

Europe

Europe

North America

North America

North America

67%

43%

59%

66%

56%

54%

26%

54%

In Asia Pacific, the high value CHROs place on the employee experience is shared by senior leadership.

CHROs in Asia Pacific are roughly on par with their counterparts in North America and Europe in saying CEOs hold them accountable for the employee experience strategy (67% in Asia Pacific vs. 63% in Europe and 60% in North America), and CHROs in Asia Pacific also lead their colleagues in Europe and North America in harnessing data and analytics to improve decision making, with 60% of Asia Pacific CHROs saying data-driven decision making is important, compared with 44% in North America and 54% in Europe.

As a result of these priorities and attitudes, the success of CHROs in Asia Pacific in competing with other companies for top talent is second to none (62% in Asia Pacific say they are “successful” or “very successful” vs. 50% for North America and 60% for Europe).

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Within each Asia Pacific country polled, however, the level of influence and impact among CHROs varies.

Japan: Committed to improving employee experienceJapan-based CHROs are ahead in many measures of digital transformation

CHROs in Japan lead their peers in several areas:

84% say their role has grown strategic in the past three years vs. 74% of others around the world

22% use an HR platform that systematizes the automation of many HR processes and collaboration with other business functions, and communicates information directly to employees vs. 14% of others

87% say their HR technology allows them to improve the onboarding process vs. 64% of others

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“ The war for talent is an everyday affair for us. Over the years, we have always been proactive and progressive in adopting technology. We are now looking into digital HR in order to attract and retain talent, and we are definitely in much better shape to compete and face future challenges.”

–Aileen Tan, Group CHRO, Singtel Telecommunications Ltd.

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They are focused on solutions to improve employee experience:

80% say a platform that streamlines cross-functional collaboration would drive productivity and improve the employee experience vs. 67% of others

Most have not made substantial investment to achieve their HR vision:

Just 2% say they are investing in analytics technologies to a substantial or major degree today, vs. 16% of others

They have automated 31% of HR tasks and processes, on average, on par with the rest of the world

But investment is expected to increase:

31% plan to invest in Big Data over the next three years vs. 16% of others

42% plan to automate onboarding in three years vs. 27% of others

40% plan to digitize retention processes in the next three years vs. 23% of others

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Australia and New Zealand: Room for improvement.

CHROs in Australia and New Zealand lag behind their peers in Singapore and Japan in their effectiveness at using technology to create a positive employee experience and positioning the CHRO as a strategic member of the organization. For example, 16% say they do not use technology in a meaningful way, compared with 2% in Japan and 9% in Singapore. ANZ-based CHROs are also less likely to say the HR function is a driver of digital transformation at their company (47% in ANZ vs. 64% in Japan and 64% in Singapore).

Singapore: Up and coming.Singapore-based CHROs are more advanced than peers across the region in digitizing the employee experience: They are more likely to say their core role three years ago was making HR workflows more digital and efficient (38% in Singapore vs. 29% in ANZ and 18% in Japan). However, this group of CHROs was significantly less successful at retaining talent than competitors in the region (31% in Singapore vs. 51% in ANZ and 58% in Japan).

“ We find that if we can get people connected to a business for more than two years, they stay for quite a long time... and we see a really strong correlation between successful on-boarding of employees and retention rates.”–Neil Trembath, Chief People and Technology Officer, Ausenco

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Progress on the HR digital journey.To track how CHROs in Asia Pacific are advancing on their journeys to improve the employee experience, we defined nine criteria that translate into three levels of maturity:

Level 1 organizations could be more effective in using technology, while primarily focused on the delivery of core HR tasks and processes.

Level 2 CHROs are responsible for driving corporate performance and are beginning to deliver a stronger employee experience, with the goal of improving organizational culture and securing the best talent.

Level 3 CHROs are leaders who are optimizing how the HR function operates to more effectively utilize resources and transform the employee experience so that it becomes an important lever for creating business value.

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“ We embarked on a journey to streamline and consolidate all of our HR data onto one global platform, and that makes it possible for us to standardize rather than customize our HR processes. We call that ‘borrowed agility’ and it gives us the ability to move very, very quickly.”

–Aileen Tan, Group CHRO, Singtel Telecommunications Ltd.

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As a whole, Asia Pacific is on par with other regions of the world in the proportions of each level. Globally, Level 1s represent 74% of the total, Level 2s 18%, and Level 3s just 8%. In Asia Pacific 75% are in Level 1, 17% in Level 2, and 8% are in Level 3. By comparison, in Europe 74% are in Level 1, 18% are in Level 2, and 8% are in Level 3; and in the North America 76% are in Level 1, 18% are in Level 2, and 6% are in Level 3.

CountryNumber of

Level 3sProportionof Level 3s

Singapore 2 5%

Australia/New Zealand 3 6%

Japan 7 16%

Level 3 CHROs by Country

Within Asia Pacific, Japan had the highest proportion of Level 3s (16%). Globally, France had the same proportion of Level 3s. In Singapore, 4% of CHROs are rated at Level 3, and in ANZ 4% are Level 3s.

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Winning the war for talent.CHROs who come closest to meeting all of the criteria for Level 3 are well positioned to attract and retain top talent. Those characteristics include:

1 Driving corporate performance and increasing employee productivity

2 Prioritizing the creation of a digital, consumerized employee experience in three years

3 Focusing on at least one of the following: Contributing to organizational strategy, contributing to corporate performance, digitizing parts of the employee experience

4 Agreeing digital technology that delivers more personalized, seamless employee experiences drives quantifiable productivity gains across the business

5 Agreeing that employees across the business frequently work with other departments to meet their HR needs

6 Adopting HR technology that allows the company to improve the employee experience

7 Being satisfied with the onboarding process for new employees the organization has in place

8 Assessing your HR function as effective at building a healthy organizational culture

9 Customizing the HR experience for individual workers

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More HR functions in Japan qualify as Level 3 organizations than in most countries, primarily because of their leadership’s focus on talent and culture.

76% of CHROs in Japan say their organizations are effective at building a healthy organizational culture (vs. 71% in Australia/New Zealand, 60% in Singapore, 62% in Europe, and 68% in North America)

58% of Japan-based CHROs say they’re successful or highly successful in retaining talent (vs. 51% in Australia/ New Zealand, 31% in Singapore, 49% in Europe, and 46% in North America)

Building a healthy organizational culture

Successful, or highly successful in retaining talent

Australia/New Zealand

Australia/New Zealand

Singapore

Singapore

Europe

North America

North America

Europe

Japan

Japan

71%

51%

60%

31%

62%

46%

68%

49%

76%

58%

Japan leads not only Asia Pacifi c, but the world in:

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Conclusion:CHROs in Asia Pacific are partnering with senior business leaders to drive transformation in HR, focused on harnessing technology to improve the employee experience. While individual countries in the region are progressing toward the digital future at different rates, Asia Pacific HR organizations are typically enjoying greater success than their global counterparts in building a workforce that meets future business objectives.

They are focusing their budgets on advanced technology that fuels increased collaboration, engagement, and job satisfaction—and they are being rewarded not only by lower employee attrition rates but also more prominent roles in the C-suite and greater responsibilities for organizational strategy.

CHROs agree or strongly agree that attracting and retaining talent is a top strategic goal

CHROs harnessing data and analytics to improve decision making

Australia/New Zealand

Europe

Singapore

North America

Europe

North America

Japan

Asia Pacifi c

82%

54%

76%

44%

78%

78%

93%

60%

Download The Global CHRO Point of View:Read the full report detailing the CHRO’s journey to greater impact and a stronger employee experience.

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