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Matthew Chapman and Stefanie Cross-Wilson Speak at Corporate Executive Board

The Chapman Consulting Group CEO, Matthew Chapman, and International President, Stefanie Cross-Wilson, were asked to present for the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) ‘Ask the Expert’ webinar series on 25 August. The CEB is the world’s leading member-based advisory company, and their mission is to help members to unlock the potential of organisations and leaders by capitalising on drivers of business performance.

With an audience of Asia Pacific and U.S. based HR Leaders, global recruitment experts Matt and Stefanie provided an overview of the current ‘Megatrends in Global Human Resources,’ outlining the following five key trends that they are seeing in the HR market today:

  1. More of Companies’ Human Capital Focus is on Emerging and Rapid Growth Markets: As ‘emerging markets’ evolve, Asia matures, and Latin America and Africa rise in importance, the definition of what an emerging market entails is becoming less clear. We are seeing HQ’s needing more visibility in country, while simultaneously emerging and ‘growth’ market talent is becoming more expensive, and choosier, than ever before. Progressive companies are embracing these changes and are utilising the expertise of those who have built immature regions before, hiring those with international experience, and creating HR hubs in key cities with close proximity to growth markets.
  2. Competition to Attract top HR Talent in Emerging/Growth Geographies Continues to Intensify: ‘Elite’ talent today has the most choice we have ever seen, and costs are rising in growth markets. The cost of top HR leaders in China and Singapore is now ahead of the U.S, and India and Brazil are moving in that direction as well. HR leaders can expect a 30% pay increase for a move, even in secondary cities, which has in turn put pressure on talent and rewards functions to retain top talent. We are seeing progressive companies meet this challenge by ensuring they ‘hire right in the first place,’ while recognising that the most difficult HR talent to find are those who can drive scale within a multinational context.
  3. Large {nolink}U.S.{/nolink} Multinationals are Not Necessarily Seen as Better: These companies are now often seen as a good stepping stone to acquire credibility and key skills, as opposed to a long-term career choice. High profile failures of some large organisations have reduced trust, making local multinationals in regions like Asia a promising alternative. Forward thinking U.S. multinationals are combatting this by leveraging their competitive advantages (technology, products, geographic footprint) to attract talent. They are also ensuring U.S. based global HR leadership is internationally experienced, as well as localising specialist talent and rewards functions.
  4. Catering to Top HR Talent is Becoming More Complex: Companies have realised that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to total rewards is not working — what is needed is a global framework with local customisation and execution. It is becoming increasingly important to differentiate on non-monetary factors when it comes to {nolink}benefits{/nolink}, and to recognise that a ‘benefit’ in one part of the world may not be important in another region.
  5. Tomorrow’s Top HR Leaders are Embracing Technology, Data and Analytics Today: There is significantly more data available to HR leaders for decision making, and LinkedIn has been a ‘game changer,’ driving the growth and development of internal Talent Acquisition teams. Smart companies are building smarter HR processes to harness this data to their advantage. They also understand that data and the resulting analytics only matter if it is translated into smart and actionable business and HR insights.

The presentation concluded with an interactive question and answer session including thought provoking questions, which resulted in engaging discussion. All participants agreed that the five global HR trends identified would have a significant impact in the coming months. It will be interesting to watch these trends and their effects, on the HR profession as the market develops.

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