Reimagining the Future of Work With HR Technology
By Sherlyn Malit
Last July 29, 2021, I attended the People Management Association of the Philippines’ (PMAP) Annual Conference, particularly, the session entitled “Reimagining the Future of Work with HR Technology.” I was privileged to hear from esteemed panelists such as David Gulliver Go, Chief Human Resources Officer of JG Summit Holdings, Inc.; Floren Joseph Gonzales, People Services Director of Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group at the Coca-Cola Company; and Joe Meritto Buot, Chief Human Resources Officer of Maxicare Healthcare Corporation. The session was moderated by Aditya Gupta, Director for Enterprise Accounts at Darwinbox.
The session was an open discussion about how technology is shaping human resources (HR) now and the future. The panelists shared how their respective organizations see the future of work with HR technology, how they’re preparing for the future, and their personal insights on creating a future-ready organization.
David Gulliver Go shared that JG Summit is in a rare position as the organization belongs to different industries, ranging from airline to property. He believes that the foundational pillars to being future-ready is the organization’s ability to strengthen its identity, look at its core values, and the ability to work from home. Based on data that he shared, 88% of organizations in the APAC region implemented work-from-home arrangements since the pandemic’s onset. Most employees here in the Philippines are satisfied with this setup and, if given a choice, they prefer to work from home.
David also shared that they focused their HR transformation on these three areas:
- Employee Experience. They continuously create programs to improve employee experience across their hybrid workforce. They have also come up with their own system to monitor the health condition of their employees before they go to work.
- Culture. Instilling the organization’s purpose in the remote work mode and building an ecosystem of trust and long-lasting relationships by hosting employee engagement activities.
- Performance Management. He believes that there’s no perfect way to manage performance, but in their case, they started implementing conversational performance reviews, where conversations would be carried out continually. It shows that performance management in the new world of work doesn’t have to be just on annual basis anymore as 58% of organizations opted for more frequent performance management — biannual, quarterly, or monthly reviews. Based on data he shared, 73% of organizations believe that continuous feedback will drive improved performance.
The second panelist, Floren Joseph Gonzales shared that, at Coca-Cola, they were able to introduce five guiding principles of transformation, stating that they needed to redefine “how we lead, work, learn, communicate, and reinforce because our business model is very much person to person.” When it comes to culture, they introduced the “Life at Coke” philosophy. With this philosophy, all initiatives/programs will be anchored on the following — Be Well, Be Inspired, Be Valued, Be Connected, Be Rewarded, and Be Developed.
The last panelist was Joe Meritto Buot of Maxicare Healthcare Corporation, who shared that they did not stop their existing transformation efforts. Projects are still ongoing, including the launch of a recognition program for project leads. Their employee experience team also developed an application to ensure that they can track employees’ entries and exits, as well as their overall health. For their wellness strategy, they introduced the “Maxi Life Wellness Programs.” Based on data gathered from executive and annual checkups, they were able to profile people according to their health conditions and group them into three categories. These categories will serve as their basis for wellness programs being designed for the employees.
Upon hearing insights from HR leaders of successful organizations, I have learned that technology is no longer just an option for HR delivery. As we reimagine the future of work, technology would not only change and shape how we do things in HR, but would also make our humanity shine. In the midst of the pandemic or any crisis that could arise, it is important to continuously improve and transform organizations to successfully create future-ready workplaces. The programs/initiatives that these leaders shared with us allowed us to gain ideas and inspiration for creating a fresh, digital strategy that is anchored in our organization’s identity in preparation for emerging future of work in HR.
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About the author:
Sherlyn is a skilled human resources professional with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Psychology from De La Salle University- Dasmarinas. She considers herself as an old-school type of girl that enjoys staying at home and spending her weekends together with her family. Sherlyn believes that she’s a work-in-progress and desires to make Jesus known and share his love to others.
