People development driving workforce transformation As organisations continue to develop key strategies for 2024, a focus on their employees is unlikely to be far from the minds of many HR leaders. By: Shawn Liew | November 27, 2023 More than 100 HR and business leaders participated in HRM Asia's CHRO Malaysia 2023, which took a deep dive into key workforce and talent trends. As the approaching new year brings about new challenges and opportunities alike, forward-looking leaders who are looking to build strategies that will allow their organisation to thrive in 2024 would do well to adopt a people-focused approach. For the more than 100 HR and business leaders who converged at the Hilton Petaling Jaya, CHRO Malaysia 2023, organised by HRM Asia, provided a timely platform to share best practices and learn the latest insights that are likely to drive workforce transformation. Kicking off the event with his keynote address, Thomas Mathew, Group CEO, Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp), highlighted Malaysia's changing talent landscape and offered three main thrusts that can be utilised to drive the country's talent strategy. Firstly, optimise Malaysian talent, because the Malaysian talent pool is the most vital and sustainable source of talent for now and the future, said Mathew. Next, attract and facilitate global talent, because the inflow of global talent complements the local talent pool by bringing in positive spill-over effects as they interact with one another. Lastly, create structured networks of top talent to facilitate direct engagement and collaboration for initiatives and policies, he added. Human Development (HD) holds the promise of enriching many lives in Malaysia, and unlike HR, which deals with the practical aspects of people management, HD improves people's wellbeing and allows them to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live, said Nadiah Tan Abdullah, CHRO S P Setia; and Regional Chair ASEAN, ASEAN Human Development Organisation (AHDO). Advocating for more organisations in Malaysia to embrace HD, she also moderated a panel discussion around how organisations can apply HD at work. Ahmad Bukhari Mohd Yunus, Shell Global Head of Talent Upstream (Development, Wells and Exploration; and Anjali Menon, HR Director APAC, Sibelco, agreed that many organisations are still not familiar with the concept of HD. For HD to thrive in Malaysia, organisations must leverage on the concept of network to create better understanding and sharing of knowledge to create sustainable growth. How can organisations, then, determine the success of their HD strategies? Organisational capability, employee satisfaction, and access to mental and physical health care are some of the success metrics for HD, the panel offered. The three biggest workforce challenges facing organisations today are: Employee engagement and retention (55%), labour and skills shortages (50%), increasing compliance and regulatory complexity (48%), shared Rob Squires, VP, Regional Head of Asia and Japan, Ceridian. Question What are the key strategies that organizations can adopt to address the three biggest workforce challenges facing organizations today, as identified by Rob Squires, VP, Regional Head of Asia and Japan, Ceridian? Answer the question based on a selected organization. Where you are familiar with the organization and has a good human development program