The Adrian Tan Show

What if you train your employees and they leave? Gary Gan joins Adrian Tan to discuss skills inventories, closing skills gaps and getting started on a workforce skills journey.

We cover:

• What a skills inventory helps an organisation understand

• How to begin a skills journey

• The concern that investing in training may lead to employee departures

Gary co-founded JobKred, a skills intelligence platform using AI and data science to understand changing industry demand and help people identify skills gaps. His entrepreneurial background spans several industries.

Episode 65 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 31 August 2021. Guest roles and product details refer to the original recording.

Connect with Gary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garygan/

JobKred: https://www.jobkred.com/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

How does an employer of record help a company hire in another country? Charles Ferguson joins Adrian Tan to discuss cross-border hiring and the employee experience under an EOR arrangement.

We cover:

• The process of hiring in a new country through an EOR provider

• What the employee experience looks like

• EOR adoption during the COVID-19 period

• Charles’s perspective on Singapore work pass restrictions in 2021

Charles led Globalization Partners’ Asia business at the time of the recording. His earlier roles include commercial leadership at Tricor Group and Asia Pacific leadership at ADP, with experience at SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft and Intel.

Episode 64 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 24 August 2021. Guest roles, company details and work pass discussion refer to the original recording.

Connect with Charles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesferguson/

Globalization Partners: https://www.globalization-partners.com/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Why do HR information system implementations get delayed? Derick Teo joins Adrian Tan to discuss common pitfalls, software choices and setting a realistic implementation timeline.

We cover:

• The difference between tier 1 and tier 2 HR software

• What to look out for when implementing an HRIS

• A common cause of implementation delays

• How to assess a reasonable implementation cycle

Derick was Director of Enterprise Go-Digital Solutions at BIPO at the time of the recording. His background includes large-scale PeopleSoft implementations and regional technology responsibilities at Hewlett Packard. He is a National University of Singapore computing graduate and holds PMP certification.

Episode 63 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 17 August 2021. Guest roles and company details refer to the original recording.

Connect with Derick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derickteo/

BIPO: https://www.biposervice.com/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Manu Khetan joins Adrian Tan to discuss HR software security, AI use cases and the different needs of SMEs and larger enterprises.

We cover:

• How SME and enterprise HR software requirements differ

• Why security matters and the consequences of neglecting it

• AI use cases in HR as discussed in 2021

• Emerging AI developments at the time of the recording

Manu is the founder of Rolling Arrays. His background includes HR processes, systems and automation, as well as work at SAP Labs in Germany, Bulgaria, Israel and India before consulting for clients worldwide.

Episode 62 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 10 August 2021. Guest roles, product details and AI discussion refer to the original recording.

Connect with Manu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manukhetan/

Rolling Arrays: https://www.rollingarrays.com/

Reimbur$e: https://rollingarrays.com/reimburse-travel-and-expense/

CICO: https://rollingarrays.com/cico-intelligent-time-capture-solution/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Leong Chee Tung joins Adrian Tan to discuss employee wellbeing, engagement and the challenges of working from home.

We cover:

• The National Employee Experience Transformation (NEXT) programme as discussed in 2021

• Employee wellbeing and engagement during the pandemic

• The discussion of burnout across age groups

• Common work-from-home challenges

Chee Tung was CEO of EngageRocket at the time of this recording. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was Gallup’s regional director in Southeast Asia. His academic background includes economics at the University of Cambridge and political science at Columbia University.

Episode 61 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 3 August 2021. Guest roles, programme details and research discussion refer to the original recording.

Connect with Chee Tung: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheetung/

EngageRocket: https://www.engagerocket.co/

NEXT programme reference: https://www.engagerocket.co/next-singapore

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Are you solving the real problem, or just its symptoms? Rolf van der Pol joins Adrian Tan to discuss HR digitalisation, efficiency and defining the right problem before implementing technology.

We cover:

• Applying know-your-customer experience to HR management systems

• Why efficiency can be overlooked during digitalisation

• Why companies struggle to digitalise

• Looking beneath symptoms to identify the underlying problem

Rolf’s background spans information technology and international banking across Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. At the time of the recording, he was director of Cadena in Singapore, working on HRM and payroll system implementation and consulting.

Episode 60 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 27 July 2021. Guest roles and company details refer to the original recording.

Connect with Rolf: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolfvanderpol/

Cadena: https://www.cadena.com.sg/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Mitchell Goh joins Adrian Tan to discuss earned wage access, debt traps and employee financial wellbeing.

As founder and CEO of GetPaid at the time of this recording, Mitchell explains a benefit that lets employees access salary they have already earned before their usual payday. His background includes employee benefits and practising as a social worker.

We cover:

• Debt traps and employee financial wellbeing

• Earned wage access versus payday loans

• The role earned wage access could play in an employee benefits package

Episode 59 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 20 July 2021. Guest roles and product details refer to the original recording.

Original episode sponsor: Wanted, featuring its RoundUp interview collaboration tool.

Connect with Mitchell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellgoh/

GetPaid: https://www.getpaid.asia/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

How do you connect team goals with business performance? Vidya Santhanam joins Adrian Tan to discuss objectives and key results (OKRs), annual KPIs and the challenges of putting OKRs into practice.

We cover:

• Connecting team and business performance

• OKRs versus annual KPIs

• Common obstacles to OKR implementation

• Why some companies insist on a return to the office

Vidya was co-founder and CEO of Fitbots at the time of the recording and is a certified OKR coach. Before Fitbots, she led leadership development and performance work at Mindtree.

Episode 58 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 13 July 2021. Guest roles and workplace discussion refer to the original recording.

Original episode sponsor: Wanted, featuring its RoundUp interview collaboration tool.

Connect with Vidya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidyasanthanam/

Fitbots: https://www.fitbots.com/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Jin Choeh joins Adrian Tan to discuss the HR challenges founders face and the people management lessons he learned while building startups.

Jin co-founded Swingvy in 2016. His work as a founder spans product, team building, fundraising, market expansion and culture. Before Swingvy, he worked at AhnLab across Southeast Asia and co-founded real-estate platform Zibro and tutor matching platform Ssamtong.

We cover:

• HR problems Jin encountered in his earlier startups

• His perspective on digital transformation adoption and a country’s GDP

• People management lessons during COVID-19

• How the pandemic widened the talent pool

Episode 57 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 6 July 2021. Guest roles and pandemic-era discussion refer to the original recording.

Original episode sponsor: Wanted, featuring its RoundUp interview collaboration tool.

Connect with Jin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jin-choeh/

Swingvy: https://www.swingvy.com/

Employee Benefits in Singapore eBook: https://content.swingvy.com/employee-benefits-singapore-ebook

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/

Why do HR digitalisation projects fail, and how can companies improve their chances of success? Jayant Paleti, co-founder of Darwinbox, joins Adrian Tan to discuss HR technology and building a business in a crowded HRMS market.

We cover:

• Salesforce’s investment in Darwinbox as discussed in 2021

• Competing in Singapore’s HRMS market

• Reducing digitalisation failures

• Whether companies should digitalise during uncertain times

Before Darwinbox, Jayant worked in investment banking at Ernst & Young, including mergers and acquisitions and private equity. He is an alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Lucknow.

Episode 56 of The Adrian Tan Show. Originally published on 29 June 2021. Guest roles, investment discussion and company details refer to the original recording.

Original episode sponsor: Wanted, featuring its RoundUp interview collaboration tool.

Connect with Jayant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayantpaleti/

Darwinbox: https://darwinbox.com/

More from Adrian: https://www.adriantan.com.sg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriantanck/