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Photos and roundup: Workforce Mobility Interactive 2018, Hong Kong

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Organised by Human Resources, Workforce Mobility Interactive is back for the third year with the latest in talent mobility and expatriation trends in HR. This exclusive invite-only interactive event was specially curated for top HR leaders and mobility specialists to engage each other with strategies on staff mobility programmes.

Produced by William Hodson and Zoe Lau held at HotelICON in Hong Kong on the 21st of March, the conference was attended by more than 80 delegates, speakers and sponsors. Apart from our host of expert speakers, what makes the conference unique is its interactive format. Through these interactive sessions, delegates were able to explore three key themes in employee mobility together with the insights shared by expert table hosts.

With that, the event started on a high note with first speaker Ella Yu, financial services, practice manager for Crown World Mobility.

Her presentation greeted delegates with a fresh perspective on saving without sacrificing. Sharing her sustainable solution to optimise mobility programme costs, she said: “Always use an expense management system. Without it, it’ll be hard to recover the VAT back.”

“Meanwhile, choosing the right billing model can save you a lot of money,” she added. 

Following that, was the first of three interactive sessions. With three topics to be discussed in parallel on both sides of the room, the table hosts who facilitated the conversations were:

Managing relocation risks along the Belt and Raod regions

  • Robert Day, group head of immigration operations for Santa Fe Relocation
  • Mandie Fankhauser, head of talent and resourcing, at Bupa (Asia)
  • Susane Yan, senior director, talent partner, human resources at Manulife Financial Asia

Technology for mobility

  • Patrick Groth - regional director, sales and account management, Asia for Crown World Mobility
  • Rizwan Masood, MD, head HR, retail banking and wealth management, Greater China and North Asia for Standard Chartered Bank
  • Luc Moulin former vice-president, head of human resources, Asia Pacific - ESPRIT

Structuring a global-ready workforce

  • Bushra Siddiqui , GMS-T Director, Client Services, BGRS, client services for BGRS
  • Nicole Davies, director, global account management for SIRVA
  • Bridgette Hall, journalist for Human Resources magazine

Check out photos from the conference here.

After a quick break, Our first-panel discussion for the day welcomed Luc Moulin former vice president and head of human resources at ESPRIT and Virginia Lun regional human resources director, from Jardine Restaurant Group to talk about Global mobility as an enabler of top-line growth and key business strategies.

In Asia where we have full employment the war for talent is really raging and mobility is one way we can address this, says Moulin.

Moderated by Sinan Atahan from Moody's corporation the discussion focussed on what are new business pressures that force companies to reassess their mobility strategies as a tool for future-leader development? How important is aligning the global mobility strategies with the organisation's development strategy and how to solve the challenges in aligning talent agenda and global mobility.

Following lunch, delegates welcomed Rizwan Masood MD, head of HR, retail banking and wealth management for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Bank to share his expert insights and opinions on creating linkage to employees along the One-Belt-One-Road (OBOR) counties. His presentation focused on cultural and religious diversity challenges, stabilising the talent supply in post assignment periods and bridging the gap in the maturity of staff in different locations along the OBOR.

In Hong Kong, every other institution and every other individual is thinking how they can get involved in this opportunity, Masood says of the OBOR initiative by China.

The second panel discussion for the day followed, moderated by our Hong Kong editor of Human Resources Anthony Wong, Robert Day, group head of immigration operations at Santa Fe Relocation and Sinan Atahan, talent acquisition lead, MIS and MSS, human resources - APAC at Moody's Corporation discussed immigration challenges of a multi-jurisdictional mobility programmes. These include points on managing immigration challenges and risks specifically in Asia, creating a consistent approach to guiding business traveller compliance and how to handle the complexities of immigration, accommodation and remuneration policies across multiple markets.

Check out photos from the conference here.

A short break followed by Alessandro Paparelli vice president of HR at Keiring Asia Pacfic the final speaker of the day, presented a cases study on international mobility in a global luxury group. His presentation shared Keiring's international mobility policy, the principles that have been followed in designing the policy and key factors that guide its implementation.

The conference then ended with the final interactive session of the day followed by a rapid-fire session, where we invited our table hosts to sum up their key takeaways from the interactive sessions.

Those sessions then bring us to the end of Workforce Mobility Interactive 2018, Hong Kong. As curtains close on this year’s edition of Workforce Mobility Interactive, Human Resources would like to thank all sponsors and partners that contributed to its success:

Gold sponsors

  • Crown World Mobility
  • Santa Fe Relocation

Silver sponsors

  • BGRS
  • SIRVA

Official venue partner

  • Hotel ICON Hong Kong

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