share on
"The context changes, the technology changes, but the fundamental truth of what makes organisations work – that people perform best when they genuinely belong – has never changed for me," the CHRO shares.
"You must listen first before you can lead," shares Dr Jaclyn Lee (pictured above), Chief Human Resources Officer, Certis, and Chief Executive, Certis Corporate University, as she reflects on her past experiences and how each environment deepened her understanding of what “genuine workforce development” looks like at the ground level.
As she explains, her experience at large global companies allowed her to learn the rigour of operating at scale, moving with pace, and being data-focused.
Her time at SUTD, where she built a university from scratch alongside MIT, taught her how to "lead through deep ambiguity, and how to hold a vision steady when almost nothing around you is certain yet."
At Certis, Dr Lee brings all of those experiences together. In this edition of Snapshot, she shares with Sarah Gideon a compelling case – no amount of technology can replace what truly drives performance, as "technology should serve people, not replace the experience of being seen and valued at work."
Q As CHRO of Certis Group, how do you make sure your HR strategy keeps pace with business performance in a demanding, tech-driven security services environment?
HR strategy must be built from the business outward, not from HR inward. And that is not a one-time exercise but an ongoing discipline. It means staying in the room where business decisions are being made, not just being briefed on them afterwards.
At Certis, our HR roadmap is anchored around five pillars: strategic rewards, talent development, employer brand and employee experience, HR business partnering, and HR technology and analytics.
But what keeps those pillars relevant is the data underneath them. I consider myself a data-driven person, and the HR function is increasingly becoming more data-led so we can spot emerging gaps before they become problems. The moment HR becomes reactive is the moment it loses its seat at the table.
Q You’ve spoken about designing workplaces that are inclusive and empowering. How do you ensure technology enhances — rather than distances — the human connection at Certis?
"Technology should serve people, not replace the experience of being seen and valued at work. A well-designed employee experience is not a stack of independent initiatives, but an integrated design built around data and woven into the fabric of operations."
At Certis, we use technology for operational learning, to streamline processes, and to give people better visibility of their own development. But the human moments, such as recognition, belonging, and genuine dialogue between a manager and their team, cannot be automated. Technology creates the conditions; people create the connection.
Q With 25,000 employees and transformation happening continuously, what practical habits or leadership mindsets help you sustain a high-performance yet caring culture — especially when change fatigue sets in?
The honest answer is that sustaining culture through transformation is one of the hardest things to do. What I have found is that it starts with visibility: where leaders are being present, acknowledging the weight of change, and not just communicating the destination but working alongside their teams through the process. Recognising small wins matter enormously.
Another key aspect to nurture in any organisation is psychological safety, fostering a culture where people can speak up without fear. This is a must-have; it is what keeps a culture from fracturing under pressure.
Q You’ve defined inclusion as psychological safety and belonging. In a workforce that includes many frontline and site-based employees, how do you operationalise that, such that inclusion is felt in daily work experiences?
The reality for the frontline workforce is that people are dealing with shift work, physically demanding jobs, and environments where the pressure is constant. Inclusion in that context cannot live in a policy document or remain a head-office initiative. It has to be felt on the ground, day-to-day.
That means investing in the capabilities of our ground supervisors, so the person closest to our frontline officers is equipped to lead with empathy and not just managing compliance and delivery. To make this happen, we built recognition into the rhythm of how we operate, so the person finishing a night shift knows their contribution matters just as much as anyone else in this organisation.
Q Lifelong learning has shaped your own leadership journey. How are you embedding that mindset into Certis’ talent strategy so employees can stay future-ready as roles evolve?
I believe leaders have to model the curiosity they ask of others. That is why I make it a point to attend many of the courses we run for our staff, including our AI workshops.
At Certis, we embed that same mindset across the organisation through how we design learning and development pathways. Through our in-house Certis Corporate University, we run programmes spanning leadership development, workplace productivity, job-specific skills, and advanced AI training to develop our people. We also support this through a talent marketplace that helps employees see pathways beyond their current roles.
The goal is not just to keep people relevant; it is to help them feel genuinely excited about how their careers can grow and evolve with us.
Q Security services may not always be the first sector young talent considers. What bold or unconventional steps are you taking to position Certis as an employer of choice?
The perception of security services is changing, and we are actively part of driving that change. Certis today goes beyond traditional security into the realm of technology and operations, with work extending into robotics, AI, and smart systems. That is genuinely exciting work, and not enough people know it yet.
One bold step we are taking is reframing the security career. At Certis we are telling a different story of a career in security – working at the forefront of operations technology, building relevant skills, and growing within an organisation that has invested in a Corporate University to support that journey.
The unconventional move is treating employer brand not just as a communications exercise, but as a culture and experience challenge. If the story we tell on the outside does not match what people feel on the inside, none of it will hold.
Q What’s a challenge you still wrestle with as a HR leader, and how are you intentionally working through it?
The key challenge I wrestle with is pace. Specifically, how to build culture with intention when the business is moving incredibly fast. In that kind of environment, it is easy for culture to become reactive, shaped by circumstances rather than by design.
We aim to stay deliberate. That means constantly returning to the long-term view, resisting the pull of short-term fixes, and ensuring that the signals we send as leaders remain consistent even when the environment around us is not.
It is not always easy to strike that balance. But I believe the discipline of continually asking that question of how we build culture intentionally, even in times of change, is itself part of the answer.
Q If you had to sum up your leadership in a personal motto or mantra, what would it be — and why?
It would be "people first, always".
Everything I have built across my career, including roadmaps, strategies, and frameworks, will not work if the people at the centre of it do not feel valued, seen, and equipped to grow. That has held true whether I was helping to build a university from scratch or aligning 25,000 employees around a shared purpose.
The context changes, the technology changes, but the fundamental truth of what makes organisations work – that people perform best when they genuinely belong – has never changed for me.
Photo / Provided
share on
