share on
In shaping the company’s people strategy at this new level, her approach is to be a proactive and credible partner to the business, ensuring that people priorities are embedded early in key business discussions – be it market expansion, new project bids, and the shift into O&M projects.
Charlene Tan has been appointed Human Resources Director, Southeast Asia, SUEZ, moving up from the role of Senior HR Manager, Southeast Asia.
In her new role, Tan tells HRO, her top priority is to ensure the people strategy is fully aligned with SUEZ’s growth ambitions in Southeast Asia, while maintaining a strong focus on building and developing the right talent to support this growth.
She cites 2026 as a critical year for the business, as it reaches a turning point with the anticipated ramp-up of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) projects. "This shift requires a different workforce model and capabilities, so building a strong and sustainable talent pipeline to support this new business line will be a key priority."
To support this, Tan outlines three key areas of focus:
First, she plans to deepen engagement with regional leadership and country teams across markets such as Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, in order to better understand workforce needs and operational challenges in each market.
At the same time, she highlights the importance of strengthening talent and retention strategies, particularly for critical roles in engineering, plant operations, and site leadership. This includes a stronger focus on internal mobility, accelerating the development of local capabilities, and building a leadership pipeline to support long-term operational excellence.
"One way we are already demonstrating this is through the upcoming launch of our prestige Graduate Leaders’ Programme, which is specially designed to build a sustainable pipeline of local O&M talents and develop them into our future leaders in the region."
The third area, she shares, will be on elevating the HR function to be a strategic partner to the business. This means ensuring the team is equipped to support this transition, from workforce planning and capability building to fostering a performance-driven and safety-focused culture, which is critical in the O&M environment.
"Ultimately, my goal is to position HR as a key enabler of SUEZ’s next phase of growth in Southeast Asia – ensuring we have the right people, in the right roles, at the right cost, to deliver sustainable and operationally excellent outcomes."
When asked about how she plans to shape the company’s people strategy at this new level, she says her approach is to be a proactive and credible partner to the business, ensuring that people priorities are embedded early in key business discussions – be it market expansion, new project bids, and the shift into O&M projects.
"As we grow our O&M footprint in Southeast Asia, workforce planning and capability building must be part of the conversation from the outset, not after decisions are made."
She also points to the importance of leveraging workforce analytics, retention data, and market intelligence to guide decision-making and prioritisation, noting that strengthening data analytics capability will be key to enabling more informed and strategic decisions.
The eventual goal, she notes, is to "ensure the people strategy is fully integrated into how SUEZ grows and operates in Southeast Asia, positioning HR as a true enabler of business success."
Looking ahead, Tan identifies two key challenges she aims to tackle in this role: pursuing sustainable growth by aligning talent development with business priorities, and building a sustainable talent pipeline for O&M roles.
On the first, she says: "With ongoing global uncertainties, cost pressures will remain a constant consideration. At the same time, as we expand our new O&M business line, there will be strong pressure to build the right capabilities while remaining cost efficient." To address this, the focus will be on strategic workforce planning, prioritisation, and strengthening internal talent pipelines. "By investing in talent development and internal mobility, we can build the capabilities we need while we can create more opportunities for growth while ensuring a sustainable talent model – one that empowers our people and supports our long-term business ambitions."
On the second challenge, she shares: "This is a highly specialised and operationally critical area, and competition for talent is strong. We are already addressing this through initiatives such as the Graduate Leaders’ Program, which will help us develop local talent early and build a strong leadership pipeline for the future."
"Another key consideration, as we develop this local pipeline, is strengthening the communication and leadership skills of our technical leaders. While they are highly strong technically, many would benefit from further development in communication and influencing skills as they transition into leadership roles.
"Investing in these soft skills will be fundamental to building a well-rounded leadership pipeline – ensuring our leaders are not only technically capable, but also able to engage, align, and inspire their teams. This will be critical in enabling our technical talent to transition into effective leaders who can drive both performance and people engagement."
Looking inwards, within her HR team, Tan aims to foster a strong coaching culture. As a registered corporate coach under the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches, she believes individuals develop most effectively when they are guided to discover solutions themselves.
"My top priority this year would be to ensure our people strategy is fully aligned with SUEZ’s growth ambitions in Southeast Asia, while maintaining a sharp and strategic focus on building and developing the right talent to support this growth."
In practice, she encourages team members to think through challenges and propose their own solutions, helping to build critical thinking, confidence, and ownership. Her goal is to create an empowered and continuously developing HR team where coaching is embedded in the way of working.
Outside of work, Tan has been focusing on her journey as an internal corporate coach at SUEZ.
"I completed my certification just a few months ago, and it’s been very fulfilling to support others in their growth and help them realise their potential."
She credits the experience for helping her stay grounded and reflective as a leader, while giving her deeper insight into the challenges faced by employees across the organisation.
Concluding the interview, she tells us about her overall plans for the year:
"As I dedicated a significant part of my personal time last year to studying and completing this certification, this year I’m consciously focusing more on balance – spending quality time with my family, recharging, and maintaining my wellbeing.
"I’ve also made it a priority to stay active and exercise regularly, as I believe this is important to sustain performance in a demanding leadership role."
If you'd like your senior HR leadership appointment to be featured in 'Up the ranks', please write in to us at editorial@humanresourcesonline.net.
Lead image / Provided
share on
