Up the ranks: Valerie Hayden leads HR (industrial) for Coats in Asia

Valerie Hayden has been appointed human resources director for Asia, industrial, at Coats, the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer.

She also becomes a member of the Asia Leadership team and also the industrial leadership team, both of which meet at regular intervals throughout the year.

She was previously the regional head of human resources for Asia Pacific at Dentsu Aegis Network.

The appointment, effective January 2016, sees Hayden reporting in to chief operating officer, Asia, industrial who is based in Bangalore, India.

With the head office in the United Kingdom, Hayden, who is based in Singapore, says this is an ideal location for her Asia role.

In a conversation with Human Resources, she confirmed she is currently working on all aspects of HR to help support the growth of Coats’ industrial business in Asia.

"This includes HR leadership and advice on talent management, performance management, engagement, recruitment and reward," she added.

Hayden, currently in "learning mode", says her priority at the moment is "meeting new colleagues as well as gaining a more detailed understanding of the strategy and plans for Coats in Asia."

She also looks forward to analysing the recent results of Coats' annual Employee Engagement Survey, to identify sites, teams and countries that are scoring particularly highly to see if there are practices that can be replicated elsewhere across the region.

With Coats being a manufacturing company, health and safety of employees is the number one focus.

To this she says: "That is the key focus for all of us across Coats, not just in this region.  The responsibility for that reaches much wider than just HR but that is arguably where it starts."

Photo: Provided