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Ubisoft Singapore’s Director of Human Resources shares why supportive managers, sustainable working practices and small personal habits matter in building a healthier workplace culture.
For Desiree Tan (pictured above), Director of Human Resources, Ubisoft, employee wellbeing is about creating the conditions for people to do their best work. With 15 years of HR experience across Asia Pacific, she leads HR for a 400-strong games development team in Singapore, alongside a regional talent mandate covering Singapore, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. She believes supportive managers, a shared sense of purpose, and opportunities to grow are essential to helping employees reach their potential.
However, wellbeing also extends beyond the workplace. Tan believes it should be reflected in how leaders manage and recognise their teams, rather than left to HR programmes or wellness perks alone. If organisations want employees to work sustainably, leaders must be held accountable for their own behaviours and avoid rewarding burnout through promotion decisions or workplace recognition.
In this interview with Mary Ann Bundukin, Tan shares how organisations can make employee wellbeing a leadership priority, alongside the small habits she uses to support her own wellbeing.
Q Can you share with us what wellbeing means to you, both at work and in your personal life?
At work, wellbeing means people doing their best work because they have supportive managers, a shared sense of purpose, and an environment where they can grow into their full potential.
"Personally, it's simpler: having the energy and headspace at the end of a workday to actually be present for the things and people I care about."
Q What's one simple wellbeing habit that has made the biggest difference in your daily routine?
Journaling, and it doesn't have to be long. Every day, I take just five minutes to write down three things I'm grateful for, and they're not just about work. It's often the simple things in life that we forget to appreciate. And every once in a while, when something significant happens, I'll set aside a longer stretch of time (with a good cup of coffee) for a fuller journal entry.
Q If you could encourage every organisation to take one action to improve employee wellbeing, what would it be?
If I had to pick one: make wellbeing a leadership behaviour, not an HR programme. Wellness perks don't mean much if managers still reward burnout culture through who gets promoted or praised.
The single highest-leverage move is holding leaders accountable for modelling sustainable ways of working.
Q What's one thing about you that people might be surprised to know?
People might assume goal setting sounds rigid or overly structured to apply to something like wellness, but that has worked best for me. They don’t need to be big, ambitious goals either. I set targets for things like how many books I read in a year, improving my sleep from six to eight hours a night, and reviewing my finances regularly to steadily reduce spending month on month — and I track all of them. Small, specific goals like these have genuinely shaped my wellness habits over time.
Photo / Provided
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