With the onset of the pandemic, culture has evolved as one of the top priorities for employees which has caused the employers to rethink their wellness policies. One of the biggest challenges for the businesses has been to ideate on how to make remotely working employees engage with the onsite workforce. At a session of the People Matters TechHR Singapore Conference 2022, leaders came together to share insights on the right way to sow the seeds of culture within an organisation.

The session titled ‘How HR Tech Drives Company Culture And Employee Experience’ was chaired by Damien Andreasen, Country Manager, ANZ, HiBob. The speakers to address  the session were Lisa Askwith, Chief People Officer, Love, Bonito and Eveliene Marrec Witjes, Head of Human Resources, Tindle. 

While HR tech has been adopted by almost every small and big business during the pandemic years to manage the workforce, has it been successful enough to keep the employees happy during the period of uncertainty? Answering these questions, both Lisa and Eveliene agreed that it is important for every organisation to lay down the fact that people are important.

Commenting on the basics of wellness, Lisa said that people should be able to bring their true selves to work, to which Eveline added, “That culture should be visible right from the interview stage so that candidates can feel that they may be safe once they are appointed.”

She furthered, “We want people to bring their uniqueness to work and be transparent. That is how we define work.”

According to Eveliene, active listening is important to ensure DEI and make people comfortable within their skin, and the art of listening needs to be mastered right from the onboarding stage.

In the present day work structure, culture doesn’t just play an internal role, but also helps companies with employer branding. In a talent short market which is also very much influenced by ‘quite quitting’ followed by the ‘great resignation’, good company culture may turn the talent retention and acquisition game for businesses.

Adding to this, Lisa noted, “Employer branding starts right at the preliminary stage for us. People tend to spend a maximum of two to five years within an organisation today. So, the offerings of the companies need to be at par with the expectations of the job seekers and employees. 

Concluding the session, Damien shared a personal experience of one of his appointments during which he just met his boss hardly twice for thirty minutes and the rest of the processes were conducted via HR tech platform. 

“Yet I felt so connected with the rest of the team,” he said.