Paul Simons who was working as Chief Talent and Reward Officer at Prudential has been elevated to the role of CHRO Prudential Insurance Growth Markets. In his new role, Simons will focus on building a cohesive, purpose driven culture and strategy across the new group. 

Simons joined Prudential in 2013 and since then had been taking care of the performance and rewards strategy for the firm. Now the scope of his role further expands and he has to focus on other facets of talent function as well. 

As Simons takes on a new role, he shared with People Matters, the biggest talent challenge he would immediately be working to solve. 

"One big challenge is to accelerate leadership development through the increased use of talent mobility," he said. "In addition I will be helping the newly appointed Regional CEO to embed a growth mindset across everything we do," he added further. 

Prior to Prudential, Simons has worked with companies like Standard Chartered Bank, Diageo, British Gas and GSK. He has been working in the HR domain for more than 20 years. Currently, based out of Hong Kong, let's see how Simons leverages his years of knowledge and experience to enhance the talent strategy for Prudential Insurance's growth markets. 

The insurance industry is a major component of the economy by virtue of the amount of premiums it collects, the scale of its investment and, more fundamentally, the essential social and economic role it plays by covering personal and business risks. But this sector like others have also gone through tremendous changes over the years. The way insurance services are delivered and work is done in the industry has been disrupted by tech. And a lot of established insurance firms now face competition from the emerging fintech and insurance tech firms. To cope with these changes and face competition effectively, a company like Prudential Insurance needs to continuously innovate. As Simons said it indeed needs a purpose driven culture and strategy for all growth markets. 

The importance of having a growth mindset also has to be communicated to the talent and continuous investment needs to be made in their skill development to ensure they are future-ready.

Image Credits: Hargreaves Lansdown