As the dreary funding winter soars, at e27, we are kickstarting a new article series Line of Hire to understand an organisation’s culture and hiring philosophies to empower tech workers with the right growth tools to enable business owners to attract talent.
Paul Thomas is the Asia Chief People and Culture Officer of SEEK, which operates leading employment platforms JobStreet and JobsDB. In his role, he develops and executes human resource strategy in support of the overall Asia business plan and strategic direction.
Thomas is an experienced HR practitioner, bringing over 35 years of broad regional experience in sales, sales training, manufacturing, human resources, and general management across multiple industries.
He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry from UKM in 1989 and completed his MBA from the University of Hull, UK, in 1996.
Thomas discusses his company’s culture and hiring philosophies in this candid interview.
What personality traits/qualities do you look for in potential employees?
Our SEEK values are passion, team, delivery, and future, and these qualities underpin our success and the attributes we look for in our people. We want motivated team players who are passionate and eager to take ownership and have a drive for pace and progress, and think and act for the long term.
We also significantly emphasise diversity, equity and inclusion in our search for talent. By embracing people from different races, religions, age groups, abilities and backgrounds, we can foster a culture of creativity with fresh perspectives, new insights and varied skill sets that enable us to be more productive and more competitive while creating a more positive workplace for all.
By embracing these values, we can fulfil our purpose as an organisation and, at the same time, create real value for our customers. In doing so, we are enhancing jobseekers’ experience in searching for a new role, making it easier for employers to hire the right talent and SEEK a better workplace.
How do they fit into your company culture? Tell us a little more about it.
Our culture is built on a shared passion for our purpose, customers, and community. We seek to challenge the status quo and on achieving real, tangible results for our customers today while striving to anticipate what the future may hold so that we have the agility to help job seekers and organisations adapt quickly to changes.
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It is a refreshing environment for our people. It presents many exciting opportunities, whether you’re new to the workforce or a seasoned leader with decades of experience.
In Asia, we have a big ambition to help 500 million people to develop their careers with five million organisations by 2025. To achieve this, our people are the key.
We welcome talent who share the same beliefs, passion and zeal and are committed to mutual respect for each other as we work towards a common goal of creating a positive impact for our customers and community.
How do you foster transparency and encourage achievement at SEEK?
We firmly believe in building trusting and meaningful connections among SEEKers at all levels. To foster workplace transparency, we have introduced monthly town halls and “Ask Me Anything” sessions where employees are encouraged to ask the leadership team any questions they may have with the assurance of a safe environment to speak up.
Additionally, our employees are encouraged to share their thoughts and concerns anonymously through our bi-annual employee engagement surveys, which are then addressed directly by the leadership team, and action is taken to address any matters that arise.
By living out these practices, we strive to create an environment where SEEKers feel seen, heard, respected, trusted and valued, fostering a strong sense of unity among all employees.
Do you have a mental health policy? What does that look like?
The mental health of our employees is a top priority, and as part of this commitment, we have an employee assistance program to help with life’s challenges. This programme provides confidential counselling services where our employees can seek the help of trained and qualified external professionals.
We partner with trusted local service providers and cover the costs directly so that our employees do not have to pay out-of-pocket expenses. To ensure confidentiality, the invoices sent to SEEK exclude identifying information from those seeking help.
WFH or WFO, or hybrid?
Flexibility has always been a fundamental part of how we work at SEEK. It’s more than just when and where we work, but more importantly, it’s about creating an environment that meets the needs of our people, different teams and the business.
We have adopted a hybrid working model where employees can choose to work in the office an average of two to three days per week. Although SEEKers value the flexibility of working remotely, they also value face-to-face interaction with their colleagues.
This is aligned with findings from a recent report we just released with Boston Consulting Group, titled What Jobseekers Wish Employers Knew: Unlocking the Future of Recruitment, which found that 62 per cent of the respondents in Southeast Asia said they prefer to work hybrid, but interestingly, only 11 per cent want fully remote. This implies that many people still value in-person interactions and want to come together a few days a week to cultivate deeper connections.
To offer our employees an even greater work-life balance, we have also implemented remote working models where they can work remotely from different locations for up to four weeks per year.
We’ve also designed an Ongoing Remote Working policy for our Technology, Strategy, Product and AI teams. Around half of the roles are eligible to work remotely from any country in our APAC footprint.
How should a tech worker prepare for the funding winter?
I feel for those impacted by the recent bouts of tech layoffs. However, I would also like to encourage those affected to stay strong and that this is not the end. Tech talent is still in demand in sectors such as banking and insurance. These industries are expanding, and they need people with tech skills who can help them advance their growth agenda.
It is also an opportunity for them to take stock and re-evaluate what they want over the next few years and what they value. Keep an open mind; there are many good opportunities out there, even if these may not be the ones that would immediately come to mind.
How do you measure the performance of your employees?
Our performance review framework focuses on outcomes and behaviours equally, aiming to enable quality performance conversations and improve people’s experience at work. This encourages an open culture of asking for, giving and receiving feedback, which helps everyone to be curious and continue to adapt and grow.
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That’s why even though we only have mid-year and full-year formal performance reviews, the results of the review sessions are never really a surprise because the feedback is given all year round.
Beyond remuneration outcomes, our performance review framework is closely linked to an individual’s career, progression, and learning opportunities – because we know that learning never stops, no matter your level.
When hiring, will you consider a moderately skilled person with great honesty or a highly skilled person with less honesty?
Honesty and integrity are fundamental qualities of great talent – and they aren’t just limited to roles that work with people or involve handling sensitive information.
Take software engineers, for example. They may have an individual contributor role. Still, suppose they lack honesty and integrity in their work. In that case, they may cut corners just to meet deadlines, which could lead to security vulnerabilities that impact the company’s reputation and business.
Hence, I would hire a moderately skilled person with a strong work ethic, which is much more valuable in the long run, especially as our culture prioritises building trust as we support each other to succeed.
Do you encourage ‘intrapreneurship’ at SEEK?
We are huge believers in intrapreneurship, and that’s why we conduct hackathons on a bi-annual basis, where SEEKers from across the business work together to create innovative products, concepts, prototypes or business case that helps SEEK to deliver our purpose.
These ideas need not be around something big, new and shiny; they could also be something as practical as a fix for an existing back-office problem or process. The aim is to foster a culture of creativity that drives innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit that is dear to us as an organisation.
How do you support upskilling for your employees?
We have a range of internal and external learning and development opportunities to support SEEKers in reaching their full potential.
For example, we organise Careers Day every six months, encouraging SEEKers to keep their diaries free to focus on developing their career plans and participate in career development activities.
During this time, we hold panel discussions featuring senior leaders sharing their career journeys, knowledge and experience. Selected senior leaders will also provide one-on-one private career mentoring sessions across functions, geographies and job levels.
Our engineering team has a weekly “Sharpening the Saw” knowledge-sharing session on Friday afternoons where members can learn from one another on the latest tech-related skills, foster stronger relationships and build camaraderie.
Externally, SEEKers can also upskill and reskill anytime with our learning and development partner, Go1, the world’s largest professional learning and development platform, which hosts over 150,000 courses from renowned education providers. For SEEKers undertaking further education and development, we offer paid study and examination leave.
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