BEST OF THE BEST The Australian HR Awards ‘HR Director of the Year’ category is one of the most hotly contested. This year the finalists included: Sarah Sammut, Fitness First Australia Caroline Bosch, Honeywell Alla Keogh, MYOB Peter Hartnett, Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Tania Abbotto, Sportsbet.com.au Leith Wiblen, Star Entertainment Group Erin Cramlet, Stryker South Pacific Michael Johnston, Westpac Group The independent panel of judges gave the accolade to Peter Hartnett of Sanitarium – see his profile on p25 of this Hot List.
SARAH DUNN Head of people resources, Adobe Asia-Pacific
SUSANA GARCIA BERNAL VP, HR, Asia-Pacific, NBCUniversal
Susana Garcia Bernal oversees the HR function in a detailed ‘matrix structure’ covering over 550 employees in six businesses across 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Despite the scope of her work, Garcia Bernal believes in the importance of “paying attention to the small details”, especially when celebrating cultural differences. Being “an introvert Spaniard” based in Asia and having worked in different countries and industries have both certainly helped her develop this cultural sensitivity. In terms of D&I initiatives, Garcia Bernal and her team launched OUT in Australia, an LGBT group that also has a presence in the US, Singapore and London. In April this year the company launched a comprehensive leadership development program, the Talent Lab Space, based in Singapore. The Singapore Lab follows on from similar concepts in New York, LA and London, and provides a suite of L&D experiences matched to key transition points in an employee’s career.
Adobe Australia has just been included (for the fourth time in a row) in the annual Best Places to Work list compiled by Great Place to Work Australia, making Sarah Dunn a proud member of a winning company and HR team. The award reflects the company’s performance in five key areas: credibility, camaraderie, respect, fairness and pride. Adobe has taken strides in terms of offering flexible work conditions – particularly by providing generous parental leave for Australian and New Zealand workers. Going beyond the traditional maternity and paternity leave provisions, Dunn and her team have introduced leave for primary and non-primary caregivers, and have extended the paid leave period by a factor of four times the original offering.
ALLA KEOGH
Head of people & performance, MYOB
Alla Keogh takes great pride in seeing her team grow within the business, to the point that other leading organisations approach them for insights and advice on best practice. Keogh is focusing on L&D in order to keep that growth momentum. In 2015, the team launched a holistic L&D program – Learning Lab – which has been breaking participation and employee satisfaction targets every month. From an immersion and onboarding program for new team members to development journeys for managers, Keogh ensures that all employees receive the training they need “to achieve competitive advantage in a disrupted market”. She offers practical advice to other HR leaders: remember the ‘people’ element and don’t just focus on numbers: “[We have to] move away from making decisions based purely on cost, efficiency and ROI, to approaching every problem from the user’s perspective.”
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