Talent trends to watch in Malaysia in 2023

Building deeper skill sets in cybersecurity, re-looking at employees' career growth, and more – leaders from Affin Bank Group, Shell, and S P Setia share their views.

As we've learnt in previous reports on HRO, 2023 will be a year of transition as we redefine work, the workforce, and HR; not only will hiring be more difficult, but workers will have more power to demand changes, and organisations will need to, in fact, undertake proactive measures to transform the employee experience for the better.

In that vein, zooming into the context of Malaysia, Priya Sunil speaks to leaders from Affin Bank Group, Shell, and S P Setia to unpack the trends that could play out in the industry in the year ahead.

While these trends are shared in the industry context, HRO believes our readers across industries will resonate with and find these applicable to their own industries, as well as gain some food for thought.

Syukri Sudari, Chief People Officer, Affin Bank Group

Cybersecurity is growing in importance – and this is especially so in banking, where there is an emphasis on keeping people’s money and confidential materials in the most secure settings. “For that, we need talent to have more skill sets that would keep us ahead of the hackers," Syukri Sudari, Chief People Officer, Affin Bank Group, points out.

How then can HR teams be better prepared to face the growing importance of cybersecurity? Syukri elaborates: "First, we need to understand what the requirements are. We don't want to be caught by surprise. For example, in HR, we have strategic HR planning. It not only involves talking about headcounts and so on, but it also involves talking about skill sets. So, HR needs to understand the business and needs to work together with the business leaders to understand what will be the new business model or the tweaked model for the next two or three years."

Once we know what is available and needed, can we then come up with our inventory and look at what skill sets we don't have at the moment but will have in the future, he adds. "HR will need to predict the skills that we will require and, at the same time, ensure that the talent we bring in will have the right mindset we need for the future."

Last but not least, Syukri highlights the point that many people have been working and studying at home following the onset of the pandemic. "My biggest worry here has been about interpersonal skills being affected. So I believe that the focus on digital will be even bigger in the future, and would require the right skills for it."

Above all, comes the need to be agile, he concludes. 

Shazmi Ali, Vice President HR, Shell

In oil & gas, the #1 trend right now is about attracting the younger generation to the industry. To this generation, oil & gas is almost seen as a 'dinosaur' industry. "We are always accused of, for instance, polluting the environment. In actual fact, there are a number of good things we are doing in regard to that; and the challenge is making them aware of these," Shazmi Ali, Vice President HR, Shell, says.

"Shell has traditionally always been a shy organisation to speak loudly about our achievements and initiatives, but right now, we have a whole direction that we call 'Powering Progress'. As part of this, we talk about powering nature, powering life. And we are moving as well as driving a number of industries to become a 'net zero' organisation by 2050 per what is required, and also in how we attract talent to join us."

The challenge and the biggest thing to do here in order to stand out and attract the right talent, he notes, is to tell your story – tell them [your prospective talent] the true story about your organisation. 

Nadiah Tan Abdullah, Chief Human Resources Officer, S P Setia

One trend that Nadiah Tan Abdullah, Chief Human Resources Officer, S P Setia sees in the industry is a growing number of talent looking for cash incentives over non-cash incentives, a trend she attributes to the direct impact of COVID-19. And mid-sized companies, for instance, are offering talent one level up with a 20% salary increase. 

She explains: "People are seeing that life can be short, they have lost some family members and whatever they want to do, they want to do it now. In the past, for instance, you had different long-term investment plans and shares, and so on; the market was doing very well, especially in our industry, so the shares are coming down. It used to be positioned so that you had your basic salary, and your other sources on top of it. Now, however, we have to rethink how we are going to remunerate our people. That is just one angle."

In addition to that, she shares: "When you are number one, everyone wants to poach your talent, because they are all trained so they don't have to invest in training. And because when you're number one, you have a certain structure in place. For example, if someone is at the manager level, for them to move up [the ranks], they will have to wait for that vacancy. We are now starting to look at creative ways in which we can position our people differently."

There also comes the need to re-look at how companies can help grow their employees' careers, "because organisations are now thinking about a leaner and more productive workforce", she notes. "How do you get productivity only by scaling up? When you scale up, it means you need to invest in the acceleration of development. So we are seeing that development costs will go up. Yes, we don't mind that, but that means that we need to cut down on some of the extras. We now have to be much more focused on what it is that we want as an outcome for a sharper organisation with the right-fit talent base, and, at the same time, you are preparing the organisation for the future."

Catch up on some of our biggest 2023 trends stories:

• Malaysia Budget 2023: 7 things on the wishlist for business & HR leaders
• The workplace in 2023: 15 trends redefining work, the workforce, and HR
• HR in 2023: 5 trends shaping the employee experience
• 2023 hiring trends: 5 things impacting your recruitment strategy
• 7 trends driving hybrid working in 2023

More here. 

Lead image / Shutterstock