Targeting Talent
Interview with Charles H. Ferguson
- General Manager, Asia Pacific of G-P (Globalization Partners)
- Headquartered in Boston, USA, G-P provides global HR solutions to recruit and manage local talent in more than 180 countries.
1. Please introduce yourself.
I have spent the last 30 years of my career working primarily in the Asia-Pacific region, starting at Intel and moving on to global IT companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce.com and SAP, and then to private equity. I later worked for global HR outsourcing company ADP and brought this experience to my current role at G-P, where I manage the Asia region.
2. Investors are more conservative than ever and competition for profitability is much more intense. What advice do you have for companies looking to grow faster in this environment?
Going global by hiring the best talent is probably the best way to grow your company. Oftentimes, people think investors inject capital due to a company's idea, but they need to remember that investors are investing in a company's people.
Considering the fact that Silicon Valley companies initially started their businesses by trying out technology and various innovations within the U.S. but eventually became successful by entering overseas markets, I believe that Korean startups should also focus on going global.
Korea is already recognized as one of the best in the world when it comes to technology. Add to that the fact that we have great global talent, and I believe that targeting the global market will be attractive to investors and will be a big success factor in actually becoming competitive in the market.
If Korean companies were to expand their client bases to include more diverse ethnic and cultural groups, this would be an immediate differentiator over competitors.
3. Any special considerations for talent strategy?
Statistics show that companies that are culturally and ethnically diverse in their workforce are 36% more profitable per employee and 2.5 times more likely to have access to cash flow than those that are not.
In addition to that, the numbers show that major company decisions go 89% better when there is diversity across a team. When I say diversity, I don't just mean racial and cultural but also gender and many other factors.
These days, it's not uncommon to see five generations working together in one workplace. When I've worked on projects, I've seen that when employees with long industry experience work alongside people from different backgrounds, such as different genders or nationalities, the innovation and amount of ideas they generate surpasses their competition.
Even if you just look at the financial statistics, you can see that having talent from diverse backgrounds in each organization increases the profitability of a company. In addition, an understanding of local markets and cultures that global talent brings to the table gives companies a competitive edge in the global marketplace.
In the end, diversity-based talent acquisition will make or break your business in the future.
4. What should Korean companies pay special attention to when managing talent from diverse backgrounds?
Korea has a unique culture. For people from other cultures, this may seem a bit unfamiliar and difficult. It is important to focus on universal values to make the corporate culture applicable to everyone from different backgrounds. This will ensure that the diversity of your workforce becomes a global competitive advantage, which will help your company grow rapidly.
5. What should be considered in HR policies?
One interesting statistic is that over 70% of people surveyed said they would rather work for a company with flexible HR policies. In other words, employees wanted to have choices about how they work, such as working from home or adjusting the number of days they work. This tells us that the existence of these policies is very important, regardless of whether employees actually participate in them, because the choices they are given are a reflection of how they're valued within the organization.
6. Finally, do you have any words of encouragement for those preparing to go global?
Even though Silicon Valley companies initially started their businesses in the U.S. based on the promise of their products and corporate culture, they eventually found greater success by expanding into international markets.
Today, Korean companies are having phenomenal success in Southeast Asia, especially in Vietnam, which is one of our key markets, and we are also seeing more Korean companies doing well in Europe and North America.
The chances of success of such global expansion will be even higher if you consider recruiting global talent based on diversity from the very start.
There are many nuances that come with founding a successful business, but it all starts with the people.