During the global outbreak, we have seen how technologies are playing a crucial role in keeping businesses functional in a time of lockdowns and quarantine. New technologies offer limitless possibilities for transforming business processes and human experiences. In fact, organisations that harness the combined power of the human and machine workforce will have a greater chance of success in the digital transformation.
Jacely Voon, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore’s Chief of People Officer, People, Culture & CSR, shares her insight with HR in Asia on how the three bits of intelligence that work in synchronicity – Human x Digital x Machine – will reimagine the future of work. Read on…
Question: Jacely, the pandemic has forced businesses worldwide to adjust to new norms. In Fujifilm, what new norms are being adopted and how have the employees adapted to them?
Answer: Here at FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore (FUJIFILM BI SG), we implemented a hybrid working model as our new norm. With fewer face-to-face interactions and an increasingly dispersed workforce, the social dynamics between employees will no longer be the same as a result of varying working conditions.
To ensure a balanced structure within our hybrid workforce and to strengthen relationships in this climate, it was necessary for us to introduce regular check-ins for employees through team huddles, safe social interactions, company fireside chats and virtual department townhall. We continuously strive to cultivate an environment conducive for open dialogues between employees and instilling direct communication channels at all levels across the organisation, to keep everyone engaged and to help address any concerns that they may have.
To support both employees and managers in dealing with the abrupt remote working arrangement, we prepared a remote working reference guide. The guide comprised of tips such as setting up their physical and virtual workspace, effective time and well-being management tips, encouragement for virtual learnings, team socialisation as well as specific guidance for managers. As an organisation as a whole, we were able to leverage technology to bolster our corporate culture and create an environment that promotes trust, unity, empathy, and engagement even with a remote workforce.
Question: So, how has Fujifilm evolved last year, and how technology has supported its operations?
Answer: The pandemic challenged the organisation to re-think and re-define how we can effectively engage and enable our employees through the use of technology to reskill and upskill our workforce in a remote environment.
In line with our efforts to never stop improving our craft, we faced the challenge head-on and introduced multiple new online programs, ranging from health and wellness virtual talks, in-house virtual live sessions, self-care sharing, soft skills workshops to functional development courses. These efforts were aimed to engage and promote the productivity of our employees.
Other than that, the necessity to provide critical data and information to our business leaders to enable them to make quick employee-related decisions during the Circuit Breaker isn’t any different from the pre-pandemic period. Because of our Human Capital Management system (Oracle Cloud HCM) that allows access to real-time information such as people information, performance and compensation, it has been a seamless transition for us.
Question: Leveraging Oracle’s technology, Fujifilm is building analytics in people management. How has this move helped the company make the right decisions – from recruiting, training, and retaining talents?
Answer: Technology-driven intelligence and data analytics play a critical role in the Employee Life Cycle – from hiring, onboarding, performance evaluation, employee development to separation. At FUJIFILM BI SG, we are shifting towards a data-centric and data-driven mindset, relying on human resource metrics to provide insight into our employee’s career journey within our organisation.
Recruiting the right people is paramount. With the right recruitment data, we have an overview of critical information like productive hiring, quality candidates, source of hire till first-year attrition for quality hiring processes. This has helped the recruitment team understand how to connect employee data and tie this into our strategic workforce planning.
Similarly, on retaining talent, we apply data analytics to cultivate employee development by measuring their performance and assessing their self-evaluation vis-à-vis their manager’s evaluation to determine performance expectation gaps.
With visibility on potential gaps, we are able to bridge it through targeted approaches via customised coaching sessions, goal management programs, and performance development plans. Using the performance data collected, we can now combine it with talent assessment scores to identify the risk of loss and impact of loss for our high performers and take proactive action to design a retention and talent management program to motivate and engage our high-performing employees.
Question: How does Fujifilm keep the balance between work and human experiences among its employees, especially during the age of Covid-19?
Answer: The pandemic has certainly blurred the lines between home and office. Working from home is now the new norm and employers are no longer able to distinctly draw a line as the new employee experience proposition is not confined solely within office boundaries. We are now expected to enable our people to seamlessly work from home through accessible technology while providing the necessary leadership support to help them adapt to new ways of working and interacting.
Applying a standard or a one size fits all approach is no longer attractive to employees. We’ve implemented new employee experience programs that take into account the mobile employee who works on the road, home or in an office configuration. On the other hand, we need to ensure data protection and information security are not compromised. To strike a balance between the flexible work arrangement vs data security, a robust security system is needed. It is necessary for an organisation to stay ahead of the technology that enables and empowers the people while ensuring the company is well protected.
Question: The concept of making work smart is at the core of Fujifilm’s refreshed branding. How does it plan to leverage Human x Digital x Machine to provide value through innovation?
Answer: The new name FUJIFILM Business Innovation (FB) was chosen to express our organisation’s determination to consistently spur innovation as a group and help accelerate the success of businesses by making their workplace smart.
Through the three bits of intelligence that work in synchronicity, Machine, Digital and Human intelligence, our brand proposition is really about applying our expertise in documents, both paper and digital to make business speedier and information more accessible.
Digital Intelligence: Because we know documents and workflows like no one else, paper intelligence is the key that unlocks the door to digital intelligence and digital transformation.
Machine Intelligence: Our multi-function device are smart machines that are able to predict and pre-empt problems to mitigate downtime to keep your document management infrastructure running smoothly.
Human Intelligence: From our digital transformation pre-assessment consultation to our prognostic IT support, we are committed to being the trusted strategic partner you need to create greater business and customer value.
To enable Human Intelligence, we equip our people with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively support our business. To grow and flourish our people with FB Corporate Value “Value with Innovation” we advocate a 70:20:10 learning approach to scale up our people capabilities and embed a culture of customer experience.
Question: What can other companies learn from Fujifilm in terms of bringing and encouraging innovation into the workplace?
Answer: As Japan’s pioneering photographic filmmaker, Fujifilm is best known for leveraging its imaging and information technology to become a global presence known for innovation in healthcare, graphic arts, optical devices and high-functional materials.
What we’ve done as a brand is to drive the spirit of our corporate slogan, “Never Stop” in whatever we do – whether it’s challenging the status quo, learning, or creating value for our customers.
To further encourage innovation within the workplace, we believe that the tone has to come from the top. As senior leaders, we find ways to empower staff to think about new ideas and solutions to tackle problems. It’s also about adopting a non-hierarchical management approach where we encourage employees to break down silos between departments because innovation inherently comes from the cross-pollination of ideas and issue sharing.
Question: Last question, what is next for Fujifilm and its staff after the rebrand?
Answer: FUJIFILM will Never Stop reinventing ourselves. We will continue to embody our corporate values such as embracing innovation, seeking new ways to create excitement for our customers and society, and to expand tomorrow’s world of possibilities by empowering our people to imagine the best future for all of us.
Jacely Voon is Fuji Xerox’s General Manager of Human Capital & Corporate Social Responsibility, responsible for overseeing and managing the company’s human resource and development and corporate social responsibility.
She has more than 20 years of HR Consulting, Change Management, Transformation, and Outsourcing experience to the roles including her extensive global experience in compensation and benefits structure as well as HR Management. Being an astute professional and Business Partner Leader, she has a reputation for successful transformation, culture change and mentoring diverse teams that deliver results.
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