How a people-focused financial titan is powering through challenging times
As a leading Hong Kong company, with over two thousand employees and intrinsically connected with corporate practice and conditions, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) is a handy barometer of the city’s business ecosystem.
Since 2019, Paul Choi, the Group Head of Human Resources at this lodestar organisation has had a unique insight into the challenges faced by Hong Kong businesses—the financial services sector and beyond—in terms of recruitment and HR practice, as well as the wider picture.
Choi’s major challenge is the shortage of skilled talent in Hong Kong, ascribing it to two main factors: one being the observable brain drain facing the city, the other, the strict quarantine regime for inbound travellers. Choi noted that around 100,000 people emigrated from Hong Kong in 2021. On top of that, he said, strict local pandemic immigration measures put an end to many potential new hires and has contributed to a steady exodus of expatriate staff.
Yet, HKEX remains ahead of the curve when it comes to staff departures though Choi takes little solace from haemorrhaging fewer staff than other businesses, many of whom lost more than 30% of their people in 2021. “HKEX is in a slightly better place—still below 20%—but we are worried,” he said.
This rapidly depleting supply of skilled staff is having a two-fold effect on businesses; forcing them to sharply lift compensation packages, as well as increasing the length of their recruitment cycle. “Like everyone, we found it challenging to both attract and retain people. So now companies are bidding for talent, willing to pay momentarily a much higher compensation package,” said Choi.
Dealing with it
Though quick to stress that HKEX’s first line of defence is to constantly benchmark the market and pay at least the going rate, Choi added,
“we want to be more innovative to attract talent. So, we focus a lot [of our recruitment] on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) talent,"
"for different roles. As a bonus, this more varied background diversifies modes of thinking within the company,” he said.
The importance of cultural fit remains central to HKEX’s hiring methodology, and candidates are engaged in pointed conversations about what the company is and isn’t like—key to identifying who aligns with its culture, values, and purpose. “This is a binding force to get people willing to join and stay with the company, more so than the hygiene factors like paying well,” as Choi put it. The company also consciously strives to meet newcomers’ expectations of a career track, balancing the short-term buzz of a frontline job with long-term opportunities. In the end, natural forces work toward a balanced solution, suggested Choi: “Our experience is that people self-select, and they know what kind of company they're looking for before they even express interest.”
Remote support
But for Choi, successfully hiring someone is just the start of a rocky path. Even hiring from the dwindling talent pool of those able and willing to pass through Hong Kong's Covid-19 entry barriers, the issue of onboarding creates challenges that require innovative solutions.
As Choi puts it, “We have to adopt a more flexible approach to onboard and integrate more digitally, which is about not just the technology, but adaptive mindsets; teams and also managers need to dedicate more time to new joiners.” Choi then shared how HKEX’s new digital learning platform, iLearn, helps new arrivals get up to speed with the relevant knowledge, skills, and policies. He highlighted the detailed planning that goes into conversations and activities, especially at the initial stages of the onboarding period, to substitute for organic personal encounters that, in normal times, are quietly crucial to successfully integrating new faces.
Keeping flexible
In times of flux, organisations that are agile seize the initiative. Choi stressed that
“the whole concept of agility and a culture of change and transformation has to come from the top.”
He highlighted wholehearted support for the process from CEO Nicolas Aguzin and the senior team, several of whom were recently hired for showcasing exactly the type of nimbleness that will help HKEX to thrive.
For example, a recent reorganisation pulled people from across different parts of the company into one place to form a single, coherent Sales and Trading department, which has driven better innovation and agility, said Choi; “Because they sit next to each other, they have conversations naturally, they share the same purpose and goals; this is what drives agility in a business like ours.”
A new Emerging Business Development department that focuses on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) side of product areas also contribute to the business’ agility. The department systemically brings together disparate facets of the business by using data, allowing for increasingly agile and innovative responses.
Meanwhile, a new Transformation division, headed by CEO Aguzin, is, enthused Choi, “our commitment that we have the desire and aspiration to transform the company, our products and our client directions to a better place. That is instrumental to our success in 2022.”
Even at the backend, a new HKEX function called Business Management provides quantitative business insights to department heads, telling them how they are doing, and how to set, follow and review strategic and realistic KPIs for their teams.
Achievements at HKEX
Whilst the last couple of years have certainly been exceptional, the pace of innovation has not slowed at HKEX. Choi highlighted a series of flagship products and initiatives that he feels best represent the organisation’s transformational journey.
- Firstly, the MSCI China A 50 Connect Index, which, Choi proudly reports, goes from strength to strength, in terms of daily volume and impact.
- A series of diversity initiatives that covers: generations, gender, family care, disability, and LGBTQ+ inclusion, “showcasing,” said Choi, “that, as an organisation, we are gaining momentum to create a more inclusive workplace.”
- Culture and values of the company: Choi’s team has been demonstrating to staff how this sometimes-abstract concept aligns with their day-to-day job.
- “There’s been major progress in evolving the integration of risk and compliance and our governance structure, as we connect the world to China, we connect capital to investors and we connect the past with the future,” Choi said.
The 30% Club
In a striking advance for diversity, HKEX recently announced that–under the auspices of the UK-based 30% Club, it is moving towards requiring every company that lists on its main exchange to have a non-single-gender board, with at least one woman. With a roadmap to achieving that in three years’ time, Choi foresees that,
“Most if not all companies on the exchange will then have at least one woman or a diverse set of representatives on their boards.”
Currently listed companies will be expected to align with that within three years. However, as of now, just 14% of the companies listed on the exchange have a non-single-gender board. Choi is clearly passionate about the 30% which exemplifies HKEX’s progressive and responsive agenda for invigorating its workforce, despite adverse external circumstances.
*Since our interview, Paul Choi has stepped down as the Group Head of Human Resources into an advisory role.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
