We are excited to welcome Ruby Jaucian, who is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Aboitiz Renewables, Inc. (ARI), as a keynote speaker at the 10th HR Leaders Asia 2022.
Ruby has experience in leading talent management programs and initiatives across different business units from different industries.
Her span of experience covers culture, strategic workforce planning, employer branding, talent assessments and profiling, succession management, learning & development, employee engagement, diversity, equity & inclusion, performance management, competency development, and more.
Ruby made it to this year’s HRD Asia Hot List — an annual index of HR leaders across the industry who have shown excellence and commendable effort in going above and beyond their roles to navigate the past year’s unprecedented people-centered crisis and lead their teams into breakthroughs.
She is noted for her strategic mindset, creativity, continuous learning, and adapting to new technologies. Her varied experience, gained from working in different industries, has given her a broad perspective. Having Statistics as an undergraduate course has given her a data-driven mindset that is balanced with people skills.
Here’s the full transcript of our engaging interview:
- Out of all the areas of expertise you have in HR, can you share why you chose Employer Branding as the topic of your session this 27th April?
In terms of education, I’m a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of the Philippines. It’s quite far from what I’m doing today but it was a journey that I took. I actually had a journey of discovery, I moved on from one discipline to another. From market research, I moved on to the business process, and then I joined IT. As I was leading a team, I realized that I am interested in leading people and creating strategies on how we can better perform as an organization.
I became very interested in employer branding because when I was Vice President for Human Resources of the Aboitiz group, I was entrusted to continue building the brand. Aboitiz Group has always been low profile. Even if it’s a big conglomerate and it’s a big organization, we are not really big on social media. In 2018, we contracted a consultant called Universum and they studied what kind of employer brand we are going to have in Aboitiz Group.
In the beginning, we were just really trying to choose curated stories that we will share on our social media platforms, and then in the third year, we made a breakthrough because we were able to bag several awards recognizing the company as a great employer by exemplifying exceptional employee engagement programs.
To name a few, we were able to bag the LinkedIn Talent Awards for Best Employer Brand. We also got a Stevie Award for Great Employers. We were also cited as one of the World’s Best Employers by Forbes. Even now, as we get applicants we ask them, “How did you hear about Aboitiz?” and they would share that they read in the news that Aboitiz is one of the best employers in the Philippines, from there we can already feel the impact of the employer branding initiatives and programs that we have implemented.
To see the complete list of Aboitiz’ List of Awards in 2020: https://aboitiz.com/about-us/awards-and-citations/
- What’s a CHROs primer on how to manage under pressure?
I think that’s part of having a leadership role. I think to accept it is to be courageous. Aboitiz Group is not a small company, we have very big aspirations, especially in Aboitiz Renewables.
The path towards success is never very smooth.
There will always be challenges ahead and there are many uncertainties in the world today — just as the pandemic has calmed down, now we have Russia’s war with Ukraine that is currently affecting the global economy. There are a lot of things going on, and if you’re to ask me if I feel pressure, yes I feel pressure but it’s a healthy pressure because I don’t feel like it’s putting me down.
When you look for a company to work with, you look for a company that you can trust and that can support you because that will be a big part of your success. I am thrilled, humbled, and grateful to be a part of such a company, which is Aboitiz Group.
- March is celebrated as International Women’s Month, do you think there are still gender issues and concerns that need to be addressed in the workplace?
I think compared to the previous years, we have progressed a lot in terms of employing women in the workplace. In Aboitiz Group, it’s almost a 50-50 balance of men and women in the workforce. There are also a lot of C-level roles that are given to women. We’re really practicing more and more to be competency-based rather than gender-based.
Aboitiz is part of the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment or PBCWE. We are very responsive in terms of educating people on women’s empowerment and we really ensure that we empower our leaders in the office whether they’re male or female.
Of course, we belong in an industry where it’s still male-dominated. For example, in Aboitiz Power, most of our engineers are still male. Women are under-represented in the engineering industry, which is reason to believe as a country we should push for together.
Engage with Ruby Jaucian and other professionals at the 10th HR Leaders Asia 2022 this April 27th at Dusit Thani, Manila. This is an opportunity to connect with a broad community of your peers in future-forward discussions on critical leadership issues in HR today.
View the agenda for the official program, full speaker line-up, and sessions, or register your place to attend.
Stay tuned for our next speaker spotlight!
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