The AVP HR Operations Asia will be responsible for the delivery of HR services including payroll processing, pension and benefits administration, recruitment administration, learning administration and Workday data management for all Manulife employees in Asia.

• Strengthen leadership effectiveness, employee engagement and culture in the HR Operations Asia team
• Create an HR shared services culture that celebrates diversity, recognizes accomplishments and encourages innovation and continuous improvement in how we work and what services we provide
• Drive continuous improvement in engagement throughout the team by role modelling, recognizing and rewarding the desired cultural behaviors and execute on the engagement action plans for the HR Operations team
• Maintain a discipline around performance management by ensuring that goals of all employees are aligned to the global HR strategy and priorities, individual development opportunities and desired behaviors, leveraging formal and informal performance reviews to drive high performance, building talent capability by providing development opportunities, regular feedback and continuous coaching and engaging employees with career development plans and goals
• Continually improve our effectiveness by requiring collaboration within and across teams by creating an environment of openness and trust so the team can excel, leading opportunities to collaborate across teams to innovate and win and role modelling collaborative behaviors and continuing to champion the global operating model and work as one to deliver the benefits across HR and the enterprise
• Provide leadership to the HR Operations Asia organization by aligning the vision, goals and objectives of the Global Head of Employee Experience and working with the global HR teams in the development of long range and annual plans, and with the evaluation and reporting of progress on plans.
• Develop strategies and business plans to meet service level agreements & cost fit targets of Manulife
• Continuously define and build SLA’s to provide customers and partners with positive experiences when working with HR Operations
• Prepare recommendations and plans for implementation of service and procedural improvements within defined Manulife policies and strategies
• Manage existing functional stakeholders and increase NPS scores
• Promote a risk aware culture and continue to enhance the focus on compliance and risk management by sustaining payroll controls that were established in Asia as a response to audit issues and conducting and monitoring key risk controls (i.e. SOX audits, Contact Centre Audit, etc.)

Key Shared Accountabilities:

• Driving HR Risk Management and Controls in HR Operations
• Delivering key insights from HR Operations metrics to HR leaders in the Asia HR Operations team and Global Employee Experience team
• Driving Employee Engagement initiatives in HR Operations aligned with the local HR engagement plans and programs across Asia

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or related field or equivalent work experience; advanced degree in Human Resources or International Business a plus
• 10+ years of demonstrated experience leading HR specialists in payroll, benefits administration, data management and other HR operations functions.
• Cross-cultural experience gained from working in culturally diverse environments; experience working in an international organization is an advantage
• Strong expertise in business process improvements; lean & six sigma skills are an advantage
• Execution-oriented with strong focus to deliver targeted outcomes
• Demonstrated ability to create a compelling vision for the future and inspire commitment
• Ability to work in ambiguous environment and adapt to change while managing time and workload with aggressive timelines.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively across cultures. Excellent written and oral communication, and executive presence
• Translates functional and business unit priorities into clear execution strategies and action plans
• Excellent people leadership ability with passion for driving teams towards high performance
• Assesses possible solutions using deep process and technical experience and uses judgement in handling escalated exceptions
• Applies industry best practices within daily work and continues to participate in professional development by reading relevant articles, networking and participating in professional HR/payroll organizations.

Competencies:

• Strong operational management skills and people leadership
• Demonstrated ability to drive process excellence and continuous improvement
• Demonstrated ability to understand and drive transformational change
• Ability to work collaboratively with key stakeholders to influence results across HR functions
• Previous experience working an HR shared services model is an advantage
• Payroll and Benefits management
• Workday data management
• Customer service management
• HR Risk and Compliance
• Influencing & Negotiation