Iris Tee chats to HRD Singapore about working in the ever-changing video games industry, the challenges of HR and her plans for the future
What made you decide to work in HR?
I suppose my career just evolved. Somehow I’ve always been offered interesting portfolios to work on. HR was one area that I found really interesting and I stuck with it for 15 years.
What is your background?
I first entered HR doing change management with Singapore Airlines. It was a job that I didn’t know a lot about and I thought it was interesting. After doing that, I was offered another opportunity to do talent management at Deloitte which I thought was a good challenge. I then realised that talent management was the core of a lot of people strategies so I decided to take up this role as HR director at Ubisoft. In my current role, I look after the entire HR portfolio which challenges me to look at everything in an integrated manner. I’ve been here for almost four years.
What makes you most excited about your current role?
Firstly, the industry is very exciting. There are so many innovations and technological breakthroughs emerging. With that, the challenges facing the business are also evolving which makes it very dynamic. As an HR practitioner, it’s a good challenge. How do you help people? How do you support people with this sometimes very turbulent change from one generation of technology to another? That is, for me, one of the main attractions to this job.
What is the best piece of HR advice that you’ve ever received?
My mentor at Singapore Airlines taught me to look at people as a whole and not to separate their life aspects from their work performance. I think this is a very useful piece of advice that has helped me during my HR career.
What are your plans for the future with Ubisoft?
Firstly, I will continue developing the talents we have here. We now have a good mix of experts as well as very young talent, people who have recently graduated from school. My plan is to continue growing our development initiatives so that we have good career progression for everyone in the studio. I also want to increase HR support to my line managers to help them better manage their team and ensure the environment is one that fits what is required for the business.
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I suppose my career just evolved. Somehow I’ve always been offered interesting portfolios to work on. HR was one area that I found really interesting and I stuck with it for 15 years.
What is your background?
I first entered HR doing change management with Singapore Airlines. It was a job that I didn’t know a lot about and I thought it was interesting. After doing that, I was offered another opportunity to do talent management at Deloitte which I thought was a good challenge. I then realised that talent management was the core of a lot of people strategies so I decided to take up this role as HR director at Ubisoft. In my current role, I look after the entire HR portfolio which challenges me to look at everything in an integrated manner. I’ve been here for almost four years.
What makes you most excited about your current role?
Firstly, the industry is very exciting. There are so many innovations and technological breakthroughs emerging. With that, the challenges facing the business are also evolving which makes it very dynamic. As an HR practitioner, it’s a good challenge. How do you help people? How do you support people with this sometimes very turbulent change from one generation of technology to another? That is, for me, one of the main attractions to this job.
What is the best piece of HR advice that you’ve ever received?
My mentor at Singapore Airlines taught me to look at people as a whole and not to separate their life aspects from their work performance. I think this is a very useful piece of advice that has helped me during my HR career.
What are your plans for the future with Ubisoft?
Firstly, I will continue developing the talents we have here. We now have a good mix of experts as well as very young talent, people who have recently graduated from school. My plan is to continue growing our development initiatives so that we have good career progression for everyone in the studio. I also want to increase HR support to my line managers to help them better manage their team and ensure the environment is one that fits what is required for the business.
Related stories:
Meet the HRD of one of Singapore’s largest charities
McDonald’s HR director reveals award-winning HR formula
Ice-cream, pool, salon for Unilever Asia staff
