OVER the years, the “net” in mainboard-listed HRnetGroup’s moniker has alluded to different things. Previously, it meant casting a wider net to find suitable talent for the clients of the recruitment and staffing company.
Nowadays, it has more to do with the Internet: embracing digitalisation and marching ahead with a tech-enabled mindset, chief corporate officer Adeline Sim told The Business Times.
For instance, this has meant higher staff productivity through the use of generative artificial intelligence tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
ChatGPT has been “particularly useful” for overseas staff who are not as proficient in English, in areas such as crafting pitch decks or social media content generation, she said.
“It just helps you to be more efficient, and the first draft comes out a lot faster,” she added. The company’s software engineers also use ChatGPT to check code for errors.
Other digital initiatives were a harder sell. When the firm introduced a selfie-based clocking-in system for its contractors in 2018, there was “much resistance” from staff and clients.
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“They thought it was much easier to stick with the (physical) punch-in, punch-out system,” Sim recalled. “But today, it’s almost an expectation to have such a system.”
Having jumped early on the mobile-first bandwagon meant subsequent digitalisation efforts could be more seamlessly integrated into existing platforms, she added. These included an instantaneous-payment platform, which has enabled monies to be transferred to workers immediately after a shift, or once claims are approved.
“For contractors, the technology became a retention tool – they liked the fact that once they finished their work for the day, they could collect their money,” Sim said.
Launched last year after the firm’s acquisition of fintech startup Octomate, the instantaneous-payment platform is currently operational in Singapore. It will be rolled out to the 16 other cities in which the firm has a presence after internal tests have ended, she said.
New verticals
Beyond its use as a talent retention tool, the instantaneous-payment platform is also about sourcing for growth at a time when labour markets are flagging.
“Instant claims, for instance, technically have nothing to do with talent acquisition,” Sim noted. “But this is a differentiating factor – we want to go beyond just talent acquisition and management.”
In essence, it means the firm has to figure out how it can be the partner with whom “you want to spend 80 cents out of every HR dollar”, she added.
Growing the pie further is especially crucial, as new slices of growth have become harder to come by.
HRnetGroup reported a 5.4 per cent dip in revenue to S$578.5 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023, from S$611.8 million in the year-ago period.
Within Singapore, the firm’s largest market, revenue shrank to S$385.9 million, from S$396.9 million previously.
Sales in North Asia fell to S$166 million from S$186.1 million the year before. Markets represented in the segment include China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.
“Nobody is hiring in a big way,” Sim said. “The demand is just not there.”
Yet, the group is regarded as a resilient counter in the highly competitive recruitment market. It had zero debt and positive cash flow, with S$271.6 million in cash and cash equivalents as at Dec 31, 2023.
The macroeconomic conditions in the markets the firm operates also point to it being time to “hunker down” and lay the groundwork for the longer-term – something being debt-free helps with, Sim said.
“How do we prepare the ground so that once the market picks up, we’re right there? It’s by offering many verticals, a strong regional platform, (and) good quality of work,” she added.
Family business
Founded in 1992, HRnetGroup debuted on the Singapore Exchange in June 2017. It now comprises 15 brands, including Recruit Express and RecruitFirst, based on its FY2023 annual report.
Sim, a lawyer by training who used to specialise in dispute resolution and capital markets work, joined the company in 2009 as legal counsel. She is the daughter of the company’s 71-year-old founding chairman Peter Sim, who is still “very much involved” in the company.
The older Sim has lately tried to cut back to four-hour work days, but his daughter acknowledges that his presence “really makes a difference”.
“My father has always said he wants to work until he’s 100,” she said. “I’m like: ‘Please, go ahead – it’d be impossible to hire someone like you who would want to!’”
Her own tenure in the company predates the day she officially began working there.
“When (my dad) first started the company, I was in primary school. He would just bring me to the office, and I would do the photocopying of the candidates’ identity cards, and also the filing work,” Sim said.
“I more or less grew up here.”
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