L&D teams need to rethink their strategy amid this crisis: CEO, Robert Walters APAC

Learning is the responsibility of everyone and not just the L&D team. Due to the virtual learning environment not being dependent on location, it has enabled learning to be accessible to a wider audience of people, says Toby Fowlston, Chief Executive Officer, Robert Walters, APAC

- Mastufa Ahmed

Toby is the Chief Executive Officer for Robert Walters Asia Pacific. He takes overall responsibility for the operations across South East Asia, Greater China, North East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Prior to the appointment, Toby held the role of Managing Director of Robert Walters South East Asia. He has over 20 years of recruitment experience, having first started his career with Robert Walters UK upon qualifying as a solicitor in 1999. He rose through the ranks and assumed overall responsibility for the London business in 2012. He moved to Singapore in 2013, leading and growing the South East Asia recruitment business.

In Asia Pacific Robert Walters has offices in 13 countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Here are the excerpts of the interview.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought forth new priorities for businesses across the world. How are workers and employees adapting to the rapidly changing conditions? Do you see a synergy in terms of new initiatives?

The pandemic has delivered a lot of challenges for employees and employers but also opportunity. I am seeing synergies across organizations. These include:

Well-being and mental/ physical health of employees: creating a safe environment for employees is the number one challenge and priority for organizations. From a global survey conducted by Robert Walters, the top five initiatives organizations have put in place to support employee well-being and mental/physical health are: