Pearse sharpens HR's business edge

<p>Human resource management, a relatively new area in the agency </p><p>world, must look at giving its function a real business edge, said </p><p>Dentsu Young & Rubicam HR vice-president Noel Pearse. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Making the crossover to the agency sector with more than 20 years of </p><p>client-side HR management experience, Pearse sees this as his key </p><p>responsibility. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"I don't think there is a soft side to HR. It's an investment in </p><p>business so our best people can do their best work." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Pearse, who has handled HR assignments for Rothmans in Europe and </p><p>Asia-Pacific as well as Pizza Hut's regional operations, said he was </p><p>surprised that the industry had left people management issues to chance </p><p>for so long. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"At the end of the day, people are our only resource which is why it </p><p>surprises me that the industry worldwide has lagged behind enormously in </p><p>tackling this issue compared with other businesses," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He is one of the latest key HR placements by an agency network in recent </p><p>months. Grey Worldwide: Asia-Pacific and Saatchi & Saatchi both </p><p>appointed regional HR chiefs in the last couple of months. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Cost is believed to be one of the main reasons why agencies have been </p><p>this slow in pushing the issue. "HR costs money and it's been a case of, </p><p>'do we want to invest in HR or put in another business development </p><p>person or another creative?'," said Pearse. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But there appears to be a rethink on the HR front, with the agency </p><p>business climate turning tougher as clients grow increasingly demanding. </p><p>Another driver has been the rising career expectations of </p><p>candidates. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"If you're looking to the market to get the best and brightest talent, </p><p>then you're going to have to provide an environment that allows them to </p><p>do challenging work and offers them opportunities for personal </p><p>development and growth." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said his role will be to provide country heads with tools and </p><p>resources, and challenging their thinking about people decisions and </p><p>their consequences. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Within the region, he said the perception of the network in the eyes of </p><p>potential candidates "varied a lot by market", with its Thai and </p><p>Singapore agencies being among its strong performers. "Our market </p><p>perception in Hong Kong has not been particularly strong and we've </p><p>started to do something about it. We have a new general manager (Luca </p><p>Valdrighi) and his brief is to get the agency back to its rightful </p><p>position," Pearse said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"In five years, if the impression of DY&R is that it's the hot place to </p><p>work because of the challenging work, the opportunities and it has good </p><p>people and leaders, I would have done part of my job." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>