Market View

Adaptive HR in a Dynamic World: Navigating Diversity, Jurisdiction, and the Modern Workforce

Interview with

David Leech

Vice President Human Resources,

RWS Intellectual Property Services

About David Leech

David Leech served as VP of HR for RWS Intellectual Property Services, a global intellectual property business that is part of the larger RWS Group, a localization, translation, and IP company operating in 43 countries. Intellectual Property Services focuses mainly on the translation and filing of patents across various countries for clients.

How has the evolving nature of work influenced your HR strategies, technology and processes?

Technological progress has profoundly disrupted how we manage HR information and gain insights across our large, global organisation. Operating across 43 countries, created by acquisition, you can imagine there are many processes around the world with different approaches, different procedures and different systems. Fragmented systems inherited from these acquisitions have created major visibility challenges. It requires a HR technology solution that can provide the leadership team with one single lens to understand the workforce.

When the pandemic forced overnight remote work, redesigning paper based processes was crucial before addressing systems issues. While productivity initially dipped, it recovered within months as we established new workflows. This experience revealed the imperative of evolving technologically to enable collaboration and equip people with digital skills. Rapidly advancing technology is reshaping how we operate. By upgrading inadequate systems and retooling our people and processes, HR can help lead this digital transformation.

How does your organisation navigate the complexities of operating under multiple jurisdictions with varying localisation requirements and business process?

Expanding globally through acquisitions created huge complexities, as we inherited disconnected systems and inconsistent processes across businesses that hadn't been integrated. This made gaining workforce visibility and insights extremely difficult across 43 countries.

This drove our need to invest in modern HR systems that could consolidate data across businesses and geographies. We had to redesign workflows for consistency while respecting local employment regulations and practices. It was crucial to identify and empower regional specialists who understood local nuances.

Growth by acquisition compelled HR to rapidly equip the broader organisation with unified systems and streamlined processes, while incorporating localised needs. This enabled us to operate cohesively despite diverse needs. Managing HR through this expansion taught us the importance of balancing global integration with local flexibility and knowledge. It was a catalyst for transforming HR to drive strategic impact across a complex enterprise.

In what ways does your organisation address the challenges posed by a diverse and decentralised workforce?

We can't just articulate values through words - we must enable people to understand how values apply cross-culturally through behaviours. The focus should be on what really counts day-to-day versus mandating adherence.

At RWS the mission is ‘unlocking global understanding’. Within our diversity, equity and culture pillars we provided briefings on what it's like to do business in different countries. Providing cultural learning builds mutual respect to help employees understand the cultural nuances. I showed respect in Japan by checking with someone's boss before contacting them directly, which was appreciated.

Values are ultimately observable through behaviours. Insisting on conformity backfires - instead, clarity on priorities combined with cultural understanding unlocks potential. We bridge differences through authenticity, subtlety and respect - not imposing one rigid mindset. This allows living values meaningfully across our diversity.

In terms of balancing the global and local HR priorities, in many instances, programs should be led by the local teams, and HR should be clear about what they are going to work on from a global perspective.

Can you share a recent challenge where having an adaptive HR approach would have been or was crucial to deliver a successful outcome?

I believe HR sometimes still tends toward bureaucracy or rigidity instead of truly adaptive solutions. We can get defensive about our ways rather than focusing on business outcomes. HR's role is to be an enabler, not an obstacle.

I had an experience recently that showed the power of HR being a flexible partner, not a roadblock. In a job levelling project, a senior leader challenged our recommendation on grading. We had an open, constructive discussion and aligned on decisions to move forward. I was extremely gratified when this influential leader thanked me for partnering versus obstructing progress.

While adaptable systems are crucial to address global complexities, the underlying foundation is for HR to partner with the senior leadership team and line managers, sharing goals and priorities to ensure that their needs are reflected in the technology solutions.

What are the future HR priorities given rapidly evolving work?

Fundamentally HR will keep solving business problems through people and partnering across the organisation. But we must deeply understand leadership needs and impacts of dispersed, tech-enabled workforces.

Enabling human connection and customer centricity will be critical priorities. HR should foster empathy and service mindsets through thoughtful job design, hiring for aptitude, and providing insight into meeting customer needs - even in back-office roles. A key thing is enabling managers to actually manage, which requires trusting them, and providing them with the tools to be effective.

As work evolves, HR’s imperative is nurturing human skills like empathy amidst technology change. We must keep people connected to purpose and customers. That deeper human focus ensures technology augments rather than replaces people. Managing HR through this expansion taught us the importance of balancing global integration with local flexibility and knowledge.

About RWS

RWS is an industry leader in intellectual property and localization services. With a global network of expert linguists, RWS provides high-quality patent translations that mitigate international IP risk. Additionally, RWS offers software, website and document localization, adapting content linguistically and culturally to resonate across regions. Supported by over 8,000+ staff in 43 countries, organisations rely on RWS to effectively convey messages globally and locally. Backed by over 50 years expertise, RWS is a trusted partner for global communications.