SINGAPORE (Mar 1): HRnetGroup, the recruitment agency, has a few unique practices in its company, including a 20-minute daily exercise-and-meditation qigong routine to keep staff happy and healthy, as well as companywide internal meetings held on Saturdays, as the weekdays are “golden time” for staff to meet clients and call job candidates.
Such practices have helped HRnetGroup expand to 30 entities worldwide, including in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. It is the largest Asia-based recruitment agency in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan). Its brands include HRNetOne, Recruit Express, PeopleSearch and RecruitFirst.
Last year, HRnetGroup, which listed 18 months ago, was able to continue growing. It expanded into new markets, including Jakarta, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Hong Kong. It is operating in Jakarta under HRnetRimbun, in mainland China under REForce and in Hong Kong under Career Personnel.
HRnetGroup might have a certain heft, but Adeline Sim, executive director of HRnetGroup is on a constant lookout for established local partners to work with whenever the company moves into a new market.
For the year ended Dec 31, 2018, the company posted record earnings of $48.2 million, up 16.6% y-o-y. Revenue rose 9.3% y-o-y to $428.5 million. Besides organic growth, three acquisitions in new markets helped as well, bringing in an additional $2.9 million in gross profit and $4.4 million in revenue.
Find out more about the group’s expansion plans in this week’s The Edge Singapore (Issue 871, week of Mar 4), on sale now at newsstands. Subscribers can log in and read the story or click here to subscribe.