The newly created role will ensure a more strategic focus on the employee experience
Beam Suntory has appointed Ilja Rijnen as HR Director International: Employee Experience, Learning and Change.
The newly created role will come into effect on January 1. Rijnen is currently the company’s HR Director, APAC & Global Travel Retail.
Rijnen, who will continue to be based in Singapore, will be providing HR business partnership oversight across the Oceania region. He will manage areas like their global travel retail business, international legal issues, international talent, employee experience, D&I and L&D.
Read more: Three elements of a positive employee experience
HRD spoke to Rijnen on the internal promotion.
“The newly created role allows me to focus on areas that are a true passion, like culture, transformation, and employee experience,” he told HRD. “These have always been important focus areas for me within my generalist roles, so when a role became available in the space, I knew it was the right move for me – an example of opportunity meeting preparation and passion.”
The move will see him shift from an HR generalist role to that of a hybrid specialist, or a “a bit of both”, said Rijnen.
Read more: How to onboard remote employees
“I will continue to focus on a generalist HR function for global travel retail, Oceania and our international legal team,” he said.
“But I will get a more SME or specialised role around employee experience, learning and change, where I will work with the HRDs and HRBPs of our markets and functions and be the interface to our CoE teams in the US (Beam Suntory) and Japan (International).
“Both roles will be making use of the same community and network from my previous role. They will be very useful as I’ll have the connections to leverage on, though I will be looking specifically through the lens of the specialised areas.”
