Tech Talk With Razer: April Wan

We speak to April Wan, VP Global Head of Human Resources here at Razer to learn more about herself, little bits of trivia about the new Razer SEA HQ and perhaps what’s next for Razer.

So April, perhaps you can introduce yourself and share a little bit more about what you actually do.

So, I actually run human resources for Razer so essentially, I basically look after all of Team Razer from the day you join to the day you leave generally, and of course I'm partnering with our Razer leaders to make sure that our employees are actually engaged and happy in Razer itself.

One of the first things that I want to mention is we now know 2020 has been a rather interesting year, as Global Head of Human Resources, what was the main challenge that you faced? Especially since I heard you were the one spearheading the move from Chai Chee to this new HQ.

2020 has been a phenomenal year for us actually, really, if you talk about it from a business standpoint or from a people's standpoint. Lots have been happening and of course, we all know with the whole pandemic and all, it has just made everything a tad more challenging. So I think for 2020 a big part of it is really pivoting our shift with regards to a virtual work environment, at the same time balancing the fact that our SEA HQ was going to be ready and how do we actually prepare the team for the big move? So there was a lot of coordination work, there's a lot of communication in terms of getting people excited.

The fact is that Team Razer generally is excited, it's something that that we have been looking forward to. We have been in Chai Chee for more than 10 years and it's like, hey we're going to move into a swanky new home and we can't wait to do that. Some of us were a bit buffed I think with the whole pandemic, and things have to be pushed back so I think what's a big plus for us is that the excitement was there and it actually made the whole coordination easier for us because people were very enthusiastic and excited about coming.

With the whole change in working culture, what has been the one critical change that you've observed? What is your perspective on it and how is Razer approaching it?

For Team Razer itself, with all the things that are going on, I think one of the key elements for our people was the fact is that we need to continue to be staying connected. So I think that was one big piece that we saw people putting in much more effort to stay connected, whether is it via virtual calls or where possible, outside of work, virtual gatherings and all that, and for leaders to communicate key messages.

So with this new Razer SEA HQ, what's in it for Razer from this point forward? How will such a new place enable you guys to do more and how does that translate down to the consumer, to people like me?

I think we have always built a great place to work, I think from the work environment, now we have brought it to a physical place to say that hey, this is a great place to work as well. But I guess the thing that we can look forward as well as we have always pushed forward to say that not only do we want to have a great place to work, this is also a place to do great work.

I think, with the whole physical environment, what we have done is that we have invested a lot in terms of R&D labs, in terms of the technology that we have to enable our Team Razer to actually be more innovative and bring across better products and services.

You guys do many things, systems, peripherals and even a whole software ecosystem to support everything. As someone in the tech industry, what is your one favourite piece of tech?

i think for me, it's any application that brings people together. I think at least for us, I think what we have done is that we have also invested in all these software applications that we have. From a people-side, we have actually implemented a new HRIS system and that actually allows us to better connect now because we can use the tool to know who's everybody in the world itself, and the contact details so that we can actually connect better.

We've come a long way actually, I think we have grown into 1500-strong now and really, how do we continue to build an organisation that's connected? And that's always been a challenge for any organisation, and I think Team Razer, with our values, we have done this well and we will continue to be phenomenal in this area.