The Constants That Carry Us
When I left London and moved to Singapore, I didn’t just switch time zones—I stepped into a different rhythm of work, culture, and communication. From the structured pulse of UK offices to the vibrant energy of Southeast Asia’s business hubs, I’ve been fortunate to experience the employee experience ecosystem through two distinct and equally fascinating lenses.
At first glance, it’s hard to reconcile the sheer diversity I’ve encountered. Europe, the Middle East, India, Japan, New Zealand—each one with its own pace, its own etiquette, its own expectations around hierarchy, feedback, and decision-making. There are days when I’ve flipped from a morning call with San Francisco to an afternoon debrief with a client in Manila, adjusting tone, timing, and terminology on the fly. You learn quickly that context is everything.
But in all of this variety, what’s surprised me most is the consistency.
No matter where I’ve been, the fundamentals remain. People want to feel safe at work. They want to feel like their contribution matters. They want to be fairly paid, respected, enabled, and heard. Whether it’s a product manager in Tel Aviv or a communications lead in Jakarta, the core needs don’t change.
And it’s those human constants that have grounded me.
Because in the face of all the cultural nuance—and make no mistake, that nuance is real and critical—there are some universal truths that carry across oceans. It’s those truths I return to when I’m unsure how to act or what to say. It’s those truths that remind me that while I may never fully master the complexities of every market, I can always lead with empathy, clarity, and fairness.
I think that’s what the employee experience is really about—not just ping-pong tables and perks, not just slick comms and dashboards—but the deeply human desire to be valued, understood, and enabled.
The world will keep changing. The tech will evolve. The structures will shift. But the constants? Those will always matter. And perhaps, they’re the only part of work we can ever really count on.