Humans of Brankas Spotlight: Hanny Meiriza

Think of a moment in your life that defined the path you wanted to take. 

For Hanny, it was in senior high school. It was Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Carl Jung’s Theory of Personality. It was in that moment that she realized her passion is people, that she will make it her life’s mission to understand human behavior and nurture relationships. 

Hanny graduated from Airlangga University in 2008 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. She pursued a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology at Indonesia University in 2014. This coffee lover, bookworm, theatre geek, human behavior enthusiast, and podcaster starts her day by allowing herself to contemplate for 10-15 minutes. You read that right, this routine allows her to prepare mentally for what’s ahead.  

What memorable life events did you experience because of your job?

To be honest, I was planning to become a Marriage and Family Counselor or a Psychologist. I wanted to take my masters degree in Canada or in the US. But life had other plans for me so I stayed in Jakarta. My first job was a recruiter in a consulting firm, never thought I would become an HR Professional until my boss introduced me to the Human Resources Champions by Dave Ulrich. Since then, I was in love with HR and still use that book as my “Bible”.

What essential skills does one need to start a career in Human Resources?

• They have to be interested in humans (off course you should be a people person). 
• They must be data-oriented, even though people are unpredictable, we should still be able to anticipate their responses using data and statistics. 
• They must have a basic understanding of business. HR nowadays is not only about administration, we should become business partners too, and the best way to become that is to research, and use all available resources for product, technology, process, financial, etc. 

How did you learn about Brankas and what made you decide to accept the role?

I’ve been interested in Open Banking because it has opened up opportunities in South East Asia and has elevated our digital finance landscape. It not only focuses on electronic money or payment gateways, but everyone is given the equal chance to bank through the technology, regardless of your distance from a physical bank, or your financial status.

Can you walk us through your typical day in the office as an HR Director for Brankas?

I start my day by organizing my thoughts and priorities. My list of tasks include:

• Tackling and prioritizing HR concerns
• Current projects like developing new organization structures, developing new roles,  revisiting existing HR policies, etc.
• Overseeing hiring operations
• Monitoring the People Team activities and coaching them when needed
• Conducting 1:1 with employees if needed

What are the main factors to consider when helping an organization establish an effective People Team?

For me, the team members are the most important factors in any organization. Their well-being and emotional state plays a big role in how they perform their tasks. I pay attention and high-regard to individuals team members, they have the power to make or break any organization. Our Brankas HUBs are highly-motivated and focused and I would like to create more initiatives to maintain that.  

As a company that is spread across multiple countries, how do you ensure that you comply with national employee standards and regulations?

I constantly update myself  with each region’s regulations to ensure that our documentation and processes are aligned. I also make it a point that everybody in my team is aware and is well-informed. 

What does success look like in your role as Human Resources Director?

Success comes in the form of stability, trust, and employee success. When the organization is stable and is able to sustain itself and its employees, when the team members are self-sufficient, are driven and are achieving or in the path of achieving their career goals, when employees are open to giving and receiving feedback, that’s the kind of success I want to take a little credit for. 

What HR-related/people-related strategies do we practice at Brankas that other startups can learn from?

Working remotely has its benefits and challenges. I think that it is essential to stay engaged with the teams frequently. We could create several programs as frequent as weekly/bi-weekly virtual meet-up and casual hangouts sharing about common interests like; a wellness program such as virtual yoga class, virtual running, sport challenge program; a virtual hobbies club. Lots of projects to come!

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Brankas is bringing Open Banking to Southeast Asia. Our vision is to make modern financial services available to everyone.

Want to start a career in Fintech? Join the Brankas team!