Customer story
Daikin Middle East & Africa
Building a data-driven leadership pipeline with Clevry
Daikin Middle East & Africa is one of the region’s fastest-growing HVACR (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration), providers, with ambitions to lead the market across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and beyond. As business growth accelerates, Daikin is investing in building robust leadership capability, and psychometrics now play a key role in shaping the organisation’s talent strategy.
Clevry is proud to support Daikin MEA as they transform their assessment use from a selection-only tool into a strategic engine for leadership development, succession planning, onboarding, and data-driven HR advisory.
The talent agenda at Daikin MEA is led by Regional Talent & Development Manager, Chutima Franko. Drawing on years of experience in people strategy across multiple regions, she views psychometrics as far more than a screening step — they are a foundation for leadership capability, fair decision-making and organisational growth.
A growth-focused region where talent strategy matters more than ever
Operating in what Franko describes as “one of the world’s most competitive talent markets,” Daikin is in a period of accelerated growth and transformation. The company already has around 1,000 employees in the Middle East and Africa and belongs to a global organisation of over 80,000 people.
Franko explains that the nature of growth in the region demands more than traditional recruitment:
“We want to become the number one HVACR company in the region. To do that, we must grow our people, because when people grow, the company grows.”
She emphasises that the speed of market change requires leaders who can adapt, learn, and handle complexity. Rather than assuming competence is enough, Daikin invests in building capability. Psychometrics assessments — integrated meaningfully into talent processes — are the foundation of that approach.
Chutima Franko
Regional Talent & Development Manager (MEA)
From selection tool to strategic capability
Before partnering with Clevry, assessments at Daikin were used primarily in selection and focused on reasoning ability. As Franko puts it:
“Ability remains important, but behaviour is equally important. The deeper motivations matter for fit, for growth, and for leadership.”
“Ability remains important, but behaviour is equally important. The deeper motivations matter for fit, for growth, and for leadership.”
With Clevry, Daikin now evaluates leadership traits, decision-making style and potential, and then channels those insights directly into development practices. The Clevry platform has become embedded into Daikin’s People Discovery Program, a structured assessment centre that combines personality assessments and ability tests with live business simulations.
“We combine Clevry insights with the behavioural observations from simulations and turn them into individual development plans.”
"We combine Clevry insights with the behavioural observations from simulations and turn them into individual development plans."
Building a leadership pipeline — not just filling roles
Daikin’s leadership philosophy is pragmatic and forward-looking. The company recognises that new managers will deal with situations they’ve never faced before, so assuming they will “figure it out” is risky. Instead, Daikin seeks to understand their needs, potential and gaps.
“Leadership capability must constantly evolve. You cannot train once and assume they know everything. The business changes, expectations change, so people must change with them.”
"Leadership capability must constantly evolve. You cannot train once and assume they know everything. The business changes, expectations change, so people must change with them.”"
This perspective is particularly important in a region where technological, behavioural and cultural shifts move quickly. The company sees leadership not as a static attribute, but as an evolving capability that benefits from structured insight.
From transactional HR to strategic, data-driven advisory
A central theme in Franko’s view is the importance of HR’s internal positioning. She notes that HR cannot be effective by simply “owning” processes, it must influence decisions.
“HR must be in the advisory seat. We should not force decisions but guide them with evidence. When we bring structured assessment data, people listen.”
This shift elevates HR from operational support to strategic advisor. The data from psychometrics gives HR credibility when recommending promotions, talent moves or development strategies.
The advisory role is not about control, it’s about partnership. Franko emphasises that line managers are still decision-makers, but those decisions are now better informed.
"HR must be in the advisory seat. We should not force decisions but guide them with evidence. When we bring structured assessment data, people listen."
Fairness, bias reduction and access to the full talent market
In a talent market where diversity is high, Daikin uses psychometrics to minimise the risk of bias and expand talent pools. Franko notes that in Dubai and across the region, talent comes from everywhere, and interview impressions alone are unreliable.
“Psychometrics let us compare individuals fairly, regardless of where they come from. The fact that Clevry works with different norm groups allows us to calibrate.”
The payoff is both ethical and practical: Daikin gains access to talent it may not otherwise have recognised.
The payoff is both ethical and practical: Daikin gains access to talent it may not otherwise have recognised.
A better experience for candidates and internal stakeholders alike
Since introducing Clevry, Daikin has seen a noticeable improvement in how assessments are understood and experienced across the organisation. Franko explains that managers can now interpret reports confidently without specialist training, which makes promotion discussions and hiring decisions clearer and more consistent.
Employees have also become more engaged with the process. Many request to see their reports after joining, using the insights to understand themselves better and guide their development.
Candidate experience has improved as well, with smoother login, fewer technical issues and a more reliable online flow. This matters in a region where Daikin recruits across several countries and wants to offer a unified, professional experience.
The system has also brought regional alignment. Affiliates in Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia now use the same platform, giving Daikin a single source of insight and a consistent way to compare talent across markets.
“We now have data we simply didn’t have before. We can see common gaps and design development programmes to close them.”
"We now have data we simply didn’t have before. We can see common gaps and design development programmes to close them."
Tackling real challenges: promotions, succession, underperformance and onboarding
Daikin uses Clevry’s assessments in several areas, but the emerging opportunities are perhaps the most compelling.
Franko describes the next phase:
“We want to understand our poor performers better. Why are they not motivated? Are they lacking certain capabilities? Assessments can help us understand them and support them.”
"We want to understand our poor performers better. Why are they not motivated? Are they lacking certain capabilities? Assessments can help us understand them and support them."
Similarly, Daikin sees a strong case for embedding assessment insights into onboarding to accelerate the first 90 days in role. Franko sees structured data as the foundation of that transition.
Soft skills as the foundation of future-proof capability
As the discussion turned to future skills, Franko stressed that technical expertise has an increasingly short shelf life. What will matter, she argues, is resilience, adaptability, openness to change and capacity to learn.
“You cannot rely on a specific tool or skill forever. Things change rapidly. Understanding people’s underlying behaviours and capabilities are more important.”
"You cannot rely on a specific tool or skill forever. Things change rapidly. Understanding people’s underlying behaviours and capabilities are more important."
This aligns with where many global talent leaders are heading: hiring not for today’s skills, but tomorrow’s capability.
Franko concludes with a message to other talent leaders:
“Each organisation should choose the tool that truly fits them. For us, Clevry is scientifically strong, easy to use and scalable internally.”
