About

The first individual to take on the Asia Pacific employment counsel position at Facebook, Johanna Johnson has ‘made the role her own through deftly balancing the need for sound employment law advice with Facebook’s culture of “moving fast’”, according to nominating sources. ‘She is affable, fair and universally well-liked amongst her colleagues and external counsel’, the source continues. Johnson is just as enthusiastic about her own position: ‘Starting a function in a region for a public-facing, fast moving, growing company has been both a fabulous opportunity as well as incredibly challenging. Asia Pacific is a disparate, complex region, and it has been satisfying to embrace the legal and cultural diversity at the same time as finding clear paths so that we can continue to grow and scale. I’ve become better at fighting fires and playing whack-a-mole across a region, but I’ve also learnt to pay attention to what is important and not just urgent. The role has also given me a wonderful insight into the legal, political and cultural landscape of so many countries across the region, including how these interplay with other regions’. She has been very effective in rationalising and up-skilling her team in order to take charge of the myriad responsibilities it faces. ‘I’ve made a deliberate effort to invest in training in the region. I spend a huge amount of time traveling out to our various offices to deliver training in person as I believe it is more effective, builds trust in my function, and demonstrates how seriously the company takes issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination’, she says. ‘I’ve also helped build the employment law function in the region and made it a valued in-region specialty that provides trusted, strategic advice to human resources, employee relations, HR investigations, people operations, recruiting and the broader business functions. Facebook has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last few years and I’ve done a lot of ground work to support this growth and allow the company to scale in individual countries’.