LIFE AT WORK 2017 Awards: Best Malaysian Organisation CIMB Group believes in workplace wellness

These days, achieving work-life balance can seem like an impossible feat. With businesses moving at breakneck speeds and technology enabling employees to be contactable 24/7 across different time zones, it is a wonder that workers are able to effectively balance the needs of both career and personal lives.

The constant stress from this kind of harried lifestyle can prove to adversely affect a person’s general well-being. At work, it can affect one’s productivity, morale and overall job fulfilment while at home, it can affect one’s health and relationships with family and friends.

Acknowledging the importance of wellness in the workplace and the impact that it can have on employee welfare and productivity, CIMB Group has implemented various work-life practices (WLPs) and flexible work arrangements (FWAs) to help its employees achieve a better balance between work and life. The company’s efforts were recognised at TalentCorp’s LIFE AT WORK 2017 Awards, which celebrated employers with progressive workplace strategies.

The banking group is proud of its long-standing commitment to providing work-life balance for its employees.

"Since 2009, we have implemented many WLPs/FWAs initiatives such as the Staff Rejuvenation Programme for those who wish to take career breaks, childcare centres, designated car parks for female employees and nursing rooms for mothers, among others. All these are grouped under the umbrella of Workplace Wellness@CIMB, a comprehensive work-life programme we have invested in for the betterment of our employees," said Dato’ Hamidah Naziadin, CIMB Group Chief People Officer.

Dato’ Hamidah explained that CIMB Group’s varied workplace programmes ensure that the different needs of the employees are met.

In recent years, we introduced various new initiatives to further strengthen the framework to enable us to take better care of the diverse needs of our employees.

"The One-Month Paternity Leave is available for first-time fathers to provide them with more meaningful time to embrace their new responsibilities, and the Flex4Moms is for female employees with children aged 5 years and below, where they can select one day a week to work from home for more flexibility,” she added.

“Since its introduction in June 2017 in conjunction with Father’s Day, the One-Month Paternity Leave has benefited 94 first-time fathers in CIMB. The programme is a tangible expression of the Group’s aim to create a working environment that promotes work-life balance and gender equality both at home and at the workplace,” noted Dato’ Hamidah.

Dato’ Hamidah observed that organisations that embrace the idea of workplace wellness and infuse it into their daily work regimen generate employees who are more engaged in the company. To date, CIMB Group’s WLPs/FWAs initiatives have directly benefited more than 1,700 employees and have been well received by existing staff as well as those applying to join CIMB Group.

“We will be carrying out an Employee Engagement Survey this year to gauge the level of staff engagement. In the 2016 survey, our Sustainable Engagement Index stood at 86 per cent,” she shared.

The Group’s WLP/FWA programmes have also received formal acknowledgment from the industry.

“We have garnered peer and industry recognition through numerous awards such as the HR Excellence 2017 Awards for Employee Work-Life Balance, TalentCorp’s LIFE AT WORK 2017 Awards for Best Malaysian Organisation, and the ACCA Malaysia Sustainability Reporting 2017 Awards (MaSRA) for Best Workplace Practices,” she added.

Dato’ Hamidah acknowledged that smaller organisations may encounter some limitations when trying to implement WLPs/FWAs. She advised these companies to conduct comprehensive company and employee assessments prior to introducing WLPs/FWAs.

“It’s important to assess and understand the types of practices or arrangements that will benefit your employees, especially in the context of the company or industry,” advised Dato’ Hamidah.

You can’t take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach but rather, need to customise different initiatives for different categories of staff at different stages of their lives.

“For example, flexible work hours for mothers with young children to help them with time management and extended paternity for first-time fathers to share parental responsibilities.”

“It is also important to assess the costs and benefits of the scheme for both the employee and organisation to ensure a ‘win-win’ situation. That way, it will be easier to get top management to support it. Lastly, the initiative should be carefully thought through and implemented fairly and sincerely,” Dato’ Hamidah concluded.

Introduced in 2013, LIFE AT WORK has been enhanced in 2018 to embrace the Future of Work which impacts the Diversity & Inclusion landscape of organisations in the area of:

WORK: Diversity and Inclusion, Learning & Development and Health Benefits
WORKPLACE: Benefits to employees, Flexible Work Arrangements, Employer/Family-Friendly Facilities and Work-life Benefits
WORKFORCE: Automation, Digitalisation, Gig economy, Usage of online mediums for Learning & Development, Usage of social media and digital channels

Award winners and participating organisations represent a network of LIFE AT WORK organisations and carry the LIFE AT WORK brandmark.

This year’s Awards is currently open for submission. To participate, visit www.lifeatwork.my.