Companies championing diversity and inclusion receive prestigious award

PEMANDU CEO Datuk Seri Idris Jala (fourth from right), TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican (fourth from left) and Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development director general of department of women development Datuk Munirah Binti Abdullah (third from right) flanked by Life At Work Awards 2015 winners from (left to right) Shell Malaysia, IBM Malaysia, KPMG Malaysia, IHS Malaysia and Maybank Group.

Kuala Lumpur: The Life at Work Awards 2015 prize-giving ceremony, held recently, saw the recognition of employers with leading workplace strategies and a commitment to championing Diversity and Inclusion.

The awards were presented to winning employers by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) chief executive Datuk Seri Idris Jala, who is also a board member of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp).

Now in its third year, the Life at Work Awards is organised by TalentCorp and global human resources specialists Towers Watson, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.

“I call on more Malaysian employers to champion progressive workplace strategies, to attract and retain quality talent, in addition to ultimately strengthen Malaysia’s competitiveness,” said Idris Jala.

Maybank Group, IBM Malaysia, IHS Malaysia, Shell Malaysia and KPMG Malaysia were all winners of the prestigious award for best Malaysian organisation, best international organisation, best lean organisation, best initiative, and CEO champion respectively.

This year’s winners were aligned to promoting a parent- and women-centric working culture.

Among Maybank’s recognised initiatives were formalised flexible work arrangements for staff to work from an array of flexible options, as well as the introduction of the Women Mentor Women initiative which pairs women mentees with mentors in senior management.

IBM’s was recognised for their emphasised development of female talent in IT, technology and finance, as well as their Business Resource Group and Women in IBM Network Group (WINGs), that were formed to inspire and enable women to achieve their full career and leadership potential. The organisation also recently announced the appointment of its first woman managing director.

Likewise, Shell Malaysia set specific Diversity and Inclusion targets for their technical and their commercial skill pool and East Malaysian hires. The oil and gas giant also revised its graduate programme to prioritise female candidates in their selection process, as well as creating a recruitment toolkit for Diversity and Inclusion recruiting excellence.

Meanwhile in KPMG, for the first time, two women partners were assigned as heads of business units.

“Diversity and Inclusion has always been an integral part of KPMG’s DNA,” said KPMG CEO Datuk Johan Idris. “We have also formalised flexible work arrangements and most recently announced an unprecedented one-week office closure, which is paid time off firm-wide for all our people to rejuvenate.”

Also present at the event was TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican who said: “We are delighted to see more and more companies coming on board the diversity and inclusiveness in the workplace agenda.

“For example, one of the winners, IHS Malaysia piloted a Career Comeback programme to encourage women to return to the workforce.

“Not only are our Life at Work winners leading the way in their industry, but they are setting the standard for workplace policies and practices in Malaysia and the region.”

For further information on Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace and best work-life practices, please visit www.flexWorkLife.my.