Aon Hewitt Best Employers – Asia 2015

THE Aon Hewitt Best Employers programme is said to be one of the most comprehensive in the Asia Pacific. It was first conducted in Asia in 2001 with the purpose of gaining insights into companies creating real competitive advantage through their people. It also aimed to explore what makes a workplace of choice besides identifying the region's best employers.
Aon Hewitt Best Employers – Asia 2015 study covered 12 markets – China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. Research was done across nine months and involved a rigorous process that culminated with an awards ceremony to bestow the best employers in the country. The study recently announced its list of Best Employers in Malaysia for 2015. In partnership with TalentCorp Malaysia, an awards ceremony and learning conference took place.
Judging methodology:
Three data sources along with an external judging panel were used in identifying those that made the best employers list. Also taken into account were CEO's strategic goals, HR inputs on programmes to meet these goals, as well as the employee's views.
Information for the data study were retrieved from the participating organisations through an employee opinion survey (EOS), a CEO questionnaire and a people practices inventory (PPI). These included short questionnaires where employees of these organisations comment about their engagement and satisfaction levels; CEO's comments on the business and people perspective of the organisation; and the HR employees' comments on the organisation's HR practices. The CEOs are also interviewed to understand an organisation's leader's views on the alignment between the business and its HR practices.
Finally, to review the data and determine the final best employers, an external and independent jury of reputable members including strategic partners, media personnel and business and HR individuals were called in. Research found four elements identified being consistent to the companies who made the list. These included:
* employee engagement
* a compelling employer brand
* effective leadership
* a high performance culture
Said Aon Hewitt Malaysia managing director Prashant Chadha: "Best Employers clearly achieve better business results compared with the market. We found that Best Employers in Malaysia achieve significant higher growth in their income profits when compared to with the market average. This makes becoming a Best Employer a business agenda for companies in Malaysia and not just an HR agenda."
TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican added that it was imperative for employers to conduct innovative and competitive practices that drive its people and business performance to increase HR standards and expectations in the country for the benefit of both the employee and the employer. "This is also important for Malaysia to move towards a high productivity and high income nation status."
NOTICEABLE TRENDS
Business and people challenges
* Best Employers achieve 38% higher income than market average.
* Best Employers attain 50% higher growth in profits than market average.
* Best Employers filled 38% more openings internally compared to market level.
Employee engagement
* Best Employers engagement score at 83% is significantly higher than market average (60%).
* Gen Y engagement score is the lowest age category at 57% although for Best Employers, their engagement scores are distinctly higher at 82%.
* Overall, only 48% of Gen Y employees said that their future career opportunities in their organisation look good.
Compelling employer brand
* Overall 62% of organisations have a clearly defined employer brand. Yet, only 21% of CEOs and HR are aligned on its nature.
* 85% of employees at Best Employers would recommend their company, vs 64% at participating organisations.
* 80% of employees at Best Employers believe their organisation delivers on promises, compared to only 51% of employees at participating organisations.
Effective leadership
* 67% of Best Employers have structured career development processes on succession planning, vs 32% participant average.
* 80% of employees at Best Employers believe that senior leaders treat them as a "most valued asset", vs only 54% of employees a participating organisations.
* 78% Best Employers have mentoring programmes for developing their leaders, vs 47% participant average.
High performance culture
* 67% Best Employers include the engagement scores of teams in their people manager performance ratings, compared to 49% participants.
* Only 49% of employees feel they receive appropriate recognition (beyond pay and benefits) for their contribution, compared to 75% at Best Employers.
* 83% of employees at Best Employers believe their organisation offers excellent career opportunities to strong performers, compared to only 58% of employees at participating organisations.
Quotes from some of the winners

* Starbucks Coffee Malaysia - Best of the Best
Sydney Quays, managing director of Starbucks Coffee Malaysia & Brunei:
"We know that we have a foundation of great people practices in our organisation and participating in and winning this award would validate that further. Getting this award means a lot to all of us in the company. It brings pride at all levels of the organisation, not only to our partners (employees) but their families as well."
S P Setia Berhad – Best Employer Malaysia
Datuk CJ Khor, acting president and chief executive officer of S P Setia Berhad:
"The recognition has helped strengthen S P Setia's brand positioning in the market as an organisation who live, learn, work and play well with its communities especially Team Setia, our employees. People know that we work hard but at the same time we learn and grow together as a team and we also make time to play. We have always attributed our success to our people thus we are committed to constantly improve ourselves, in our business and in our people practices. I like to take this opportunity to thank our people as the group's success is attributed to the unity, strength and spirit of Team Setia, which comprises 1,800 employees."
McDonald's Malaysia – Special Recognition Award: Best Employer for Women
Stephen Chew, managing director of McDonald's Malaysia:
"This prestigious award is a testament to our concerted efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion in our organisation, especially in terms of offering career progression, development opportunities and flexible arrangements to help the women in our workforce realise their full potential."
American Express (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd – Special Recognition Award: Best Employer for Generation Y
Rahul Singh, general manager, Kuala Lumpur Global Service Center, American Express (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd:
"Achieving extraordinary life experiences lies at the heart of working in American Express. We deliver extraordinary care to our people with the same passion demonstrated to our customers. At American Express, we unleash the employee's potential to drive results with a growth mindset and agility to change.