What It Takes to Be a Top Employer

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The Star Publications, Saturday April 3, 2010

What it takes to be a top employerBy DALJIT DHESI

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TO be successful and be regarded as among the best employers, a company among otherthings should be able to strike a balance between business goals and employee needs.

Although earnings and cashflow are vital and a reflection of an organisation’s strength,human resource is equally important in determining its path to success. An organisation willcease to exist if it has no people.

Business and political leaders are increasingly aware that having good people who areskilled and motivated can make a significant difference to an organisation. Largecorporations that started as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), for example, in Japan,Europe and the US, have made it big because they had been successful in strategising theirbusiness operations and workforce for optimum results.

From various findings and, according to a consultancy’s website, some of the main criteria indetermining whether a company is a top employer, is its ability to engage with employees,the capability to streamline its workforce in line with its business objectives, and theeffectiveness of sustaining employee engagement in the long run. Engagement will enable

positive interaction between employers and employees, and minimise stumbling blockspopping up in the companies’ relations with potential employees and customers.

Sharing his views on the subject, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd country headhuman resources for Malaysia, Brunei and Mekong region, Rahmat Hashim Roslan, says theability to earn the best employer label is not solely based on the virtue of an organisation butalso its workforce. Human needs and desires in a workplace are different individually and, assuch, the organisation that wants to be known as a good employer must be able to strike theright balance in catering to its needs and those of its workforce, he adds.

A balance that works

Identifying an ideal balance of needs is crucial, but equally important is how to then make itwork.

“To see whether a company is considered to be a good employer or the opposite, muchdepends on how it delivers this balance of needs. A best employer is one that is able toidentify and deliver in the most effective approach and apply the most accurate balance of

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needs for its organisation and its workforce,” says Rahmat. “A ‘best employer’ has a holisticapproach to building a work environment in which employees are fully engaged andcommitted to business success.”

An organisation that strives to be a best employer must be committed in determining the

optimal balance of needs between itself and its workforce, as well as in delivering thateffectively. Such commitment is necessary to ensure that both parties achieve progress.

Rahmat points out that an organisation that strives to become a good and efficient employermust at the same time understand that the most important element that drive commitment isits workforce. “The workforce comprises human beings. Every human need and desire in aworkplace is different individually, but there are some similarities when it comes toengagement and career development. Everybody wants a workplace that promotes aworking environment that is conducive and has a culture that is comfortable to work in. “Awork environment that encourages suggestions, feedback and openness, without fear of

reprisal, is vital for employee success,” he notes.

An organisation, he adds, should always ensure that the employees’ values and beliefs arealigned with the company’s culture and values so as to achieve a common goal for futuresuccess.

Developing talent

Apart from this, a company must be committed in the area of engagement with and careerdevelopment of its staff.

To this end, he says, it must identify high-potential employees as well as nurture and groomthem to help attain leadership skills and master the relevant technical skills, and eventuallytake them to the next level. As talent development is crucial for a company to move forwardand become more competitive with the right skill sets, many organisations are now investingin training and development.

The Government and the private sector in the country are more serious now compared witha decade ago and are increasing their investments in training and development to ensurethere is sufficient skills, know-how and expertise to be competitive in the global arena.

Elaborating on the training programmes, Rahmat adds that there must be commitment andinvestment in well-established training and development channels and programmes. This, hesays, include formal training (on leadership and technical skills, culture and values), jobrotations, assignments, mentoring/coaching, self-learning (company library and onlineresources).



Each employee must have a clear set of objectives that are aligned to the organisation’sgoals, with regular feedback on performance, he notes. Besides this, organisations shouldprovide competitive compensation and benefits, including long-term financial reward toemployees as well as recognise high achievers with good rewards, while enforcing strictconsequence management for low performers.

Making things clear

Communication is also essential in achieving such commitment from the workforce, Rahmatadds. “Leaders must be visible and accessible, and provide clear direction about theorganisation’s business strategy, goals and progress.

“Communication should be both top-down and bottom-up and through various channels.Top-down communication channels include town-hall meetings, employee meetings, emailsfrom CEOs, newsletters, memos, and via Intranet (top-down). Bottom-up communication

channels can be via regular employee opinion surveys and focus groups.”

In a nutshell, he says, the steps or initiative which must be undertaken by a businessconcern to be labelled as a best employer are first, to identify the organisation and workforceneeds accordingly. Second, find the right or most accurate balance that will not put eitherparty at a disadvantage.

Third, Rahmat says, communication and approach in the delivery of the needs to theworkforce must be impactful with clear elaboration of objectives and how these can fuel theorganisation’s progress.

Fourth and lastly, there must be continuous or regular communication with the workforce toensure the employees recognise that they are an important part of the whole effort as well asimportant contributors in achieving the organisation’s needs.

Commenting on the challenges facing businesses in becoming the best employers, he says:“The challenge is always in the area of communication and the approach in the delivery ofthe workforce’s needs. “In most large organisation, the managers are empowered to handlethe communication and delivery. But there will be some managers who are not equipped withthe right skills to handle such tasks. This will result in distorted messages and uncertaintiesamong the workforce.” These will indirectly impact the organisation’s productivity orperformance in achieving these needs.”

Rahmat says another challenge is to balance expectations and needs of the differentgenerations in the workforce.

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What It Takes to Be a Top Employer