Winning Secrets: How Check Point is building a great workplace where employees take pride in what they do

Check Point Software Technologies took home the bronze award for 'Excellence in Corporate Wellness' at the HR Excellence Awards 2021, Singapore.

In this interview, Cindy Chua, Head of HR, APAC, Check Point Software Technologies, talks about the launch of the 'APAC Young Professional Programme' as well as the support for employees in the transition to remote work as among the key drivers behind this win. 

Q What is your organisation’s winning HR strategy, and what are some milestones you’ve accomplished along this journey?

Check Point Software Technologies’ winning HR strategy is based on our vision – ‘new world, new opportunities’. The goal of the HR team is for Check Point to be the employer of choice for professionals in each market within the Asia Pacific region. We have always placed emphasis on building a great workplace where employees take pride in what they do, perform optimally, and trust and enjoy working with their colleagues.

Our HR strategy is focused on three main pillars – people, organisation, and operational excellence.

Some of our key milestones include:

• Launching the 'Asia Pacific Young Professional Programme', where we hire 100 young professionals who are interested in a career in the cybersecurity industry; to train, develop and grow them within the company,
• Supporting our employees in the transition to remote work during the pandemic while prioritising their wellbeing at the heart to ensure they stay healthy and engaged,
• Continuing to train, develop and equip our employees with the tools and knowledge they need in meeting the cybersecurity needs of our customers. 

Q How has this strategy helped you achieve your HR priorities, and what role has the leadership played in helping make this initiative a reality?

This strategy has allowed us to systematically manage our focus across the three pillars, with the aim of achieving greater heights as an organisation operating across multiple markets in the region.

The partnership between the leadership and the HR teams has proven to be crucial in implementing and executing the initiatives. 

Q Unexpected roadblocks are part and parcel of executing any initiative. What were some of the barriers that you and your team experienced while rolling this out, and how did you successfully get past them?

The onset of COVID-19 was one of the biggest challenges we faced, since it was a global pandemic on a previously unprecedented scale. It quickly became obvious to us that we had to act fast and maintain adaptability and flexibility with the ongoing, unpredictable changes to the pandemic situation and the prevailing effects of local restrictions and employee mobility. 

We prioritised our employees’ wellness by reviewing our medical benefits, and supporting employees’ vaccinations. We also moved our engagement efforts online to include regular newsletters, happy hours, wellness sessions, etc.

At the same time, we developed in-house online training programmes for our employees so they could continue to upskill and grow professionally to maintain their competitive edge, wherever they were working from.

Q As evidenced by the win, this initiative clearly delivered some amazing results. What was your gameplan for measuring ROI? What are some proud achievements you can share with us on this front?

Our game plan has always been clear - to provide what is required to help the team win the game, and this has resulted in the positive double-digit business growth that our company has been achieving YoY and the positive engagement scores in our annual employee survey. 

Q We’re now seeing HR manage portfolios that were previously considered far from their job description. In your view, what are the top three skills and attributes of today’s successful CHRO?

The top three skills of today’s successful CHRO, in my opinion, would be adaptability, communication and empathy.

Adaptability is crucial in today’s landscape as seen from the past two years. Things can and most likely will continue to change quickly, and it is important to prioritise our efforts and hold some things with a looser hand than others.

Open and transparent communication is very important as well, especially with the increasing pervasiveness of remote and hybrid working models. It is important for employers to note that if things are not communicated swiftly and in the right way, employee motivation and retention can be affected.

Lastly, empathy is an important attribute to have as we have seen from the news how COVID-19 can affect people. In all our interactions with employees, it is important to carry an empathetic heart while maintaining objectivity.

Image / 123RF

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