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Lenovo Thailand took home the silver award for Excellence in CSR Strategy at the inaugural HR Excellence Awards 2021, Thailand:
In this interview, Thanapol Wachiraworakam, Country HR Partner Indochina, Lenovo Thailand, shares the strategy behind this win – and the company's employee engagement score has made it among the top three sites in Asia Pacific.
Q What is your organisation’s winning HR strategy, and what are some milestones you’ve accomplished along this journey?
At Lenovo Thailand, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is part of our 'People First' programme where we have campaigns named: 'Giving Back, Celebration, Wellness, Listen, Growth, and Success'. There is a wide range of activities under different campaigns. For instance, our 'Giving Back' initiatives have been covering philanthropy. The objective is to continue the holistic approach in enhancing employees’ experiences in the culture of trust, empathy, and winning together as One Lenovo.
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? What are some proud achievements you can share with us on this front?
Lenovo Thailand's HR priorities are to grow the organisation by strengthening employee engagement in order to support the business to achieve our goal of 'One Lenovo'.
The leadership team is supportive of these priorities by aligning the goals for employee engagement and business goals, as well as encourages people to participate in these corporate programmes.
All of these People First programmes directly impact the engagement level, which is measured in our annual employee survey, Lenovo Listens.
Through this global employee survey, the management team is able to understand the engagement level of our people, and their employee experience of working at Lenovo. We refer to the absolute engagement scores, as well as other key dimensions, such as wellbeing. In addition, we look into the year-on-year improvement, to ensure that we keep improving the overall employee experience.
This year, based on the engagement score, Lenovo Thailand is ranked one of the top three sites in the Asia Pacific.
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 COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global economies for about one-and-a-half years now. Most companies are still in WFH mode for more than six months. In order to ensure employee safety, most People First activities have been shifted to virtual platforms. In the event that there are some activities that cannot be done virtually, we may need to drop them or rethink the way of execution.
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?
Nowadays, with digitalisation and globalisation, most businesses are evolving. The pace of change has further been expedited during the COVID pandemic. During the phase of transformation, the top three skills for HR are:
- Flexibility and adaptability skills: These skills are crucial for CHROs when the business is undergoing transformation. They will become even more crucial in the post-pandemic new normal.
- Communication skills: It is anticipated that post-pandemic, the flexibility in where and how people work will be retained. The way we communicate with people in the virtual setting is getting important. This is also part of the new normal that we all need to learn and practice.
- Technology and innovation: I believe that today, AI/technology is all around us. We are witnessing how technology is applied in different industries, such as smart retail, smart manufacturing, smart warehouse, etc. Applying new technology to manage labour-intensive work is no longer a dream.
It’s time for people to think about how best that we can upgrade ourselves and what value we as humans will continue to add in the workplace.
Photos / Provided (lead image: team photo, image inline: interviewee Thanapol Wachiraworakam, Country HR Partner Indochina, Lenovo Thailand)
Read more interviews on why organisations have won trophies for their HR practices - head over to our Winning Secrets' section!
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