Venkat Raman
venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz
The urge to be a good employer, according opportunities for career advancement of staff and adopting the best business practices to retain talent are among the factors that define the success of every organisation.
The increasing need to encourage owners and managers of companies to engage with their employees with respect and honour prompted us to establish a category called, ‘Best Employer of Choice,’ in the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards last year. The response has been good.
Chad Wilkie, Chairman of the independent Panel of Judges said that the Category
celebrates businesses that value staff as their biggest asset.
“Excellence is shown through recruitment, induction and training programmes that empower staff development, as well as the creation of a safe, healthy workplace that encourages excellence and full staff participation,” he said.
Link2 Group
Auckland-based Link 2 Group was the winner of this category last year.
The Company has more than 200 staff with 60% Indian ethnicity, working with 35-40 different customers across Auckland and operating from their East Tamaki Office. New employees undergo an induction programme with a significant focus on health and safety systems as well as the required skills for customer deployment. Staff with leadership abilities are identified by Site Supervisors and Customer Service Managers from performance reviews and client feedback.
This Group has established high standards of performance, not only to its staff, but also to its management and owners, making it a responsible organisation.
Chairman and Managing Director Indra Sirigiri, who accepted the Award at our Awards Night held at Sky City Convention Centre on November 28 said that employee participation and welfare are among the greatest assets of his Group.
“We are in the people’s business and hence employee welfare and career advancement are of great significance. We ensure that everyone is treated with respect, fairness, dignity and honour. Their satisfaction is the foundation on which we are able to build customer confidence,” he said.
Assurance factors
Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce Chie Executive Peter Townsend has cited several factors that determine the ‘goodness of an employer,’ the foremost of which is flexibility.
“Good employers adopt flexible workplace practices as a mechanism to attract good people to improve productivity and to respond to next generation employees who demand flexibility as part of their lifestyle,” he said in an Opinion piece published by Fairfax New Zealand.
Quoting a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) National Survey, he stated that 36% of all employers are operating some sort of flexible work practice and that percentage is increasing over time.
Empowering Workers
“Another consideration in the context of the modern workplace is a philosophy of empowerment. Good employers are much more interested in outcomes than they are in ring-fencing employees and demanding that they operate in an output driven environment (that was the old way of doing things),” Mr Townsend said.
“Good employment practice is driven by strong personal relationships. The breaking down of hierarchies and understanding that everyone in the workplace has an important role to play as a member of a team. Good employers realise that every person in their workforce has something significant to contribute and needs to be recognised in that context,” he added.
The entry form for our ‘Best Employer of Choice’ and other categories, along with Form I (which is common to all categories), rules of entry, allocation of marks for each question and judges’ tips for filing a good entry can all be downloaded from our Awards website www.inliba.com.
Workshops on ‘How to file a good entry’ will be held in May, June and July at BNZ Partners Centres in Auckland at North Shore, Auckland Central and Highbrook. Details of these workshops are in our advertisements appearing in this issue.
Photo:
Indra Sirigiri with (from left) Ethnic Communities Minister Judith Collins, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Ministers of Education and Regulatory Reform David Seymour, Sneha Anthony and WAML Group Chairman & Managing Director Wenceslaus Anthony (on behalf of the Delhi based SRF Limited) at our Awards Night on November 28, 2017.
