From L-R: AON Hewitt South East Asia CEO Jeremy Andrulis, Khor,  Johan Mahmood Merican and AON Hewitt Malaysia & Brunei managing director Prashant Chadha.

KUALA LUMPUR: S P Setia won the “Best Employer” award for the eighth time at the Aon Best Employers 2017 award ceremony held today. S P Setia president and chief executive officer Datuk Khor Chap Jen received the honour from Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Deputy Director General (human capital) Johan Mahmood Merican.

“We are delighted to receive this award for the eighth time. If there is any single attribute that stands out from our win, I would say it is teamwork. Teamwork is always the hallmark of Setia’s culture,” said Datuk Khor proudly.

S P Setia was awarded one of the Best Employers in Malaysia in 2016, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2005 and 2003. On top of that, in 2013 and 2011, S P Setia was also named Malaysia’s Best of the Best and Overall Best Employers respectively. The leading property developer was also given a special recognition last year with the ‘Commitment to Engagement’ award, according to a statement.

Relying strongly on its development philosophy LiveLearnWorkPlay, S P Setia takes employees engagement seriously and discusses the results of its annual People’s Pulse Survey in the management’s meetings. The Group understands that its successes are attributed to the loyalty and strength of the team hence various engagement activities, training for talents development, skills and experience enhancing workshops as well as team building activities that strengthen the team are ongoing programs at S P Setia.

“In Setia, 62% of our current employees are from Gen-Y and we have to create good challenges for them to keep them engaged continuously. The Gen-Y group love challenges and excitement. They want their opinion to be heard and they want to be credited for outperformance and excellence. As an employer, it is important for the company to engage with these employees and give credit where credit is due,” said Datuk Khor.

A company that is solidly grounded in its traditions, S P Setia’s annual Family Day and Annual Dinner remains a strong favourite amongst Team Setia in its yearly calendar of activities. During these events, teams from S P Setia’s offices across six countries gather for a day full of fun, friendly competition, performances, food, drinks and much laughter. It creates a great platform for the team to get to know each other and learn to work together to put on a successful event.

Besides getting together to play, a highly engaged team is also a team that happily volunteers their time for S P Setia’s corporate social responsibility activities such as its annual World Environment Day awareness events, festive celebrations with its communities, its Setia Caring School Programme and more. The high number of volunteers at each company event shows the loyalty and commitment of Team Setia to the company’s performance.

“When a property developer is branded as a Best Employer, our customers would expect that we also adopt the best approach in serving them. They will have more confidence in us as well as in our products and services, and remain our loyal supporters,” he added.

The Aon Best Employers program is a global study and was first conducted in 2001. In Asia, it is run in 12 countries which include China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Participation in the program helps define what makes a winning workplace as organisations that are awarded are those that inspire strong commitment and superior performance from its people, drive business results through effective people practices and manage their businesses in ways that build long-term success and sustainability.

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