Maybank: Paving the way forward

(Photo above: Nora Abdul Manaf, group chief human capital officer, Maybank Group, and mentor of Women in Leadership Malaysia receiving the award from Tan Sri Datuk Hj Muhyiddin Hj Mohd Yassin, Deputy Prime Minister)

Creating an inclusive and equitable work environment

Maybank, winner of the Best Malaysian Organisation category of the Life at Work Award 2014 at the 12th Women’s Summit, was recognised for its programmes and initiatives in creating a family-friendly workplace.

Nora Abdul Manaf, group chief human capital officer of Maybank Group says, “Women currently form 58% of our workforce and have played an important role in the progress and development of Maybank.”

Furthermore, Nora adds, “To date, we have 46% female representation at the senior and middle management, and 29% at the top management level.

“It is clear that they are increasingly shouldering the challenge of leadership roles in the group.

“We continuously focus on identifying issues related to women and sustaining efforts to create an inclusive and equitable work environment.”

Flexible work arrangements

Maybank has implemented an integrated approach of flexible work arrangements (FWA) to ensure it is inclusive and beneficial across gender and demographics.

The FWA include flexible schedule, flextime, flexible work location and conversion to part-time employment.

As a result of the people transformative efforts driven by top management, Maybank’s key retention rate is currently at an impressive 85%, a significant increase from 52% in 2008.

Being an employer of chocie

Diversity and inclusion is a key priority for Maybank as it assists with closing the talent gap and ensuring the organisation culture cares about the needs of diverse employees and women employees.

Research on the availability of such facilities in the workplace links it with improved productivity.

Thus, having the Maybank Tiger Cubs Childcare Centre (MT3C) facility exemplifies Maybank’s focus on productivity improvement, employee morale and reduced turnover or absenteeism.

The initiative also targets women returning to work after maternity leave to support their transition back to work. It will support Maybank in growing women leaders by enabling them to have work-life integration.

As a family-friendly employer, Maybank aims to strengthen its employer value proposition and position the company as an employer of choice.

Into the future

Moving forward, Maybank expects to improve the facilities over time and aims to focus on identifying issues related to women and initiate change efforts, integrating diversity with Maybank’s core values to ultimately create an inclusive, high performance and equitable work environment.

“Female representation in senior management positions in 2009 stood at 15% and has since grown to 31% in 2013, recording 7% more than the global average of 24% in the 2013 Grant Thornton International Business Report.” – Nora Abdul Manaf

Did you know?

Fee assistance and incentives for establishing childcare centre in the workplace

Parents

Fee assistance for low income families of up to RM300/month, granted on a sliding-scale basis based on household income, number dependants, and special needs of child
Fee-paying parents exempted from tax up to RM2,400/year

Companies/Employers

Double tax deduction for provision and maintenance of childcare centre
Double tax deduction for childcare allowance (employees given tax exemption up to RM2,400/year)
Industrial building allowance at 10% annually

Childcare centre operators

Tax exemption on statutory income for five years
Industrial building allowance at 10% annually

(For more information, please visit http://flexworklife.my/tax-incentive/)

Maybank Tiger Cubs Childcare Centre

Trailblazing their way in their diversity and inclusion agenda is the establishment of Maybank Tiger Cubs Childcare Centre (MT3C) on Jan 6 this year, believed to be the first of its kind to operate on a purely emergency basis in Malaysia.

Parents who face unforeseen challenges when it comes to securing childcare services can utilise the facilities in this drop- in childcare facility with ease of minds and hearts for a temporary period while they source alternative childcare services.

Having an in-house emergency childcare facility supports Maybank’s focus on productivity improvement, as it addresses the productivity loss when an employee does not turn up for work, and the added loss when others are redeployed last minute to cover the employee’s workload.

Let’s hear it from the parents at Maybank

“It is indeed a great relief to have an emergency childcare centre like MT3C to mind my child when the babysitter is not available. I am satisfied with MT3C’s physical set-up. The environment is also safe and conducive for children.

I really appreciate that all of my son’s daily activities such as his meals, diaper change and learning are all recorded for my reference. MT3C is definitely a great help for working parents like myself to balance family and career needs.” – S. Loganathan

“Words cannot express how grateful I am to have a childcare centre like MT3C at my workplace. It is such a relief to have MT3C to turn to for emergency help whenever our babysitter is not available.

Now, no more taking emergency leave for me. I can focus better at work as I am relieved that my daughters are in good hands at MT3C.

In addition, healthy interaction with the professional caregivers and other children has helped my daughters acquire basic social skills like sharing and taking turns when at play. I will definitely recommend MT3C to my colleagues.” – Nur Hasyareena Hassan

“I am glad and thankful to Maybank for setting up an emergency childcare centre here. It would definitely be of great help to us, working mothers who are in urgent need of the services.

I feel safe that my child is being taken care of by MT3C’s well-trained caregivers. Overall, the service is commendable. I will surely recommend MT3C to my colleagues.” – Chew Lai Peng