World-class Filipino employers

​Last month, Forbes, the American business magazine, published a list of 2,000 of the World’s Best Employers. It enlisted the market research and business intelligence firm Statista to examine more than 360,000 recommendations that employees from different parts of the world made.

These employees were asked to do the following things: Rate their current employers and the possibility that they would recommend their employers to family members and friends. Then name the companies they admired that they would also recommend.

Topping the list was Alphabet. “With 72,000 employees, Google parent company Alphabet took the top spot, as employees cited approval with the company’s image, working conditions and diversity,” wrote Kristin Stoller, a Forbes staff member.

Microsoft, another tech giant, ranked second. It was followed by Japan Exchange Group, a holding company that operates the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The three companies were cited for their attractiveness among employees.

US employers dominated the list, occupying 157 of the top 500 positions, while the regional-banks industry was the most represented as a top employer.

Six Philippine firms made a welcome appearance on the list. They were Ayala Corp. (No. 18), BDO Unibank, Inc. (No. 23), Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (No. 69), Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (No. 320), Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) (No. 321), and SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) (No. 448).

Ayala Corp. is the country’s oldest conglomerate, and one of its largest as well. It has over 125,000 employees across its groups of companies, making it one of the biggest employers in the country. “We recognize that employment generation is critical to achieving economic equity and improving the quality of life,” wrote Fernando Zobel de Ayala, president and chief operating officer of Ayala, in the conglomerate’s 2016 annual report.

To be the employer of choice is one of Ayala’s top goals, and to achieve this, the company offers a safe working environment, ample opportunities for career advancement and competitive compensation that motivates the employees and allow them to answer the needs of their families. “As the parent company,” Ayala said in its report, “we also nurture a healthy leadership pipeline for the group.”

One of BDO Unibank’s core values is commitment to its employees’ growth and development. The full-service bank, which provides an array of financial products and services, seeks to nurture its employees in an environment where the values of excellence, integrity, teamwork, professionalism and performance are highly regarded. It had more employees in 2016 (31,443) than it had the year before (28,217).

In a message published in BDO’s annual report for 2016, Henry Sy, Sr., chairman emeritus of BDO, acknowledged the bank’s employees. “I also thank our employees for their hard work and commitment to excellently execute our ‘We find ways’ philosophy,” he said. “Your expertise, loyalty, and passion continue to be the force behind a solid BDO.”

Metrobank believes that a happy and healthy staff deliver top results. This is the reason why the bank, one of the country’s biggest, does it best to keep its people fulfilled, it noted in its latest annual report. “Our Human Resources Group (HRMG), together with the Learning and Development Division (LDD), implemented sustainable efforts across all program dimensions to achieve our vision of employee health and holistic wellness,” the bank said.

In accordance with the idea that talent development is key to a staff that takes effective care of its customers, Metrobank launched a number of programs in 2016 aimed at helping its people become among the best and the brightest in the industry.

The holding company of the Aboitiz Group of Companies, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, takes on more than 31,000 people. The company recognizes that building human capital is essential to growing sustainably.

“We are evolving from a family-run business to a family-led one. Crucial to our success is to attract top-caliber professionals who will not only help us manage our business, but will also upgrade the group’s capabilities and skills, engage people who can and will actually teach us,” the company said in its 2016 annual report. This necessitates the strengthening of the company’s human resources team so that it can more effectively attract, optimize and retain top talent.

In 2016, the largest electrical power distributor in the country, Meralco, implemented several programs to sustain high levels of work force productivity and engagement. These included the Meralco Innovators program, which was intended for future leaders of and technical members in the organization, and the LEVEL-Up and LEAD-Up initiatives, which had the goals of developing the skills of the technical talents, the personal effectiveness of linemen, and the leadership and supervisory capabilities of leadmen and foremen.

“Work force productivity is at the highest with a 7.1 GWh [gigawatt-hours] energy sales per ratio (SPER) vis-a-vis 6.5 in 2015, and a 1,084 customer per employee ratio (CPER) compared with 1,022 in 2015,” the company noted in its annual report for last year.

It is part of SMIC’s mission to look after the welfare of its employees. And so aside from appreciating the value generated by its employees on a day-to-day basis, the conglomerate invests in the overall development and well-being of its people. For instance, “The company aspires to create a consistently inspiring environment that promotes fulfillment at work and well-being in daily living by providing various avenues to promote work-life balance for its employees,” SMIC noted in its latest annual report.

In addition, the conglomerate, with businesses in retail, property development and banking, seeks to harness the potential of the diversity of the talent of its people from different backgrounds, and nurture a culture of inclusion, one in which equal opportunities are provided whatever one’s gender, age, religion or ethnicity is.