Maybank’s flexible hours are helping their employees to be the best versions of themselves (VIDEO)

What a job pays and the benefits it offers are important things to consider for many.
For working parents however, both of those things are trumped by work flexibility.

By implementing Work-Life Practices (WLPs), organisations can enable parents to successfully reconcile their work-schedules with school or day-care hours.

With the advent of Industry 4.0 and today’s multi-generational workforce demanding flexibility, one of the biggest perks of any organisation is Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) which allows employees to plug-in and work from anywhere.

And there is unmet potential for work flexibility; it enables employee availability, enhances productivity and ensures they remain relevant in a tech-driven world. In fact, new digital technologies actually facilitate work flexibility.

Maybank’s director of corporate banking Zahanim Azhari attests to that.

“I do my discussions and my meetings over the phone at home. I’m thankful for this ― I’ve been with the bank for 26 years and throwing away all that experience isn’t something I wanted.

“I still feel that I can contribute. And it isn’t only my family benefitting from my flexible work arrangement, it’s me too.

“I’m able to be with my sons when they need me and (at the same time) do good work for my organisation,” said the mother of two boys.

“FWAs is about getting the most from our employees every day. Morale is up, productivity levels are also up,” she said.

Joanand Kumar, an IT Specialist with Maybank agrees.

Having benefited from flexible work for two years, he credits FWAs with allowing him the opportunity to be very present in the lives of his children.

Kumar manages the family’s morning school routine and is thankful for the resulting stronger bonds with them. 

It’s clearly not just mums who benefit.

Besides FWAs, male employees are also offered paternal leave.

Maybank’s new Parental Leave allows male employees to have the option of applying for a maximum of 90 days leave from the child’s birthdate with half-pay and full benefits to care for their newborn.

In July last year, the Bank extended Parental Leave to employees who are adopting a child.

The Parental Leave Policy for child adoption allows eligible employees, irrespective of their marital status, to take a leave of absence to bond with their new child.

Maybank’s group chief human capital officer Nora A Manaf hopes that more Malaysian organisations will begin incorporating WLPs with the help of TalentCorp.

“I have to commend TalentCorp because TalentCorp’s initiative was instrumental in making flexible work arrangements more widely accepted in the country,” she said.

The organisation is committed to creating a future-ready ecosystem to enable their employees to perform efficiently and deliver world-class results.

“Our policies, processes, and systems are constantly evolving to accommodate the needs of our employees.

“We are committed to ensuring our people are supported with the right infrastructure,” Nora emphasised.

Along with empowering working parents, Maybank is also committed to championing diversity and inclusivity in their working culture.

“I am very serious about diversity and inclusivity. It’s not just a trendy word or phrase to us.

“Diversity is everything, it’s not just gender. We use our income per headcount and our profitability as good proxies to show that when you do the right thing, the right results come out,” said Nora.

As a result, Maybank’s employees are highly-engaged, said Nora.

“They are highly-vested in the organisation, they’re passionate, they’re well taken care of, their minds are fine, even their families are taken care of ― they are a very important stakeholder. So, it’s happily ever after for everybody.”

* Maybank won the Best Malaysian Organisation and CEO Champion categories at TalentCorp’s LIFE AT WORK Awards 2018. Submissions for TalentCorp’s LIFE AT WORK Awards 2019, Malaysia’s most comprehensive Diversity & Inclusion awards, have been extended until 2 Aug 2019. For more information, visit www.lifeatwork.my.

The article was originally published in The Malay Mail on 12 July 2019.