Top firms among list of Sri Lanka’s ‘15 Best Companies To Work For’

Monday, 9 June 2014 00:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

After a comprehensive study the Great Place to Work Institute – Sri Lanka on Friday felicitated the ‘Top 15 Best Companies to Work For’ based on employee experience benchmarked with global practices. With the participation of over 50 companies representing 13 industries, and over 30,000 employees, this study identified a number of key practices unique to the companies identified as ‘Best workplaces’. The study concluded overall that with the right attitude and practices, ‘any organisation from any industry can be a great place to work’. “Organisations need to provide as much priority employees as they do to investors and customers, simply because it matters, as studies show that Great Places to Work achieve three times higher returns than the norm,” Project Manager for the Study of Best Companies to Work For in Sri Lanka – 2014 Sanjaya Gunaratne said.

He also said a great place to work is one where employees trust the management, have pride in what they do and enjoy the people they work with. Firms are measured by the quality of employee experience by an international Trust Index and Culture Audit. The Trust Index measures and benchmarks employee experience of credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie, whilst the Culture Audit assess and benchmarks people practices such as hiring, inspiring, speaking, listening, thanking, developing, caring, celebrating and sharing. As per the study Sri Lankan companies show a trend of hiring and increasing the size of their workforce. For example, the Top 15 hired more people as opposed to the rest, reflecting more optimism about business growth. Best firms also have profit sharing schemes for their employees and less employee turnover. The top 15 Best Companies to Work For, for the year 2014 are 99X Technology, AIA Insurance Lanka, Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka, Ceylon Tobacco Company, Classic Travel, Diesel & Motor Engineering, GlaxoSmithKline, IFS R&D International, John Keells Holdings, Mercantile Investments and Finance, Oxford College of Business, Printcare, Singer (Sri Lanka), Taj Samudra and Union Assurance. In addition, identifying best case practices in special categories, John Keells Holdings was awarded for Best Practice in Hiring, 99X Technology for Best Practice in Talent Development, Classic Travel for Best Practice in Work life balance, Diesel & Motor Engineering for Best Practice in Grievance Redressal and Workplace Fairness and AIA Insurance Lanka for being the Best in involving employees in Corporate Social Responsibility. "The top 15 Best Companies to Work For, for 2014 (in alphabetical order): 1 .99X Technology 2 .AIA Insurance Lanka 3 .Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka 4 .Ceylon Tobacco Company 5 .Classic Travel 6 .Diesel & Motor Engineering 7 .GlaxoSmithKline, 8 .IFS R&D International 9 .John Keells Holdings 10.Mercantile Investments and Finance 11.Oxford College of Business 12.Printcare 13.Singer (Sri Lanka) 14.Taj Samudra 15.Union Assurance " Category awards were also presented for Best in Small Enterprise category (50-200 employees) – 99X Technology, Best in Medium Enterprise category (201-1,000 employees) – AIA Insurance Lanka, Best in Large Enterprise category (1,001<) – Singer (Sri Lanka) and Best amongst Multinational Corporations in Sri Lanka – AIA Insurance Lanka. With insightful comments from Great Place to Work India CEO Prasenjit Bhattacharya and Great Place to Work Sri Lanka CEO Kshanika Ratnayaka, the award ceremony brought together the giants in managing excellent work place cultures, creating a platform to commend their dedication towards building great workplaces. The study was in partnership with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and LMD. The inaugural award ceremony saw support from the Daily FT, People’s Bank, Dialog Axiata Plc and ART TV. A common sentiment from the awardees was that ‘this would not have been possible without my team’. The sharing of their own unique approaches towards building great workplaces made the award ceremony quite an educational and entertaining experience for everyone present. The Great Place to Work Institute – Sri Lanka is now accepting applications for the 2015 study of Best Companies to Work For in Sri Lanka. The study aims to help employees and employers both by assisting companies to understand what it takes to make a great workplace.