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Wednesday, 2 October 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE) has joined hands with the Japan External Trade Cooperation (JETRO) to bring forth the second edition of the Sri Lanka Corporate Health and Productivity Awards.
Following the success of the inaugural event, its organisers are moving at full speed to ensure that the upcoming awards will set in motion an opportunity for more business enterprises to become part of the program this year as well. The upcoming awards ceremony will be held in January 2020 and will take place in conjunction with the Health and Productivity Management program in Japan, conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). Applications for Sri Lankan corporates and entrepreneurs were opened from 1 August and the deadline will be 15 October.
Following the initiation of last year’s awards ceremony, the country’s enterprise sector witnessed a significant amount of change in their measures towards enhancing and uplifting the health and productivity of their employees.
The outreach to the public was also influential as the program garnered immense interest and recognition for the steps that have been taken as a result. Last year’s winners themselves have reaped benefits and continue to do so and the exposure that they had received as a result of their participation is testimony to the efforts their respective organisations had made in improving the standards of health and productivity among employees.
Sharing her insight on what prompted her company to apply and eventually win a Sri Lanka Corporate Health and Productivity Award, Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd. Executive Secretary Nilushi Senanayake stated: “Ever since our company was founded, we have been very engaged in the practice of health-related activities for our employees. However, we had never had the opportunity to document those activities or keep tabs on what we had been doing all these years. When we found out about the awards event from COYLE, we felt like we had the experience and potential to take part in it. As a company that believes in the importance of enhancing the health and productivity aspects of our employees, we wanted to elevate the amount of activities that we had been engaging with, such as offering employees free healthy meals, creating an environmentally-friendly work setup, maintaining large herbal gardens, including purified drinking water, etc.”
She added that these initiatives, coupled with the awareness programs that were offered by COYLE and JETRO, enticed them to apply.
Enterprises, when faced with predicaments, have always benefitted from the implementation of corporate health and wellbeing programs as they helped to not only create a positive-minded work environment amongst staff but also improve their productivity and retention.
Another past winner was Kelani Valley Plantations Plc (KVPL). The company’s Managing Director Dr. Roshan Rajadurai was instrumental in paving the path for the company to successfully achieve this accolade through his leadership.
KVPL Human Resources Deputy General Manager Anuruddha Gamage disclosed, on behalf of the company, that their achievement only means that KVPL would continue to commit to proving a safe and healthy work and social environment for their employees, as they believe that positive individual wellness enables employees to perform optimally and contribute to the success of the company.
“We were motivated to implement breakthrough initiatives through successfully extending comprehensive human resource management programs – spanning healthcare, education, the upgrading of living standards and working environment, community capacity building and youth empowerment. Therefore, we highly recommend that other companies that practice health and productivity measures come forward and compete for this prestigious award which will no doubt result in generating recognition for their exceptional contributions,” he added.
To augment the corporate values of enterprises through the promotion of enterprises that actively engage in health and productivity management as well as to expand island-wide health and management programs in Sri Lanka, a workshop on Health and Productivity Management was held on 30 July 2019. The workshop was conducted by Tama University visiting professor Dr. Yoshiaki Ichikawa. Dr. Ichikawa helped stimulate interest among enterprises in Tama, Japan to embrace health and productivity programs. This enabled workshop attendees to develop their knowledge in the field of health and productivity management and gain awareness.
Another organisation that competed and won an award was Noritake Lanka Porcelain Ltd. Conveying their take on what the award meant to them, the company’s Compliance Manager Ananda Subasinghe said that the award allowed them to build a good image for their enterprise and also encourage employees to become more productive whilst further helping to boost the employee’s view of working for a company that has been recognised for its best practices in elevating employee health and productivity.
“Whilst this recognition gives us the boost to also connect with awareness resources relevant to health and productivity and work towards improving our employees’ health, we are also able to address the wider social determinants of health in today’s society,” he added.
Applications can be downloaded at https://slchpa.com/home/. Candidates are encouraged to submit their applications on or before 15 October 2019.
Established in 1999, with over 100 top Sri Lankan young entrepreneurs, COYLE is a business chamber which promotes entrepreneurship, economic and development initiatives of the Government, the international economic development of the country and provides assistance to its members in commercial business matters. COYLE engages in trading services, manufacturing, construction, engineering, tourism and hospitality and IT services. With the motto of ‘Recognition through excellence’, COYLE aspires to become the most influential and vibrant chamber of young business leaders. Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is a government-related organisation which promotes mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. Established in 1958, JETRO’s main focus in the 21st Century is to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Japan.
