Putting People in the Centre of Our Success

Human Resources plays a complex role in managing an organisation’s strategic initiatives and the welfare of its employees. In spite of that, as a process, there was always a gap in its centricity on employees.

Many organisations are now realising this gap and are rebranding Human Resources to People Operations – putting people back at the centre of the whole function.?

As important as it is to identify this missing piece, it is equally important for organisations to have the right strategies in place to steer them on the right path. Qoala is one to have identified this gap early and has constantly been working towards reaching the end goal of being centred towards our employees.?

Over the years, we have taken several strategic steps to ensure that our people’s function has played a more profound role in our day-to-day business involvement. This centricity has resulted in us delivering a positive workplace experience to our employees.

Some of the strategies we have implemented to strengthen employee relations:

1. Open Communication

We have initiated a culture of open communication throughout Qoala by engaging in regular town hall meetings and employee recognition programs. These initiatives have led to transparency and collaboration across all levels of the organisation and the gauging of various perspectives around job satisfaction and workplace perception.

Town halls are an apt platform for our senior leadership team to share updates on the organisation’s strategy, goals, and progress while encouraging employees to ask questions and share their feedback openly. Another approach we have taken is to conduct regular feedback to gain insights on our employees' morale and areas we as an organisation can improve in making the workplace more conducive.

2. Personalised Upskilling and Development

Centred on never settling, we view individual goal setting as an important process within Qoala. This includes us setting performance expectations, providing feedback, conducting performance evaluations, and developing career paths for our employees. By doing this, we help our employees align their work with the organisation’s goals and objectives.

While it is given for an organisation to be invested in their employee’s career development, we do not settle on just that. We have also organised talks on personal development ranging from personal finance to personal branding both physically and virtually. In wanting to create a sense of belonging and ownership, our employees have led several sessions.

3. Engagement Activity

Engagement activities play a big part in creating a positive work environment and lead to improved collaboration and employee well-being. Realising its impact on an organisation, we have organised social events and wellness activities.

With a presence across Southeast Asia, Qoala’s inclusivity is reflected in its social events like during the festive seasons where there’ll be festive-themed food and activities carried out. Being the creative bunch that we are, our offices are also decorated to match the theme of the celebration.

Only much can be done within the confines of the office walls to promote healthy living. That is why we have also embedded sports competitions like football and basketball. What makes us unique is that our matches are not only within the organisation but also with our insurance partners.

Besides creating a positive workplace experience for our employees, we believe our unique culture, values and experience should also be shared with the community. In doing so, we have also done several initiatives like organising CSRs and conducting mock job interviews with university students to prepare them for their journey ahead.

People Operations is a continuous process, while we may have only scratched the surface, the decision we made years ago to put our people at the centre of our success, has indeed been the right strategic initiative.