Q: What do you consider to be the main components of a ‘great workplace’?
A: For us at AIA, employees’ trust and pride in the workplace are of primary importance.

They are outcomes of employees experiencing a favourable workplace culture by having an employer fulfil their physical and psychological needs while linking their individual contributions to the organisation’s larger purpose.

To this end, we focus on ensuring equal opportunities and a safe environment, where people can enjoy a balance between personal wellbeing, career growth and a sense of community, and add value to themselves and our shareholders.

Having been recognised as a Great Place to Work for nine consecutive years bears testimony to this.

Q: How have workplaces and their cultures changed since last year?
A: There has been visible adaptation to a remote working model backed by digital transformation.

This sudden change has impacted workplace culture in many ways while creating varied employee experiences. At AIA, we were able to ensure a smooth transition to working from home (WFH) due to having much of the technological infrastructure in place pre-pandemic.

The initial challenge was engagement but we were quick to master this by organising many online engagement events that have continued to see impressive participation from employees across the island. Our focus was on promoting digital connectivity to build more cohesive teams within the organisation.

Onecould argue that we see better engagement now with the creation of new internal communication platforms that facilitate a more connected workplace.

Last year, we carried out over 90 online employee engagement activities that served to keep staff excited and enthused, and connected as a community despite working from home.

Furthermore, although crises could create stress and helplessness in most situations, the prevailing ‘new norm’ appears to have created a change in attitude at AIA – one of ‘can do’ – thereby nurturing sheer determination in employees to overcome crises.

This unity has fostered a favourable and positive culture with high productivity. In fact, AIA completed 27 of 28 planned digital projects in 2020, which is quite impressive given the circumstances.

Q: Is employee engagement important in nurturing a great workplace culture?
A: Engaged employees are happy members of staff who willingly contribute their best to their work while harnessing positivity among colleagues and teams. This leads to high-performance cultures with greater productivity and fewer conflicts.

In parallel with this, employees earn better rewards and recognition – including learning and development opportunities – and not to forget that they derive greater satisfaction from work. This combination nurtures a great workplace.

Notably, AIA employees recorded a total of 12,476 learning hours virtually and physically last year, so it’s safe to say learning and development continued to thrive.

We also focus on nurturing and developing our leaders by strengthening their people management skills.

Our aim is to connect teams by adopting a less hierarchical approach and practising an empowering model with special emphasis on capabilities when managing teams in such an environment. This has become more critical than ever with the adoption of WFH.

Having been recognised among the ‘Best Workplaces for Women in Sri Lanka’ for three consecutive years, one of our main focus areas is diversifying the workforce and driving gender parity. Thirty-nine percent of our permanent cadre comprises women with 20 percent of the senior management being female.

Increasing the share of women in leadership was a key driver for us while ensuring experienced talent is represented at the senior management and board levels. So we identified structural barriers to women’s progression within the company and took proactive measures to mitigate them.

Q: Does innovation and customer satisfaction make for a robust culture?
A: As a customer centric organisation, we keep customers at the centre of everything we do.

However, our business really blossoms when we put both employees and customers at the forefront. Culture is a confluence of core values, the purpose of the business, the leadership style and communication.

Offering employees freedom and empowerment for creativity and innovation, as well as greater ownership, improves effectiveness and efficiency in all aspects of the workplace, resulting in better products and processes with high quality services for customers.

This reflects continuous progression towards a ‘good to great journey’ that facilitates a robust workplace culture.

Q: In what ways can a culture of trust and transparency improve business?
A: Leaders are responsible for building trust and transparency among employees.

At AIA, we place great importance on open lines of communication, less formal structures, regular forums and updates such as the management forum or CEO coffees, which enable clarity of purpose, building trust and confidence, and effective communication.

We prioritise clearing any confusion and ambiguity in a timely manner, as well as robust processes and policies that support a safe environment in the workplace. This results in employees having greater accountability and ownership, to contribute to and improve the business

INTERVIEWEE DETAILS
Thushari Perera
Director – Human Resources
COMPANY DETAILS
Telephone:2310000
Email:lk.info@aia.com
Website:www.aialife.com.lk