UNION ASSURANCE
NURTURING ONE OF ASIA’S BEST WORKPLACES
In an exclusive interview with LMD, Union Assurance Chief Executive Officer Jude Gomes and Chief People Officer Imtiyaz Aniff discuss the insurer’s commitment to nurturing and developing its human resources, and how this led to its recognition as a great workplace.
Q: As the only Sri Lankan insurer to be conferred Bronze in the Large Enterprise Category in addition to being named among the Best Workplaces in Asia for 2021, how does Union Assurance prioritise employee wellbeing?
Jude Gomes (JG): The Great Place to Work© (GPTW) Institute recognised Union Assurance for the ninth year as well as a Best Place to Work in Asia for 2021.
The newest feather in its cap is achieving the Bronze Award in the Large Enterprise Category at the GPTW awards ceremony. This recognises our commitment to caring, nurturing and developing our people.
In this critical time, we further prioritised ensuring that our people had the necessary support to deal with the growing uncertainty and unfamiliar environment.
Some of our key initiatives were focussed on the mental health of our employees, and in offering assistance and guidance in the event of testing positive for COVID-19, which was otherwise a difficult task leading to fear and frustration as many were not aware of what’s next.
We provided employees with confidential and free mental wellness support from qualified professionals and consultants, a prompt COVID-19 hotline for information, and support for testing, consultation and hospitalisation.
Employees who were diagnosed with COVID-19 received wellness and care packages for them and their families; most importantly, this helped reduce the anxiety of an otherwise daunting experience.
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented solutions, and we went the extra mile to support team members in a particularly stressful period.
As a forward thinking insurer, we offered work from home facilities to our employees as an immediate response to ensure employee safety and wellbeing. Working from home is now a key feature of our corporate culture. We have provided flexible work hours for our employees as we continue to harness an outcome-driven culture.
At Union Assurance, we value employee wellbeing, and conduct monthly health and wellbeing sessions covering diverse topics.
We also organise Happy Hours – a virtual platform to engage with employees and their families to encourage fun at work. This is organised monthly to ease the confinement of working from home and bring employees closer to each other.
Q: In what ways does nurturing a ‘great workplace’ contribute to the company’s operations and its image as an employer brand?
JG: The company’s success is pivoted on a strong employee value proposition that aligns policies and practices, to create a work environment that is engaging, rewards meritocracy, nurtures a platform to fail and learn, and in turn fuels innovation.
At Union Assurance, our people are connected to a higher purpose through which they deliver value to their roles. We believe that fostering a great place to work harnesses employee creativity while also attracting market talent and reaching out to those who are keen to join a winning organisation.
Q: How are the company’s vision, mission and values aligned, to ensure that an open and engaging environment is promoted?
JG: Union Assurance ensures alignment with its vision, mission and values to make a positive impact on its people, thus becoming a great place to work where customer-centricity, innovation and learning are at the core of the company’s culture.
Employees are at the core of our business; they make our vision, mission and values a reality. The company’s vision is articulated in a simple form where employees across all levels are able to comprehend, articulate and contribute to the vision.
The team is kept abreast and informed of the company’s plans and strategies through regular and periodic interactions across multiple forums – and most importantly, their involvement and achievements are recognised.
Furthermore, we ensure that employees are constantly given opportunities to connect with the senior leadership team through various forums and platforms, to foster healthy communication, transparency and engagement.
Q: How would you describe Union Assurance’s employee value proposition?
Imtiyaz Aniff (IA): We value our people and firmly affirm that it is their contribution that defines the success of the organisation.
We care deeply about our employees; their wellbeing is critical for us as an employer; and we have taken multiple initiatives to support our team members in various ways and ensure that they enjoy a good work-life balance.
As an organisation, we offer market-competitive rewards to our employees; and we continuously enhance our employee recognition programmes to ensure that they’re appreciated for delivering value.
‘One Team – One Goal’ is a motto that is entrenched in the organisation and we strive to cultivate ‘We’ over ‘I.’
Q: What strategies does the company employ to promote career development?
IA: We run multiple talent development programmes to ensure that employees at all levels are provided with cutting-edge learning and development opportunities to realise their potential.
To elaborate, while employees engage in learning different concepts, they are also given the opportunity to get involved in diverse cross-functional projects to experiment with their learning by creating a ‘fail fast’ culture.
We encourage internal mobility and employees to move cross-functionally – this broadens their horizons of career opportunities and allows them to move into diverse areas.
Union Assurance also offers mentoring programmes for its employees, providing them with opportunities to learn from colleagues and their experiences.
Q: Could you outline the initiatives that Union Assurance has taken to drive staff engagement, given the various challenges impacting the business environment at this time?
IA: As an organisation, we have embraced working through this ‘new normal’ very effectively.
We have developed various engagement platforms for our employees at the team, departmental and organisational levels. This continues to be our strength as we grapple with multiple waves of COVID-19.
Despite remote working, Union Assurance has continued to keep its teams motivated and engaged, striking a balance between work and play with digital town halls for quarterly updates, and Happy Hour sessions to promote camaraderie with fun and games for employees.
Furthermore, we have ‘Connect with CEO’ sessions, which have proven to be very successful among our people. We also conduct engagement pulse surveys to gather feedback on initiatives the company runs – so that we can innovate where necessary.
