Certis wins employee experience award amidst challenging times

Employee experience comes first when engaging its diverse workforce.

In 2020, a large percentage of Certis Group’s diverse international workforce transformed into  front-liners, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic around the clock. Behind the scenes, its office  workers also turned their homeplaces into workplaces, merging previously separated roles in life. 

Having a huge 20,834 workforce in Singapore with varied time commitments and well-being  needs meant that the company had to meet them where they are. This is also to ensure that the  employees’ holistic well-being strategy is ‘on’ all the time. 

Certis Group won the award of “Singapore Employee Experience of the Year - Business Services”  in the recently concluded Asian Experience Awards for its various efforts to improve the employee  experience. The awards recognise the ingenious initiatives of creative companies delivering  meaningful brand experiences to their stakeholders in all industries in Asia. 

At Certis, the strengths and weaknesses of human resource initiatives are based on whether  people feel engaged and see their individual experiences as positive. 

Not just providing security, the company began pivoting to technology in 2015. In addition to many  other services across Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and Qatar, Certis feels that it truly  succeeds when its people succeed.  

Tan Toi Chia, Chief Corporate & Human Resources Officer says, “We care deeply about our employees – that begins by getting the right people to join, and supporting them in their personal  journeys with Certis. Over the past two years, the pandemic has disrupted our people’s personal  and work lives. We will keep listening to them, adapt and transform, and make bold choices to  support them.”

Certis’ colleagues shared how COVID-19 increased workloads phenomenally. Crucial to that were online meetings. To mitigate this, the company introduced “ALIVE” meeting guidelines to create  better interactions, productive discussions and respect for one another’s time when working from  home. 

The company also reworked these benefits for added pandemic care: marriage, compassionate,  examination, volunteer, extended medical, learning, childcare leave, financial aid, and other  services. To celebrate personal milestones, employees receive marriage gifts too. 

Growth and diverse opportunities has been a priority in its employee journey and these became  particularly important when the world faces pandemic-related job losses. Certis launched Global  Career Tracks in 2019 as an answer to feedback from a 2018 engagement survey. This 

programme aims to remove perceived progression barriers and fulfill career aspirations by  providing employees opportunities to move within and across career paths and job functions,  especially from non-management to management roles. 

In line with growing its people, Certis’ Individual Development Plan helps employees feel invested  in and cared for. Planning their progression together with managers, its staff can identify relevant  opportunities like overseas opportunities, job rotations, on-the-job-training exposure, informal  coaching moments to reinforce their strengths, or to address gaps. 

Additionally, Certis Corporate University (CCU) was launched in 2019 as a first in Asia’s security  industry. A over-S$10mil investment to drive continuous learning through innovative technologies  and new pedagogies, CCU quickly reskilled people for new roles in these two years. 

Besides initiatives, technology enables Certis to engage employees wherever, whenever. 

Certis’ in-house mobile app, Allegro, also helped make applications easy and provided for fast approvals. 

Allegro aided staff to monitor their health. It has iTemp, a daily temperature recording feature,  which was extended to other businesses as a contribution to society. 

All work and no play create burnt-out, unhappy and ineffective employees in the long run. Certis’  sports and recreational initiatives shifted to virtual activities — Zoom HIIT, yoga, Zumba sessions help employees bond and keep fit during this time. 

Certis also made sure to provide communication channels like whistleblowing, care lines, para counselling services, and HR clinics so employees can easily reach out and receive care.

Watch the interview below to know more about their winning project: