Fair and Progressive Employers in the Midst of Challenging Times

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the employment landscape had been in topsy turvy with employers trying to sustain their businesses, while keeping their employees safe and gainfully employed. The Tripartite Alliance Award (TAA) 2021 ceremony, organised by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP), recognised 21 organisations and six individuals for their fair and progressive employment practices and keeping their employees at the heart of their businesses.

Hear from Aviva, TAA winner of Fair and Progressive Employment Practices and Work-Life Excellence categories, on how they put employees at the heart of the organisation, and its people initiatives.

Aviva helps employees become the best version of themselves, and gets it right from the start with its merit-based practices. The insurance provider’s work-life policies and programmes are driven by leaders, from the management team to the people managers. All people managers are fully empowered to adapt the policies and programmes to work around business and operational needs.

During the hiring process, Aviva does not provide a prescribed application form and instead, candidates can share information that they are comfortable revealing. Workshops are conducted for hiring managers that emphasise the importance of capability, unconscious bias, and skills in managing a diverse workforce.

Aviva also provides flexible ways of working with a range of flexible working arrangements that focus on the outcome and not output. For example, employees are not required to submit medical certificates when they feel unwell and do not turn up for work. They can easily take up flexible work arrangements with just an agreement between them and their managers - forms or approval from HR are not required.

Another initiative is the 16 weeks of parental leave for all parents, regardless of gender, nationality, marital status, or whether the child had arrived through birth or adoption. Employees can choose to consume the leave in one continuous block or cumulatively within 12 months of the child’s arrival. Since its launch in 2017, 44 fathers have utilised the parental leave, and 29 of them went on leave for the full 16 weeks.

With the implementation of fair, progressive employment practices, Aviva saw its employee engagement score increase over the years, from 71% in 2015 to 82% in 2019.

“It is important to put employees at the heart of the organisation and its people initiatives. A positive work culture ensures that everyone takes pride in their work, leading to employee growth and, in turn, growth of the business as a whole,”  Ms Pearlyn Phau, Group CEO of Aviva Singlife. 

This article first appeared in Human Resources Online Q3 2021 edition, and is the first instalment in a four-part series on how TAA 2021 winners implemented fair and progressive practices at their workplaces and excel as exemplary employers. 

View part two of the series on how aAdvantage Consulting Group meets the needs of the business and its employees.

View part three of the series on how OCBC Bank helps prepare their employees for the future of jobs. 

View part four of the series on how Go-Ahead Singapore develops and retains their older workers.