A HEALTHIER working environment coupled with motivated human resources is fundamental for the success of any public or private organization.
A conducive workplace environment improves productivity and reduces costs related to absenteeism, turnover, workers' compensation and medical claims. Most of the organisations across the globe, including
Based on its ability to attract, develop and retain the best talent,
The certification is issued by the
"We pride ourselves on being consistently rated an employer of choice,"
The HR Director attributed the company's ability to deliver that requires having access to diverse talent and critical skills, built on a culture of agility, innovation, and customer service and delivering an employee experience that unlocks personal growth and drives business performance.
Ms Penessis said the certification serves as a reminder that the company is part of a global community of forward-thinking organizations that continue to strive for the best people practices and further cement its commitment to optimising and improving business performance.
Asked on what the certification matters for the company, she responded that; "It means we further cement our commitment to optimising and improving our business performance. "It also continues to live our spirit behaviours as these are key cornerstones to our success. These include earning customer loyalty, creating the future, experimenting, learning fast, and getting it done together" She boasts further that a good employer makes going to work each day fun, rewarding and challenging, adding that a great place to work cares about and supports its employees while also challenging them to grow with the company.
"We try to meet our staff's financial, mental, physical and emotional needs. As result, they are often more productive, satisfied, and willing to stay. "In addition to the regulatory policies, we also have policies which cover healthy, safety and wellbeing, parental leave, mental health, speak up, equal opportunity policies and many more," she explained during the interview.
Ms Penessis cited what she described as the boarding process for the company's staff as one among many of the best practices it has in place which encourages hiring managers to take ownership of the candidate's experience.
As a result, this provides opportunities for new employees to build key relationships and articulate heartfelt excitement to have the new employee in the top team.
For customers, the communication company has an approach in empowering the digital lives by digitizing and optimizing the customer experience by scaling financial services in
The HR Director mentioned facilitation of the company's transition to a future-fit tech company by putting in place a strong focus embedding the spirit of
These include deepening a culture that fosters innovation, teamwork and agile learning which increases both individual and team autonomy.
"It is also encouraging to see that we scored highest in terms of the Team Spirit Index and engagement scores across the
During an interview last year, the then Managing Director of
"With regards to women, we have a global target as Vodafone to be recognized as the world's best employer for women by 2025. This we believe will be achieved by supporting women at every stage of their professional lives in the workplace, and outside as well," she detailed.
"We have put strategies and programs in place to ensure we meet this target as a market including parental leave, sexual harassment policy, and domestic violence policy, among others," she said of inclusivity of women. The company invested 1.5bn/- in recent years to provide training and promote the career development of its staff.
The programs include, women in the leadership program, Vodacom Advanced Executive Programme (VAEP), empowering girls and driving inclusion in technology, gender smart for leaders, and menopause Kit.
The executive pointed to the fact that gender disparity between men and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers is alarming worldwide and yet research shows that these are the jobs of the future in driving innovation, social wellbeing, inclusive growth, and sustainable development.
"We believe that there needs to be a concerted effort both from government, private sector and academia to encourage young girls still in school to take up STEM subjects and this way close the gap in the field. "And that is exactly what we aim to achieve through our #Code- LikeAGirl programme, we want a future without a gender gap to ensure diversity and drive innovation in the country," she stated.
Coding is a way of solving problems, sequential thinking and stimulating, creating and designing. The 'Code like a Girl' program aims to develop coding skills and valuable life skills for girls aged between 14-18 years and encourages them to consider the uptake of ICT and STEM subjects.
It provides influential mentors for the girls to inspire them to be passionate about technology and its possibilities. Asked about the secret behind the company's performance, motivation, and retention she mentioned competitive remuneration and personal development opportunities by investing in employee training and leadership development, including upskilling employees for digital transformation.
Others are implementation of agile business processes across business units, regular engagement with employees to ensure consistent delivery on targets in addition to a continued commitment to building a reputation as a quality employer, and sustained focus on employee safety and health.
The HR Director stated further that the company continues to identify and attract talent from outside its traditional business areas to ensure it gets the right capabilities for new business activities, including in areas such as data science, machine learning, and agile processes.
"Our Discover Graduate Programme offers graduates a full rounded experience of the business including mentorship and coaching, and on-the-job training, all whilst earning a full salary and enjoying all the benefits of a fulltime employee. "At the end of the one year, the graduate will transition into a destination role within the organization. Following successful completion of the program, there will be opportunities to apply for more stretch assignments locally and internationally outside of his/her comfort zone to build their expertise and leadership capability.
This year, using an online approach due to the Covid-19 pandemic,
Furthermore, the company will be rolling out an executive employee wellbeing program, supporting staff through the provision of digital wellbeing tools and embedding well-being into every aspect of our work As part of a drive to become a digitally-led company,
With these policies and business practices,
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