A core pillar of any organisation is its people, and at Baiduri Bank, the well-being of our employees is a key priority. As an employer, we understand that work can be challenging at times. We strive to cultivate a culture of good physical and mental hygiene to ensure sustainability in our careers and personal lives. One way of achieving this is through the Employee Wellness Initiative (EWI).
The EWI was introduced with the aim to raise awareness and create opportunities where employees can participate in healthier activities together and support each other to achieve an optimal lifestyle starting from the workplace.
Reflecting on the EWI’s introduction in November 2020, Deputy Head of Group Human Resources Chiam Chin Huei shared, “It started as an idea that we wanted to explore. We saw that other high performing organisations around the world were benefitting from similar programmes. We realised that the key to increasing our productivity is to improve employee engagement and morale.”
“We know that our employees are also fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. We believe in adopting a win-win ecosystem where employee well-being benefits not only the individual but also their families and ultimately, the nation.”
The initiative has attracted positive support with EWI Ambassadors coming forward from various departments across Baiduri Bank Group. “This was a call out to everyone, and it was really encouraging to see our people gravitate towards this cause and take it upon themselves to become ambassadors,” said Chin Huei.
Wellness with four dimensions
The EWI focuses on four main wellness dimensions – financial, physical, mental and spiritual. Each dimension is important on its own but together they provide a strong foundation that supports our overall well-being.
As a leading financial institution, our in-house financial planners are well-equipped to impart and share their knowledge and skills with their colleagues, to build on financial literacy and awareness which allows us to manage our financial commitments with the right resources.
For physical wellness, we have worked closely with various partners to further our cause, such as the Health Promotion Centre in 2020 for our Annual Health Screening where more than 600 employees participated. We are also working closely with the Ministry of Health to help them achieve their vision of reducing non-communicable diseases such as stroke and diabetes in the country, as well as the recently launched Mental Health Action Plan 2022 – 2025 which aims to address mental health issues across the nation.
We recognise the importance of providing support to our employees, and especially during the pandemic, we had increased internal communications channels and introduced an Employee helpline to give a more convenient and easier platform to seek help.
“During Ramadhan last year, we held a spiritual wellness talk where we invited Ustazah Hanisah Othman, a well-known speaker to deliver a talk titled ‘Be kind to your mind’. Despite the COVID restrictions, a total of 150 employees attended the talk virtually and in person.”
For EWI, events are held throughout the year that incorporate not just one but a combination of these four dimensions. As Employee Relations & Governance Officer Haji Mohamad Yazid bin Haji Abdul Ranni highlighted, these events have received a positive response.
One example is the Society for Community Outreach and Training (SCOT) Social Kitchen initiative. As EWI Ambassador Nurul Izzati Khairun Nisa binti Embran shared, this donation drive was initially aimed at providing 250 meals for those in need. This provided an opportunity for single mothers to gain employment by preparing the meals. Due to the overwhelming generosity of our people, we were able to provide over 800 meals. We’re pleased to see the huge efforts from our EWI Ambassadors and employees volunteering to join us in preparing the meals.
Feel Good Fridays are a monthly series of various activities led by EWI Ambassadors. Other activities include a Financial Talk with our Wealth Management team and an animal welfare talk and volunteer session with PawsUp.
Attaining feedback is another important facet of ensuring employees’ well-being, he said. “We started an initiative called ‘Employee Voice’ (E-Voice), which gives an opportunity for our employees to share their suggestions and ideas or complaints which would be reviewed and evaluated accordingly.”
He affirmed that being consistent in carrying out activities throughout the year has been an important achievement for EWI.
Since the start of our employee wellness journey, over 2,000 hours have been invested in wellness related trainings such as psychological first aid, personal safety skills, wellness clinics, spiritual health talks and wellness ambassador training.
Towards a future of health and wellness
Baiduri Bank looks forward to working with NGOs and others towards reaching our goal and contributing to overall wellness initiatives in the country. Working together helps the individual, the family, the community and the country.
In order to co-create the future together, we will continue to engage and explore ideas with our stakeholders to further strengthen our EWI programme. At the same time, we also hope to inspire a movement so that collectively, we can create a healthier and more productive nation, one workplace at a time.
