Winning Secrets: Digitising HR functions is high on myTukar's employer branding checklist

Chok Oi Sin, Group HR Director, myTukar talks about the steps taken to improve communication and collaboration, by tapping into Lark, as well as by re-organising internal communications to a single channel.

myTukar is Malaysia's fast-growing digital, used-car platform that connects people to its national network in order to redefine the automotive shopping experience. Be it buy or sell, myTukar aims to provide efficient and transparent services to meet its users' needs.

At the third annual edition of Employee Experience Awards - Malaysia in 2023, myTukar won the bronze award for 'Best Employer Branding'.

To celebrate this milestone, we catch up with Chok Oi Sin, Group HR Director, myTukar on improving the employee experience by revamping outdated procedures and processes for HR operations and fully digitising HR functions.

Q How do you ensure your employee experience initiatives are aligned with your business objectives?

Although employee experience had been our priority from day one, the initiatives would not have been possible without the input of our senior management and employees. From the day I joined the team in early 2022, I had several in depth sessions with the chairman and CEO to find out what the team gone through since the inception of the company in 2018. We also have a weekly management meeting where it is easier to get everyone’s feedback on issues.

Our HR business partners are constantly in touch with the business units and are very familiar with the requirements and challenges they face. By establishing a good working relationship with leadership, line management and employees, we can strategise and deploy employee-focused initiatives quickly and effectively. Through our HRBPs we are also able to receive frank and prompt feedback on how these initiatives have impacted team engagement levels and what areas need to be improved. This has helped us fine tune our strategies.

Q Can you provide examples of how the organisation has invested in the employee experience?

One of the first steps we took in improving employee experience was revamping outdated procedures and processes for HR operations and fully digitising HR functions.

Another crucial step was improving communications within the organisation. We made Lark, our collaboration platform, to be the central communication platform and re-organised internal communications to a single channel. In addition, we used the platform to engage with employees and promote interactions via weekly engagement and people-focused content including polls, games, and quizzes.

To strengthen our employer branding, we leveraged our LinkedIn company page extensively to become a virtual community with the hashtag #lifeatmytukar for employees to share their stories and updates on working at myTukar, and for prospective talent to take a glimpse of our working culture and values.

Q What are some of the key challenges that you faced in implementing your EX initiatives, and how did you overcome them?

There was very little communication between teams coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and employee engagement was not prioritised. We worked hard to transform the culture in the organisation and consulted with stakeholders to get their buy-in and cooperation in implementing our people initiatives. Thankfully, the management was very supportive and helped us redefine the employee experience in the short timeframe that we had.

Q Do you have processes to measure the effectiveness of your EX initiatives, and what metrics do you use to evaluate success?

We frequently conduct our engagement initiatives on a small scale to test waters. From the responses of employees and feedback from departments, we are able gauge the success of the approach and plan similar initiatives on a larger scale. This has proven effective in helping us fine-tune our activities in order to have the broadest appeal possible in reaching out to our large network of branches across Malaysia. In addition, our employee engagement survey tracks employee experience in key areas such as engagement, leadership, learning, managers, and connection. Through the survey we get valuable feedback on how our strategy is working.

Q Finally, what role do leaders and managers play in driving a beautiful employee experience, and how are they held accountable for the success of these initiatives?

I believe leaders and managers are the main point of contact between the company and the employee and have a great role to play in improving the employee experience. In myTukar, our leaders have been very supportive of employee experience. Many of the heads of department took the initiative to contribute their department resources to make engagement activities a success, and this has actually influenced other departments to prioritise employee experience as they see the outcomes and the benefits in terms of improved morale and communication in their teams.

Read more interviews on why organisations have won trophies for their HR practices - head over to our Winning Secrets' section!

Lead photo / Provided by myTukar