Winning Secrets: How Prudential Thailand achieves its high employee engagement score

There are key drivers to this – including company confidence, leadership, innovation, work-life balance, inclusion, belonging, and more, as CHRO Rosanun Chankasame tells us.

With its unique '3P framework' employer value proposition (EVP) strategy, Prudential Thailand, a leading insurance company, is committed to delivering a seamless employee experience. 

All of this is part of the organisation's goal is to create a holistic approach to employee wellness. Recognising the uniqueness of its employees, its total rewards programme is based on the principle that 'no one is being left behind', Rosanun Chankasame, Chief Human Resources Officer, Prudential Thailand shares. This concept accommodates differences in lifestyles and life stages amongst employees.

In turn, not only does the company enjoy an employee engagement score that sits in the top quartile of the Prudential Group, but Prudential Thailand also walked away with an array of awards at the HR Excellence Awards 2023 Thailand:

• Silver in Excellence in Total Rewards Strategy
• Silver in Excellence in Workplace Culture
• Silver in Employer of the Year
• Silver in Excellence in Corporate Wellness

Read more as the CHRO shares more on how Prudential Thailand drives healthy, high-performance teams, attracts top talent, and enhances employee engagement.

Q Congratulations on your top performance at the HR Excellence Awards! How has your HR and people strategy contributed to your success this year?

With our strong emphasis on delivering our purpose – "For every life, for every future", Prudential Thailand is committed to helping Thai people live healthier and wealthier lives. Therefore, our people strategies reflect our business ambitions to become number one in the hearts and minds of Thai people. We are focusing on delivering a seamless employee experience through the '3P framework' of our employer value proposition (EVP) strategy:

• PRU Space: creating a vibrant work environment where employees feel safe to share their ideas
• PRU Care: treating each other the way we would like to be treated and caring for our colleagues' wellbeing and career opportunities
• Proud to be PRU: driving diversity and inclusion that deepens a sense of belonging

Q Looking back at your achievements, what aspect of your HR initiatives are you most proud of and why?

We would like to see our colleagues enjoy coming to work and thrive at their best by creating a culture where our people can reach their fullest potential. Our goal is to create a holistic approach to employee wellness that drives healthy, high-performance teams, attracts top talent, and enhances employee engagement. Our initiatives are based on four pillars: physical, mental, financial, and social. The initiatives include a fitness programme, wellness days and leaves, telemedicine services, flexible working arrangements, financial literacy workshops, and a 24/7 employee assistance programme (EAP), to name a few.

As we recognised the uniqueness of our employees, we put in place the total rewards programme with the principle that "no one is being left behind". This concept is to accommodate differences in lifestyles and life stages among our employees. For instance, an employee can enroll their eligible dependents and D&I partner in the same manner as a single employee who can enroll his or her eligible parents for medical coverage.

Q During your HR journey, what were some significant obstacles you faced, and how did you overcome them to achieve excellence?

During the pandemic, our focus was to protect our employees’ wellbeing in all aspects of physical and mental health while maintaining a strong sense of belonging and connectedness. We effectively converted the employee engagement programme from in-person to online sessions. For instance, we offered virtual fitness programmes, telemedicine, socialising events, and, most importantly, flexible work arrangements to help our colleagues and their families cope with the pandemic. Other forms of support include vaccines, personal protection equipment, medical and insurance coverage, wellness leave, online medical consultations, the 24/7 EAP, online concerts, chit-chat sessions, and art therapy workshops.

As a customer-centric organisation, we have adopted agile ways of working to build cross-functional collaboration while everyone works remotely to deliver the best customer experience and embed an innovative culture. We have also integrated agile ways of working at our new office’s co-working space at Samyan Mitrtown. 

Q How does your organisation measure the success and impact of your HR initiatives?

Our purpose is to take care of every life and every future. Hence, we put together these two main metrics to drive our goals.

Firstly, we measure by an annual group people survey to evaluate the sense of belonging of the entire organisation. We have gained deeper insight into the strengths and challenges employees face across departments. There are key drivers: company confidence, leadership, innovation, work-life balance, inclusion, belonging, etc. As a result, Prudential Thailand’s employee engagement score is in the top quartile of the Prudential Group.

For business growth, we delivered higher-than-industry-average Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) sales growth in 2022, both in the bancassurance channel and for the industry as a whole. We have had double-digit growth in both APE sales and New Business Profit (NBP) growth for three consecutive years, from 2020 to 2022. Moreover, Prudential Thailand was ranked No.1 in digital sales as of Q1 2023.

Q In what direction do you see the HR/people function evolving in the future, considering the emerging trends?

First of all, as a 'strategic business partner', HR needs to transform from doing day-to-day and routine work to being a company’s game changer. Every HR professional should deeply understand our business and help shape HR strategies in a way that enables business success and creates positive employee experiences.

Secondly, in terms of 'data and AI', HR will have to leverage data and AI to optimise processes and enhance positive employee experiences. Using data analytics can improve various HR aspects, such as employer value proposition, talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion, employee wellbeing, and productivity. Data-driven HR can outperform competitors and eventually become a digital transformation expert.

Lastly, HR should foster a culture of diversity & inclusion that embraces differences. Diversity & inclusion can increase not only higher employee engagement, but also higher innovation and creativity. A diverse organisation is more likely to generate customer-driven solutions that significantly lead to business achievement.

Lead image / Provided