BURSA@Work aims to create an innovative and customer centric corporate culture with employees who deliver high performance by building from within.
Any organisation that plays on a world playing field requires a culture
and underlying values that attract, produce and retain creative, agile and
results driven people who have an international outlook. It must also be
an organisation whose people collaborate together towards achieving a
common goal.
In 2009, the Bursa Malaysia's family (Warga Bursa) embarked on a journey
to define these values and how they should inspire us. The result was
BURSA@Work:
Building relationships
United to achieve
Responsibility
Simplicity
Agility
Work to implement these values continued in 2010. A number of initiatives
became our focus in fulfilling this vision.
Putting BURSA@Work into Practice
In 2010, a programme to integrate core values at all levels was rolled out.
Dubbed the BURSA@Work Bootcamp, the two-day residential workshops
were facilitated by external and in-house trainers. Participants were able
to discuss and clarify the basic approach to implementing and integrating
the new values and, through a series of experiential learning activities,
putting the values in practice. They also shared ideas on projects aimed at
fostering and promoting these values at work.
590 employees attended a total of 22 workshops organised between
January and July 2010.
At the same time, employees nominated and voted for the colleagues whom
they felt best embodied each of these values and who might serve as role
models. Three employees won awards in five different categories. Winners
of the BURSA@Work Employee Recognition Awards were recognised for
their efforts at a prize giving ceremony presented by the CEO.
A Holistic Approach to Talent Management
We believe in a comprehensive approach to talent management with equal
emphasis on promoting a culture of continuous learning and ensuring
sustainability for the future.
Creating a Supportive Learning Eco-System
New values and a new mindset are difficult to achieve if our people are
not equipped to apply them. To this end we allocated RM3.3 million for
employee training in the following areas:
Functional and technical training;
HR development programmes; and
Talent management programmes.
36 training programmes were conducted in-house alone.
We took several measures to ensure the effectiveness of our learning
and development resources. We refined the Leadership and Development
framework developed in 2009 to be aligned with our core values. We also
defined leadership competencies and job success profiles at all levels
across the organisation, which employees and supervisors can use for their
individual development plans that can be tied into the training calendar we
publish on the company intranet at the beginning of each year.
With guidance on what skills are required to succeed in their roles and
a calendar for training, our employees and their supervisors are better
equipped to plan their own development needs. Overall, we achieved
seven learning days per employee, and our surveys show that four out of
five employees are satisfied with our in-house training programme.
Finally, assessment and talent profiling was also extended up and down
the organisation to identify skills gaps, as well as employees with high
potential.
Creating Sustainability for The Future
People are generally eager to develop themselves, but everyone does so at
a different pace. We believe our high fliers are more engaged and remain with
us when attention is paid to their development needs. Four new development
programmes were implemented in 2010 as part of our efforts to enlarge the talent
pool. Two are aimed at boosting the retention of talent among our emerging leaders,
while the other two are aimed at entry level talent. We allocated 32% of our training
budget to the development of our best and brightest.
Guiding Bursa Malaysia's Leaders is a mentoring programme to develop the
leadership skills of those in our talent pool via experiential learning methods. It
allows them to learn from Bursa Malaysia's top leaders who act as mentors, and
provides insight into other aspects of our business by pairing individuals with
mentors who are from different business units. 21 members of the talent pool were
selected for the programme and each Leadership Team mentor is responsible for
three individuals.
FLEX, which stands for Future Leaders of the Exchange, prepares our high performing
middle managers for the next level by equipping them with the requisite managerial
and leadership skills. We selected 48 employees for the programme based on job
performance. They underwent seven months of classroom training covering six
modules on people management, personal leadership and results leadership.
Trailblazer is our management associate programme for graduates. Participants are
selected following a rigorous evaluation and assessment process. They embark on
an 18 month training programme designed to introduce them to various aspects of
our business as well as equip them with business acumen and leadership skills.
Nine Trailblazers were recruited in 2010, from a combination of local and foreign
university graduates, with backgrounds ranging from engineering to business
majors, in line with our philosophy of strength through diversity.
Flexing their Leadership Muscles
"One of the characteristics of being a good leader is agility as well as the
ability to listen. Since participating in FLEX, I have learnt to adapt when
conditions and circumstances change, to listen and not only to hear; to
communicate and understand my expectations and not only to perceive;
to reflect upon my actions and its consequences, to be open and flexible,
to appreciate that each individual is different and unique, thus act and
behave differently."
Looi Sze Yan, Group Internal Audit.
Gen-Y Takes the Lead
"Stock exchanges are reputed to have one of the most dynamic working
environments and I felt that there would be no better way to challenge
myself than to start a career here. I also like the fact that Trailblazer
allows for first-hand job experience gained through half-yearly rotations
in different business functions of the organisation. For me, I hope to gain
better understanding of how the stock market works and the chance to
contribute to society through various charity events that Bursa Malaysia is
known to organise. Developing both inter and intrapersonal skills as well
as a healthy work life balance are definitely on the list too!"
Norshida Razali, MSc MORSE, University of Warwick.
We also trained 93 students from local and foreign universities under our internship
programme. These students gained exposure to working life, our business and the
industry as a whole through placements in various business and support units.
Former interns may be recruited as permanent employees upon graduation. In
2010, we hired five former interns. We continue to invest in the programme as we
feel that internship is an effective tool to promote Bursa Malaysia as a potential
employer. In 2010, we were voted as one of Malaysia's top 50 graduate employers
by Malaysian students studying locally and abroad.
These initiatives have been the focus of our efforts for 2010, but we have not
neglected the previous policies, practices and activities which have contributed to
our long term vision and continue to serve us well in attracting, retaining, rewarding
and engaging employees. This includes:
Ensuring the diversity of our employee population of 620: Our mix of
people, broadly reflects Malaysia's diverse ethnic composition. We believe it
is a key attraction to potential employees and, indeed, continue actively to
pursue ethnic, gender and age diversity in our employee population.
Maintaining open platforms for dialogue: Through events such as GHR
Open day and Breakfast with the CEO, we allow employees to mingle,
discuss or clarify policy matters or other business issues with the CEO, senior
management and HR. They contribute to improving work relationships and
enhancing internal relationships.
Encouraging a healthy lifestyle among employees: By organising health
talks and sports activities, we raise awareness among employees of the
benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle.
A performance based reward system: We believe an effective reward
system should be designed to drive productivity improvements and contribute
to the achievement of our corporate goals, while recognising individual
excellence.
Our pay philosophy: Our pay philosophy is positioned at the market 50th
percentile for total pay, consisting of guaranteed pay (salary and fixed
allowances) and variable bonus. Outstanding employees are distinguished,
and positioned at the market 75th percentile. The performance management
system and our pay structure are reviewed at appropriate intervals to ensure
they remain relevant and competitive.
Developing human talent is an evolutionary process. To sustain ourselves as an
organisation, we must always be willing to refine our policies and practices to get
the very best from our people and to be able to attract new talent. We must also
be proactive in developing the organisation and its human resources. To that end, a
series of workshops on managing for performance is in the pipeline for 2011, and
we will continue to prioritise investing in our people as a fundamental pillar of our
future plans.
