Being Asia’s leading agribusiness group, good talent, teamwork and a strong corporate culture continue to be key priorities for our Human Resources (HR) teams as the Group grows and evolves. At the same time, we remain grounded in our belief that Wilmar’s employees give back to the communities in which we operate.
Diversity
As an international organisation with over 90,000 employees in 36 countries, we also strongly believe in creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. For instance, women constitute 24% of our entire workforce and 57% of the Group’s headquarters with 24% in the senior management team.
Teamwork
Among Wilmar’s six core values are excellence and teamwork. As our business expands globally, it becomes increasingly important that all country teams work together and towards the Group’s goals. Employees are encouraged to form cross-border collaborations in generating new and diverse ideas aimed at improving business and operational efficiency. For example, a collaboration between the research and development (R&D) teams from China, Malaysia, Indonesia and India has resulted in the successful launch of a healthier and low saturated version of confectionary fat. The R&D team from India also leveraged the knowledge and expertise of the Malaysia’s R&D team to normalise its production of cocoa butter using local ingredients.
In July 2019, a knowledge-sharing session was held in Shanghai with the objective of deepening regional engagements. Dialogues were focused on HR best practices which included future development plans and corporate social responsibility programmes.
Training & Development
In our key emerging markets, there is a race for talents. We will continue to work with internal and external stakeholders to establish Wilmar as the choice employer in the industry.
We aim to build a valuable talent pool through our management trainee outreach programmes. In China, our subsidiary Yihai Kerry has launched a new training institution “Academy of Success” where high-potential new recruits undergo a 42-month structured training programme designed to groom future leaders. During the training phase, the candidates are constantly assessed on their performance and capability potential.
Wilmar supports and strongly encourages employees to upskill and reskill to grow in tandem with the business. In Wilmar Myanmar, a Burmese/Chinese language training course was held to improve communication and work efficiency between the locals and expatriates.
Innovation
Innovation is another core value of Wilmar’s. We embrace innovation across all operations to continually improve our processes and products.
Yihai Kerry introduced a reward scheme to promote innovation and recognise outstanding innovation projects. This encourages employees from various business units and functional departments to interact and exchange ideas that will ultimately improve the profitability and efficiency of our business.
Another example is Goodman Fielder, our subsidiary in New Zealand, which capitalised on the trend of salted caramel flavour by overcoming the challenge of combining contrasting pH levels into a yoghurt product and made it the most popular flavour in its range.
Charity & Volunteering Work
Lending a helping hand to the less fortunate is a deeply ingrained value in our corporate culture. This stems from our belief in sharing the benefits of our business success with the communities around us.
In Ghana, we continue to support the “Operation Smile Ghana” initiative which provides free reconstructive facial surgery to correct cleft lips and cleft palate. We also provide food for impoverished families during their stay at the surgical centre while awaiting surgery. To date, more than 1,200 children and adults have benefited from this initiative.
Our subsidiary Wilmar CLV (Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam) partnered with both local communities and non-profit organisations such as World Chef Without Borders to provide humanitarian assistance. Over 2,000 charity meals were provided to the needy families at the Can Tho Central General Hospital. Baking and cooking classes were conducted for disabled children while financial aid for renovation projects in orphanages were also undertaken in Vietnam. The company also organised a run to raise funds for Ton Duc Thang University students from low-income families.