DHL wins ‘best place to work’ award

Nine out of 10 employees show commitment to company.

KARACHI:

DHL Express has won the ‘Best Place to Work’ award with about 9 out of every 10 employees of the company displaying a positive attitude and commitment to the company, which is 30% higher than the global engagement standard.

The winners of The Express Tribune ‘2012 Best Place to Work’ study were announced by Engage Consulting, a leadership and HR consulting firm, out of more than 200 companies, which were invited to participate in the study.

Commenting on the success, DHL Express Pakistan CEO Sarfaraz Siddiqui said all employees of the company – from the senior heads to the delivery riders – are given a voice and everyone is treated equally. All team members are engaged on a weekly basis, every Monday at 9am, to review the past week’s performance and set targets for the coming week. Most importantly, everything is transparent and measured, and decisions are based on merit.

“You have to genuinely show them [employees] action, lead with a positive attitude and totally engage in the business. When people trust you, they go the extra mile for you,” Siddiqui said.

DHL Express Pakistan has achieved on-time delivery rate of 98%, making it the best DHL franchise across the world. It has doubled the revenue and increased profits by more than 60% over the past four years.

“It is absolute pleasure to see DHL Pakistan winning The Express Tribune ‘2012 Best Place to Work’ award,” Siddiqui said, noting that engaging people was the key to transforming the company.

DHL has not only grown exponentially, but has also set a benchmark for other companies in Pakistan and globally to follow,” said Paul Keijzer, CEO of Engage Consulting.

The runners-up for the award were Procter & Gamble (P&G) and ICI Pakistan respectively. P&G showed 84% employee engagement while ICI followed closely behind with 83%, both having improved their engagement levels by around 12% from 2010.

Both companies made a coordinated and determined effort to engage their employees.

“We are delighted with the outcome as this is a reassurance of our continued commitment and effort to making our beloved company the best place to work through small things, which make a big difference,” said Asif Malik, VP Human Resources and Life Sciences, ICI.

The ‘best place to work’ survey is based on people who knows and can best judge a company – their current employees. So what makes a workplace the best place to work?

“Company leaders and line managers, who are able to create a trustful relationship with their employees and recognise them for their contribution are more likely to create an environment where people want to go the extra mile and are willing to stay with the company,” said Shala Agha, Associate Director People Insights, Engage Consulting.

The ‘best place to work’ study aims to highlight trends in employee expectation, retention, motivation and engagement levels.

The writer is marketing coordinator at Engage Consulting

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2012.