SINGAPORE – Companies here must build trust among workers and leaders at all levels if they want to be competitive and cope with a range of upcoming economic challenges, noted Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Oct 30.
DPM Heng noted that this need for trust was one of the key lessons gleaned from employee surveys conducted here over the past 10 years by consultancy firm Great Place To Work (GPTW).
His made his remarks at the 10th edition of the annual Singapore’s Best Workplaces awards held at The Ritz-Carlton, Millennia Singapore, which honoured 50 employers who have performed the best on those annual surveys.
GPTW certifies workplaces with an outstanding employee experience through surveys and analytics.
Winners this year include software giant Salesforce, which has been a fixture on the list for the past decade, as well as logistics company DHL Express Singapore, which ranked top among large companies with 1,000 or more staff here for the fifth year running.
DHL Express was praised for various initiatives, including for a 32-hour induction course that conveys the primary business focus, strategy, and spirit of the business to foster belonging.
Salesforce was lauded for its considered approach to infusing artificial intelligence at work via an internal council of staff that mulls over how best to deploy the technology.
Mr Sujith Abraham, Asean general manager and senior vice-president at Salesforce, told The Straits Times that a great workplace promotes genuine commitment from people, drives innovation, and ultimately helps customers succeed.
“We remain intentional about our culture. That’s what’s been amazing at Salesforce – we write it down; we prioritise it; we programme it; we measure it; we innovate on it; and we hold ourselves accountable to it,” Mr Abraham said, when asked what has kept Salesforce in the list for so