CIMB perks spur staff to aid society
Volunteers get paid leave to help causes
Leading by example in repaying society, the CIMB Group will grant its workers one-month’s paid leave to volunteer for causes close to their hearts.
Tagged Flex4CSR, the new policy was unveiled yesterday during the soft launch of CIMB Foundation’s 10th anniversary celebrations that will be held from Nov 10-12 at The Curve shopping mall in Mutiara Damansara.
For a start, entitled employees will be those who have served the company for two years and more.
CIMB Foundation chief executive officer Datuk Hamidah Naziadin said the move was to give members of its staff a chance “to give back to society”.
“CIMB Group wants to be a corporation with a heart,” Hamidah told reporters after the launch.
She said the policy was seen as a continuation of 10 years of efforts by the foundation to engage closer with the community, adding that it had disbursed about RM102mil throughout the decade – in Malaysia and other Asean countries.
“Through our three pillars of community, sports and education, we try to reach out to society, regardless of age, creed and gender.
“We want our people to reach out to the community more, and to be out there,” she said, adding that the foundation nurtured community projects in Malaysia and other countries.
“The whole idea is to free them from work so that they can go and give it their all,” Hamidah added.
She said that the policy was also a way for CIMB to attract and retain young talent, as it was now a trend for them to volunteer their time for such causes.
“When we talk to our people, we find that many of them volunteer their time to philanthropic causes. So we thought, we have our own philanthropic arm, why don’t we open it up to our own,” she added.
Hamidah also launched another scheme to give CIMB employees half-day leave for every 10 hours spent volunteering on causes supported by the foundation.
The event, held at Menara BumiputraCommerce here, also saw the banking group honour Malaysian Paralympian athletes from the blind football squad and the wheelchair-bound basketball squad.
They were joined by the Malaysian junior squash squad, which included 18-year old S. Sivasangari.
She made history recently by becoming the second Malaysian winner of the Malaysian Open women’s title after Datuk Nicol David.
The foundation’s new logo was also launched.