Narongchai Pisutpunya

President

Employees are the most valuable asset of a company.

Although a subsidiary of PTT Group, we do not have our own physical asset, equipment, or a full array of operation units. Our one and only asset is our employees, so we put great emphasis on people development. For us, valuable human resources are not only endowed with skills and knowledge but also good health and positive mind that make them more efficient. Realising this, our health promotion plan is embedded as one of the four pillars in our ‘4 Hs’ principle: Head (knowledge development); Hand (skill development); Heart (mental health or EQ development), and; Health (healthcare support and welfare). We proceed with basic medical check-ups as other organisations do but we found that even though our employees’ average age is only 37 years, 30% of them are at risk of hyperlipidemia. Therefore, we implemented a proactive programme to raise awareness among our employees about the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. Exercise sessions are provided for employees at all levels, management included, to encourage physical health development. We also provide a salad bar every Friday to encourage our employees to add nutritious and healthy dishes in their diet. Training, health talks, and health quizzes are other activities that we do regularly to educate employees about how to stay healthy. The results have been very impressive. For instance, we find that sick leave rates are constantly declining. Thailand’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality project is a catalyst that encourages employers to consider employee health as a worthy object of investment in their business. You may have hi-tech machines or state-of-the-art innovations to make your organisation grow but if you have unhealthy people who do not give you their best, it counts for little. People are the most important asset of any business, and technology is no substitute for healthy people. Consequently, employers must consider employee health their top priority to achieve sustainable development.