KUALA LUMPUR – Roche in Malaysia organised the 3rd installation of a Life Talk Series held in conjunction with its celebration of 125 years anniversary. Held in the format of a panel discussion, the life talk series began with Women’s Health, Personalized Healthcare, followed by the latest edition themed Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in the Workplace, a catalyst for talent engagement and Innovation.
The panel addressed that Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is an important topic, especially in light of changing demographics, globalisation, and the competition for talents. The discussions confirmed that organisations embracing diversity not only widen their access to the best talents but by doing so, deliver greater performance across all its aspects and are more creative and innovative.
Despite the workplace upheaval that most organisations have experienced over the last 2 years, several positive long-term trends are taking root, such as hybrid work culture, which combines a blend of remote and office working culture. At the same time, more organisations continue to prioritize employees’ mental health and well-being and remain open to offering flexibility to teams working from home.
The Life Talk session, moderated by Freda Liu, Author, and Producer featured the following panelists: Swiss Ambassador to Malaysia, Her Excellency, Ms Andrea Reichlin, YBhg Dato’ Sri Dr. Azman Aziz, CEO of SOCSO (PERKESO), Arno Kamm, General Manager, Roche Services & Solutions APAC, Deepti Saraf, General Manager, Roche (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd and Chai Yin Heng, General Manager, Roche Diagnostics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.
The panelist agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has opened opportunities to pause, reset, and rethink how we can do better to further foster and sustain an inclusive culture by advocating, and sharing best practices.
“In Malaysia, Roche continues to collaborate with SOCSO (PERKESO) in its effort to increase disability awareness amongst our recruiters and employees as we hire differently abled candidates. At the same time gender diversity continues to be important to us in leadership as well as our overall population”, said Arno Kamm, General Manager, Roche Services & Solutions APAC during the panel discussion on February 22.
“Malaysia’s strength as a multi-skilled workforce has witnessed impressive advances in Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), and in 2022 we expect to see more companies advance their understanding of how D&I can benefit their organisation. We are committed to driving our Return To Work programme (RTW) which implements a coordinated approach in managing compensation, medical and vocational rehabilitation for returning an injured worker to gainful employment.
“Today, there are an estimated 267,500 people of working age living with disabilities in Malaysia, but cannot enter the labour market. As such, if companies embrace diversity and inclusion factoring disability inclusion, they will gain access to a new talent pool.
“Through industry events collaborations like this, we are eager to work alongside companies like Roche to further the Diversity & Inclusion awareness in Malaysia”, said Gayathri Vadivel, Head of Employment Services, SOCSO.
“At Roche, we view diversity and inclusion as an engine of innovation and a key to our success. We are also taking diversity and inclusion beyond our company borders and examining how we can integrate this into our patients’ interactions,” said Deepti Saraf, General Manager, Roche (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.
“As we strive to deliver more patient benefit, we are passionately partnering with healthcare systems in order to deliver personalized healthcare solutions for all patients, where each patient is treated differently based on their personal data / genetic profile where every patient has the best possible solution, the best possible care while building a sustainable healthcare system based on meaningful data,” added Deepti.
“In regards to Swiss companies in Malaysia, a lot of progress has been made to drive Diversity & Inclusion in the workspace. In addition to a merit-based corporate culture, this plays an essential role in the companies’ attractiveness as an employer. In recognition of this, Swiss companies here have repeatedly been awarded Industry recognition,” said HE Ms Andrea Reichlin, Swiss Ambassador to Malaysia.
“However, to make change possible, the prevailing legal, political and social conditions must be right. The 2030 Agenda serves as an international guideline to mainstream efforts; its centrality is recognized by both state and corporate actors. Corporate D&I programs are one tool to achieve these Sustainable Development Goals – be it for example gender equality,” she added.
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