Smart gets Excellence Award at 9th Asian CSR Awards

MANILA, Philippines – Smart Communications Inc. won an Excellence Award at Asia’s premier awards program on corporate social responsibility, the 9th Asian CSR Awards, for its holistic employee wellness program, “Live Smart: Healthy U, Wealthy U, Happy U.”

Held at the Crowne Plaza Mutiara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Excellence Award was given under the Best Workplace Practices category.

Live Smart! promotes physical, financial, social, spiritual and community wellness of employees. The program was one of only 13 awardees chosen among 141 entries from 99 companies in 15 countries.

“We are honored that our employee wellness program was given recognition by a highly respected award-giving body. Smart believes that its primary asset is its workforce. Hence, we’ve developed Live Smart: Healthy U, Wealthy U, Happy U to provide a holistic and supportive work environment that considers their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial well-being. When employees see how well the company takes care of them, they usually have a higher level of engagement to the company’s mission, vision and values,” said Smart Human Resource Management and Development Group head Annette Santiago.

The Excellence Award is Smart’s third with the prestigious international award-giving body. During the 8th Asian CSR Awards in 2009, the “Kabalikat sa Edukasyon (Partner in Education)” program was adjudged the winner or best education program in Asia under the Improvement in Education category.

Kabalikat sa Edukasyon is a cluster of programs that has benefited over 300 schools, more than 11,000 teachers and approximately 85,000 students since Smart launched its first education initiative in 2003.

Also last year, the company’s Alternative Power for Cell Sites Program won an Excellence Award under the Environmental Excellence category. To date, Smart has 114 cell sites that run on renewable energy, wind or solar.

Live Smart has three pillars — Healthy U!, Wealthy U! and Happy U! Under Healthy U! are fun physical wellness programs that encourage a healthy lifestyle such as weight-loss challenges, wellness fairs, wellness menus and exercises, and sportsfests, among others.

Employees are given the rudiments of managing finances wisely under the Wealthy U! pillar. Through this, employees get entrepreneurship opportunities, attend seminars on managing finances, and enjoy discounts and promos.

Happy U!, on the one hand, serves as the employees’ outlet for fun and meaningful activities. Under Happy You! is Happy to Help, the community service program wherein employees get to choose a partner organization for their volunteer activity.

“Smart employees like to work hard, and play hard. We have 16 active clubs, and one of every three employees is part of at least one of the hobby groups. We have employee-initiated clubs for mountaineers, tennis aficionados, badminton players, book lovers, singers, and budding photographers, among others. We also have volunteer groups such as Read-to-be-Smart, where members conduct regular reading tutorial sessions to public elementary school students,” said Santiago.

“Because of these activities where employees get to interact with those from other departments, they are able to collaborate and work faster when they are assigned to inter-department projects,” she added.

AIM Distinguished Alumna and wife of the Malaysian prime minister, YABhg Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor, was the guest of honor at the Asian CSR Awards 2010.

The Asian CSR Awards recognizes and honors companies in Asia that have outstanding projects and programs on corporate social responsibility. There are five categories: Best Workplace Practices, Concern for Health, Environmental Excellence, Poverty Alleviation and Support and Improvement of Education.

Finalists and winners are selected through an exhaustive search and selection process that include the generation of entries, initial screening, short-listing by a panel of experts, and final judging, according to the organizers.

The Asian CSR Awards program is presented by Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. AIM Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, a research and program center within the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and Intel. –(The Philippine Star)