MAY 5, 2016 – Following a company-wide assessment last April 11 and 12, 2016, Servicio Filipino formally received the Investors in People Gold certification from representatives of IiP Philippines during an awards ceremony arranged for the occasion.
In full attendance were the Board of Directors of the SFI Group of Companies: Chairman Estrellita A. Anastacio, Vice Chairman Rolando R. Antonio, President and CEO Luis Alberto A. Anastacio, Senior Vice President Gaudencio T. Infante, Treasurer Vivian A. Guerrero and Director, Aileen A. Anastacio. The flagship company’s Executive Committee was also present: Bataan Business Unit Head Ariel R. Fernandez, VP for Operations Domingo Basilio R. Navera, VP for Finance Magnolia Nemil, AVP for HRAD Imelda A Liwag-Nacatab, Marketing, Sales and Business Development Senior Manager Mark P. Siazon and Corporate Trainer Shayma Cadapan.
IiP Philippines Chairman and the Lead Assessor for SFI, Janet Webster, accompanied by Learning Specialist Nicole Nibaten, conferred the certification.
MEETING THE STANDARD
Ms. Webster together with Assessors Pinky Diokno and Roz Saad conducted the one and a half day assessment of Servicio Filipino’s qualifications for the IiP people management framework last April, with the result announced on the afternoon of the second day.
During the May 5 awards ceremony, Ms. Webster said that she was impressed as a whole with the Filipino organizations the IiP had assessed. In SFI’s case, she was at first concerned when the company decided to pursue the Gold award before securing the Bronze and Silver levels. She then claimed that her misgivings went away during the accreditation process, as she became convinced that SFI could achieve such a high standard.
In particular, Ms. Webster praised SFI’s internal transparency, its venues for recognition and its Corporate Social Responsibility thrust. She saw what she termed “continuous sharing” during ExeCom and ManCom meetings as examples of the company’s commitment to be transparent regarding issues that needed to be resolved.
Ms. Webster also had a great appreciation of the availability of recognition for SFI’s performing employees. “Your processes for recognition are really nice,” she said while citing programs that had been set up within and among various departments to recognize excellence and dedication to quality service.
On the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility, Ms. Webster was intrigued by the concept of the Philippine TalentMap© Initiative. “It’s such a different sort of project, and I can actually see why you’re doing it,” she said. The initiative aims to build the most complete talent profile database of the Filipino workforce.
SFI’s successful accreditation culminated in its IiP Gold certification, with the plaque awarded during the May 5 conference. SFI is the first organization in the Philippines to achieve the award after only one attempt.
WHAT LIES AHEAD
During said conference, Ms. Webster also introduced a higher level of accreditation, dubbed Generation 6, as a successor to the Generation 5 framework that SFI had sufficiently met. The new framework has a greater emphasis on leadership. Ms. Webster encouraged the SFI Group to pursue this new framework and its new top level, the Platinum accreditation.
Ms. Webster also invited SFI to submit its entry for the next International Investors in People Awards, which recognizes the organizations with the best employee practices worldwide in several categories. Philippines-based finalists for the award include the AES Masinloc Coal-Fired Power Plant in 2015, and the South Cotabato Integrated Port Services, Inc. for this year’s event at the Old Billingsgate Market in London. There had not been a winner from the Philippines before, and Ms. Webster hopes that SFI would become the first in the event that the SCIPSI is not successful.
The Board of Directors welcomed the prospects and are in talks to prepare for higher accreditation and the International Awards.