MAYBANK has started to offer its employees the option of one-month paid leave annually to pursue long-term sustainability and volunteerism initiatives as part of the Bank’s effort to encourage greater employee involvement in sustainability-led activities and to promote a sustainability mindset among Maybankers.
Maybank’s Group Chief Human Capital Officer, Datuk Nora Abd Manaf (pix) said that Maybankers have displayed a strong sense of passion and dedication for volunteerism over the years. The Bank recognises that sustainability and volunteerism may resonate differently from one employee to another and therefore, it has introduced a Self-Led Sustainability and Volunteerism Policy.
“To further encourage and empower our employees, the policy allows for them to volunteer at their own place, preference and time. We even offer the option of one-month paid sustainability leave for employees who want to pursue volunteerism initiatives approved by our Sustainability office (Group Sustainability). There is also the option of 1+1, whereby an additional one month can be applied with the relevant internal approvals,” she said.
Maybank’s journey of promoting employee sustainability and volunteerism efforts began in 2006, through its Cahaya Kasih Programme which allows Maybankers to be change agents in supporting volunteerism activities that tackle socio-economic and environmental issues across the region.
“The Bank strongly believes that employees’ service in support of local communities, wildlife and the environment carried out either within their personal capacity or through bank-led programmes such as Cahaya Kasih are important corporate goals and serve as an extension of Maybank’s broader sustainability agenda,” Nora said.
Maybank has committed to achieving one million hours per annum on sustainability and delivering one thousand significant sustainable development goals (SDG)-related outcomes by 2025. This is Maybank’s fourth commitment as part of its long-term sustainability ambitions – the other three commitments include mobilising RM50 billion in sustainable finance by 2025, improving the lives of one million households across ASEAN by 2025 and achieving a carbon neutral position for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and net zero carbon equivalent position by 2050.
As at 30 September 2022, Maybankers have exceeded the annual target with 1,086,560 hours clocked on sustainability. Some 56% of total hours were spent on activities that directly contribute to the Group’s long-term sustainability commitments. This includes working on sustainable solutions for customers, participating in community programmes and employee programmes related to sustainability awareness, education and overall wellbeing, amongst others.
A key effort rolled out this year is a staff engagement and activation programme termed the “Green Lab”, which was progressively conducted throughout the various businesses and sectors across the region in Maybank. The programme aims to encourage employees to adopt the Group’s sustainability agenda and commitments in their day-to-day operations and lives.
Meanwhile, close to 43% of the total sustainability hours came from activities with indirect sustainability impacts. This includes initiatives that support and enhance the Group’s workforce, processes and infrastructure as part of its ongoing futureproofing exercise. The remaining hours came from employee-led sustainability activities such as recycling or social activities carried out in their personal capacity.
“We are proud of our strong achievements as it demonstrates our employees’ level of commitment to adopt sustainability practices in all aspects of their lives and be an agent of change in the communities that we live in and serve,” said Datuk Nora.
Maybank has also exceeded its full year targets for the other three sustainability commitments. As at 30 September 2022, it has mobilised RM14.9 billion in sustainable finance (versus FY2022 target of RM9 billion) and improved over 296,000 lives across ASEAN (versus FY2022 target of 150,000). Maybank has also reduced 41.1% of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions against its 2019 baseline versus its FY2022 target of 40%.
