Employees are the most important factor in running operations and driving the organization growth. Since BPP has operated and expanded its businesses to many countries with differences in in both culture and labor law, the company has focused on conducting good labor practice standards according to the international principles. Moreover, it has committed to carrying out and improving the labor practices continuously in order to maintain its employees in all workplaces with best practice standards equally.
In addition to providing a safe working environment and allocating resources and welfare to facilitate employee’s operations appropriately and adequately, BPP has also paid great importance on promoting equality and non-discrimination. This starts from the recruitment process to measurement of employee’s performance and growth within the organization. It also includes creating employee’s participation and listening to their opinions in order to improve the labor practices on a regular basis. The aim is to be an organization with good labor practices, which is recognized internationally.
BPP has employed the employee relationship policy as a practice guideline for creating good relationships with its employees. The employee engagement is comprised of three principles as following:
The human resource management suitable for the new context of BPP’s business operations will focus on transforming the organization towards the new era of management. The labor practice of each country, in which BPP has invested must be in accordance with the labor laws of each country, while employees must be treated equally and united following the organizational goals, and in accordance with the principles of DEI; Diversity; Equality and Inclusion. To fulfill the HR management principles, BPP has pursued actions as following:
The Human Resources (HR) Department has employed a recruiting process, which has been designed and clearly identified the qualifications in the job requirement announcement. Both expertise and experiences of applicants will be assessed, including using the culture-fit assessment and behavioral-based interview in the recruiting process in order to know applicants’ working attitudes in accordance with the company’s corporate shared values.
BPP has internal job openings run through the Internal Job Posting process so as to give its employees the opportunity to apply for the interested jobs. By this mean, employees contact the HR Department and go through a fair selection process. In addition, the company has also provided employees the opportunities to learn and develop themselves through a direct work experience, such as a job rotation for temporary learning in the field close to his/her line of work, or joining projects with a cross-functional working nature (project assignment), or working in the company’s foreign affiliates, etc.
In order to obtain high potential employees to work with the organization and retain them with the company, BPP has deployed a compensation management system fair on both salary and welfare, and able to compete in the power business labor market. Meanwhile, the
compensation increasement will be based on the employee’s annual performance appraisal results. Moreover, the company has also conducted surveys to improve its compensation management on a regular basis in order to stay competitive in the labor market, covering wage rates in the same business, the consumer price index, and the economic impacts affecting the cost of living.
The Company has adhered to three principles of human resources management, consisting of the employee’s equality (Equitability), the performance-based management (Performance Base), and the competency management (Competency Base). We have long been supporting collaborative works under diversities of races, languages, cultures, ages, and countries in which the Company has operations in order to strengthen the collaborative works and drive the Company’s innovations towards the sustainable business growth.
Performance management is an important process driving the organization to achieve its established business goals. It is a linkage between the organizational requirements and each employee’s individual working target. It is also an administrative tool allowing superiors to know their subordinates’ performances and his/her competency in addition to promoting collaborations among them on setting goals and KPIs together. This has led to the partnership and good relationships between supervisors and subordinates, ultimately escorting to the organizational success.
Defining a clear and tangible performance appraisal system able to measure and evaluate the success of each person is therefore essential. Messages on performance management have been also communicated to all employees for acknowledgement and using it as a practice guideline as follows:
- Defining a fair key performance indicator (KPI) system in order to manage performance in the same direction/ in accordance with the Company’s targets. In addition, the Company has revised the KPI scoring criteria divided into two sets, consisting of work-related KPIs accountable for 70% of the overall performance, and corporate cultural behavior based KPIs representing the remaining 30%.
- Improving the performance appraisal standards as the single practice guidance across the organization. This guideline determined that each indicator must have at least one performance evaluation criteria from four criteria, including: 1. Quantity criteria 2. Progress and Time criteria 3. Budget Utilization criteria (Cost) 4. Accuracy and Quality criteria. The improved performance appraisal standards have been communicated to employees for their clear acknowledgement and understanding of the improvement of performance assessment.
- Identifying the key performance indicators beyond their own responsibilities, such as those relating to subordinate management skills. The Company has determined the leadership KPIs for department’s managers and up so that they are aware that in addition to managing his/her department’s works, paying high attention and caring for subordinates is also part of helping improve the department’s performance better.
Employee representatives are eligible to negotiate with BPP about deals affecting employees by attending the welfare committee meeting with Banpu Group on a quarterly basis. In the past year, BPP made many improvements regarding welfare and regulations affecting employees, such as:
- Providing welfare beyond the basic one to take care of employees in a holistic manner, such as an annual influenza vaccination, providing mental health counseling (Relationflip Program), online doctor consultation (Health at Work), virtual one-on-one exercise, massage therapy for office syndrome symptoms, or consideration of special welfare program (Flexible Benefits) to be more diverse.
- Organizing workshops to improve working styles (Work anywhere) by brainstorming opinions from all department’s executives, and to promote teamwork for maximum efficiency.
- Managing communications on best labor practices, such as indicators for labor practices, human rights, human capital development, and talent attraction & retention.
Attracting potential people to join the company, and keeping employees with the organization is an important factor supporting BPP to pursue its growth strategies, and to achieve targets set in the short- and long- terms. The power and energy businesses, in particular, require manpower with specific qualifications and experiences, while these people are highly needed in the labor market. Hence, BPP has to have a process to attract and retain its employees continuously.
1) Strategic Workforce Planning
BPP has adopted its business strategies and personnel data analysis results in various fields to create strategic workforce planning in order to prepare manpower to support the operations in the future sufficiently, and efficiently.
One of the manpower strategic planning, enabling personnel to work quickly and agilely, is continuous development of successors for key positions (Succession Planning and High Potential Management). The succession plan committee will select, review, and follow up competency development of senior management successors continually, including recruiting new employees and executives to support corporate growths according to strategies set.
2) Employee’s Selection and Employment
The Human Resources (HR) Department has designed a recruitment process, starting from specifying clear qualifications once announcing job vacancies, to assessing expertise and experiences by using the “Culture-Fit Assessment and Behavioral-Based Interview” during a recruitment process in order to know applicants’ working attitudes in accordance with BPP’s corporate shared values.
BPP’s internal recruitment is operated through an “internal job posting” process in order to give its employees opportunities to apply for the positions they are interested, by contacting HR Department, and going through a fair selection process. In addition, BPP has also provided its employees the opportunities to learn and develop themselves via direct experiences, such as a job rotation for temporary learning in the field close to his/her line of work, or joining projects with a cross-functional working nature (project assignment), or working in BPP’s affiliates oversea, etc.
In order to draw high potential people to work with the organization, while retaining existing employees, BPP has deployed a fair compensation management system able to compete in the power industry’s labor market.
3) Employee Performance Appraisal
BPP has employed the performance management system to create fairness and manage performance and compensation aligned with corporate goals. The employee’s performance appraisal is carried out twice a year throughout the organization. The elements of employee performance evaluation are divided into two key parts:
Part 1: An assessment conducted based on work-related KPIs, focusing on key operations, representing 70%.
Part 2: Behavior-based KPIs, which apraise employee’s behaviors conducted according to a corporate cuture, focusing on cultivating behaviors supporting employees to work properly and efficiently. This part is accountable for 30%.
BPP has also established the leadership KPIs, attached in the work-related ones for middle-level management and above. The leadership KPIs include an assessment of leadership skills and his/her behaviors on taking care of subordinates in a responsible line of work. This KPI is assessed by subordinates one step down.
For the benefit of employees’ self-improvement, BPP has initiated a 360-degree assessment system by providing means asking for opinions on the employee’s performances and behaviors from supervisors, colleagues and subordinates. The information of employees and those providing comments or suggestions will be kept privately.
In addition to identifying the annual KPIs, BPP has set up long-term KPIs, which are applied to middle – level management and above to measure achievements of a 5-year strategic plan, consisting of indicators for achieving corporate strategies.
4) Remuneration Beyond Basic Welfare
To take care of employees holistically, BPP has also provided other welfares in addition to managing wages and remuneration. Other welfares provided include the annual influenza vaccination, mental health counseling or Psychiatrist Service, online doctor consultation or Health at Work, exercises in the form of virtual one-on-one, massage therapy services for office syndrome and consideration of special welfare programs Flexible Benefits to be more diverse. Moreover, a physical therapy and dental care or On-site Physical Therapy & Dental Delivery has been conducted at the office, while a survey on employees’ mental state (General Wellbeing & Psychosocial Assessment) was arranged so as to use the results gained to design activities for employees in 2024.
5) Cultivating Banpu Heart Corporate Culture Through Banpu Change Leader (BCL)
The Banpu Heart corporate culture has long been attached with BPP’s employees, but how to cultivate and maintain this corporate culture is very significant. If the existing employees and newly-hired staff understand the culture well and behave in accordance to the three core shared-values, namely “Passionate,” “Innovative” and “Committed,” while those working oversea have knowledge and understanding of joint-working behaviors in alignment with Banpu Heart, they will finally work with each other happily and commit to the overall corporate performance. To promote the organizational culture, BPP has set up Banpu Change Leader (BCL), an employee representative from various departments who will be a Banpu Heart role model. These BCLs will be the change agents to encourage BPP people to behave in accordance with Banpu Heart corporate culture and encourage them to be a change leader helping BCLs to drive participation in Banpu Heart culture activities from various organizations. They will be representatives who will cultivate the organizational culture from the operational level to the managerial level.
6) Talents Development
Every year, the Human Resources Department will consulate with heads of various departments in order to consider selecting employees who have outstanding performance with high potential and whose behavior is consistent with the organization’s core shared values on an ongoing basis (Hi-Potential Employee Calibration). These employees are called HiPo, who have potential and are ready to be further developed and grow with the organization in the future. As a result, BPP has developed plans to provide knowledge and train these HiPos to prepare themselves for career growth, becoming an executive in the future.
7) People Analytic System
BPP has collected employee’s data for analyzing in many dimensions, such as employee performance measurement, employee competency assessment and development to create a database system for potential employees or “Talent Pool”, including organizational engagement scores of employees in each area, and issues to be improved to retain employees. This information can be used to plan manpower to meet future needs.
8) Hearing for Employees’ Opinions for Improvement
BPP has regularly listened to its employee’s opinions for continuous improvement in order to become the organization employees want to work with in a long-term. It has provided various channels to receive employee’s opinions, including conducting an organizational engagement survey, arranging a focus group meeting to get in-depth opinions.
BPP has attracted and retained employees in various means, for example:
- Promoting a corporate reputation through a presentation of Banpu Heart’s corporate culture on various channels, such as Facebook fan page, so that stakeholders understand BPP’s working principles. It also attracts potential candidates to work with the company.
- Developing and implementing a “High Potential Development Program” (HiPo), for example, organizing training sessions on skills needed in the power business. The progress of organizing trainings for key positions is accontable for 70%.
- Continuously implementing the employee potential development project: To prepare employees for more challenging jobs in the future, the “Leadership Pipeline Development” program was initiated last year, with an aim to enhance capabilities of middle-level management and higher in working, and managing people, as well as being able to grow as the corporate future leaders. These talents were chosen through a systematic selection process, and assessed leadership capability and characteristics to gain awareness of their strengths, points to be developed, as well as to create individual development programs (IDP) to prepare the future leaders both in Thailand and abroad. Moreover, BPP has strengthened and developed these talents group to increase their leadership capabilities on businesses, critical thinking, and management through various development processes, such as cross-functional working, cross-country working, and job rotation, etc. The progress of their development plans is monitored on a quarterly basis.
- Banpu Career Day 2023 BPP, together with Banpu Group, organized the career opportunity day 2023 for its employees with an aim to make them understand about planning their career path, consisting of three main elements: growth path or career path, career goals or career aspiration and career development. At the career opportunity day, a Design Your Own Career Workshop was arranged to educate participating employees about career planning so that they have sufficient knowledge and understanding. Moreover, the workshop gave participants a chance to plan their own career paths through designing a growth path suitable to their ambitions, as well as creating their own development plan according to the set targets. This led to another conversation with their supervisors to develop the first step plan so as to make his/her own career path designed to match the corporate vision and goals.
BPP made use of the employee engagement survey 2022 results to analyze and seek ways to create the tangible employee engagement in 2023. BPP’s management approach is as following:
1. Talent and Staffing
One of the strategies for manpower planning and management, enabling the organization to move quickly and agilely, is a continuous development of successors for key & critical positions (Succession Planning and High Potential Management) to support BPP’s rapid growth. In the year 2023, BPP, in collaboration with the Succession Plan Committee, selected, reviewed and monitored the high-ranking successors’ development regularly, while preparing, following up and evaluating the Individual Development Plan (IDP) of selected candidates. This included recruitment of new executives and employees to strengthen key positions of all operating countries so as to keep the succession planning in alignment with BPP’s strategies. To support the business growth and to scale-up operating bases abroad, BPP continued focusing on the Leadership Pipeline Development program in 2023.
This program was aimed at strengthening the middle-level management and above to be equipped with managing people and works, as well as being able to grow as a corporate future leader. Various initiatives have been cautiously implemented through following programs:
- Banpu International Business Leader Program (IBLP), a program to develop leaders in every country (the first generation), aims to develop and prepare leaders to be well equipped, with a focus on action learning. The program also provides a mentoring system for all participants whose mentors are senior executives within the organization in order to make this group of employees ready to grow in key positions in the future.
- Banpu Business Leaders Development Program aims to enhance the readiness of executives in every operating country, in terms of people & work management, in order to become BPP’s future leaders. The employees participating in this program must go through a systematic selection process, including being assessed on leadership capability and leadership characteristics in order to have awareness of oneself strengths and areas to be developed. The Personalized Training Program will be, then, arranged for each participating employee so as to prepare them to be the future leaders.
In addition, BPP also increases the leaders’ capabilities in the areas of business knowledge, analytical thinking and management skills for employees with high potential. This employee group is developed through various forms, such as cross functional working, enhancing experiences in working abroad or cross-country working and job rotations, etc. The progress of this development program is monitored every quarter.
2. Career and Development
BPP places great importance of personnel development, knowledge exchange, expertise and various innovations associated with the sustainable power generation and distribution business. BPP supports and promotes the employee’s self-learning through online platforms in combination with action learning. It also raises the level of comprehensive human resource development in every operating country in order to support Banpu Group’s long-term business growth. Thereby, BPP is focusing on improving every core process starting from: creating a group of employees with potential to support the organization’s international growth (Banpu Global Talent Pool); systematically planning of workforce strategies for the entire company group; designing learning courses to suit each business and each job position by developing a holistic learning process (Learning Solution Design); creating an individual potential development plan (Personalized Learning Program) for key positions intensively; to accurately assessing learning results, in terms of changing behaviors and impacts on business through empirical measurements (Learning and Development Measurement).
BPP continues to design and develop training courses for executives and employees at all levels to promote learning through the Learning Application Project (LAP), which encourages employees to apply lessons learned in the workplace into their daily work. This includes scaling up such learning through the design thinking process, emphasizing people as the center of development, training to think creatively and encouraging innovative thinking in order to create new necessary skills (Reskill). For example, joining hands with Banpu Academy to establish the energy trading learning community to share knowledge and experiences among employees across Banpu Group and to strengthen existing skills (Upskill), such as negotiation skills, effective project management and contractual parties skills so that employees have flexibility in making changes/adjusting oneself to suit with the sustainable business direction. BPP also promotes digital expertise (Digital Savvy), starting with enhancing knowledge and abilities from the “Data-Driven Citizen Program”, which leverages insights depth data to lead the organization amid the technology era in order to create benefits for the organization and add values for customers. In particular, BPP gives its employees the opportunity to try out projects with support from the learning community to share experiences and endlessly transfer knowledge and data analysis techniques. As a result, employees become the center of learning and can choose their own learning style to access various skills efficiently.
BPP sees the importance of enhancing employee-toemployee relations, employees and executives, as well as employees and the organization, including promoting teamwork and creative working. BPP, therefore, organized the outing activity for the year 2023 on 23-24 March 2023 at Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya. There were 35 participants, including executives, employees and consultants of BPP in Thailand. At the outing, participants were divided into groups to carry out activities to promote teamwork, designed to give team members the opportunity to work together, develop strategic planning, find a team leader, plan and present their work, etc. In addition, employees were given the opportunity to practice expressing creative opinions (constructive and positive feedback), including summarizing all activities done by drawing a picture of the dream organization so as to let employees practice thinking, planning and working together creatively.
The activity organized received a satisfactory scoreof 4 out of 5 scores. All relevant departments will use this assessment result to design the action plans for developing relationships among employees and to make an understanding about business directions in the future.
