Our People
The Richard Pieris Group considers its employees to be the asset with the greatest value. The blend of youth and maturity among the employees simultaneously benefits employees as well as the company. The Human Resource (HR) policies of the group systematically focus on attracting and retaining the best talent, while empowering employees to achieve their professional and personal goals, thus contributing to the value creation and success of the Group.
Richard Pieris Group, with its unparalleled heritage of 88 years, has succeeded in positioning itself at the pinnacle of the corporate sector in Sri Lanka, whole-heartedly supported by a team of enthusiastic, dedicated and motivated employees who are blessed with an abundance of talent and dynamism. The Company is committed to nurture an open and warm family atmosphere based on a strong anti-discriminatory policy. The group’s human capital management is focused on fostering innovative thinking, creativity and team work which delivers unique value to customers and clients. Given its aspiration of being counted as a ’Great Place to Work’, the Group is dedicated to building an exclusive work environment for its workforce of different nationalities, races, religions and cultures, working together as an integrated team.
Employee Relations
The Group continuously strives to maintain an open door policy with employees across the hierarchy, which is a key success factor in order to nurture a rapid growth momentum to foster dynamism of the large business conglomerate. Employees at all levels are encouraged and rewarded to actively take part in the management of respective SBUs through the maintenance of a harmonious and peaceful relationship. The employee centric management strategy has enabled the Group to effectively address the issues concerning the employees at all levels, thus driving the Group towards excellence.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Richard Pieris Group is committed to being an equal opportunity employer; the Group respects freedom of association and sustains healthy and cordial relationship with the Trade Unions. The Company follows a zero tolerance policy for gender based discrimination, cast and geographical discrimination, and sexual harassment while ensuring a hazard-free safe workplace. We strive to enable the full participation of people with different abilities.
Internal Mobility
This is a very important aspect contributing to our business operations. It contributes to our operational stability and business performance as well as helping us to mitigate the succession related risks. Internal mobility plays a vital role for RPC in retaining expertise, experience and talent by enabling employees to pursue individual career goals. In accordance with the new recruitment policy all open positions are advertised to internal employees first before any external candidates can be sought. Cross-company mobility is also encouraged where employees have the ability to move within the companies. This endows employees with broad and deep multi company handling and functional skills.
Training and Development
In identifying the training needs of staff, the Group possesses a planned and structured mechanism which identifies the different training and development requirements of the SBUs of different sectors. The systematic execution of these well-structured training programs fosters the pool of talent at Arpico, which not only benefits the Group but also the entire nation. The training programs conducted by trainers from different professional backgrounds at the Group’s own in-house training academy enables staff of all categories to reach greater heights in their careers.
Going beyond the workplace, different initiatives were executed across communities of different SBUs with the objective to assist employees and their communities to uplift their living standards. Health guidance programs, nutritional programs for children and pregnant mothers were carried out especially in the Plantations of Namunukula, Kegalle and Maskeliya, where most of the workers do not have access to such programs. With all these different initiatives, the Group has been able to win the hearts of employees, whose untiring commitments generated greater value across the Group.
Employee Innovation
All employees of RPC are encouraged to come up with innovative ideas be it business or other. The senior management warmly welcomes the ideas of our employees who come up with plans such as enhancing business process or cost cutting.
Work Life Balance
Maintaining a steady balance between work and personal life is an essential aspect in employee wellbeing and motivation, since a hassle-free mind enhances their performance whilst inspiring innovative ideas. Different recreational activities are organized by the Group aimed at increasing employee satisfaction and delighting them with opportunities and benefits. Recreational activities such as gatherings and dinners are organized to sustain an optimal work-life balance.
Wellbeing
Our employees being our most important resource, we rely on them to help us shape the future of our group and its subsidiaries. For people to stay healthy with their family members we provide them with comprehensive offerings such as insurance scheme, medical claim facilities, etc. The focus is on the employees’ financial, social, mental and physical wellbeing which includes the above benefit plans.
Safety at Work
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected our business too. In keeping with the safety measures and guidelines issued by the government, we took extra measures to ensure the work place and its surroundings were well protected by ensuring the safety measures and controls were in place and complied with by employees as well as customers.
We are committed to promoting accident prevention and safe places to work and conduct business for our employees including our stakeholders. We follow all accepted safety standards and have taken all measure in the work place to ensure the safety and satisfaction of our employees.