The HEINEKEN Company

Erica Sun

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” in Dickens’ era and so is ours in terms of human capital. People are much more educated with dimensional and diverse capabilities. Comparing to the very First Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, nowadays in the 21st century under the Fourth Industrial Revolution, employees are way more difficult to be fueled with job satisfaction by simply offering ample remunerations. They want it all. Companies have to build a people strategy in response to the environmental and economical changes where people can constantly feel motivated and yet unleash their greater potential when contributing their own talents to the companies they work for.

HEINEKEN, a beer company that brews the joy of true togetherness as the company’s purpose has embarked on the journey of building a winning culture and boosting organizational capabilities to make human capital sustainable. Particularly for the operating company where I am working in HEINEKEN Taiwan, it focuses on the people strategy built upon “Dare & Care”. We dare to pioneer and challenge ourselves from good to great, and yet care our people for their health and well-being as whole persons. Based on Dare & Care’s strategic directions, everything we do will then ask ourselves: Is the initiative bold enough and progressive? Are we caring for our people enough to put their overall health and well-being as the first and foremost topics to create an unprecedented employee experience?

" On the Dare strategy, one of the initiatives we promote intensively in HEINEKEN Taiwan is the agile ways of working where we invite employees to use agile ways to tackle business issues with innovative solutions "

We believe people naturally have the desire to be part of the winning team by being empowered to propose ideas, test assumptions, and make decisions. On the Dare strategy, one of the initiatives we promote intensively in HEINEKEN Taiwan is the agile ways of working where we invite employees to use agile ways to tackle business issues with innovative solutions. When engaging in agile projects, people who participate and work with cross-functional team members are forced to step out of their comfort zone from their original function or team and are more easily to be open-minded to apply one of the HEINEKEN behaviors “learn, share, and reapply” to their newly acquired skills. The intense working tempo under the agile ways of working includes daily stand-up meetings, 1-2 weeks sprint review meetings and expected outcome through a 3-4 months timeframe. It has been beyond just a project management approach, but a transformational shift that people can cultivate new skills and capabilities by working on solutions collaboratively and taking accountability cohesively for the results co-created together.

“Care for our people” is one of the core values that we aspire ourselves to bring to life, not just papers on the wall. The HEINEKEN company uses the HEI-LIFE framework to demonstrate care for people in a holistic way. This incredible people-caring framework consists of four well[1]being dimensions, including emotional, physical, social, and professional well-being. Riding on the global solid framework, we design our own initiatives which are relevant and resonated with our people in Taiwan more by launching various people caring programs, eg. flexible benefits, flexible working arrangements, emotion management, lunch and learn engagement events, etc. We recently offer employees the height-adjustable working desk where employees can stand to work or sit to work depending on their mood or satiation status. The single offering can result in the benefits brought from both physical well-being and professional well-being, which also meets the greater benefit for job satisfaction as well as work effectiveness.

It will be getting more and more challenging to keep everyone happy and engaging in the company with a traditional people strategy. The shifts are happening now from single to multiple, from fixed to flexible, and yet from dominance to empowerment. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it all comes down to people and values. The more employees recognize company values linked to their personal ones, the better talents that employees are willing to stay and contribute their best potential. At the end of the day, people strategy will play an ultimate critical role by shaping the future of work that paves the foundation for a better tomorrow.