Hartalega: Driving The Forefront Of People Excellence

Photo above: Kuan (fifth from left) with his dedicated team of recruiters at the M100 Awards gala

A winning start to many more accolades to come

How does a local glove manufacturer grow from a humble establishment in 1988 to getting listed in 2008, asserting itself as the largest and most innovative producer of nitrile gloves in the world?

Beyond its investment in engineering and product innovations, which drives its unrivalled process efficiencies and quality gloves, there is something more about the company’s success that is worth sharing – its solid foundation centred around company values and its people, also known as Hartanians: a workforce of 5,000 people across seven facilities around Malaysia.

This is Hartalega’s story.

Agents of SHIELD

At the pulse of Hartalega’s core business are six values articulated by its leadership as a moral compass to drive the company forward.

They are constantly communicated to all Hartanians so that they ‘live and breathe’ these values in their work and all decision-making.

Using the acronym SHIELD, they comprise:

Synergy
Hartanians working together to accomplish organisational goals.
Honesty
Truthfulness and sincerity in everything Hartanians do.
Innovativeness
Hartanians are always looking out for anything new, creative and inventive.
Excellence in quality
Excellence in all aspects of work and product quality.
Learning
A desire to continuously acquire and share knowledge.
Dedication
Hartanians going beyond the call of duty.

Hartalega SHIELD

Attracting young graduates

At the recently concluded Malaysia’s 100 Leading Graduate Employers Awards (M100), Hartalega emerged as winner of the Manufacturing – Chemical and Heavy Industries category, further sealing its position as among the best employer to work for in the country.

Even though Hartalega has received numerous accolades and recognition throughout the years, including HR Asia Best Employers to Work for, this M100 win is probably Hartalega’s sweetest win, as it was voted by students and graduates.

Kuan Vin Seung, Hartalega’s human resources director says, “We are on a RM2.2bil expansion programme called the Next Generation Complex or NGC, and we need to hire a lot of talent to support our growth. We realised we needed to share our Hartalega story while our potential talent are still at universities.

“Upon our leadership’s challenge for us to get into the M100 list, we decided to proactively engage with graduates through extensive campus recruitment drives and career talks.

“With this award, it’s a testament that these young talent are more aware of Hartalega as a company that they’ll consider working for after their studies.”

Equipping talent with strong GRIP

To create a conducive real work experience for interns at Hartalega, the organisation has formalised its internship programme known as GRIP, or Graduate Readiness Internship Programme.

GRIP provides a wealth of practical skills training in a structured manner to help kick-start interns’ career and leadership development.

Interns are assigned supervisors or mentors to work on specific projects or tasks until they complete their learning programmes.

In enriching their internship experience and making it more meaningful, they also get to participate in Hartalega’s different corporate responsibility (CR) initiatives.

Interns who do well at the end of their internship will be offered to join the Hartalega family as full-fledged Hartanians.

A company with heart

A company’s existence is guided by a strong sense of mission and purpose. For Hartalega, to be recognised as a caring company to the community and environment is embedded in their corporate vision.

With such solid business philosophy, Hartalega has a long history in reaching out to create a positive and sustainable impact in these four areas:

Community
Environment
Marketplace
Workplace

Among some of Hartalega’s commendable CR initiatives include school adoption programmes, recycling campaigns, medical outreach programmes for orang asli community, humanitarian assistance for shelter homes, health and safety campaigns and incorporation of green energy for their facilities.

Into the future

As a proponent of continual excellence and learning, Hartalega is not resting on its own laurels yet.

Says Kuan:

“There is much more to do before we are on par with other multinational companies in terms of HR practices and talent management. This award will motivate us to ‘glove on’ with our efforts to support business growth.”

Indeed, it is Hartalega’s aspiration that every Hartanian is able to learn, grow and prosper with the company.