This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 20, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has been crowned Most Attractive Employer in Malaysia for 2018 by recruitment agency Randstad, moving up a notch from second, a position it had occupied in the previous two years.

Based on this year’s Randstad Employer Brand Research, the top three most attractive employers remained unchanged from last year, with Shell Malaysia and Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd coming in second and third respectively.

“We would like to congratulate the winners for their consistent performance in ensuring and promoting a powerful employer brand that resonates strongly with employees in Malaysia,” said Randstad Malaysia country director Ryan Carroll in a statement yesterday.

Carroll added that in the three years that Randstad has conducted the survey in Malaysia, more companies have started to evaluate and redesign their employer brand.

Petronas senior vice-president of group human resource management Datuk Raiha Azni Abd Rahman said Petronas is humbled by the honour, adding that to be one of the top three winners for three years in a row is not an easy feat but it would continue to strive to improve.

“At Petronas, we believe that talent is the most fundamental asset to our success as a leading oil and gas multinational. As a result, we have always been able to attract, motivate and retain the best of talents not only in Malaysia but in the countries we operate in.

“We offer vast career growth opportunities through a structured career, leadership and capability development programme. We also place a great emphasis on diversity and inclusion as well as the creation of a conducive working environment for our people to flourish,” she added.

The Randstad Employer Brand Research analysed the attractiveness of 5,755 companies in 30 countries, surveying more than 175,000 respondents.