In a market praised for their resilience, adaptability, and strong work ethic, the HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia – Philippines organized by Business Media International spotlights employers that are rewriting the rules of talent retention, hiring, and multigenerational inclusion. The Philippines has been Southeast Asia’s most active job market, with 94% of employers hiring in 2024—yet churn is real, with the country also near the top for workforce reductions and a regional attrition rate of about 19.1%. Budgeted salary increases are tracking at 5.8% in 2025, signaling continued competition for skills. These crosswinds make retention the new growth strategy—and culture the decisive edge.
This year’s awardees—predominantly MNCs and large enterprises—stand out not just for what they promise, but for the employee-verified proof behind it. The program relies on the proprietary Total Engagement Assessment Model (TEAM), a deep engagement and experience survey coupled with validation that prioritizes what employees actually feel and do at work. TEAM has been deployed at scale across Asia, enabling robust benchmarking and action planning.
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Across submissions, three patterns define how winners are solving today’s HR problems. First, they treat retention as design, not policy—tying pay ranges and benefits to market data while investing in internal mobility and manager capability to reduce regrettable attrition. Second, they hire for skills and potential, not pedigree, widening pipelines and accelerating time-to-productivity with academy-style onboarding. Third, they operationalize multigenerational synergy through cross-gen squads, reverse mentoring, and team-level flexibility norms that prevent flexibility for one group from becoming rigidity for another. These moves directly address the region’s pay pressures, high activity levels, and talent churn.
To accelerate this transformation, the program introduces a new category in the Philippines: the HR Asia Tech Empowerment Awards. This category recognizes employers that don’t just use technology—but equip employees with hardware, software, and AI-enabled workflows that measurably lift productivity, safety, and inclusion. In markets across the region, Tech Empowerment winners are showing how digital tools, data literacy, and humane automation can create better jobs and better outcomes; Philippine entrants will now be benchmarked on the same frontier.
“In today’s dynamic talent landscape, success hinges on understanding people first,” said Datuk William Ng, Chairman, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Awards. “Our program uncovers real data and connects leaders in a community of practice—fueling bold, people‑centric strategies that truly shift the landscape.”
The award covers fifteen markets across the region including mainland China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, making this the largest recognition program and survey in the region for employee engagement.
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