Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) has emerged the best employer in 2016 in the large company category. East Africa Breweries Ltd came second while CIC Insurance Company took third position in this year’s Deloitte Best Company to Work for Survey.

“Some 80 per cent of our employees are under 30 years while 56 per cent are women. With this kind of team you can never go wrong. I thank my team for their effort,” said KWFT Managing Director Mwangi Githaiga. DHL Express Ltd topped the Medium Sized company category, beating the likes of Capital Markets Authority and ICEA Lion Group.

“Having a team is one thing but creating a winning team is another. At DHL, employer-employee relations are very ideal and that is a policy we have used to build the company,” said DHL Worldwide Express Kenya Country Manager Andrew Mutuma.

The award seeks to recognise companies with the best working environment for their employees. The key areas of focus for the survey were leadership, operational effectiveness, job satisfaction, learning & development, employer-employee relations, values & culture, performance, inclusion, recognition and remuneration. This year’s survey saw 163 companies taking part.

“Today’s employees are looking to work for companies that meet their everyday life. They are looking for competitive packages, employee training and recognition, digital advance and cool working environment which is ideal for young employees,” said Rodger George, advisory leader for Deloitte East Africa.

As a result, most organisations in the country are facing human resource challenges, according to the Deloitte report on Kenya Human Capital Trends.

“Most millennial employees are tech-savvy and an organisation that cannot meet this will always lose the best team. It’s upon the human resource managers to play a critical role in ensuring they support the company by ensuring they adapt to a new change that comes with millennial employees,” said Deloitte East Africa Human Capital Senior Manager Debbie Hollis.

Deloitte also observed one of the biggest challenges in most organisations is the rise of teams where the pressure for employees to deliver is treated higher than the employee’s motivation.

“You cannot expect employees to deliver when they are not motivated, trained, no medical scheme, poor remuneration and disconnect between staff and management team. Times when bosses will sit and order people around are over, the millennial workforce requires a holistic teamwork where the management and the staff share the same desk and there is also a clear communication between the two,” explains Debbie.

The use of social media in most organisations has made it easy for both staff and management to communicate and this creates a better working environment. This also helps companies market their brands and interact with their customers on a 24-hour basis.