Human capital is the most important asset for Pharmaniaga, thus the company offers a wide range of learning and development opportunities which include regular in-house and external trainings that focus on technical and soft skills. The company also practises 360 Degree evaluation which enables subordinates to rate their superiors. There is also a deep understanding of the differences between the millennial and older generations of staff leading to different people management styles of these two groups.

This employee engagement strategy netted the company high scores from the Employee Engagement Survey (EES) which was conducted by Aon in 2016, and saw Pharmaniaga scoring 76 percent for its level of engagement between the company and employees. This was nine percent higher than the Asia Pacific norm/average. Staff retention is further achieved by competitive staff benefits, various incentives (birthday leave, meal subsidies, car loan interest subsidies, tuition subsidies for employees’ children and many others) and team activities organised to create a feel-good working environment for employees.

With the rise of healthcare and medicine costs becoming a huge challenge for pharmaceutical companies, Pharmaniaga is mitigating it via various measures including enhancing operational efficiencies and prudent cost management. The company has also executed upgrading pogrammes of the plants and increase the use of automation to cater the growing needs for quality and safe medicines amongst the public. Pharmaniaga is also becoming a major player in the halal industry, with majority of its manufacturing plants were certified halal by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) in 2015. The company’s product portfolio stands at 430, including 62 products that are obtained halal certification. It is expecting to have more than 200 products that are certified halal by end of 2018. Good governance is a key driver at Pharmaniaga. It is a company that is totally against the habit of employees sweeping issues under the carpet. Its management believes that action like this would only jeapordise the issues faced by the employees or the company. The pharma giant encourages team decisions to ensure all opinions are sought after and heard. It also drives home the importance of employees adhering to all established processes, a step that inculcates the compliance culture of DIRC which endeavors to do things right the first time, and all the time.