Customer Centricity

Employee Experience Initiative

JG Summit Holdings, Inc. recognizes that our employees’ day-to-day experiences play a crucial role in their productivity and engagement, which in turn leads to organizational performance. As we strive to innovate continuously to deliver great customer experience, we believe that starting from within by providing a fulfilling employee experience is key. In support of that objective, we have formally created an Employee Experience department under Corporate Human Resources with the mandate of enhancing key touchpoints in the employee journey by gathering continuous feedback, addressing employee pain points, and in turn drive efficient processes and systems to provide a more fulfilling employee experience.
“As we strive to innovate continuously to deliver great customer experience, we believe that starting from within by providing a fulfilling employee experience is key.”
The roles in this department are multidisciplinary. Change Management, Technology, and Digital Transformation are key skills in this group to successfully drive the changes needed. The group champions continuous improvement projects by working with different teams to remove redundant steps in our processes and innovate ways of doing things, which leads to the reduction of processing time and greater efficiency. One of its major projects launched is the Employee Service Portal that transformed how employee services are requested and processed, such as loans, benefit claims, and certificates. The platform paved the way for employees to track their requests digitally, access information in one central location and facilitate self-service where possible. The intent is to further widen the scope and integrate our key systems to this platform to make experiences more seamless for our employees. Because of these interventions, we received very positive feedback from our employees so far.

One of the big factors in this initiative’s success is the agile methodology that this department has adopted. Continuous and incremental improvements aligned to a defined roadmap has been established to innovate constantly. In 2020, our organization intends to continue the momentum it has gained. By improving the employee experience with a number of integrated projects, our employees will maximize their productivity and increase engagement while reducing attrition to support our business objectives.

SBU Initiatives

Universal Robina Corporation (URC)

Innovation Process Management (IPM)

Last year, we institutionalized URC’s IPM which aims to increase the chances of commercial success. The IPM focuses on a more in-depth understanding of consumer insights as a feed for brand renovation and/or new product launches. The relaunch of Great Taste White with additional variants which is Caramel and Crema is a result of this insight assessment process from the customers’ lens. With our learnings from what happened in coffee, it gave us a realization to revisit all our core brands to sustain the competitiveness of all of our categories.

Joint-Business Planning with Key Accounts

Forged Strategic Partnerships with Key Accounts

Strengthen strategic partnership
with Key Accounts

Drove joint business planning

Resulted to better growth

Develop better shopper plans

We have re-engaged our key customers and drove strategic partnerships through Joint Business Planning. We are reaping the benefits of aggressive growth rates in our key customers as we plan and execute better shopper plans with them.

Cebu Air, Inc.’s (CEB)

In January, CEB’s chatbot, Charlie was launched to address customer concerns in real-time. Charlie can be messaged via the official Facebook page or the Cebu Pacific website. He has been programmed to answer various issues and frequently asked questions, can assist in checking in for flights and provide itineraries or boarding passes. His ability to address the majority of passenger concerns has garnered positive feedback.
In partnership with Big Sky Nation, the CEB WiFi Kit was made so travelers can enjoy unlimited data up to 4G/LTE speeds in over 100 countries. The pocket WiFi device can connect up to five (5) gadgets and serve as a power
“CEB Flexi was launched to address the need of passengers to rebook flights due to some unforeseen reasons”
A new menu was also made for in-flight services, which now include options for vegetarians. All meals are Halal-certified and compliant with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system for international food safety.
CEB Flexi was launched to address the need of passengers to rebook flights due to some unforeseen reasons, such as disapproved vacation leaves, late release of or disapproved visas, political upheavals, or health concerns. This flight add-on allows passengers to rebook their flights up to twice for free, with only minimal fare differences to be paid for. Now, every Juan has the power and option to move flights at their convenience, and no ticket will have to go to waste with CEB Flexi.

Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC)

Robinsons Hotels and Resorts’ (RHR) journey towards having a customer-centric environment started with major initiatives taking into consideration our internal and external customers. For our internal customers, RHR invested in our people with the objective of increased job satisfaction with the belief that having satisfied employees translates to satisfied customers. It starts with our NCORE, which stands for New Colleague Onboarding and Re-Orientation Experience. This is RHR’s Onboarding Program designed to acclimate and welcome new employees for their seamless transition to their new roles in the organization. Keeping the employees engaged is also key for this customer- centric journey, the introduction of Quarterly Town Hall Meetings, helps ensure everyone is up to date on latest developments and important information. These Town Hall Meetings provide an avenue for employees to give raw, unfiltered feedback to RHR management. Apart from the Town Hall Meetings, Monthly Huddles are now being held to promote collaboration and employee discussions to develop positive work culture success. Our monthly E-Newsletter, FRONTLINE, also another channel of communication to our employees, talks about RHR highlights, achievements and employee milestones creating sense of belonging and appreciation within the RHR community. To reach out to the RHR Millennial, which compose 80% of the RHR workforce, we have the RHR Facebook Employee Engagement Page. In addition, we have the RHR Minute-to-Learn It, a one-minute training E-Videos that are regularly shared to engage employee learning in a quick and fun way.

For our external customers, RHR focused on the improvement of its overall guest experience. The recent switch from Lotus Notes to the Djubo System has benefited the hotel guests
with the check-in process’ reduction by half. Mac Desktops are now visible in our properties as well. Another new initiative worth mentioning is the Self Check-in Kiosks feature which was introduced in our newly launched Summit Greenhills Hotel last September 2019. To further support the improvement of the guest experience, Online Reputation Management or ORM was rolled out across all properties. The ORM program covers the tracking of Net Promoter Score of the Hotels, sending regular positive, negative, neutral alerts to the hotels to ensure that guest issues are followed through and commendations
are recognized. In addition, the Minimum Quality Standards, Designed Guidelines, and Brand Manuals were created and rolled out this 2019.

Internal customers

External customers

RHR invested in our people with the objective of increased job satisfaction with the belief that having satisfied employees translates to satisfied customers.

RHR focused on the improvement of its overall guest experience.

Meanwhile, our Residential Division implemented an improved customer-centric process in the design and brand identity development of its new projects. This process involved more in-depth analyses of the sales take-up of existing RLC projects vs competitor data. This enabled the team to have a deeper understanding of what units the market is receptive to in relation to factors such as time launched, price, amenities, and unit sizes among others.
Interviews with RLC’s key front-liners like the Property Specialists, Sales Managers, and Sales Directors as well as prospective buyers were also done and added as a mandatory layer to the design phase. This allowed the team to gather additional insights and address possible pain points that future homeowners might have. Moreover, research tools such as surveys and focus group discussions were redesigned to add the customer perspective into the discussion. For projects launched in 2019, consumers were consulted in the development of potential names, logos, and product offerings of new projects.
In the same year, we also embarked on a rebranding initiative to support the division’s growth strategies amid the booming Philippine real estate industry and increased competition. It kicked-off with extensive customer research, which provided relevant and unique product recommendation improvements, such as the incorporation of smart home features, storage-solutions, and provision of venues for daycare, study halls, and co-working spaces. All of which were added to the value offering of the projects launched in 2019.

JG Summit Petrochemicals Group (JGSPG)

In our efforts to be truly responsive to our polymer customers’ needs and armed with a desire to be top-of-mind in terms of product quality, innovation and customer service, JGSPG in 2019 established a Market and Product Development Division (MPD), which combines the existing Product R&D, Product Management and Customer Technical Services function with a new pro-active Market Development complement. Now with an expanded technology portfolio, MPD‘s mandate is to innovate on products and services that make our polymer offering better than competitors’, explore and co-develop with the Sales team on new polymer markets and businesses, and therefore help improve overall topline for JGSPG’s polymer sales.

Notable customer-centric initiatives undertaken in 2019 were:

Joint packaging development work with various films customers

to address sealing concerns and help develop more sustainable mono-material flexible packaging.

Improvement of current slate and development of new EVALENE® PP injection molding grades

Improvement of current slate and development of new EVALENE® PP injection molding grades for various applications, such as to help meet customers’ higher part stiffness requirements and allowing production on multi-cavity lines of both small and large part clear containers.

Development of a new barefoot EVALENE® LLDPE grade

that is now more suitable for the blown film process versus previous blown film grade.

Conducting beta-trials with target customers of prototype samples of upcoming PE grades

to be made in the new PE Plant.

Design and performance of small-scale experiments with converters’ inputs

that replicate expected end-use conditions, so as to aid converters in selecting the most suitable EVALENE® grade and formulation for their requirements.

Recommending the adoption of ISO 4427:2007 to the Bureau of Product Standards

which shall allow continued qualification for sale of EVALENE® natural HDPE pipe grades, which is an established product already being used by most local pipe manufacturers.

Robinsons Bank Corporation (RBank)

The Bank carried out vital strategies that revolve on delivering convenience and top-notch banking experience to its customers. Numerous products and services were launched. Spurred by technology, digital initiatives were implemented to reach out to clients and offer quality services. Across the Bank, employees are empowered in the journey to embody customer-centricity by providing training sessions.
Global Business Outlook names Robinsons Bank DOS Mastercard as the Most Innovative Credit Card Product for 2019 in the Philippines.

Products and Services

Global Business Outlook, a UK-based publication, names Robinsons Bank DOS Mastercard as the Most Innovative Credit Card Product for 2019 in the Philippines. This is a testament that Robinsons Bank can deliver products and services with hallmark value and convenience to its customers. In October, the Bank launched another credit card in partnership with Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc., Robinsons Cashback Card. This co-brand card allows customers to earn up to 3% cashback or rebate when they use the card at Robinsons Stores and affiliate brands. Robinsons Bank responds to our clients’ ever-changing needs, and as of December 2019, the card product suite of the Bank expanded to the following: (1) Robinsons Bank UNO® Mastercard; (2) Robinsons Bank DOS® Mastercard; (3) Robinsons Cashback Card; (4) Robinsons Bank Visa Debit Card; and (5) Robinsons Bank Simple Debit Card.
To help promote credit card loyalty, Robinsons Bank introduced the Balance Transfer (BT) and Convert to Cash (C2C) features of the credit card products. BT is a credit card feature that allows a cardholder to transfer the balance from their other credit card/s to their Robinsons Bank credit card, while C2C allows the cardholder to convert the available balance of their Robinsons Bank credit card to cash. Both BT and C2C can be availed with a one-time fee and be paid back in installment for up to 24 months at 0% interest.
Robinsons Bank and JCB inked an agreement that will allow acceptance of JCB-issued cards in our Point- of-Sale (POS) machines. By April 2019, the Bank has reprogrammed its POS machines to start accepting JCB cards. By December 2019, JCB was made available online through Cebu Pacific. This opens our business to millions of JCB cardholders worldwide.
Beyond learning, one real proof of the effectiveness of this initiative was through employee testimonials captured in 440 customer-centricity stories.

CX Fortified

With an unrelenting commitment to achieve a culture of customer-centricity, the CX Fortified (CXF) program was launched in Y2019. CXF is a leader-led and inspired program that intends to deepen and intensify a customer-centric culture within RBank. Starting with the program design by itself, it embodies a customer-centric approach as it responds to the employees’ changing needs and new ways of learning. Designed as a massive bank-wide campaign on customer centricity, CXF was unveiled by RBank’s President and CEO with the full support of its Chairman, Lance Gokongwei, who, through a video message, rallied every RBanker to embrace customer-centricity.
RBankers embraced customer-centricity as shown by relevant initiatives that leverage multiple channels:
  • The Kamustahan program aims to engage and support new hires by checking on their onboarding experience and knowing the support they needed at the onset of their employment.
  • The 15-minute Branch Daily Morning Huddles discussed both positive and negative customer experiences as well as product briefings. Later, this expanded to the head office’s Weekly Morning Huddles as a conversation on relevant customer service topics.
  • Online CXF Quick Tips series were broadcasted. Basic, yet relevant, customer-centric topics such as Etiquettes on Telephone, Email, and Business Meeting, as well as Corporate Image form part of the series, each of which was capped with a learning check to promote continuous self-development and fun.
  • Chat Time with HR was also launched as an avenue for HR to reintroduce itself to its internal customers and discuss the support extended and may be needed by the participating teams. This has not only resulted in the resolution of issues between and amongst different teams, but it also became a breakthrough for collaboration.
Beyond learning, one real proof of the effectiveness of this initiative was through employee testimonials captured in 440 customer-centricity stories. These heart-warming stories featured RBankers who ‘live and breathe’ customer- centric behaviors in their day-to-day lives by upholding RBank’s core values and the seven (7) disciplines of customer-centricity. Because stories are strong culture influencers, these stories are digitally shared weekly across the bank to inspire RBankers to replicate the same mindset and behaviors, promoting a culture of recognition.