Employee Engagement, Training, & Development

Engaged and well-equipped employees are the driving force behind our success. This is why we place a strong emphasis on continuous learning, development, and professional growth.

Our commitment to learning extends beyond traditional training programs. By keeping our competencies and skills basket updated and relevant, we invest in the future of our people and our organization. Through comprehensive learning initiatives and skills-building programs, we equip employees with the tools they need to succeed in their roles and advance in their careers.

Our dedication to employee development is reflected in the substantial growth in training hours year-on-year. In 2024, the total training hours posted a significant 34% increase, rising from 1.3 million in 2023 to 1.8 million. As a result, the average training hours per employee grew from 25 to 31, reflecting a stronger commitment to workforce development and continuous learning.

Leadership Team Development Initiatives

Officers and Middle Managers were key contributors to the increase in training hours, with averages rising from 16 and 35 hours in 2023 to 35 and 59 hours in 2024, respectively. This growth reflects the organization’s deliberate strategy to focus on the development and upskilling of future leaders. Contributing to this increase were several leadership programs piloted last year, including the Managers Conference, Focus on What Matters: Building a Leadership Legacy, Leading the Climb with Adversity Quotient (AQ) and Grit, and Leaders Talk.

At San Miguel, growth is personal— we develop leaders, celebrate culture, and build a workplace rooted in malasakit.

Beyond developing middle managers, both the Managers Conference and Focus on What Matters: Building a Leadership Legacy sessions serve as core initiatives aligned with the organization’s commitment to sustainability and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). These programs empower managers and senior leaders to focus on high-impact leadership, prioritize knowledge transfer, foster a culture of mentorship, and build a strong pipeline of future-ready talent. By reinforcing leadership continuity, these initiatives support seamless transitions and long-term organizational stability.

We are growing leaders with the skills — and mindset — to guide teams, solve problems, and shape what is next.

Our flagship leadership development program— Leadership and Management Development Program (LMDP)— continues to hone the capabilities of both current and emerging leaders. Through structured coursework, team activities, and integrated projects, LMDP develops critical skills in strategic thinking, decision-making, and people management.

Their commitment to the program is reflected in their integrated team projects, which drive innovation and continuous improvement across San Miguel businesses. In 2024 alone, the program delivered 22 impactful projects spanning:

Sustainability-projects related to EPR law compliance, waste management, circular economy, Net Zero energy, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable water management;
New product and service development; and,
Operational or process enhancements.

Workforce Development

The hours of rank-and-file employees also posted an increase from 28 to 30 hours, with total hours increasing to 1.7 million, driving the message of consistency in upskilling the largest segment of the organization.

Technical training sessions, power skills programs, technology and data analytics talk, and well-being and self-development initiatives largely contributed to this growth.

Both genders registered a significant increase in the training hours from an average of 24 for women and 25 for men in 2023 to 30 and 31 in 2024, respectively. This highlights the Company’s strategy to provide equal learning opportunities, ensuring that all employees, regardless of gender, have access to skill-building and career advancement programs.

The evolving demands of the post-pandemic world have transformed the landscape of employee training and engagement. The rise of hybrid learning environments, digital and on-demand content, and shifting attitudes toward capability building among employees and leaders have highlighted the need for adaptability and agility in delivering effective learning interventions.

Learning administrators have begun converting mandatory learning programs, such as company policies, data privacy courses and goal-setting guides, into digital content so that users can take the course anytime and anywhere, increasing participation.

San Miguel’s wellness programs sparked energy, teamwork, and community, empowering hundreds of employees to stay active, connected, and engaged.

Leadership and power skills programs are also adopting a hybrid set-up, which helps cover more learners in the region or even overseas, without incurring high logistical costs. The LMDP, Developing the GM Mindset, and Becoming a 5-Star Organizational Leader in the New Normal are amongst the programs that successfully shifted to this format.

Innovative Development Initiatives

We strive to improve the way we do things and invest in relevant innovative initiatives in learning, hiring, and reporting. We continuously supplement the learning needs of our highpotential talents with LinkedIn Learning. Last year, we generated more than 8,500 learning hours from 1,500 users, contributing an average of 6 hours per person. This is equivalent to 225,712 completed videos, courses, and learning materials, with some of the content curated by the learning administrators.

Beyond learning, LinkedIn plays a crucial role in strengthening our recruitment strategies through the Hiring Enterprise Program (HEP). With our enterprise subscription, we expanded job postings from just four to unlimited listings, significantly enhancing our hiring reach. Additionally, we scaled our recruitment team from seven to an impressive 152—and counting.

As of December 2024, we have advertised 1,272 job openings, attracting over 1.5 million unique views on LinkedIn. This engagement translated into 160,021 applications, surpassing the global benchmark by 0.1% according to LinkedIn’s survey.

Lastly, in support of Sustainability Reporting, SMC developed and launched People Stories— the analytics module of SuccessFactors MyDashboard. People Stories integrates and consolidates workforce data from SAP and other sources, providing a comprehensive manpower dashboard. This initiative enhances data-driven decisionmaking, ensuring accurate and streamlined reporting of key people metrics.

Performance and Development Reviews

We care for the whole person— supporting wellbeing in mind, body, heart, and spirit across every part of the employee experience.

The percentage of regular employees receiving performance reviews registered a slight decline, from 61% in 2023 to 59% this year. This trend highlights the need to assess potential barriers to performance review completion and explore strategies to improve participation across all employee groups.

Officers saw a significant increase in performance review completion, reaching 85% in 2024 compared to 75% in the previous year. Similarly, middle managers experienced a rise from 86% in 2023 to 92% in 2024, highlighting a strengthened feedback mechanism and a more comprehensive approach to performance evaluation. However, the rank-and-file category saw a decrease in performance review completion, with 58% receiving reviews in 2024 compared to 60% in the previous year. This shift presents an opportunity to assess and enhance the review process for this group.

In terms of gender-specific data, performance review completion slightly declined from 67% to 65% for females and from 58% to 57% for males.

Performance reviews play a vital role in driving business objectives and strategic initiatives. At the start of each year, employees collaborate with their managers to set clear goals, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities. At year’s end, performance is objectively assessed based on the achievement of these goals, fostering accountability and continuous growth. The SAP SuccessFactors module on Performance and Goals Management is a key tool in documenting and facilitating the performance management process, from Goal Setting and Continuous Performance and Feedback System to Mid-Year and Annual Assessment.

Holistic Growth: Strengthening the Four Pillars of Workplace Wellness

In 2024, San Miguel Corporation continued with employee programs that were characterized by a growing focus on health and wellness, alongside an emphasis on physical activity and balanced nutrition.

The line-up of employee programs was designed to promote and encourage healthy lifestyle habits that benefit both employees and the organization with long-term positive results. The focus was on providing wellness programs and activities that aligned with nurturing the four pillars of wellbeing—Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit—which form the framework for our San Miguel Group employee program offerings.

Mind: Cultivating Mental Resilience

To support employee mental health, SMC continued with programs that fostered a supportive environment, while providing resources like workshops and mental health consultation sessions.

Mental and emotional wellness programs included regular webinars called Arugâ Check-in Sessions, conducted with our mental wellness partners. Every month, a special topic related to holistic well-being was featured to provide wellness support to various members of the San Miguel Group community. Topics included:

Healing and Repairing Relationships: Navigating Quarter-life, Midlife, & Other Life Transitions;
Defending Boundaries & Asserting Personal Space;
Understanding Trauma and How to Heal from It;
Arugâ Journaling Sessions: Self-reflection & Selfexpression through Writing;
Post-Traumatic Growth: The Journey to Healing and Transformation after Crisis;
Getting Those ZZZsss: Basic Sleep Hygiene for Well-Being;
The Science of Dreams & Manifesting One’s Desires: Sorting the Myths from Facts;
Padayon: A Celebration of Having a Reason to Live; and
The Power of Good Enough: Combating Perfectionism with Self-Compassion.

Programs that bring families into the workplace reflect our belief that caring for our people means caring for what matters most to them, too.

These two-hour virtual sessions, conducted by mental health professionals via the Zoom platform, reached close to 5,000 employees who logged in from San Miguel plants and facilities nationwide.

Body: Wellness, Vitality, and Sustainable Performance

Harnessing the mind-body connection, our employee relations programs encouraged regular physical activity through fitness classes, gym access, sports tournaments, support for sports clubs, and the return of a well-loved dance competition to improve overall employee health and fitness levels.

Nutrition Month was celebrated with a range of activities, from featuring nutritious recipes and menu planning to nutrition counselling, conducted at the SMC Head Office Complex and in other SMC plants and facilities. The goal was to raise awareness on the importance of physical activity, stress management, and making informed food choices.

Other key programs focused on energizing the body include:

Health Talk

– There were 11 hybrid sessions (in-person and online) conducted in 2024, featuring nutritionists and medical experts who shared their knowledge on Pain Management, Obesity and Diabetes in the Workplace, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), Cardiovascular Health, Oral Care for All Ages, Focus on Women’s Health, Men’s Health Focus, and Brain Health. Nearly 4,000 employees were able to interact with the nutritionists and medical specialists, who provided answers to questions from both in-person participants and those who joined via Zoom.

Sports Tournaments, Dance Competitions, & Hoc Gym Classes

– Among the most-awaited yearly employee programs are the sports tournaments. Encouraging participation in these sportsrelated activities has a positive impact on employee well-being. Close to 800 employees in the Head Office Complex alone participated in company-initiated sporting events such as basketball, table tennis, badminton, chess, darts, billiards, and bowling.

Pickleball was also introduced through a three-day workshop, and as a result, there is now a thriving pickleball community in San Miguel.

The restaging of the popular San Miguel’s Best Dance Crew Competition saw a record number 14 teams—or close to 300 participants—display their passion for dance and the strength of their teamwork.

Meanwhile, the HOC Gym Classes, such as Zumba, dance, and the use of gym facilities, further promoted a healthy work-life balance and an active lifestyle among employees.

Heart: Fostering Emotional Intelligence and Belongingness

HR experts say that employees who have strong, positive relationships with their co-workers are naturally more engaged with their workplaces. These relationships are a major source of interpersonal satisfaction and connection.

Themed Employee Get-togethers

– With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in 2023, we created opportunities for San Miguel Group employees to work together and get to know each other better. These events offered new employees fun and safe bonding experiences where they can relax and unwind while strengthening camaraderie and teamwork. SMC celebrated two new programs—National Language Month (Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa), which featured a successful trivia game night, and a Halloween event that included another trivia night and a Halloween Costume Contest.

SMC’S 134th Anniversary Celebration

– We held an Anniversary Program that reintroduced San Miguel’s flagship brands as well as new products to the San Miguel Community through a fun celebration complete with a food fare in support of various San Miguel food and beverage products. When employees witness their organization holding such celebratory events, they feel a sense of pride and belonging—not just to their business unit, but to San Miguel Corporation as a whole.

One San Miguel Christmas

For the first time since successfully emerging from the pandemic, more than 7,000 San Miguel Group employees came together as one big family on December 12—when we saw the return of a cherished tradition that has always been about family and unity. It was a chance for Millennials and Gen Z employees who had recently joined the Company (and already comprised 42% of the total Ortigas-based workforce) to experience what it was like to be part of the legendary One San Miguel Christmas Party.

With all the San Miguel products on display and available for employees to try, this shared employee experience helped promote company pride, engagement, and active participation with colleagues in a festive and enjoyable environment. It was also a nod to work-life balance, workplace relationships, teamwork, and an opportunity to showcase the importance San Miguel places on its employees as it fostered a sense of belonging and recognition.

Spirit: Aligning Values with Work and Life

Celebrating Milestones

– In 2024, we continued to celebrate professional and personal employee milestones, from birthdays to work anniversaries, with personalized birthday cards and gifts, as well as tokens for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. A highlight of the year was the Employee Service Awards Ceremonies. This event showcased the commitment that long-tenured employees have dedicated to the Company, starting from those who have logged in 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 to our longest tenured gentlemen—with 40 years under their belt. In small and big ways, we were able to show our employees how much they are valued.

Employee Volunteerism

In San Miguel, there are many venues available for employees to feel that they are part of something important—something with a positive outcome and farreaching impact. Our Company’s commitment to “giving-back” missions goes a long way in promoting employee engagement. Participation in Team Malasakit activities for the environment, such as Coastal Clean-up Drive, and San Miguel Foundationspearheaded programs, such as The Good Deed Day Activity at Better World Smokey Mountain— where employees gave Noche Buena items for families from Smokey Mountain—continued in 2024.

As part of San Miguel Corporation’s Employee Volunteerism Program, SMC Corporate Human Resources and the San Miguel Foundation organized blood donation drives in partnership with the Philippine National Red Cross and the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Centre. This campaign not only offer our San Miguel Group employees an opportunity to fulfill their civic duty but also ensures access to a reliable source of blood products for employees and their dependents.