Watson-Marlow reaps two awards in the annual SBR Management Excellence Awards

The global engineering company is recognised for effective employee engagement and exceptional leadership.

Watson-Marlow has been awarded two prestigious honours at the Singapore Business Review (SBR) Management Excellence Awards 2022. Jacky Chan, Regional Managing Director (APAC) at Watson-Marlow was awarded ‘Executive of the Year’, and Watson-Marlow achieved ‘Employee Engagement of the Year"—both in the ‘Manufacturing’ category.

Since 1956, the global engineering company Watson-Marlow has been making innovative fluid management solutions for the life science and process industries. Creating an environment where everyone can thrive is a central focus of Watson-Marlow, and the business recently launched a renewed commitment to inclusion as part of its parent company, Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc.

Closely aligned with Watson-Marlow’s core values, Jacky believes that respect, collaboration, integrity, safety, customer focus and excellence ensure the company’s success. Since joining Watson-Marlow in 2019, Jacky has endeavoured to embody these principles in his work and use them to optimise operations.

When Jacky joined Watson-Marlow, thirteen of the company’s offices across the APAC region were operating in silos.  During this time, the COVID-19 pandemic began, which presented new challenges to business activities. Jacky had the uphill task of helping the various APAC locations to align their strategies and develop a more focused sales approach in a difficult operating climate.

Jacky knew that increasing communication between the APAC offices would benefit the business and its teams. Therefore, he started an APAC Quarterly Virtual Townhall to unite all countries to share global and regional updates with employees. Regular sessions and the appointment of local engagement champions bridged the gaps between regions and fostered a common vision. 

These engagement strategies were highly effective, resulting in a 28.4% increase in sales orders annually — a testament to Jacky’s successful leadership in the region over the past three years. The Group 2021 Engagement Survey also reflected an 82% Engagement Score, which is 10% higher than the APAC benchmark.

Jacky faced an additional challenge after joining Watson-Marlow. The company’s Singapore team was growing quickly, which presented an issue for how they could accommodate the increased headcount at the office. Knowing the value of collaboration, Jacky called upon the team to develop ideas for collaborative workspaces. He then used their suggestions to adapt the office into an effective and inclusive workspace for a bigger team. Going against the norm of having big offices for the top leadership positions, only the finance and customer support team have a fixed desk in the office — the rest of the team hot-desks.

Continually bridging active communication and employee engagement, Jacky also led the APAC team in the launch of the Group’s new inclusion commitments and the APAC ‘Health and Wellbeing Month’ campaign.

Hugh Savage, APAC EHS & Quality Manager said, "Since joining Watson-Marlow in 2019, Jacky has paved the way in social responsibility through true community engagement and promoting diversity. He has supported Watson-Marlow in becoming a global leader who embodies inclusivity and strives to achieve far more than a solid bottom line. The change Jacky has brought makes the company shine." 

Undoubtedly, Jacky has united Watson-Marlow APAC as one team and continues to align this vision with the rest of the Spirax-Sarco Engineering Group.

The SBR Management Excellence Awards is presented by Singapore Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2023 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's employee engagements and management initiatives, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected].