General Electric (GE) Malaysia took the Prime Minister’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award 2011 after winning two other CSR awards earlier for workplace practices and for empowerment of women.

GE claims to champion the advancement of women leaders in the workplace through summits, fostering the development of women within GE and influencing human resource frameworks and policies to support women employees as they balance their roles inside and outside of the workplace.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who presented the awards to the winners, said: “It is important for the corporate sector to integrated CSR into their development programme. This is because society forms an important element in deciding the company’s long-term profits and growth factor.”

The winners of the awards were chosen by a panel of nine judges selected for their understanding of and their commitment to CSR.

“We have many criteria for our selection process but impact on society is a major criteria for our choices,” said one of the judges, Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development secretary general Datuk Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur told The Malaysian Reserve after the event in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The remaining winners and the categories are ECM Libra Financial Group Bhd for education, Kulim (M) Bhd for environment, Malayan Banking Bhd for culture & heritage, Iris Corp Bhd for community & social welfare, Vista Eye Specialist for small company award and IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd for family-friendly workplace.

The Prime Minister’s CSR awards, launched by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development in 2007, recognise companies that have made a difference to the communities through their CSR programmes.