Information technology manager Margaret Lim says she is blessed to have three-time award winner DuPont as her employer.
In 1992, 3 years after she joined the chemical giant which created the now-famous Lycra fibre, she was diagnosed with a chronic disorder known as” Syringomyelia”.
The disease affected her spinal cord and she eventually lost the use of her legs.
“Despite the trauma I went through, I have a wonderful company that supported me during the period, and stood by me just as it was my own family” said Lim who is in her late 30’s.
She spent up to nine months away from work as she underwent two surgeries and numerous physiotherapy sessions to prevent her illness from worsening.
Despite her long absence, DuPont kept her position open and helped her “ease back into my normal routine” by allowing her to work from home under a flexible work arrangement programme. Special arrangements were also made to design rampss and improved hallways so she could manoeuvre her wheelchair when she returned to office.
“The company has supported me throughout this whole journey in every way that it could.
If I had been in a local company, I would have been showed the door a long time ago.” Said Lim the mother of a two-year old girl.
DuPont, which set up in Singapore in 1973, now employees 250 people and has a total investment of S$200million (RM440 million)
A range of programmes it put in place four years ago won the company its first Employee of Choice title that year.
These included the Temporary Offsite Work scheme which allows employees to operate out of the office so they “can meet emergency family needs” such as looking after family members who are critically ill.
Other programmes range from talks on nutrition and managing finances to activities like Fitness Day and “Stretch and Tone” and Pilates classes.
Employees who do volunteer work outside working hours can claim one day’s leave per year, and can also claim paid leave up to three days to take care of children or aged parents who are hospitalised.
DuPont external affairs manager Chee Soo Leng said such benefits have meant a low staff turnover rates of “Less than 10 percent” a year. The bulk of employees have been with the company more than 10 years – ST
