Health is wealth in firm with 5 dieticians to look after workers

Health is wealth: The packed audience during a two-hour talk by Lim. Top Glove employs five dieticians to manage the health of its workforce of 10,000.

SHAH ALAM: Top Glove Corp Bhd has an unorthodox way of managing its workers. It employs five dieticians to manage the health of its workforce of 10,000.

It spends RM400,000 per year equipping its workers with dental kits to encourage them to take their oral hygiene seriously. Each worker is given two sets – one to be kept in the office and the other at home.

The day starts differently at Top Glove. Each morning the workers assemble and spend some 10 minutes to do some light exercises before going to the production floor of the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves.

The company takes healthcare seriously and it keeps its employees on their toes to ensure that they are not overweight.

The workers have to take a Body Mass Index (BMI) test every quarter and those who chalk a score of more than 25 are referred to the company’s in-house dietician who will recommend a healthy eating programme.

Their progress is monitored over several months to encourage them to adopt a healthy lifestyle. In the test, any score above 25 means that the person is overweight and recommended to change eating habits and lifestyle.

Founder Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai firmly believes in the adage that “health is wealth” and “exercise is a duty” and not an activity to be done only if one is free.

Lim, who has a target of living until 100 years old, believes in inculcating the values of healthy living among his employees.

“Neither me nor the company can help an employee much if he or she suffers from long-term ailments that could have been avoided in the first place. It’s better for me to drill into them the importance of keeping up with a healthy lifestyle to avoid suffering from long-term ailments such as diabetes or hypertension,” he said told a packed audience during a two-hour session at the Star Media Group’s PowerTalk: Business Series event here on Saturday.

Lim said that a healthy employee could contribute better compared with one who is sick. “When one is healthy, the person can think clearer. When one is sick, he or she may make wrong decisions. It is hard to be motivated when you are sick,” he said.

A golfer and an avid badminton player, Lim leads the charge in Top Glove when it comes to healthcare. He is said to often partner his son in badminton games with their colleagues. And the father-and-son pair is said to be quite competitive.

A former employee of Top Glove said that the culture and how the owners take healthcare seriously would come as a shock to anybody joining the company. However he pointed out that over time, people tend to get used to the idea because it would help them eventually. “Nobody likes to fall sick or suffer from long-term ailments such as hypertension. We have a company that walks the extra mile and makes it a part of the job requirements,” said the former employee.

“You know the company is serious about healthcare when the BMI reading is taken into consideration for year-end bonus and incentives calculation,” said the former employee.