Bessie Kum
Company: Pratt & Whitney Canada (SEA) Pte Ltd
Designation: HR Communication Specialist
Role in WHP Committee: Health-Promoter
No. of years doing WHP in Company: 3 years

What is your involvement in promoting health at your company?

My role as a Workplace Health Promoter includes co-ordinating and promoting health programmes within the organisation.  By analysing results from the health and needs assessment survey, I propose suitable programmes for our employees and encourage them to participate and reap the health benefits.

What are some of the challenges you have faced?

The main challenge faced is to ensure that our WHP programmes do not affect our operations. Being an industrial company, it is a challenge to find a suitable time slot to meet the needs of our employees who work on shift.

How do you overcome the challenge (s)?

To ensure that operations are not disrupted, we do not conduct any major activities during peak periods (such as, at month’s-end). We also conduct all activities later in the afternoon, so that employees on the second shift can join in. We grant time-off for all employees who work the normal shift.

What do you find most rewarding about your role in promoting health at your company?

Workplace health programmes have helped our employees become more aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. This has encouraged them to do regular exercise. It is most rewarding to see their active participation and enthusiasm for our programmes. Furthermore, some of the employees have also formed interest groups for badminton and jogging

Any advice for other fellow health promoters?

Management support is one of the significant success factors in running workplace health programmes. The workplace health promoter should work closely with management to bring about greater benefits to the employees in the organisation.