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Sponsorships for further studies and robust support for new job roles: How this eye care company is enabling staff to keep learning
By providing different avenues for self improvement, Alcon helps its people develop their potential and achieve success
Alcon’s head of human resources Atish Sharma (far right) and the Alcon team celebrating a win at the annual dinner and dance last year.
ALCON
Rei Kurohi
Engineer Tan Kian Heng graduated last November with first class honours within one and a half years – all while holding a full-time job.
His course fees of around $14,000 were fully sponsored by his employer Alcon under a scheme called the Alcon Education Assistance Programme.
“It’s a great programme. Everything was paid for by the company,” says Mr Tan, whose previous highest educational qualification was a specialist diploma.
While Alcon is not unique in offering staff sponsorship for further education, it stands out for the extent to which it lends its support to their learning journey.
For example, Mr Tan’s supervisor made sure he was able to focus on his studies by allowing him a flexible work schedule when he was pursuing the bachelor’s degree in safety, health and environmental management from May 2021 to August 2022.
“My supervisor ensured that my workload wasn’t too heavy when my project deadlines were near,” says Mr Tan, a senior health, safety and environment engineer at Alcon whose role involves ensuring safety standards and protocols are adhered to in the company’s manufacturing processes.
Mr Tan, 40, even received permission from his supervisor to implement new safety procedures in his actual work projects and use the results as a basis for his academic assignments, which enabled him to complete his coursework more quickly. After graduating, he was able to apply new skills gained from school to his work at Alcon.
Continuous learning
The Alcon Education Assistance Programme was introduced in 2008 to encourage employees on manufacturing sites to pursue a diploma, degree or master’s course relevant to their work, as long as they have worked there for at least two years and performed well in their job.
Each year, between two and five employees are granted the sponsorship to enrol in part-time courses, including diplomas, accreditation programmes, undergraduate degrees and master’s degrees. The average value of the sponsorship is around $25,000. More than 60 employees have benefitted from the programme.
Mr Wong Chiak Wu, a general manager at Alcon Manufacturing & Logistics (a sister company of Alcon), says having such a scheme not only benefits the employee but also helps the company build “high-performing teams that deliver superior results”.
“In a highly automated and advanced manufacturing environment, equipping our associates with the necessary knowledge and broadening their skill sets are essential for their career development and, at the same time, achieving our business goals,” he says.
Adds Mr Thirunavukkarasu Ramasamy, a general manager at Alcon Singapore Manufacturing (another sister company of Alcon): “We believe that the programme allows the associate to build loyalty to the company. If they return to Alcon after gaining more experience elsewhere, that will indeed benefit Alcon as well.”
Perks of being an Alcon employee
- Free contact lens benefits to all associates
- Fixed allowance to cover refractive surgery like LASIK
- Executive health screening for associates who are 35 years and above
- Reimbursements for gym membership
- Increased insurance coverage for kidney-related conditions, cancer and traditional Chinese medicine treatments
- Two days of family care leave
- Flexible working hours
- Access to 24/7 helpline and free counselling sessions under the Employee Assistance Programme
Developing new skills
Besides encouraging staff members to upskill within their areas of expertise, Alcon is also highly supportive of employees who wish to try new things.
Mr Chintan Desai, Alcon’s vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region, says: “As an associate transitions to their new role, there is a concrete onboarding and training plan prepared for the associate by their manager, and plenty of coaching and mentoring is also offered.”
Quality executive Jenny Tan is a good example. She joined the company in 2012 and worked in the quality system and quality operations departments before requesting for a transfer to a manufacturing role that involved operating machinery.
Ms Tan, 42, says she had wanted to try a hands-on role to make use of her technical background as she had a diploma in precision engineering and industrial engineering.
Her managers were supportive of the request and provided her with guidance and mentorship to help her improve her technical knowledge. She was also tasked with managing a team of 10 during her three-year stint in manufacturing, giving her the opportunity to sharpen her leadership and communication skills.
“The great thing about Alcon is that the company always does its best to unleash the potential of its employees, encouraging us to upgrade our skills or take on new challenges,” she says.
Ms Tan’s leadership skills were put to the test when she returned to the quality operations department in 2018 to supervise a team of her peers. The company, which was rated among the top employers in Singapore according to global research firm Statista in collaboration with The Straits Times, also nominated her to attend a leadership training programme and learn from team leaders at other Alcon sites overseas.
Says Ms Tan: “My former colleagues in quality operations welcomed me back to the supervisory role. This is such an encouragement to me. It’s the team spirit we have here at Alcon. I hope to be able to use what I’ve learnt from my previous supervisors to do a good job.”
Listening closely to what employees want
At Alcon, every employee’s feedback is taken seriously and will be implemented if it is feasible to do so. The company even appoints staff members, such as site infrastructure manager Daniel Lim (right), as cultural ambassadors to gather feedback from their peers.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Alcon implemented a two-day family care leave scheme after receiving a request from Mr Lim and
his colleagues.
his colleagues.
“As a person who is single, I did not benefit from things like childcare leave. Some of my peers gave similar feedback, saying they would like to have some leave allowance to take care of their loved ones, so I did some research on what other companies offered and came up with a proposal for family care leave,” he says.
“I felt very happy that the company was willing to listen to what we had proposed, even though extra costs were involved.”
Alcon’s implementation of family care leave is unique in that there are almost no restrictions to taking it.
“Our associates can use this leave to care for any of their loved ones – parents, siblings, uncles and aunts, partners or even their pets,” says Alcon’s head of human resources Atish Sharma.
“It’s an honour-based leave and we trust our associates to utilise this leave for the right reasons.”
The company is also willing to spend money to implement suggestions that can make their employees more comfortable at work, such as replacing static desks with ergonomic standing desks and adding hot food vending machines to the office cafeteria for staff who work late hours.
“At Alcon, our associates’ well-being is our priority. Regularly listening to our employees’ feedback, and recognising and celebrating success, is fundamental to Alcon’s corporate culture,” says Mr Sharma.
