Would your boss shift your team’s meeting schedule for an entire year just so that you can work from home?

That is what Mrs Rishu Srivastava’s manager did for her when she gave birth in 2015 – the same year she joined Duke-NUS Medical School as an analyst, helping the school translate its discoveries from bench to bedside.

“I was the first (in the team) to have kids,” says the 37-year-old, who is now senior associate director at Duke-NUS’ Centre for Technology and Development under the school’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“I struggled when I returned to work because I wanted to spend every minute with my child, and yet, I love my job,” she says.

Mrs Srivastava’s understanding boss offered to let her work from home one day a week. The new mum chose Wednesday, which was the same day her team meetings were usually held. To accommodate her, they moved the weekly meetings to Thursdays for the whole year.

Such is the supportive work environment at Duke-NUS – a landmark collaboration between Duke University in the United States and the National University of Singapore (NUS) – one that has empowered its employees to perform their best work.

Mrs Srivastava credits the caring culture at Duke-NUS with her ability to balance family with career success. She cites how her team took up her workload – and even sent over a large box of food – when she recently took time off to take care of her husband after his spine surgery.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Mrs Srivastava enjoyed flexible working hours to care for her toddler who had trouble sleeping. During these periods, her colleagues helped advance the deals she was negotiating and handed them over when she returned.

“There was trust that the work would get done,” she says.

And indeed, Mrs Srivastava repaid that trust when she worked around the clock during the early days of the pandemic to successfully file a patent for the novel serological Covid-19 test – now known as cPass™ – developed by Professor Wang Linfa’s lab within the span of just two weeks.

Thriving together

Today, two promotions later, Mrs Srivastava feels grateful that she “was never denied promotions”.

“Instead, I was given opportunities at the same time that my well-being was taken care of,” she says.

These opportunities have enabled the former law firm employee to become an expert in translating new medical technologies from the lab to clinical innovations that benefit patients’ lives. This involves working with internal research teams to file patents as well as negotiating contracts with commercialisation partners.

Last year, she benefitted from two weeks of study leave to complete the final stretch of a year-long diploma in clinical trial management, fully funded by the school.

“We are committed to providing the resources and opportunities to enable employees to expand their skill sets and fulfil their professional aspirations,” says Mr Ng Kok Eng, director and assistant dean of resource management and operations, at Duke-NUS.

In the light of rising inflation, the school even gave its staff a one-off special payment earlier this year. These, and other initiatives, have seen Duke-NUS rank among Singapore’s best employers in 2023, in a list compiled by global research firm Statista in collaboration with The Straits Times.

Professor Thomas Coffman, dean of Duke-NUS Medical School, says the school goes the extra mile to care for employees and help staff achieve both personal and professional goals.

He says: “We firmly believe that when our people flourish, the entire school prospers. We are committed to nurturing an atmosphere of trust where open communication and honest feedback are valued while creating an environment where everyone can thrive.”

Growth and purpose

Like Mrs Srivastava, trust is what allows Dr Khoo Yoong Khean, 39, to juggle fatherhood with his job as a scientific officer at the Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness (COP) and Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE).

A medical doctor by training, Dr Khoo joined Duke-NUS in 2022, focusing on policy research and capacity building to strengthen the health systems and improve healthcare access in Singapore and the region.

Thanks to work-from-home arrangements and flexible hours, Dr Khoo can attend to what he describes as the “minor emergencies” of parenting a six-year-old while taking calls with partners across multiple time zones, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning.

Each of his colleagues works on separate portfolios and is responsible for their own schedule. As such, a high level of trust is critical for the team to function efficiently.

“Having that ownership of my own time, and the flexibility and responsibility, really lets me do my best work,” he says.

This responsibility includes opportunities to lead projects and scientific conferences, despite having joined the organisation only a year ago.

Tied to career growth is also the school’s standing as a leading institute in the biomedical field. Both Dr Khoo and Mrs Srivastava point to cutting-edge work as a source of fulfilment, as their day-to-day tasks ultimately impact people’s health.

“What motivates me is how much of an impact I can make with my work,” says Dr Khoo, whose projects include capacity building in infectious diseases outbreak preparedness in the region and improving access to hypertension treatment in Vietnam.

For Mrs Srivastava, it is the feeling that there is never a dull moment at work. “There is something new in research all the time,” she says. “When you are talking to inventors, you get new perspectives. You get enriched every single day.”