Virtual meetings capped at 50 minutes to encourage screen breaks. Reimbursement for home office equipment to help employees with the transition to telecommuting. And free lunches for workers at its manufacturing plant.

These were just some of the new initiatives taken by health, hygiene and nutrition conglomerate Reckitt (formerly Mead Johnson Nutrition) at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic to support employees' well-being and promote work-life balance.

For these and other efforts, Reckitt ranks 31st out of 200 on the Singapore's Best Employers 2021 list, and second in the Food, Soft Beverages, Alcohol and Tobacco category.

A new policy to help employees

Reckitt is behind some of the world's most recognisable brands, including Dettol, Enfa, Durex, Gaviscon, Strepsils and Nurofen. Its regional headquarters, research and development centre, as well as an infant formula and child nutrition products manufacturing plant, are located in Singapore.

When the pandemic pushed workers out of offices, Reckitt crafted a Home Office Equipment policy to help employees to adjust to working from home. This initiative allowed staff to buy and expense equipment such as desks and monitors, if needed. And even if they eventually left the firm, they would not have to return these items.

"We wanted to ensure that our employees' home working environment was safe, comfortable and productive. The policy was very well received," says head of Reckitt ASEAN, Sumeet Vohra.

The company also gives remote working employees the flexibility to decide when they want to put in their eight hours of work each day, so that they can cope with the new and uncertain demands on their time due to having to work at home.

"Furthermore, we remind our employees to take a five- to 10-minute break every hour to prevent burnout. In line with this, we have limited virtual meetings to 50 minutes, rather than an hour, so they can take these breaks," says regional human resources director of Reckitt ASEAN Surya Rai.

Reckitt also conducts regular employee feedback surveys to seek ideas on how to improve the work-from-home experience, and shares the results company-wide.

"We also encourage discussion and brainstorming during our online team meetings, so that everyone is empowered to come forward with their thoughts on how we can do better," says Mr Rai.

Ms Kathleen Leong, an assistant brand manager for Dettol who has been working from home, praises Reckitt's initiatives.

"I'm really grateful for the Home Office Equipment policy because my home was not suitable for long working hours. I bought a computer monitor, which has been beneficial to my productivity and eye health, as well as a speaker device for making calls," she says.

She adds that Reckitt has always trusted its employees to manage their work hours. "Even now, with working from home, I can have lunch with my parents and enjoy my evening workouts before continuing with my tasks for the day," she says.

For the small group of essential employees who have continued to come in to work at the Reckitt's Tuas plant, the firm has shown its appreciation by giving them a one-off cash payout of $2,000 each, and providing them with free lunches every day. It also sent a gift package to the overseas families of expatriates working at the plant.

"This is our small way of thanking them for their hard work, courage and sacrifice," says Mr Rai.

He notes that the pandemic has disrupted not just businesses, but also people's lives, adding: "We need to address our employees' needs, not just in terms of their productivity, but their sense of belonging to the company and their emotional well-being."

Attracting the best talent

Apart from prioritising employee welfare during these unprecedented times, Reckitt has also introduced new ways to reach out to prospective hires in Singapore and other Asean countries.

"Singapore is a global hub for multinational corporations, with over 2,000 headquarters. Even with the pandemic, there is intense competition for the best talent," says Mr Rai.

To stand out from its competitors, Reckitt contacted Singapore's top universities, including the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, in July last year to collaborate on and promote its annual Reckitt Global Challenge.

The challenge is the company's flagship competition for students worldwide to present proposals to solve critical issues in society. It also highlights employment opportunities within Reckitt.

During last year's challenge, Reckitt introduced a 10-day virtual mentorship programme for the finalists of the Singapore leg of the competition. Teams were each assigned a company mentor with expertise relevant to their idea, to assist them in honing it.

Reckitt also introduced online masterclasses for the Asean finalists on industry-related topics such as marketing and soft skills such as oral presentation skills. These were led by the firm's senior regional leaders and experts in various fields.

Based on the respondents collected from the anonymous post-survey by the students participated, the company received the following response about mentorship and masterclasses: "The whole experience gave us a much deeper understanding of the fast-moving consumer goods sector, and what it takes to give a good pitch and launch a product."

Another respondent adds: "The best part of the challenge was the opportunity to be mentored by someone so senior in Reckitt. My mentor shared insights and industry knowledge that improved my team's pitch, and I picked up useful life skills too."

Reckitt ASEAN HR senior manager Freddie Noble says: "We received tremendous positive feedback from students on these two new initiatives and will definitely consider having them more often in the future. We want to groom more future leaders who will help us in our pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world."