SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (Bernama): Did you know that a certain Malaysian public-listed company gives its 11,000 employees worldwide dental care kits twice a year?

The company happens to be Top Glove Corporation Berhad, the world's largest manufacturer of rubber gloves, that was listed on Singapore Exchange in June last year.

It has 30 factories operating in Malaysia, Thailand and China, and has marketing offices in the United States and Germany.

If you are a smoker and have a body mass index that is not ideal for your height and age, then you can forget about your chances of getting a job at Top Glove.

“(Being) Healthy is usual. (Being) Sick is not usual,” its executive chairman Dr Lim Wee Chai declared enthusiastically.

Without revealing how much Top Glove invested in the dental care kits, each containing a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, Lim said it has resulted in annual savings in terms of medical costs for its employees.

He said the company's policy of emphasising on health and fitness, as well as oral health, has indirectly motivated the workers to opt for healthy food.

"Everyone in our workforce should by now know what kind of food should enter their mouth,” he said.

This writer had the opportunity to interview Lim, here, recently when he attended the Stewardship Asia Roundtable 2017 event, organised by the Stewardship Asia Centre.

Lim is the founder of Top Glove, that was incorporated in 1991 and now has a positive net cash position of US$22.18 million (RM95.3 million).

For this writer, who had served as a reporter at BERNAMA's Economic Desk for 15 years, this interview with Lim was a refreshing change as it was not all about profits and production figures.

"Just before meeting you, I was in the toilet brushing my teeth," he told the writer, smiling. He had just had his lunch at the roundtable event and hence, the reason he had to rush to the toilet to brush his teeth.

Looking at his name-card this writer was attracted to the slogan that was printed there: Good Health, Safety First & Be Honest.

While Good Health and Safety First were self-explanatory, Lim said Be Honest was also added to the motto because the latter "will make your company last longer".

Integrity and transparency were also part of the business ethics practised by his company, he added.

Lim started his glove manufacturing concern with just one factory and three production lines. Today, Top Glove has 30 factories and 500 production lines with a production capacity of 48 billion pieces of gloves.

Lim told this writer that he makes it a point to personally send e-mails to every employee at least once in six months to instill into them the need to practice honesty, integrity and transparency.

“They have to be reminded constantly. If not, they might forget,” he said.

His message that appears on the company's website is rather interesting too, especially the four business rules he has highlighted there, namely "Do not lose our shareholders' money; Do not lose our health; Do not lose our temper; Do not lose our customers".