Heavily pregnant and exhausted after waiting over half an hour for her bus home, human resources manager Adeline Chua lost consciousness and collapsed on her back. That happened on a Friday evening, near her workplace at Bugis Junction.
When Ms Chua, 36, returned to work on the Monday after, her boss informed her she could take a taxi to and from work every day — at the company's expense.
Now eight months pregnant with her second child, Ms Chua, who has worked for two-and-a-half years at local automatic video production company muvee, admitted she was surprised at how quickly the company reacted to her plight.
"I'm lucky that nothing happened to me or my baby when I fainted. I'm having quite a difficult pregnancy, but now I can get into a taxi when I leave home and the office, she told Today.
"I'm very touched by the love the company has showered on me."
The firm's chief operating officer, Mr Philip Morgan, said he received an SMS from Ms Chua's supervisor that weekend and immediately met muvee's chief executive officer to come up with a scheme for all mums-to-be.
By Monday, the company had launched its Champs (Cab Home Allowance for Muvee Pregnant Staff) initiative, which allows all pregnant staff to claim taxi fares to and from home each day.
The company, which produces automatic video editing software, has a staff strength of 80, of which two — including Ms Chua — are currently pregnant.
Aside from Champs, muvee also provides the usual three months' maternity leave allotment.
But Mr Morgan said the company remains flexible in how it takes care of its pregnant workers.
"We've provided the other lady who's about to give birth with a laptop, so she can work from home. We also order fruits every day for all our staff to enjoy," he said.
This proactive stance comes in the wake of reports in this newspaper about companies that sack their pregnant employees to deny them maternity benefits.
Last year, the labour movement women's committee submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to amend the laws to give better protection to such employees.
Its recommendations included paying maternity benefits to retrenched pregnant staff, as well as to either shorten or remove the pre-condition of working for 180 days before the pregnant employee is entitled to maternity benefits.
Today, pregnant women who are unfairly sacked even before their sixth month of pregnancy — after which it becomes illegal for an employer to do so — can seek recourse from MOM.
Since 2004, 137 women have gone down this avenue.
Said muvee's Ms Chua: "It's very sad that bosses out there treat pregnant staff differently. The MOM can set up all the rules, but I think it still all boils down to how compassionate the bosses are.
"It's how much you treasure your staff and how much you want to keep them." - /fa
Oh wait. Im not a woman and I can't get pregnant.
I think the company is really generous in this issue.
