Health

Having a roster of employees with the right qualifications and skills is a prime objective of any enterprise. At the same time we musn’t neglect the health part of the equation. Health related concerns and employees taking time off from work due to illness is a major drain on the productive hours of any company. Therefore at Lim Kian Leong & Co we are mindful of the fact that a healthy workforce is also a productive one and have taken the initiative to instill an appreciation of a healthy lifestyle in its employees. Recently, a health appreciation program was undertaken by the firm to highlight the benefits of proper weight management through healthy eating and exercise. When it comes to dieting most people do not have the right information on how to diet in a healthy way. They try all sorts of diet fads and starvation regimes to lose excess pounds. More often than not they end up gaining even more weight and in some cases even compromising their health. We invited a person from outside the firm to give a presentation on the proper and effective way to control our body weight which takes into account our basic nutritional needs, body metabolism and realistic weight loss targets to achieve. At the moment many of the staff is acting on the advice of the speaker and results are still being monitored. An update on the program will be provided in later posts.

When it comes to exercise most of us will put it off either because we are non-athletic to begin with or we find exercise plain boring. The trick is to find a physical activity that everyone can enjoy together and at the same time build camaraderie and healthy bodies. Such was the case when on April 17th 2010 we organized a friendly bowling tournament for the staff at Tropicana Golf and Country Resort where we competed in various formats in both team and individual events. We took over 9 lanes in the bowling alley of the club and in an atmosphere of fun and laughter we competed heartily with each other and got in lots of physical activity. After the exertions on the lanes it was time to pamper our stomach a bit when we had lunch catered through the club. All in all it was a very pleasurable and fruitful way to spend time with your colleagues.

H1N1 Virus

The H1N1 pandemic hitting Malaysia shows no signs of abating. Every day there are news reports of new viral clusters around the country and to date the number of infections on record is more than 14000. This is an alarming figure by any reckoning. Although the government is encouraging Malaysians to get their H1N1 vaccination it seems like people aren’t paying any heed to its call. Our firm, on the other hand, chose to take the matter seriously and encouraged the staff to go for the vaccination by offering to sponsor the cost of the vaccines which many took advantage of and dutifully marched to the nearest appointed doctor to get their vaccinations. Even though the vast majority of us will probably not be infected with the virus, nevertheless an ounce of prevention is definitely worth more than a pound of cure.

An interesting perhaps even worrying fact about the virus is that like all influenza viruses it has a nasty habit of mutating which means the vaccine that protects us for life against the current strain will not protect us against any new strains on the horizon. So this entails that we will have to get vaccinated against any new mutations of the virus that is advised by the World Health Organization – WHO. So stay tuned!