Social
Our Workforce and Community
We value our employees and our local communities by enhancing their well-being through responsible corporate citizenship. We seek to create positive outcomes for both key stakeholder groups by providing a nurturing yet also stimulating and rewarding place to work; and responding to the needs of the underprivileged in society.
Health & Safety
The health and safety of our operations focuses primarily on protecting employees in the workplace from accidents, injuries, and exposure to harmful substances, and ensuring employees’ health and wellbeing. At Duopharma Biotech, we take the responsibility to ensure preventive controls and safety measures are implemented, steps to reduce risk of incidents are considered, and compliance to relevant laws and regulations to ensure the health and safety of our employees.
We have a comprehensive Safety & Health Policy, which is guided by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) 1994, Factories and Machinery Act (“FMA”) 1967 and other relevant statutory laws and regulations in Malaysia. The ultimate objective of our policy is to minimise all identified Occupational Safety and Health (“OHS”) hazards across our sites and to “maintain as far as practicable the achievement of zero reportable accident rate at the workplace”. The Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE) Department actively review hazards in all activities and implement controls to fill the gaps. In addition to SHE roles, we also established a structured safety governance framework. We also continuously create safety culture via training and briefings to all employees. For more details of our initiatives and OHS performance, please refer Duopharma Biotech’s Sustainability Report 2021.
Talent Recruitment & Retention
Labour practices and standards govern an organization’s approach to managing their employees’ hiring, promotion and turnover; remuneration; learning and development; as well as protecting their employees and workers’ rights. At Duopharma Biotech, we established comprehensive employee retention program to attract and retain key employees, and to minimise turnover. We support employees learning and development through various training programmes to provide them with necessary knowledge and skills for continuous growth. We also ensure employees’ human rights are respected, and full compliance with relevant laws and regulations with regards to labour practices.
To make our employees feel engaged and to build sense of connectedness with the Company’s goals and objectives, we invest in various engagement activities to maintain strong communication lines. This includes quarterly townhall events, communications via emails and social media, contest and competition, and much more. We have also established Employee Relief Fund (ERF), a platform that channel employees’ donations to other employees in need.
Employee Voluntary Program
At Duopharma Biotech Berhad, we understand that our employees are not just the heart of our organisation; they are also the driving force behind our commitment to making a positive impact on our community and beyond. Our Employee Voluntary Program embodies our core values of social responsibility and community engagement, providing our staff with the opportunity to give back and be a force for positive change.
For instance, we harness the potential of our sports club, Kelab PETIRR, as a platform to engage employees in charitable activities. Previously, we have volunteered in flood relief efforts in Karak, Pahang via Kelab PETIRR and partnered with various organisations such as Persatuan Anak-Anak Istimewa Selangor (ORKIDS), National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) and National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) for collaborative charity initiatives.
In 2023, we have taken a step forward by establishing the ESG Champions programme. The programme involves recruiting selected employees from various departments who are passionate about sustainability, to champion and raise awareness on our ESG awareness and activities. The ESG Champions serves as the catalyst that will drive transformation and create ripples of positive impacts and awareness among the employees. To date, they have worked collaboratively with the Sustainability Department to organise volunteering activities such as park clean-ups on conjunction with World Cleanup Day and Recycling Fest to promote recycling awareness among our staff.
Employee Learning & Development
Employee learning and development programs help employees to learn and acquire new skills, and gain the professional knowledge which is required to progress in their careers. It also helps companies to gain and retain top talent, increase job satisfaction and morale, and improve productivity.
At Duopharma Biotech, we support employee learning and development through our structured in-house as well as public training, to provide them with necessary knowledge and skills for continuous growth. We believe by providing continuous learning and development opportunities to our employees, it helps them to realise their true potential, as well as increasing their performance and productivity. Our Learning & Development (“L&D”) framework covers on-boarding training for new recruits, core learning/soft skills training, professional learning, leadership learning and talent development.
In addition to our general training programs, we are committed to enhancing ESG awareness among our staff. To date, we have conducted 83 ESG training sessions, totaling 41.5 training hours. These dedicated sessions ensure that our employees are well-prepared to address environmental, social, and governance aspects in our business practices.
Diversity & Inclusion
At Duopharma Biotech, we embrace a diverse and inclusive work culture and empower our employees. We recognize that every employee has an equal opportunity for career enhancement. In 2023, we introduced our Diversity, Anti-Discrimination & Anti-Harassment Policy, further demonstrating our commitment to fostering an environment where all employees can work together as equally valued contributors, regardless of their gender, age, race, among other factors. The approved policy was shared to all employees in March 2023, and briefing to all employees were completed in July 2023.
We have also included the policy in Code of Conduct & Business Ethic policy for distribution to all employees. This policy reflects our dedication to creating a safer, happier, and more productive workplace. We constantly encourage and motivate our employees to perform to the best of their ability.
Our talent acquisition process and employee contract packages are based on merit, experience and competence, and we do not practise any form of biases. All our practices aligned with statutory Human Resource regulations and we abide by Minimum Wage Order 2020 as gazette by Malaysia’s Government. Further to this, we have grievance procedure whereby an employee can raise their grievances to their superior or HR department. We practise merit at all levels and any form of discrimation is not practised or accepted in Duopharma Biotech.
Community Outreach
Community outreach programmes are one of the effective means of addressing the needs of local communities, underprivileged and undeserved groups. At Duopharma Biotech, we strive to do our part as a responsible corporate organization by providing financial and non-financial contributions to uplift the wellbeing of local communities and relevant groups. Our community outreach programmes focus on three main areas, which are also aligned to our ESG Strategy and Key Focus Area of Diversity and Inclusion:
- Uplifting the lives of the underprivileged
- Enhancing quality education for all
- Providing humanitarian relief
Our work with the underprivileged extends to areas directly related to health. We have established strong relationships with not-for profit.
organisations such as the National Cancer Society Malaysia (“NCSM”) and National Autism Society of Malaysia (“NASOM”), providing them with both monetary and non-monetary support.
In 2022, approximately RM400,000 has been contributed for CSR activities with nonprofit organisations and educational institutions.
