Yat Fung “YF” Chow | Facilities Management, Hong Kong

For Yat Fung “YF” Chow, helping employees and contributing to the local community makes good business sense. But it's also nice when those efforts start winning awards.

NXP's Hong Kong site, a facility with about 1,000 people in manufacturing, sales, and development, has a longstanding commitment to employee Health & Safety issues and to supporting the local community.

The organization has been ISO 14001 certified since 1997, OHSAS 18001 certified since 2003, and is active in programs sponsored by the Hong Kong Occupational Health & Safety Council. The site also participates in a long list of charitable activities each year.

YF Chow, who has been with NXP for more than 30 years and chairs the Hong Kong facility's Health & Safety Committee, sees all this as an essential part of doing business. “By promoting our corporate image and fostering our reputation in society, we demonstrate that NXP is a company that cares about its employees and the community,” he says. “It shows that NXP is committed to being a responsible part of society, and that's good for business.”

It's an approach that has helped everyone involved, and, in recent years, has started winning awards.

Since 2002, NXP has earned the WasteWi$e logo, a symbol of the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence. The site has consistently met targets by purchasing recycled paper and printer cartridges, and by reducing or recycling materials used in the office and production, such as paper, moulding residues, and production packing materials.

Since 2006, the site has also earned the CaringCompany logo from the Hong Kong Council of Social Services, showing that the Council has verified and evaluated the site's charitable activities.

In 2009, St. James Settlement, a diversified charity organization, presented NXP with a certificate of appreciation, thanking them for their many years of support.

The charitable activities that YF likes most are those that employees can share with their families. He particularly enjoyed the Walk for Millions event, a fundraiser for Hong Kong's Community Chest organization that involved nearly 30,000 people walking across the landmark Stonecutters Bridge. Having his wife and two children by his side on the walk made the event especially memorable.

YF also notes the personal satisfaction that comes from committee work, which exposes him to experts and ambassadors from other companies. “We may be from different companies with different cultures,” he says, “but we can learn from each other.”