She started a new job when she was 5 months pregnant

In 1999, Corina Tan Yoke Ching was offered the role of Senior Manager at Dell Malaysia. She accepted the job without hesitation, only to find out a few weeks later that she was pregnant with twins.

I was so afraid to tell them the news, I was sure that they would not want to hire me, so I kept quiet about it at first.” 

However, when she did eventually break the news to her future employers, she was surprised by their supportive response. 

“I couldn’t believe it when they didn’t retract their offer even after I told them about the pregnancy,” she shared. “Although I only managed to work for about three months before going into labour and then having my maternity leave, it was never an issue.” 

Even now, the mother of four shared, her employer has continued to provide the support she needs to grow in her career while managing her family needs. 

“There are multiple days when I would not be able to come in to work. All I had to do was inform my manager and we would work things out. It is as simple as that.”

At Dell, we value trust, which is why we do not have a clock in system at any level. As a global company with different working hours, we leave it up to the individual to determine their own schedule.” 

Because of Dell’s commitment to open culture and diversity, employees at the global technology company enjoy flexible work arrangements. These include the option of remote working where employees can opt to work offsite or anywhere within the office for a certain number of days within the month. Through Flextime, they also have the option to vary their office starting and ending times. 

Dell’s family-friendly work policies, Corina shared, has boosted her productivity. 

“Also, the great amount of effort and focus that Dell puts into their employee development makes it such a great place to work,” she said, sharing that flexibility was not the only reason why she stayed with the organisation.

Following her first role at Dell, Corina has since gone on to various senior positions in the global technology firm, including Director of Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) Customer Care, and Director of APJ Sales Transformation. She was responsible in setting up and managing Dell’s Customer Care operations across the APJ region, in which she strategically planned and aligned the Customer Care team’s processes to ensure that business targets are met. 

Today, Corina is Dell’s General Manager and Director of APJ Consumer and Small Business (CSB) Sales Operation. 

“Dell’s progressive workplace policies, especially their comprehensive flexible work arrangements enabled me to meet my career goal as well as carry out my duty as a working mother, wife and daughter,” explained Corina, who has 27 years of experience in the service industry, over half of which were with Dell.

I was five months pregnant when I started my first day at Dell. It has been 17 years since then, and I am still here.”