Bringing together young people, men and women to make a real difference
The success of The Women’s Summit 2008 bears testimony to the relevance of its theme, Teaming Up to Make a Difference. The commitment of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, and financial support provided by Maybank, Shell Malaysia and Astro saw to it that budgetary constraints in anticipation of a global economic slowdown were overcome.
In addition, a number of companies sponsored the attendance of staff and contributed towards scholarships for others. These companies included GE Malaysia, IBM, HSBC, Pfizer, BP and Freescale Malaysia. With their contributions, combined with Government funds, the Summit held on August 21 2008 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre benefited some 1,200 participants.
In welcoming them, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Dato’ Dr Ng Yen Yen said this year’s Summit brings an important message that “all men and women must work together to bring about a conducive, safe and satisfactory workplace – a place that enables all, especially women, to have choices at work that will enhance and enable their productivity, develop their talents while playing their roles as mothers and care providers.”
She said the Ministry had taken various recommendations from last year’s Summit on board and initiated meetings with five Ministries and six agencies to discuss teleworking, flexi-hours and home businesses. These issues were still being looked at seriously from all angles.
“Gender and inclusiveness policies and programmes must ensure job satisfaction, retain talent and enable the private sector and the country to move forward in order to ensure our competitiveness.” – Dato’ Dr Ng Yen Yen
In his Keynote Address, Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak acknowledged that the workplace had changed since the Employment Act of 1955, adding that a review was both “timely and necessary”.
“We all recognise the importance of women in terms of the economic development of this nation. It is important for us to recognise that this is not a platitude and certainly not political rhetoric. It is an economic issue. It is about making Malaysia more competitive in a globalised world,” he said in his speech.
In closing, the Deputy Prime Minister challenged the participants “to shape a workplace that nurtures our economy, keeps families together and is accessible to all, including those with disabilities.”
“I believe it is time to challenge the way things have always been done. If workplace change and innovation are critical to our future as a prosperous, progressive, inclusive and knowledge-based economy, shouldn’t we take a cutting-edge approach to our workplace?” – Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak.
Speakers with an Eye on the Future
Dato’ Sri Najib’s address was followed by a presentation on Building Excellence, Courage and Character in the Workplace by the first of five invited speakers: Mrs Nasreen Kasuri, founder of the Beaconhouse School System (BSS). Nasreen spoke of the core values that have contributed to the success of BSS, which has 372 branches worldwide.
Among these is the commitment to nurture an excellent team of workers by recruiting and retaining the best talent, be it men or women. Nasreen advocated the need for continuous professional development of employees, and to motivate performers with rewards and recognition.
The Panel Session that followed featured Mr Lim Beng Choon, Country Managing Director of Accenture Malaysia; Ms Rhea Duttagupta, founder of UK-based CorporateDNA Consulting; Ms Zainariah Johari, CEO of Asia Pacific Videolabs (APV); and Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani, Deputy Chief Executive of CIMB Group.
Lim provided an analysis of the intersection between technology change, talent management and optimising the contributions of a multi-generational workforce. He revealed that the composition of the Malaysian workforce is changing, and it is imperative that we understand what drives the net-generation (or Gen Y), namely youth born in the 1980s who are entering the labour market. It is estimated that by 2010 they will represent 40 per cent of the global labour force.
According to Lim, changes demanded by Gen Y would also benefit women as these entail technology-driven flexibility (in work hours and work locations), greater team-based collaborations and the breakdown of bureaucratic structures and inefficiencies.
According to Rhea, women often hold themselves back in the corporate world. She cited women’s low self-esteem, modesty, low ambition, conservative career drive, overt focus on tasks and tendency to build ‘comfortable’ relationships among some of the more common stumbling blocks to their professional success.
Her advice was for women to “start with yourself if you want to make it in the male-dominant areas at the workplace”. She then provided some proactive strategies women could employ to overcome their barriers (these were further elaborated on during her learning lab in the afternoon).
Zainariah described how, in her journey of adopting new technologies and breaking into new global markets, she was constantly pressured to move out of her comfort zone. She added this always proved to be worth the challenge, and urged women not to be intimidated by male-dominated industries as the global playing field provides fertile ground for them to show off their talent and capabilities.
She stressed that the creative industry is fuelled by diversity, especially diversity in perceptions, beliefs and ideas. Malaysia’s immense diversity thus should be harnessed as one of the nation’s greatest strengths.
In Dato’ Charon’s view, women have more than proven their ability to excel in the financial sector. Citing numerous outstanding women in Malaysia’s finance industry, he hazarded the proposition that there is no glass ceiling for women in this sector. CIMB Group itself boasts a number of women leaders as a result of the organisation’s commitment to attracting and retaining the best talent and encouraging career development.
The CIMB experience, he added, would seem to demonstrate that women benefit from human resources systems that are progressive and meritocratic. He conceded that the financial sector should anticipate the need for flexible hours and other work-life balance strategies if it is to retain female talent.
The Summit Roundtable
At the Summit Roundtable, held in the second half of the day, participants were divided into three groups, each taking a critical look at one of three areas that had been outlined during pre-Summit Focus Group held in July as critical to building a conducive workplace. The three main Roundtable topics were: 1) Family-Friendly Work Policies; 2) Helping Women Reach Their Full Potential; and 3) The Enabling Workplace.
1. Family-Friendly Work Policies
Flexible work options and family-friendly work policies enable both male and female employees to meet the needs of their families while staying in touch with work. For businesses, improving work-life balance can boost productivity by attracting talent and reducing staff turnover. This group looked at strategies to make these sorts of policies more widely accepted in Malaysia Inc.
2. Helping Women Reach their Full Potential
In this discussion group, participants discussed enablers in the workplace that would help women achieve their full potential. These included:
• Women’s networks and mentoring
• Education and communication to reinforce the ideals of equal opportunity, diversity and inclusiveness throughout society so that women in positions of responsibility are seen as a norm rather than an exception.
• Fair promotional systems, ie those that are merit-based and do not discriminate against women just because of their gender
• Family-friendly policies that support childcare, provide added facilities for women and offer career/study breaks and adequate maternity leave
• Recognition and awards for companies with pro-active policies geared towards empowering high-potential women.
3. The Enabling Workplace
This group heard from Bathmavathi Krishnan, an advocate for women living with disabilities; and Khairiah Talha, Secretary General of EAROPH (Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Human Settlements). Bathma made an impassioned plea to employers in all sectors to review their structures and mindsets to give disabled people the chance to be included in mainstream society.
Khairiah, meanwhile, stressed the need for future housing developments to be more integrated so as to offer childcare services, shopping facilities and workplaces. This would minimise time and costs of road travel. These developments could, further, easily incorporate facilities for the elderly, physically disabled and caregivers with strollers. Khairiah also underlined the urgent need to update policies enabling women to work from home.
Dato’ Dr Ng Yen Yen was on hand to receive the recommendations from the Summit Roundtable groups. She thanked the participants for their views and ideas and assured them that the Ministry would continue to work to advance the cause of women in the workplace and in the community.