The Star, 22 August 2008

By IZATUN SHARI

KUALA LUMPUR: Women should be allowed to work flexible hours because it will encourage more women to join the workforce while helping them to balance work and family.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said a review of the Employment Act 1955 was timely and necessary to allow the “flexi-hour” approach.

“I support the principle to help us increase the participation of women in the workforce because it is relatively low now at 46% compared to more than 70% in the developed nations,” he told reporters after launching the Women’s Summit 2008 at Sime Darby Convention Centre here yesterday.

Najib was responding to a proposal by Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen to review the Act, which did not address flexible working hours or teleworking. The matter would be raised with the Human Resources Ministry before it was brought to the cabinet, he said.

Making a difference: Najib looking on as Ng gives Association of Women with Disabilities president Bathmavathi Krishnan a helping hand at the summit yesterday

Dr Ng said under the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the Government had set a target of 50% of female labour force participation rate by 2010.  She said last year, there were only 3.8 million women working as compared to 6.8 million men in the labour force.

She also called on Najib to look into increasing women’s representation in the board of directors in government-linked companies (GLCs) to achieve the target of at least 30% women in decision-making levels. Last year, women made up just 14%.

Themed “Teaming Up to Make a Difference”, at least 1,000 professional women and men participated in this year’s women’s summit, which is held in conjunction with National Women’s Day on Monday.

New Straits Times, August 23 2008
By CHAI MEI LING

A multitude of issues concerning women were raised in this year’s Women’s Summit, but ways to achieve work-life balance remained the topic of focus. CHAI MEI LING comes away feeling like the summit was a new year do served with last year’s dishes

FLEXI hours. Job sharing. Working from home. Small office, home office.

We’ve heard all those - last year.

This year, the same needs and suggestions cropped up in, if not formed the bulk of, the Women’s Summit discussion yet again.

Malaysia still needs to cash in on women capital, create opportunities for more women to work, provide childcare options, brace itself for talent shortage, and of course, review its Employment Act 1955 to cater to work-life issues.

In many areas, things haven’t changed much.

As the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development points out in her opening speech to the 1,200-strong summit attendees three days ago, the country is still playing catch-up.

Less than half of the nation’s women in productive ages are at work, whereas developed countries have more than 70 per cent.

It’s a low figure for us, admits Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen.

Initiatives to get women into the highest decision-making level also fall short of the 30 per cent target.

So far, the public sector has 14 per cent and private only five per cent, of women in the boardroom.

Themed Teaming Up to Make a Difference, the summit’s core message was that men and women must work together to bring about changes that will create a safe, conducive and satisfactory workplace.

A place that enables all, especially women, to have choices at work, that develops their talents and allows them to play their role in motherhood, says Ng.

To the Ministry’s credit, things have been in motion, albeit at a not-so-fast-and-furious pace.

Five ministries and six agencies met on how to move forward in the trend of flexibility at work.

Six banks have expressed interest to put in place teleworking service for their employees, but need a proper framework first.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam has also promised to look into the legal entity of working from home in the Employment Act.

Implementation-wise, childcare is one groundbreaking area.

After years of encouraging the setting up of workplace nurseries to no avail, Ng’s Ministry will now, with a RM10 mil grant, train women entrepreneurs to start up home-based childcare.

“We dream of the day when Malaysia has quality childcare homes. Mothers and fathers can drop their children off at a home near the workplace and work with great peace of mind.”

With this, dependency on foreign domestic help should also start to decline, says Ng.

Local ‘home managers’ are to be trained to take over this service-providing role in another of the ministry’s innovative plan, which hopefully will start by year-end.

Great ideas abound, but the one which drew the most rapturous response from the floor, is to have the Works Ministry sensitised in drawing up toilet designs for women.

“It’s not about toilets. It’s about giving enough space to women because we all know, and it’s statistically proven, that it takes a longer time for women to come out of toilet,” says Ng to cheers and claps.

Ng’s suggestion in having nappy changing areas in neutral ground, and not just in female toilets, also chalked up favourable response from the crowd.

Novelty does work.

Ng has already made her call. It’s up to the others, really.

“The Women Affairs Ministry cannot be the only ministry to champion the causes of women. It must be all ministries to champion women’s causes.”

Will we continue to hear smashing ideas? Find out in the next Women’s Summit.

News Straits Times, 22 August 2008
By: Nisha Sabanayagam

PETALING JAYA: Women may soon be able to put in flexible hours instead of the nine-to-five workday.

Less rigid job arrangements would encourage more women into the workforce, thus boosting national productivity and economic growth, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“Flexi-hours is an approach that women want and we need to take into account their needs and aspirations. We want more women in the workforce,” he said at the launch of the sixth Women’s Summit organised by the Women, Family and Community Ministry here yesterday.

Najib said that he would support the call by Women, Family and Community Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen at the summit that the Employment Act 1955 be reviewed to include flexible work hours for the female labour force.

He said that a review of the act would be timely since the concept of the workplace now was different from what it was in 1955.
“We should understand the needs of women. Women look for a balance of work and life, between being a worker and a mother and wife.

“We should allow women to work flexi-hours,” he said.

Najib said the notion of the nine-to-five routine was an old one, adding that the workplace should not only include the concept of flexi-hours but also “teleworking”, where a person can work from home.

“In today’s terms, it’s not the number of hours that you spend in the workplace but how productive you are,” he said.

It was not just about reviewing the Employment Act but also the innovation of new measures by employers to encourage women to work and stay on as workers.

He said women should be allowed career breaks as well, where they could stop working for a period of time to focus on family issues.

He said the few companies that have introduced the concept of flexi-time and career breaks are reporting improved productivity, greater job satisfaction and better retention rates.

Najib said that bringing more women into the workplace was “not a choice but a necessity” for both economic development and global competition.

Malaysia also has “a long way to go” since the female labour force participation rate was only 46 per cent compared with developed countries where the figures were more than 70 per cent, he said.

Najib lauded women as “very, very productive workers”.

“Most women I have come across have not disappointed me. They are very diligent, hardworking and focused.”

Najib also said women were successful entrepreneurs, quoting statistics that 40 to 45 per cent out of 73 million active entreprenuers across 34 nations were women and that 18 to 30 per cent of self-employed workers in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand were women.

“In Malaysia, some 60,000 women-owned businesses are registered each year according to the Companies Commission of Malaysia.”

He also encouraged men to support gender equality in the workforce.

He said women were generally not seeking to take control over men.

“They are only seeking to take control over their own lives.”

News Straits Times, 23 August 2008
By: Nisha Sabanayagam and Evangeline Majawat

KUALA LUMPUR: Women groups yesterday welcomed Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s support for flexible hours for female workers.

The non-governmental organisations said flexi-hours would benefit the country in terms of productivity and would also reduce the dependence on foreign maids.

National Council of Women’s Organisation Malaysia deputy president Faridah Khalid said the flexi-hours concept was not new and many women’s groups had been advocating it for some time.

“This is a welcome move by the deputy prime minister,” she said.

At the sixth Women’s Summit on Thursday, Najib had said that he would support the call by Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen for a review of the Employment Act 1955 to include flexible hours for the female labour force.
He had said that it was what women wanted and would help get more women in the workforce.

Faridah said allowing women to work flexible hours would enable them to focus on their families.

“Women need to play the role of mother first. They can’t sacrifice that.”

Flexi-hours would also reduce stress and may reduce the dependency on foreign maids as mothers get to spend more time with their children, she said.

All Women’s Action Action Movement president Lim Siu Ching said that the organisation was very much for flexi-hours for women and hoped that this was the start of more benefits for female workers.

Lim agreed that having flexible hours would encourage more women to join the workforce.

“It will definitely lead to better productivity among the women workers as they will be happier.”

Lim said the issue now was how soon the concept could be implemented.

News Straits Times, 23 August 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Flexible hours have been practised by multinational companies for decades.

The good news is that more local companies have adopted the concept by replacing the traditional nine-to-five working hours with a more flexible, employee-oriented and result-driven work culture. This new work culture is less about the hours an employee puts in at the office, but more about the person’s productivity.

IBM Malaysia’s human resource director Kenneth Ho said the work culture had shifted from the concept of “work/life balance” to “work/ life integration”.

Since the concept was introduced 20 years ago, more than one-third of IBM’s employees work out of the office.

“Flexibility matters to the company just as much as to the individuals. We conducted a survey which confirmed that as employees’ flexibility increased, their difficulty in balancing work and personal life decreased.”
Ho claims the company’s flexibity was one of the key reasons many of its workers had chosen to remain with IBM.

One of them is IBM workforce and communications manager (Asia Pacific internal & executive communications) Michelle Florence Wee, who said it was important for her to continue working after having children as it was about maintaining her independence and self-esteem.

” I’m fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with my children. My husband is thrilled too.”

Inspired by Silicon Valley, local blog advertising company Nuffnang Sdn Bhd allowed its staff to come into the office whenever they could as long as they delivered their work on time.

Nuffnang co-founder Timothy Tiah said depending on the job scope, the employees were allowed independence with their work routines.

“They can even sleep in the office. We have a corner of beanbags, pillows and blankets,” said Tiah.

At the end of the day, each worker would e-mail a daily report of what they have done.

“This is our check and balance mechanism to ensure productivity,” he said.

One of the workers, Firdauz Haris, usually walked into the office at noon and worked past midnight.

Despite the long hours at work, the 28-year-old designer said he did not feel stressed because the flexi hours allowed him to sleep in the next day.

He said his creativity “flowed” better in the night, so the whole concept worked well for him.

By Karen Arukesamy, The Sun

PETALING JAYA (Aug 5, 2008) : Faced with tough operating conditions brought on by skyrocketing fuel prices, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) today unveiled a voluntary flexi employment scheme in a bid to manage cost.

A company statement said employees are given two programmes to choose from — the Voluntary Leave Programme (VLP) and the Part-Time 50% Programme (50% PT Programme). This, the statement said, allows employees to explore new work and business opportunities outside the airline.

“This is a win-win situation at a time when airlines around the world are retrenching employees to cope with the skyrocketing fuel price,” said MAS executive director / chief financial officer Tengku Azmil Zahruddin.

He said although the airline wants to reduce manpower in the short term to manage the impact of fuel hike, it also wishes to retain skilled employees.

“Our top priority is to ensure business continuity and there would be absolutely no compromise on safety and quality of our services and offerings.”

Azmil said eligible employees can apply for these two programmes but the final decision lies with the company.

The programmes are open to Malaysian-based permanent staff who are not on shift duties, except the technical crew. The closing date is Oct 1.

Under the VLP programme, there are two options:

> The employee takes a monthly allowance of 20% of their last-drawn basic salary or RM500, whichever is higher. They also enjoy the existing medical and dental benefits.

> The employee enjoys his annual privilege travel, concessional travel and medical benefits, but there is no monthly allowance.

“Employees can take leave and return as a full-time employees in either six or 12 months,” Azmil said.

Under the 50% PT Programme, open only to Malaysian-based permanent staff who are not on shift duties, the employee can work part-time with their work schedule halved. Their basic salary will also be halved.

Employees can opt to work alternate weeks, either in the morning or afternoon sessions, or alternate between two and three days a week,

This is the second time MAS has had to make an effort to reduce its staff cost.

On May 22, 2006, it announced a Mutual Separation Scheme which fast tracked its intention to right size its workforce a year ahead of the schedule outlined in its Business Turnaround Plan. The MSS was a voluntary exercise which involved 2,622 employees, which was slightly below target.

The high fuel prices have badly hit airlines around the world. Some have retrenched staff, while others are taking other measures to keep afloat. In the case of MAS, its business turnaround plan and new marketing plans had successfully brought it back into the black.