Previously, workers in Peninsular Malaysia & the Federal Territory of Labuan had a statutory limit to the maximum number of working hours in a week, which was 48 hours or around eight hours per day, six days a week. With the amendment, the maximum number has now been reduced to 45 hours per week.
While reduced working hours can have benefits, there are also potential implications for both employers and employees. From a business perspective, organizations may see a decrease in output if they adjust their operating hours to account for the shorter workday. Alternatively, employers can choose to pay overtime to employees to abide by the amendment, but this incurs additional costs. Employees may also see a decrease in income. With the enforcement of the new maximum working hours, workload may be redistributed to other employees, and this can result in changes to wages.
We asked people on LinkedIn how this has affected their organization and 80% out of the 600 respondents engaged in the poll said that this has had no effect on them. This suggests that most organizations were either already complying with the new maximum working hours or have not implemented the changes appropriately.
Importantly, employees and employers must communicate to meet both sides’ needs. To build an effective long-term working relationship, there needs to be transparent and regular communication to identify the best approach so that productivity is not negatively impacted and needs of employees are still met.
#WorkingHourRamblings #EA1955 #BebelBimbo
