As someone who has worked in the human resources field for close to 20 years, I have seen and experienced first-hand the changes in the job landscape. In the past, the focus was on compliance with labour laws and for employees, job security. Employee welfare was often an afterthought. Over time, the economy grew and competition increased, so the job market became more dynamic. This led to a shift in human resources practices, with more attention being paid to issues such as fair compensation, work-life balance, and career development.
With the recent Employment (Amendment) Act which seeks to strengthen employee protections, a number of significant changes were made to the First Schedule of the Employment Act introduced in 1955, affecting the workforce across Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan. The changes to the Act came into effect starting 1 January 2023 but to fully appreciate people’s sentiment with regards to the Act, I conducted a series of polls right on LinkedIn to hear from Malaysians on what they truly think about some of these amendments.
There are aspects that need to be addressed to ensure that the Employment (Amendment) Act achieve their intended outcomes. According to the poll, 36% of respondents identified the lack of support from management as a signification obstacle in implementing changes, which did not come as a surprise to me. As a nation, we still have a lot to do to in order to achieve workforce harmony.
All in all, while the amendments to the Employment Act are commendable efforts by the government to improve the welfare of employees and promote work-life balance, there needs to be continuous conversations between employee and employer to identify and align on expectations to ensure organizational needs are achieved while employees benefit from personal and professional development.
#EARamblings #EA1955 #BebelBimbo
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