JUNE 24 — Malaysian’s new government had progressively make few changes for the betterment of the people as well as for the country.
As of now, the Pakatan Harapan had managed to fulfil about 53 initiatives out of 128 total. Some of the significant changes brought by the Pakatan Harapan are the implementation of Sales and Services Tax (SST), implementation of Employee Provident Fund (EPF) for housewives, stabilise the price of petrol, and few others.
On January 2019, the monthly wage floor of RM 1100 or RM 5.29 payment per hour had effectively taken place as the standard minimum wages throughout Malaysia. The public discontentment is still obvious as everyone is aware that the raise was paltry and still inadequate to some.
According to Malaysia Trades Union Congress (MTUC), the paltry rate was not enough and it should be increased based on high cost of living including rising prices of goods at present time.
This opinion was supported by Bank Negara Malaysia’s 2018 Annual Report which stated that:
“Analysis of the wage to productivity ratio shows that Malaysian workers are still being paid less than workers in benchmark economies, even after accounting for the different productivity levels across countries. This suggests that Malaysia’s current wage productivity levels are misaligned.”
Theoretically, the ideal wages for workers can only be realised if the employers are able and willing to increase wages significantly. However, this might be quite difficult to do, especially for company maximisation of profits.
In another perspective, government can help ease the worker by reducing the weekly working hours from 48 hours as stated in the Employment Act 1955, to 40 hours a week.
This amendment is the least government can do to help the workers from overwork and underpaid. The notion of 48 working hours a week is rationally arguable. Working 8 hours for six days is unseemly just for workers, especially those with a family.
The more time spent at work will translate into less time available for participation in non-working life. Long working hours reduce the opportunities for socially productive leisure by restricting time available, for being an effective marriage partner, parent and citizen.
Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) also highlighted the problem of the tenacious long working hours in Malaysia, which reduces time from relationship, leisure and other important pursuits.
Research has already proven that long working hours does not lead to higher productivity and more efficiency.
Long working hours can lead to exhaustion and have higher potential to do errors during work. Overwork can also lead to sleep deprivation and stress. According to AIA vitality survey, 54.4per cent workers sleep under seven hours per night due to sleep problem caused by long working hours and stress.
BNM 2018 Annual Report stated that higher labour productivity come with higher wages and not by the duration of working time. In Jakarta, the standardised working hour is 40 hours per week with 7 or 8 working hours per day as stated in the labour law, with the minimum wages of Rp 3.94 million (RM 1149).
In recent news, Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said labour laws will undertake major reforms in order to improve laws related to labour and manpower, as well as to improve the wellbeing and social security of the workers in Malaysia.
Human Resources Minister, M Kulasegaran had announced that the labour law amendments are almost done and the amendment bills will be presented in the Parliament next month. The urge is for the Ministry of Human Resources to amend the working hours by reducing it from 48 hours to 40 hours per week.
Forty hours working has been implemented in many developed countries, without any negative effect towards employability and company’s profitability. In Europe, a full-time employee works 40.3 hours per week in a usual working week, whereas the longest working hours is in the United Kingdom with 42.3 hours and Denmark as the shortest working hours with 37.8 hours per week.
In fact, people working in Denmark, Sweden and Norway with much fewer hours per week tend to be very productive, happy and healthy. Even in Indonesia, the labour law prescribes normal working hour 40 hours per week.
In essence, the government should legislate a reduction in the number of working hours per week to produce more high quality employee with a happy lifestyle.
* Aisyah Abdul Hadi is a researcher at Institute for Research & Development of Policy (IRDP).
** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
