Reduced Work Hours Hit Productivity Says Industry Body

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Reduced work hours will increase costs for retailers by 15% to 17%, says hypermarkets boss Ameer Ali Mydin. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: A small and medium enterprise association has criticised the government for what it says is bad timing in its enforcement of a policy that reduces employees’ work hours.
Samenta chairman William Ng said it was detrimental to productivity.
Speaking to FMT, he acknowledged that the policy was good but said the time was not right for its implementation because of the adverse economic situation.
“We are supportive of the change but it must be part of a comprehensive labour reform that ties wages to productivity,” he said.
“We are still recovering from the pandemic. It is irresponsible to pass the buck to employers without any aid from the government at the worst timing possible.”
Amendments to the Employment Act were to come into force last September but were deferred to Jan 1. They provide, among other things, for reduced work hours from 48 to 45 hours a week.
Also, Ng said, SMEs had to deal with a labour shortage and the soon-to-be implemented minimum wage hike to RM1,500 for companies with five or more employees.
“Even if employers are open to hiring more workers, and their slim business margins can support that, where do we source for these workers overnight?” he said.
He said SMEs were at their wit’s end trying to figure out ways to operate without reducing the number of employees and postponing plans for expansion and growth.
Mydin hypermarkets managing director Ameer Ali Mydin said reduced work hours would increase costs for retailers by between 15% and 17%.
He said reducing the 48-hour work week by three hours made it difficult to adjust shifts.
“We now end up paying overtime for those three hours a week and this will eventually be passed on to consumers,” he said.
Ameer criticised the government for not opening up fast-track approval for foreign workers for the retail industry now that some retailers were forced to hire more workers.
Malaysian Employers Federation president Syed Hussain Syed Husman said employers would have to increase their workforce by 6.6% if they were to maintain the operational capacity they had before the enforcement of reduced hours.
The problem, he said, was getting the additional workers since Malaysians were not keen on dangerous, dirty and difficult jobs.
“Employers then have no choice but to hire foreign workers,” he said. - FMT

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