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PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is not ready to implement a four-day work week as this will result in higher costs for companies, say businesses.
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said most employers, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), were not ready to adopt a four-day work week.
“As it stands currently, an employee working five days per week is effectively working an average of about four days a week after taking into account the many public holidays, sick leave, maternity or paternity leave, and others.
“As such, reduced hours per week or a four-day week is not required,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Soh said any attempt to introduce a change in work pattern must take into account other factors such as the costs to the company.
Reduced hours of work, he added, would result in increased cost of wages in the name of workplace flexibility as factory operations, in particular, ran on a 24/7 basis.
Any work performed beyond the four-day work week would thus be considered as overtime work, he said.
“Someone, in this case, the consumer, will have to bear the costs of new hours of work, which will be passed on to the products and services that the industries provide,” said Soh.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, he said almost all the economic sectors had tried the work-from-home (WFH) arrangements, noting that some remote and hybrid work options might be suitable for certain job functions but not for all.
“It is not suitable for operations which by nature have to operate around the clock and require physical presence on the production floor,” he added.
With this, Soh said having a four-day work week would push the employers of these sectors to pressure their staff to work overtime, incurring higher costs in overtime payment, for example.
“This would not contribute to any real benefit, especially since it is not going to make any difference to the work-life balance of employees wanting to improve their mental, physical and emotional health,” he said.
Soh said any contemplation of any law aimed at changing the hours of work should only be done after consultations with industries.
“A reasonable period of time is required to study the impact and consequences of a new pattern of work.
“We need to have a clear understanding and determine clear baseline measures such as companies’ revenues, employees’ productivity, carbon footprint and others under the present hours of work in Malaysia and compare these with the proposed changes to the shorter work hours.
“Until and unless a detailed study is undertaken, Malaysia should not embark on this new hours of work arrangement as it may result in a disastrous outcome,” he said.
Several countries and companies around the globe, such as those in Scotland, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates, are experimenting with a four-day work week.
It is said that a shorter work week would lead to better productivity and better work-life balance for employees.
In Belgium, under its labour market reforms, employees are able to choose a four-day work week and are allowed to turn off work emails, text and phone calls outside of working hours.
In the United States, California is debating a Bill that will reduce the legal full-time work week to four days while still paying employees the same wages as a five-day work week.
SME Association secretary general CS Chin said the SME community here was not ready for a four-day work week.
“Not now and not even in five years’ time. This is because SME businesses still very much depend on hands-on manpower as the implementation of digitalisation or automation is still very much in the infant stages,” he said.
He said currently, these companies were only in the early stages of the implementation of Industrial Revolution 4.0.
“So, it will take a longer time for them to even try to shorten the production by using automation. That is why there is still a long way to go for Malaysian SMEs,” he said.
Most SMEs in Malaysia, he added, comprised businesses related to the service sector, where the longer working hours were much better for them as their current earnings and sales of the services provided were subject to their operating hours.
“The cost of their operation, such as rental, basic utilities and others, will remain the same. That is why the shorter working hours for them will deter their earnings and affect their revenue,” he said.
Chin said the number of holidays, including public holidays and sick leave, as well as annual leave entitlement, would leave not many working days for a four-day work week.
“At the moment, I don’t think it is viable to implement this in Malaysia,” he said.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/04/12/employers-no-to-four-day-work-week