Malaysian Employers Say Too Many Public Holidays Is Disruptive For Business
The recent 5-day weekend might be good news for employees, but not so much for employers.
By Samantha Khor — 05 Sep 2017, 01:06 PM
The recent 5-day "weekend" is no doubt a welcome respite for many Malaysians. However, several employers have highlighted that too many public holidays, especially when they are unplanned or successive, is disruptive for business.
In a report by Sinar Harian, SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang is of the opinion that the overwhelming amount of holidays in September will mean increased costs and problems with labour distribution for employers.
In addition to the 5-day stretch of holidays from 31 August to 4 September, 16 September (Malaysia Day) and 21 September (Awal Muharram) are also public holidays.
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said that problems arising from successive holidays also put undue pressure on employers
"The manufacturing sector is most affected by this. Not only is product yield down, operations costs are increased," he said, adding that employers have to pay double wages to their full-time employees or employ part-time workers to overcome labour shortage.
However, he concedes that public holidays are advantageous for business sectors such as tourism, highway concessionaires, and retail because they will see an increase in spending and profits compared to regular days.
Top Glove chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai echoes that sentiment, pointing out that too many public holidays may affect productivity and efficiency in businesses
"The estimated salary cost for one additional public holiday in Malaysia is about RM1.5 billion per day," he was quoted as saying by NST Business.
As such, Lim suggested three options for employers to consider when granting a paid holiday:
1. Employers could directly observe the public holiday and allow employees the day off with pay. In the event that the public holiday falls on a rest day or another public holiday, the following working day shall be substituted as a paid holiday.
2. Employers could request for employees to work on the declared public holiday and compensate them by paying additional two days' wages at the ordinary pay rate.
3. Employers could request for employees to work on the declared public holiday and substitute the holiday on another day. However, wages for the day should be at the normal rate and not public holiday rate.
Lim also added that the company can substitute the holiday without its employees' agreement, though the replacement date need not be the same for all employees.