How to win in the workplace

 

EMPLOYEES today are more aware of their options and are in a better position to decide on roles that align with their interests, values, and priorities.

Our 2022/23 Malaysia Salary & Employment Outlook notes that younger employees tend to prioritise career progression opportunities and a healthy work-life balance compared to employees from other age groups.

Therefore, in the post-pandemic world of work, it is important for employers to engage with employees to address challenges and shape solutions together. It is a process that needs to be carried out effectively and continuously.

With the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), among other technological developments, new opportunities and challenges have arisen. One primary example is the high demand across key economic sectors for talents skilled in digital fields.

With the prevalence of all things digital, accelerated further during the movement control order, contactless payments such as e-wallets and mobile banking have seen a spike in consumer adoption. In tandem with this demand, the Malaysian government has introduced multiple initiatives to drive the fintech boom and encourage more Malaysians to hop onto the growing digital economy.

As the industry continues to transform, the roles and requisite skills will evolve in tandem. Taking this into consideration, employers must look beyond hiring simply to fill roles. Instead, they must invest in upskilling programmes to ensure talents are available to take on the evolving responsibilities at every level of the organisation. Individuals with cross-functional skillsets across finance and tech will be in especially high demand.

Specialised roles, such as product development, product management life cycle, and data analysts, are some of the hot jobs to look out for. In the post-pandemic business world, many organisations have since undertaken their own digital transformation, leading to rising demand for skilled IT talents.

On the flip side, this creates a highly competitive job market as organisations are expected to adopt a more aggressive approach in hiring the best talents. This means employers who have an existing IT talent pool would also need to step up their retention strategies to avoid losing their talents.

Fierce competition within the industry also serves as a reminder for the workforce to regularly reskill and upskill themselves to stay relevant. In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, e-commerce experienced a boom when Malaysians, young and old, became regular online shoppers due to the movement restriction orders.

Today, prospects remain strong for careers in the supply chain field as online shopping habits have become part of the new normal.

As the economy strengthens, businesses will need to re-evaluate their strategy and remain on top of supply chain trends to fulfil customer satisfaction while staying profitable. Therefore, there is a growing demand for both white and blue collar workers who have the skills to meet the physical and technological demands of today’s supply chain and logistics careers.

In the post-pandemic world of work, industries have transformed, roles have evolved, and expectations have changed. With this, organisations that engage employees in shaping solutions and addressing challenges will continue to thrive.

The employment market has shown a strong rebound since the country began its transition into the endemic phase of Covid-19. As our economy recovers against new global challenges, ensuring the resilience of the workforce is the way to go if businesses are to thrive.

To win in the marketplace, employers must first ensure they win in the workplace.

BRIAN SIM Country head and managing director PERSOLKELLY Malaysia 

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Bosses prefer Multi-skilled workers with the digital technologies, Global Randstad Workmonitor Report

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian employees expect their jobs to be more demanding with the increasing influence of digital technologies in the workplace and more bosses preferring to hire multi-skilled workers.

The latest survey by a global recruitment and human resource services firm showed that nine out of 10 Malaysian workers expected their jobs to be more challenging over the next five years.

According to the latest Randstad Workmonitor Report, greater workplace expectations were higher in Malaysia compared with respondents in Singapore (80%), Hong Kong (73%), Australia (73%) and New Zealand (82%).

The survey, based on 405 respondents, also found that 95% of the Malaysian workers were willing to develop their skills to meet the changes.

Randstad Malaysia director Jasmin Kaur said employers have increased the emphasis on education, experience, social and digital skills.

“With organisations becoming leaner, employees are now expected to be not only high performing, but to be able to put on several hats,” she said.

Jasmin said the figures were reflective of Malaysia’s aim to become a high-income nation by 2020.

Malaysian Employers Federation’s (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan concurred with the report’s findings

“Like it or not, this is the definite trend due to the demands of business,” he said, adding that even older employees had to adapt to the digital trend of being wired and contactable.

Jasmin said the survey also found that most of the respondents believed that their employers placed greater importance on digital skills than they did five years ago.

“With social media being a part of today’s business environment, being comfortable with using tools such as Twitter and LinkedIn could help an employee keep connected and abreast of what is happening in the industry.

“Different companies have different expectations of their workers. Employees who are client-facing may be expected to be on call outside of standard office hours to respond to clients as required,” she said.

Shamsuddin echoed similar views, saying that it was now a necessity for employees to be reachable anytime of the day, whether it was outside work hours on while they were on holiday.

However, he said employers recognised that there had to be a work-life balance for their staff, adding: “Being contactable is not the same thing as working 24/7.”

Burnt out: Employees face stressful days at home and at the workplace if a work-life balance is not struck.

He said employers also knew that happy employees were more productive.

MTUC secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor said the umbrella organisation for unions was against the culture of employees being at the beck and call of bosses beyond working hours.

He said the Malaysian Employment Act specified rest days which workers were entitled to.

“Notwithstanding the demands of the job, the rights of employees to get adequate rest should be respected,” he said.

Abdul Halim said such a working culture could have negative impacts on families and communities.

Company managers, who spoke to The Star, said the nature of a job and position would determine if an employee had to be on call.

“For those in management, there is no escape,” said the human resources manager of a multinational company in Kuala Lumpur

Another manager, who also declined to be named, said being on call 24 hours a day was already a norm.

“The company provides employees with smartphones so they can be reached anytime,” she said.

The survey, conducted between July 17 and Aug 5, also found that 77% of Malaysians were satisfied with their current employer compared with 56% in Singapore, 47% in Hong Kong and 44% in Japan.

Jasmin said a pleasant working environment, effective leadership and career development training were the reasons why Malaysian employees remained satisfied.

The quantitative study was conducted via an online questionnaire. The respondents were between 18 and 65-years old, working a minimum of 24 hours a week in a paid job.

Randstad issues its survey report four times a year.

- Contributed by  by p. Aruna, Neville Spykerman, and D. Kanyakumari, The Star/Asia News Netowrk

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