The Malaysian Insight

ONE in three Malaysian workers has had salary cuts of up to 30% during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey by employment services firm JobStreet. 

Nearly half of workers or 48% in the survey said they experienced negative effects on their salaries and wages while about 24% said they were forced to take leave.

“While longer-term, full-time employees are less vulnerable in terms of retrenchment, most experienced a removal or reduction of bonuses and a salary dip,” JobStreet said in a press statement. 

“In fact, one in three employees reported a salary reduction of more than 30%. In light of these changes, most employees are now concerned with matters related to finances and job security.

“These concerns have led to a decline in job happiness, particularly those in service-oriented sectors and those with young children.

“Employees working for small to medium organisations also rated their job happiness as lower.

“Barely anyone has been spared from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the survey, nine in 10 Malaysians have felt the unfavourable effects of the crisis in their workplace.”

About 66% of employees saw higher workloads, especially higher paid ones in larger organisations (68%), according to the survey.

More than 54% and 45% of workers in the education and manufacturing sectors respectively experienced higher workloads due to the need for remote learning and greater demand for goods.

By contrast, a decrease in scope of work was felt by employees working in hospitality and catering industries (+45%) and architecture and construction (+36%).

Hospitality and construction were among the most badly hit industries during the six-week movement-control order (MCO), which shut down large parts of the economy.

JobStreet has about 15 million jobseekers from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam in its database and 230,000 employers.

The recruitment firm started the #worknow initiative to help jobseekers affected by the pandemic. – June 24, 2020.