In the recent, as I had mentioned before in my previous posts, there are pros and cons in terms of technological advancements. In every workplace nowadays, there are WhatsApp groups while at work. Superiors will use this WhatsApp group to ask their subordinates to do certain tasks, especially for them, it is useful after office hours because they still can contact their subordinates at anytime and anywhere that they want.
Malaysia has Labor Law that protect employees in terms of working hours, holidays, overtime, wages, and other benefits. Unfortunately, there are certain grey areas in which these superiors can seek to avoid being sued.
The latest case study of the situation share to me by Person A (this is just one of it and Person A faced same situations for many times, especially during weekend) is as follows:-
This week is a long holiday due to the Deepavali Festival as this festive season falls on Monday. However, the Person A's superior , send the task in the WhatsApp group on Saturday.
In order not to go against the law and avoid being sued, this superior did not instruct Person A to do the tasks. However, this Task is required to be submitted on Tuesday morning.
Firstly, the superior is practicing an inconsiderate leadership style, failed to plan and could not manage the schedule properly. Based on this case study from Person A, the task had been started since last week and it is the superior itself that keeps on changing the contents many times, which has caused Person A have to do repeated job in carrying out the job. Each time the content changes, Person A gets to redo the parts.
Secondly, the superior gave a timeframe which is unreasonable. The task had to be submitted on Tuesday morning, which is the next working day. So, the Person A has to complete the job before that which means, during the weekend and the public holiday, Person A is required to do the work. This is the grey area of labor law. The superior did not break the law because the superior did not force the subordinate to work during weekends and public holidays. On the other hand, the superior gave an unreasonable timeframe.
It is not easy for Person A to sue the company because the company did not force the person to work. The unreasonable timeframe is too subjective to be brought to the court because, in the end, the company will have a lot of reasons to defend and mention that Person A unable to complete the tasks accordingly instead of reviewing the timeframe.
Person A had to request for overtime while doing the task during the weekend and public holiday instead of Person A's superior plan for the timeframe properly and follow the law for the overtime claim. And the overtime rate in this company had the maximum rate. For instance, if the max per day is RM45, then even if you work for 12 hours plus, it is still RM45.
Consequences of Lack of Work-Life Balance
This kind of practice in the company has affected the psychological well-being of employees. Those who are working, did not have proper time to really relax their minds, and their minds kept on thinking about their work and incoming messages in their company groups or emails.
Moreover, it had affected the well-being brought up in the family. Parents do not have proper time to educate and form their children's character in a healthy ways because most of the time is being utilised for work purposes. When children are brought up in an unhealthy environment with a lack of communication with their parents, this will affect their well-being and positive characteristics formation. In the long-run, this situation will affect the country's productivity as the future generations were not brought up in a healthy way during their childhood.
Recommendation
It is very difficult for employees to go against it. This is because a job is the source of income, and employees dare not offend their superiors and boss. Thus, the government should consider looking into these arising situations and amending the Labor Law that seeks to protect employees so that they have the right to rest and have their personal time.
#work #leadership #workplace #toxicworkpplace #laborlaw
Joclyn Leong Fong Yi , Leong Fong Yi , 梁凤仪
No comments:
Post a Comment