Malaysia's Diversity Should Be Mirrored In The Workplace

PUTRAJAYA, 17 SEPTEMBER 2015 – Malaysia’s strength is its diversity and if our companies and economy are to perform better, Malaysia’s diversity should be mirrored in the workplace, in each and every employer, Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak said today.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the Business Leaders Dialogue with 30 CEOs of leading listed companies, where he also launched the TalentCorp-PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Diversity in the Workplace 2015 survey.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the progress achieved by corporate Malaysia in diversity and inclusion. Listed companies in the Financial Services and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors had achieved the Government’s target of 30 percent of women in top management. Further, out of the top 100 listed companies, 19 such as BIMB Holdings, TM, Digi, Top Glove, Nestle Malaysia and Petronas Dagangan Berhad had more than 25 percent women representation at the board level.

However, the TalentCorp-PwC survey showed that many listed companies in Malaysia lacked diversity – 31 percent of companies surveyed had no women board member, 19 percent had no women in top management, 24 percent had no ethnic diversity in top management and 31 percent had no board members below the age of 50 years old.

The Diversity in the Workplace 2015 survey involved 130 respondents including 67 of the largest 100 listed companies by market capitalisation, representing 70 percent of Bursa’s total market capitalisation.

“It is disappointing that not more companies are making greater efforts to attract and retain talent,” said Johan Mahmood Merican, CEO of TalentCorp referring to the survey findings that only 10 percent of listed companies surveyed plan to enhance or implement Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) within a year. “International experience has shown FWA to be effective to retain talent and yet here in Malaysia only a minority practice basic forms of FWA like staggered hours,” added Johan.

At the Business Leaders Dialogue, YAB Prime Minister also elaborated on the recently announced pro-active economic measures and sought inputs for the upcoming 2016 Budget. Also present at the dialogue were the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department YB Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid Omar and Minister of Finance II YB Dato' Seri Haji Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah and senior government officials.

( To view the full report, click here )