In line with the objective of inclusiveness in the New Economic Model, which emphasises diversity as a source of strength, the Government has introduced various measures to encourage the corporate sector to strive for greater inclusiveness, especially at leadership and top management levels. Starting 2014, all PLCs were required to establish and disclose in their annual reports their diversity policies, covering gender, ethnicity and age for board and management. Recently, in April 2016, the Prime Minister announced that the policy and disclosure of management and workforce composition be made mandatory for all PLCs.
In Budget 2015, the Prime Minister announced the Career Comeback programme to incentivise employers to recruit and retain women who have been on career breaks. Together with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (MoWFCD), TalentCorp introduced two grants – the Resourcing Grant and the Retention Grant – to encourage employers to attract and retain women who have been on career breaks for more than six months. Under the programme, more than 200 women professionals have returned to the workforce last year.
Additionally, the Government has introduced measures for a more family-friendly workplace and work-life integration. The flexWorkLife.my initiative was launched in 2013 by MoWFCD and TalentCorp to promote awareness of work-life integration and sharing of employers’ best practices of flexible work arrangements.
“While Corporate Malaysia has adopted flexible work arrangements as a strategy to attract and retain more women in the workforce, more can still be done as less than 30 percent of companies in Malaysia offer flexible work arrangements,” said Shareen Shariza Dato’ Abdul Ghani, chief executive officer of TalentCorp, who spoke at the dialogue.
Under the Prime Minister’s leadership, the Government has also introduced a number of important initiatives to further unleash the economic potential of women. These include:
- Allocation of RM200 million to Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia to provide micro-credit financing, benefitting mainly women entrepreneurs from the bottom 40 percent of income earners;
- eRezeki initiative by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to enable low income earners to become online digital workers;
- HRDF-initiated Housewife Enhancement and Reactive Talent Scheme (HEARTS) which provides housewives with skillsets to return to work; and
- 1AZAM programme which was piloted in Iskandar Malaysia in 2011 and has since been expanded to other states due to its success in raising income levels of its participants through various initiatives such as Azam Niaga, Azam Khidmat, Azam Tani and Azam Kerja.