Media Statement: Budget 2014

Johan Mahmood Merican

Chief Executive Officer of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp)

We welcome the Government’s announcement for Budget 2014, which includes female talent in its plans towards nation building.

Malaysia has a strong pool of female talent, with 68% enrolment in public universities in 2013. However, female participation in the workforce is currently at 49.5%, lower than our neighbouring countries. Greater consolidated measures and initiatives have to be put in place to optimise this half of the local population.

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and TalentCorp had in July 2013 launched flexWorkLife.my to promote best practices and jobs with flexible work arrangements.

We are pleased that the Government has proposed in Budget 2014 that employers implement Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) to give flexibility in terms of duration, place and working hours at the workplace to ensure employees are able to balance between career and family commitments.

To accelerate the adoption of flexible work arrangements, the Government proposes that training expenses and consultancy fees incurred by employers in implementing FWA be given further tax deduction. The FWA may be implemented through compressed work week, flexi hours and weekend work.

In line with TalentCorp’s advocacy efforts in championing women in the workforce, we believe the proposed measures will encourage Malaysian employers to provide a more supportive working environment to attract and retain latent women talent to return to work, particularly through the practice of flexible working arrangements.