Working Hours
Different jobs will had different working hours based on the needs of the jobs, employers and employees themselves and had been agreed in their employment contract. Although there are not restrain on the working hours but generally the working hours for the employees will dependence on the business hours of the companies which is from 9am to 5pm in Malaysia (Working in Malaysia, n.d.).
Malaysian Employment Law had stated that the employees shall not been called to work for more than 8 hours per days; more than 48 hours per week, 10 hours work continuously or more than 5 hours work continuously without at least 30 minutes rest. However, there is one exception which the employees only been required to work for “half-day”. Half-day do not means that the employees only work for 4 hours for the normal working days but is refer to anyone of the employees who work less than the normal working hours. Although the law had enforced that the maximum hours that the employees shall work, but the employers are free to offer less than the amount of time that had set by the law dependence on the negotiation among employees and employers.
Besides the maximum amount of working time that an employee should works, the Malaysian Employment Law had also enforce on the rest days for the employees which normally known as “off days”. The employees are entitle to at least one day per week to rest (Aminuddin, 2014). However, it is subjective to the employers and the employees. Even in the shift system which required workers to work on shift, the employers must inform the working schedule to the employees. Those being required to work on their rest day will been given in premium rates. Besides the rest days, the employees are also entitle to the public holiday’s benefits which had been fixed by the governments. In the Malaysian Employment Law, the employees who had work continuously more than one years but below two years are subjective to 8 days annual leaves; those who work more than two years for the companies but less than five years are entitle to get 12 days while the employees work more than five years are subjective to 22 days of annual leaves (Aminuddin, 2014). However, it is subjective to the negotiation among the employer and employees.
Generally, there are three types of working hour’s systems. Firstly, the normal working hours combine with the over time working scheme which normally practicing by the white-collar employees. Second is the shift work which the employees also work not more than 8 hours but is different from the normal working hours of nine to five. Lastly, is the alternative working hours scheduling which will had further discuss at the following.
Over time working
Over time working referring to the working hours which is outside the normal working hours that had been agreed in the employment contract (Aminuddin, 2014). In reasonable circumstances, over time working is allowed by the Malaysian Employment Law. Such reasonable circumstances might be urgent tasks that needs to be done within the time given, the low productivity of the employees, unforeseeable interruption towards their jobs causes them unable to done within the normal working hours, and so on. However, the employees are not allowed to work more than 104 hours apart from their normal working hours.
For the employees who work over time will be given at a premium for the amount of time that the employees spend for their job beyond their normal working hours. In order to compensate the employees who put extra efforts to their companies. On an ordinary working day that had been agreed on the employment contract, the pay for the over time that worked by employees will give one and the half higher than the normal rate (Aminuddin, 2014). For the employees who willing to work on their rest day, they will get double of their normal rates (Aminuddin, 2014). Last but not least, if the employees are being called to work on public holidays, they can get their extra pay at the rate of triple of their normal rate (Aminuddin, 2014).
At the moment the companies had the temporary shortage of labor or temporary incremental of the works, the probabilities for the employees being call to work over time will increase (Aminuddin, 2014). In Sutera Harbour, the employees normally experiences over time working at the peak season of tourism such as the school holidays or the public holidays. Sutera Harbour in Kota Kinabalu is a five star resort which popular for their services and the views for the sunset at the resorts are the flavor for the tourists. Thus, the workload of the employees had increase substantially and they are require to work overtime especially for the banquet stuff and the cleaner department.
Besides that, the abilities of the employees will also causes the companies to or not to called the employees for work beyond the normal working hours. If the productivity of the employees are very low, thus he or she needs extra time for completing the tasks given. In the case of Sutera Harbour, normally setting up for a wedding dinner for 1000 people are require three to four hours, but if the employees are low productivity, they will need to work extra hours to complete the setup of the dinner. There are two ways to solve the problem where is the companies can provide more training for the employees which help to improve their productivities; and also hire more employees for the part-time basis to solve the temporary incremental of the workload such as for the banquet which only few days or only at the peak season.
Work over time will also raise up a lot of troubles for the companies. The biggest problems is the incremental of the labor cost due to the premium pay for the over time (Aminuddin, 2014). This had also lead to the immoral among the employees which they purposely extended their working hours in order to get more pay. Although the employees had the ability to finish the tasks within the normal working hours, but they deliberately slow down their speed in order to extend the working hours. When the time passed, this will also lead to the low productivity.
In order to solve the problems carry in behind of the overt time working scheme, as stated previously, the companies can provides more training or hire more part-time employees. Besides that, the companies should try to introduce new technology in order to help to increase the productivity of the employees. In Sutera Harbour, one of the way they can solve the lack of labour during banquet is to implement new technology in helping to reduces the works of the employees during banquet such as dish washing machines which can helps to clean the plate faster and enable the employees to set up the ball room earlier and avoid waste of time.
Shift Work
Shift work is needed when a situation of a worker who works over the common working hours a normal 8 hours per day in order to secure employees’ health. Basically, shift work also occurs in any organizations or companies that utilizes 24 hours, 7 days in a week, and keep on operating. The traditional working hours is between 8a.m – 4p.pm or 9a.m. – 5p.m.and few groups of employees will take turn to take over a job. There are few types of shift working which includes double-day shifts, three-shift work, the split shift, and rotating and permanent shifts (Aminuddin, Human Resource Management – Principles and Practices (Third Edition), 2014, p. 182).
In double-day shifts, some of the companies were operated for 16 hours per day instead of 24 hours. Follow the common pattern 8 working hours per day, the employees will divide into two shifts. The most popular shift time are 7a.m. – 3.p.m. or 3p.m. – 11p.m.. Subsequently, three-shift work can be classified as morning shift, afternoon shift and night shift. Companies which used this pattern of shift work normally will operate for 24 hours and continuously, it may also closed for service and maintenance. The most possible range of three-shift working hours are 7a.m. – 3p.m. or 3p.m. – 11p.m. or 11p.m. – 7a.m..
In addition, split shift is more suitable for hotel business. Employees may need to work for few hours in the morning, having time off as a break, and then continue his or her work. This is because the employers needed the more employees than usual at the peak period time of the business (Aminuddin, Human Resource Management – Principles and Practices (Third Edition), 2014, p. 183). Whereas, rotating and permanent shifts occurs to prevent the employees share equally the unfavorable work time. Thus, rotating and permanent shifts will help to encourage workers to work for the best performance quality.
Alternative Working Hours Scheduling
Other than the normal working hours, there are also some other types of alternative work arrangement that been used by the companies. Rather than fixed working hours, the companies which practicing alternative working are more flexible on their working hours by take the needs of the employees and companies into consideration (HR Policies & Employment Legistration). There are several types of alternative work arrangements which including flexible time, compressed work week, telecommuting , job sharing, and part time.
In Sutera Harbour, they had practicing the alternative work arrangement such as job sharing and part-time. Their operate to the public for 7/24 which cannot be fulfill by the normal working hours, thus they need to conduct the alternative working hours scheduling in order to fit their needs (Sutera Harbour Resort, n.d.). Especially for the receptionist and the cleaner which needed at all time, they are the demand for the alternative working hours scheduling because human being who had limited physical capability are unaffordable for the 7/24 working hours. So the companies had introduced the job sharing system which enables the employees to work on shift. The employees will share the same position and the tasks together with the salary and benefits provided pro-rata. There are many possible combination of the job sharing working schedule according to the capability of the employees. The most common combination working shifts are morning and afternoon, and sometime may required the employees to work full shift which is from morning to the night time.
Besides that, Sutera Harbour also practicing the part-time working schedule. They do hire part-time employees for the temporary events or for the banquet department. These are normally required the employees only at a certain amount of period, thus hiring part-time employees can help them in improving the efficiency of the works and reduces the cost. The company need to hire full time employees but only work for little amount of time which is do not in the line of the economic and yet waste of money.
In order to successfully conducting the alternative working hours scheduling, the employers must take the needs and the capability of the employees into consideration. The human resource manager should conducting the job evaluation from time to time to ensure that the alternative working hours are suitable for their employees.