TS,Thursday 21 October 2010
Some bosses are fond of saying that their companies would employ all the good people they can find as these staff generate more income for the company than what it costs to pay them.
However, such high calibre staffs are rare and are more likely to be their own boss. As such, employers would have to settle for staff that are good enough just to keep all parts of the organisation’s machinery running smoothly.
We are all for high income, especially for high productivity workers. So, how is productivity measured especially for those with desk-bound jobs?
The cost of paying an office-based staff may be twice as high as many would have thought. A fresh graduate getting a RM1,500 monthly salary is actually earning about RM95 for each working day and not RM50 as commonly perceived.
Why? Many large corporations are now on a five-day week, observe 16 annual public holidays. They offer 14 days’ annual leave for a start and hope that the staff put in an honest day’s work for the rest of the 231 days, excluding medical leave.
The annual income is normally boosted by a month’s salary as bonus and together with a 12% employer’s contribution to EPF, the annual cost to the company goes up to RM21,840, excluding SOCSO contribution and medical expenses.
Therefore, the cost to the company is RM94.55 per working day and RM13.50 per hour for those on 9am – 5pm jobs with an hour break in between. This is very much higher than what restaurant crews are paid.
As such, it is quite amazing to find office staff working in both public and private sectors, taking long tea breaks in the morning and afternoon at the canteen or mamak stall.
Maybe they have nothing much to do but it is certain they are not productive and are overpaid. They are relatively enjoying high income for the little work they do.
Our aspiration to be a high income nation is bogged down by such lethargic and nonchalant work cultures prevalent in sections of our society.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
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