Be more human than just ringgit and sense for now

Employers have been advised to be more creative in providing assistance and support to their employees during these hard times.

Business School of Universiti Kuala Lumpur economic analyst Professor Dr Aimi Abdul Rashid said company operations will likely suffer repercussion since it would take several weeks to fully recover from the flood devastations.

He said employees would not be able to come to work, what more do work from home as many survived with only the shirt’s on their backs.

“This will have an impact on the company thus they need to implement their contingency plan immediately as this will be a prolong problems.

“Government-Linked Companies, Banks and the private sector as such should already have plans to tackle emergency situations such as this.

“Among solutions for employers would be to hire contract workers to fill in those who cannot come to work. Companies need to be creative in addressing this,” he told Sinar Daily.

Aimi said the government should provide tax breaks for whatever expenses incurred during this time by the company.

He added that compensation payments or financial aids provided to employees by the employers should also be made tax deductible.

“The government needs to give leeway to companies, especially since many are still recovering.

“We’re facing hard times now, the economy especially.

“The pandemic and unemployment rate has caused challenging economic conditions, the floods now will only make it worse.

“We need to be more human than just ringgit and sense,” he said.

Aimi said the companies need to move away from their typical profit-driven objectives, and have more compassion and enhance their social welfare assistance to their employees affected by disaster.

Meanwhile, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak Adjunct Professor Dr Zulkiply Omar said it was vital for employers to provide emergency leave to employees affected by the floods.

He said this was vital as it provided victims with a time frame to readjust their lives and stabilise living conditions before returning back to work.

Giving employees an emergency leave is crucial since it would be more productive.

“The employees can readjust their lives back by first, cleaning their houses and properly plan on how to settle issues like finding a transportation to go to work,” he said told Sinar Daily.

As of yesterday (Dec 20), more than 50,000 people have been forced from their homes and at least seven are dead.

Pahang is the worst-hit state with some 32,000 affected. Numbers in the state continue to rise with 10 people were reportedly missing after being swept away by floods in Kuantan and Bentong.

Rivers were above dangerous levels in 19 locations in Pahang, six in Selangor and four in Kelantan as of Dec 20 evening.