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3 things to consider in preparing C&B strategy for Malaysia staff

Opening Employee Benefits Asia 2018 in Malaysia, Audra Pakalnyte, regional head of people, Fave Group, brought to stage an insightful presentation on the trends shaping staff compensation and benefits unique to Malaysia.

Starting off with a comparison of the workforce through the years, she pointed out how a 26-year-old female professional in the 90s (married, two kids, owned a flat, no student loans) has a very different lifestyle and expenditure in comparison to a 26 year old female staff today (single, no kids, rented apartment, student loans).

With that said, she questioned: “With the needs changing over the years, how can we retain today’s workforce (mostly Millennials) with a benefits package that is the same as 20 years ago?”

For that, she identified three key learning points for HR in order to address the needs of today’s workforce:

#1 Personalised benefits

More than half of employees in the room cited that they have their own private medical insurance that are suited to their needs. However, many companies are still paying for corporate insurance which hints towards a benefit that’s underutilised - meaning a budget that’s gone to waste.

With that said, Pakalnyte addressed how it’s important for personalised benefits. Instead of spending the budget on benefits that employees already have covered, or are not interested in, spend this budget on something else. She said: “Spend this budget on something else - education fund, or tons of other creative ways to tick what truly matters.”

“Have conversations with employees, rather than focusing heavily on cost. One size doesn’t fit all and there’s zero value for employees if they don’t use it. So think of where you truly want to spend this amount of money,” she added.

#2 Financial wellness

According to her presentation, close to 46% of stress comes from financial or money matter. With Millennials believing in instant gratification, she cites that they do not usually plan for the long term - and this is how HR can play a huge part.

For example, she suggested how the benefits budget could go into easing staff’s stress caused financial or money matters through innovative ways such as company stocks, student loan aids, and counselling.

“We can provide in the institution to help them a lot in reducing their stress. Just remember - anything good you’re investing in, that’s your free ‘PR’,” she said.

#3 Gig economy benefits

In the long term, professionals from the gig economy have no benefits from companies. Despite that, they continue choosing to work in the gig economy. She commented: “While I don’t have a clear-solution on this at the moment, it’s definitely a thinking point for HR. “For example, if you’ve hired a great consultant; you would definitely want to retain them. Question is, what can HR do to actually these great talent? The time to think is now,” she concluded.


This knowledge was shared at the Human Resources’ conference, Employee Benefits Asia 2018, Malaysia. To know further and attend more of such events, please visit: http://www.humanresourcesonline.net/events/


In addition to Pakalnyte, speakers for day one of Employee Benefits Asia 2018, Malaysia included:

  • Ambra Debernardi, director of multinational business, group corporate solutions, AIA Group,
  • Hash Piperdy, chief executive officer, Mercer Malaysia,
  • Dr Henry Yeoh, deputy president, Malaysia Institute of Human Resource Management,
  • Lim Chee Gay, chief human resources officer, Teledirect Telecommerce
  • Loke Kean Mun, head of human resources, Top Glove,
  • Marcela Mihanovich, country human resources officer, Citi Malaysia,
  • Munawir Ab Ghani, head of human resources, SilTerra Malaysia,
  • Nikhil Shahane, vice-president HR and communications, Asia Pacific, TechnipFMC,
  • Murugahia Tiruganasambathan, head of human resources, Courts Malaysia,
  • Pamela Geh, head of human resources, Mattel Southeast Asia,
  • Dr Rafidah Abu Bakar, consultant cardiologist, Institut Jantung Negara,
  • Sainthan Satyamoorthy, chief corporate solutions officer, AIA Malaysia,
  • William Yap, head of group human resources, TSH Resources

Human Resources would like to thank our sponsors and partners in the success of this conference:

Platinum sponsor

  1. AIA Group

Gold sponsors

  1. Institut Jantung Negara
  2. Mercer
  3. Virgin Pulse

Exhibitor

  1. Cardiac Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur

Official Association Partner

  1. Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management

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