Malaysia looking into extending WFH arrangement for caregivers of newborns or family members

Support for caregivers is being considered, in terms of full pay for workers who are caring for an ailing family member or for men to handle responsibilities for a newborn child.

In his speech for International Women's Day,  Malaysia's Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government is looking into extending the work from home (WFH) arrangement for both public and private sector staff, as well as giving full pay to enable workers to care for an ailing family member, or in the case of men, to help their wives look after a newborn child. This is per a report in Bernama.

The PM said the move was to encourage shared responsibility and enable women to remain in employment as well as increase women’s work productivity. “I suggest that the Public Service Department and the Human Resource Ministry look into the feasibility of extending this facility,” he said, as cited in Bernama.

PM Muhyiddin also noted  the government is also looking into extending the WFH arrangement to workers whose spouses have just died.

Further, he strongly urged all parties concerned to ensure the provision of a safe working environment, including taking measures to prevent sexual harassment in the work place. “(They must) also ensure that all aspects of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation are based on gender-responsive budget analysis,” he said, as shared in Bernama.

He also called on the public and private sectors to take advantage of government grants for the establishment of childcare centres (TASKA) at their work premises, as well as noted that women’s voices should be heard at a higher level, and they should be included as decision makers, in accordance with their areas of expertise.

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