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Reliance on old technology negates upskilling of workers, says MEF

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The country’s largest employer group says productivity will be affected and it will be difficult to attract and retain young talent.

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The Malaysian Employers Federation said the government should support smaller companies in financing the adoption of new technology. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR:
The continued use of old technology will render the upskilling of employees futile, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) says in urging Putrajaya to do more to support upgrading by smaller companies.

Shamsuddin Bardan, the executive director of the country’s largest employer group, said the continued reliance on old technology would hamper productivity and make it more difficult to attract and retain young talent in smaller companies.

“Generation Z (Gen Z) workers prefer to work in an environment where they are empowered technologically. If they aren’t able to develop their true potential, they would move on to a bigger company.

“We don’t want a situation where smaller companies become mere training ground for bigger companies and are unable to retain their good workers,” he told FMT when met at a forum this evening.

Shamsuddin, however, said introducing new technology in smaller companies was a costly affair and many could not afford it.

The government, therefore, should support these companies in financing the adoption of new technology.

“In trying to assist the smaller companies, the government has to come up with simple mechanisms where companies can receive assistance to digitalise, adopt new technologies and send their staff for proper training.”

He also emphasised the importance of providing matching grants to allow smaller companies to do proper training for upskilling and reskilling especially in areas related to technology.

Separately, Shamsuddin revealed that many employers held back on training their employees despite being offered incentives under the progressive wage policy pilot project.

He said many employers viewed the training of their staff as a cost, rather than an investment.

Under the progressive wage policy pilot project, which was rolled out in June, employers will receive incentives of RM200 per month per employee in entry-level jobs and up to RM300 per month per employee in non-entry-level jobs for a period of 12 months.

Economy minister Rafizi Ramli previously said that for companies to receive the incentives, they must provide documentation proving that their employees had completed at least 21 hours of upskilling or training programmes.

Shamsuddin, however, said the required 21 hours to qualify for the incentives was a “dampener” for smaller companies.

“Can these companies actually send their employees for further training and qualify to participate in the programme? I doubt very much, that’s why you can see that the rollout under the pilot programme is, I think, not very satisfactory.”

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