For us, our little architecture firm suffered this COVID-19 effect too, dearly. Well, in Malaysia, architecture sector is often not as strong as compared to other industries and most firms will eventually get bullied by bigger established developers. In our case, one of our big clients has been withholding close to RM1 million of our professional fee; and we were expected not to charge them additional fee for constant changes of drawings and designs, aka free architecture services. The reason cited, well, is of course of 'they don't have enough money' during this pandemic season, though the irony was that they seem to have extra money to 'donate' RM500k for pandemic aids. Funny isn't it ? It is like your husband telling you that he doesn't have enough money to buy you good food, but then he has the money to buy a car... #logic
Regardless, I can't say much as this is really between the management and the client. But we (I), as the employee, had to suffer this aftermath too. We had salary deferment in March, and just yesterday, our director called us one by one to notify us that there shall be a salary cut by 50% from April onward (mark the onward). Reason citing was that they are trying to retain everyone in the office and not to retrench, but when asked if they applied for the government's initiative of SME economic stimulus packages, they said government initiatives were full of trap. Well, frankly if you read the terms and conditions of wage subsidy, a company shall not retrench the employees for at least 6 months ,nor there shall be salary cut... So if the company is truly to act noble in keeping everyone/ taking care of everyone, they should have opted for the government initiatives isn't it ? Since they are not going for it, the only possible reason is that they are possibly retrenching people in near future. Surprise ? well not really.
Anyway, 50% cut came as a notification to us, and not a mutual agreement. We were simply told by the management decision after their discussion with the associates. Imagine a family with children to feed, and here you are having just 50% of your salary. I don't really know how much the others are earning, but for a Part II master degree holder like me, 50% of my salary meant I am better off working at Subway or McDonalds or KFC. (That's how low our master degree holder get paid in our industry, so if any of you are thinking to study architecture, think thrice)
And as I really think through the whole cause and effect sequence, these things don't tally up. I would understand if we were a production company, with our production facility totally closed down. No production = zero income, which is fair I would say. But no, we are an architecture firm, with jobs running and with pending / deferred payment from our clients - why would we even need a salary cut when salary deferment is all we need ? Are we giving discount to our clients ? Are we claiming less than we are entitled to as per contract ? No. The employer is still in fact, claiming full sum from the client. And when the claim is obtained, my little employer does not only have their cashflow back, they in fact, are earning much more than pre-COVID-19.
Of course, there might be employers who are truly struggling due to lower sales / lower production, and would need the employees to support them during this difficult time. I would understand in such instances, and maybe salary cut might be the only option for such instances. But as an employer, they should be transparent too with their profit & loss state - after all, you said we are all in this together isn't it and we should all be driving through this difficulty together. Proper measures to compensate the employees will be required during this difficult time - lesser workload / workdays or shorter working hour so the employees might go after a side job / spend time with family more. It makes no sense to me, that you are still busy as shit and as usual at work, but you suffer from a salary cut simply because of 'low production/ low sales' - you shouldn't be, in fact, 'busy' at all.
And for us who get bullied, I don't think we are at a age of sucking up to bullies and should stand up for our own rights. Other countries, such as Australia, have really strong union because people would stand up against their employers when things are not right and illegal. They would not hesitate to file a complaint, and with effective and efficient enforcement from the government side, employers would not dare to simply take advantage of their employees. It is a cause and effect cycle essentially, if we stand up for what is right now, things would get easier for the future generation.
Imagine your kids. If they are lucky enough to have you path a company for them to handle in the future, good on them! But what about those who don't get to play the employer part ? Can you imagine them doing free overtime with no compensation during the weekdays? working on weekends while the employers are well spending family time at home? It is not right. We are not doing pro bono, and it's time we stand up for that.
Link to file a complaint shall you face similar situation:
Ministry of Human Labour of Malaysia, https://mohr.spab.gov.my/eApps/system/index.do.
Hotline: 03-8889 2359, 03-8886 2409, 03-8890 3404, 03-8886 2352, 03-8888 9111
0 comments:
Post a Comment