Work Life Balance Conference

Flexible working hours seems to be the epitome of Asian work practice. Shops don’t open until 11 in the morning and then stay open until 10 in the evening or even later. In Malaysia some restaurants and cafés stay open 24hours per day. Life seems to bubble and boil all day, except of course for dozes in the afternoon. So I was surprised to be asked to speak at a ‘Work Life Balance’ conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The serious issues were that major employers here didn’t see the need for flexible working. So women with young families couldn’t adjust their working day to accommodate the kids going to school. People with ill relatives or older parents couldn’t take time off to provide care. Consequently the opportunity for work was denied to a significant proportion of the population. Put another way, employers could only choose from candidates who had no other calls on their time.

 
I was asked to speak on ‘Work Life Balance in the UK.’ To make sure I was up to date on the latest Human Resource issues my friend Cecily Lalloo gave me a huge amount of advice and guidance. Cecily runs her own Human Resources consultancy in England.
Held in a five star hotel in KL, the Conference had speakers from USA, Switzerland and New Zealand. The CEOs of many of the leading international companies in Malaysia participated along with Malaysian Business leaders. One of the most outstanding contributions was made by the keynote speaker Senator Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development.

Allan with Senator Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, other dignatories, organisers and speakers

Another highlight was the presentation by Datuk Dr Rafiah Salim, Director of the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women. Malaysia is a member of the Non Aligned Movement, NAM, countries. This is a grouping of 118 developing countries without formal ties to the main geopolitical groups.
With these powerful women throwing their political weight behind more flexible working arrangements in Malaysia the prospects of many working people achieving a better work life balance is good.

Details of the conference, along with the papers given and presentations made are on the following web site.