Khairy: ‘Coffee and nasi lemak’ break culture must end
Youth and Sports minister says he would rather have staff clock in late than find the office empty at 10am because everyone is on their coffee and nasi lemak break.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia must embrace and adapt fast to the changing trends in workplace culture, says Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
In his special address at the 2nd Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Human Capital Summit, Khairy said it was crucial to provide a suitable working environment to maximise the potential of young employees.
He said that in today’s knowledge-based economy, the quality of work was more important than just the quantity of work, and to facilitate this, more flexibility was needed in working with the nation’s youth.
One example he said, was the approach in dealing with the issue of civil servants taking coffee breaks during working hours.
It is common that civil servants clock in at 8.30am but between 9.30am to 10am, many take their coffee and nasi lemak break, the minister said.
He said that as far as he was concerned, clocking in on time was not as important as the level of productivity of the employees once they were at the office.
“I like to see people in the office, but I would rather see their work,” he said, adding he has changed things around in his ministry.
“If you’re not in the office on time it’s okay, as long as your work is done. I would rather have that, than you clocking on time but I can’t find you at 10am because you’re not doing your work.
“So the whole approach towards the future workplace has to change, even in the government,” he said, adding that the quality of work that had met with its objective was of greater priority than the output of doing a task.
Khairy also spoke about the importance of leveraging on untapped potential by being inclusive of all segments of society, including women and the disabled, to add to the collective productivity of the nation.
Khairy said the advent of technology and flexible working arrangements provided new ways to bring women and the disabled into the workforce, since they made up a large portion of the country’s population.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram
“However, this will need serious effort from both the government and private sectors.”