Press Digest - Sleeping on the job is not Malaysian culture says MEF

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said sleeping on the job is not acceptable, and definitely not a "Malaysian work culture".
He said be it in manufacturing or services industry, employees are not permitted to sleep during working hours, Oriental Daily News reported today.
If an employee is found sleeping on the job, the management needs to take disciplinary action, he said.
"This 'employees dozing off during working hours under particular circumstances' is not Malaysian work culture. I definitely do not agree with it. Working hours are meant to be working," he pointed out.
"Unless it is done after working hours, employees caught napping at workplace should have disciplinary action taken against them by the management.
"This SOP applies in all sectors," he said adding that there is no exception for any industry or any situation, such as a worker being very tired and needs to sleep while still on the job.
"Unless he has finished his work, or doing it (sleeping) after office hours, which is a different matter."
Shamsuddin said this when asked by the daily to comment on National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia's (Nufam) criticism that Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Christoph Mueller "is an outsider who may not understand the culture of this country" in response to Mueller's remark in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle last week that he had to slash 6,000 jobs at the airline as many were doing nothing with some even sleeping in the hangars.
Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin said in a statement that "when workers sleep, there may be a reason. Is sleep not important for workers to recover their energy?"
"He (Mueller) needs to understand the workers in operations work in the range of 24 hours and some do overtime, causing them to be exhausted."
Shamsuddin stressed that he did not agree with Nufam.
He said MAB employees should consider Mueller's remarks, harsh as they may be, as constructive criticism and work together to overcome the company's shortcomings.
On Mueller's remark that he had to radically cut 6,000 jobs as "many of the 20,000 employees had nothing to do", Shamsuddin said MAB's decision was understandable based on the situation then and the company's need.