BANGI: Employers should play their role to address issues on married couples having to stay apart due to work commitments, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
She said the employers, could among others, provide flexible working hours for married employees staying apart from their spouses, hence giving them more time to be with their families.
This could be done, she said, for example by allowing the employee to work extra hours every day and to give leave or day off after fulfilling the minimum weekly working hours.
“By doing so, employees staying away from their spouses will have time to go back to their families,” she told reporters after closing the Social Welfare Department’s Junior Khalifah programme here.
She was commenting on a newspaper report yesterday which stated that more than 500,000 married couples in the country are staying apart or away from their spouses due to work commitments.
Wan Azizah, who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister, said it is the government’s intention to address the problem, where implementation would depend on the wisdom of employers.
Married couples who stay apart, with some becoming annual wife or husband is not good for the marriage, she said. — Bernama
