A SYSTEM system to record employee performance to prevent frequent job-hopping is in breach of the law, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) said.

Its president Syed Hussain Syed Husman told The Malaysian Insight such a system violates the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) 2010 and added it also goes against the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) provisions.

“The PDPA safeguards the personal data of individuals by requiring data users to comply with obligations and conferring rights to the data subject in relation to personal data.

“The proposal will also be against the provisions of Article 2 of ILO Convention 087 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention 1948, which states that: Workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation,” Syed Hussain told The Malaysian Insight.

Last month, the Federation of Malaysian Business Associations suggested that Putrajaya introduce a system to record employee performance to prevent frequent job-hopping.

Its chairman Abdul Malik Abdullah said the government should come up with a record system like the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) or the CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd, which evaluates a person’s credit score and financial health based on their payment history.

Malik said the system could prevent an employee from leaving a job easily and employers from employing those who are more likely to job-hop.

Syed Hussain said that recording and monitoring employee’s performance is carried out with the intention of tracking an employee’s performance and that the company should keep it confidential.

He said that such monitoring is done to appropriately reward the good performers and to guide employees whose performance is not up to company’s requirements to improve.

Create policies to retain employees

Syed Hussain said that instead of proposing to bring in a system akin to CCRIS or CTOS, he suggested companies introduce policies that may be able to retain employees.

He said companies should listen to their employees and give them certain privileges that would keep them at the organisation longer.

“Companies may offer workplace flexibility. Currently, workplace flexibility such as flexible working hours and telework policies are more important than both compensation and career progression.

“To keep your employees around for more than a year, give them the chance to adjust their schedules when the situation calls for it. Understand the future of work and the demands prospective employees place on employers,” he said.

Syed Hussain also said that organisations must hear employees’ ideas and allow them to contribute creatively, which would help them to grow professionally.

The MEF president added that organisations need to communicate the company’s mission and values, adding employees these days want to work at a company whose values match their own.

“This will help to maximise the number of employees who have the same values as the company and therefore would want to stay longer,” he said.

Job-hopping not recommended

Syed Hussain said job-hopping is generally not encouraged.

He, however, said that moving jobs after a period of five years is acceptable as this could be due to limited career progression.

“It is not an issue for employees who leave for career advancement after five years, having learned the culture, skills and knowledge.

“(Existing) companies may not have positions for advancement. Therefore the only option (for the employee) is to move elsewhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, Syed Hussain labelled those job-hopping frequently as “grasshoppers”, saying they move because they are either not content with the job, culture or scope of job.

He said they lack the patience to learn and develop on the job.

“These people disrupt all manpower planning and are not healthy for any organisation. So, we must know the reasons for job-hopping.”

Citing recent data from the ILO Bureau of Labour Statistics, Syed Hussain said a person stays at their job for an average of 4.4 years.

However, the data showed that the average tenure was only 2.2 years among the young workforce.

“Ninety-one per cent (91%) of those born between 1977 and 1997 are expected to stay in a job not more than three years.

“This means that they would have 15 to 20 jobs over the course of their working lives,” he said.

He said a short stint at any workplace might worry future hiring managers.

He said this might benefit those who change jobs, especially among the Gen Y, but claimed that companies hiring them would fear they could be next in line to suffer from these potential prospects.

“For fresh employees, job-hopping may speed up career advancement. Changing jobs and getting a promotion in the process allows Gen Y employees to avoid the trap of slow ascent up the corporate ladder.

“Job-hopping may also lead to greater job fulfilment, which is more important to Gen Y workers than it was to any previous generations.

“However, the hiring managers will question such applicants’ motivation, skill level, engagement on-the-job and ability to get along with other colleagues.

“These hiring managers worry they’ll become the next victims of these applicant’s job-hopping. Losing an employee after a year means wasting precious time and resources on training and development, only to lose the employee before that investment pays off,” Syed Hussain said. – April 11, 2022.