COMPANIES that were given approval to recruit foreign workers prior to the freeze on new intake should be given some leeway, said employers’ groups.

The government should be more flexible and allow these companies to bring in their confirmed recruits, they said.

Otherwise, the government should consider reimbursing employers the fees spent on recruiting foreign workers, said Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan.

“If that is not possible (reimbursement), those who have been approved should be allowed to bring in workers,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Shamsuddin was responding to Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan’s recent announcement on the foreign worker recruitment freeze until the end of the year so jobs can be given to locals.

Another solution is to provide automatic extensions to the validity of employment passes, as employers will have to wait for at least six months before the ban can be lifted, said Shamsuddin.

Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) president Soh Thian Lai said the freeze should not apply to companies whose applications have already been processed.

“Freezing the recruitment of foreign workers will not solve unemployment issues, we need a holistic long-term management system for foreign workers.”

The steel magnate said the total workforce in the manufacturing sector stands at somewhere between 2.4 million and three million, of which 700,000 are foreign workers.

He also said the federation is cognisant of the unemployment rate in the country and will ensure that vacancies for skilled labour, upper and middle management posts are filled by Malaysians.

However, foreign workers are usually hired to fill vacancies for operator level jobs, which he said employers find it hard to fill with locals due to the nature of the jobs and the high expectations.

“Despite offering higher wages, employers continue to face high turnover and absenteeism among local workers, expectation of better and cleaner work environment and (their) unwillingness to work shifts and overtime,” Soh said.

Saravanan’s sudden announcement of a freeze poses challenges to employers who need to replace workers who are due to return to their home countries, and those who are expanding their production capacity to meet orders of certain items such as personal protective equipment (PPE).

Malaysia’s unemployment rate stood at 5% in April, the highest since 1990. The number of unemployed persons also saw a year-on-year increase of 48.8% to 778,800.

The April unemployment rate comes a month after the movement control order (MCO) against Covid-19 began on March 18.

The country is currently in a recovery MCO phase since June 25 to August 31, whereby most economic and business sectors and various activities have been allowed to resume under conditions.

Shamsuddin however, said the freeze on new foreign workers is reasonable given current labour market conditions as more locals are being retrenched.

Additionally, foreign workers who have been made redundant during the MCO could be redeployed to other sectors and employers where there is demand for labour.

These sectors are plantation and manufacturing, as demand for foreign labour in other sectors is expected to be weak for the rest of the year.

Soh agreed with redeployment of foreign labour but said it must be done smoothly and efficiently to meet employers’ needs.

“We understand that the government is allowing the redeployment of foreign workers who have been retrenched during this period to be absorbed by companies that require additional workers.” – June 28, 2020.