TOP Glove recently announced that it will be hiring about 9,000 Malaysians to help cut the soaring unemployment issue brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also in tandem with the rapid rise in global demand for its rubber gloves following the coronavirus outbreak.

Taken at face value, this is indeed a noble effort by the world’s largest manufacturer of rubber gloves. But the company is short on details on what those vacancies entail, as well as the types and levels of jobs involved.

Firstly, 9,000 is a lot of jobs. In its announcement, Top Glove said 4,000 positions are for local workers, 2,300 positions for university and technical vocational fresh graduates, 2,000 interns and trainees, and 700 experienced Malaysian employees.

But for a company that is already well established, it seems it’s on a big expansion mode, which is commendable. Strike while the iron is still hot, as they say.

But as a manufacturer, it can only increase its production lines marginally, unless it builds more plants but there has been no announcements on this.

How many extra researchers, plant technicians, QC staff, human resources personnel or marketing executives does it need to hire?

As a company with a market capitalisation of around RM50 bil and a huge jump in profits of late, surely the blue chip counter is running optimally, with the support from its existing staff at all levels.

Is Top Glove hiring to replace its production line workers or jobs that were in the first place already shunned by Malaysians due to its low pay or poor working conditions? Most of these jobs were taken up by foreigners, mostly from less developed countries.

Top Glove might be having problems replacing foreign workers who take up the 3D jobs – those deemed dangerous, dirty and demeaning by locals probably partly due to border lockdowns.

Is the company facing an exodus of foreign workers who had to earlier put up with appalling living conditions to the point that it became the hotbed for the spread of COVID-19? To be fair, conditions are said to have greatly improved since then.

Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan of the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) has just confirmed that very few locals are willing to work in certain sectors, including manufacturing. “Many cringe at the idea of working in factory areas. It is very challenging for employers to get locals to take up jobs for the sector,” he said. How Top Glove plans to overcome that and get the change the mindset remains to be seen.

The company has relocated some of its workers to more habitable living dormitories following public outcry. But that was after the Teratai COVID-19 cluster was uncovered and went on to be the largest in the country with thousands of positive cases.

How does Top Glove hope to woo 9,000 Malaysians to join the company still reeling from a public relations crisis over its alleged mistreatment of its workers? Does it plan to offer lucrative remuneration with attractive perks to boot?

If so, why didn’t Top Glove hire Malaysians in the first place? Most manufacturers in Malaysia have found it cheaper and easier to hire foreigners?

It boils down to ringgit and sen for these companies.

Cloaking the mass recruitment exercise as a national service to cut unemployment among Malaysians, borders on the deceptive, if no sincere and concrete efforts are made to get locals to join the manufacturing workforce.

In a weak job market, the general public is hoping Top Glove is not engaging in a public relations exercise with its announcement of hiring 9,000 Malaysians.

The company needs to walk the talk if it were to repair its bruised image following revelations about its alleged labour abuse. – Feb 3, 2021

Dominic Tham is a FocusM contributor.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.

https://focusmalaysia.my/opinion/top-gloves-9000-job-offers-real-jobs-or-a-pr-exercise/