KPJ Healthcare Berhad

Govt plans to increase female workforce to 55% this year

Move to encourage more women in workforce with career comeback programme

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry (KPWKM) aims to increase the level of female participation in the workforce to 55% this year from 52.4% in 2013.

Its Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said: "Female participation in the public sector has achieved a 30% quota, and the private sector, 15%. Our initial target is to bring back 200 women employees this year through the career comeback programme.

"In Japan and Korea the women's participation rate in the workforce reached a double peak, while Malaysia with only a single peak has one of the lowest participation rates in Asean countries. We have to do something about it," she said in a media briefing yesterday.

She added the government had introduced two grants namely the resourcing grant and the retention grant, which are structured for companies to attract and retain women who have been on career breaks for more than six months.

The resourcing grant is available for companies that have implemented a programme to recruit women returnees. The companies will receive cofounding of 75% of the cost incurred to run the programme. The retention grant is available for companies who have successfully recruited and retained women returnees for more than six months.

Rohani also said that her ministry recently implemented a flexible working programme which enables employees who achieved 85% and above in their performance appraisal to choose their options for flexible working.

"We will run this initiative of flexible working in the ministry for the next three months, productivity however will not be affected," she explained.

More than 30 companies participated in the career comeback fair this year, namely
Gamuda Bhd, KPJ Healthcare Bhd, Shell Malaysia, Maybank Group, Sunway Group and Taylor's Education Group.

CEO of Talent Corp Malaysia Johan Mahmood Merican said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak had announced a RM10 million grant for the programme tabled in Budget 2015 last year.

"We understand it can be challenging and daunting to look for a job after time out of the workforce, we hope to ease this process by connecting jobseekers who are women returnees to potential employers.

"By giving targeted financial incentives, we can encourage employers to expand their talent pool and at the same time provide career opportunities for women looking to return to work," he said.

KPWKM earlier reported it had distributed RM118,000 to 44 Women and Family Development Councils throughout the country in appreciation of their voluntary work for flood victims in the affected states last year.

Its Deputy Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun said the funds were for five states, namely Terengganu (eight parliamentary constituencies), Kelantan (13), Pahang (12), Johor (4) and Perak (7).