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4 Reasons Of Why Malaysian Companies Face High Staff Turnover

Updated: Feb 24


Empty office with rows of black chairs and teal partitions, large windows in background showing a cityscape. Bright, orderly atmosphere.
Photo by kate.sade on Unsplash

Understanding High Staff Turnover in Malaysian Companies


Employee retention is one of the big challenges that a company faces on an ongoing basis. According to the Gallup workplace insight it costs the American businesses almost $ 1 trillion dollars due to voluntary turnover.


How about in Malaysia? According to the Al-Suraihi et al.’s survey from 2015 showed that nearly 49% of employers experienced employee turnover and Malaysia is ranked as the 3rd highest country with voluntary turn over of 9.5% in the Asia Pacific region.


And a survey by the PwC Asia-Pacific Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 shows that only 57% Malaysians are satisfied with their current employment. What about the other 43%? This suggests that they are not satisfied with their present employment due to various factors.


By studying these insights we find that employees hanging around a company for a longer time is no longer a reality for a number of reasons. In this article I aim to look what are the reasons for why there is high staff turnover



Reason 1: Better Opportunities and Career Advancement


One of the most common reasons of why employers face high staff turnover is because employees are always in a search for better opportunities and career advancement.


Many want to be progressing in their work and provide a better lifestyle for their family. When they feel like it is a dead end job and their salary it’s not going to be increased in the near future, it motivates them on the lookout for better opportunities.


Malaysia’s job market is competitive since the market is looking for skilled workers. This provides an opportunity for the employees to seek for better opportunities and higher income for the skills that they bring to their employers.



Reason 2: Low Salary


Malay Mail published an article on Hay’s Asia Salary Guide, which says that 46% of Malaysian employees were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their current compensation packages. In fact it is one of the highest number in Asia when compared to other countries.


When the salary doesn’t last for until the next salary, life can become a struggle on a daily basis especially on taking care of daily necessities. It can become challenging especially if you have monthly commitments and a family to take care of.


So the question arises with how can I earn more? So the employee is looking at what are the skills that they have and how they can look for jobs that are closely linked with the skills that they presently have that pays more then their present job.



Reason 3: Poor Work-Life Balance


According to Md. Elias Hosen in the Malaysian Management Journal, titled “Factors Affecting Employee Turnover In Multinational Companies In Malaysia”, he talked about of how work life imbalance also plays a role when it comes to high staff turn over.


A couple of things needs to be considered with this point like workloads, how manageable it is and what is it being done to manage it? Secondly is the employee receiving any support from their superior to manage the workload if it becomes excessive because this can cause stress whereby it impacts their personal and professional lives.


Employees need to manage stress well to be able to perform. When an employee looses work life balance and is expected to spend long hours at work this causes them to start looking for better opportunities elsewhere. If they have a family, this becomes more challenging as they need to spend time with their loved ones also.



Reason 4: Toxic Workplace Culture


It’s not only about career progression and income but it is also about how is the working environment, how is the management and the coworkers. Toxic workplace culture could range from bullying, favoritism, verbal abuse, lacking inclusion and so on.


In an article published by Jobstreet from a survey in 2019, showed that 1 in 3 employees in Malaysia face bullying in the workplace. It’s sad to know this and bullying causes unhappiness at work place. Better systems need to be in place so that workplace bullying can be prevented.


When an employee feels less appreciated or valued they will also be on the lookout for better working environments. Much of life is spent in work and a person doesn’t want to be in an environment where it is causing them much stress or frustrations during their working hours.



Conclusion


As we looked at some of the reasons of why there is high staff turnover, an employer should be aware of these points so that they can better prepare themselves and the company as they hire a person. An employee also needs to be better prepared as they apply for work.


High staff turnover causes the company much resources as they need to hire a new person and train them again the for the position that is available. Of course during this period, much learning is happening for the employee to get familiar with the company.


And for the employee moving from one company to another company also undergoes probation periods, training and familiarisation with the company products or service. If the moving is done too frequently, it can become a disadvantage in terms of their working career.


In conclusion, the job market is a dynamic place that continuously changes even so more with AI right now. A constant study of the job market is necessary so that both employers and employees can better prepare themselves.






You can follow me on my Linkedn www.linkedin.com/in/jobthecoach





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