Exploring Solutions to Solve Malaysia’s Brain Drain Challenge

The brain drain issue continues to top the list of Malaysia’s human resource challenges. The country continues to lose its top local talent overseas, which is affecting its ability to deliver the talent needed to drive the Malaysian economy forward.

Many of those who seek employment opportunities abroad cite the less attractive salary and benefits offered in Malaysia as one of the main reasons for leaving. A lack of career prospects and advancement opportunities in specific fields has also been blamed. Meanwhile in some cases, Malaysians who return home after working overseas struggle to adapt back to the local working culture.

Brain drain is a huge hurdle to Malaysia’s aim of becoming a high-income nation by 2020, placing increasing pressure on business leaders to address the loss of the skilled workforce. It is no surprise then that we now see the Government and employers turning to an array of measures to find talent in order to tackle the skills shortage.

Flexible working arrangements

One of these measures includes the push for companies to introduce flexible work options – targeting female employees in particular. Studies by TalentCorp have shown that Malaysian women tend to leave the workforce and never return once they have started their families.

Accelerating the adoption of flexible work practices can serve as an incentive for women to stay in the workforce or encourage them to return. Introducing arrangements such as a compressed work week, flexi hours, job share or working from home will provide these female employees with a supportive working environment to attract and retain them in the workplace.

The Malaysian government is also on board with this measure. In the Malaysian 2014 Budget it was proposed that training expenses and consultancy fees incurred by employers in implementing flexible work arrangements be given further tax deductions, to help accelerate the adoption of flexible work practices.  This is to ensure that employees have flexibility in terms of direction, place and working hours, providing a balance between career and family commitments.

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)

As a strategic response to the talent shortage, many companies are now considering outsourcing to address the country’s brain drain and skills shortage. According to recent findings from the 2013/2014 Randstad World of Work Report, more than six in 10 (66 percent) of employers in Malaysia say they intend to outsource their HR requirements to address the acute talent shortage.

Outsourcing – also known as recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) – involves a company contracting out its recruitment activities to an external service provider, such as Randstad Sourceright, to map out their strategic and talent management process.

With RPO, organisations are provided access to individuals with niche and specialised skills through work-ready candidate networks. The hiring time for critical roles in the organisation is also reduced. Additionally, the RPO process allows organisations to not only attract permanent hires, but also temporary and contract ones, giving organisations access to a broader scope of talent to drive their businesses and the economy forward.

Skills development

Initiatives to develop the skills of local undergraduates in Malaysia are also underway as part of TalentCorp’s plan to retain and develop existing local talent. One such example is FasTrack, a 12 month apprenticeship programme where fresh graduates in the Electronics and Electrical sector in Penang are “fast tracked” and encouraged to train as R&D engineers in one of Malaysia’s growing sectors.

Programmes such as these facilitate the development of a capable and ready-to-work workforce, as it equips the talent with relevant industry knowledge and expertise. With an industry-ready pool of talent who are adept and employable, companies can then minimise their time and efforts searching for suitable employees.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, TalentCorp also offers the Structured Internship Programme (SIP) which encourages companies to provide students with high quality learning experiences to introduce them to the working world as early as possible.

While this programme provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their capabilities as a potential employee, companies too can tap into the SIP to assess and select interns who fulfil their company’s requirements to be part of their team. This highlights how the SIP helps broaden the scope for employers to address their talent shortage dilemma.

As employers in Malaysia begin to evolve the methods they use to find talent, and organisations such as TalentCorp work hard to lure skilled Malaysian professionals working abroad back to the country, it is hoped that the brain drain challenge will be addressed, enabling Malaysia to achieve its high-income nation status by 2020.

Jasmin Kaur, Director – Randstad Malaysia