Let corporate offices reopen alongside factories, bosses urge govt

The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) today urged the government to allow corporate offices to reopen, saying the restrictions that force them to remain closed are hampering overall business recovery efforts despite the green light given for non-essential businesses in the services sector to resume operations.

MEF president Syed Hussain Syed Husman in a statement said federation members were asking why corporate offices must remain closed when factory offices were allowed to reopen.

“Major decisions are made at the management level and not at the production sites,” he said.

“The operations’ effectiveness is lost should the corporate offices be required to remain closed.”

Without corporate offices open and running, he said, decisions have to be made remotely which causes much confusion at the operations and management level.

“There are many decisions that the operations or factories cannot make as they have to follow the strategic decision of the company,” Syed Hussain said.

“For example, all key decisions including finance and IT are based at the headquarters. We need all hands on deck to make things work.”

He also urged authorities to allow those who have received both doses of Covid-19 vaccine to return to the office to work, saying employers should be allowed to self-manage the situation at the workplace in line with SOPs.

“We are not able to micro-manage business by keeping the corporate office shut, especially in zones that are open,” he said.

“Self-management is the way to go in an endemic situation.”

Malaysia expects to enter the endemic phase of Covid-19 by the end of October.