Abstract
The case portrays a macro-view of human resource management (HRM) at the national policy level. The case is imbued with concepts to promote responsible HRM, social and workplace inclusion of marginal groups. Set against a canvas of general rights and challenges of persons with disabilities (PWDs), the case showcases the Malaysian government’s initiatives spearheaded by the Social Welfare Department (JKM) to boost PWD employment in its public service. The case revolves around the case protagonist, Aleeya Tan, the head of assistant director of the division of PWD career development in JKM. Relatively inexperienced in PWD employment, Aleeya was tasked to oversee the progress of an affirmative policy on PWD employment that required every public department to employ at least 1 per cent PWDs in their workforce. The catch—the policy remained rhetoric even three decades after it was passed. Following Malaysia’s recent economic blueprint, the policy was once again resurrected and put under public scrutiny. The case describes personal, institutional, structural, legal and social problems faced by the protagonist to outline strategies to meet the policy overdue target. The case is suitable for postgraduate courses in HRM and/or Employment Policy in Masters in Business Administration. Case learners will acquire conceptual knowledge on the subject, problem-solving skills and develop positive values towards the PWD community.
Keywords
Prologue
It was almost 6:00
‘Making a two-decade old policy work is like attempting the impossible’, Aleeya thought. From her observation, Aleeya sensed that legal, structural and institutional issues may have hampered realization of the policy. Some of these were beyond her control. She knew that the road ahead would not be easy especially with the mounting expectations surrounding the policy. Aleeya had to come up with some strategies to propose in the upcoming JPOKU’s meeting. However hard it would be, Aleeya was determined to do what she always did—‘I will give my very best’. Aleeya opened a thick folder about the 1 per cent policy on her table. National agenda for inclusive society, PWD Act, registration of PWDs, policy circulars, statistics of PWD employment, jurisdictions of PWD affairs and supported employment system were among the information kept in the folder. As she flipped the pages, the magnitude of complexity and difficulties ahead dawned on her.
Towards Inclusive Society
For the past few months, the PWD community in Malaysia had enjoyed the media spotlight. The sudden interest was due to the extraordinary performance of Malaysian paralympians in the 2016 Summer Paralympics Games. They had made the country proud by winning three gold medals, and Malaysia had never won any gold medal in the Paralympics and Olympics events. The whole nation had never expected that its first gold would ever be contributed by the disabled. Media and citizens were in awe. ‘Malaysia creates history’, a local newspaper reported (The Star, 2016a). ‘Malaysian paralympians prove nothing is impossible’, another read (Malay Mail, 2016). The prime minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, echoed saying that the athletes were ‘role models… icons for all Malaysians’ (Jalil, 2016). This news was quickly capitalized. In the presentation of Malaysia Budget for 2017, the prime minister brought in the paralympians as he announced financial allocation for the PWD community. It was witnessed by the country’s parliamentarians and broadcasted to the whole nation.
Malaysia’s attention on the PWD community had been around for a few decades as transpired by its ‘Malaysia Plan’, a 5-year national blueprint for the country’s economic and social development. In the Eleventh Malaysia Plan 2016–2020 (RMK11), Malaysia renewed its vow to enhance social inclusion of its PWDs. The prime minister declared—‘The government is also committed to achieving our PWD inclusiveness target to fill in more than sixteen thousand positions in the public sector through special consideration. Now, there are almost four thousand PWDs in the public sector’ (Economic Planning Unit, 2015).
The government believed that employment was among the main prerequisites for PWD social inclusion. From the human rights perspective, PWDs were members of society who had the rights and opportunities like any other people to lead quality lives (Disabled Persons Policy, 2013). The PWDs were also viewed as a latent workforce. Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) noted that capable PWDs had untapped potential for the country’s job market (Latent Workforce, 2013). Despite the recognition of PWDs as potential human capital, studies in Malaysia had shown that PWDs faced various challenges to join the labour market. They often suffered negative stereotypes, discriminations and mobility issues due to lack of disabled-friendly infrastructures. There was no official or a complete report on the total number of PWD employees in the country. Until 2015, 3,332 PWDs were reportedly employed by government agencies (Department of Social Welfare, 2015). Data on the private sector were unavailable. However, based on the recipients of ‘disabled workers allowance’ paid by the government, it was estimated in 2015 at least 75,000 PWDs could be working in the country.
The RMK11 engraved the government’s commitment to empowering PWDs through increased accessibility, enhanced employability and respect for the independent living. Against this renewed interests, the country’s 20-year old affirmative policy on PWD employment re-emerged onto the surface. Within this context, Aleeya Tan was thrust into the spotlight given the central role of her division in promoting PWD employment.
The Protagonist—Aleeya Tan, Assistant Director of BPKOKU
Aleeya Tan joined the PWD career development division (BPKOKU) in 2014 as the first person to head the division. She had 11 years of prior experience with JKM, but none had been on PWD matters. When she started, BPKOKU had no proper structure. Her first few days were spent on designing the division strategies and structuring its units according to their special focus. Aleeya knew what she was getting into. Director general had hinted about the challenges when he informed her about the appointment. She recalled what he once said, ‘This is a new area. You have to lead the team… It’s going to be a big responsibility for you’. She would have to be independent as her boss was also new in PWD matters. She also remembered the prevailing sentiment when she first arrived: ‘PWD career was the responsibility of Human Resource’. It was quite a battle to convince her colleagues about the need for JKM to assist PWDs in the labour market.
Aleeya was assigned three key performance indicators (KPIs) under the RMK11. She had to ensure three government entities hired at least 1 per cent PWDs in their agencies. She was also directed to oversee the formation of seven government-owned independent living centres (ILCs) by 2020. The ILCs would provide PWDs with the service of personal assistants to help with their daily lives. Other than these, Aleeya also carried out BPKOKU’s other annual KPIs, that is, sending 200 PWDs to the open job market under the job coach programme, and offering at least eight disability equality training (DET) programmes.
The 1 Per Cent Policy
The ‘1 per cent PWD employment policy’ was an affirmative action by the government that required the public sector to employ at least 1 per cent PWDs in their workforce. The policy had a long history; it started in 1998 when JPA passed a government circular (Department of Social Welfare, 1998). 1 It highlighted the central role of the Ministry of Social Welfare as the intermediary body between government agencies and their hiring entities. Ten years onwards, JPA came up with another circular (Department of Social Welfare, 2008) to explain the procedures, roles of agencies and monitoring of the 1 per cent policy. The updated circular clarified the definition of PWDs following the enactment of the PWD Act (2008). It also specified the applicability of the 1 per cent policy on every government agency. The circular also introduced the concept of ‘reasonable accommodation’ whereby public agencies were required to make suitable adjustments without putting the unreasonable or impossible burden on PWDs. The new circular also stated that employment of PWDs could be in the forms of permanent, temporary, contract or other arrangements. It further detailed the key responsibility of JKM in pursuing efforts to register PWD jobseekers, mediate with relevant agencies, perform job match, implement job coaching programme, engage PWDs who faced employment difficulties and monitor the achievement of the 1 per cent policy.
In 2010, JPA once again signed another circular (Department of Social Welfare, 2010) on the same policy. This time, the objective was to explain the 1 per cent policy and the subsequent steps to be taken up by government agencies to expedite the achievement. There were some key changes in the third circular. It was more detailed and introduced a boundary to its application. It emphasized its applicability only on registered PWDs. The 1 per cent calculation was derived only after setting aside positions that could only be performed by able people. The role of JKM somehow seemed softened. Unlike the first two circulars, the third circular delegated the responsibilities, such as identification of PWD applicants, to respective heads of government entities. The third circular also added an important clause that the ‘appointment of PWDs need to be done based on the applicants meeting all the criteria of appointment specified in a particular job scheme, suitability of the applicants to the tasks, and existing facilities provided by the agencies’ (p. 3).
Jurisdictions of PWD Affairs
There were several parties involved in the jurisdictions of PWD affairs in Malaysia (Figure 1). The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) was in charge of PWD welfare in the country. KPWKM stated its vision as to be on the ‘forefront to achieve gender equality, family and community development as a caring and prosperous basis of a fairly developed country’ (Department of Social Welfare, 2016). Since 2013, KPWKM had been headed by Minister Dato’ Sri Rohani Abdul Karim, a parliamentarian of Malaysia’s ruling party from the state of Sarawak. KPWKM was her first designation as a full minister. She was also Sarawak’s first woman to hold a ministerial position. KPWKM had gone through many restructurings (Table 1). General social issues and welfare were its raison d’être in the early days. However, in 2001, the ministry was given an additional role in line with the United Nations’ growing emphasis on women development (United Nations, 2000). Four agencies were put under the purview of KPWKM including the Social Welfare Department (JKM).
History of KPWKM
JKM was not only one of the main functions but also the founding purpose of KPWKM. JKM was headed by a director general who was responsible to oversee the affairs of six target groups: children, elderly, PWDs, destitute persons, families and victims of natural disasters (Figure 2). JKM was the largest entity representing over 60 per cent (i.e., 7,146 staff) of KPWKM’s total staff. JKM often received media coverage on a myriad of social issues covering cases of baby selling (The Star, 2016b), homelessness (New Straits Times, 2016), disabled welfare (The Star, 2014) and victims of weather condition (New Straits Times, 2015). The Department of PWD Development (JPOKU) was one of the 14 entities under JKM that managed the facilities and services for PWDs (Figure 3). In principle, JPOKU could independently stand as a full-fledged department that would give it a wider jurisdiction and resources like the JKM itself. However, due to resource constraints, JPOKU was placed under the purview of JKM.
The PWD career development (BPKOKU), led by Aleeya, was a division under JPOKU. BPKOKU carried out five key functions: the planning of PWD career development in the public sector; monitoring the achievement of the 1 per cent policy in the public sector; implementing job coach and DET programmes and providing other programmes to encourage PWD participation in the open market. Following the RMK11, BPKOKU was entrusted with the responsibility to achieve two important KPIs under the RMK11, that is, the 1 per cent policy and the ILCs.
More Layers in Decision-making
Other than KPWKM, the purview of PWD employment in Malaysia was also jointly shared with the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR), and the Department of Civil Service (JPA). MOHR administered the country’s overall human capital management for employers and employees in the private sectors. With regard to PWD workers, MOHR had been providing an online job matching and placement called SPOKU since 2005. The system allowed PWD cardholders to look for jobs, and employers to advertise suitable vacancies. However, registrations of applicants and actual job matching by SPOKU from 2005 to 2008 had not been that promising (Table 2). After 2008, MOHR stopped reporting SPOKU data in its annual report. Instead, subsequent reports showed the number of PWDs who received PWD business grants and PWDs they hired. Earlier in 1990, MOHR launched the national technical committee on the promotion of employment of disabled persons in private sector. The committee provided guidelines to various stakeholders including the government, employers, NGOs and unions to promote PWD employment in the private sector. In 2001, the committee launched the code of practice for PWD employment in the private sector as further guidelines. These functioned as mere guidelines rather than an affirmative policy. The government offered private employers’ several incentives for hiring PWDs (Figure 4).
Statistics of SPOKU
The Department of Civil Service (JPA) was a federal agency in charge of the overall human resource management (HRM) for employees in the public sector that included manpower planning, recruitment and placement functions. From time to time, JPA enacted relevant policies and circulars to ensure effective HR practices in the public sector in line with the national interests. To work with any government agency, an applicant would need to fulfil some basic criteria: they must be a Malaysian citizen, at least 18 years old, possessed a recognized education qualification, with a basic pass or honour in the Malay language in at least one of the three major examinations in the country. The procedures to recruit and place new staff in a government agency depended on the types and nature of the posts. Employee data were managed using the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) system. JPA collected PWD employment data twice a year, in June and December. Acquisition and placement of public service employees were handled by another related government body called the Public Services Commission of Malaysia (SPA).
Persons with Disabilities Act, 2008
Malaysia’s provision on PWDs was covered under the Persons with Disabilities Act (Act 685), enacted in 2008. The Act defined PWDs as those who had long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments that could hinder their full and effective participation in the society. The Act recognized seven types of disabilities—physical, visual, hearing, speech, learning, mental and multiple disabilities. It provided guidelines with regard to accessibilities to physical, economic, social, cultural environments, health, education, employment and information. In the 37-page-long document, one page in the Act touched on the issue of employment. It stipulated that:
The employer (private and public) shall protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on equal basis with persons without disabilities, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, protection from harassment and the redress of grievances. (p. 26).
Although the Act had been described as ‘abolish(ing) discrimination towards PWD community’ (Bernama, 2007a), not everyone agreed. The Malaysian Bar called it a ‘toothless tiger’ given its silence on penalty and punishment for non-compliance (Malaysian Bar in Ang, 2014, p. 3). The then Minister of KPWKM was quoted defending the absence of such clause,
the Act has not included any penalty or punishment provisions because the Act is based on rights and not primitive in nature. Any offense and non-compliance with regard to education, health, employment, and accessibility have already been stipulated by other existing laws (in those areas). (Bernama, 2007b)
A study on employers in Malaysia reported that the current awareness of the Act was low (Ang, 2014), 2 despite its significance on the employers’ intention to hire PWDs (Ang, 2014).
The Act called for the establishment of the National Council for PWDs. Established in 2008, the PWD Council was chaired by the Minister of KPWKM, and its main roles were to oversee, implement and recommend to the government on various matters relating to PWD affairs. The council consisted of ten representatives from the government and another ten experts on PWDs. It convened three times a year. Since its establishment, the council had set up six committees in charge of universal design and built environment, transportation, quality life care, education, employment and registration of PWDs. The Act had also sparked the legal need to establish a dedicated government department on PWD development (i.e., JPOKU) to be ‘responsible for the registration, protection, rehabilitation, development, and wellbeing of the persons with disabilities’ (pp. 8–9) (Persons with Disabilities Act 685, 2014).
Registration of PWDs
The issue of registration of PWDs was also a matter of concern for Aleeya. Registration as PWDs, in Malaysia, was voluntary. To register, a form needed to be filled by parents or guardians of PWDs. JKM, then, either straightaway approved the application for obvious cases like physical disability Or, JKM transferred it to a medical officer for a health check-up. Since August 2011, the application was done through an online system called SMOKU which was owned and maintained by JKM. After online data entry, applicants took the printed form to a medical officer for authorization after which the applicants then submitted it to JKM.
In 2015, there were 365,677 registered PWDs in Malaysia (Figure 5 and Table 3) (Statistics Department of Social Welfare, 2015). This figure, however, did not reflect the reality. The KPWKM Minister said that ‘4.5 million PWDs have not registered’ probably because ‘they don’t know, thus didn’t do anything, they know but they didn’t register, and also, they didn’t realize they are PWD’ (Astroawani.com, 2015). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that ‘PWDs can form 15 per cent of the national population’ (Ali, 2016). Parents’ feedbacks gathered from JKM’s many roadshows suggested that lack of awareness and social stigma played a part. Registration of PWDs had been among the top priorities in JKM. In 2016, over 40,000 new registrations were recorded.
Registration of PWDs in 2015 by Categories
Budget allocated on PWD programmes was usually influenced by the size of the PWD population. Registered PWDs could enjoy many special benefits (Table 4). For instance, the government provided the ‘disabled workers allowance’ of RM350 per month to qualified PWDs. The government paid off RM305, 000 (i.e., 74,324 PWDs) in 2015, RM243, 268 (i.e., 70,661 PWDs) in 2014; and RM230, 303 (i.e., 65,372 PWDs) in 2013 for the allowance (Statistics Department of Social Welfare, 2015).
Benefits Provided by the Government to PWDs
Supported Employment System for PWDs
Aleeya was also responsible for overseeing the supported employment system for PWDs. Most PWDs would need intensive support to successfully integrate into the job market. The supported employment system in Malaysia was a framework learned from Japan. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a body aimed at pursuing international cooperation between Japan and other countries, had conducted many projects globally to promote PWD inclusion (Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA], 2015b). In 2005, JICA embarked on a 10-year knowledge transfer programme to assist Malaysia in establishing supported employment system to replace the old rehabilitation approach (i.e., whereby PWDs were isolated to work in protected settings). The system involved two key initiatives: job coach and DET.
The job coach programme focused on providing intensive employment supports for PWDs to work in the open market in the private sector. Job coaches performed many roles to function as a bridge between PWDs and private sector employers (Figure 6). In 2016, 145 PWDs received supports under the programme (Table 5). The government paid up to RM900 per month to the coaches for their service, although many chose to waive it in the name of charity. So far, JKM had trained 2005 individuals under the programme. However, only 200 coaches were active in the coaching. Most job coaches were either NGO representatives or public volunteers at PWD rehabilitation centres. Matchmaking PWDs with the right employers, getting parents’ approval, logistics, accommodation and accessibility remained the top problems in the job coach programme.
Statistics of Job Coach Programme
PWDs Employed by Government Agencies December 2015
There was no paid job coach service in the public sector. JKM had conducted the job coach programme for participants in the public sector. They then, generally, applied the knowledge inside their own agencies. Their coaching, therefore, did not necessarily follow the stages as implemented in the private sector.
The DET focused on providing the general public with awareness and accurate understanding about PWDs. DET emphasized that a disability is not due to functional or medical restrictions, but due to social factors. The PWDs were ‘made’ disabled because of external factors, such as poor infrastructures, job design, isolation and discrimination. JKM offered eight DET programmes per year. In the past, the participants had consisted of private companies, public agencies, including university students.
Progress of the 1 Per Cent Policy
The 1 per cent policy was yet to show its impact two decades after it was first mooted. Until December 2015, only 0.22 per cent of PWDs had been employed by the government 3 (Table 6). The Minister of KPWKM described the figure as ‘disappointing’ and expressed hope that ‘interviewers at the public sector (to be more) aware of the (1% policy)’ (Utusan Borneo, 2015). Only one government agency had met the target which was KPWKM itself. The RMK11 set off a renewed commitment to the policy. A special task force involving JKM, JPA, MOHR, PWD experts and relevant NGOs was established to gather facts and propose recommendations on various aspects of PWDs’ welfare including the progress of the 1 per cent policy.
Aleeya had just returned from one of the task force meetings in late November when Imran stopped her.
Imran: ‘Aly, how was the meeting? Any new lead to help us with the 1% policy?’
Aleeya: ‘There is some development. Most is not surprising.. I mean we sort of suspected this already. One of the NGOs mentioned that PWDs were educated in schools using the sign language. They didn’t take the exam in the Malay language. Yet, SPA requires the Malay language in order to work with the public sector’.
Imran: ‘Owh yes of course… hmm… no wonder’.
Aleeya: ‘You see… PWDs with hearing problems won’t be able to work with the public sector as long as the criterion remains. The “reasonable accommodation” concept in the circular did not specify the need for “special consideration”. The Prime Minister mentioned that the government is committed to achieving the 1% target through “special consideration”. But “special consideration” is not mentioned in detail in the circular. So panels in the meeting felt that this needs to be further clarified’.
Imran: ‘How about the responsibility to hire PWDs? Did the meeting dwell on it?’
Aleeya: ‘We did not rule out the problem of role confusion. Somehow the government agencies thought that it is SPA’s responsibility to hire PWDs. Actually, the circular has already very clearly stated that it’s the responsibility of the respective agencies. SPA said they can only employ if the agencies told them “I want to employ this person”. If not SPA won’t dare to hire since the placement is at the agency. There was also a problem with the recruitment process, boss. Sometimes PWDs are scared to enter the open job market if job advertisements don’t specifically mention that “PWDs are also encouraged to apply”. So if there’s no such statement, how could they try? They are worried about being humiliated’, Sensitivity is very important for the PWD community. One of our NGO contacts told me recently about a visually-impaired PWD who went for an interview. Can you imagine, one of the panels asked him “how many (fingers) is this?” That guy already said that he is blind. Such a question was totally unacceptable and insensitive’.
Imran: ‘Aly, I’ve got to run to another meeting. Can you discuss this with your division? Think about how we can use this info to help us strategizing to achieve the 1%. We’ll sit down further later’.
Aleeya: ‘Sure boss. I’ll get back to you’.
Later that day, Aleeya called her assistant director, Mashita, who was in charge of the PWD Supported Employment unit. Mashita had accompanied her to the task force meeting. ‘Mashita, can you see me for a while? Please bring the 1% policy folder with you’, Aleeya said. ‘Okay boss, I will be there in a minute’, Mashita answered at the other end.
‘Mashita, come in… grab that chair and let’s look at the current achievement of the target and see how we can make of it’, Aleeya said. Aleeya and Mashita analysed the numbers. ‘Boss, the meeting just now mentioned the suitability of the policy to all agencies. Some are not happy. They felt they had hired a lot of PWDs but is still not close to 1% since they have bigger manpower size’, Mashita recalled. ‘Yes, you are right… and there is also an issue with the nature of jobs. For example, the Ministry of Defence have jobs that are unsuitable for PWDs’, Aleeya concurred. Aleeya and Mashita discussed how they could move closer to the target. They looked at the possibility of focusing on the most promising agencies. Perhaps with more support, they could achieve the target. Despite all the initiatives, they both knew that it would not be easy to persuade nor would it be possible to force employers to hire PWDs. Those factors that the task force raised were only a scratch on the surface. Some issues might be too complex to address.
Post-JICA Challenges
After a decade with JICA, JKM was now an independent provider of the supported employment system. The system had aimed to enhance PWDs’ inclusiveness in line with Malaysia’s vision for ‘caring society’. At the end of the collaboration, JICA concluded that ‘the project has created a system necessary to promote the employment of persons with disabilities and has arrived as a phase to foster human resources necessary for its operation’. The Minister of KPWKM was also quoted saying that ‘a system to foster job coaches has been well established in Malaysia’ as the fruit of the 10-year project (JICA, 2015a).
Aleeya had never expected that leading BPKOKU would require such a steep learning curve. It was soul-enlightening as well for her. ‘I knew nothing about PWDs before, let alone their career…apparently, they also have needs, have purchasing power, they also want economic improvement… and actually, they don’t want to depend on other people’, Aleeya thought. For her, this was a personal challenge and a renewed purpose.
The road ahead would be formidable. The 20-year-old policy was an overdue target and besieged by mounting expectations. She remembered what JICA said when she told them about the status of the 1 per cent policy. ‘It’s not easy’, they said. Hearing such a response from the experts consoled her worries. But she knew she would have to deliver. ‘This time the policy must show its worth’, she uttered. She believed in the altruism spirit of the policy to protect the rights of PWD community. She had not only the 1 per cent target to achieve but also other KPIs and tasks to oversee. And she must start thinking about retention of PWDs and lend more support to those in the private sector. Being quite a rookie in the area and strained on resources, she knew she would have to be smart. ‘Just do your very best. Be sincere’, she whispered. This life mantra had never failed her, whenever she faced a challenge. The JPOKU would be having their strategic meeting in 2 weeks. Some issues could be addressed by JKM, while some others would probably require a stronger force. Regardless of their nature, Aleeya would need to highlight these issues to her boss and colleagues. In her quiet office, Aleeya put together her notes and began scribbling her division’s strategies and suggestions for the coming year.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this case.
Funding
The research work was partly funded by the Case Writing Grant Scheme (CWGS).