Firms in Malaysia still in hiring mode

DESPITE a shaky global economy and manpower cuts in other countries, companies in Malaysia are on a hiring mode to expand.

A survey by global management consulting firm, Accenture, found that 92 per cent of companies in Malaysia have hired more full-time employees throughout last year, compared with 82 per cent of respondents in others countries.

This is in line with strong domestic demand in the country, which drove the gross domestic product growth to 7.2 per cent last year.

According to Accenture's High Performance Workforce Study 2010, only 17 per cent of respondents in Malaysia cut their permanent staff last year, compared with 63 per cent of respondents in other countries.

"In contrast to the global trend, companies in Malaysia have been increasing their headcount in the last 12 months... Malaysia is on high-growth trajectory," Accenture executive partner Low Choy Huat told Business Times in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The study covers 674 senior executives (C-level) in 24 countries across various industry segments, of which four-fifths of the companies studied were those with more than US$500 million (RM1.51 billion) revenue.

In Malaysia, 25 senior executives responded to the survey, representing an assortment of companies across industries like financial services, resources, communications, products and public services.

Low said during the downturn last year, respondents in Malaysia hired more workers who were most critical to the companies' business success, while other respondents expanded their workforce as they needed different skills to drive the business in the future or new people for the launch of new products or entry into a new market.

Less than half cited opportunity to add high-quality talent who are difficult to hire during a robust economy, while others wanted to right-size the workforce.

Source: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/23HIRE/Article/