Work-Life Balance

To sum it up, this 'Work-Life Balance' thing does not exist in KL.

We rank 4 amongst the world's overworked cities, based on this news report dated 7 August 2019: 
https://www.star2.com/living/2019/08/07/kl-ranks-lowest-among-40-cities-in-terms-of-work-life-balance/ 

Photo: Top and bottom five cities ranked for its holistic work-life balance, according to a recent study by Kisi, a US-based mobile access technology company. Source: Kisi ​
https://www.star2.com/living/2019/08/07/kl-ranks-lowest-among-40-cities-in-terms-of-work-life-balance/

Excerpts from the article:

• The study – released by US-based mobile access technology company Kisi – compared data on work intensity, institutional support, legislation, and liveability and ranked cities based on their success in promoting work-life balance to their citizens.

• ...the most overworked cities in the study were Tokyo, Singapore and Washington DC, with Kuala Lumpur taking the fourth spot.

• The study also found that citizens in Oslo work the least number of hours per week, at 38.9, followed by Sydney and Melbourne, both at 39.8 [compared to 22% of Malaysians who work more than 48 hours/ week]

• Mehl (Kisi's CEO) stated that workplace stress contributes to at least 120,000 deaths a year, costing up to an estimated US$190bil (RM794bil) in the U.S., according to a study by researchers at Harvard and Stanford.

Looks like the Scandinavian countries lead in work-life balance.



Incidentally this morning I came across this related article: French Colleagues reported Singaporean artiste to HR for sending them a work email at 8pm https://says.com/my/news/french-colleagues-reported-singaporean-artist-to-hr-after-she-sent-them-a-work-email-at-8pm Ms Sharon Au who used to work in the Singapore entertainment industry, had migrated to work in Paris. To remind her colleagues of a meeting on the next day, she had emailed them at 8pm the night before. She was reported to the HR for doing that, but was let off with a warning as she was new at work.

Excerpt (emphasis is mine):

Three months after that incident, Au said that she received a second warning letter for contacting a colleague again after work

She thought it was appropriate to remind her colleague of the important meeting that they were going to have the next morning.

So, she sent a private message to him at about 11pm.

She said that her colleague completely ignored the text message, took a screenshot, and forwarded it, again, to the HR department.

This time, Au said that the staff at HR became concerned that she had 'no life' after work

They asked her if she had been working late nights because she was lonely, and even volunteered to sign her up for yoga classes to keep her occupied.

Subsequently, Au even noticed that her colleagues started to invite her out for meals.

The company even gave her movie tickets to encourage her to get out of the house, she said while laughing during the interview.

[May I work in France pleaseeeee 😻]

WOW! If only this applies to KL workplaces. I receive emails and all sorts of notifications at all times of day, including weekends. Even students do not apologise by messaging late or during public holidays or weekends. The thing is, I have been working in KL for the longest time and never have quite thought much about it- somehow we have accepted that emails can be sent out any time & should be acted upon only during work hours. 

I had a colleague (who used to work in the UK) & has gotten used to the Malaysian work habit. She would type her emails at night & save them in the draft folder. All these will be launched at 8.30am, the beginning of our work hour. Once we organised a conference together. I used to wonder why we received 20 emails from her at 8.30am sharp the next day (we had thought then: how did she find the time to write everything so fast?). Over coffee one fine day, she shared that she goes through her emails at night & send them all out first thing in the morning (gasp!).

When I studied in the UK, there was one instance when I had to do a bank transaction over the counter, I had arrived approximately 10 minutes before the counter staff lunch break was over & stood over the counter hoping to get early service. They were chatting with each other. One cashier stopped chatting to tell me "this is our lunch break- we will serve you at exactly 2pm". Isn't that nice? In KL & in Malaysia generally we have our bank counters, administrative counters, inquiry desks (in fact most counter imaginable) open even during lunch- we will not expect anything otherwise. If only proper work hours are respected in our part of the world- there'll be less stressed and more respectful people all around.

For me I do not work too hard. My work hours is reasonably flexible. Yet I do receive emails at 8 or 11pm (once it was at 2am!) and sometimes expecting immediate action. I usually hold it off till the next working day, knowing that the 'powers-that-be' may be reported to HR for this harassment. Some days I might comply, for the pure reason not to hold up someone else's job (why am I too nice?).

My new resolution: Yay for balanced work-life. I have my rights.

[In practice, this is furthest from the truth yet I am wishful that we WILL get there someday even if it's not during my lifetime].

A Trashy Situation

Third World countries are used to receiving what the developed nations do not want: be it medicine, used cars and used clothes. We gladly import them, and there is a ready market for (especially) refurbished vehicles & 'bundle' clothes.

In a reasonably recent development, Southeast Asian countries in particular have been the recipients of trash for 'recycling'. The only thing is, the trash are in such poor state that they are beyond help.

Photo source: "Malaysia plans to return 3,300 tons of plastic trash to US, UK, Canada & Australia": https://www.businessinsider.com/malaysia-sending-back-trash-to-countries-2019-5?IR=T



Yesterday I happened to watch The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on youtube & Trevor (as if we know each other) happened to be talking about this.

Asian Nation Rejects Western Trash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-htnUTN4mH0

Southeast Asia sends back heaps of trash to rich 
countries: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Southeast-Asia-sends-back-heaps-of-trash-to-rich-countries

Quoted from the Asia Nikkei article:

• In June (2019), Jakarta sent back to the U.S. five containers labeled as "paper waste," but which also included plastic, rubber and diapers.

• In Cambodia, 83 containers of plastic waste that were mislabeled as recyclables and sent to Sihanoukville port are heading back to the U.S. and Canada, government officials said earlier this month.

• Sri Lanka says it is shipping back to the U.K. 111 containers that were found on July 22. After residents complained about the foul smell, officials found medical waste included in the trash.

• Malaysia said at the end of May that it will send back hundreds of tons of smuggled waste that had come from countries such as Japan, the U.S. and Australia.

• Also in late May, the Philippines shipped back 69 trash-filled containers from Canada that had been left at a port. President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to declare war against Canada, recalling the ambassador to the North American country at one point. Ottawa agreed to retrieve the waste, covering the cost.

All these while, China have been receiving & processing the developed countries' trash. Recently (from January 2018), as a result of China imposing an import ban on trash, the shipments had to be redirected to other countries, mainly in Southeast Asia. [Could this ban by China be related to the trade war, the mind ponders].

These trash that China no longer wants, most of them have ended up in Malaysia (oh-emm-gee!!): World Focus: Malaysia, where the world sends its trash https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/world-focus-where-the-world-sends-its-trash. Greenpeace said that we have become the world's rubbish bin. All these while I was hoping that Malaysia would be known for something 'international' but this really won't do 😕



In the photo below, our Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Ms Yeo Bee Yin is seen to be holding one sample of plastic waste.

Photo source: Malaysia to return illegally imported plastic waste to where it came from
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/not-just-developed-countries-even-bangladesh-sending-unwanted-plastic-waste-to-malaysia 
[Footnote: some of the trash are from Bangladesh & Singapore, what laaaa]



There have also been some clampdown on illegal recycling factories, some are allegedly owned by firms from China >> Chinese recycling firms bypass M'sian regulations amid suspicion of graft https://www.todayonline.com/world/graft-suspected-behind-moves-chinese-firms-dumping-plastic-waste-malaysia
[Footnote: in business, this is probably them (the China firms) applying 'outsourcing']



My take on it/ My 2 cents:
1) The Ministry name need a revamp [make it shorter & pronouncaeable in one breath]; and
2) Sending back the trash is a step in the right direction [it is ironic that the developed nations heavily promote recycling and sustainable living, while conveniently flicking their trash problem elsewhere].