OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (M) Sdn Bhd intends to allow many of its 6,500 employees to continue working from home for a few more months even after the movement control order (MCO) is lifted.
Its managing director Glen Brownlie told visiting Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow that a significant portion of Osram employees would continue to work from home until June or July.
The MCO, which was enforced on March 18, is scheduled to end on April 28 if there is no extension after the third phase.
Chow visited the plant in Bayan Lepas today together with state Domestic and International Trade, Entrepreneur Development and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain, Penang Island City Council mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang and Balik Pulau OCPD Supt A. Anbalagan.
At hand to welcome them besides Brownlie were Osram’s Site Services director Eric Ooi Kheng Jin, security manager Zulkifli Omar and Employee Services head Vasantha Krishnan.
“We don’t want to bring in employees who don’t need to be here. Only employees who are in critical need for the operation to run will be here. Anybody who can work from home will work from home because it is safer,” Brownlie said.
“It’s nice for the chief minister to visit us and appreciate the work we have done, like putting social distancing in place, and the work that our team has done to keep people safe.”
According to Brownlie, Osram is granted to have 50 per cent of its workforce of 6,500 employees at work per day by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) but they are using only between 1,500 and 1,800 employees working in both Kulim and Penang plants.
He said although it was tough, the factory had to find a balance to support the MCO and also to keep running as a multinational company employing 23,000 employees globally.
“We have to generate revenue because we have to pay all their salaries. We don’t want to see mass unemployment like in Europe and some other countries.
“It’s good that we’ve got to a stage where the government now trusts us to make more decisions ourselves.”
Brownlie said Osram is also willing to share or help small and medium enterprises or their suppliers on the implementation of preventive measures against Covid-19.
Chow thanked Brownlie for the chance to be taken on a tour of the cafeteria, the manufacturing and production areas and then a briefing on the factory’s operation and future plans.
“Good hygiene practices are very important. We take it that employers are taking good care of the workers, whether foreigners or locals, because the virus can attack anybody,” Chow said.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Darwina Mohd Daud
