Job offer to 6,000 MAS outgoing staff

• The largest layoffs in the history by Microsoft USA which involved 18,000 workers in June has never come up with job offer plan but in Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional Bhd is so generous to set up a special center to provide "outplacement support" to 6,000 Malaysia Airlines (MAS) staff to be dismissed as part of its restructuring process.
• A source familiar with the restructuring said the focus of the outplacement center (OPC) will be to extend all relevant and required support to the various groups of employees leaving the national airline.
• This includes professional, emotional and financial support to assist them as they transition to the next stage of their careers.
• Khazanah had, at the end of August, announced its 12-point plan to resuscitate the national airline which would see 6,000 jobs cut across the board and result in the emergence of a “new” and leaner MAS come July 1, 2015 from its existing workforce of 20,000 employees.
• According to the source, the OPC will help transition employees who have been identified under three categories: early retirees, job seekers and potential entrepreneurs.
• OPC comes under the auspices of the Corporate Reskilling Centre (CRC), set up for restructuring and support services, and will cover areas such as financial and retirement planning, career guidance and counselling, linkages to possible recruiters and partnerships with potential statutory bodies.
• For the early retirees, OPC will provide counselling on managing their retirement funds as well as adjusting to life after retirement.
• For employees who opt for reskilling, entering a new job or another industry with different requirements, the OPC will help position them for the future.
• The reskilling at CRC will cater to employees who opt for training and reskilling to obtain new skill-sets as CRC will provide them with the necessary infrastructure and support so that they may excel in other careers after MAS.
• Khazanah and MAS have partnered with Scicom (MSC) Bhd and Sutherland Global Services to reskill MAS staff. In addition, the OPC offers guidance and assistance for those who opt for the entrepreneur route.
• The source also said the OPC would assume a crucial role in the restructuring process, not just from the side of the 6,000 staff but also from the aspect of the 14,000 employees moving to the new MAS where there will be assessment of employees who might be moving internally.
• "Both sides of the fence will require support and counselling as they move to a 'different' work place and adjustments will be made within the different environments and requirements," he said.
• Asked how the 6,000 dismissed employees would be identified, the source said the process was being carried out by human resource professionals who are currently looking into the job requirements post-restructuring.
• "Having a third party to do this will eliminate biasness and favouritism, taking into account the proper principles of fairness, transparency and compassion," he added.
• A new concept in Malaysia, the OPC is the first holistic and comprehensive plan to help affected staff transition to new jobs, said the source.
• Funded by Khazanah, it is a first for government-linked companies and will be a role model for others to follow while MAS staff who transition out of the airline will be the first beneficiaries of this programme.