Job Vacancies And Jobs Search In Malaysia : Allyhunt

Basic necessities such as food, electricity and fuel will turn to “luxurious items” soon due to their soaring prices. This subject has now become the hot topic on the lips of most people nowadays. For an average worker that does not enjoy a traveling subsidy from employers, the 40% jump in fuel means less overall net income. So, when an article in Star Biz (dated June 18th 2008) reported that Khazanah Nasional Berhad is defending a proposed salary hike for top officials in government-linked companies, it got my attention immediately. I believe average earners do get ticked off by such reports especially when a lot of us are struggling to make ends meet.

A chart in the article showed one of the directors was drawing RM9.35 million in total remuneration for year 2007. While most of us may not make half of that even if we have to work for our entire lifetime, this figure is now proposed to be increased. The justification was, quoting Khazanah’s Managing Director, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, “We cannot pay too low, we shouldn’t pay too high but we have to pay enough, and we have to pay fairly”.

If you think earning more than RM9 million is a lot, think again. Compare to our counterparts in America and Europe, the disparity in Malaysia has no ground for debate. It was reported that CEOs and CFOs in the U.S. make 400 times what the average worker earns. Apparently, the trend of paying top executives such “obscene” figure started in US. Why are they being paid so much? Obviously for their brains or was it?

Consider this story: KB Home, battered by the subprime lending crisis and the weak housing market. According to the home builder’s proxy statement, CEO Jeffrey Mezger is entitled to a cash bonus based on a percentage of KB’s profit. In 2007, KB Home lost almost $930 million, and its stock lost 60 percent of its value. But Mezger still made $24.4 million, including a $6 million cash bonus. He pocketed that bonus because he exceeded certain objectives the board had set out for him. Among them were improving performance on a customer satisfaction survey and developing senior leadership. (excerpts from the article, CEOs are spared from the economic pain)

CEOs are spared from the economic pain »

I was baffled - shouldn’t improving customer service and developing senior leadership be part and parcel of a CEO routine job and included in his fixed remuneration?

What surprises me more is this: Some of these so called talented and top executives are walking away with million-dollar golden handshakes or severance pay when they failed to meet the business objectives of the company. An average worker that failed in his job will never get such treatment. Doesn’t such disparity tell us something about our human resource policies? What had gone wrong?

One can always argued that as long as people are willing to pay them, even paying to get rid of them, the average worker is absolutely powerless to do anything about it. Bear in mind most of the top executive salaries are set by boards of directors who are spending the shareholders’ money and would be more than glad to overpay their CEO and CFO who may be the one responsible for putting them on the board. So, you got the picture now?

Another observer has this to say and I agree with him - if the top executives happened to be the owner or founder, then our mouths should be well shut. Unfortunately, we have many of those that march into an organization, spending money not of their own, made lousy decisions and then get away with a big fat cheque. Perhaps the shareholders have something to say about this.

Then again, why do top executives attract all this acrimony while celebrities such as footballers, actors, TV personalities and etc get away with earnings insanely more without the responsibility of heading a conglomerate?