Last year in a simple but significant ceremony at work, I was awarded the Long Service Award after reaching my 10th year at the company. Starting out in January 2013, I never thought I would be at the same company for 10 years straight but here I am. The longest I’ve been at any single company was 5 years previously.
Needless to say, the were some ups and downs all through the years. I’ve learn tons, made many new good friends, visited some nice places during the many company trips and received some handsome bonuses along the way. At least in the first 3 to 4 years or so. During Covid and the lockdown era, understandably the company had to cut cost since new intakes were dwindling and some families had to leave the school for obvious reasons. That went on for 3 years I think.
Last year till present time, few would argue that the economy had improved tremendously for the country and for everyone. The intakes were rising and you can see much improvement at the school. They even completed a multi-million ringgit new building in campus. Good times are rolling, right?
Well, not so much for me and my mates. All of a sudden, our certificate and responsibility allowances were taken back. Reason given - none of the other departments were getting them. When you suddenly pull back something as big as that, you know people’s livelihood is going to be affected. Moreso those with families and large commitments like me. 550 ringgit may not sound much to some but it is a lot for me and even after the little (fixed) increment that they give us, it is still not enough.
When I tell people how long I’ve been at this company, they often remark in amazement, wow that’s long. I always say when a company treats me right, I have no reason to leave. The right treatment in my opinion would be a generous bonus or increment that’s tied to your annual performance. The company dinners and trip were nice and I can complaint but the bread and butter is still our salary, increament and bonuses. These past few years, especially since Covid, our bonus were fixed to one month and our increament were at a fixed nominal rate that’s not tied to any performance review. Basically, we’re at the mercy of the management. While they drive around with their new flashy cars, I struggle to pay my housing loan this month.
This month when I received my wages, I was nearly 300 ringgit poorer than last month. When I expressed my disappointment to my superiors, they advised me to get CPD certificate so that they can resume my certificate allowance afterwards. The thing. is, I already have my Apple certificate which would only expire in May next year but they argued that they should be valid for at least the full academic year. What could I do? Study hard to pass that difficult exam and get some of my allowance back, which together with my tiny increament are still less that what I got last month? Or find another job altogether that could offer more?
Guess which one I choose?
A coup de grace is an idiom which means “a decisive, final or overwhelming action or argument”. The straw that broke the camel’s back. To me, it was revoking our allowances. The sad thing was, I actually liked working at this company. It was close to home and I can go back early daily to pick up my kids from school. I would loathe to begin hunting for new jobs, going through all the interviews again to start over again completely at a new place. I seriously thought I could retire at this company. I guess that won’t be the case. This company doesn’t care enough about its workers, especially the long time servants. Nobody is irreplaceable and hiring new cheaper staff would be even better for their balance books. Sure it would save the company a few hundred ringgits here and there but in the long run? What about the cost and energy required to train new staff? Well that’s not exactly their problems isn’t it? It’s for the middle managers to deal with.
