Burnt out with 52-hour weeks: 1 in 3 Malaysian care workers intend to leave job within 5 years

PETALING JAYA - A staggering one in three Malaysian care workers expressed intentions to leave their current position within the next five years, a report on the state of care workers across industries revealed.

This signalled a potential crisis for the care infrastructure as the country prepares for an ageing nation, the report by research initiative RE:CARE Project titled “Towards a Resilient Care Workforce: Lessons from Covid-19 in Malaysia” said.

The report highlighted the critical issues faced by care workers across industries including healthcare, childcare, social work and domestic work, who were struggling to recover from the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the report, many care workers continue to work more than the maximum 45-hour work week as stipulated under the Employment Act post-­Covid-19 pandemic.

Consequently, one in three care workers among 1,221 Malaysian care workers surveyed shared the intention to leave their current position within the next five years.

“During the pandemic, one in three care workers in Malaysia have worked over 70 hours per week.

“Post-pandemic, the care workers spend an average of 52.6 hours per week on paid care work,” the report said.

It said on top of their paid care work, care workers also have to manage their unpaid care responsibilities.

“For women in households with high care demands, this can require on average up to 40 hours per week,” the report added.

It was also revealed that there is a decline in well-being among the care workers since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020.

“Three-fourths or 75.7 per cent of care workers surveyed reported a decline in their overall wellbeing during the pandemic.

“Worryingly, two-thirds of those affected have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels,” the report said.

There are also high levels of burnout being reported, with over half of all care workers surveyed sharing that they still experience moderate to severe levels of burnout post-pandemic.

In the RE:CARE survey, well-being was measured through four contributing aspects: satisfaction with physical and mental health, job satisfaction, satisfaction with work-life balance, and satisfaction with support for unpaid care work.

“The long hours of the profession, coupled with personal care responsibilities, have a combined impact on wellbeing,” the report noted.

Ir also highlighted the often-overlooked lived experiences of care workers in the country across several sectors.

The report exposes the gendered impact of the crisis on Malaysia’s highly feminised care workforce, and recommends equitable and gender-­responsive policies to ensure a more resilient care workforce and infrastructure.

“We urge policymakers to urgently adopt more equitable and gender-responsive policies to address care workforce retention, ensuring the resilience of the care workforce and infrastructure for effective response to future crises,” it said.

The report was conducted through a mixed-methods study involving 1,534 quantitative survey respondents, 144 focus group participants and key informant interviews with 20 policy-adjacent stakeholders across Malaysia.

Among the care workers that worked with the RE:CARE project included doctors, nurses, hospital cleaners, social workers, institutional care providers for children, the elderly or people with disabilities, as well as migrant workers from Indonesia and the Philippines.

It was also revealed the feminised nature of the workforce as most of the survey respondents were women.

The full report and policy recommendations will be unveiled at the official launch event scheduled for late November. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK