Although of potentially great value for supporting employees in balancing health and performance, our current understanding of how individuals make decisions to attend or not to attend work when they are experiencing ill-health is non-existent. We have a comprehensive understanding of the range of factors that may impact on presenteeism behavior, but that stops short at the decision-making process that takes place before presenteeism is enacted. In this chapter, we propose a model of presenteeism decision-making, which encapsulates both absenteeism and presenteeism as potential outcomes of the same decision process. Building on the literatures relating to decision-making, sickness presenteeism, health behavior, and organizational behavior, we outline the key decision-making principles and steps that can shape presenteeism decisions and thus presenteeism behavior. This model offers the basis for understanding what interventions may be appropriate to help optimize attendance decisions, support functional presenteeism, and more effectively support employee health and productivity.

The modern history of research on employee health and well-being is traced from its origins in the UK during World War I, focused on employee fatigue, through the beginning of occupational stress research in Scandinavia in the 1960s, to the advent of occupational health psychology globally at the end of the twentieth century. Major milestones in both Europe and North America are discussed, including development of sociotechnical systems theory, contributions by the Institute for Social Research, the Demand-Control Model, the Job Demand-Resource Theory, and research on a variety of organizational climates that support health and safety. Advice is provided to practitioners about best practices for building healthy organizations that maximize both efficiency and health, including building a general safety climate, hiring the right people, developing employees, and providing effective leadership.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in its third year, the topic of this book cannot be more relevant. Before the onset of the pandemic, the strains experienced by managers and employees had been rising for years. Various factors can account for this rise, such as the intensifying pace of work, growing job insecurity in the gig economy, increasing globalization, information technology’s steady invasion of all aspects of life, and heightened incompatibilities between individuals’ work and personal lives. The pandemic has made things dramatically worse for many.

This chapter presents an overview of the current knowledge about burnout, a state of work-related mental exhaustion. It starts with the history and societal background of the phenomenon and discusses the concept and various definitions. Next, the assessment of burnout using questionnaires and clinical interviews is reviewed and an overview of its prevalence is presented. Potential antecedents (i.e., job demand and lack of job resources), consequences (i.e., physical and mental health, and organizational outcomes) and correlates (i.e., gender, personality factors) are discussed as well. Various descriptive models, such as the Job-Demands Resources model and the Six Areas of Working Life approach, are treated, as well as explanatory models that refer to lack of reciprocity and emotional contagion. Next, the effectiveness of individual and organizational interventions to prevent and reduce burnout is evaluated. The chapter closes with an outlook that includes future research challenges and emphasizes the importance of distinguishing mild burnout symptoms that refer to unwell-being from severe symptoms that are indicative for a burnout disorder.

OLD PROBLEM, NEW URGENCY

The spotlight has fallen on the persistent problem of forced labour in Malaysia lately, due to both infringements and policy responses. Forced labour encompasses harsh exploitation and abuse, but also less overt forms of coercion such as retention of passports, squalid living quarters and debt bondage, some of which have seemingly become endemic to the country. The intertwined phenomena of labour outsourcing and undocumented status have exacerbated worker vulnerability to forced labour conditions. Recent high-profile cases, especially involving import bans on rubber glove manufacturers and palm oil producers, and the country’s downgrade in the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report from three years in a row on Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 3 in 2021 and 2022 (US Department of 2021a; US Department of State 2022).

The past year also witnessed formal institutional landmarks in the fight against forced labour and the concurrent problem of human trafficking. In June 2021, Malaysia renewed its national action plan on trafficking in persons for a third five-year term (NAPTIP 3.0). On 26 November 2021, the National Action Plan on Forced Labour (NAPFL) was launched, which set the ultimate goal of eradicating the problem within a decade. This objective, oriented around justice and basic rights, fits within Malaysia’s professed adherence to decent work standards and its broader ambition of reducing reliance on labour-intensive, low-wage production, and fostering quality high-wage jobs.

Why does forced labour persist, and can Malaysia put an end to it by the target date of 2030? This article proceeds by surveying migrant flows and key features, followed by a brief overview of relevant laws and policies. We consider major structural and operational problems that have perpetuated forced labour, and Malaysia’s efforts to combat forced labour that were initiated prior to the pandemic. We then examine salient cases since 2020 that have dented Malaysia’s reputation and underscored the importance of a robust and credible response. The NAPFL’s scope and ambition may concur with the magnitude and complexity of the problem, but Malaysia must apply a more systemic approach and focus on effective and transparent implementation to deliver on the promise of eradicating forced labour.

• • Forced labour, encompassing various types of coercive practices and rights violations, is an entrenched problem in Malaysia. Recent years have seen more decisive and concerted efforts to resolve the problem and repair Malaysia’s damaged reputation, but the country’s forced labour woes escalated amid COVID-19, with exposés and trade embargoes in 2020–21.

• • Most consequentially, the US has imposed withhold release orders (WROs) on major rubber glove manufacturers and palm oil producers. For two consecutive years, 2021–22, Malaysia has occupied the lowest Tier 3 in the US Trafficking in Persons report. In November 2021, the country’s National Action Plan on Forced Labour (NAPFL), formulated through tripartite engagements with the participation of the International Labour Organization, was launched, with the third National Action Plan on Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP 3.0) operating in tandem.

• • The NAPFL outlines strategies and integrated measures for eventually eliminating forced labour by 2030, which requires systemic solutions commensurate with the magnitude of underlying problems. Forced labour has persisted despite the official termination of labour outsourcing and increased intergovernmental bilateral initiatives to better manage foreign worker flows.

• • Continual challenges in the labour supply industry and the administrative system, including the problematic overlapping powers of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Human Resources, complicate the creation and implementation of a more just, effective and accountable migrant worker system.

• • Government-to-government (G2) agreements, through Memorandum of Understanding, have become the established platform, but are marred by inconsistency and lack of transparency.

• • The new government of Malaysia will need to address deep-seated issues and confront vested interests, domestically and in the labour source countries, to realize the aspiration of eliminating forced labour by 2030.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

Yet to Recieve

Yet to Recieve

Yet to Recieve