The Malaysian Employment Act defines workweeks as 48 hours with a maximum of 8 hours per day and six days a week. Malaysian workers are eligible for full-time employment at the age of 14.
Office hours in Malaysia are 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday, and many businesses and government agencies are also open until noon on Saturdays.
The average monthly salary for Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia is RM900, while in Sabah and Sarawak RM800 is the average monthly salary. Locals can earn between RM2,000 and RM4,000 per month in non-management positions.
Expatriates that are lured in by an expat packages can earn well over RM10,000 with all sorts of extras included. If expats are on a local package, the average is between RM5,000 and RM8,000. Anyone can live very comfortably on a RM5,000 monthly wage contract.
Anyone employed in Malaysia for longer than one month must have a written employment contract. It should include:
An employee should resign by giving notice or resignation, or termination to the employer. If the length of notice is not specified in the contract of service, the notice period is as follows:
Holiday/vacation/time off should be stated in your contract. If not, check with HR and come to a mutual agreement between you and the employer. It may be either paid or unpaid or outside of the normal holiday entitlement.
There is a generous holiday schedule in Malaysia. People may worry about being away from work for such a long time but it might not be as disruptive as it sounds.
Malaysia has one of the highest numbers of public holidays in the world. National holidays are normally observed by most governmental and private organizations. State holidays are observed by certain states in Malaysia or when it is relevant. Some festivals are observed by particular ethnic or religious group, but are not public holidays.
Government agencies are closed every Saturday and Sunday in most of Malaysia, while in Kedah, Kelantan, Johor and Terengganu they are closed every Friday and Saturday.