Travel4life

Hello All

I'm from the UK and I've had an offer, following 2 interviews, from a company to join them in KL asap for a senior role on a project. It's an international company in the field of engineering but the KL office is more an alliance with a local company it seems (Sdn?) I'm surprised to learn that it's only 15 days of annual leave, a total of 3 weeks.

Is this normal and should I negotiate for more?

I know they have more public holidays in KL. Does anyone know how many?

I do value my time outside of work and want to explore as much as I can in the region aswell as having time to visit family in diff parts of the world incl back in the UK. 3 weeks seems rather less to achieve that.

It's a flat salary with no living or transportation allowance but the salary is still better than what I'm on in the UK, and I know the UK is more expensive to live in. hospital/surgery and medical insurance included, and a one way economy flight from uk to kl.

I know it's not the full on lucrative 120k expat packages that some westerners might get but I don't think I'll get another opportunity or a breakthrough like this.

At the same time, I always try to negoatiate. However, I feel that I won't be getting much more out of them if anything as they've been clear its more a local expat package.

Thoughts/opinions/advice?

eCdD

Not exactly, but it is MUCH more.

quiltman

Here you go. google seems to be working for me today.
https://publicholidays.com.my/

SushiFan

The number of national holidays depend on the state you are in. You could ask the company to provide you with a list of the holidays they recognise/adhere to.
Please make sure that your company will take care of getting you the appropriate visa, before you start working here!

eCdD

Usually the companies give more days on CNY or Hari Raya, not just the official ones.

ex reg

Sounds like a full on local package to me.
You say you like negotiating?
I'd say be careful how you point out any lack of holidays.
Telling a future employer you ...' value my time outside of work and want to explore as much as I can in the region aswell as having time to visit family in diff parts of the world incl back in the UK. 3 weeks seems rather less to achieve that.', might not go down too well.

Just saying, like, as I've had many staff come out from UK thinking they'd have a two year holiday rather than come out to work to further their career. They didn't stay around for long.

No reason not to ask for further details on holidays but know the answers as you seem to want to do before asking and be happy to get an answer you may not like.

OriginalSunshine

Less and less folks on full on packages.... salary might be negotiated but leave days are usually company policy. Policy is rarely negotiated.
My staff acquire leave as they work. They get 1.5 days for every month completed plus public holidays. So takes them about 6 months to get a decent holiday time.
Public holidays are about 15 per year but not all companies give you a work day in lieu if it falls over the weekend.

Travel4life

Thank you lol

What visa would be most appropriate for me? Ive read into MM2H. I did pose the question and he just said a standard working visa. I don't think he was that clued up about it as he is based in the Singapore office himself and isnt fully versed with Malaysia methodologies. However im sure the KL mobilisation staff will sort it out Which visa should i be requesting or hoping for?

Thanks for the response. Ive already indicated and enquired about holidays and theyve said 15 days is the local amount and mentioned that USA only gets 10 lol. Although i thought that wasnt relevant at all. With the same argument, the UK gets 24-25 standard. Local customs i guess, its not a dealbreaker. I didnt dig into it too much. Im prepared to work and put the effort in but there should be a balance. Im keen to explore that region for sure and experience life in a different part of the world, not to just focus on career progression. Im not even sure how many hours im expecting to work or contracted to. I sense that I might be expected to give more than the contracted hours or that may be the local custom.

Its all part of the experience I guess. What were the main reasons for the UK folks leaving? Surely they were on good packages?

ex reg

Custom for locals is to stay at their desk, head down, until the boss has left.

SushiFan

You certainly can not use a MM2H visa as that only allows to reside in Malaysia. MM2H is not a work permit. I am not well-versed in the visa types which allow you to legally be employed in Malaysia.

Travel4life

I thought this only happened in India and other Asian countries. I definitely would not follow this custom, completely disagree with it.

Theres too much of a boss/authoratative culture in some countries workplaces, very different to the UK where people are given more flexibility and responsibility, as long as the work is done and this is probably more condusive to producing better results. Ive also seen through dealing with people in my travels ans international work that this boss culture also restricts people in using independent judgement or their own initiative. We should work collaboratively and collectively work together with our own skillsets to achieve a positive result for clients, and better develop ourselves.

Hovite

You state the offer is from an international company, do you mean a wholy owned Malaysia company that works internationally, or a company from another country which has set up an office in KL?

Travel4life

It's a company started in australia and has now become a group of companies in different locations, whos head office is in singapore. It has an office in Malaysia as a separate company so-to-speak but is owned by the company group, if that makes sense.

Hovite

Yes, makes sense. My experience is that if the staff mainly come from another country, in your case Australia, will bring some of their native work culture. Worth checking out if you know anyone who has worked, or is working there.

OriginalSunshine

and you wonder why Brits don't last long