Employee Welfare A Company Priority
MALAYSIA – 5 February 2021 – The Joinland Group, a diversified Malaysian conglomerate of varied business interests, led by Dato’ Sri Thomas Hah Tiing Siu, has been adjusting its strategies as the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, putting a major focus on maintaining growth, employment and protecting the health of its employees.
COVID-19 did pose many difficulties for the business, particularly in relation to the company’s swiftlet farming operations in Sarawak. Interstate travel restrictions reduced the company’s oversight capability and limited opportunities for onsite training which are important contributors to productivity. Alongside this, the general reduction in tourism led to a sharp decline in the price of edible bird nests and this also impacted revenues.
While the COVID-19 pandemic did impact Joinland negatively in 2020, the company has made a special effort to protect the jobs of its employees by diversifying into new areas of activity to maintain the growth of the company. This has included the development of new sustainable agricultural projects which will be coming on stream in 2021 and which offer a lot of exciting potential for future growth and job opportunities for locals in Sarawak.
As a result of these adaptions, Joinland has been able to maintain its workforce with no retrenchments or pay cuts throughout the pandemic period. In addition, to working hard to protect and even grow employment throughout its many businesses, the company has also done its bit to protect its workers from the illness.
Steps taken include the provision of plentiful supplies of PPE, the enforcement of social distancing in the workplace, regular sanitisations of facilities, routine staff health checks and the ongoing education of employees to ensure they are constantly informed and reminded of best practices to keep everyone safe and reduce risk to the minimum.
As a result of these activities, Joinland is pleased to report that, to the best of its knowledge, none of its employees in Malaysia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong or Papua New Guinea have tested positive for the virus so far, although the company does not intend to let its guard down and continues to enhance its safety protocols.
Dato’ Sri Thomas Hah Tiing Siu, the founder of Joinland, said, “We are committed to the welfare of our employees and they are a key factor in every decision we make. We are delighted that we have been able to avoid any staff retrenchments despite the upheavals caused by COVID and are thankful that so far, none of our staff have been directly impacted by COVID from a health perspective.”
“We sincerely hope that we can maintain those trends in 2021. Economically, we do not expect things to return to relative normality within one, two or even three years and as such are planning ahead, diversifying the company still further and identifying sustainable new revenue streams that will allow us to thrive despite the pandemic situation.”
Apart from its new agricultural project, the Joinland Group, which is headquartered in Miri, Sarawak, is already involved in many different businesses including a major agro-forestry project on the island of New Hanover in Papua New Guinea, swiftlet farming in Sarawak, real-estate management (including developments in Malaysia, Singapore and China) and substantial investments in seven other businesses in Malaysia, Singapore, China and New Zealand.
About Joinland Group
The Joinland Group is a diversified Malaysian conglomerate including property, plantation, forestry and agricultural management, insurance and shipping businesses, to name a few. The company operates businesses and investments in many markets including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, Papua New Guinea, China and New Zealand, among others.
The company was founded by Dato’ Sri Thomas Hah Tiing Siu, a self-made entrepreneur who started out in the cold storage business. In 2013 he was awarded the honorary title of Dato’ Sri by the Sultan of Pahang (Malaysia) in recognition of his management skills and business acumen in building the Joinland Group.
