Employment Benefits of Academics in Malaysian Universities

Abstract

Academics employed in either public or private university in Malaysia may be subject to different contract of service and scheme of employment. Due to this variance, academics receive different employment benefits. Such variation can also create differences and imbalance between universities in the context of workloads assigned to academics in both types of universities. Thus, objective of this article is to analyze employment benefits (pecuniary and non-pecuniary) of academics in Malaysian universities and their satisfaction with the employment benefits that they receive. This article employs a mixed method approach i.e. qualitative and quantitative. For quantitative approach, a survey was conducted among academic staffs in Malaysian public and private universities. Qualitative approach by way of interviews were conducted among management of selected universities. The results show that all academic staff in public and private universities in Malaysia received pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits. For public universities these benefits are mostly standardized. However, pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits for academics in private universities are different from public universities and between themselves. The job specification which involves teaching, supervision, research, consultation and administrative works as found in the KPIs of all academics are not similar. It is recommended that to strike a balance between benefits (pecuniary and non-pecuniary) and workloads received by academics, the workloads of academics should be designed to have a particular focus on specification of work such as research and supervision, teaching and administration tracks. Therefore, this article suggests that the relevant authorities consider a new remuneration scheme and benefits based on tracks and yearly staff performance achievement for academics in Malaysia.