Top Glove workers wait in line outside the staff dormitories in Klang before being transported to the Sungai Buloh and Kuala Lumpur General Hospital November 24, 2020. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25: Top Glove Corporation Bhd has assured all stakeholders that it views the safety and wellbeing of all employees as paramount in its ongoing expansion plans.

As the employer of choice for some 21,000 employees, Top Glove said it understood it owed its success to its workforce’s commitment and effort, in response to Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s comments recently.

Ismail Sabri on January 22 said while the government appreciated the glove maker’s initiative to hire 9,000 Malaysians in 2021, it also wanted the company to emphasise the safety and wellbeing of its employees.

“We thank the honourable minister, Ismail Sabri for his words of encouragement, and wish to assure him and all our internal and external stakeholders that Top Glove does view the safety and wellbeing of our workforce as of utmost importance,” it said in a statement today.

Towards this, the company is organising a virtual career fair every third Saturday of the month throughout 2021, with the first on January 23. The next fair is taking place on February 20.

The virtual career fairs are expected to fill positions across all levels from executive to non-executive roles in its offices and factories in various states in Malaysia.

This comprises 4,000 positions for local workers; 2,300 positions for university and tech vocational fresh graduates; 2,000 interns and trainees; and 700 experienced Malaysian staff with tertiary qualifications.

“The company saw overwhelming response to its first fair for 2021, which were largely from university graduates, technical and vocational education and training graduates and local workers,” it said.

Top Glove currently has seven research and development centres in Malaysia employing about 1,000 researchers, mainly engineers, chemists and scientists, comprising PhD holders (over 40), Master degree holders (over 100) and bachelor degree holders (over 700).

Over the past three years, Top Glove has been embarking on increased automation towards increasing efficiency in terms of production, quality and cost, minimising human error and reducing dependency on manual labour.

“Our initiatives in this area have intensified with the ongoing pandemic and international borders still closed. The company is also filling the employment gaps from the Malaysian talent pool,” it said.

Last year, the company hired a total of 6,599 Malaysians, including 1,654 interns.

“This year, various factors play a part in our target number of new hires. With the global demand of gloves expected to grow between 15 per cent and 25 per cent annually over the next two to three years, on the back of higher usage and increased healthcare awareness, Top Glove likewise will be expanding to do our part to meet this greater demand,” it said.

Top Glove has invested RM2 billion last year and is planning to invest a further RM10 billion for the next five years (2021-2025) in capital expenditure.

This investment will increase its production capacity from the current nearly 100 billion pieces of glove per year to 200 billion pieces per year by 2025. — Bernama