Malaysian Pay Gap Work Slayer Summit conference experience

Going into Malaysian Pay Gap’s Work Slayer Summit, I used to be geared as much as have an extended, exhausting day of labor.

Don’t get me incorrect—all of the talks, panels, and workshops sounded intriguing, certain. However it was a Saturday morning after an extended week, and I used to be there with a purpose to cowl the occasion as a author, not likely to be a “work slayer” myself.

But, greater than 9 hours later, I discovered myself having simply loved probably the greatest conferences (for those who might name it that) ever.

First, who’s Malaysian Pay Gap?

If Malaysian Pay Gap (MPG for brief) isn’t a well-known identify to you, there are at the least 200,000 individuals who can’t say the identical, and that’s a conservative quantity, contemplating their follower rely on simply Instagram is at 239k.

Malaysian Pay Gap went viral shortly after its inception in early 2022, for “exposing” nameless staff’ salaries that have been despatched in consensually. The purpose was to advocate for wage transparency and the break taboo related to speaking about salaries.

Final 12 months, we checked in with Prestine Davekhaw, the creator of MPG, to see how issues have been going for her. On the time, she instructed us about creating a company employee summit in contrast to another.

From what I’ve noticed, occasions for company employees are generally issues like job gala’s and commerce exhibits. Different conferences cater to entrepreneurs and policy-level individuals, and never the on a regular basis employee. Prestine needed to create one thing that everybody might be a part of.

On the time, I questioned what that occasion would seem like. One 12 months later, I discovered my reply within the Work Slayer Summit.

A day of camaraderie and studying

Held at Taylor’s College Lakeside Campus’ Grand Corridor, the primary day of Work Slayer Summit opened registrations at 8AM.

Regardless of the early call-time, there have been already lots of people in attendance (373 individuals, I later learnt).

With how busy the place was, it was arduous discovering a seat after I acquired my latte from Koppiku, one of many homegrown distributors there alongside manufacturers like In The Pink Co. , Amazin’ Graze, and VickedGood Vegan Bakery.

Melissa Lim & Associates had a desk giving out authorized recommendation. Singapore-headquartered on-line job recruitment platform Glints was there, too.

In different conferences I’ve attended, a good quantity of distributors are usually sponsors who could be, no offence, quite boring. However on the Work Slayer Summit, it felt very intentional and curated.

One thing else that was deliberately curated was the lineup of matters of the day, which have been all very related and. They have been:

Company Ladder 101: Tips on how to Climb Ethically?
Job Hopping: Who’s the Actual Loser?
Getting the Most Out of Your Paycheck
By no means too Late: How To Swap Profession?
Labor Lawyer Answering Burning Questions

There have been additionally networking and negotiation workshops and demonstrations, alongside an expert garments swap on the finish.

Now, I’ve attended quite a lot of conferences, many designed for entrepreneurs and determination makers in thoughts. In my experience, at the least one or two of the talks throughout these conferences can come off… self-serving, to say the least.

Nevertheless, on the Work Slayer Summit, a way of real camaraderie was palpable between audio system and company. The learnings have been actual, sensible, and past all, entertaining. Many panellists stayed and talked to curious contributors for some time.

On that word, I imagine the emcees, moderators, and audio system have been very well-selected.

I’ve been to occasions the place some company seem like they don’t need to be on stage in any respect. I’ve seen moderators who don’t seem to know what they’re even speaking about. At Work Slayer Summit, I didn’t see this challenge in any respect. I caught wind that some audio system acquired on calls previous to the occasion to hash out speaking factors.

That is due in no small half to MPG’s efforts. In response to Prestine, MPG rolled out a number of surveys to gather knowledge on what individuals hope to see extra in a conference, in addition to what they hate about most conferences.

It’s clear to me that Work Slayer Summit truly utilized the suggestions.

In the present day’s employees need extra

After the primary discuss, I used to be shortly adopted right into a ragtag group of attendees from numerous industries. Over lunch (that includes vegetarian meals from Pinxin), we exchanged names, office tales, and aspirations. It felt like a assist group of younger professionals discovering our place on the planet.

Past my group of latest associates, an enormous a part of the viewers was younger people too, which was stunning.

There’s an assumption, particularly from the older technology, that Gen Z “kids” don’t need to work. There was the entire quiet quitting motion, and studies exhibiting that this technology of employees are “hard to work with”.  

Whereas that may be true to some, it’s clearly not a label you may placed on all younger professionals. I realised this as I took inventory of all the kids on the summit.

All these individuals have been keen to pay greater than RM200 to attend a profession conference over the weekend (or RM95 for the primary day).

They have been right here, prepared to point out as much as community with business leaders and friends, learn to climb the company ladder, and be extra financially savvy. Some are considering of constructing a profession soar, or need to perceive learn how to negotiate higher pay, all to allow them to discover their dream job.

They have been actively going towards the conception that younger persons are lazy or don’t need to put in an effort.

All this to say, younger professionals aren’t the issue—the system, which MPG is working to dismantle, is. There’s an absence of transparency in immediately’s company world, a way of gatekeeping in the case of profession pathways.

Platforms like MPG are bridging the hole that’s existed between your on a regular basis employee to the abilities and know-how they should develop additional and quicker, offering a roadmap to those that are misplaced within the company maze.

As a substitute of an enemy to employers and executives, MPG is definitely serving to disillusioned employees acquire worth, inspiration, and readability to grow to be the true “work slayers” they’re able to being.

So, on prime of empowering immediately’s staff, MPG is definitely helpful to corporations, too. But, not many see that. Prestine revealed that convincing corporations to come back on board with Work Slayer Summit was tough, as many could not see any worth in MPG.

“Several potential leads were turned down by the time the proposal reached senior management, who are clueless about us,” she instructed us.

However what corporations must know is that, prefer it or not, what MPG is advocating for displays the present calls for and wishes of the younger workforce, and so they can not keep clueless endlessly. They should keep watch over these developments and adapt to the altering instances.

In any case, I can’t wait to see what Malaysian Pay Gap has in retailer for the remainder of 2024. Prestine mentioned some initiatives within the pipeline embrace constructing a secured web site for MPG, increasing into Singapore, and even making a brief documentary.

“[There will be] more industry-focused discourse online and offline, more exchanges across generations and career stages,” she concluded.

Study extra about Malaysian Pay Gap right here.
Learn different articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups right here.