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STORY
T
he
Human Resources
Development Act, 1992
which was enforced in
January 1993 led to the
establishment of the Hu-
man Resources Develop-
ment Fund (HRDF) and
administered by the Human Resources
Development Council (HRDC). In line
with the corporatisation exercise vide the
Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad
Act, 2001, the HRDC is now known as
Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad
(PSMB).
“That was when the government of
Malaysia established HRDF as away to en-
force and encourage companies to invest
on training. Implementation was gradual,
as we started with the manufacturing
segment before moving on to the services
sector. We have since included the mining
sector with a recent amendment to the Act.
“We approved more than 700,000
training places on average every year. It
is referred to as training places as a single
employee can actually attend more than
one training programme,” explained
Vignaesvaran.
HRDF does not conduct its own train-
ing but provides the funding for it and
each company is allowed to choose their
relevant training providers.
In understandingmore about the role of HRDF,
FireFlyz
talks to theChief Executive
of HRDF, CMVignaesvaran.
HRDF: For Training Purposes
The Honourable YAB Prime Minister
in the 2015 Budget, declared an allocation
of RM300 million for the implementation
of 1MalaysiaGRIP Programme to up-skill
and re-skill 30,000 employees. A total
of RM150 million will be raised through
the 30% allocation from the HRDF levy
towards the 1Malaysia GRIP programme.
1Malaysia GRIP is an initiative that
provides opportunities for employees to
increase their skills in specific fields and
become experts that would enhance their
career development and earn higher in-
come. They will have access to specialised
high-level training programmes that cover
skills required for knowledge intensive
sectors, high-tech and high value-added
products and activities. Employees will
not need their company’s approval to
gain access to these training programmes.
More than 16,000 companies pay
their levy and have daily interactions
with HRDF. “HRD levy is a contribution
by the registered employers of 1% basic
salary+fixed allowances (if any) of each
Malaysian employee. We give individual
accounts to the companies for them to
use the levy, being the only country
in the world to provide such a benefit.
Eversince the setup of HRDF, the account
has been made unique to employer,”
added Vignaesvaran.
HRDF aspires to have more involve-
ment in policy making matters by be-
ing the voice of the industry as it is an
agency which has direct contact across
all industries. With this in mind, HRDF
Conference & Exhibition is being organised
annually across the nation to provide the
opportunity for various groups of people
to get together, mingle and share ideas,
besides keeping abreast with the latest
development within the human resources
space at large.
The award ceremony on the other hand
is in appreciation of companies that have
spent at least 80% of their levies and also
to further motivate them to be innovative
in their human resources and training
programmes.The award categories in-
clude, Human Resource Minister Award,
Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad
Award, PSMB Innovation & Creativity
Award and Pearl Award.
HRDF has introduced various training
schemes to facilitate the training process,
one of the most notable one being the
Skim Bantuan Latihan (SBL), in which
80% of the programmes applied are
through SBL.
The HRD levy contributed by registered
employers is not just limited to payment
for training, but can also be utilised for
non-training purposes like setting up in-
house training rooms and buying training
facilities for their staff.
When asked about the celebration of
Labour Day 2015 in Kuching, Sarawak
this year, Vignaesvaran said that HRDF
will be supporting the ministry’s initiative
to have the first ever joint Labour Day
celebration by public and private sector.
“Our Prime Minister will be there to
officiate the ceremony, with the tagline
“Healthy Workers , Higher Productivity”
(Pekerja Sihat, Produk-
tiviti Meningkat)
, which
will hopefully take us
closer to the ideal goal
of a healthy workforce,”
he said earnestly with
a smile.
CMVignaesvaran ...
Chief Executive of HRDF