KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — Data snapshots of a soon-to-be-published report by the RE:CARE Project titled Towards a Resilient Care Workforce: Lessons from Covid-19 in Malaysia has flagged critical vulnerabilities within Malaysia’s care ecosystem.
The snapshots point to significant levels of burnout among essential care workers and a concerning intent to leave their current positions within the next five years.
The RE:CARE project is a large-scale, mixed-methods study involving 1,534 quantitative survey respondents, 144 focus group participants, and key informant interviews with 20 policy-adjacent stakeholders across Malaysia.
Drawing on the often-overlooked lived experiences of care workers in the country across several sectors, including health care, childcare, social work, and domestic work, the report exposes the gendered impact of the crisis on Malaysia’s highly feminised care workforce, and recommends equitable and gender-responsive policies to ensure a more resilient care workforce and infrastructure.
The RE:CARE report snapshot paints a concerning picture of a care workforce struggling to recover from the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic. It draws attention to several key issues impacting our care workforce, including:
- Excessive Work Hours: During the pandemic, approximately one in three care workers (30.3 per cent) reported working over 70 hours a week. Post-pandemic, many workers continued to exceed the maximum 45-hour work week prescribed by the Employment Act, alongside juggling significant unpaid care responsibilities.
- Widespread Decline in Well-Being: Three-fourths of care workers surveyed (75.7 per cent) reported a decline in their overall wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Worryingly, two-thirds of those affected (67.2 per cent) have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
- High Levels of Burnout: Over half of all care workers surveyed (56.2 per cent) reported still experiencing moderate to severe levels of burnout post-pandemic.
- Intention to Leave: A staggering one in three Malaysian care workers (34.5 per cent) stated their intention to leave their current position within the next five years, signalling a potential crisis for care infrastructure as we navigate an ageing nation.
The RE:CARE project calls for immediate action to value, support, and invest in the workforce that sustains Malaysian society.
Policymakers must urgently adopt more equitable and gender-responsive policies to address care workforce retention, ensuring the resilience of the care workforce and infrastructure for effective response to future crises.
The full report and policy recommendations will be unveiled at the official launch event scheduled for late November 2025.
