PETALING JAYA – In a bid to fill the massive void following a mass exodus of their foreign workers, Kanna Curry House is now turning to an ingenious tactic that might hopefully woo locals to work for them.
Once they fulfil the minimum working period of six months, they are then entitled for a free iPhone SE. Other benefits include an hourly wage of RM10, and shorter working hours.
In an interview with Malay Mail, Kanna Curry House manager Yoga Kannan said this comes after 50 foreign staff returned to their families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Due to the pandemic, many of these foreign workers found other jobs in their home country while waiting for the travel restrictions to ease and air travel allowed.
“We usually employ a rotation method where if three workers were to leave to their home country in a month, there would be another three that would be hired — but that came to a halt.
“Not just that, the cost to hire foreign workers have skyrocketed as we need to pay for the air fare tickets which have gone up coupled with Covid-19 tests and other documentation fees,” he told the English daily.
Five respondents so far
Yoga said that hiring banners were also placed across Kanna Curry House branches in the Klang Valley where it aims to attract Malaysians aged 18 to 40.
He added that so far, five locals have been hired and received their free iPhone after working for six months.
Earlier, we realised that many Malaysians only worked for a short period of time and left — some for two weeks, others for a month.
“While others who applied were from other states such as Kelantan and Johor — this wasn’t ideal as our branches are all in Klang Valley,” he said.
But things started to look up after they tweaked their strategy by offering them free iPhones and shorter working hours — 9am to 5pm.
At the same time, Yoga said that the restaurant is also opening up part-time positions from 11am to 3pm for 6 days a week.
“The waiter jobs are solely for those who would serve customers as we want to retain our cooks, our South Indian dishes and those who make drinks so that the taste of our food remains the same.”
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Cover image via Malay Mail
