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IT GETS lonely sometimes for Chen Wen Tsong – the nights are especially hard. A carpenter for an interior outfit solutions company based in Dubai for the last two years, Chen feels a more acute yearning for his wife and children as the day draws to a close and he waits for sleep to Home Care Services take over.

Back in Malaysia, his family counts the days to his trips home twice a year.

Chen is among the 1,000 Malaysians or more currently working in Dubai for LCL Interiors LLC, an associate company under the umbrella of LCL Corporation Berhad, a home-grown company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange main board.

Being surrounded by so many Malaysians does make working and living in a strange land easier to cope with but Chen admits that there’s nothing like family.

“Friends, I have many; family, none,” he said wistfully during a phone interview. “But working with so many Malaysians makes the job easier because we communicate better and therefore, work faster.”

The idea of working abroad has always fascinated him, so when the opportunity to work abroad came up, Chen jumped at the chance – despite not having his family by his side.

“Malaysia will always be home. I accepted the secondment to Dubai because I wanted the exposure while I’m still young,” said Chen, 36.

While the prospects of international exposure, better remuneration and the sheer experience of Home Care Services working away from home is a great lure for many to leave their families to work in a foreign land, it does not erase the gnawing ache they feel from missing home and loved ones.

Which is why LCL Corporation Berhad goes all out to help their 1,063 Malaysian employees cope with being far from home.

Aside from return tickets back home twice a year and the long yearly down time (21 days leave for the first year and subsequently 30 days per annum), the company offers various schemes that make working in Dubai attractive and, they hope, worthwhile for the employee.

One of the main issues to tackle is the feeling of homesickness.

“We can’t just say, ‘Oh, don’t be homesick.’ From the surveys we’ve conducted in our first two years in Dubai, we realise that in order to Home Care Services encourage our employees to stay, we have to build a home together with them,” said LCL Corporation Berhad group managing director, Low Chin Meng.

In the case of design manager Dhanabalan Chandrasekhaven, he decided to heed the career call and move to Dubai with his wife, who now works with him in the same company.

“It’s more challenging here with the latest designs and there is a lot I can learn from Dubai because it is a current market. And of course, there is international exposure,” said Dhanabalan, 32, who has been working there for over a year.

The initial six months of his employment, however, was spent alone while arrangements were made for his wife to join him.

While he acknowledged that the perks were good, being surrounded by his Malaysian colleagues in those first few months made the period more bearable.

“There is a family tie among us because we are all from the same cultural background. Yes, there was still that slight homesickness but it didn’t feel like I was really away from home because we had a sense of belonging,” he explained.

The employment of a large Malaysian workforce – aside from the ostensible lack of local workers – was in itself a strategic move in making life better for the employees, while increasing productivity.

“There are about one million locals compared to an expatriate community of about four to five million, and the Home Care Services latter are usually already contracted to other employers,” said Low.

“Our core team four years ago consisted of mostly Malaysians. We decided to keep to that because Malaysians are better skilled and because of similar cultural backgrounds, there is better camaraderie and understanding both among the workers, and between employer and employee,” Low explained, adding that employing a Malaysian costs about RM350 per day, compared to employing a Thai, Indonesian or Chinese national which would cost half the amount.

Senior staff members are offered various packages, one of which includes bringing their immediate family members over. The company takes care of matters pertaining to their visa, accommodation, medication and education costs (for the children).

The skilled workers are housed together in respectable quarters equipped with air-conditioning and full amenities, while the senior staff members live in furnished apartments.

But the little things matter too, when it comes to instilling a Malaysian spirit and creating a home-like atmosphere among the workers.

For instance, there are two Malaysian chefs who prepare a variety of meals to cater to the Malaysian palate for both the Home Care Services skilled workers (all meals are brought to them on site or their living quarters) and staff (lunch only, at a token fee of only 4 dirham or RM3.45 since they live in apartments and have the option to cook).

“The workers need their local food, too. It’s bad enough that they are so far from home. Giving them something familiar helps make them feel less homesick,” said LCL Interiors LLC chief operating officer and co-founder Abdul Hakim Asmaun.

LCL Interiors LLC started in 2004 with a core team of only three employees tasked to survey the UAE market. The staff force grew to 15 and, by 2006, the company had secured projects in UAE worth more than RM100mil, requiring a larger workforce.

The company allocates allowances for regular meetings among workers, besides staff dinners and motivation sessions held to keep morale high. Malaysian festivals are celebrated complete with food and fanfare (picture a lion dance during Chinese New Year in the middle of the Gulf!) so that employees don’t miss out on celebrations back home.

“My house is usually the Home Care Services gathering place,” chuckled Abdul Hakim, “and occasionally, the employees themselves request the gatherings.”

“Sometimes festivals are celebrated here at an even larger scale than back home,” acknowledged Dhanabalan, adding that there is also a sports club that organises activities for employees.

“The company does more for us than the Malaysian embassy. It drives home the company motto of working as a team,” he added.

It looks like the formula employed by the company has been successful.

“Staff turnover is very low, even below our expectations, at about 5%,” said Low.

However, he believes there is room for improvement. For instance, the company hopes to register a proper Sports & Welfare Club in order to bring together not just Malaysians working under the LCL banner, but also Malaysians from other companies based in Dubai.

“As a private company, we are in a better position to do this,” he said.

“Being away for three weeks every month, I understand what the employees go through. It must be worse for them who are away from home for much longer periods of Home Care Services time. Ultimately, we want to build a home with them, to send them a message that we share our joys and sufferings together as a team,” concluded Low.

Tags: anc, chinese new year, colleagues, Community, company, embers, Home Care Services, includes, interiors, lt, Project, stock

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