Kesejahteraan Sosial

01 FAMILY SUPPORT EMPOWERMENT AND WORKPLACE WELL-BEING 11 family-friendly policies and mental health infrastructure to ensure that female employees are supported in both their professional and family roles. 4.3 Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, and Create (ERRC) Framework: A Strategic Management Tool to Analyse Policy The ERRC (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create) framework provides a strategic lens for redesigning work-family integration policies to meet changing societal needs. By systematically eliminating outdated practices, reducing systemic inequalities, raising standards and creating innovative solutions, the ERRC framework ensures a structured yet flexible approach to policy reform. This method is particularly important when addressing the challenges faced by Malaysian families where cultural values, economic considerations and workplace dynamics intersect. 4.3.1 Eliminate 4.3.1.1 Eliminate The 360-Day Cap on Maternity Leave The limit of 360 days maternity leave for Malaysian civil servants for life as stipulated in the Public Service Circular 1/2024 may not be sufficient to meet the diverse and recurring needs of women with multiple pregnancies. It also does not adequately recognise the physical and psychological differences in postnatal recovery depending on the birth experience. Such lifelong limitations are inconsistent with the principles of gender-equitable policy making and may unintentionally discourage women from utilising the full length of leave needed for adequate recovery and early childcare (ILO, 2020). In contrast, countries such as Sweden and Norway adopt a more progressive approach by granting maternity leave per child without imposing a lifetime cap, recognising the different recovery and care requirements of each individual birth (OECD Family Database, 2023). Removing the current cap would not only signal a stronger commitment to maternal health and family well- being but would also contribute to greater labour force retention and gender equity in public services.