Starting Block

One unforgettable bittersweet incident happened when the 1st batch of our staff reported duty for their job at Balloki Power Plant, Punjab, Pakistan.

We sprinted immediately from the starting block after arriving in Pakistan on 9th May 2017. We interviewed hundred of candidates and carefully selected the best. I was excited when the 1st batch of our staff reported duty in mid June 2017.

Upon arriving at site, they were given short introductory briefing and safety briefing. I finally had a chance to talk with them once the HR procedures were completed.

I wanted them to feel comfortable as they were reporting duty to a construction site. The power plant erection project was still ongoing. It’s June and the summer is at is peak and the site was hot and dusty.

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We had earlier rented and furnished a house nearby for their accommodation.

During the chit chat, one of my staff asked me about shirt ironing arrangement. I was perplexed with his inquiry as we had already stretched our effort and logistics to establish a conducive accommodation, transport and also food arrangements. In Malaysia, it is not common for employer to provide employees with furnished accommodation, food and transportation facilities, at least not in the power industry.

As I personally was still adapting to the culture, I just acknowledged his concern and told him that I will see what i can do about this later.

The next day, we had planned for their training. The trainer arrived on time meanwhile my staff was no where to be seen. As they have just reported duty, I didn’t got the chance to get their handphone numbers yet. So I just waited for them to turn up to inquire for their delay.
The whole team turned up almost an hour late and this was just their 2nd day at work.

I asked one of them and it happens to be the same guy who yesterday inquired about the ironing facility. He was quick to justify for their delay. “Sir, we were not late, it is just that as company didn’t provide the facility for ironing our shirt, we had to iron out own shirt thus it took us additional time to get our shirt ironed and get ready.”

I was again left scratching my head. Is the ironing facility considered a fundamental rights of employees that we had missed providing that they had taken the office hours to compensate for it.

So there was me standing speechless against my Pakistani staff and this was the beginning of many more bittersweet memories.

#pakistan #expatriate #culture #powerplant #9HA