Prepared by: Dr. Amalina Ibrahim, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik & Dr. Ana Haziqah A.Rashid
School of Human Resource Development and Psychology (SHARPS), Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UTM.
Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has organized the 2nd World Conference on Gender Studies (2nd WCGS). This conference was held on 6th October 2021 in Zoom platform. The participants of this conference came from various background of study and countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Chair of School of Human Resource development and Psychology (SHARPS), Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSH) UTM, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik Abdul Rahman was invited as Keynote Speaker in this conference.
As a keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik has shared her knowledge and expertise on the topic of ‘Work-life Balance in a Working from Home Environment during Pandemic Covid-19: Challenges and Future Direction’. She also gave a scenario how the pandemic Covid-19 has affected the implementation of working from home. On top of that, she also shared the statistic of employee struggling to find work-life balance working from home (63%). Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah Panatik in her keynote speak has explained that working from home is a challenge for about two third of Malaysian employee, where homes are unequipped to get work done (62%), and more over half of employees feel lonely and isolated while working from home (57%).
Besides that, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik also shared some tips and solutions on how employers can support work-life balance integration among their employees. For example, to understand exactly what the employees need to foster ideal work and life environment, as well as offer remote work collaboration tools to help employee engaged and productive, moreover, childcare and flexible telecommuting arrangements. Finally, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik wrapped up her keynote speaker by explaining future research agenda in promoting work-life balance in organization and among employees.
Towards the end, there were questions and answer sessions between the viewers and the speakers. Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik also responded to the questions r based on her expertise and experience. She suggested the government and organizations need to revise the policy especially to women professional, in order to provide equality between male and female, as well as integrated work-life balance and flexibility for women professional. Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik mentioned trust issues and mutual understanding are crucial between employers and employees. As an invited keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah bt Panatik hoped that her sharing session was beneficial to the audience.
