- 5 months ago
Can Malaysia’s SMEs Lead the Talent Retention Revolution?
While over 500,000 skilled Malaysians have left the country in 2024, one local SME—Central Force, led by CEO, See Toh Wai Yu
has achieved a 96.7% staff retention rate, proving that inclusive, trust-driven workplaces can outperform even MNCs.
With the upcoming 13th Malaysia Plan (2026–2030) promising a sharper focus on human capital, inclusive growth, and SME resilience, this NIAGA SPOTLIGHT episode asks a critical question:
Can culture-first SMEs help solve Malaysia’s brain drain before policy does?
While over 500,000 skilled Malaysians have left the country in 2024, one local SME—Central Force, led by CEO, See Toh Wai Yu
has achieved a 96.7% staff retention rate, proving that inclusive, trust-driven workplaces can outperform even MNCs.
With the upcoming 13th Malaysia Plan (2026–2030) promising a sharper focus on human capital, inclusive growth, and SME resilience, this NIAGA SPOTLIGHT episode asks a critical question:
Can culture-first SMEs help solve Malaysia’s brain drain before policy does?
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Nyaga Spotlight with me, Tamina Kautji.
00:08Nyaga Spotlight takes us through the week in economic analysis and future affairs.
00:12Now this week on analysis, we spotlight the topic of talent retention by design and some lessons from SMEs.
00:19Now Malaysia's brain drain and talent flow resulted in a staggering 5.5% loss that is estimated of our total workforce in 2024.
00:27This exceeds 500,000 highly skilled workers, with most citing poor career pathways and rigid workplaces, according to World Bank data.
00:37Now women aged 30 to 45 are the fastest growing demographic in Malaysia's outbound migration due to, as cited, lack of flexible work policies by Kazana Research Institute in 2025.
00:50Now indeed, Malaysia's rough 5.5% loss of its workforce is also nearly double the estimated global average of 2.9%.
00:59Yet, one homegrown SME has done the opposite.
01:03Now this is crucial as SMEs make up close to 97.4% of businesses in Malaysia, according to SME Corps in 2024.
01:11Central Force International, a local SME and services provider, posted a staggering 96.7% staff retention rate in comparison to other SMEs which struggle with turnover rates as high as 60 to 90%.
01:26Their strategy, not higher pay, but radical empathy and culture-first policies, digitized onboarding, true work-life integration and leadership that leads with trust.
01:37Now also at the Life at Work Awards 2024, Central Force International swept both Best SME and Women in Workforce Awards for transparent hiring, parental support and real gender mobility.
01:49Indeed, Deloitte notes that companies with inclusive practices are 2.6 times more likely to retain staff beyond five years.
01:56So while policy debates continue to focus on tax incentives and upskilling, at this SME proves retention is often about dignity, not just bigger paychecks.
02:07Could Malaysia's brain drain solutions begin at the bottom of the corporate ladder, not the top?
02:12Well, the younger spotlight today features Sito Huayu, CEO of Central Force International, about the importance of talent retention for sustained economic growth and national development.
02:23Huayu, welcome to the studios. How are you doing today?
02:25Thank you so much, Tamina. I'm really glad to be here today.
02:28Fantastic. So I want to get started by really digging deep into the fact that quite often, right,
02:33WYU, Malaysia's talent pipeline is obviously leaking at the source.
02:38And SMEs are really still viewed as stepping stones when it comes to people's career trajectory.
02:44So how do we actually flip that mindset? Tell me more.
02:49I think you are exactly right.
02:51A lot of people, a lot of employees feels that SMEs is a great place to start off their careers, sort of learn the ropes and know what to do so that when they move on to the next role,
03:01they sort of get a better job, better pay and things like that, right?
03:05And I think for a lot of SMEs like us, that has been our fear for the longest time.
03:10Right.
03:11We always have that thinking that, oh, we're going to spend so much money on training, on development, upskilling, and just for someone larger than us to sort of pick them up and finish them away.
03:22Once we have spent all of that money in training them.
03:24Yeah, exactly.
03:26So, but what we find different, what we notice was that if you just spend money on training and upskilling alone, they will eventually leave, right?
03:36Because they know that they now have a better skill set, they can demand for higher pay, they can move on to a better position.
03:42So it's not just training and upskilling, but you also have to show that you care for them and you have a place for them to develop their career paths further.
03:51So show them that there is a future working in the SME and there is just so much more to learn and that this is a place for you to sort of harness and nurture yourself to grow further.
04:02So that's what we do at Central Force.
04:04In essence, we have three main pillars that guide our company's growth.
04:10So we have the pillar of care and in care, we say we care for our employees and we care for the people beside us.
04:17Right.
04:17So always making sure that we are looking after one another and we know that if they need something, we are there to be there for them.
04:24Exactly.
04:25And I think it's so interesting that you've already, first off, mentioned care.
04:30Now, care is something that I think we'll dig a lot deeper into since it's become a really critical part of many conversations, many policy debates, looking at the care economy, looking at valuing it.
04:41But you're saying that this is something that came into your company's mindset and culture actually once you came into the leadership role.
04:49Right. So that's fantastic.
04:50And I think it's also pointing to a fact that quite often the tendency to see SMEs as stepping stones for employment, perhaps it's also reflected by employer mindset and culture.
05:04Right.
05:04Yeah, absolutely.
05:05I mean, end of the day, employees look up to leadership for them to give them a sense of direction, a sense of purpose.
05:12And if the employer doesn't change their mindset and they don't see themselves and their employees as sort of equals.
05:19Right.
05:19And that's how I work with my employees.
05:22I know that they are probably experts in what they do.
05:25I definitely admit that I cannot do the operator's work as well as they can.
05:29Right.
05:30Right.
05:30Because they have done this job day in and day out for so many years.
05:33Right.
05:33And they have harnessed this skill set so much so that they are experts at what they do.
05:37And so I depend on them for their expertise.
05:40Right.
05:40I need them to tell me what's going on in your field of work.
05:43Right.
05:43What do you need to be supported?
05:45And my role is to support you.
05:47Right.
05:48Exactly.
05:48Let me help you do your job better.
05:50And it's with that mindset that we sort of build this harmonious relationship together.
05:55So I think what you're doing is most definitely working.
05:59Because while surveys show that over 70% of those who work in the SME sector are looking to move into MNCs because of perceived, you know, better pay, working conditions, etc.
06:11But however, you're close to 97% retention rate.
06:15It defies national trends.
06:17Tell me more about what specific policies actually made that difference for your employees.
06:23And was anything there that you uncovered which surprised you about what employees today in 2025 or at least post-pandemic since the 2022, 23 onwards, what they value today?
06:38Sure.
06:40I would say the essence of it all is to listen.
06:43Right.
06:44And it's what we do best, right?
06:45I mean, our main line of work is market research.
06:47So our job is to listen to people's opinions.
06:50So why aren't we also listening to our team?
06:53Right.
06:54So we run...
06:54Have a point.
06:56So we run employee satisfaction surveys.
06:58Right.
06:59And we do this with our team twice a year.
07:01And we just tell them that we want to know what's going on.
07:04Right.
07:04We want to be able to help you do your work better and let us know what can we do on our part to support you.
07:11And you ask for what's surprising, right?
07:13Like, honestly, the surprising thing that came up, yeah, there were requests for higher pay.
07:18There were requests for more benefits.
07:20Sure.
07:20But the one overarching theme that came up was communication.
07:25Right.
07:26They really valued being listened to.
07:28The two-way communication.
07:29Yes, right.
07:30So they enjoyed having management and leadership come down to the floor, speak to them as humans and sort of understand what they want from us as well.
07:38So communication as a forefront in our policy has been a key thing.
07:44Employee satisfaction surveys.
07:45We do something called a pulse survey as well, where we sort of act a little bit like spy operatives, where we just go around the field and we just ask, we just get random people to check in.
07:55How are you feeling today?
07:57Right.
07:57How's your family?
07:58Is everything all right?
07:59You know, do you feel stressed?
08:00It's like secret shopper, but secret workplace well.
08:03Exactly, yes.
08:04Okay, all right, all right.
08:05And from there, we sort of get a sense of, is there burnout happening, right?
08:09Or are there any other familiar, I mean, family issues that's going on?
08:12Or it could be just help.
08:14Person to person, right?
08:14Person to person, yeah.
08:16So we found out that one of our employees was struggling with some pain, some back pain.
08:21And after hearing about that, we were like, just, do you want to go see a Cairo?
08:24Let us sponsor you to see a Cairo.
08:26Let's fix what's going on so that you can get back to work efficiently and effectively.
08:30And what I'm hearing is you're not just listening, but you're taking actionable steps, right?
08:35So that actually does make a difference.
08:37Now, let's from there go into the fact that you've gone into clearly moving beyond the very outdated work-life balance.
08:45We're talking work-life integration here.
08:48But at the same time, why, how do you actually avoid flexibility theater?
08:53Because at the same time, you are an SME.
08:56You do have productivity targets that you need to meet.
09:00How do you keep within your KPIs as well, while not compromising on well-being of your employees?
09:06Right.
09:07So I mentioned before we had three main pillars, right?
09:09So one of it was care, very important.
09:11Sure.
09:11The other two pillars was actually quality and ethics.
09:15So in the work we do, we make sure it's transparent and it's still of high quality.
09:19So these three pillars frame everything that we do, our policies, our flexible work arrangements, and also the workload itself, right?
09:26So everything is all embedded into their KPIs, taking into consideration all three factors.
09:31So for example, for a manager's KPI, they would have a section that says you have to be able to take your team out for team-building events.
09:40Right.
09:40You have to run one-on-one sessions with them to know what's going on.
09:43And at the same time, along with other KPIs, they have to also commit to transparency in research.
09:48They have to commit to a certain level of quality and a net promoter score.
09:53So everything that we build in, we factor in all three pillars in all of our policies.
09:58And we make sure that we meet both the care requirement and also the quality and the ethics as well.
10:03Right. So basically, you're looking at a more very integrated kind of a measurement of performance at the same time so that everything is happening all at once.
10:12Yeah.
10:12Okay. So that's many boxes to check.
10:15But at the same time, let's now move into a rather under-focused upon dimension.
10:22But Central Force International is also doing pretty well.
10:25You won the Women in the Workforce Award and your firm has introduced parental support, gender mobility and bias-free hiring as well.
10:34But let's talk about internal resistance, if there was any.
10:38And what was the hardest aspect to maybe overcome when you introduced all of this?
10:44Sure. The hardest part actually happens at the middle management.
10:49Okay.
10:50So the middle management have been people who grew with us over the years, right?
10:54So they've established themselves as reputable professionals in our company that deserve this title of a head of department or managers.
11:03But they've also grown up through hard work and effort and putting in the hours to do things.
11:10So when we try to promote such flexible arrangements or we try to promote parental support, adjusted KPIs,
11:17the resistance came from middle management because they felt like I did things before in my own way, in my hard work.
11:25The juniors now can do it the same way.
11:27Right.
11:28But that's not how it goes because the generations have been shifting.
11:32The thinking and the thought process and the mindsets have not been the same as it used to be 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
11:38So we now need to adopt a practice where it's more DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion.
11:45We need to have a practice of more flexible work arrangements.
11:49And all of these things still needs to be accounted for.
11:51So resistance with the middle management has to be coached.
11:55What we do is we do a weekly coaching session with our head of departments.
11:59I see.
12:00And they get to be able to learn and understand and develop knowledge on this regard
12:05and how they can also balance out their requirements for work as well as all these benefits that they're providing.
12:12Exactly. So it's also about trying to integrate impact together with ensuring that those with the power in the workspace
12:21understand what and why they're doing.
12:24They're not just blindly following new instructions for, let's say, good parental support.
12:29Right.
12:29OK, so that sounds really actionable to me.
12:32Tell me about perhaps our Central Forces experience with women in managerial roles.
12:40Now, in general, across Malaysian workspaces, even those which have equitable hiring, 50% women in the workspace,
12:47there tends to be still less than 30%, 39% odd of women in those senior leadership roles.
12:55Right. In our company, surprisingly, actually, 60% of our management roles are held by women leaders.
13:03Right.
13:03And it's something that...
13:04Very encouraging.
13:05It's very encouraging, right?
13:06But it shows more than that, right?
13:08Because I always tell my team to...
13:11It doesn't matter if you're male or female.
13:12What matters is the capabilities that this person brings.
13:15Right.
13:15And everyone has been promoted because of their own self-contribution, their capabilities,
13:20and what they can or cannot do for the company.
13:22Right.
13:23So they got this role through their own efforts and means.
13:27And it shows a lot.
13:28Women leaders have an added skill, I would say.
13:32On average, women leaders tend to have more empathy.
13:36Correct.
13:36And that's the workspace that you are trying to foster.
13:39Yes, exactly.
13:40So having more empathy towards the team, towards management,
13:43and being able to find that right balance between the two has been working beautifully in the company, right?
13:49Fantastic.
13:50Yeah.
13:50Wayu, thank you so much for the conversation so far.
13:52We do take a brief break.
13:54I will be right back with Nyaga Spotlight.
13:56Don't go anywhere.
14:02Welcome back to Nyaga Spotlight.
14:13Still with me, Tamina Kausji.
14:15And today, of course, as before, we are covering looking at SMEs and talent retention by design.
14:21I'm speaking to Wayu, CEO with Central Force International, right here with me in the studios.
14:27So Wayu, getting back into the conversation and digging in a little bit deeper,
14:32on what we just left off.
14:33Now, most SMEs worry that when you look at DEI, it is a luxury that they cannot actually afford to have in place,
14:41together with so many other running costs, right?
14:43So what's your economic case for DEI as a survival strategy in SMEs?
14:50Because those numbers, no one can lie.
14:5260% to 90% talent lost from the average SME in Malaysia.
14:57So that obviously makes survival quite the struggle.
15:00But why should they be also thinking and prioritizing DEI?
15:05DEI, just as what it stands for, right?
15:08Diversity, equity and inclusion.
15:11What doesn't sound great about that?
15:14Tell me about it.
15:16Having diversity just means that you're having a wide range of a different perspective of things, right?
15:22Being able to have a young and mature workforce, having from different ethnic backgrounds,
15:27different gender roles, even different backgrounds as well.
15:30Everyone gives a diverse perspective on things.
15:33If I was to just ask any company CEO or manager, when you run your meetings,
15:38wouldn't you prefer a more diverse team to sort of discuss and bounce ideas about?
15:43Chances are you would, right?
15:45And why wouldn't you want the company to behave that way?
15:47Yeah, exactly, right?
15:48And different perspective gives you a platform for greater creativity, right?
15:53Knowing how we can develop different plans better and more coherent and harmonious for everyone.
15:59So DEI, I think, has been something that has been a great platform for us.
16:02And I think it's a necessity moving forward, given how the Gen Z workforce nowadays truly values DEI.
16:09There was a report done by the World Economic Forum, I believe, which talks about the future of work.
16:16And it shows how 80 over percent of Gen Zs wants DEI in the workplace, right?
16:22They want to be able to be treated as equals amongst their peers.
16:25And it's something so important nowadays as we're moving to the future.
16:29And Gen Zs are the future of our industry, right?
16:32Absolutely.
16:33And we have to be able to cater to this market as well.
16:36I've had the privilege of being on Talent Corp through the Lawa Awards.
16:43They've invited me to speak at a workshop in Johor Bahru recently.
16:47And I think their efforts in promoting DEI has just been excellent.
16:50And it's a real kudos to their initiatives as well.
16:54I think it's all about reframing the mindset that rather than a cost center, it is a resilience multiplier when you have DEI.
17:02Right.
17:02So you've also described your approach, YU, with Central Force as deep culture, not deep pockets.
17:09So that can be vague, though, when it boils down to the hard facts.
17:14So what type of hard metrics or KPIs do you use to measure the success as a business asset, perhaps?
17:22Yeah.
17:23Just to share off at first, right?
17:26Deep culture doesn't have to be high budget.
17:28It doesn't need to be complex systems.
17:31At the core, it just has to be simple but effective, right?
17:35Like employee satisfaction surveys, I mentioned about PALS surveys in the past, I mean, earlier on as well.
17:41These are all really, really cost-effective ways to do things.
17:44It costs you next to nothing.
17:45But the impact of it is just so great, right?
17:48Everyone feels that they're being listened to and they want to share and feedback.
17:52And on top of that, if you then work on those action points which I brought up, that gives them the understanding and appreciation.
17:59Yes.
18:00Yes.
18:00Listen to it, not just calculate it.
18:02Exactly, right?
18:02And I mentioned earlier that we tie these feedback surveys to the KPI itself, right?
18:08So then we see the difference, right?
18:11We see teams who don't value this as much, their performance doesn't match up.
18:16Right.
18:16And the data shows, right?
18:17When you treat your team well, they want to work harder for you, right?
18:21They don't mind going overtime.
18:23They don't mind putting in the extra hours just because you matter so much to them that they want to be able to in turn support you through your growth as well.
18:31To be able to meet whatever deadlines, et cetera, that you may have seasonally, right?
18:35Yeah.
18:36So that does sound like the way in which you can organize an entire company.
18:41However, I keep hearing what you say, that it is repetitive, it's continuous, weekly check-ins.
18:48So that takes effort.
18:49But it's clearly paying off.
18:50So let's go into the fact that SMEs often, they react to turnover, right, Wayu?
18:55So you seem to design for loyalty.
18:58So what type of role should succession planning and even long-term career scaffolding play when it comes to the SMEs and their talent strategies?
19:08Now we're looking at a national level, trying to zoom out and look at that big picture.
19:12The long-term planning is highly important, in my opinion.
19:17I think the growth of people are so exponential these days.
19:23The new generations are getting smarter and smarter, I have to admit.
19:26A lot of my young graduates in my team are just, you know, really brilliant.
19:30And we have to make sure that there's an avenue, there's a career path for them, right?
19:36And even as managers and directors ourselves, we need to know who's our pipeline, right?
19:41Who's going to take over our work?
19:43Who's going to move on to the next role?
19:45And it's not so much about preparing the pipeline, but it's more about ensuring there's continuity and sustainability in the business.
19:52Because a lot of what I do may not be apparent to, you know, my juniors or my pipeline.
19:57So preparing that succession planning, preparing that transitional plan for them,
20:01so that when they take on this role, they know what to do.
20:04And they can improve it further through their own ideas and creativeness.
20:08Exactly.
20:09And I think the other point is the fact that tracking these culture KPIs needs to become something hard-coded for SMEs.
20:18Because we've also got data which shows that culture KPIs such as internal mobility within the company,
20:24referral rates even, and also team parameters, companies who actually track it see 40% better retention.
20:34So it's actually telling you that if you do something but you're not tracking it,
20:38you're not going to understand what kind of benefits that you're receiving out of it, right?
20:43Okay.
20:44So from there, let's move on into the final area that I would really like to pick your brain about.
20:50So if you could perhaps rewrite one policy, when we look at, you know, the 13 Malaysia plan,
20:56but which would support SME-level talent retention, what would it be?
21:01The 13 Malaysian plan, although it's tabled for July later on,
21:06but I think when it was released, it actually had a lot of support for SMEs.
21:11And going through the plan actually, you know, gave me a lot of joy because I can see the government's,
21:17I mean, the Madani efforts to grow this sector further and to improve and upskill the sector.
21:21And it brought in organizations like SME Corp, Talent Corp,
21:25and all these people are working so hard to really improve the economy.
21:30I don't think I would rewrite any policy,
21:33but what I would like to see would be an inclusion of something new,
21:38something that's targeted at more workshop-related events,
21:42something that explains and tells SMEs,
21:46why do we even need these practices in the first place?
21:49Because there are grants for upskilling, there are grants for tech innovation,
21:54but I don't even know what to do if I don't have the knowledge for it.
21:58Yes, exactly.
21:59Exactly. So there's a lot of access, but at the same time, better enforcement, better understanding.
22:06And better education as well.
22:07Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I hear you on that.
22:10So I think just going back into and clarifying one area,
22:15when you spoke about the fact that, you know, you've got DEI in the workplace,
22:19support for women, et cetera, but you also mentioned parental support.
22:22Tell us about what is in it for men in the workplace
22:26and how do men in your workplaces also need to be part of such initiatives
22:30because ultimately nothing can be gender blind, right?
22:34Yeah. So just as you say, right, parental support is parental.
22:39It's for both the male.
22:40Mom and dad.
22:41Yeah, mom and dad, exactly.
22:42We have single dads in our company, right?
22:44We have people who have to raise their child individually, right?
22:48And it's no easy task.
22:50It is something that is really tough, right?
22:52Being able to focus on your family and work at the same time and doing it on your own.
22:56Yeah.
22:56So we don't look at it as a gender thing.
22:59It's not whether you're a mom or a dad,
23:01but rather if you have a child and you need that support,
23:04it's what we can offer to you.
23:06So it's that flexibility sometimes.
23:08We don't sting on the petty things, right?
23:11We don't make you, we don't enforce work hours to, you know, to the T.
23:15But if you let us know and tell us that actually my son needs to be picked up from school,
23:19can I go pick him up and maybe I'll work an extra half an hour?
23:22By all means, right, we give you that flexibility so that you can be there for your family, right?
23:28And ultimately, I think family matters a lot to everyone.
23:31And we have to juggle both family and work at the same time.
23:34And we want to be able to give you that flexibility to do so.
23:36Exactly. And also for men as well as for women, right?
23:40So you've started off with these policies like about 2018, 2019.
23:44How long did it take for everyone to sort of acclimatise
23:48and for men also to feel comfortable in taking on these roles
23:52just because they don't feel stigma anymore?
23:56I would say it's an ongoing process.
23:59I don't think we will ever be at that point of 100%.
24:02Understood.
24:03I don't think everyone will fully understand why we do what we do.
24:06or the understanding and rationale behind it, but it's that consistency, right?
24:12It's that constant informing and letting the team know that, hey, we're here.
24:16We're going to do all these things and we're going to keep doing all these things
24:19for as long as possible.
24:21So as long as that consistency is there, it will continue to grow and grow and grow.
24:26But as, of course, teams leave and teams come in,
24:29then we have to rebuild that sort of connection and understanding again.
24:32So it's an ongoing process, but it's something that should be done anyway.
24:35Companies should behave this way for as long as possible.
24:38Absolutely.
24:39And not just SMEs, but thanks so much for your time today.
24:43I think you're doing an incredible job and all the best in the coming future.
24:46Thank you so much.
24:47Well, that's all we have time today on Neonka Spotlight.
24:50And it's quite clear that when it comes to SMEs and talent retention,
24:53the key is already there.
24:55It's about structure.
24:56It's about purpose.
24:57It's about trust.
24:59And that is how even small-scale employers can actually keep their employees
25:02and ensure it hems a little bit of Malaysia's brain drain
25:06that we are always discussing.
25:08I'm Tamina Kausji signing off for now.
25:10We'll see you again next week with more economic analysis and business insights.
25:15See you then.
25:15See you then.
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