For this post, I am going to share 5 reasons why full-time employment is among the best active income solution.
In June 2018, I left my full-time employment to be a stay-at-home mum.
So, I think it is fair for me to share my view on what I think of full-time employment as an active income solution.
5 reasons why full-time employment is among the best active income solution
There is plenty of active income solution out there.
Among them, being a full-time employee, running your own business, freelancing your skills or as a Grab car driver.
For this particular post, I am going to pour out the reasons why full-time employment is among the best active income solution.
Let’s go through the reasons below:
1. Minimal financial investment
Compared to running your own business, as a full-time employee, there is a very minimal financial investment needed.
Instead of putting in money to run your business, in full-time employment, you only need to invest your time, energy, knowledge and skills.
There is still minimal investment needed. Such as:
- working attire
- mobile phone
- a car or motorbike
In which, most of these, you already had.
That is why most people especially fresh graduates would find full-time employment one of the best active income solutions.
2. Regular and fixed paycheck
As a full-time employee, you get your regular monthly paycheck as agreed in your employment contract.
Government and large corporations such as multinational companies usually fix a specific date as a payday. On that particular payday, the payroll team arrange to transfer the salary to the employees’ bank account.
If the payday falls on a weekend or public holiday, the salary will be credited on a working day before the weekend or public holiday.
So, you don’t have to worry about when is the next paycheck. Or where to source for the next paycheck.
This sense of security serves as another reason why full-time employment is among the best active income solution.
3. Fixed working hours
All full-time employment come with a fixed working hour stated in the employment letter.
Even so, sometimes employees are expected to work for additional hours with or without overtime wages.
With fixed working hours, an employee can have a more predictable schedule for work and family.
4. You get to enjoy many employee benefits
As a full-time employee, you get to enjoy many employee benefits.
Some of these benefits are in monetary values while some are in non-monetary values.
I listed down some of these employee benefits which mostly I had personally enjoyed during my previous full-time employment.
i. Paid leave
In full-time employment, the employee gets to enjoy many different kinds of paid leave.
I listed down the different types of paid leave that I know below:
- annual leave
- medical leave
- marriage leave
- maternity or paternity leave
- bereavement or compassionate leave
- birthday leave
The above leave is on top of the public holidays that the employee gets to enjoy while still receiving their monthly paycheck.
Based on my calculation, on average, Malaysian employees get about 19 to 20 public holidays in a calendar year.
See, you get to enjoy many different kinds of leave. And still, receive your paycheck on payday.
Compared with other types of active income such as Grab drivers, there is no income when they are not driving.
ii. A bigger retirement fund through EPF saving
It is mandatory for all employers in Malaysia to contribute 12% of their employee’s monthly salary to the respective employee’s EPF account.
That is an additional 12% per month saved for the employee’s retirement fund.
Other types of active income solutions might not be able to enjoy these retirement benefits received by an employee under full-time employment.
iii. Security and protection benefits through SOCSO
Other than EPF, all employers and employees in Malaysia are required to register and contribute to SOCSO on monthly basis.
SOCSO provides protection in terms of medical and cash benefits to the employee while the employee is at work.
Generally, SOCSO protection covers the following:
- industrial accidents
- commuting accidents
- accidents during emergency
- occupational diseases
With SOSCO, an employee under full-time employment is covered by basic protection while they are at work.
iv. Sales commission and incentives
For a full-time employee who holds a target, it is common to have additional benefits such as commission and incentives.
This acts as a motivation for sales staff.
From my experience of working in the sales team, I can tell you, there is a high possibility for a salesperson to earn more through his commission than his basic pay.
v. Bonus and increment
In most cases, the employer will give out yearly bonuses and increments to their employees under full-time employment.
Again, the bonus and increment also depend on the employee’s performance appraisal.
But, still, a bonus is an additional cash benefit to the employees.
The promoted employee can expect to see a significant increment in their base pay.
While nonpromoted employees, according to Jobstreet, usually still receive an average of 5% to 8% salary increment.
Thus, with increment, an employee has less worry to tackle inflation.
That is another winning point for full-time employment as an active income solution.
vi. Free company trips
In large corporate, it is also common to have free annual company trips for their employees.
Although the company trips might be a local Malaysia destination, the employee still gains benefits from the free trip.
For those lucky employees who work with a multinational corporation, there are possibilities of travelling abroad under company expenses.
Imagine how much you can save when your vacation in Japan is sponsored by your employer.
vii. Free productivity tools
Nowadays, every employee will need a laptop or desktop to complete his or her work.
Other working tools include:
- mobile phone
- tablets
- wireless broadband
- company car
So, the employee gets the opportunity to use these tools while underemployment.
Compared with self-employed, most probably one needs to fork out his own money to have these working tools.
viii. Petrol cards or mileage claim
For employees who need to move around as part of their job nature, usually, their employer will equip them with petrol cards.
Or, at least these employers offer mileage claims for their employees.
In other words, indirectly these employees get to enjoy a certain level of subsidized petrol for their transportation costs.
ix. Group insurance and medical coverage
In my previous employment, I also enjoyed insurance and medical coverage for myself and my family.
Based on my own calculations, I saved about RM2,000 per year for medical coverage alone.
When I was sick, not only did I get paid while resting at home, but the medical bills were also covered by my previous employer.
Other than the employer’s medical coverage, I am also entitled to a yearly health check-up or health screening with a specific amount.
x. Dental and optical benefit
Many employers also provide dental and optical benefits to their employees.
Some generous employer even extends the coverage to their employee immediate family members.
Since dental and optical care can be very expensive, these benefits at least can reduce the employee’s financial burden.
xi. Additional allowance
With full-time employment, some employer also offers a generous allowance.
Some of the allowances which I had come across are as below:
- Overtime allowance
- Travelling allowance
- Meal allowance
- Car maintenance allowance
- Housing allowance
- Cost of living allowance (COLA)
The employees get to enjoy additional monetary incentives from these allowances.
Even though some of these allowances do not occur every month, the employees are still able to reap benefits from them.
xii. Opportunity to own company share
Some public listed companies also reward their employees through the Employee Share Option Scheme (ESOS).
Through ESOS, the employer issues a share option to eligible employees by giving them the contractual right to acquire shares of the company in the future at a discounted price.
The employee can choose to exercise the share and gain profit from it.
xiii. Company awards and gifts
Some employers also offer additional benefits such as awards and special gifts to their staff.
Some of the awards and special gifts which I had come across as below:
- long-serving awards
- special awards such as ‘Best Customer Service Officer of the month’ or ‘Top Sales of the year’
- birthday gift
- wedding gift
- newborn gift
Maybe there is only a small monetary value for these gifts and awards.
But, the important part is the recognition and appreciation gained from these benefits can directly affect the motivation of the employees involved.
5. Personal advancement and enhancement benefits
I would love to end this list with some personal development benefits from full-time employment.
These personal development benefits are those benefits not in terms of monetary value.
Among the personal development benefits which I have come across are as below:
- the opportunity to attend international events such as conferences, seminars or workshop
- the chance to learn new skills such as a high level of handling spreadsheet or word processing software
- the opportunity to attend professional skills training courses
Then again, employees get to have these opportunities at the expense of their employer.
Furthermore, these opportunities surely bring many future benefits to the employees.
Final thoughts
Currently, I believe many of us is a full-time employee who works under full-time employment.
Maybe you don’t get to enjoy all the benefits above. But, I do believe you get to enjoy some of what I mentioned above.
Or perhaps, some of you get to enjoy an even better employment package. There are so many benefits to working full-time employment.
That’s why full-time employment is among the best active income solution.
Lastly, by sharing the above, I am not saying that one should not go for self-employment.
There are many benefits from self-employment too. And I shall share the benefits of self-employment in a future post.
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