Joinland Group Adjusts To COVID Impacted World

Employee Welfare A Company Priority

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media
OutReach – 5 February 2021 – The Joinland Group, a diversified Malaysian conglomerate of varied business
interests, led by Dato’
Sri Thomas Hah Tiing Siu, has been adjusting
its strategies as the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, putting a major focus
on maintaining growth, employment and protecting the health of its employees.

COVID-19 did pose many difficulties for the
business, particularly in relation to the company’s swiftlet farming operations
in Sarawak. Interstate travel restrictions reduced the company’s oversight
capability and limited opportunities for onsite training which are important
contributors to productivity. Alongside this, the general reduction in tourism
led to a sharp decline in the price of edible bird nests and this also impacted
revenues.

While the COVID-19 pandemic did impact Joinland
negatively in 2020, the company has made a special effort to protect the jobs
of its employees by diversifying into new areas of activity to maintain the
growth of the company. This has included the development of new sustainable agricultural
projects which will be coming on stream in 2021 and which offer a lot of exciting
potential for future growth and job opportunities for locals in Sarawak.

As a result of these adaptions, Joinland has been
able to maintain its workforce with no retrenchments or pay cuts throughout the
pandemic period. In addition, to working hard to protect and even grow
employment throughout its many businesses, the company has also done its bit to
protect its workers from the illness.

Steps taken include the provision of plentiful supplies
of PPE, the enforcement of social distancing in the workplace, regular
sanitisations of facilities, routine staff health checks and the ongoing
education of employees to ensure they are constantly informed and reminded of
best practices to keep everyone safe and reduce risk to the minimum. As a
result of these activities, Joinland is pleased to report that, to the best of
its knowledge, none of its employees in Malaysia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong
or Papua New Guinea have tested positive for the virus so far, although the
company does not intend to let its guard down and continues to enhance its
safety protocols.

Dato’ Sri Thomas Hah Tiing
Siu, the founder of Joinland, said, “We are committed to the welfare of our employees
and they are a key factor in every decision we make. We are delighted that we
have been able to avoid any staff retrenchments despite the upheavals caused by
COVID and are thankful that so far, none of our staff have been directly
impacted by COVID from a health perspective. We sincerely hope that we can maintain
those trends in 2021. Economically, we do not expect things to return to
relative normality within one, two or even three years and as such are planning
ahead, diversifying the company still further and identifying sustainable new
revenue streams that will allow us to thrive despite the pandemic situation.”

Apart
from its new agricultural project, the Joinland Group, which is headquartered in Miri, Sarawak, is already involved in many
different businesses including a major agro-forestry project on the island of
New Hanover in Papua New Guinea, swiftlet farming in Sarawak, real-estate
management (including developments in Malaysia, Singapore and China) and
substantial investments in seven other businesses in Malaysia, Singapore, China
and New Zealand.

Sources:

*
          https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9225741/ministry-of-agriculture-to-intensify-efforts-to-find-land-for-pineapple-cultivation-in-malaysia/

**
https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/27/china-a-new-market-for-malaysias-pineapples

***
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/agriculture-coconut-revival