Working on exchange in KL - expected work-life balance

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anonymous
anonymous

An opportunity recently came up for me to potentially go on a work exchange program to KL. I visited KL a year ago and had a great time and I would love the opportunity to live in Southeast asia for a period of time.

My biggest concern is the work- life balance. I work at an accounting firm and want to know what i'm getting myself into. Currently i'm working a 9-10 hour day and at the most, I'd like to do something comparable but i've heard rumor's that in some of the asian countries, they work like dogs.

Does anybody have any experience working in the financial industry in KL? any information would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

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westwood
westwood

Your dilemma could be deciding between Australia and KL.

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greenmango
greenmango

Visiting KL and working here are very different! You have to consider if they are giving you a decent salary for the duration and are they providing accommodation, transport. Yes a lot of Malaysians work very long hours, do very long days, though are not necessarily productive!!! Do you know if your company would be predominately Malay or Chinese or Indian?

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westwood
westwood

OP has also been offered a work exchange program to Australia.

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anonymous
anonymous

greenmango, I will be receiving my canadian salary and they are taking care of accommodations. for transportation i had assumed that I will rely on the subway system.

I have heard that there are long (somewhat unproductive) days in other countries, the issue is that even if i am productive. I will still need to work those same hours so I was hoping to get some insight for how things work in the financial world in KL, i realize its vague when i myself don't have very much information. I also don't know the ethnicity of the people at the firm.

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rsquared2014
rsquared2014

If you can work 9-10 hr day I reckon you will be alright. Not sure how Malaysians work but in Singapore we put in about 9-10 hr day too. My office air-con automatically switch-off at 6:30pm. I'm not in financial industry so different office may be set-up differently. Especially if you need to communicate with people at the opposite side of the globe with different time zones.

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merantau
merantau

There was a survey earlier in the year which reported that workers in SIngapore were the unhappiest in the world as a result of the overbearing attitude of their bosses. And, going on my daughter's experience of working in Malaysia for 18 months you could be in for a nasty surprise as she experienced some very overbearing, unreasonable behaviour, in addition to being cheated out of commissions she had earned and which she was never able to recover. If you have a choice to work in Australia, then it is a no-brainer.

Ted Turton: "They all drive with one hand in America ya know."
Terry McCann: "Wot thay do wiv the uvver one then?"
Ted: "They just look casual."
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