Christmas has arrived early for the team at KL tech company iconnect360

iconnect360 Sdn Bhd, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has brought Christmas forward a month for their employees.  The software company launched a range of new employee perks this week.  Employees can now access benefits including extended maternity leave, flexible working hours, birthday leave, subsidies for gyms, WIFI and a holiday package worth RM5,000 for long term employees.

iconnect360 is the Malaysian arm of Ezypay Pty Ltd, and Australian company offering payment products since 1996.  Twice voted the best company to work for und the Top 50 BRW Best Places to Work, Ezypay has brought this strong sense of culture to its Malaysian team in iconnect360.  Trent Brown CEO states "Our incentives are not new in the tech world but they are new in Malaysia.  Many international companies open in KL and take advantage of the technical talent and access to Asia, but they don't invest in their teams.  We didn't want to be one of those companies."

The Kuala Lumpur company currently consists of more than 50 employees from local and international backgrounds. More than half of the employees are women in technical, and management roles. The incentives have been structured to particularly appeal to young talented technical women - to both attract them and retain them.

For example all women employees have access to an unprecedented 3-months paid maternity leave.  Two months of paid maternity leave is the norm in Malaysia however many employees return with a couple of weeks to full time work as they do not want to risk losing their job.  New Mum Meera Krishnan, is currently enjoying paid maternity leave with her new born daughter. 

Krishnan says, "I can't put a value on the first three months of my daughter's life - to be there for her and to get to know her is priceless.  I love how the company understands this.  I now have another month to dedicate to my daughter before I have to return to work."

Meanwhile other female employees are encouraged to expand their professional knowledge by participating in after-work networking events.  iconnect360 is the main organiser of the country's first Women Who Code (WWC) Kuala Lumpur chapter.  It also runs a monthly networking event for digital marketers called #DMM360 (Digital Marketing Meet up 360) to grow their skills and network with other professionals.

iconnect360's latest employee incentives also address the demand for work-life balance via various leave options including birthday leave (1 day of holiday the day before, on or after your birthday).  Cayla Ng was delighted to discover that all new employees automatically qualified for birthday leave. 

Ng says, "It felt like my birthday was a big deal to everyone.  It also makes me feel proud because when I told my friends and family about my paid birthday leave, everyone said that this is a good company to work in.  A one-day holiday might not seem like a lot, but it's very special to all of us and it's something that we look forward to. I like it very much."

Employees who have completed five years of continuous paid service are also rewarded with an all-expenses paid holiday for two to a foreign country, up to a maximum of RM5,000.  Brown states "If an employee has made it to the 5 year mark they would have given a lot of value to the company so this is a way for us to say thank you."