A Malaysian employee recently sparked online debate after claiming staff at a beauty salon were allegedly asked to pay for their own flight tickets for an upcoming company trip.
In a post shared on the Facebook group “KL吹水站”, the anonymous worker said they had been employed at the salon for almost seven years.
According to the post, the company only has five employees in total.
The employee claimed that management recently announced plans for a company trip this year, but staff members were reportedly informed that they would need to spend thousands of ringgit out of their own pockets to cover airfare costs.
The worker also alleged that the trip would be deducted from employees’ annual leave entitlement.
Although the employee admitted to not being particularly interested in joining the trip due to the financial burden, they said they felt pressured to participate out of fear of appearing unfriendly or not being a “team player”.
The post quickly attracted attention online, with many netizens questioning whether the outing could still be considered a genuine company trip if employees were expected to bear significant costs themselves.
Some social media users argued that the arrangement defeated the purpose of an employee appreciation trip.
One commenter wrote that if staff members needed to pay for flights and use annual leave, they would rather skip the trip entirely and receive a cash bonus instead.
Others said they would prefer to spend the money travelling with family rather than colleagues, while some joked that they would still decline even if the trip was fully sponsored.
The discussion also highlighted broader conversations among Malaysian workers regarding workplace culture, employee benefits and expectations surrounding company-sponsored activities.
