Forum tackles workplace biases
By Vincent Cabreza
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 20:43:00 09/28/2008
Filed Under: Economy, Business & Finance
BAGUIO CITY -- BAYAN MUNA Rep. Teodoro Casiño on Thursday engaged some of the country’s top human resource executives in a frank discussion about miniskirt uniforms, gays, the English language, Muslims and other objects of bigotry and discrimination at the workplace.
The unscripted and often hilarious discussion brought the house down at this year’s People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) national conference at the Baguio Country Club here.
The conference aims to reform the way Big Business recruits a workforce that will eventually help industries weather the world’s economic crisis, said PMAP president Enrique Abadesco when he opened the forum on Wednesday.
Geoff Armstrong, former president of the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations in the United Kingdom, told the conference participants on Thursday that “change and turbulence are permanent features of the world now.”
He said old approaches to business must now be replaced by the ideas of skilled workers whom old businesses once considered as “intangible talents.”
He said workers usually have talents “that [industries] suppress… to their disadvantage.”
But Casiño said attention must first focus on how workers get their jobs in the first place. He joined Rex Drilon II, chief operating officer of the Ortigas & Co. Ltd; and lawyer Pilar Nenuca Almira, director of the Manila Doctors’ Hospital and former PMAP president, in a panel forum that explored recruitment bigotry.
Television commentator Cito Beltran, who moderated the discussion, badgered the panel and the conference participants into revealing their personal bigotries, saying they need to acknowledge these before they can hope to change their recruitment processes.
Many of the conference participants said their biases are company requirements that help them filter recruits down to the best possible workers for their operations.
Casiño said biases could be positive “as long as they do not discriminate.”
The panel threw up facts and fallacies about the effects of women’s menstrual cycle on efficiency, the fears businessmen have on Muslim workers, and their penchant for hiring only graduates of Ateneo de Manila University, De la Salle University and the University of the Philippines whenever they need quality workers.
Casiño said reading “for hire” advertisements or application forms sometimes suggests that businesses are hiring “guest relations officers” because they put a premium on women, who have “pleasing personalities,” and who are aged between 18 and 24.
He said it was obvious that women are preferred by some retailers because they can be dressed up in short skirts when they are called to duty at show rooms or display counters so they can sell more products.
Beltran said outside the overt sexism in the job market, human resource managers have also reflected a gender bias against women because some firms give special attention to their menstrual cycles.
He said the menstrual cycle has not disrupted work in European countries, and should no longer be a matter of course in job recruitment.
Casiño said existing labor laws protect women from work discrimination but only if they have been employed when these laws took effect.
The antidiscrimination laws, however, do not protect job seekers, he said.
Although application forms or recruitment drives do not overtly discriminate against gay men and women applicants, companies still frown at potential workers who have these sexual lifestyles.
He said Congress must enact a law protecting this sector in the workplace.
Religion has become a barrier for hiring.
Beltran asked the participants to reflect on why few Muslims get jobs the moment their religion comes into play.
Almira said some company officials usually hire people who cause less friction in the workplace.
In some instances, Casiño said, firms hire only workers from a certain religious sect, making it appear as the company’s dogmatic prerequisite.
“But in reality, they are hired purely for political reasons. [This religion] does not support labor unions,” he said.
Political activism is also a bias that human resource managers must let go, said Drilon.
Out of the conference’s 1,500 participants, 30 said they would hire Casiño, who is aligned with the Left-wing group in Congress.
Almira said most human resource managers shy away from activists, fearing that their passion and independence could derail a well-oiled company bureaucracy.
Casiño said English proficiency is a job prerequisite that offends some sectors in the workforce.
A participant said English has regained its prominence as a global business language and must be “re-learned.”
Casino acknowledged the comment but said firms with domestic markets need to review this requirement as it has no effect on business.
Almira admitted that she also has biases, which affected hiring, and said she now apologizes to everyone she “ended up victimizing” when she turned them down for wearing tattoos or being too fat.
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