The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has recently published a report regarding family status discrimination (FSD) in the workplace in Hong Kong. The survey has interviewed both employers and employees in order to collect comprehensive data on the issue. Overall speaking, the EOC discover that the employers and employees in Hong Kong do not have thorough and adequate understanding on FSD.
The survey result mentions about one essential cause for the FSD problem which is leave taking. It is believed that employees with family status would apply for leave more frequently due to various family affairs and responsibility, such that some employers might have concern about the work productivity and efficiency of the employees and think that it is a waste of time and resource to hire workers who are frequently absent from work, hence resulting in FSD in workplace.
Moreover, the study investigated the situation of the hiring of male and female workers in Hong Kong. The employers were asked about their ‘ideal’ image of workers, and the response shows that less than 50% of them would hire female workers who have child care responsibility. Also, comparing male and female job seekers who both have family status, it is more likely that the former would have a higher chance of getting the job. Likewise, the report also shows that only 36% women who have childcare responsibility would be hired when employers are making the hiring decisions for senior positions, which implies that they have a disadvantage against their counterparts, including women without childcare and elderly care, and man with or without childcare and elderly care.
The above statistics indicate that FSD is always in connection with gender discrimination. According to Dr. Ferrick CHU Chung-man, who is the Director of Policy, Research & Training of EOC, there is a lack of awareness regarding discrimination in workplace in Hong Kong, and it is common that victims of discrimination would not file a complaint as they do not feel the need to take action. Meanwhile, it is advised that the government should provide more support to employees with family status such as setting up more child care centres and providing after-school child care services, as well as adjusting the price of those services to an affordable level, so that employees can focus more on their work and increase productivity.
Photo Source: thebalancecareers.com
