Pregnancy causes "damage and loss" to employers
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 11:54AM According to Mr Yeh Siang Hui, he thinks that pregnant women are liabilities as employees:
Ms Chin - and other like-minded pregnant women in employment - fails to understand the damage and loss caused to an employer (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) by having to maintain on its payroll an employee who, throughout her maternity leave, saddles her colleagues with heavier workloads, does not contribute to the company's revenue and causes loss to the company by continuing to draw pay.
(Emphasis mine)
If you read the letter as published, Mr Yeh at first focused on the legalities of the Employment Act; I have no issues with that analysis. In fact, if he had stuck to that track, he would have made a convincing argument. But near the end, where he says pregnant women does not contribute and causes loss to the company, is what I take issue with.
You have to wonder how well a company is organised when one person's absence can negatively impact a company that much, and there are no plans in place when maternitiy leave kicks in. Pregnancy is not an emergency situation. It lasts 9 months, and maternity leave covers only 3 of those months. Even if the woman notifies her employer 3 months into her pregnancy, that still leaves her bosses 3 months to fill the gap. And they know how long to fill it for. But apparently that window is impossible to organise around for these supposed SME businesses.
If I run an SME, I'd prefer Mr Yeh to shut it and stop projecting his incompetence on the rest of us.
And then there is this:
Birth rates were much higher three or four decades ago than now, yet couples willingly procreated and raised children in the absence of the comprehensive set of incentives in place today.
30 years ago, Mr Yeh, you can buy lunch for less than $2. I'm sure you remember those days Mr Yeh. Time to move on. The rest of us have. Try to catch up.
BUT, there are a few possibilities here. One is that he completely means what he says, which makes him a chauvinist, bigot and misogynist. He could also be looking at employees as only resources and numbers instead of the humans that they are, and that lack of empathy, organisational and people skills makes him an incompetent employer. And lastly, he could just be a troll hoping to get a rise out of someone.
And since I don't appreciate chauvinists, bigots, misogynists, incompetent employers and leaders, and trolls, I think we're better off without people like Mr Yeh in our society.
Callan Tham
Added the "three or four decades ago" remark from the letter.
Reader Comments (2)
DON'T YOU THINK THAT MOST LOCAL BOSSES IN SINGAPORE ARE OF THE SAME KIND....
I can't say with certitude, but that attitude towards women and pregnant employees have to go. It has no place in our society and we should reject it unequivocally.