LIFESTYLE | opinion www.womanthismonth.com May 2023 95 Understanding the Needs of Single Employees Given that singles have a different set of priorities in comparison to their colleagues, we need to look at things from their perspective and never neglect that they might be different: - They don’t need medical insurance for their children, but they might need it for their aging parents. - They don’t need schooling fees for their children, but they might need it for their younger siblings or their nieces and nephews. If organisations need to set a control – although that could be contradictory to equality, then they can simply state (as examples) medical insurance for singles is up to one dependent, schooling is applicable only to one child. Or they simply substitute it with other benefits: encashment for instance, one fully sponsored vacation, sponsorship for higher studies etc. Alternatively, to make it generic for all employees regardless of any consideration they could have stipulations for benefits such as medical insurance where it is limited to three selected dependents. Are Companies Taking Advantage? It’s unfortunate that these days there are organisations that tend to hire singles just because they are big cost-savers since no benefits of this sort will be granted to them! Yet if such benefits are to be substituted, both singles and married people would be standing on equal footing during the hiring process, no preferences will be given, and marital status will be of no importance, instead, the quality of the candidate will prevail. After all, marriage is not a privilege, it’s a choice. While we’re asking for equality and fairness to people with disabilities, people with special needs, people belonging to different ethnicity groups or different religions, and inclusion of both genders at all levels, let’s not forget that there are people who choose to stay single, or are yet to find the right partner. Thinking Outside the Box But guess what, there is a bright side to this; there is a huge social impact if we apply some of the ideas and link it to the Sustainable Development Goals and then report it proudly. For instance, there are many orphans in our world today who are unprivileged, and many single employees who are privileged, how do you feel as an organisation connecting these two together and offering the single a full sponsorship to a child. This could possibly transform the lives of both and contribute to creating a better world. This is a simple idea; innovative ideas have no ceilings! The bottom line is organisations need to be inclusive to all and offer personalised benefits to ensure fair treatment is extended to all employees. For each benefit offered to married employees, there must be a counter benefit offered to single employees.
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