Let’s Talk About SINGLE EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEES

It’s no secret that organisations provide married employees with certain benefits. Eman Deabil believes that single employees, too, can create a better world and highlights the need to offer personalised benefits to all employees regardless of their marital status.

Acouple of weeks ago, I watched a video that I found provocative and quite frankly… pathetic. This wasn’t because it was true, but rather because the community is not doing anything to mitigate the impact of the risk highlighted. In the video, the speaker quoted a report which

All organisations (without exceptions) offer more benefits to employees who are married. Single employees, on the other hand, are out of the scene and no personalised benefits are given to them even though they are great cost savers, and great sources to serve the community as a whole – points that I shall elaborate on within the article.

When it comes to benefits provided to married employees, the list is significant: showed that by 2030, 45 percent of working women ages 25-45, will be unmarried, with no kids and single. He then concluded by highlighting that despite making money, those women will not be genuinely fulfilled in life! Regardless of whether or not what he said makes sense, it is not applicable to all women as there are many exceptions. Furthermore, there is one fact that we must admit: organisations are not doing anything to mitigate this risk or reduce its impact. This is despite the fact that they can turn it into an opportunity and contribute to creating a better world.

- Guess who’s getting schooling fees for children? Married employees!

- Guess who’s getting maternity and paternity leave? Married employees!

- Guess who’s getting medical insurance for dependents? Married employees!

- Guess who’s getting mortgage loans? Married employees!

And the list goes on and on.

When it comes to single employees, there are no personalised benefits whatsoever. Instead, they are scrutinised by their colleagues if they stay extra hours at work or work from home or on weekends as they believe this may negatively impact the image of their married colleagues who may not be able to do the same due to family commitments. They are also often told that they do not have a work-life balance because many of them tend to prioritise work over life, with the lives of many singles revolving around work as is!

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.

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.

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.

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.