Ever experienced double standards in the workplace?

Wanderer2010 · 05-07-2014 11:35AM #1

Obviously no workplace is perfect and there is always a bit of give and take when it comes to enforcing rules softly or hardly, but have you ever experienced double standards in your job to such an extent that your work/health etc was affected?

Personally I have seen bosses chase up lads to do a set amount of work or reports a day, emailing them regularly for updates, getting annoyed with them when they miss one little detail or format yet they take a different approach with the women- hands in pockets, not pressing them for a deadline, and allowing them to arrive late and leave early. I have seen supervisors bully their way up the ladder then take a hardline approach to bullying in the workplace.

Anyone ever experienced bad double standards at work?

UCDVet · 05-07-2014 11:42AM

I used to work at McDonalds as a cashier and, even though all the cashiers had the same position/same pay scale - it was an unofficial rule that the male cashiers would be the ones that did the lifting of heavy items.

When we switched from the breakfast menu to the lunch menu, a male cashier would have to go to the fridge and get the boxes of frozen fries down. We also had to take the trash bins out to the dumpster.

The shift manager was a woman, and that's just how she ran things. The guys were expected to do more work, and really the most unpleasant parts of being a McDonald's cashier, on top of all the regular work. For the same pay.

Lingua Franca · 05-07-2014 11:50AM

I had one boss quit her job and leave the country because she didn't get a certain job she'd applied for due to "nepotism, jobs for the boys and terrible, underhand behaviour that breached all employment law practices."

Before she left she advertised her own job, then threw all of the application letters (including mine and a few of my coworkers) in the wastebin and gave the job to her completely unqualified and inexperienced cousin.

The business folded within 6 months.

The same woman, who claimed to be a socialist, once laughed in my face when I asked why I hadn't gotten my holiday pay that year, that I had "NO RIGHTS! YOU ARE A CASUAL WORKER! YOU HAVE NO HAVE RIGHTS! HAHAHAHA!". I'd been working there for 3 years, had a contract and had holiday pay every other year until she took over.

Specialun · 05-07-2014 11:55AM

Lingua Franca wrote: »

I had one boss quit her job and leave the country because she didn't get a certain job she'd applied for due to "nepotism, jobs for the boys and terrible, underhand behaviour that breached all employment law practices."

Before she left she advertised her own job, then threw all of the application letters (including mine and a few of my coworkers) in the wastebin and gave the job to her completely unqualified and inexperienced cousin.

The business folded within 6 months.

The same woman, who claimed to be a socialist, once laughed in my face when I asked why I hadn't gotten my holiday pay that year, that I had "NO RIGHTS! YOU ARE A CASUAL WORKER! YOU HAVE NO HAVE RIGHTS! HAHAHAHA!". I'd been working there for 3 years, had a contract and had holiday pay every other year until she took over.

She just sounds like a khunt

py2006 · 05-07-2014 11:57AM

Oh don't get me started on this one..

Well ok, I think its fair to say that most men experience casual sexism in the work place. Be it having to do the dirty work or put up with comments that would never be allowed directed at women.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 05-07-2014 11:57AM

Double standards when it comes to staff with kids vs staff with no kids. Those with no kids are supposed to work around and accommodate days off to those with kids. You have to work every bank holiday and weekend because you're not tied down. I was really sick in work the Sunday of the may bank holiday. I was green practically laying on the bathroom floor I was puking so much. I was due to work the following day, the bank holiday Monday. The manager told me to make sure I was in as there was nobody to cover me and she had "plans with the kids".

Tombi! · 05-07-2014 12:11PM

Same thing of "anything to physical = men do it". I didn't actually mind that too badly since it was mostly the lads that did it by default. It was sort of "we need a few to go do X" and usually it was the lads that jumped up and did it. The girls would do it too depending on who was there.

Though the one thing that did bother me was some of the managers were very chatty with the girls to the point it was the men doing more work overall.

The Backwards Man · 05-07-2014 12:15PM

I'm the biggest hypocrite of an employer you'll ever meet and I don't apologise for it. If I wanted someone to do what I do I'd just double my own wages.

Jawgap · 05-07-2014 12:15PM

People allowed to take smoke breaks.....

Shane-KornSpace · 05-07-2014 12:19PM

Manager can arrive 45 minutes late with a hangover, smelling of drink.

But God forbid I take an extra 5 minutes on lunch break once in the blue moon.

sock puppet · 05-07-2014 12:23PM

py2006 wrote: »

Oh don't get me started on this one..

Well ok, I think its fair to say that most men experience casual sexism in the work place. Be it having to do the dirty work or put up with comments that would never be allowed directed at women.

Em, no? I've never experienced sexism and never heard anyone complain about it either.

Nemeses · 05-07-2014 12:24PM

Jawgap wrote: »

People allowed to take smoke breaks.....

On their breaks maybe?

Lingua Franca · 05-07-2014 12:26PM

Specialun wrote: »

She just sounds like a khunt

She was, but she was also the biggest hypocrite I'd ever met. She was a foreign national who went back to her own country because she believed she had no chance of ever getting a better job in Ireland because of all the dodgy dealings and jobs for the boys and good employment practices being thrown out the window. That she was always the best candidate for a job but wasn't getting them because the interviewers had personal grudges against her or were racist towards her. Constantly complaining that everything was so badly run and at the same time, over regulated.

And then she refused to interview any of us experienced, qualified colleagues for her job because she was personally offended that every single one of us had had to call the union in on her at some point over things like withheld pay and messing around with our contracted hours.

Truth be told, she couldn't get a job in her chosen field of teaching simply because her accent was so thick that it was impenetrable.

LynnGrace · 05-07-2014 12:28PM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Double standards when it comes to staff with kids vs staff with no kids. Those with no kids are supposed to work around and accommodate days off to those with kids.

Yep, this, and married vs single, in the past.

Also saw in one place I worked, an employee who did exactly as she pleased, none of it involved actual work. The boss rolled his eyes etc, when she was late every day, and yet first out the door, but did nothing about addressing it with her.
We all ended up with no respect for him. Glad I don't work with either of them now.

Jawgap · 05-07-2014 12:28PM

Nemeses wrote: »

On their breaks maybe?

On their lunchbreak is fine.

Even people sneaking off for a quick fag break is fine.

But people rounding up their mates and grabbing a coffee - not fine, while the rest of us beaver away - if they want to do that they should make up the time at the end or beginning of the day.

Nemeses · 05-07-2014 12:29PM

Jawgap wrote: »

On their lunchbreak is fine.

Even people sneaking off for a quick fag break is fine.

But people rounding up their mates and grabbing a coffee - not fine, while the rest of us beaver away - if they want to do that they should make up the time at the end or beginning of the day.

I would agree with that. Shure I'm a smoker myself.

However, where I work, it is restricted to your breaks. Caught off guard and there is consequences.

py2006 · 05-07-2014 12:32PM

sock puppet wrote: »

Em, no? I've never experienced sexism and never heard anyone complain about it either.

Never said you did, but ok!

sock puppet · 05-07-2014 12:45PM

py2006 wrote: »

Never said you did, but ok!

I merely responded to your retarded extrapolation of your personal experiences with another.

py2006 · 05-07-2014 12:49PM

sock puppet wrote: »

I merely responded to your retarded extrapolation of your personal experiences with another.

ok

Pherekydes · 05-07-2014 01:27PM

We had to pass an annual fitness test that was different from the female version.

Laois_Man · 05-07-2014 01:32PM

Working for a US company, whenever anything went wrong, it was Ireland's fault (according to management within Ireland that is)!

Although now under new management, the attitude is nowhere near as sub-servant!

Shenshen · 05-07-2014 01:51PM

A good few times.

The company I work for does quarter ends. Essentially this means that if your work in the operations department, you are expected to do overtime until midnight at least 4 days a year, usually more like 6 - 8 days depending in business.
There are usually no exceptions, you'd need a really, really good reason not to be there, it's all hands on deck. A few of the women in the department have small children, but as they know well in advance when they'll be expected to be in late, they never had a problem making arrangements.
Not so one of the lads. Ever since his wife had their first child, he has been going home at 5pm, no matter what the workload. His wife works part-time, but apparently cannot possibly collect their child from the daycare... he usually offers to come in once the child has been dropped off home, which means he'll ring our manager at around 10pm and then reliably gets told that, no, he doesn't need to come in for these last 2 hours.

Another thing is two Irish lads in work. Now, don't get me wrong, both of them are seriously nice and would be great to have around on a night out. But one of them will struggle to spell his own name, while the other would make a sloth look industrious.
Yet both of them have been promoted, one to an different team and on to team leader, as both of them are in the same GAA club as the Finance Director of the company.

gugleguy · 05-07-2014 02:22PM

I worked with a female colleuge a few years younger than me in callcentre. While it was ok for her to come over to my desk and casually take up my Irish Times newspaper and have a read, it was not ok for me to go over to her desk, and start a chat. This incurred entry to her badbooks for a month or so which involved her saying snide remarks about me etc in that period. The same colleuge once wanted me to airbrush somebody out of a image file she had. I told her I wouldn't have the expertise. Well I did actually and still do. Cliquey snobby so and so.

osarusan · 05-07-2014 02:30PM

Guy I worked with occasionally asked girls out for a date, but never asked any of the lads. If that's not double standards I don't know what is.

Wanderer2010 · 05-07-2014 02:31PM

Shenshen wrote: »

A good few times.

Another thing is two Irish lads in work. Now, don't get me wrong, both of them are seriously nice and would be great to have around on a night out. But one of them will struggle to spell his own name, while the other would make a sloth look industrious.
Yet both of them have been promoted, one to an different team and on to team leader, as both of them are in the same GAA club as the Finance Director of the company.

This is depressingly common. I know of at least 5 cases of guys who play hurling/soccer who get treated with kid gloves because they represent their county (regardless of match-to-match performance). I know of a fairly big hurling player who is retired a few years now but in his factory job he literally clocked in, sat around on pallets texting or chatting with the lads about everything GAA-related and maybe do at most an hours work a day. Now some of the lads were GAA heads so they didnt seem to mind that he didnt pull his weight but it annoyed others who had to work harder but the boss was a massive hurling fan so would never discipline the guy.

Another hurler i know has a very handy number in the Post Office where he gets to do all the easiest jobs and gets plenty of time off because yet again management are GAA mad and it seems the hurlers are more equal to others when it comes to work. Not all obviously but enough that I have seen to make it a reality.

gugleguy · 05-07-2014 02:41PM

Laois_Man wrote: »

Working for a US company, whenever anything went wrong, it was Ireland's fault (according to management within Ireland that is)!

Although now under new management, the attitude is nowhere near as sub-servant!

Knew an Irish woman, good friend at the time - this was around 2000 - who
was summoned to the states to face a bunch of executives arrayed against her in a board room so they could give her a bollicking and 'dressing down' about the Irish arm of the operation. To basically vent off against her - nothing more. This happened in the corporation I worked for prior to working with the callcentre I posted about above.

bnt · 05-07-2014 02:45PM

This is a trick question, right? "Do as I say, not as I do" is practically an Irish corporate mantra.

P_1 · 05-07-2014 02:50PM

Female staff being allowed to wear seemingly whatever they want while male staff being bound to the shirt/tie/slacks combo comes to mind

suicide_circus · 05-07-2014 02:52PM

As a manager, I am guilty of getting the lads to do the heavy lifting etc, the majority of the women simply arent able to lift some of the boxes/crates, however I do balance it out by getting the women to do most of the cleaning. As a feminist, it irks me but it's part of the unavoidable practicalities of the job.

discus · 05-07-2014 02:52PM

Pherekydes wrote: »

We had to pass an annual fitness test that was different from the female version.

Don't get me started. I know of a female troop commander who got one of the privates to carry HER radio, HER batteries and HER extra ammo, on a 5 day, fully tactical exercise out on the ground... and used that as an excuse.

Wanderer2010 · 05-07-2014 03:05PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

As a manager, I am guilty of getting the lads to do the heavy lifting etc, the majority of the women simply arent able to lift some of the boxes/crates, however I do balance it out by getting the women to do most of the cleaning. As a feminist, it irks me but it's part of the unavoidable practicalities of the job.

Be careful. If one of the lads hurts their back doing yet another manual lifting task that you give him and claims compensation, you are in the firing line for not distributing the tasks of the job equally and fairly. I have seen it happen before.

Ever experienced double standards in the workplace?

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