“Bring her home for personal use” – Photos of applicants & sexual remarks exchanged by company management

“Young and pretty one, good. But I will bring her home for personal use soon to generate my energy, and I will show her my long lasting energy… lol”

The names of victims in this story have been redacted. We have used acronyms to replace the name of the staff involved in the exchange of lewd emails.

Wake Up Singapore came into possession of emails and photographs exchanged between the  staff of Ethoz Group Singapore. These emails contain photos of ladies who had applied for positions at the company, and sexual remarks made by the staff of Ethoz.

Looking at these photos, it is unclear if these were photos attached to the applicants’ CVs, or photos extracted from their social media profiles.

We understand that at least 4 members were actively involved in these email exchanges, and some of these emails were copied to the entire “Workshop Management” group. We further understand that some of these staff are part of the senior management in Ethoz. We set out below some snippets of these emails:

“Can consider to bring her (potential gf) home for his private use”

 

“Single or married? Only myself and X are eligible”

 

“Pretty Malay girl”

 

“looks more suitable to be your PA”

 

“Maybe this time round we get young ones so our mechanics all see already more energy & power can work faster“

The following screenshots are not all from the same email chain, but from a series of emails sent over a period of time.

These emails are self-explanatory. The references are explicit, and the behaviour is brazen. The fact that the entire “SG Workshop Management” mailing list is copied to some of these emails appears deeply troubling, to say the least.

Who are Ethoz Group?

Ethoz Group Singapore is a car rental company with more than 100 employees according to LinkedIn. They have since expanded into capital financing and equipment leasing services.  They have 2 branches in Singapore; one in Bukit Batok and the other in Tampines.

Ethoz is led by its female Chief Executive Officer, Ms Cindy Oh. The have an impressive rating of 4.6/5 in Google. Most of the 321 reviews on Google sung praises of the customer service offered by Ethoz.

However, the Glassdoor Reviews for the company, which are submitted by employees, paint a very different picture. Amongst 33 submissions, only 21% of employees stated that they would recommend the workplace to a friend. They received a dismal rating of 2.4 stars out of 5.

Some common gripes in the negative reviews included micromanagement and a management that is keen to “protect its own rice bowl“. 3 1-star reviews from former employers are appended below.

Evidently, for some, their stint at Ethoz Singapore has left such a bitter taste in their mouth that they do not bother to leave feedback for the management as, to them, it is an exercise in futility.

The most recent 5-star review was marked “To be reviewed” and, for some reason, only spoke about the location of the branch.

Should we dispense with attaching photographs to CVs?

In many other countries, employers are dispensing with the need for attaching photographs to job applications.  The rationale for dispensation is simple – in most cases, there is no link between an applicant’s outward appearance and their competency. Having photos may also lead to discrimination, or even undue bias, on the basis of what someone look like.

This conversation has yet to be mainstreamed in Singapore, but in light of events such as this, we need to seriously consider if we should be continuing to normalise this practice of attaching photos to CVs and resumes. Unless you are applying to be a model, or explicitly asked, we should do away with the need for attaching photos to job applications.

We have reached out to Ethoz Group for comment, and provided them with unredacted copies of the emails.

This article was first published on Wake Up Singapore