SINGAPORE: Single employees rarely voice out their concerns on social media about workplace discrimination but one individual seemed to have been pushed over the edge after noticing that her boss always dumped extra work on her and never on her married colleagues or those with children.
Frustrated by the disadvantages she faces in her workplace for ‘being single,’ she took to social media to share her experience and shed light on the issue.
“I’m always getting arrowed for more saikang and the excuse my boss always gives is, ‘You are not married and you have no family, why can’t I ask you to do this??’” she wrote on r/askSingapore.
After her boss made such a blunt and insensitive statement, she noted that he tried to backtrack by explaining that taking on these menial tasks would supposedly demonstrate her “commitment to her work” and, in turn, “increase her chances of promotion”—a poorly disguised attempt to mask what is clearly discrimination based on her status as a single woman.
Unfortunately, the discrimination didn’t stop with extra work assignments. Being single also put her at a disadvantage when it came to leave applications.
She pointed out that she and her fellow single colleagues were often treated as ‘second-class employees’ when requesting time off, particularly during school holidays. Their requests for rest and personal time were consistently deprioritized in favor of those with families because, according to the company, “they are more important.”
“People really think singles can be taken advantage of.”
Resonating with the woman’s plight, many single employees joined the discussion and shared that they too had experienced this type of ‘bias’ in their own workplace.
One individual commented, “I have this annoying colleague who’s always trying to swap shifts with others. Reasons being she needs to sleep, she needs to send one of her thousand children to school, she needs to go market before work, she need to attend an event at her kid’s school. The list goes on. Unsurprisingly, she will never return the favour.”
Another mentioned, “In one of my past jobs (MNC), I noticed the manager tends to assign unplanned duties that require working on weekends, public holidays, or staying back late at night to me. I proposed to have a monthly or biweekly rotation to handle such last-minute duty since we have 12 people; the manager rejected it and told me married people should enjoy WLB; he doesn’t want to disturb their WLB.”
Several others added that single employees often face additional burdens, such as covering for colleagues who take extensive childcare leave, all while receiving the same compensation. They also face intrusive questions about their personal lives, including why they are single, whether they are open to being set up, or becoming the subject of office gossip.
Moreover, many expressed frustration with the assumption that single employees have fewer commitments and thus can be expected to stay late or work overtime without objection.
One individual expressed, “I want to leave office on time but people would say things like you don’t have a family to take care of.”
However, they pointed out that while they are not married, they still have responsibilities outside of work. This includes caring for aging parents, managing personal finances, or pursuing part-time studies.
They stressed that their lives are not as carefree as some might assume; they are balancing multiple obligations just like their married counterparts.
One final point raised was the need for better leave policies that take into account the needs of single employees, not just those who are married.
One individual said, “Leave structures definitely need to reflect the way societal makeup is going—more caregiving leave separate from childcare leave—because it seems like people who are only children and can’t split parental care duties with siblings or unfortunate sandwiched generations bear the brunt of thoughtless and outdated leave policies!”
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