These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications.
Q: “A man has applied for a job. If he gets it he will be the only man in a workroom of forty women. This seems hardly fair. What should we do?”
A: By all means make the man aware of what he is going into but do absolutely nothing to dissuade him from doing so. The decision must be his alone. Any pressure from you would constitute sex discrimination. Tell the forty women also that they must not make sexist jokes or comments or treat him any differently because he is a man. If they do so they will be committing sex discrimination, which needs to be treated as gross misconduct. I am not sure why you say that it is unfair. It is a male fantasy.
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3 Responses
Why is the question even asked??
As a man working in HR i have pretty much always been the only male working in a female office. It may not be my fantasy but is also not an issue.
I can’t understand why the questions has even been raised but if it is a concern ask him how he would fell working with 40 women and if he is happy then employ him.
I take your point, but…
Paul,
I do take your point and I think the tip misses the point that the bloke in question might be gay or completely celibate.
But sometimes I think that we all need a bit of a smile and the respondent has tried to give us one here.
Taking things too seriously in the end would lead to horrible sterile working environments where no-one would dare say anything to anyone.
Unbelievable!
Amazing to find that a web site guiding and advising on HR issues can end an article, telling women not to make sexist comments, with a statement claiming that working with 40 women is a male fantasy.
I can just imagine the headlines if I suggested that at the interview!!