Articles
Obesity in the eye of the employer – Carrie Dunn
Rise & shine – Sherridan Hughes
Obesity in the eye of the employer: How to beat the prejudice
Independent.co.uk
Chrissie Webber was 18 when she decided she wanted to be a nurse. But she was a size 22, and before she could get a hospital placement, she was told she had to lose weight. “The silly thing is that I cycled everywhere, I played badminton and tennis,” she says. “I was generally healthy and fit.”
Even so, they sent her to a hospital dietitian to lose a couple of stone. She says they never asked her about her exercise routine or levels of activity. She admits she overate, but says she wasn’t inactive. “People just presume that if you’re fat, you’re lazy.”
That perception continues even now. Health and wellbeing consultancy Vielife’s recent survey indicates that employees who are classified as obese report significantly less productivity than those who are not – and overweight people take nearly twice as much sick leave. Given that nearly half of UK employees have excess body weight, with 14 per cent considered clinically obese, this is a scary statistic.
There is no law in the UK against discriminating on the grounds of obesity, which means that an employer can refuse to give you a job because of your size, according to Jenny Ungless from City Life Coaching. In a recent survey, 30 per cent of HR bosses said that they believed obesity was a valid medical reason for not employing someone.
People inevitably judge on appearances. Emma Evans, 51, a secretary from south London, says that the fear of what others thought of her appearance in a business context drove her to diet. “For me, it’s a confidence thing, and I feel that as soon as someone sees a fat person in front of them they ignore anything else about me and assume I’m stupid.” She says she feels she has to prove herself more than she would if she were thin, or even just thinner. “When I was an office manager, and slimmer than I am now, I twice overheard snide comments about me being a fat cow. On one occasion I waltzed back into the office and sacked the woman on the spot.” The employee had had other warnings for her behaviour and Evans knew that if she didn’t stand up to her, she would lose all respect in the office. “I still went into the ladies’ loo and cried afterwards,” she says.
Evans’s and Webber’s experiences are not uncommon, suggests occupational psychologist Jenny West of Career Analysts. She says that both are examples of the prejudice in the workplace – and in society in general – about overweightness, namely that obesity equals laziness and lack of fitness. “The common assumption is that people who are very overweight do not care about their health and appearance and are not trying to change. The media and Government focus on obesity has only made the prejudice worse.”
Chrissie Webber, now a weight-loss motivational coach for Lifeshapers, warns against assuming that all overweight people are inactive and unproductive. She says that though some overweight people don’t have stamina, that’s also the case for some thin people. “I firmly believe that how you are perceived – at work and in life – depends on your individual belief system. Some people take criticism or discrimination to heart, and become a victim. That means they withdraw into themselves and become less productive. Day in, day out, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – they end up displaying the characteristics they’re assumed to have.”
While attitudes are slow to change, the most obvious answer in addressing these kinds of problems may be simply to lose weight. That’s easier said than done, though, and as Jenny Ungless says, the bottom line is that, for most people, their size is their choice: if you really wanted to be slimmer, you would lose weight. But if you feel that your size means you are being treated differently in the office or even in interviews, a plan of action is needed as an interim measure. Jenny West recommends positive action from those who feel they are being discriminated against because of their weight. “Be more assertive, and state your own needs and feelings when dealing with work colleagues,” she says.
Webber advises overweight people in the workplace to maintain a positive attitude – and stay active. “It’s important not to allow other people’s discrimination to trigger guilt or shame. A tendency to overeat doesn’t make you a bad person, and it doesn’t make you lazy or under-productive. Increase your activity rate – and have fun.”
Train your brain
Can a new book really improve your performance on psychometric tests? John Crace finds out
The Guardian
Imagine you’re a company looking to take on four graduate trainees and you get 1,700 applications. How do you make your choices? You can sift through the covering letters and CVs and reject 1,600 fairly quickly, but even then you’ll be left with 100 applicants of similar aptitude and ability which need to be knocked down to a shortlist of 10 for interview.
The final selection is a two-edged sword. You want to make sure the best people get the jobs but, equally, you want the process to be as transparent as possible so that those who miss out know why. This is where psychometric tests come in.
The premise is quite straightforward. For roughly half-an-hour, candidates are asked to answer a series of multiple-choice questions based on either diagrammatic, numerical or verbal reasoning – depending on the employer’s requirements – and the final scores are then compared. The tests measure speed and accuracy of thought rather than general knowledge. There’s no advantage to be gained by mugging up and cheating is impossible: it’s just a straight contest of ability.
At least, that’s always been the conventional wisdom. But check through the self-help sections of your local Waterstone’s and you’ll find a book suggesting otherwise: Sam Al-Jajjoka’s How to Pass Professional Level Psychometric Tests. Al-Jajjoka is a course team leader and senior lecturer at Uxbridge College’s school of IT and computing, a member of the faculty advisory committee for the technology department at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College and an external examiner for the exam board, Edexcel. So he knows a thing or two about landing a job.
In the past couple of years, though, there have been plenty more jobs that Al-Jajjoka has turned down.
“So many of my students were telling me that employers were asking them to undergo psychometric tests,” he says, “and I realised there was very little literature available showing them what to expect and how to do well. So I decided to do something about it myself. I got my hands on as many different papers as possible. Sometimes I would even apply for jobs I didn’t want, just to be able to take a particular test.”
The result is a book that details the different types of question likely to be asked and gives tips on how best to spot what is required. It has 500 practice questions and makes valuable suggestions about timekeeping.
“A lot of the pressure is about time,” Al-Jajjoka says.
“Most candidates would be able to get every question right if they had five minutes for each one but, in general, they have about 10 to 15 seconds per question. So they must learn to think quickly and, where appropriate, to make intelligent guesses.”
The book has certainly gone down well with the punters. Al-Jajjoka says he has had dozens of letters from grateful, successful jobseekers and the Amazon review section contains emails telling a similar story. What is more surprising is that the book also gets some professional endorsement from those you might expect to have a vested interest in trashing it.
The British Psychological Society confirms that familiarisation with psychometric testing can pay dividends for applicants – a view endorsed by SHL, one of the leading suppliers of psychometric tests to industry.
“Whenever we send out papers to companies,” said a spokesperson, “we enclose some practice ones for them to pass on to candidates to give them a feel for what is expected. The aim is to test people’s general abilities, not to catch them out.”
However, he goes on to point out that familiarisation is not the same as being given a crib for the answers.
“Of course there are certain styles of question that make different demands. But there are no short cuts. Take verbal reasoning. You’re generally given a piece of text and then asked to agree, disagree – or say you have insufficient information to tell one way or another – with various statements.
“You can’t prepare for this kind of thing in advance, other than to have had sufficient practice to realise you need to read the text carefully and not jump to quick conclusions because nine times out of 10 they will be wrong. So these self-help books are really just good common sense.”
Rise and shine
Sherridan Hughes, consultant psychologist, Career Analysts (www.careeranalysts.co.uk)
Make sure your boss knows how valuable you are. Everyone knows just how
many chaotic executives owe their success to their administrative support – everyone, that is, except the executives themselves. You know exactly what you contribute to the smooth running of the business – so make sure your boss knows too.
For career secretaries and PAs, rewards can be limited – there’s little opportunity for promotion, or even a more glamorous sounding job title, despite the fact that the longer you’ve been with the company and the more aptitude you show, the more work you take on and the more you’re trusted. By definition, secretaries and administrators can be quite behind-the-scenes types, and, unlike those showy salespeople, can be slow to blow their own trumpet.
Your boss might not even stop to notice and appreciate your input – after all, they’re used to having the diary organised, all the stationery and IT orders up-to-date, their correspondence sent out, and all the dozens of other little tasks the professional secretary keeps on top of every day. So you’ll have to point out how valuable you are!
Make sure you deserve an increase. You need to know that you’re asking for a fair and reasonable figure. What’s everyone else doing your job getting paid? Without sneaking a peak at their payslips it can be hard to find out what others earn, so asking colleagues in an equivalent job and an equivalent pay scale secretly and directly is often the only option. You could run a search for secretarial pay scales on Google, or scour the job ads, comparing your own salary with the figures quoted.
If you still think you’re worth the extra money, you need to come up with justifications. What do you do that is above and beyond the call of duty? What makes you irreplaceable? Are you a pleasure to work with? Are you always super-efficient, professional, reliable and willing? Length of service is not always enough. Although it is fair to keep up with inflation, why should you be paid more if you’re not doing more?
Find out who holds the power in the office. Befriend the person who holds the purse-strings – or the person who talks to the person who holds the purse-strings.
Enlist friends and allies, letting it be known that you would like a rise – someone else may do the donkey work and ask for you!
Wait for the opportune moment. You could ask after returning from a holiday when you’ve been missed. No matter how quiet and unobtrusive you are day in day out, you’re bound to be noticed when you’re away because the office will inevitably grind to a halt. Every secretary knows that it’s very rare that their colleagues show any interest in how the administrative systems work – that is, until you go away, they need a new biro, and they can’t find anything. Chaos will greet you on your return – so while you’re clearing the mess up, make the most of it.
You could try asking after your boss’s holiday when s/he is relaxed and refreshed. Do not ask when everyone is flapping to meet an urgent deadline – at least, not unless you have just done something to save the day! A perfect time would be following positive feedback during an appraisal.
Be discreet. Ask for a quiet word in private. Do not ask in full earshot of the office, even if you’re tempted to embarrass your boss by exposing how little you get paid. Your boss might fear that if s/he says yes to you, everyone will ask. Point out what you’ve done particularly well, how you have improved or developed since your last appraisal, what you do above and beyond your job specification – and how long it’s been since your last pay rise. Then, once you’ve outlined your reasons for the request, ask whether taking all this into account the boss agrees that a pay rise is due. Don’t issue any ultimatums at this stage – your boss is unlikely to react well if you say, “I want more money – give me a pay rise or else!”
Decide to leave. If the answer is no, then by all means explain that you will be looking elsewhere for a job that values you higher. Do first ask your boss’s reason for refusal – remember it may be due to budgetary constraints. If they’re not prepared to pay you more but agree with your valuation of yourself, they may offer benefits in kind, such as training or increased paid leave allocation, which you should take into account. However, if the management feel that you are not justified in asking for more money, their constructive criticism may help you improve your performance.
If you conclude that you have no future in your current position, then start your job-hunting – and be prepared to carry out your threat to leave! Having looked at other job opportunities and pay rates, and having analysed your own contributions at work, you should feel sufficiently confident and indignant to seek out another employer who will value you more highly. Even the process of applying for jobs or writing one’s own CV, where you detail your career and your achievements, can often give you a great confidence boost and sense of worth.