Employees are Humans Too.

When I read my cousin's account of her job as an 'apprentice' at a famous chicken rice shop back home, I was aghast to read about what her Employers served their employees for meals. I had to get confirmation from my cousin and boy, it was true! They served the Employees plain sardines and rice. My cousin said that it was like dog food, and I
totally agree with her.

I do not know why, but when people hire help for their businesses or homes, they tend to forget that help is actually human too. Take the case of Yim Pek Har, on trial for abusing her maid. The injuries caused to her maid Nirmala are beyond human. She does not even qualify to be an animal if she had really inflicted those injuries. Once while I was walking outside Giant in Marina Square, I saw two maids struggling to unload a whole cartful of shopping bags. Both of them literally had their hands and arms, yes arms! full with the shopping. They still managed to giggle when their Employer - a lady carrying a toddler glared at them and told them to hurry. And I've seen many maids having to tend to their Employers' kids, while the family enjoys their meals. Since when do you turn Super Human with mighty strength and self-replenishable energy when you are hired as a Maid?

It is very disheartening to see the conditions in which some of these employees are forced to endure during the course of their employment. The quarters that they live in may as well be a box, the meager food that they have may not be much better than a dog's meal, the workload that they have to handle would have been suitable for ten and not one. Not forgetting also the multitasking, workdays that start from the wee hours of the morning, and end well into the night. Indeed, hiring them may have required extra costs; that it is natural to want to work them to their limits; but come on! Is it fair to have them endure inhumane conditions just to earn a few pennies? What's worst is, some of them do not even see the pay that they deserve, they get cheated, and they get swindled by the same person who hired them. Some of them may choose to thrive on, hoping that things would improve and that they are able to earn their keep and that of their families in spite of the hardships they've had to endure from their Employers.

I told my cousin that if I ever have my own Employees, I hope to not ill-treat them. If I promised them meals, it would be proper meals, not just rice and sardines. I would not exploit them and work them until I've drained the life out of them, and if there is a need to extend the working hours, they would be compensated accordingly. Of course there would be rules to comply to, but it would be instilled, not dictated upon.

Experts on this sort of issue may laugh at this 'ideal' that I've thought of, but rules or no, we always have to remember that employees are humans too and they should not be treated like they are animals.

If you cannot fathom the idea of it, put yourself in their shoes.
You were once an employee too and naturally you could have hoped that your Boss is the 'ideal’ that I have mentioned above.
Am pretty sure that you had wished for the same thing.
Think about it.