Sexual discrimination - for wimmin only?
Those of you bored enough to have read my previous failed attempts at humorous stories may recall that I used to work for a certain large telecoms company's operator services division.

One of the MANY pointless courses I attended included a presentation about 'correcting' the gender inequality in managerial posts. At the time, the people who actually do the work - the operators - were mostly female. The ratio was about 90:10 female to male. However, the manager split was nearer 50:50 which was, apparently, an unsatisfactory state of affairs and one which the female presenter was keen to rectify.

Her plan was to ensure all future managerial promotions would be female, until a point was reached where the 'correct' 90:10 ratio was achieved. She forecast that this Utopian state would be achieved within three years.

Being a bloke, a manager and more importantly having a basic grasp of mathematics, I questioned her logic. At the time, there were roughly 200 managers in that part of the business and it was highly unlikely that the company would want to increase that number, so the only way of getting the correct ratio was for around 80 male managers to move out of their jobs within the next three years.

The options for the men were being sacked - a rare occurrence, redundancy - which is tricky if you then fill the vacancy with someone else, or being promoted which - while unlikely - was hardly in the spirit of what the presenter was trying to achieve.

Apparently, my offer to fall on my sword then and there was not seen as suitably supportive. Needless to say, the idea was forgotten shortly thereafter.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Tue 20 Mar 2012, 19:04, 4 replies)

Thats not really how ratios work. 90:10 is the same as 9:1, redundant in other words. 50/50 is a 1:1 ratio.
(tyrellsOwl, Wed 21 Mar 2012, 7:56, closed)

I was curious about the numbers.
It would make more sense to correct the operator ratio, as the management ratio sounds, er, about right.

Unless it's a knocking shop or something.
(username failed moderation, Wed 21 Mar 2012, 8:20, closed)

Exactly correct
Why are they employing only 1 man for every 9 women? Sounds like discrimination to me.
(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 21 Mar 2012, 10:37, closed)

Caught between 2 stools
Thanks for the reminder. My addled and aged brain was obviously mixing ratios and percentages to come out with shit like that.

And to the other comment - it would have made much more sense to correct the operator ratio. In fact, as they started making more use of agency personnel, the balance did even up a good deal.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Wed 21 Mar 2012, 14:18, closed)