foto diambil dari majalah HK Features Vol. 19 [Juli, 2025]
Dr Muhammad Hidayat Greenfield, Sekretaris Regional
Setiap anggota masyarakat yang beradab terkejut, marah atau kecewa dengan perlakuan kasar terhadap pekerja penyandang disabilitas yang dilakukan oleh McDonald’s Hong Kong.
Ironisnya, justru anggota masyarakat yang beradab itulah yang ingin McDonald’s Hong Kong ambil hatinya dengan mempekerjakan para pekerja penyandang disabilitas. Kebijakan perekrutan ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan citra publik perusahaan dan pada akhirnya meningkatkan nilai mereknya. Namun, laporan kekerasan dan perlakuan buruk terhadap pekerja penyandang disabilitas justru merusak reputasi McDonald’s. Perusahaan kemudian merespons dengan upaya memperbaiki kerusakan reputasi ini tanpa menyelesaikan masalah itu sendiri.
Kita tidak boleh lupa bahwa pelecehan dan perlakuan buruk ini berdampak signifikan terhadap kesejahteraan mental, fisik, dan emosional pekerja penyandang disabilitas. Kepercayaan diri dan harga diri yang seharusnya dibangun oleh pekerjaan berbayar di sektor swasta langsung hilang — dan mungkin tak dapat diperbaiki — hilang saat menghadapi kekerasan dan perlakuan buruk ini. (Saya juga percaya kita semua kehilangan sedikit rasa kemanusiaan kita dalam menghadapi hal ini.)
Dilihat dari perspektif ini, McDonald’s Hong Kong telah gagal di beberapa level. Kegagalan ini tidak dapat diperbaiki hanya dengan memecat beberapa manajer yang tidak terlatih, tidak berpengalaman, dan bergaji rendah, lalu menyalahkan satu sama lain. Lebih lanjut, kegagalan multi-level ini terjadi saat mereka mendapatkan dukungan finansial pemerintah untuk program ketenagakerjaan yang diyakini masyarakat Hong Kong membantu pekerja penyandang disabilitas.
Ketika sebuah perusahaan mempekerjakan pekerja penyandang disabilitas, tentu saja hal itu memberikan kesempatan besar bagi mereka untuk bekerja, mendapatkan penghasilan, dan mencapai kemandirian finansial. Ini tentang mengembangkan keterampilan, membangun kepercayaan diri, dan merasa lebih berharga, sambil meluangkan waktu bekerja sebagai bagian dari tim. Akademisi dan pekerja sosial mengatakan hal ini sangat bermanfaat.
Namun, perusahaan yang mempekerjakan pekerja penyandang disabilitas tidak bisa hanya berfokus pada bagaimana hal ini meningkatkan citra perusahaan. Hal ini tidak bisa hanya menjadi bentuk tanggung jawab sosial perusahaan (CSR) yang disubsidi pemerintah. Perusahaan harus menyadari tanggung jawabnya untuk memastikan bahwa perolehan keterampilan, pembangunan kepercayaan diri, rasa harga diri, dan kerja sama tim benar-benar terwujud.
Sebuah perusahaan tidak dapat memberi tahu publik bahwa mereka mempekerjakan pekerja penyandang disabilitas tanpa membuat komitmen yang diperlukan untuk memastikan ini menjadi pengalaman yang baik bagi para pekerja tersebut – pekerjaan yang aman dan terlindungi dari diskriminasi dan perundungan.
Pada saat yang sama, semua manajer, supervisor, dan rekan kerja harus menerima pelatihan yang sesuai. Pelatihan ini bukan sekadar kebijakan, poster, atau pengarahan singkat lima menit. Ini adalah pelatihan yang sesungguhnya. Ketika bekerja dengan pekerja dengan Sindrom Down, misalnya, manajer dan supervisor memerlukan pelatihan khusus dalam keterampilan komunikasi, manajemen tugas, dan penilaian. Hal ini bermanfaat bagi semua orang – bukan hanya pekerja dengan Sindrom Down.
Demikian pula, pemberian tugas dan peran pekerjaan berkaitan langsung dengan pencapaian tujuan perekrutan pekerja penyandang disabilitas. Menugaskan pekerja dengan Sindrom Down untuk membersihkan toilet dan mengepel lantai di shift malam agar mereka “tidak terlihat” atau untuk mengurangi interaksi dengan pelanggan dan rekan kerja justru bertolak belakang dengan tujuan tersebut. Bagaimana seseorang bisa mendapatkan kepercayaan diri, membangun harga diri dan rasa percaya diri, serta memperoleh keterampilan jika mereka terus-menerus ditugaskan untuk tugas-tugas kasar yang “tidak terlihat” ini?
Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa perusahaan seperti McDonald’s Hong Kong memiliki kebijakan perekrutan yang beragam, tetapi tidak memiliki sistem untuk memastikan keragaman di tempat kerja melalui inklusi dan rasa hormat. Mungkinkah peningkatan citra perusahaan dan nilai merek hanya dibutuhkan dalam proses perekrutan, bukan dalam proses ketenagakerjaan? Tentu saja, kegagalan dalam memberikan pelatihan yang memadai kepada manajemen dan supervisor, yang dengan demikian menjamin lingkungan yang aman dan terjamin bagi pekerja penyandang disabilitas, merupakan kegagalan institusional yang mendasar.
Keterampilan yang dibutuhkan para manajer dan supervisor dalam komunikasi dan manajemen tugas sebenarnya merupakan bagian dari komitmen dan investasi sosial perusahaan. Hal ini memastikan bahwa komitmen terhadap keberagaman itu tulus dan bukan sekadar tindakan pencitraan. Memandang kontribusi sosial yang begitu penting sebagai bentuk lain dari periklanan dan nilai merek bukan hanya munafik, tetapi juga berbahaya.
photo from HK Feature Magazine Vol. 19 [July, 2025]
Dr Muhammad Hidayat Greenfield, Regional Secretary
Every decent member of the public is shocked, outraged, or disappointed by the abusive treatment of workers with disabilities by McDonald’s Hong Kong.
Ironically, it is the same decent members of the public that McDonald’s Hong Kong is trying to impress by hiring workers with disabilities. This hiring policy is intended to boost the public image of the company and ultimately add to its brand value. Instead, reports of abuse and mistreatment of workers with disabilities cause reputational damage for McDonald’s. The company then responds with efforts to fix this reputational damage without fixing the problem.
We must not forget that this abuse and mistreatment have a significant impact on the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of workers with disabilities. The confidence and self-esteem that paid employment in private industry is meant to encourage is immediately – and maybe irreparably- lost in the face of abuse and mistreatment. (I also believe we all lose a piece of our humanity in the face of this.)
Seen from this perspective, McDonald’s Hong Kong has failed at several levels. It is a failure that cannot be fixed by firing a couple of untrained, inexperienced, underpaid managers and attributing individual blame. Moreover, this multi-level failure occurs while benefiting from government financial support for a program of employment that the Hong Kong public is led to believe helps workers with disabilities.
When a company hires workers with disabilities, it is, of course, providing a great opportunity for them to work, to earn an income, and achieve a degree of financial independence. This is about developing skills, building confidence, and feeling greater self-worth, while spending time working as part of a team. Academics and social workers tell us that this is very beneficial.
However, a company that hires workers with disabilities cannot only focus on how this boosts the image of the company. It cannot simply be a form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) subsidized by the government. The company must recognize its responsibility to ensure that acquiring skills, building confidence, feeling self-worth, and working as part of a team actually happen.
A company cannot tell the public it is hiring workers with disabilities while not making the necessary commitment to ensure this is a good experience for these workers – a secure and safe job free from discrimination and harassment.
At the same time, all of the managers, supervisors, and co-workers must receive the appropriate training. This training is not a policy, poster, or five-minute briefing. It is actual training. When working with workers with Down Syndrome, for example, managers and supervisors require specific training in communication skills, task management, and assessment. This benefits everyone – not just workers with Down Syndrome.
Similarly, the assignment of tasks and job roles is directly related to achieving the goals of hiring workers with disabilities. Assigning workers with Down Syndrome to cleaning toilets and late shifts mopping floors to keep them “out of sight” or to reduce interaction with customers and co-workers is precisely the opposite of these goals. How can anyone gain confidence, build self-esteem and a sense of self-worth, and acquire skills if they are constantly assigned to these “out of sight”, menial tasks?
This suggests that companies like McDonald’s Hong Kong have diversity hiring policies, but no systems in place to ensure workplace diversity through inclusion and respect. Maybe the boost to corporate image and brand value is only needed in hiring, not employment? Certainly, the failure to provide the appropriate training to management and supervisors and thereby ensure a safe and secure environment for workers with disabilities is a fundamental institutional failure.
The skills required of managers and supervisors in communication and task management are, in fact, part of a company’s social commitment and social investment. It ensures that the commitment to diversity is genuine and not a public relations (PR) stunt. To approach such an important social contribution as just another kind of advertising and brand value is not only hypocritical, but dangerous.
In India, food sector corporations are following the trend to recruit more women workers but failing to provide safe, secure, and sustainable employment to women workers. Like some major companies are proudly announcing their plans of high number of women workers in their units like Coca Cola at Sanand 66%, Nestle at Sanand 62%, ITC at Medak 50%, AB InBev at Aurangabad 50%, and Ferrero Baramati 33%.
Some companies started the recruitment without any consultation of workers representatives and due diligence and hence, it is failing miserably and leaving women workers with no alternatives other than resigning from work. Many of these women workers are the first generation of industrial workers and failure of these companies to ensure strict implementation of their own policies, impact a large section of women workers in long term. Without sufficient consultation with all stakeholders and trainings, retaining these women workers is going to be very challenging.
In judgement of the honorable Supreme Court of India said there are serious lapse and uncertainty in the implementation of the Protection of Women for Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act, leaving many working women no choice but to leave their jobs. Indian PoSH act mandates that every employer must form an internal complaint committee at each workplace that has 10 or more employees.
In one of the instances, women workers recruited by labour hire agency in one of major multinational corporation in India reported Sexual Harassment complaints against company HR Executive. Instead of fair investigation, company failed to take any immediate action which helped accused to misuse his authority. Finally, women had to approach the local police station to ensure her safety and justice.
This is not the first incidence and certainly not the last. In the absence of an independent & democratic strong union, women workers especially in precarious employment may continue to suffer.
In one of the major beer sector multinational company manufacturing sites in Maharashtra India, the company ensured gender balance in recruitment but even after five years, due diligence failed to ensure women workers safety through basic amenities like door-to-door transport, separate changing room, hygienic water & sanitation facility.
Image 1: IUF Asia Pacific Educational Training of Young Workers in Maharashtra, India.
All these incidences are self-explanatory in nature to help unions understand that in the absence of their active involvement, all these important policies including related to gender balance & workplace safety are bound to fail and have catastrophic implications.
IUF Action Program for Equality 2023-2027 calls on affiliates and on the IUF itself to make urgent progress and priorities work including preventing and eliminating gender-based violence and harassment. 3rd IUF Asia Pacific Regional Women’s Conference passed resolution which mandates to focus on more women in better paid, skilled, and secure jobs.
IUF Affiliates in India negotiated collective bargaining agreement in Ferrero company site, to form an women workers committee to resolve women workers concerns in the plant and converting precarious employment into permanent employment. Other affiliates in India continues to focus on gender equality and working together with the companies to ensure gender balance.
Despite these legislations, committees & company policies, due to unilateral approach of companies, there remains a significant and important journey ahead to safe, secure, and sustainable employment for these women workers.
