HALF the women workers in Superquinn feel they are discriminated against in terms of promotion. Less than a third of women feel they have an equal chance of achieving promotion to senior management as a man with similar ability.
These are some of the findings of an employment equality report published yesterday. The report, Quality Through Equality In Superquinn, is based on a survey of 670 Superquinn staff, 245 men and 425 women. Women make up 56 per cent of the staff in Superquinn's 16 stores and support offices.
The survey focused on attitudes of staff towards employment equality issues such as promotion, training, career development, recruitment, equal opportunities policies and procedures, work arrangements and conditions.
Sponsored by the Employment Equality Agency (EEA) and funded by the European Social Fund, its aim was to establish the effectiveness of Superquinn's equal opportunity policies.
The report found that 49 per cent of women and 41 per cent of men felt that women were discriminated against on promotion, while 72 per cent of men and 77 per cent of women felt men were not discriminated against.
"This is a cause for concern, said the report. "Staff stated the basis of this discrimination was on personal likes and dislikes."
It said a "very serious finding" was that 29 per cent of women and 44 per cent of men felt that women had an equal chance of achieving promotion to senior management as a man with similar ability.
Thirty-eight per cent of women and 40 per cent of men felt promotion was not dependent on an individual's work while 44 per cent of men and 39 per cent of omen felt Superquinn was good at identifying the right person for promotion.
The survey found that there was only one female assistant manager and one junior trainee manager out of 64. There were also no fed male recruitment officers in the company.
The report praised Superquinn's flexibility in providing career breaks, job shares and leave of absence. It said there was a "high level of commitment" in the organisation to its equal opportunities policy. Yet "a disappointing 61 per cent of men and only 49 per cent of women" were aware that Superquinn had an equal opportunity policy, while 84 per cent of men and 87 per cent of women felt that it needed such a policy.
The majority of those surveyed said their career was not well planned for them in Superquinn and that it depended "totally on oneself". Women remained longer in their first jobs than men, with 86 women and 31 men remaining one year and 42 women and 23 men remaining two years.
Some 14 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men said they had experienced sexual harassment and about one in four women and one in five men said they had observed it happening to others.
In summary, the report said, women were "willing to work the hours required, have equal if not more qualifications, have no absenteeism or efficiency differential and work for equal opportunity employers, so why are they, the majority of the workforce, almost absent from management? The answer may net be in politics, but culture, in the wider sector, not in any way exclusive to Superquinn."
Speaking at the report's publication yesterday, the chairwoman of the EEA, Ms Kate Hayes, said she was delighted that Superquinn had already implemented many of its recommendations.