CSR at Work: Two Sides of the Coin

Two news items relating to Pakistani companies have given cause for both celebration and despair. The decision by Standard Chartered Pakistan to hire 14 blind persons as part of their telemarketing team is indeed something to celebrate as it signals both a willingness by companies to use socially responsible employment practices but will hopefully also open doors for disabled people in other companies. The move to hire blind persons was part of Standard Chartered's 'Seeing is Believing' project and follows a pilot run. You can read more about it here.

On the other side of the spectrum is the protest lodged by workers and the IUF about Unilever Pakistan using what the IUF terms as 'disposable' jobs at its Khanewal tea factory in Punjab . IUF claims that by employing 733 workers on temporary contracts as against 22 permanent workers covered by a collective agreement, Unilever is denying workers the right to better employment prospects and fair remuneration. You can read more about this here.

The debate of contractual vs, permanent workers has many sides to it and perhaps requires a more detailed review, but suffice it to say that there is great room for enhancing transparency, equity and merit in employment practices, in MNCs and local firms alike.