Update on Daiso:
Met up with the GM of Daiso, Jun Tomioka at IMM together with Ms Malis Jais (the job applicant) on last Wednesday.
During the discussion, the GM has clarified that Daiso does not have any policies against employees wearing the headgear.
He also went to great lengths to explain to us how the organization has in fact catered to the well being of employees from different races and religions. He then highlighted that they do have many employees wearing the headgears in their organization.
When asked how then did their HR came up with such information to job applicants that Daiso’s employees are not allowed to wear the headgears on sales-floor? There must be a directive from someone to the HR person as it specifically single out sales-floor area.
The GM apologized for the mistake when relaying information to job applicants. He said that lapses might have occurred during communication to his staff and apologized for the lapse.
He was apologetic the whole time which was a breath of fresh air from the usual sidestepping whenever I took on such cases.
He also mentioned that although Daiso has a dress code policy, it has never excluded headgears in workplaces unless in factories where machinery is involved.
I told him that his apology will mean nothing if there are no concrete steps taken to ensure such thing will not happen again.
He then made a personal guarantee that such errors would not be repeated as the company is planning to create a handbook for employees where information would be passed down more effectively. They will also remind all its shop leaders not to make similar suggestions and exercise greater vigilance in the recruitment process.
We are convinced and satisfied that the GM is sincere in rectifying the matter and this incident is probably due to miscommunication among its employees.
Ms Normalis has since received a formal apology letter from Daiso which we have agreed to keep it confidential and not to reproduce or distribute whatsoever.
People who felt that they have been unjustly dealt with need to speak up about it. Keeping silent will not help resolve anything. As for the above case, I’m happy that it ends well for everyone and hopefully create awareness for more companies to embrace hijab wearing employees.
Source: Osman Sulaiman
