Be open-minded, don’t block talent, says business executive
Published:Friday | May 11, 2018 | 12:00 AMCarlene Davis/Gleaner Writer
Most businesses in Jamaica tend to fail because employers are hiring "bright" people but are not listening to them, according to Desrine McFarlane, business human resource manager at 3M Jamaica.
"I tell persons all the time that if you need to go and do a course to understand the bright people that you have employed, do it," McFarlane told journalists during a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday.
"It's going to be beneficial to you [because] you need people who are going to help you to grow your business, and some of them are going to be brighter than you. They are going to challenge you. If everybody thinks like you, you are going to stay in one place," she added.
McFarlane said that entrepreneurs needed to be a little more open-minded and focus on the talent of employees rather than how they looked.
CULTURAL BEHAVIOUR
"It's a cultural thing, and we have to get rid of it. So a young woman comes in and has a tattoo that is showing," argued McFarlane. "She's really good [at the job], but you are so fixated on the tattoo that the energy, innovation, and creativity walk out your door, and you pick the person that looks like you as opposed to the person that has the talent," said the business executive.
McFarlane further stated that things like the way a person's hair is styled were what employers were using to lock out talent from their organisation. This, she said, is a big issue.
"You can have the best machines, the best ideas, and the best products, but if you don't have the right people, you are going to be in trouble," McFarlane advised the forum.