Employee Relations

What is Employee Relations?

Employee Relations involves the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale.   Essentially, Employee Relations is concerned with preventing and resolving problems involving individuals which arise out of or affect work situations.

Advice is provided to supervisors on how to correct poor performance and employee misconduct.   In such instances, progressive discipline and regulatory and other requirements must be considered in effecting disciplinary actions and in resolving employee grievances and appeals.   Information is provided to employees to promote a better understanding of management's goals and policies.  Information is also provided to employees to assist them in correcting poor performance, on or off duty misconduct, and/or to address personal issues that affect them in the workplace.   Employees are advised about applicable regulations, legislation, and bargaining agreements.   Employees are also advised about their grievance and appeal rights and discrimination and whistleblower protections. 

1

ETHICS JUSTICE AND FAIR TREATMENT IN HUMAN RESOURSE MANAGEMENT

 

ETHICS AND FAIR TREATMENT AT WORK   

INTRODUCTION

Ethics in business are nothing but the do’s and don’ts by the business users in the business. In other words it could be referred as set of principles a business man ought to follow. ”There should be business ethics” means that the business should be conducted according to certain self recognized moral standards. Few unethical elements in the present day business are cheating, stealing, lying, bribing, corrupting etc. A business man should be aware of the ethics in the business and should follow them in order to maintain ecological balance in the society

ETHICS IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Ethics is a key branch of philosophy, concerned with analyzing what is right or wrong. In people’s behavior or conduct. Ethics and morality are terms that are often used interchangeably in discussions of good and evil. The term ‘ethics’ is usually applied to persons (ethics comes from the Greek ethos, meaning character) – and ‘morality’s acts and behavior (moral comes from the Latin morals, meaning customs or Manners).

Ethical decisions are always characterized by two things.1. They always involve NORMATIVE JUDGMENT. It’s implies that something is

good or bad, right or wrong, better or worse.2. Ethics decisions also involve MORALITY which is society’s accepted standards

of behavior. They address behavior of serious consequence to society well being such as murder, lying and slander.

ETHICS AND LAW

The law is not the best guide about what is ethical, because something may be legal but not right, and something may be right but not legal. You can make a decision that involves ethics based on what is legal. However, that does not mean the decision will be ethical. Sometimes behavior is illegal and unethical. For example, one huge meat producer and processor recently had to respond to a federal indictment charging it with smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico to cut factory costs. 

ETHICS, FAIR TREATMENT AND JUSTICE

Managing human resources often requires making decision in which fairness play a big role. You hire one candidate and reject another one and demote another, pay one more and one

2

less, and settle one’s grievances while rejecting another’s. How employees react to this decision depends to a large extent, on whether they think the decisions and processes that led up to they were fair. Fairness is an integral part of what most people think of as justice. Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings (e.g. ethics codes, social responsibility charters). In some cases, corporations have redefined their core values in the light of business ethical considerations (e.g. BP's "beyond petroleum" environmental tilt).

With respect to employee relation, experts generally define organization justice in term of its three components: 

1. DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE:- Distributive justice refers to the fair and justice of a decision’s result.

2. PROCEDURAL JUSTICE:-   Procedural justice refers to the fairness of the process.

3. INTERACTIONAL JUSTICE :- The manner in which managers conducts their interpersonal dealings with employees. 

Companies where fairs and justice prevail also tend to be ethical companies. One study focused on how employees reacted to fair treatment. It concluded that to the extent that survey respondents believed that employee were treated fairly reported less unethical behavior in their organizations. Some of the things that motivate managers to be fair may be surprising for one thing the old saying the squeaky wheel gets the grease seems to be true.

WHAT SHAPES ETHICAL BEHAVIOR AT WORK?

The managers first task is to understand what shapes ethical behavior and then to take concrete steps to shape ethical behavior. The human recourses manager can take to help ensure ethical behavior.

3

EIGHT GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING ETHICS IN THE WORK PLACE

The following guidelines ensure the ethics management program is operated in a meaningful fashion:

1. Recognize that managing ethics is a processEthics is a matter of values and associated behaviors. Values are discerned through the process of ongoing reflection. Therefore, ethics programs may seem more process-oriented than most management practices. Managers tend to be skeptical of process-oriented activities, and instead prefer processes focused on deliverables with measurements. However, experienced managers realize that the deliverables of standard management practices (planning, organizing, motivating, controlling) are only tangible representations of very process-oriented practices. For example, the process of strategic planning is much more important than the plan produced by the process. The same is true for ethics management. Ethics programs do produce deliverables, e.g., codes, policies and procedures, budget items, meeting minutes, authorization forms, newsletters, etc. However, the most important aspect from an ethics management program is the process of reflection and dialogue that produces these deliverables.

2. The bottom line of an ethics program is accomplishing preferred behaviors in the workplaceAs with any management practice, the most important outcome is behaviors preferred by the organization. The best of ethical values and intentions are relatively meaningless unless they generate fair and just behaviors in the workplace. That's why practices that generate lists of ethical values, or codes of ethics, must also generate policies, procedures and training that translate those values to appropriate behaviors.

3. The best way to handle ethical dilemmas is to avoid their occurrence in the first placeThat's why practices such as developing codes of ethics and codes of conduct are so important. Their development sensitizes employees to ethical considerations and minimizes the chances of unethical behavior occurring in the first place.

4. Make ethics decisions in groups, and make decisions public, as appropriateThis usually produces better quality decisions by including diverse interests and perspectives, and increases the credibility of the decision process and outcome by reducing suspicion of unfair bias.

5. Integrate ethics management with other management practicesWhen developing the values statement during strategic planning, include ethical values preferred in the workplace. When developing personnel policies, reflect on what ethical values you'd like to be most prominent in the organization's culture and then design policies to produce these behaviors.

4

6. Use cross-functional teams when developing and implementing the ethics management programIt’s vital that the organization’s employees feel a sense of participation and ownership in the program if they are to adhere to its ethical values. Therefore, include employees in developing and operating the program.

7. Value forgivenessThis may sound rather religious or preachy to some, but it’s probably the most important component of any management practice. An ethics management program may at first actually increase the number of ethical issues to be dealt with because people are more sensitive to their occurrence. Consequently, there may be more occasions to address people’s unethical behavior. The most important ingredient for remaining ethical is trying to be ethical. Therefore, help people recognize and address their mistakes and then support them to continue to try operate ethically.

8. Note that trying to operate ethically and making a few mistakes is better than not trying at allBecause people bring to their jobs their own ideas of what is morally right and wrong the individual must shoulder much of credit for the ethical choices he or she makes.

ETHICS TOOLS: POLICIES AND PROCEDURES1. Update policies and procedures to produce behaviors preferred from the code of conduct Including, e.g., personnel, job descriptions, performance appraisal forms, management-by-objectives expectations, standard forms, checklists, budget report formats, and other relevant control instruments to ensure conformance to the code of conduct. In doing so, try to avoid creating ethical dilemmas such as conflicts-of-interest or infringing on employee's individual rights.

2. There are numerous examples of how organizations manage values through use of policies and proceduresFor example, we're most familiar with the value of social responsibility. To produce behavior aligned with this value, organizations often institute policies such as recycling waste, donating to local charities, or paying employees to participate in community events. In another example, a high value on responsiveness to customers might be implemented by instituting policies to return phone calls or to repair defective equipment within a certain period of time. Consider the role of job descriptions and performance appraisals. For example, an advanced technology business will highly value technical knowledge, creativity and systems thinking. They use job descriptions and performance appraisals to encourage behaviors aligned with these values, such as rewarding advanced degrees, patents, and analysis and design skills.

3. Include policies and procedures to address ethical dilemmas 

5

See the next section, "Ethics Tools: Resolving Ethical Dilemmas," to select a method which is most appropriate to your organization's culture and operations

4. Consider establishing an ethics "hotline."  This function might best be provided by an outside consultant, e.g., lawyer, clergyperson, etc. Or, provide an anonymous "tip" box in which personnel can report suspected unethical activities, and do so safely on an anonymous basis.  

5. Once a year, review all personnel policies and proceduresIf yours is a small organization, consider including all staff during this review. Take a full day for all staff to review policies and procedures, and suggest changes.

ETHICS CODES

Consider the following guidelines when developing codes of ethics:

1. Review any values need to adhere to relevant laws and regulationsThis ensures your organization is not (or is not near) breaking any of them. (If you are breaking any of them, you may be far better off to report this violation than to try hiding the problem. Often, a reported violation generates more leniency than outside detection of an unreported violation, particularly per the new Federal Sentencing Guidelines.) Increase priority on values that will help your organization operate to avoid breaking these laws and to follow necessary regulations.

2. Review which values produce the top three or four traits of a highly ethical and successful product or service in your area e.g., for accountants: objectivity, confidentiality, accuracy, etc. Identify which values produce behaviors that exhibit these traits.

3. Identify values needed to address current issues in your workplace Appoint one or two key people to interview key staff to collect descriptions of major issues in the workplace. Collect descriptions of behaviors that produce the issues. Consider which of these issues is ethical in nature, e.g.., issues in regard to respect, fairness and honesty. Identify the behaviors needed to resolve these issues. Identify which values would generate those preferred behaviors. There may be values included here that some people would not deem as moral or ethical values, e.g., team-building and promptness, but for managers, these practical values may add more relevance and utility to a code of ethics.  

4. Identify any values needed based on findings during strategic planning Review information from your SWOT analysis (identifying the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). What behaviors are needed to build on strengths, shore up weaknesses, take advantage of opportunities and guard against threats?

5. Consider any top ethical values that might be prized by stakeholders

6

For example, consider expectations of employees, clients/customers, suppliers, fenders, members of the local community, etc.

THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN FOSTERING ETHICS AND FAIR TREATMENT

Why treat employees fairly?

o “They’re not employees, they’re people”o Avoidance of employee litigationo Enhanced employee commitmento Enhanced satisfaction with the organization, with jobs, and with leaderso Increased organizational citizenship behaviors

HR Ethics Activities

Staffing and selectiono Fostering the perception of fairness in the processes of recruitment and hiring

of people. Formal procedures Interpersonal treatment Providing explanation

Trainingo How to recognize ethical dilemmas.o How to use ethical frameworks (such as codes of conduct) to resolve

problems.o How to use HR functions (such as interviews and disciplinary practices) in

ethical ways.

Performance appraisalo Appraisals that make it clear the company adheres to high ethical standards by

measuring and rewarding employees who follow those standards.

Reward and disciplinary systemso The organization swiftly and harshly punishes unethical conduct.

Workplace aggression and violenceo Taking care that HR actions do not foster perceptions of inequities that

translate into dysfunctional behaviors by employees.

Ethics Standards

7

1. Our Aims

To promote the art and science of HR Management for the public benefit and provide a national and international collective voice on HR issues. To be recognized as the professional body and leading authority and influence in the HR field in Romania.

2. Mission

The Club creates an environment for members to learn from each other and promotes the value of our members' contributions.

The mission of the HR Club is:

• To uphold the highest ideals in HR Management, enhancing the recognition and value of our profession;  • To lead in the development and promotion of good practice in the field of HR Management, for application both by professional members and by their organizational colleagues and establish national core standards for the HR profession; • To serve the professional interests of members, by enhancing members' ability to demonstrate professional competence through personal development and growth;• Encourage members to take a global and strategic perspective in support of their development as organizational leaders.

3. Standards of Professional Conduct

Purpose of this Code

As professionals, members must recognize that they represent themselves, their employers, and the Club and they must maintain, at all times, the highest ethical standards in business and in society, at large. Public confidence in and corporate support for the Club also depends upon adherence to these standards. All the HR Club members, of whatever grade of membership, must conduct all their relationships in accordance with the spirit and letter of our Code, and in a professional and respectful manner that is the prerequisite to growth and prosperity for the HR Club and its members.

Guidelines• Professionalism • Integrity • Competence • Objectivity • Accuracy • Loyalty • Equal Opportunity • Public Interest

General Principles

8

• Members will observe a high standard of ethics, probity and professional conduct; • Ethical behavior is not simply compliance with legal requirements; it extends to honesty,

equity, integrity and social responsibility in all dealings.• Members must comply with all legal, statutory and government requirements; • Members will work diligently to develop and maintain an outstanding and up to date level

of relevant professional knowledge.

The HR Club members are expected to exercise relevant competence in their business environment. In all circumstances they:

• Must endeavor to enhance the standing and good name of the profession; adherence to this code of professional conduct is an essential aspect of this; 

• Must seek continually to improve their performance and update and refresh their skills and knowledge; 

• Must, within their own or any client organization and in whatever capacity they are working, seek to encourage self-development by individuals; 

• Represent qualifications, skills and technical ability fairly and accurately, recognizing limits; they must seek to recognize the limitations of their own knowledge and ability and must not undertake activity for which they are not yet appropriately prepared or, where applicable, qualified; 

• Must promote and themselves maintain fair and reasonable standards in the treatment of people who are operating within scope of their influence; 

• Must promote and themselves seek to exercise employment practices that remove unfair discrimination including but not limited to gender, age, race, religion, disability and background; 

• Must respect legitimate needs and requirements for confidentiality; • Must use due diligence and exercise high standards of timeliness, appropriateness and

accuracy in the information and advice they provide to employers and employees;  • Seek opportunities to participate and, if possible, to play a leadership role in addressing

issues of concern in the areas we represent.

In the public interest and in the pursuit of its objects, the HR Club is committed to the highest possible standards of moral conduct and civil duty. To these end members:

• Are required to exercise integrity, honesty, diligence and appropriate behavior in all their business, professional and related personal activities; they will exhibit standards of personal integrity and professional conduct that reflect positively on the Club;  

• Demonstrate courtesy, honesty, fairness, and decency in all relationships with the general public and other members; 

• Must act within the law and must not encourage, assist or act in collusion with employers, employees or others who may be engaged in unlawful conduct; they conduct business in a manner which is consistent with responsible corporate citizenship;  

• Exercise the utmost good faith in dealings with and for the Club; they do not use membership privileges for purposes of sales, commercial, promotion, or personal aggrandizement; 

9

• Make decisions and allocate resources objectively without regard to friendship or personal basis; endeavor to maintain relationships with suppliers to the Club that are free from personal bias, yet effective and workable;

• do not make any gift or incur any improper or irregular expense on behalf of the Club.

4. Complaints

Any person, whether or not a member, may report any deviation from this Code of Conduct, the bylaws, or Conflict of Interest principles to the Executive Committee of the HR Club. Any person may complain to the Club that a member has been guilty of conduct which is not in accordance with the provisions of this Code and/or where that conduct appears likely to bring discredit to the Club or the profession. Such conduct will be considered under the terms of the disciplinary procedure.

EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE AND PRIVACY

The purpose of discipline is to encourage employees to behave sensibly at work and hear sensible refers to adhering to rules and regulations. Discipline is called for when an employee violates one of the rules.

BASICS OF FAIR AND JUST DISPLINARY PROCESS

The employer wants its discipline process to be both effective and fair. This process is based on 3 factors. They are:-1. Rules and regulations 2. Progressive penalties3. Formal disciplinary appeals processes

1. RULES AND REGULATIONS:-It addresses issues like theft, destruction of company’s property, drinking on the job and insubordination.

Poor performance is not acceptable and each employee is expected to perform his or her work properly and efficiently and to meet established standards of quality.

Alcohol and drugs are not allowed during work. The use of either during working hours and reporting for work under the influence of either are both prohibited.

The vending of anything in the plant without authorization is not allowed, nor is gambling permitted.

Rules inform employees beforehand what is and is not acceptable behavior. While hiring tell employees in writing what is not permitted. The employee handbook usually contains the rules and regulations.

2. PROGRESSIVE PENALTIES: - Penalties typically range from oral warnings to written warnings to suspension from the job to discharge. The severity of the penalty depends on the type of offense and the number of times the offense has occurred. e.g. Most companies issues warnings for the unexcused lateness. And if it continued still then a disciplinary action can be taken.

10

When disciplinary decisions reach arbitration, clarity and fairness loom large. Overly severe disciplinary procedures can backfire in other ways. An unfair disciplinary procedure can trigger reflationary employee mischief and thus actually encourage misbehavior.

3. FORMAL DISCIPLINARY APPEALS PROCESSES: -Virtually all union agreements contain disciplinary appeal procedures but such procedures are not limited to unionized firms. E.g- FedEx calls its appeals procedure guaranteed fair treatment:

In step1 management review, the complainant submits a written complaint to a member of management within 7 calendar days of the eligible issue.

If not satisfied with that decision, then in step2, officer complaint, the complainant submits a written appeal to the vice president or senior vice president of the division within 7 calendar days of the step1 decision.

Finally in step3, executive appeals review; the complainant may submit a written complaint within 7 calendar days of the step2 decision to the employee relations department. This department then investigates and prepares a case file for the executive review appeals board. The appeals board- the CEO, the COO, the chief personnel officer, and 3 senior vice presidents- then reviews all relevant information and makes a decision to uphold, overturn, or initiate a board of review, or to take other appropriate action. Some companies establish independent neutral counselors outside the normal chain of command to whom employees who believe they were treated unfairly can turn for confidential advice.

DISCIPLINE WITHOUT PUNISHMENT

Traditional discipline has two potential drawbacks. First, no one likes being punished. Second, punishment tends to gain short-term compliance, but not the sort of long-term cooperation employers often prefer.

Discipline without punishment or nonpunitive discipline aims to avoid these drawbacks.1. Issue an oral reminder. The goal is to get the employee to agree to avoid future

infractions.2. Should another incident arise within six weeks, issue a formal written reminder, a copy of

which is placed in the employee’s personnel file. In addition, hold a second private discussion with the employee’s, again without any threats.

3. Give a paid one day decision making leave. If another incident occurs in the next 6 weeks or so, tell the employee to take a one day leave with pay and to stay in home and consider whether the job is right for him or her and whether he or she wants to abide by the company’s rules. When the employee returns to work he or she meets you and gives you a decision regarding whether or not he or she will follow the rules.

4. If no further incidents occur in the next year or so, purge the one day paid suspension from the person’s file. If the behavior is repeated, the next step is dismissal.

The process would not apply to exceptional circumstances. Criminal behavior or inplant fighting might be ground for immediate dismissal for istance

11

EMPLOYEE PRIVACY: - For most people, invasions of their privacy are neither ethical nor fair. The 4 main types of employee privacy violations upheld by courts are intrusion, publication of private matters, disclosure of medical records, and appropriation of an employee’s name or likeness for commercial purposes. Background checks, monitoring off duty conduct and lifestyle, drug testing, workplace searches, and monitoring of workplace activities trigger most privacy violations.

EMPLOYEE MONITORING: - Monitoring today has gone far beyond methods like listening in on phone lines or video-monitoring employees. Biometrics-using physical traits such as fingerprints or iris scans for identification. As in Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York use biometrics scanners for instance to ensure that the employee that clocks in the morning is really who he or she says he is.

Location monitoring is becoming pervasive. As its name implies, this involves checking the location and movement of employees. Employers ranging from United Parcel service to the city of Oakland, California use GPS units to monitor their truckers. One survey found that about two thirds of companies monitor email activity, three quarters monitor employee Internet use, and about 40% monitor phone calls. Employers say that do so mostly to improve productivity and protect themselves from computer viruses, leaks of confidential information and harassment suits.

RESTRICTIONS

There are 2 main restrictions on workplace monitoring- the Electronic communications privacy act (ECPA) and common law protection against invasion of privacy. The ECPA is a federal law intended to help restrict interception and monitoring of oral and wire communications. It contains 2 exceptions. The “bossiness purpose exception” permits employers to monitor communications if they can show a legitimate business reason for doing so. The second “consent exception” lets employers monitor communications if they have their employees consent to do so.

LEGALITY

Electronic eavesdropping is legal –at least to a point .e.g. Federal law and most state laws allow employers to monitor employees’ phone calls in the ordinary course of business but they must stop listening once it becomes clear that a conversation is personal rather than business related. You can also intercept email service to protect the property rights of the email provider. One reason for explicit, signed policy statements is that employers can be liable for illegal acts their employees commit by via email. Videotaped workplace monitoring calls for more legal caution than, for instance, email monitoring.

MANAGING DISMISSALS

12

Dismissal is the most drastic disciplinary step the employer can take. There should be sufficient cause for dismissal, and dismissal should preferably occur only after all reasonable steps to rehabilitate or salvage the employee failed. However there will undoubtedly be times when dismissal is required, perhaps at once. The best way to “handle” a dismissal is to avoid it in the first place. Many dismissals start with bad hiring decisions. Using effective selection practices including assessment tests, reference and background checks, drug testing, and clearly defined job descriptions can reduce the need for many dismissals.

TERMINATION AT WILL AND WRONGFUL DISCHARGE

Termination at will means that without a contract, either the employer or the employee could terminate at will the employment relationship. The employee can resign for any reason, at will, and the employer can dismiss an employee for any reason, at will. Today, however, dismissed employees are increasingly taking their cases to court, and many employers are discovering they no longer have a blanket right to fire. Other laws and court rulings increasingly limit management’s right to dismiss employees.

Wrongful discharge refers to a dismissal that violates the law or that fails to comply with contractual arrangements stated or implied by the employer, for instance in application forms or employee manuals. Three main protections against wrongful discharge have eroded the termination at will doctrine- statutory exceptions, common law exceptions, and public policy exceptions. First, in terms of statutory exceptions, federal and state equal employment and workplace laws prohibit specific types of dismissals. For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964 prohibits discharging employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination against persons 40 years or older. The Family and Medical leave act provides employees with upto 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave for things like serious health conditions. Occupational safety laws prohibit firing employees for reporting dangerous workplace conditions. Second, numerous common law exceptions exist. e.g some state courts recognize the concept of implied contracts in employment. Thus a court may decide that an employee handbook promising termination only “for just cause” may create an exception to the at will rule. Similarly, an employer may create “an impression of secure employment by incorporating in its handbook progressive discipline policies or a series of procedures they will follow before taking adverse employment actions. Torts are special protections created by courts. One is against intentional infliction of emotional distress. Here a state court may deem an employer’s actions toward the employee so extreme and outrageous that it overturns a dismissal. Finally, under the public policy exception, courts have held a discharge to be wrongful when it was against an explicit, well-established public policy.

GROUNDS FOR DISMISSAL

13

There are 4 bases for dismissal: -unsatisfactory performance, misconduct, lack of qualifications for the job, and changed requirements of the job. Unsatisfactory performance means persistent failure to perform assigned duties or to meet prescribed job standards. Specific grounds include excessive absenteeism, tardiness, a persistent failure to meet normal job requirements, or an adverse attitude towards the company, supervisor, or fellow employees. Misconduct is deliberate and willful violation of the employer’s rules and may include stealing, rowdy behavior, and insubordination. Lack of qualifications for the job is an employee’s inability to do the assigned work although he or she is diligent. Employer may assign the person to another job, or retraining the person. Changed requirements of the job refer to an employee’s inability to do the job after the employer changed the nature of the job. Again, the employee may be industrious, so it is reasonable to retrain or transfer this person, if possible.

INSUBORDINATION

Insubordination is a form of misconduct, and basically refers to disobedience and rebelliousness. While things like stealing, chronic tardiness, and poor quality work are easily understood grounds for dismissal, insubordination is sometimes harder to translate into words. Some acts are:1. Direct disregard of the boss’s authority.2. Direct disobedience of or refusal to obey, the boss’s orders, particularly in front of others.3. Deliberate defiance of clearly stated company policies, rules, regulations, and procedures.4. Public criticism of the boss.5. Blatant disregard of reasonable instructions.6. Contemptuous display of disrespect, making insolent comments.7. Disregard for the chain of command, shown by frequently going around the immediate

supervisor with complaints, suggestions, or political maneuvers.8. Participation in an effort to undermine and remove the boss from power.

FAIRNESS IN DISMISSALS

Dismissals are never pleasant, but there are several things you can do to ensure that the person views the dismissal as fair. First, one study found that individuals who reported that they were given full explanations of why and how termination decisions were made were more likely to perceive their layoff as fair, endorse the terminating organization, and indicate that they did not wish to take the past employer to court. Second, instituting a formal multistep procedure and a neutral appeal process also fosters fairness. Third, who actually does the dismissing is important. Based, on this, one has to question the common practice of having the human resource department handle such notifications.

SECURITY MEASURES

14

Security measures are important whenever dismissals occur. Commonsense requires using a checklist to ensure that dismissed employees return all keys and company property, and accompanying them out of their offices and out of the building. The employer should disable Internet-related passwords and accounts of former employees, plug holes that could allow an ex-employee to exploit someone else’s user account to gain illegal access, and have formal rules for return of company laptops and handhelds.

AVOIDING WRONGFUL DISCHARGE SUITS

Wrongful discharge occurs when an employee’s dismissal does not comply with the law or with the contractual arrangement stated or implied by the employer. Avoiding wrongful discharge suits requires a two approach. First, create employment policies and, specifically, grievance/dispute resolution procedures that make employees feel they are treated fairly. People who are fired and who walk away feeling embarrassed or treated unfairly are more likely to seek retribution in court. In that regard, employers can use severance pay to blunt a dismissal’s sting. There is no way to make termination pleasant, but the first line of defense is to handle it with fairness and justice. Second, review and refine all employment related policies, procedures, and documents. Pay particular attention to the employee handbook. This makes clear that the material in the handbook does not constitute a contract. Other steps for employers to take include the following:

1. Have applicants sign the employment application. Make sure it contains a clear statement that employment is for no fixed term, and that the employer can terminate at any time. It should also inform applicants that “nothing on this application can be changed”.

2. Review your employee manual to find and delete statements that could prejudice your defense in a wrongful discharge case.

3. Have clear written rules listing infractions that may require discipline and discharge, and then follow the rules.

4. If a rule is broken, get the workers side of the story infront of witness, and preferably get it signed.

5. Appraise employees in writing at least annually, if an employee shows evidence of incompetence give that person a warning and provide an opportunity to improve.

6. Keep careful confidential records of all actions such as employee appraisals, warnings or notice, memos outlining how improvement should be accomplished, and so on.

PERSONAL SUPERVISORY LIABILITY

Courts sometimes hold mangers personally liable for their supervisory actions, particularly with respect to actions covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. There are ways to avoid personal liability. Managers should be fully familiar with applicable federal, state and local statutes and know how to uphold their requirements. Follow company policies and procedures. The essence of many charges is that the plaintiff

15

was treated differently than others, so consistent application of the rule or regulations is important. Administer the discipline in a manager that does not add to the emotional hardship on employee. Most employees will try to present their side of the story, and allowing them to do so can provide the employee some measure of signification. Do not act in anger, since doing so undermines any appearance of objectivity. Finally, utilize the human resources department for advice on how to handle difficult disciplinary matters. While some managers try to avoid arguments or hurting the terminated employee’s feelings, not being honest can backfire.

THE TERMINATION INTERVIEW

Dismissing an employee is one of the most difficult tasks a manager faces at work. The researchers concluded that the stress associated with firing someone doubled the usual risk of a heart attack for the person doing the firing, during the week following the dismissal. Guidelines for the termination interview itself are as follows:

1. Plan the interview carefully. it includes: Make sure the employee keeps the appointed time. Allow 10 minutes as sufficient time for the interview. Use a neutral site, not your own office. Have employee agreements and release announcements prepare in advance.Have phone numbers ready for medical or security emergencies.

2. Get to the point. Avoid small talk. As soon as the employee enters give the person a moment to get comfortable and then inform him or her of your decision.

3. Describe the situation. Briefly explain why the person is being let go. Stress the situation, rather than the employee and his or her shortcomings. Emphasize that the decision is final and irrevocable.

4. Listen to the extent practical; continue the interview for several minutes until the person seems to be talking freely and reasonably calmly about the reasons for his or her termination and the support package.

5. Review all elements of the severance package. Describe severance payments, benefits, access to office support people, and how references will be handled. However, under no circumstances should any promises and benefits beyond those already in the support package be implied.

6. Identify the next step. The terminated employee may be disoriented and unsure what to do next. Explain where the employee should go upon leaving the interview. It’s often best to have someone escort him or her until the person is out the door.

OUTPLACEMENT COUNSELING

Outplace counseling is a systematic process by which someone you’ve terminated is trained and counseled in the techniques of conducting a self-appraisal and securing a new job appropriate to his or her needs and talents. As the term is generally used, outplacement does not imply that the employer takes responsibility for placing the person in a new job. Instead, it is a counseling service whose purpose is to provide the person with advice, instructions,

16

and a sounding board to help formulate career goals successfully execute a job search him or herself. Outplacement counseling is part of the terminated employee’s support or severance package and is often done by specialized outside firms. Outplacement firms do more than counsel displaced employees; they also help the employer devise its dismissal plan.

Exit Interview

Many employers conduct exit interviews with employees who are leaving the firm for any reason. These are interviews, usually conducted by a human resource professional just prior to the employee leaving, that elicit information about the job or related matters with the aim of giving employers insights into what is right or wrong- about their companies. Exit interview questions include: How were you recruited? Why did you join the company? Was the job presented correctly and honestly? Were your expectations met? What was the workplace environment like? The assumption of course is that because the employee is leaving, he or she will be candid. The researchers found that at the time of separation, 38% of those leaving blamed salary and benefits, and only 4% blamed supervision. Followed up 18 months later, however, 24% blamed supervision and only 12% blamed salary and benefits.

LOCKOUTS, LAYOFFS, RETRENCHMENTS, AND CLOSURES IN INDIA

Nondisciplinary separations are a fact of corporate life. For the employer, reduced sales or profits may require layoffs and downsizing. Layoff generally refers to having selected employees take time off, with the expectation that they will come back to work. Downsizing refers to permanently dismissing a relatively large proportion of employees in an attempt to improve productivity and cometitiveness. Similarly employees may resign to retire or to look for better jobs. Lockouts, layoffs, retrenchments and closures of firms in India are regulated by the law. The existing laws protect the interests and rights of employees of the firms.

Industrial disputes act of 1947

This act specifies conditions for lockouts, layoffs, retrenchments, and closures of enterprises. A lockout is the closing of a place of employment, or suspension of work, or refusal by an employer to do work. The act also specifies conditions under which a lockout can be prohibited or deemed illegal. Layoffs, as defined in the act, are the failure, refusal or inability of an employer to give employment to those whose name appear on the employment role of the establishment. Laidoff employees are entitled to layoff compensation at the rate of 50% of their basic dearness allowance. According to the act, establishments are allowed to retrenchments employees by giving one month notice and paying compensation at the rate of 15 days salary for each completed year of service. The last person to be employed will be retrenched first and if the

17

employer decides to recruit at a later stage, the retrenched employees have to be given preference. Closure of establishments employing more than 100 workmen can be done only after obtaining prior permission of the government (section 25 FFA). Workers with service not less than one year, affected by closure, are eligible to receive retrenchment compensation.

The Plant Closing Law in the United States

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers of 100 or more employees to give 60 days notice before closing a facility or starting a layoff of 50 people or more. The law does not prevent the employer from closing down, nor does it require saving jobs. It simply gives employees time to seek other work or retraining them by giving them advance notice of the shutdown.

Retrenchment/dismissal effects

Dismissals tend to result in deleterious psychological and physical health outcomes for employees who lose their jobs as a well as for the survivors who, witnessing the layoffs of their coworkers and friends, face uncertainty and discomfort. The rigid law regarding retrenchments/closure, particularly the clause requiring approval of the appropriate government, is cited as the example of the restrictive and inflexible nature of Indian labor legislations. The trade union opposes moves to change the existing situation, since they fear job losses.

Layoff and Downsizing alternatives

Layoffs and downsizing are usually painful for all involved, and have the added disadvantage of stripping the company of well-trained personnel. Employers therefore often try to find alternatives to wholesale dismissals, where possible. With the voluntary reduction in pay plan, all employees agree to reductions in pay to keep everyone working. Other employers arrange for all or most employees to concentrate their vacations during slow periods. They don’t have to hire temporary help for vacationing employees during peak periods, and staffing automatically declines when business declines.Many employers hire temporary employees, often as independent contractors, with the understanding their work is temporary. When layoffs are required, they are the first to leave. Some seek volunteers as an alternative to dismissing large numbers of employees. For example, GM and Ford recently offered early retirement buyout packages to many of their employees.

Adjusting to Downsizings and Mergers

18

Firm’s usually downsize to improve their financial positions. Yet many firms discover profits don’t rise after major personnel cuts. Low morale among those remaining is often part of the problem. It therefore makes sense to think through how the firm is going to reduce the surviving employees’ uncertainty and boost their morale.

DOWNSIZING/LAYOFF GUIDELINES

For implementing a reduction in force include: - Identify objects and constraints for ex, decide how many position to eliminate at

which locations, and what criteria to use to identify the employee to whom you will offer any voluntary exit incentives.

Form a downsizing team. Address legal issues plan post implementation actions. Address security concerns.

Information sharing and interpersonal sensitivity can both help mitigate the otherwise negative effects. The people who announce the downsizing and deal with the employee questions should factually and truthfully explain what is happening and what the employees’ rights are.

MERGER GUIDELINES

In terms of dismissal, mergers and acquisitions are usually one sided. One company essentially acquires the other, and it is often the employees of the later who find themselves looking for new jobs. In such situations the acquired firms surviving employees may be hypersensitive to mistreatment of their soon to be former colleagues. Therefore,

Avoid the appearance of power and domination. Avoid win-lose behavior. Remain business like and professional in all dealings. Maintain as positive a feeling about the acquired company as possible. Remember that the degree to which your organization treats the acquired group

with care and dignity will affect the confidence, productivity, and commitment of those who remain.

LABOR RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

19

THE LABOR MOVEMENT

The union movement is important. Just over 15 millions U.S workers belong to unions- around 12% of total number of men women working in this country. Many are still traditional blue collar workers, but more and more are white collar workers. Foe instance workers including doctors, psychologists, graduate teaching assistants, government office workers, and even fashion models re joining unions. Federal state and local governments employ about seven million union members, who account for almost 40% of total government employees. And in some industries including transportation and public utilities, where over 26% of employees were union members – it’s still hard to get a job without joining a union.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN LABOR UNIONS

The Indian labor movement is more than 150 years old, with its origin in the 1850s and 1870s. But it gained momentum in 1918 when the Madras labor union was formed with mill- workers as members. The formation of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in 1920 gave flip to the organized labor movement in India. A series of agitations and strikes happened during the early years of unionization in different parts of country. The focus of the union is to end exploitation of workers in factories and other workplaces like mines. Trade unions also participated in the freedom struggle against the colonial rule. National leaders like Mahatma Gandhi were active in the trade union movement. The introduction of the Trade Union Act of 1926 provided the required legal framework for unions.

The changes in political landscape of India resulted in the AITUC splitting into the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) in 1947, followed by the Hidustan Mazdooor Sabha (HMS) in 1948. Later events like the split in Indian National Congress and the communist party also resulted in the formation of corresponding unions. Thus, in India, politically connected unions became the regular feature.

With the support of political parties and the elected governments, like the public sector companies and many private companies became heavily unionized, which leads to strikes and lockouts. Though the imposition of emergency in 1975 lead to suspension of trade unions rights and sudden fall in trade union activity, post emergency, the activities picked up. Under pressure from trade unions, in 1976. The Industrial Disputes Act was amended making it mandatory for firms employing more than 300 workers to take prior government permission before retrenching workmen.

UNION: A formal association of workers that promotes the interests of its member through collective action. Generally, The Union workers receive higher wages and benefits then do non-union workers. However Unions can be associated with high Productivity.

Why Do Workers Organize?

20

Worker's Join Union Primarily because of management failure to address organizational & job-related concerns.Yet there is no simple answer to the question, partly because each worker probably joins union for his or her own reasons. Studies suggest that two factors – employer unfairness and the union’s clout – explain why employees unionize. In one Australia based firm researchers found that “individuals who believe that the company rules or policies were administered unfairly or to their detriment were more likely turn to unions..”. But, to vote pro-union, the employees also had to believe the union could improve their wages, benefit, and treatment.

The Bottom Line:- The bottom line is that the urge to unionize often seems to boil down to the belief on the part of workers that it is only through unity that they can protect themselves from unilateral management whims. Sometimes even when the employer is trustworthy and benevolent, employees feel they need unity to protect themselves. So, in practice, low morale, fear of job loss, and arbitary management actions help foster unionization. In some respects these factors have not changed in years.

What Do Unions Want?

Unions have 2 Sets of aims: Union Security:

Five Types of Union Security are possible:1. Closed Shop: A form union security in which company can hire only union

members. This was outlawed in 1947 but still exists in some industries.2. Union Shop: A form of union security in which the Company can hire non-

union people, but they must join the union after the prescribed period of time and pay dues, or else they are fired.

3. Agency shop: A form of union security in which employees do not belong to the union still must pay union dues on the assumption that the union's efforts benefit all workers.

4. Open Shop: It is up to the workers whether or not they join the union---, those who do not, do not pay dues.

5. Maintenance of membership arrangement: Employees do not have to belong to the union. However, union members employed by the firm must maintain membership in the union for the contract period.

Improved wages, hours, working conditions, and benefits for their members

Once the union ensures its security at the company, it fights to improve its members’ wages, hours, and working conditions. The typical labor agreement also gives the union a role in other human resource activities, including recruiting, selecting, compensating, promoting, training, and discharging employees.

The AFL-CIO

21

The American Federation of labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of about 100 national and international labor unions in the United States. The separate AFL and CIO merged in 1955, with the AFL’s George Meany as the first president.

There are three layers in the structure of AFL-CIO (and other U.S unions). First, there is the local union. This is the union the worker joins, and to which he or she pays dues. The local union also usually signs the collective bargaining agreement determining the wages and working conditions. The local is turn to a single chapter in the national union. For example, if you were a teacher in Detroit, you would belong to local union there, which is one of hundreds of local chapters of the American Federation of Teachers, their national union.

The third layer in the structure is the national federation, in this case the AFL-CIO.

THE UNION DRIVE AND ELECTION

Initial Contact:- The union determines the employees' interest in organizing, and establishes an organizing committee. Once an employer becomes a target, a union official usually assigns a representative to assess employee interest. The representative visits the firm to determine whether enough employees are interested to make a union campaign worthwhile. He or she also identifies employees who would make good leaders in the organizing campaign and calls them together to create and organizing committee. The objective her is to educate the committee about the benefits of forming a union and the law and procedures involved informing a local union.

Labor Consultants: - Labor relations consultants increasingly influencing the unionization process. The widespread use of such consultants – only some of whom are actually lawyers- raises the questions of whether some have advised their clients to engage in activities that are illegal or questionable under labor laws.

Union Salting: - An organizing tactics by which workers who are in fact employed full-time by a union as undercover organizers are hired by unwitting employers.

Obtaining Authorization Cards- In order to petition for a union election, the union must show that at least 30% of employees may be interested in being unionized. Employees indicate this interest by signing authorization cards. During this stage, unions can picket the company, subject to three constraints

o The union must file a petition for an election within 30 days after the start of picketing.o The firm cannot already be lawfully recognizing another union.o There cannot have been a valid NLRB election during the past 12 months.

Hold a Hearing- Once the union collects the authorization cards, one of three things can occur. If the employer chooses not to contest union recognition, the parties need no hearing,

22

and a special "consent election" is held. If the employer chooses not to contest the union's right to an election, and/or the scope of the bargaining unit, and/or which employees are eligible to vote in the election, no hearing is needed and the parties can stipulate an election. If an employer does wish to contest the union's right, it can insist on a hearing to determine those issues. An employer's decision about whether it feels it needs additional time to try to persuade a majority of its employees not to elect a union to represent them. The bargaining unit is the group of employees that the union will be authorized to represent and bargain collectively. If the entire organization is the bargaining unit, the union will represent all non-supervisory, nonmanagerial, and nonconfidential employees, even though the union may be oriented mostly towards blue-collar workers.

The Campaign- During the campaign that precedes the election, union and employer appeal to employees for their votes. The union emphasizes that it will prevent unfairness, set up grievance and seniority systems, and improve wages. Management will stress that improvement like the union promises don’t require unionizing and that wages are equal to or better than they would be with a union. Management will also emphasize the financial cost of union dues; the fact that the union is an “outsider”; and that if the union wins, a strike may follow.

The Election- The election is held within 30 to 60 days after the NLRB issues its decision and direction of Election. The election is by secret ballot; NLRB provides the ballot, voting booth and ballot box, and counts the votes and certifies the results. The union becomes the employees representative if it wins the election, and winning means getting a majority of votes Cast, not a majority of total workers in bargaining unit.

Factors which influence the certification of election

o Union have a higher probability of success in geographic area with a higher percentage of union workers, in part because union employees higher wages and benefits.

o High employment seems to lead to poorer results for the union, perhaps because employees fear that unionization efforts might result in reduced job security or employer retaliation.

Trade Union Registration And Union Recognition In India:- The Trade Union Act 1926 provides for registration of trade unions by the designated registrar of trade unions.

Trade Union obligations like: maintenance of accounts and filing of returns. Non-compliance may invite cancellation of registration.

Various state governments like Maharashtra have enacted legislations like Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Union (MRTU) and the Prevention of Unfair Labor Practices (PULP) Act of 1971 to recognize unions based on their real strength.

23

The Supervisor’s Role: - Supervisors are the employer’s first line of defense when it comes to the unionizing efforts. They are often in the best position to sense evolving employee attitude problems, for instance, and to discover the first signs of union activity. They can also inadvertently take actions that hurt their employer’s union related efforts. Supervisors therefore need special training. Specifically, they must be knowledgeable about what they can and can’t do to legally hamper organizing activity. Unfair labor practices could:

o cause the NLRB to hold a new election after your company has won a previous election, or

o cause your company to forfeit the second election and go directly to contract negotiation.

Rules Regarding Literature And SolicitationThe employer can take steps to legally restrict union organizing activity.

Employers can always bar nonemployees from soliciting employees during their work time – that is, when the employee is on duty and not on break. Thus, if the company cafeteria is open to whomever is on the premises, union organizers can solicit off-duty employees who are in the cafeteria, but not the cafeteria workers (such as cooks )who are not on a break.

Employers can usually stop employees from soliciting other employees for any purpose if one or both employees are on paid- duty time and not on a break.

Most employers (generally not including retail stores, shopping canters and certain other employers) can bar nonemployees from the building’s interiors and work areas as a right of private property owners. They can also sometimes bar nonemployees from exterior private areas- such as parking lots- if there is a business reason (such as safety) and the reason id not the just to interfere with union organizers.

Employees can deny on-or-off-duty employees access to interior or exterior areas only if they can show the rule is required for reasons of production, safety or discipline.

Decertification the elections: Ousting the Union

Legal process for employees to terminate a union’s right to represent them.

Decertification campaigns don’t differ much from certification campaigns. The union organizes membership meetings and house-to-house visits, mails literature into the homes, and uses phone calls, NLRB appeals, and threats and harassment to win the election. For it’s part, management uses meetings – including one-on-one meeting, small group meetings, and meetings with entire units – as well as legal or expert assistance, letters improved working conditions, and subtle and not- so- subtle threats to try to influence the votes.

24

THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS

WHAT IS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING?

The process through which representatives of management and the unionmeet to negotiate a labor agreement. In a plain language, this means that both management and labor are required by law to negotiate wage, hours and terms and conditions of employment “in good faith”.

WHAT IS GOOD FAITH?

Good faith bargaining is the cornerstone of effective labor-management relations. It means that both parties communicate and negotiate, that they match proposals with counter proposals, and that both make every reasonable effort to arrive at an agreement. It does not mean that one party compels another to agree to a proposal. Nor does it require that either party make any specific concessions.

When is bargaining not in good faith? As interpreted by the NLRB and the courts, a violation of the requirement for good faith bargaining may include the following:

1. SURFACE BARGAINING: Going through the motions of bargaining without any real intention of completing a formal agreement.

2. INADEQUATE CONCESSIONS: Unwillingness to compromise, even though no one is required to make a concession.

3. INADEQUATE PROPOSALS AND DEMANDS: The NLRB considers the advancement of proposals to be a positive factor in determining overall good faith.

4. DILATORY TACTICS: The law requires that the parties meet and “confer at reasonable times and intervals.” Obviously, refusals to meet with the union do not satisfy the positive duty imposed on the employer.

5. IMPOSING CONDITIONS: Attempts to impose conditions that are so onerous or unreasonable as to indicate bad faith.

6. MAKING UNILATERAL CHANGES IN CONDITIONS: This is a strong indication that the employer is not bargaining with the required intent of reaching an agreement.

7. BYPASSING THE REPRESENTATIVE: The duty of management to bargain in good faith involves, at a minimum, recognition that the union representative is the one with whom the employer must deal in conducting negotiations.

25

8. COMMITTING UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES DURING NEGOTIATIONS: Such practices may reflect poorly upon the good faith of the guilty party.

9. WITH HOLDING INFORMATION: An employer must supply the union with information, upon request, to enable it to understand and intelligently discuss the issues raised in bargaining.

10. IGNORING BARGAINING ITEMS: Refusal to bargain on a mandatory item or insistence on a permissive item.

THE NEGOTIATING TEAM

Both union and management send a negotiating team to the bargaining team to the bargaining table, and both teams usually go into the bargaining sessions having “done their homework”. Union representatives will have sounded out union members on their desires and conferred with representatives of related union.

BARGAINING ITEMS: Labor law sets out categories of items that are subject to bargaining: These are mandatory, voluntary and illegal items.

VOLUNTARY (OR PERMISSIBLE) BARGAINING ITEMS are neither mandatory nor illegal; they become a part of negotiations only through the joint agreement of both management and union. Neither party can compel the other to negotiate over voluntary items. Benefits for retirees might be an example.

ILLEGAL BARGAINING ITEMS are forbidden by law .A clause agreeing to hire union members exclusively would be illegal in a right - to- work state.

BARGAINING STAGES

The actual bargaining typically goes through several stages.

FIRST, each side presents its demands. At this stage, both parties are usually quite far apart on some issues.

SECOND, there is a reduction of demands. At this stage, each side trades off some of its demands to gain others.

THIRD, come the subcommittee studies; the parties form joint subcommittees to try to work out reasonable alternatives.

FOURTH, the parties reach an informal settlement, and each group goes back to its sponsor. Union representatives check with top management.

Finally, once everything is in order, the parties fine-tune and sign a formal agreement.

26

IMPASSES, MEDIATION AND STRIKERS

In collective bargaining, an impasse occurs when the parties are not able to move further toward settlement. An impasse usually occurs because one party is demanding more than the other will offer. Sometimes an impasse can be resolved through a third party ---a disinterested person such as a mediator or arbitrator. If the impasse is not resolved in this way, the union may call a work stoppage, or strike, to put pressure on management.

THIRD- TYPE INVOLVEMENT

Negotiators use three types of third –party interventions to overcome an impasse: mediation, fact finding and arbitration.With mediation, a neutral third party tries to assist the principal in reaching agreement .The mediator usually holds meetings with each party to determine where each stands regarding its position , and then uses this information to find common ground for further bargaining. The mediator is always a go – between, and does not have the authority to dictate terms or make concessions.

In certain situation, as in national emergency dispute, a fact finder may be appointed. A fact finder is a neutral party who studies the issues in a dispute and makes a public recommendation for a reasonable settlement.

Arbitration is the most definitive type of third – party intervention, because the arbitrator often has the power to determine and dictate the settlement. Unlike mediation and fact finding, arbitration can guarantee a solution to an impasse. Arbitration may also be voluntary or compulsory.

There are two main topics of arbitration : -1. Interest arbitration:- always centers on working out a labor agreement; the

parties use it when such agreements do not yet exit or when one or both parties seeking to change the agreement.

2. Right arbitration:- means “contract interpretation arbitration”. It usually involves interpreting exiting contract terms, for instance, when an employee questions the employer’s right to have some disciplinary action.

STRIKE

A strike is a withdrawal of labor, and there are four main types of strikes:

1. ECONOMIC STRIKE:- It result from a failure to agree on the terms of a contract. Union call unfair labor practices strikes to protest illegal conduct by the employer

2. WILDCAT STRIKE:- It is an unauthorized strike occurring during the term of a contract.

27

3. SYMPATHY STRIKE:- It occurs when one union strikes in support of the strike of another union.

PICKETING

Having employees carry signs announcing their concerns near the employer’s place of business, is one of the first activities to occur during a strike. Its purpose is to inform the public about the existence of the labor dispute and often to encourage others to refrain from doing business with the struck employer.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES

Management and labor each have other weapons they can use to try to break an impasse and achieve their aims .The union, for example, may resort to a corporate campaign. A CORPORATE CAMPAIGN is an organized effort by the union that exerts pressure on the employer by pressuring the company’s others unions, shareholders, corporate director, customer, creditors and government agencies directly.

BOYCOTT

The combined refusal by employees and other interested parties to buy or use the employer’s products.

INSIDE GAMES

Another union tactic, one often used in conjunction with corporate campaigns. Inside games are union efforts to convince employees to impede or to disrupt production ---for example , by slowing the work pace , refusing to work overtime , filing mass charges with government agencies, refusing to do work without receiving detailed instructions from supervisors , and engaging in other disruptive activities such as sick-out.

LOCKOUT

It is a refusal by the employer to provide opportunities to work. It locks out employees and prohibits them from doing their jobs. The NLRB generally does not view lockout as an unfair labor practices. For example, if your product is a perishable one, then a lockout may be a legitimate tactic to neutralize or decrease union power. The NLRB views lockout as an unfair labor practices only when the employer acts for a prohibited purpose.

28

INJUNCTION

Both employers and union can seek an injunction from the courts if they believe the other side is taking actions that could cause irreparable harm to the other party. An injunction is a court order compelling a party or parties either to resume or to desist from a certain action.

GRIEVENCES

Hammering out a labor agreement is not the last step in collective bargaining. No labor contract can cover all contingencies and answer all questions. For example, suppose the contract says you can only discharge an employee for “just cause”. You can subsequently discharge someone for speaking back to you in harsh terms. Was it within your rights to discharge this person? Was speaking back to you harshly “just cause”?

The labor contract grievance procedure usually handles problems like these. The grievance procedure provides an orderly system whereby both employer and union determine whether some action violated the contract. It is a vehicle for administering the contract on day- to- day basis. The grievance process allows both parties to interpret and give meaning to various clauses, and transforms the contract into a “living organism.”

SOURCES OF GRIEVANCES

From a practical point of view, it is probably easier to list those items that don’t precipitate grievance than to list the ones that do. Employees may use just about any factor involving wages, hours, or conditions of employment as the basis of a grievance. However, certain grievances are more serious, since they’re usually more difficult to settle. Discipline cases and seniority problems including promotions, transfers, and layoffs would include in list. Others would include grievances growing out of job evaluations and work assignments, overtime, vacations, incentives plans, and holidays. Here are four examplesof grievances:

1. Absenteeism:- An employer fired an employee for excessive absence. The employee filed a grievances stating that there had been no previous warnings or discipline related to excessive absences.

2. Insubordination:- An employee on two occasions refused to obey a supervisor’s order to meet with him, unless a union representative was present at the meeting. As a result, the employee was discharged and subsequently filed a grievance protesting the discharge.

3. Overtime:- The employer discontinued Sunday overtime work after a department was split. Employees affected filed a grievances protesting loss of the overtime work.

4. Plant rules:- The plant had a posted rule barring employees from eating or drinking during unscheduled breaks. The employees filed a grievance claiming the rule was arbitrary.

29

THE GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

It lists the various steps in the procedure, time limits associated with each step, and specific rules such as “all charges of contract violation must be reduced to writing.” Virtually, every labor agreement signed today contains a grievances procedure clause.

The grievances procedure may contain six or more steps. The first step might be for the grievant and shop steward to meet informally with the grievant’s supervisor to try finding a solution. If they don’t find one, the employee files a formal grievance, and there’s a meeting with the employee, shop steward and the supervisor’s boss. The next step involves the grievant and union representatives meeting with higher –level managers. Finally, if top management and the union can’t reach agreement, the grievances may go to arbitration.

GUIDELINES FOR HANDLING GRIEVANCE

The best way to handle a grievance is to develop a work environment in which grievances don’t occur in the first place. Hone your ability to recognize, diagnose, and correct the cause of potential employee dissatisfaction (such as unfair appraisals, inequitable wages, or poor communication) before they become grievances. One expert has developed a list of do’s and don’t as useful guides in handling grievances.

Do :-1. Investigate and handle each case as though it may eventually result in arbitration. 2. Talk with the employee about his or her grievances; give the person a full hearing.3. Require the union to identify specific contractual provisions allegedly violated.4. Comply with the contractual time limits for handling the grievances.5. Visit the work area of the grievance.6. Determine whether there were any witnesses.7. Examine the grievant personnel record.8. Fully examine prior grievance records.9. Treat the union representative as your equal.10. Hold your grievance discussions privately.11. Fully inform your own supervisor of grievance matters.

Don’t :-1. Discuss the case with the union steward alone---the grievant should be there.2. Make agreements with individual employees that are inconsistent with the labor

agreement.3. Hold back the remedy if the company is wrong.4. Agree to informal amendments in the contract.5. Give long written grievance answers.6. Bargain over items not covered by the contract.7. Settle grievance based on what is “fair”. Instead, stick to the labor agreement.

30

THE UNION MOVEMENT TODAY AND TOMORROW

About 35% of the non-farm U.S. workforce belonged to unions in the 1960s.Recently, that figure dropped to about 12%. Why has this occurred and what is the future for the union?

Why Union Membership Is Down

Several things contributed to union membership decline. Increased global competition and new technologies like the Internet and just -in-time production systems forced employers to reduce inefficiencies and cut costs—often by reducing payrolls by automating or by sending jobs abroad. This squeezes unions. Some union leaders also believe that new labor—management cooperation tactics undermine unions’ traditional prerogatives.

An Upswing for unions?

Union membership varies widely by state, so union are still quite influential in some states. And, fully 35% of the nation’s blue—collar workers –In particular those in manufacturing and construction jobs –belong to unions. Furthermore, a slight majority of all union members (about 51%), are now white-collar, which suggest unions are having success tapping this growing portion of the workforce.

Public Employees and unions

One bright spot for the union movement is their success in organizing federal, state, and municipal workers. With at least 7 million public –sector union members, the public sector represents at least 44% of total U.S. union membership. Three public unions—the National Education Association, the American Federation of State, county and Municipal Employees, and the American Federation – are among the largest nine U.S. unions. The Union success in organizing public employee reflects, in part, years of changes in public sector collective bargaining and labor relations legislation. The National Labor Relations Act does not cover public employees.

ORGANIZING PROFESSIONALS AND WHITE—COLLAR EMPLOYEES

Unions are also making inroads into traditionally hard-to-organize worker segments like professionals and white-collar workers, as even these employees see their job security and perquisites under attack.Thousandsof teachers, doctors, and nurses, professionals have already joined unions, and employers’ continuing attempts to squeeze ever more productivity out of these workers may well prompt more to consider doing so.

New Union Tactics

Unions are pushing Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. This would, among other things, make it more difficult for employers to inhibit workers from trying to form

31

union. Unions are also pushing for a new means of obtaining union recognition. Instead of secret ballots elections, they want a “card check” system. Here the union would win recognition when a majority of workers signed authorization card saying they want to union. Several large companies, including Cingular Wireless agreed to the card check process.

Improving Productivity through HRIS

Furthermore, employers are not the only ones benefiting from technology. In fact, the Internet is revolutionizing union activity, much as it revolutionized how firms do business. E-mail and the Internet mean unions can mass e-mail announcements to collective bargaining unit members, and use e-mail to reach supporters and governments officials for their corporate campaigns.Union-based Web sites are now integral parts of many such unionization campaigns; Alliance @IBM provides one example. Managed by the communications workers of America, Alliance @IBM seeks to encourage IBM employees to join the communications workers of America. It does so by providing information on a range of issues, such as why IBM employees need a union, questions and concerns about unions, and how employees can join the union and get involved. For example, one page contains background information and instruction for Alliance organizers at IBM.

32

EMPLOYEE SAFETY AND HEALTH

“Health and safety is integral to success. Board members who do not show leadership in this area are failing in their duty as directors and their moral duty, and are damaging their organisation.”.“Health and safety is a fundamental part of business. Boards need someone with passion and energy to ensure it stays at the core of the organization”

WHAT IS HEALTH?

Health at the individual employee level is not just the absence of illness but also includes positive health or optimal functioning

Health at the organizational level now includes human resource factors such as turnover rates, the number of grievances, and the overall morale of employees of the organization

According to the joint ILO/WHO committee on organization health , industrial health is:

The promotion and maintenance of physical, mental and well being of workers in all occupation ;

Prevention among workers of ill – health caused by the working condition ; Protection of workers in their employment from risk resulting from factors adverse to

health , and; Placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his

physical and psychological equipment.

There are four basic elements to all good safety and health programs. These are as follows:

1. Management Commitment and Employee Involvement:- The manager or management team leads the way, by setting policy, assigning and supporting responsibility, setting an example and involving employees.

2. Worksite Analysis:- The worksite is continually analyzed to identify all existing and potential hazards.

3. Hazard Prevention and Control:- Methods to prevent or control existing or potential hazards are put in place and maintained.

4. Training for Employees, Supervisors and Managers:- Managers, supervisors and employees are trained to understand and deal with worksite hazards.

Significance of industrial health is as follows:-

1. To maintain and improve productivity and quality of work2. To minimize absenteeism and labour turnover3. To reduce industrial unrest, indiscipline and accidents4. To improve employee motivation and morale

33

5. To reduce spoilage and cost of operations 6. To preserve the physical and mental health of employees.

Working Condition Affecting Health

1. Cleanliness:-Hygiene essential to health . Arrangements should be made for disposal of industrial waste.

2. Lighting:- A good lighting system should provide (a) the right degree of intensity of light depending upon the nature of work ,(b) Well - diffused and uniformly spread light all over the work , (c) protection from any glare .

3. Temperature and Ventilation:- In hot and humid climate ,employees f eel tired and sleepy ventilators ,fans , coolers/ heaters , air conditioners help to maintain right temperature and humidity .

4. Freedom from Noise:- Too much noise inside and outside the work place cause disturbance. Proper location of factory ,sound proof walls , double doors and glass panels may be used to avoid noise.

5. Working space and seating arrangement:- adequate space should be provided for free movement of persons , machines etc. Over – crowding should be avoided as it spoils health and efficiency.

Occupational Hazards And Diseases

1. Chemical substance:- CO2, sulphuric acid , limes and alkalies causes injury when they are absorbed through skin and inhaling . Workers are suffer from skin diseases , asthma , heart disease , neurological disorders and cancer .

2. Biological Hazards:- Bacteria , fungi, viruses, insects, malnutrition excessive drinking and job stress affect employee health.

3. Environment Hazards:- These including radiation ,noise ,vibrations, shocks etc. X- rays or radio active exposure may cause eye strain , genetic disorders and cancer.

4. Atmospheric condition:- inadequate ventilation , improper lighting , extreme temperature, etc. affect health and efficiency of employees.

Industrial Health Programme Every industrial establishment should formulate and implement a positive policy and programme to maintain the good health of its employees . such a programme should consist of the following steps:

Maintenance and supervision of satisfactory sanitation and hygiene in the factory/office

Inoculation and after programme for the prevention of communicable diseases Active cooperation with public health agencies and accident prevention authorities Maintenance of adequate and confidential medical records Health education and information service for employees Proper medical examination of every new employee Employment of professional physician and nurses

34

Adequate emergency care and hospitalization facilities.Statutory Provision Concerning Health

The Factories Act 1948 says down provision concerning employee health: Cleanliness :

(a) every factory shall be kept clean and free from effluvia arising from any drain , privy or other nuisance;

(b) Accumulation of dirt and refuse shall be removed daily by some effective method ;

(c) the floor of every work room shall be cleaned at least once in a weak by some effective method ;

(d) where a floor is likely to become wet in course of any manufacturing process to such an extent as is capable of being drained effective means of drainage shall be provided ;

Statutory Provision Concerning Health are as follows:-

1. Disposal of Waste and effluents: effective arrangements shall be made in every factory for the treatment of wastes and effluents due to manufacturing process carried on therein, so as to render them innocuous and for their disposal.

2. Artificial Humidification : in any factory in which the humidity of the air is artificially increased , the water used for the purpose shall be taken from a public supply or other sources of drinking water or shall be effectively purified before it is used .

3. Over Crowding : there shall be in every work room of a factory at least 9.9 cubic metres (for the factories existing before this Act ) and 14.2 cubic metres ( for factories built after this Act ) of space for every worker . In calculating such space , no account shall be taken of any space which is more than 4.2 metres above the level of the room’s floor .

4. Room dimensions and space Workrooms should have enough free space to allow people to move about with ease. The volume of the room when empty, divided by the number of people normally working in it, should be at least 11 cubic metres. All or part of a room over 3.0 m high should be counted as 3.0 m high. 11 cubic metres per person is a minimum and may be insufficient depending on the layout, contents and the nature of the work.

Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992

Principal objective to prevent harm to employees at work Aims

o promote excellence in health and safety management by employerso impose specific duties on employers and others to prevent harm to employees

35

o provide for making of regulations and approval of codes of practice relating to hazards

Covers people in places of work Accident

o event that causes, or might have caused harm to any person Harm

o illness, injury, or both Hazard

o activity, arrangement, circumstance, event, occurrence, phenomenon, process, situation, or substance (arising or caused in or outside a place of work) that is an actual or potential cause or source of harm

Safeo means a person is not exposed to hazards or that a place is free from hazards

Duties of employers

Take all practicable steps to ensure safety of employees at work Provide and maintain safe working environment Ensure machinery and equipment is safe Ensure employees are not exposed to hazards Develop procedures for dealing with emergencies Ensure employees do not cause harm to others Ensure employees are adequately trained Ensure employees do not cause harm to others in workplace

Hazard management

Take all practicable steps to ensure safety of employees at work Provide and maintain safe working environment Ensure machinery and equipment is safe Ensure employees are not exposed to hazards Develop procedures for dealing with emergencies Ensure employees do not cause harm to others Ensure employees are adequately trained Ensure employees do not cause harm to others in workplace

Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996

Aim to protect environment, and health and safety of people and communities, by preventing or managing adverse effects of hazardous substances and new organisms

Hazardous substance is any material which can harm people or environmentContemporary safety and health issues

Workplace design Occupational overuse syndrome Shiftwork

36

Violence in the workplace Stress and fatigue AIDS Alcohol and drugs abuse

INTERNAL FACTORS prevailing

Internal factors in health and safety include:• Job stress• Safety• Diversity and discrimination• Sexual harassment, violence, and incivility

JOB STRESS

A 2002 national survey found that half of all workers see job stress as a major problem, which is over double the proportion who expressed this view just 10 years earlier

Topical issue Law has long recognised stress as cause of workplace health problems Key contributors

o Environmental factorso Job and work design factorso Contract-related factorso Relationship factors

Recognising stress Mood changes Cognitive changes Behavioural changes

Dealing with stress Minimise unpredictability and ambiguity Minimise uncontrollavle events Eliminate avoidance learning Minimise physical stressors Avoid recurring stresses Watch for negative effects

Job Role Stressors

Role ambiguity:- lack of clarity and specificity about one’s occupational role responsibilities Role conflict:- the presence of competing or incompatible role demands

37

Role overload:- having too much work to do, too little time to do that work, and/or not having the resources to complete the work required

Emerging Job Stressors

Conflict between work and family roles Technological advances – may blur work and nonwork roles Increased service industry jobs may require more emotional regulation due to

frequent customer interaction

Safety

According to the Factories Act 1948 ,“an occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to a person which makes him unfit to resume his duties in the next 48 hours.” In other words , it is an unexpected and sudden event arising out of and in the course of employment . However , self – inflicted injuries ,injuries inflicting with the consent of person cannot be regarded as accidents.

The overall number of occupational injuries and days missed due to injuries has declined between 1990 and 2005

With the expansion of service-producing businesses, we have seen an increase in the number of deaths in the retail and transportation industries

How to Improve Safety Safety climate:- refers to the shared perceptions of an organization’s policies,

practices, and procedures with respect to the priority placed on safety Work design:- creating physical barriers between employees and known hazards

Significance Of Industrial Safety

Industrial efficiency and safety are directly related to each other . Safety measure prevent accidents and ensure regular flow of work . Safety also helps to improve the morale and productivity of workers. it contributes to the team work and sence of to belonging among employees . Surveys and studies reveal that wherever safety measures are good , labour productivity is high. This is so because employees can concentrate on their work with confidence and without fear .

Measures to Ensure Industrial Safety are as follows:- 1. Safety policy :- Every industrial establishment should formulate and implement a

safety policy. The main of the policy should be to reduce the number of hazards factors which are likely to cause accidents, and develop safe working habit s along with its employees. The safety programme must top management support and active cooperation of employees .

2. Safety committee :- a safety committee should be constituted in every large factors . It should consist of the representetiveness of both the employer and employees.

38

3. Safety Education and Training :- safety education and training should be provided to workers , supervisors and executives to develop safety consciousness and safe working habits . Workers should be trained in the proper use of safety devices . The need for good house keeping and safe material handling should be stressed.

Maintenance

The workplace, and certain equipment, devices and systems should be maintained in efficient working order (efficient for health, safety and welfare). Such maintenance is required for mechanical ventilation systems; equipment and devices which would cause a risk to health, safety or welfare if a fault occurred; and equipment and devices intended to prevent or reduce hazard.

Floors and traffic routes

‘Traffic route’ means a route for pedestrian traffic, vehicles, or both, and includes any stairs, fixed ladder, doorway, gateway, loading bay or ramp. There should be sufficient traffic routes, of sufficient width and headroom, to allow people and vehicles to circulate safely with ease.

Horizontal swinging barriers used as gates at car park or similar entrances should be locked open or locked shut (preferably by padlock) so that they do not swing open and constitute a risk to oncoming vehicles.

Set appropriate speed limits, and make sure they, and any other traffic rules, are obeyed. Provide route markings and signs so that drivers and pedestrians know where to go and what rules apply to their route, so they are warned of any potential hazards. . Falls into dangerous substances The consequences of falling into dangerous substances are so serious that a high standard of protection is required. Dangerous substances in tanks, pits or other structures should be securely fenced or covered. Traffic routes associated with them should also be securely fenced.

Transparent or translucent doors, gates or walls and windows Windows, transparent or translucent surfaces in walls, partitions, doors and gates should, where necessary for reasons of health and safety, be made of safety material or be protected against breakage

Windows

39

Openable windows, skylights and ventilators should be capable of being opened, closed or adjusted safely and, when open, should not pose any undue risk to anyone.

Doors and gates should be suitably constructed and fitted with safety devices if necessary.

Escalators and moving walkways

Escalators and moving walkways should function safely, be equipped with any necessary safety devices, and be fitted with one or more emergency stop controls which are easily identifiable and readily accessible. Welfare

Sanitary conveniences and washing facilities

Suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences and washing facilities should be provided at readily accessible places. They and the rooms containing them should be kept clean and be adequately ventilated and lit. Washing facilities should have running hot and cold or warm water, soap and clean towels or other means of cleaning or drying. If required by the type of work, showers should also be provided. Men and women should have separate facilities unless each facility is in a separate room with a lockable door and is for use by only one person at a time.

Drinking water

An adequate supply of high-quality drinking water, with an upward drinking jet or suitable cups, should be provided. Water should only be provided in refillable enclosed containers where it cannot be obtained directly from a mains supply. The containers should be refilled at least daily (unless they are chilled water dispensers where the containers are returned to the supplier for refilling). Bottled water/water dispensing systems may still be provided as a secondary source of drinking water. Drinking water does not have to be marked unless there is a significant risk of people drinking non-drinking water.

Accommodation for clothing and facilities for changing

Adequate, suitable and secure space should be provided to store workers’ own clothing and special clothing. As far as is reasonably practicable the facilities should allow for drying clothing. Changing facilities should also be provided for workers who change into special work clothing. The facilities should be readily accessible from workrooms and washing and eating facilities, and should ensure the privacy of the user, be of sufficient capacity, and be provided with seating.

Facilities for rest and to eat meals

40

Suitable and sufficient, readily accessible rest facilities should be provided. Seats should be provided for workers to use during breaks. These should be in a place where personal protective equipment need not be worn. Rest areas or rooms should be large enough and have sufficient seats with backrests and tables for the number of workers likely to use them at any one time, including suitable access and seating which is adequate for the number of disabled people at work. Where workers regularly eat meals at work, suitable and sufficient facilities should be provided for the purpose. Such facilities should also be provided where food would otherwise be likely to be contaminated.

Statutory Provisions Concerning Industries safety

The Factories Act 1948 lays down the following safety provisions :1. Fencing of machinery (sec 21) 2. Work on or near machinery in motion (sec 22)3. Employment of young persons on dangerous machines (sec 23)4. Sticking gear and devices for cutting of power (sec 24)5. Self-acting machine (sec 25)6. Casting of new machinery (sec 26)7. Prohibition of employment of women and children near cotton openers (sec 27)8. Hoists and lifts (sec 28)9. Lifting machines , tackles chains ,& ropes (sec 29)10. Revolving machinery (sec 30)11. Pressure plant (sec 31)12. Floors , stairs and means of access (sec 32)13. Pits ,sumps ,openings in floors (sec 33)14. Excessive weights (sec 34)15. Protection of eyes (sec 35)16. Precaution against Dangerous fumes (sec 36)17. Explosive or inflammable gas or dust (sec 37)18. Precaution against in case of fire (sec 38)19. Power to require specification of defective part or test of stability (sec 39)20. Safety of building and machinery (sec 40)21. Power to make rules (sec 41)

Technology Technology can lead to safety issues through:

o New machineryo Extensive computer usage

Diversity and Discrimination Discrimination is associated with negative mental health outcomes Diversity can increase stress and make communication with coworkers more difficult

Sexual Harassment, Violence, and Incivility

41

Increases in the service industry will increase the potential for aggression from customers

Sexual harassment may lead to psychological distress and overall health issues

Measurement and Records of Accidents Two main measures ratios used tom measure accidents are frequency rate and severity rate . Accident frequency rate is the number of time lost accidents or injuries per employee per 1000000 man hours worked . Accident severity rate means the total number of days charged or lost because of accidents per 1000000 man hours worked.

Accident frequency rate = no. of injuries *1000000 total no. of man hours worked

Accident severity Rate = no. of man days lost * 1000000 total no. of man hours worked

Accident ratios

Measurement and Records of Accidents

Systematic and up-to-date records of industrial accidents and steps taken to prevent them should be maintain in an industrial undertaking. Under the Workmen’s Compensation Act Accident records should contain the following information :

1. The total number of employees in the unit who are exposed to different types of accidents;

2. The severity of the accident – weather it resulted in a broken bone , a deep cut and the time that was lost as a result of it ;

3. The date , time and the shift during which the accident occurred ;

42

4. The total no of years of during which the employee was engaged on that particular job when the accident occurred;

5. Personal data Including the age and health of the injured employee 6. The immediate cause of the accident whether it was the result of a malfunctioning of

a machine, or weather the employee failed to use the safety device provided for the purpose of preventing accident.

Accident compensation

Provides no-fault and comprehensive coverage for all workers who suffer accidental injury

Offers incentives to employers to improve their safety and accident prevention performance and records

gives ACC central role in supporting development of workplace safety and rehabilitation programmes

Causes Of Industrial Accidents

1. Unsafe Condition:- these refers to work related or technical causes . (a) The job itself :- some jobs are inherently more dangerous than others. (b) Work schedules:- Night shift is more accident prone than day shift due to fatigue and sleepiness. (c) Psychological condition :- Emotional disturbance and mental preoccupation often cause accidents .over – work , monotony , bordom , anxiety , fatigue and frustration disturb concentration and mental alertness leading to accidents.

2. Unsafe Acts:- These arise due to lack of knowledge and skills ,bodily defects and faulty attitudes . Some examples are given below :

(a) operating without authority(b) failure to use safety devices (c) failure to use listen to warning (d) operating at unsafe speeds(e) using unsafe equipment (f) lifting things improperly

HR Responses

Organizational health and safety interventions can be classified into two general categories:

o Initiatives that reduce and prevent strain and injury from occurring in the first place

o Initiatives that help to rehabilitate individuals who have already experienced strain and injury

43

Preventative Interventions Primary interventions - aimed at reducing or eliminating the source of strain and risk

in the workplace and are targeted at everyone Secondary interventions - target individuals that are particularly at risk and help them

to manage the causes of stress, strain, and injury Primary interventions - aimed at reducing or eliminating the source of strain and risk

in the workplace and are targeted at everyone Secondary interventions - target individuals that are particularly at risk and help them

to manage the causes of stress, strain, and injury

Compensation Financial incentives may promote safe behaviors as long as the incentive programs

are aligned with other organizational systems

Employee Involvement and Job Enrichment Organizations can involve their employees in the development and implementation of

policies and practices related to occupational health and safety

Diversity Training Diversity training can be integrated with other, more general training initiatives such

as team building, mentoring programs, and management training

Work-Life Balance Initiatives Flexible work hours and childcare assistance Flexible leave options that go beyond the requirements of the FMLA

Safety Management Ways to target and prevent injuries:

o Eliminate hazards entirely by redesigning jobs such that exposure to hazards is no longer necessary

o Block access to hazards that the organization cannot eliminate o Training employees to recognize hazards and avoid them

Employee Assistance Programs Programs aimed at helping employees that are experiencing a range of personal

concerns such as stress, family difficulties, substance abuse, financial troubles, and legal problems

Health Promotion Health promotion programs are aimed at increasing positive health behaviors such as

exercise and relaxation techniques, while decreasing negative health behaviors such as smoking or unhealthy diets

Guidelines Conduct Health and Safety Audits Incorporate Health and Safety into Performance Appraisals

44

Incorporate Health and Safety into Compensation Systems Integrate the Health and Safety Functions Within the Organization Monitor the External Environment for Health and Safety Issues Promote the Importance of Health and Safety

REAL STATISTICAL DATA

Sources and definitions

Self-reported work-related illness (SWI): People who have conditions which they think have been caused or made worse by their current or past work, as estimated from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) a national survey of over 50 000 households each quarter).

Estimated prevalence of self-reported work-related illness

45

Health seen by specialist doctors (THOR): New cases seen by occupational physicians and disease specialists in The Health and Occupation Reporting network and diagnosed as work-related by the doctor who sees them.

Health assessed for disablement benefit (IIDB): New cases of specified ‘prescribed diseases’ (with an established occupational cause) assessed for compensation under the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit scheme. IIDB statistics are available annually from the 1980s or earlier.

Death certificates: Refers to deaths from some types of occupational lung disease, including the asbestos-related diseases mesothelioma and asbestosis.

46

RIDDOR 95: The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, under which fatal and non-fatal injuries to workers and members of the public arising from work activity are reported by employers and others Since 1 April 2006 health and safety on railways has been enforced by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR); the RIDDOR

Revitalising Health and Safety targets: Targets for workplace health and safety set by the Government and the Health and Safety Commission in 2000, to achieve specific percentage reductions in fatal and major injuries, work-related ill health incidence and working days lost by 2010. HSE set out its technical approach to measuring progress against the three Revitalising targets in a Statistical Note published in 2001.

95% confidence intervals: The range of values which we are 95%confident contains the true value. This reflects the potential error that results from surveying a sample rather than the entire population. A difference between two estimates is ‘statistically significant’ if there is a less than 5% chance that it is due to sampling error alone.

Enforcement notices and offences prosecuted: Enforcement notices cover improvement, prohibition and deferred prohibition notices issued by HSE and local authorities. Offences prosecuted refer to individual breaches of health and safety legislation; aprosecution case may include more than one offence. The numbers of enforcement notices issued and offences prosecuted are provided by the enforcing authorities. Unlike the rest of the statistics presented in this publication, they do not meet all the criteria to be described as ‘National Statistics’

47

MANAGING GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION

1990s, with the pace of globalization accelerating, national systems regulating the employment relationship appear to be passé.

The process of globalization - the integration of markets, new markets (e.g. China and India) increased foreign direct investment by MNCs, and cross-border integration of production and services.

The proliferation of interest in both international HRM and comparative HRM springs directly from globalization and from strategic management theory.

HR AND THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BUSINESS

Most companies do business abroad. Huge firms like P&G, IBM have long had extensive overseas operation of course. But the globalization of the world economy even small firms are finding that success depend on marketing and manager overseas.

THE GLOBAL CHALLENGES:- Managing human resource internationally creates questions and challenges all its own. Several years ago researchers asked senior international human resources managers, ‘what are the key global pressures affecting HRM practices in your firm?’ three great emerge were

Deployment:- Easily getting the right skills to where we need them, regardless of geographic location.

Knowledge and innovation dissemination:- Spreading state-of-the-art knowledge and practices throughout the organization regardless of where they originate.

Identifying and developing talent on a global basis:- Identifying can function effectively in a global organization and developing his or her abilities.

Intercountry Differences Affecting HRM

Companies operating only within the border of US generally have the luxury of dealing with a relatively limited set of

Cultural Factors

Countries differ widely in their cultures- in other words, in the basic values their citizen adhere to an in the ways these values manifest themselves in the national arts social

48

programs, politics and ways of doing things. For example, American’s emphasis on individuality may help to explain why European managers have more employment-related constraints, for instance with regard to laying off workers.

Economic Systems

Difference in economic system also translates into differences in HRM policies. For one thing some countries are more wedded to the ideals of free enterprise than are others. Differences in labor cost are also substantial.

Legal and Industrial Relations Factors

Legal as well as industrial relation factor also vary from country to country. Codetermination is the rule in Germany and several other countries. It means employees have the legal rights to a voice in setting companies policies. Workers elect their own representatives to the supervisory board of the employers and there is a vice president for labor at the top management

The European Union

Companies doing business in Europe must adjust their human resource policies and practices to both European Union (EU) directives as well as country-specific employment laws. The interplay of directives and country laws means that human resource practices must vary from country to country. For example-

Minimum EU wages

Working hours

Employee representation

Termination of employment

GLOBAL DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN HR PRACTICES

Personnel Selection Procedure

Employees around the world tend to use similar criteria and methods for selecting employees. Cultural differences did have some impact across countries. US values the interview, Mexico values networking, Japan values getting along with others

The Purpose of the Performance Appraisal

There tends to be more variation in how employers in different countries use performance appraisal. As in US uses it to determine pay, Japan and Mexico uses it to recognize the subordinate

49

Training and Development Practices:-

The amount of training firms provide varies substantially from country to country. When it comes to the purpose of training there are usually more similarities then differences across countries. Employers just about everywhere rank to improve technical ability as the main reason for provide employees with training

The Use of Pay Incentives

Finding regarding the use of financial incentives was somewhat counter intuitive. Given the people’s republican of china’s communist routs and the traditional US emphasis on pay for performance, one might have expected US managers to stress incentives more heavily than their Chinese peers.

IMPLEMENTATION OF A GLOBAL HR SYSTEM

Given such cross-cultural differences in human resource management practices, one could reasonably ask, “Is it realistic for a company to try to institute a standardized human resource management system in all or most of its facilities around the world?” A study suggests that the answer is “yes.” In brief, the study’s results show that employers may have to defer to local managers on some specific human resource management policy issues.

Making the global HR system more acceptable

First, employers engage in three best practices so that the global HRm system they eventually developed will be acceptable to their local managers around the world. These best practices includes-

1. Remember that global systems are more accepted in truly global organizations:- These companies and all their managers think of themselves as global in scope and prospective and all or most function and business units operate on a truly global basis.

2. Investigate pressures to differentiate and determine their legitimacy:- Human resource managers seeking to standardize selection training appraisal compensation or other HR practices worldwide will always meet resistance from local managers who insist, ‘you can’t do that here, because we are different culturally in other ways’

3. Try to work within the context of a strong corporate culture:- Companies that create a strong corporate culture find it easier to obtain agreement among far flung employees when it comes time to implement standardized practices worldwide.

Developing a more effective global HR system

Similarly, the researchers found that these companies engaged in several best practices in developing effective worldwide human resource management systems.

Form global HR networks.

50

Remember that it’s more important to standardize ends and competencies than specific methods.

Implementing the global HR system

Finally, in actually implementing the global Hr systems, several best practices can help ensure a more effective implementation

Remember, “You can’t communicate enough.”

Dedicate adequate resources for the global HR effort.

STAFFING THE GLOBAL ORGANIZATION

Staffing the employer’s global organization is the heart of international human resource management. The process involves identifying and selecting the people who will fill your positions abroad, and then placing them in those positions.

International staffing: Home or local?

Multinational companies employ several types of international mangers. Locals are citizens of the countries where they are working.

Expatriates (expats):- Noncitizens of the countries in which they are working.

Home-country nationals:- Citizens of the country in which the multinational company has its headquarters.

Third-country nationals:- Citizens of a country other than the parent or the host country.

Example: - A British executive working in the Tokyo branch of a U.S. multinational bank. Expatriates still represent a minority of multinational’ managers. “Most managerial positions are filled by locals rather than expatriates in both headquarters or foreign subsidiary operations”

Offshoring

Offshoring is an important staffing issue. Offshoring means having local employees abroad do jobs that the firm’s domestic employees previously did in-house. Off-shoring is increasingly popular. Forrester research projects that about 1.5 million jobs will move offshore by 2010, 2.5 million jobs will go by 2013, and over 3 million jobs will go by 2015. Put another way, a report from the McKinsey global institute says that the total value of Offshoring will grow from about $33 billion in 2002, to over $100 billion in 2008.

51

Offshoring and HR

Offshoring tends to be a uniquely HR-dependent activity. The traditional reason firms went abroad was to develop new markets or to open up new manufacturing facilities to serve to local markets. In such cases, marketing, sales, and production executives normally played the pivotal roles. Offshoring, to gain a cost advantage by offshoring, say, a call center, look to their human resource managers to help identify high-quality, low-cost talent abroad and to provide the necessary information on things like foreign wage rates, working conditions and productivity.

The Global Demand for Indian Talent

India’s predominantly young population is now considered as the work-ready talent pool that can be recruited by the world. This forms the core group that supports the outsourcing initiatives. Increasingly, the competitive educational system of Indian produces people to staff the growing demand for a talented workforce. However, it does not mean that all graduates in India are equally employable.

Management values and International staffing Policy

What determines whether firms use locals or expats? Ideally, rational reasons like cost and competency will prevail. However, the company’s top executives’ values will also undoubtedly playa a role. For example, experts often classify top executives’ values as ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric. In an ethnocentrically run corporation, “the prevailing attitude is that home-country attitudes, management style, knowledge, evaluation criteria, and mangers are superior to anything the host country might have to offer.”

Ethnocentric:- The notion that home-country attitudes, management style, knowledge, evaluation criteria, and managers are superior to anything the host country has to offer.

Polycentric:- A conscious belief that only the host-country managers can ever really understand the culture and behavior of the host-country market.

Geocentric:-The belief is that the firm’s whole management staff must be scoured on a global basis, on the assumption that the best manager of a specific position anywhere may be in any of the countries in which the firm operates.

Why Expatriate Assignments Fail

Because international assignments are the heart of international human resource management, it’s disconcerting to see how often such assignments fail. The exact number of failures is hard to quantify, in part because “failure” means different things to different people.

52

Traits of Successful Expats

Discovering why expatriate assignments fail is an important research task, and experts have made considerable progress.

Personality: - It is one factor. For example, in a study of 143 expatriate employees, extroverted, agreeable and emotionally stable individuals were less likely to leave early.

Intentions: - For example, people who want expatriate careers try harder to adjust to such a life.

Family Pressures:- In one study, U.S. managers listed, in descending order of importance for leaving early.

Other Reasons:- Inability of spouse to adjust, managers, inability to adjust, other family problems, responsibility. Managers of European firms emphasized only the inability of the manger’s spouse to adjust as an explanation for the expatriate’s failed assignment. Other studies similarly emphasize dissatisfied spouses’ effects on the international assignment.

Helping Expatriate Assignment Succeed

There are other useful steps the employer can take. Providing realistic previews of what to expect, improved orientation, and improved benefits packages are some obvious solutions. A less obvious solution is to institute procedures that ensure your firm treats its employees fairly- treating them with respect, providing an appeal, and so on. In one study of international assignees, nonwork problems were “significantly less pronounced when the organization’s procedures were judged to be more fair.” Another way to reduce expat problems is simply to shorten the length of the assignment, something employers are doing. About 23% of the employers’ overseas assignments last over there years, down from 32%in 1996. Person-job match is also important, insofar as expatriates who are more satisfied with their jobs are more likely to the foreign assignment.

Selecting Expatriate Managers

The process firms use to select managers for their domestic and foreign positions obviously have many similarities. For either assignment, candidates need the technical knowledge and skills to do the job, and the intelligence and people skills to be successful managers. Testing, interviewing, and background checks are as applicable for selecting expatriates as for domestic assignments.

Adaptability screening:- Adaptability screening aims to assess the assignee’s probable success in handling the foreign transfer, and to alert them to issues the move may involve. Here, experience is often the best predictor of future success.

Realistic previews:- Realistic previews are about the problems to expect in the new job as well as about the cultural benefits, problems, and idiosyncrasies of the country are another

53

important part of the screening process. The rule, say some experts, should always be to “spell it all about” ahead of time, as many multinationals do their international transferees.

The researchers identified five factors that contribute to success in such assignments.

I. Job Knowledge and MotivationManagerial abilityOrganizational abilityImaginationCreativityAdministrative skillsAlertnessResponsibilityIndustriousnessInitiative and energyHigh motivationFranknessBelief in mission and jobPerseverance

II. Relational SkillsRespectCourtesy and factDisplay of respectKindnessEmpathyNon-judgmentalnessIntegrityConfidence

III. Flexibility/AdaptabilityResourcefulnessAbility to deal with stressFlexibilityEmotional stabilityWillingness to changeTolerance for ambiguityAdaptabilityIndependenceDependabilityPolitical sensitivityPositive self-image

IV. Extracultural OpennessVariety of outside interestsInterest in foreign cultures

54

OpennessKnowledge of local language[s]Outgoingness and extroversionOverseas experience

V. Family SituationAdaptability of spouseand familySpouse’s positive opinionWillingness of spouse to live abroadStable marriage

Orienting and Training for International Assignment

When it comes to providing the orientation and training required for success overseas, the practices of most U.S. firms reflect more form than substance. Despite many companies’ claims, there seems to relatively little or no systematic selection and training for assignments overseas. Company executives tend to agree that international business requires that employees be firmly grounded in economics and practices of foreign countries. However, too few companies actually provide such training.

There is little or no systematic selection and training for assignments overseas. Training is needed on:

o The impact of cultural differences on business outcomes.o How attitudes (both negative and positive) are formed and how they influence

behavior.o Factual knowledge about the target country.o Language and adjustment and adaptation skills.

Trends in Expatriate Training

There are several trends in expatriate training and development. These are as follows Rotating assignments that permit overseas managers to grow professionally. Management development centers around the world where executives hone their

skills. Classroom programs provide overseas executives with educational opportunities

similar to stateside programs. Continuing, in-country cross-cultural training Use of returning managers as resources to cultivate the “global mind-sets” of their

home-office staff. Use of software and the Internet for cross-cultural training.

Compensating Expatriates

The whole area of international compensation presents some tricky problems. On the other hand, there is logic in maintaining company wide pay scales and policies so that, for instance, divisional marketing directors throughout the world are paid within the same narrow range.

55

This reduces the risk of perceived inequities, and dramatically simplifies the job of keeping track of disparate, country-by-country wage rates.

The Balance sheet Approach

The most common approach to formulating expatriate pay is to equalize purchasing power across countries, a technique known as the balance sheet approach. More than 85% of North American companies reportedly use this approach.

The basic idea is that each expatriate should enjoy the same standard of living he or she would have had at home. With the balance sheet approach, four group of expenses- income taxes, housing, goods and services, and discretionary expenses are the focus of attention. The employer estimates what each of these four expenses is in the expatriate’s home country, and what each will be in the host country. The employer then pays any differences- such as additional income taxes or housing expenses.

Incentives

While the situation is changing, employers still tend to use performance based incentives less abroad. In Europe, firms traditionally emphasized a guaranteed annual salary and countrywide bonus. European firms tend to be moving toward more incentive pay, but still have to overcome several problems- including the public relations aspects of such a move. U.S. firms that offer overseas managers long-term incentives use overall corporate performance criteria when awarding incentive pay- although, ironically, a manager’s local performance may have little or no effect on how the company as a whole performs.

Foreign service premiums:- Financial payments over and above regular base pay, and typically range between 10% and 30% of base pay.

Hardship allowances:- Payments to compensate expatriates for exceptionally hard living and working conditions at certain foreign locations.

Mobility premiums:- Lump-sum payments to reward employees for moving from one assignment to another.

Appraising Expatriate Managers

Several things complicate the task of appraising on expatriate’s performance. For one thing, the question of who actually appraises the expatriate is crucial. Obviously, local management must have some input, cultural differences here may distort the appraisals. Thus, host-country bosses might evaluate a U.S. expatriate manager in India somewhat negatively if they find his or her use of participative decision making culturally inappropriate.

Suggestions for improving the expatriate appraisals follow. The Employment law Feature presents related issues.

56

Stipulate the assignment’s difficulty level, and adapt the performance criteria to the situation.

Weigh the evaluation more toward the on-site manager’s appraisal than toward the home-site manager’s.

If the home-office manager does the actual written appraisal, use a former expatriate from the same overseas location for advice.

International labor relations

Firms opening subsidiaries abroad will find substantial differences in labor relations practices among countries and regions. This is important, because, while union membership is dropping in the United States.

Consider, for example, in Europe Unions in Europe are influential, and labor-management bargaining and relations reflect this fact. In general European labor relations are characterized by:

Centralization:- Collective bargaining in Western Europe tends to be in industrywide, whereas in the United States it generally occurs at the enterprise or plant level.

Employer Organization:- Due to the prevalence of the industrywide bargaining in Europe, employers tend to bargain via employer associations, rather than an individual employers.

Union Recognition:- Union recognition is less formal than in the United States. For example, even if a union represents 80% of an employer’s workers, another union can try to organize the other20%.

Content and scope of bargaining: - U.S. labor-management agreements tend to focus on wages, hours, and working conditions. European agreements tend to be brief and to leave individual employers free to institute more generous terms.

57

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AT TATA

People come first at Tata Steel, with mutual trust and co-operation the most outstanding characteristic of its employee relations. The Tata Workers’ Union and the Management of Tata Steel have created a 75-year old legacy of harmonious industrial relations. The Company adopted path breaking welfare schemes, instituted Joint Consultation through a landmark agreement in 1956 and created housing, sanitation, roads, a hospital, schools, parks and gardens for them as it built the Steel Works.    Employment Generation

Today, Tata Steel has a total permanent workforce of about 40,000. However, through outsourcing of various activities in its operational areas and projects, there has been an increase in employment within the Steel Works.

The Company provides free medical services through a Company-run hospital and supports educational facilities for the employees and their families. Besides benefits such as the employee family benefit scheme, early separation scheme, the Company continues to provide benefits beyond those legally mandated to ensure an excellent quality of life for its employees. These include housing, free water and medical services, subsidised electricity, housing, metro allowance, rewards and recognitions as well as special allowances.

Leader in employee relations

A pioneer in the area of Joint Consultations in India, Tata Steel has a three-tier Joint Consultation System that ensures participation of employees at all levels including the top management.

The Company has been rated as Among India’s Best Employers and holds the 2nd place in the Asia Pacific in Leadership Development.

It also provides benefits beyond those legally mandated to ensure an excellent quality of life.

58

CANARY LONDONSURVEY AT DADANAGAR FACTORY

HIERARCHY LEVEL

INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE FACTORY VISIT:

Hiring of employees through word of mouth- a sample is given to the employees on the basis of that the employees are hired.

Facilities provided to employees o festive bonus is provided o PF 12% is deducted o According to ESIC (employee state insurance corporation) insurance is giveno Free medical treatment is providedo For women’s no maternity leave is given

MR. SARVESH DUBEY CHAIRMAN

MR. HIMANSHU JAIN CEO

MR. RAJEEV TYAGI

MR. ASHWANILICENSING &

ESTABLISHING OFFICER

MR. VIKAS FRO

MR. RAJNISH VERMASTORE

MANGER

MR. RANJAN MUKHERJEECASH HEAD

MR. YOGENDERA

ACCOUNT HEAD

59

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS REFERRED:

1. Name: Human Resource MangementAuthor: Gary Dessler

Biju Varkkey Published: 11th Edition 2008 Page No.: 555 - 715

2. Name: Human Resource MangementAuthor: H John BernardinEdition: 4th Edition 2009Reprint: 2007Page No. : 357 - 371

3. Name: Human Resource MangementAuthor:. Michael R. Carrell

Christina Heavrin Edition: Sixth edition Page No. : 224-237

WEBSITES REFERRED:

1. www.reasearchandmarkets.com/reports2. www.bolabiz/competitive/globalhumanresource.html3. www.provenmodels.com4. www.businessweek.com/magazine/contents5. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/employeesafety

60