SWARNIM STARTUP AND INNOVATION UNIVERISTY

SWARRNIM SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, COMMERCE AND

LIBERAL ART
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
BBA SEMESTER-4
MODULE-4 STUDY MATERIAL

Syllabus:
 Employee welfare, Safety and Health practices
 Trade Unions
 Disputes and their resolution

EMPLOYEE WELFARE, SAFETY AND HEALTH PRACTICES

Industrial progress of a country depends on its committed labour force. In this

regard the importance of labour welfare was recognized as early as 1931 when
the Royal commission on Labour stated that the benefits which undergo this
nomenclature are of great importance to the worker who is unable to secure by
themselves. The schemes of labour welfare may be regarded as a wise investment
which usually brings a profitable return in the form of greater efficiency.

Employee welfare means “the efforts to make life worth living for workmen.”
According to Todd “employee welfare means anything done for the comfort and
improvement, intellectual or social, of the employees over and above the wages
paid which is not a necessity of the industry.”

OBJECTIVES OF EMPLOYEE WELFARE

Employee welfare is in the interest of the employee, the employer and the society
as a whole. The labour/employee welfare work aims at providing such service
facilities and amenities as would enable the workers employed in the
industries/factories to perform their work in healthy and favourable surroundings
conducive to good health and high morale.

It is partly humanistic, for it enables the workers to enjoy a fuller and richer life.

It is partly economic as it improves the efficiency of the worker and keeps

him contended and satisfied. It therefore minimizes the desire of the workers to
form unions and to resort to strikes.

The aim is partly civic because it develops a sense of responsibility and dignity
amongst the workers and thus makes them good citizens of the nation.
 EMPLOYEE WELFARE AGENCIES

1. Central government

The central government has made elaborate provisions for the health, safety and
welfare under Factories Act 1948, and Mines Act 1952. These acts provide for
canteens, crèches, rest rooms, shelters etc.

2. State government

Government in different states and Union Territories provide welfare facilities to

workers. State government prescribes rules for the welfare of the workers and
ensures compliance with the provisions under various labor laws.

3. Employers

Employers in India in general looked upon welfare work as fruitless and barren
though some of them indeed had done pioneering work.

4. Trade unions

In India, trade unions have done little for the welfare of workers. But few sound
and strong unions have been the pioneering in this respect. E.g. The Ahmedabad
textiles labor association and the Mazdoor Sabha, Kanpur.

5. Other agencies

Some philanthropic, charitable social service organizations like: – Seva Sadan

society, Y.M.C.A. etc. are contributing towards employee welfare.

BENEFITS OF WELFARE SCHEME

The important benefits of welfare measures can be summarized as follows:

 They provide better physical and mental health to workers and thus
promote a healthy work environment.
 Facilities like housing schemes, medical benefits, and education and
recreation facilities for workers’ families help in raising their standards of
living. This makes workers to pay more attention towards work and thus
increases their productivity.
 Employers get stable labor force by providing welfare facilities. Workers
take active interest in their jobs and work with a feeling of involvement
and participation.
  Employee welfare measures increase the productivity of organization and
promote healthy industrial relations thereby maintaining industrial peace.
 The social evils common among the labors such as abusing, teasing, etc are
reduced to a greater extent by the welfare policies.

HEALTH & SAFETY

After studying this chapter, students should be able to understand the following:

A. Explain Elements of Workplace Safety and Health

Occupational Safety and Health Act. Organizations realize the importance of

social responsibility and that safe organizations are more effective organizations.
Moreover, the law requires that the workplace be safe and free of health hazards.
Thus, many firms seek to provide a workplace environment that is safe and
healthy. This chapter presents workplace safety and health in detail. First, it deals
with the legal issues of workplace safety and health. Second, it presents a variety
of contemporary safety and health issues. Finally, the chapter evaluates programs
designed to maintain employee safety and health.

A. Elements of Workplace Safety and Health

Safety: Involves protecting employees from injuries due to work-related

accidents.

Health: Refers to the employees’ freedom from physical or emotional illness.

Safety programs may be designed to accomplish their purposes in two primary

ways. The first approach is to create a psychological environment and attitudes
that promote safety. A strong company policy emphasizing safety and health is
crucial. The second approach to safety program design is to develop and maintain
a safe physical working environment.

• Physical Conditions: Conditions resulting from the workplace environment

that include

occupational diseases and accidents, such as:

• Repetitive motion injuries

• Back pain

• Cancer Etc.
Psychological Conditions: Conditions resulting from the workplace
environment that result from organizational stress and low quality of working life.
These include:

• Dissatisfaction, withdrawal

• Mistrust in others, irritability

I. Safety Programs

Today, it has become clear that optimal health can generally be achieved through
environmental safety, organizational changes, and different lifestyles.

a. Developing Safety Programs—Organizational safety programs require

planning for prevention of workplace accidents. Plans may be relatively simple
or more complex and highly sophisticated in order to fit the organization’s size.
Top management’s support is essential if safety programs are to be effective.
Tremendous economic losses can result from accidents.

1. Job hazard analysis: The main goal of safety and health professionals is to

prevent job-related injuries and illnesses.

2. The Superfund Amendments Reauthorization Act, Title III (SARA):

SARA

requires businesses to communicate more openly about the hazards associated

with the materials they use and produce and the wastes they generate.

3. Employee involvement: One way to strengthen a safety program is to include

employee input, which provides workers with a sense of accomplishment.

b. Accident Investigation—Accidents can happen even in the most safety-

conscious firms. Each accident, whether or not it results in an injury, should be
carefully evaluated to determine its cause and to ensure that it doesn’t recur. The
safety engineer and the line manager jointly investigate accidents—why, how,
and where they occur and who is involved. Main causes that can create accidents
at workplace are:

• Chance occurrences

• Unsafe working conditions

• Unsafe acts by employees

• Unsafe conditions

􀂾 Physical conditions

• Defective Equipment

• Inadequate Machine Guards

• Lack of Protective Equipment

􀂾 Environmental conditions

• Noise

• Dust, Fumes

• Stress

• Unsafe behaviors

c. Evaluation of Safety Programs—Perhaps the best indicator that a safety

program is succeeding is a reduction in the frequency and severity of injuries and
illnesses.

d. Rationale for Safety and Health Trends—Firms are spending an increasing

amount of money on safety. Reasons include; (1) profitability—employees can
produce only while they are on the job, (2) employee relations—firms with good
safety records can attract and retain good employees, (3) reduced liability—an
effective safety program can reduce corporate and executive liability, (4)
marketing—a good safety record may well provide companies with a competitive
edge, and productivity—(5) an effective safety program may boost morale and
productivity while simultaneously reducing rising costs.

II. Ways to manage Safe and Healthy environment in organization

To cope with physical hazards and other hazards such as stress, unsafe behavior,
and poor health habits, employers often design comprehensive safety and health
programs. Among these are safety programs, employee assistance programs, and
wellness programs.

a. Safety Programs

A safe working environment does not just happen; it has to be created. The
organizations with the best reputations for safety have developed well-planned
and thorough safety programs.
b. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

EAPs are programs designed to help employees whose job performance is

suffering because of physical, mental, or emotional problems.

c. Wellness Programs

As health care costs have skyrocketed over the last two decades, organizations
have become more interested in preventative programs. A complete wellness
program has three components:

• It helps employees identify potential health risks through screening and testing.

• It educates employees about health risks such as high blood pressure, smoking,

poor diet, and stress.

• It encourages employees to change their lifestyles through exercise, good

nutrition, and health monitoring.

d. Smoking in The work place

Numerous studies have concluded that workplace smoking not only is hazardous
to employees’ health, but also is detrimental to the firm’s financial health.
Increased costs of insurance premiums, higher absenteeism, and lost productivity
cost huge amount a year. These factors, along with rising opposition from
nonsmokers and widespread local and state laws, have spurred many firms into
action, and the trend continues.

􀂾 The rewards of good health habits

Effective safety programs share the following features:

• They include the formation of safety committee and participation by all

departments within the company. Employees participate in safety decision and
management carefully considers employee suggestions for improving safety.

• They communicate safety with a multimedia approach that includes safety

lectures, films, poster, pamphlets, and computer presentations.

• They use incentives, rewards, and positive reinforcement to encourage safe

behavior.
• They communicate safety rules and enforce them.

• They use safety directors and/or the safety committee to engage in regular self-
inspection and accident research to identify potentially dangerous situations, and
to understand why accidents occur and how to correct them.

III. Policies to prevent workplace violence

Every organization should have a two-pronged policy in place to (a) prevent

workplace violence and (b) to deal with violent incidents when they occur. An
HR manager's major responsibility is to be certain that selection policies include
careful screening and reference checking. Furthermore, the HR manager should
take the lead to enforce policies pertaining to the fair treatment of employees.
This may require training managers to recognize performance problems, refer
troubled employees for counseling, and apply disciplinary procedures
consistently.

IV. Cumulative Trauma Disorders

CTDs are also called repetitive stress (or motion or strain) injuries (or illnesses
or syndromes). CTDs do not refer to only one disorder but to a wide array of
maladies ranging from carpal tunnel syndrome to tennis elbow. The number of
workers with CTDs has risen dramatically in recent years.

V. Benefits of a Safe and Healthy Workforce

• More productivity

• Increased efficiency and quality

• Reduced medical and insurance costs

• Lower workers’ compensation rates and payments

• Greater workforce flexibility

VI. The HRM Department and Employee Safety and Health

HRM department can help organizations and employers by performing tasks like:

• Develop safety and health programs.

• Select safety and health programs.

• Evaluate safety and health programs.

• Ensure legal compliance.

• Incorporate safety and health concerns in HRM practices.

TRADE UNIONS

Trade unions are autonomous, membership-based associations of workers who

advocate for and engage in collective bargaining on behalf of the working class.
They offer guidance to their members who have issues at work, speak on their
behalf when interacting with employers, and negotiate better pay and working
conditions.
Additionally, unions support members' educational and learning possibilities,
advance equal opportunity at work, combat discrimination, and aid in
guaranteeing a safe and healthy atmosphere at work. Unions also ensure that their
employees' legal rights are upheld. Numerous unions offer their members
services, including welfare benefits, private legal counsel, and financial support.

WHAT IS THE NEED FOR A TRADE UNION?

 Engaging in collective agreements with the administration ensures that
workers and employees have improved working conditions.
 Providing workers with protection and monitoring employee hiring and
firing.
 Assisting management in the proper level of worker grievance remedies.
 Referring a disagreement or issue to arbitration if it is not resolved.
 Discuss management issues, including working hours, extra compensation,
pay, and access to healthcare and other social programmes.
 To foster collaboration with employers.
 To stir up support for labour and workers in the general public.

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRADE UNION?

 Association of Employees: A trade union is simply an organisation of
workers who are members of a specific class of job, profession, trade, or
business.
 Association made Voluntarily: A worker voluntarily joins a union. No
one can be forced to join a union.
  Permanent: Trade unions are typically considered permanent bodies.
Members may join and leave, yet the union is still in place.
 Shared Interest: Members of a trade union come together over issues such
as job security, better salary and conditions of employment, and other
issues of common interest.
 Group Action: When a single employee complains about a particular
management decision, the trade union will step in to help resolve the issue.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF TRADE UNIONS?

Employee unions play an important role in an organisation by doing the following
-
 through aiding in the hiring and choosing of employees.
 through encouraging workplace discipline, allowing for the amicable
resolution of labour conflicts, and assisting with societal adaptations. The
new working environment and the new norms and procedures must be
adopted by the workforce. Diverse backgrounds in the workforce may
cause disarray, discontentment, and frustration. Unions assist them in
making such adjustments.
 lowering the incidence of labour disputes and instilling in workers a feeling
of corporate social responsibility will promote and maintain national
cohesion.
 establishing industrial harmony

SIGNIFICANCE OF TRADE UNIONS

 Trade unions give workers a place to connect and get to know one another,
which fosters a feeling of cooperation. They allow employees to play,
relax, and experience the environment.
 Trade unions are crucial in setting up face-to-face talks between employees
and employers to resolve employee complaints. Trade unions are a useful
tool for improving workplace relations.
 To ensure that union workers have improved working conditions: By
banding together under trade unions, employees can better demand that
their employers provide all basic support for their employees and, if
necessary, use agitation to do so.
  To defend employees' desires: Trade unions protect workers' rights from
mistreatment at the hands of employers.
 To advance the interests of employees: Trade unions try to better the
financial circumstances and difficulties of the workforce.
 To ensure the well-being of their members, trade unions work to secure
housing options. They also make arrangements for the union workers'
children's schooling. Thus, the trade union works to advance the workers'
socioeconomic well-being while also attempting to keep them away from
bad practices.

DISPUTES AND THEIR RESOLUTION

Introduction: -

An Industrial dispute is basically a difference of opinion between the employer

& employees over one or more issues. Disputes are core to the industrial relations
exercise of an organisation. The primary aim of industrial relation exercises is
dispute avoidance. The various aspects of industrial relations are designed with a
view of restraining industrial dispute & the resultant labour unrest. Industrial
disputes typically manifest in the debilitating form of strikes, lock outs, picketing,
go slows & gheraos. Hence, they require the development of appropriate
strategies for prompt identification of employees grievances & their resolution.
In fact, a timely resolution of grievances can prevent them from becoming
industrial disputes.

Section 2k of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Defines an industrial disputes as

“any dispute or difference between employers & employers or between
employers & workmen, or between workmen & workmen, which is connected
with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or with the
conditions of labour of any person”.

CAUSES OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES:

Organizations can effectively avoid an industrial dispute only when it is able to

locate the causes of the industrial relations, tensions & disputes accurately.
Generally, these causes are classified as Economic & Non-Economic.

1. Demand for Pay & Benefits hike:

Employee claim for increased pay & benefits & the employer’s refusal to concede
their demand often gives to an industrial dispute. Employers & employees often
make mutually irriconciable claim over the profits & wealth of the organisations.
On the other hand, the rising cost of living, improved social status & lifestyle
changes often force employees to seek increase in their monetary compensation
at periodic intervals. On the other hand, survival, prestige & growth needs drive
the employers to retain the major share of the profit.

2. Demand for Hygienic & Safer Working Conditions:

The employee’s insistence on good & safer working conditions may also form a
ground for an industrial dispute. Specifically, the employee’s demand for a proper
physical environment, adherence to statutory safety measures & workload-related
issues can cause industrial dispute in an organisation.

3. Demand for better Labour welfare & social security measure:

The employee’s insistence on improvement in welfare facilities such as transport,

housing, education, recreation, canteen, insurance, e-commuting & flexi-time can
also cause industrial disputes. Similarly, the need for better social security’s like
retirement benefits, medical facilities & compensation facilities may also act as a
ground for industrial disputes.

4. Demand for Recognition & Appreciation:

Besides the primary needs like wages, incentives, benefits, health & safety, the
employees may also demand the fulfillment of social needs like recognition, self-
expression, appreciation & scope for personal achievements. When these
demands are denied or delayed by the employers, it may provide a ground for
industrial dispute.

5. Demand for justice for an Individual or a group of employees:

Where there is a mass lay off or retrenchment of employees, it may provide

reasons for the employees to develop a dispute with the employers. At times, even
the disciplinary actions against individuals in the form of dismissal, discharge,
demotions & suspensions may form aground for industrial dispute as per Section
2A of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947.

6. One upmanship among the Unions:

One-upmanship is the practice of always keeping one step ahead of the rest i.e.
friends or competitors. In their quest to prove their credibility & dependability
among the employees, the unions may adopt a negative attitude towards the
management deliberately. In such a situation, the union may start a dispute with
the management even on silly issues just to unite their members & expand their
membership base.

7. External Interference:

The system of allowing external leaders to manage the unions, like in India, also
plays a significant role in an industrial dispute. In such a case, union activities are
influenced more by political considerations than by organisational problems. The
union’s stand on organisational issues are dictated mostly by the ideology &
leadership of the political with which the union is affiliated.

8. Numerous Labour Legislation:

The government has enacted several legislations to protect the rights & interests
of the workers in industrial establishment. It becomes a legal necessity for
the organisation to provide these facilities to their employees. Understandably,
any violation of these provisions or denial of statutory facilities to the employees
becomes aground for dispute between employers & employees.

SETTLEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES:

The following approaches & measures are used for the settlement of disputes in
industry.

1. Conciliation: –

It is the process by which representatives of workers & employers are brought

together before a third party with a view to persuade them to arrive at an
agreement through mutual discussion between them. It
involves friendly intervention of a neutral person or groups to help the parties to
settle their disputes peacefully.

According to the ILO, conciliation is “the practice by which the services of a

neutral third party are used in a dispute as a means of helping the parties to reduce
the extent of their difference & to arrive at an amicable settlement or agreed
solution. It is a process of rational & orderly discussion of difference between the
parties to a dispute under the guidance of a conciliator.

2. Arbitration:-
It is a process in which a neutral third party listens to the disputing parties, gathers
information & then takes a decision which is binding on both the parties in
comparison with conciliation which involves compromise arbitration is a quasi-
judicial process. The conciliator simply assists the parties to come to a
settlement where as an arbitrator listens both the parties & then give
his judgement.

Arbitration has many advantages: (a) it is established by the parties themselves

& therefore, They have a greater faith in it; (b) the process is relatively
expeditious & result in prompt settlement of differences; (c) it is informal &
flexible in nature; (d) it is not very expensive because parties can directly present
their case without a lawyer; and (e) it is based on mutual consent of the parties &
therefore, helps in building healthy industrial relations.

Arbitration suffers from several disadvantages: (a) judgement can become

arbitrary when the arbitrator is incompetent or biased; (b) delay often occurs in
the settlement of disputes & (c) too much arbitration is not a sign of healthy
industrial relations.

3. Adjudication:-

It is the ultimate legal remedy for the settlement of industrial disputes.

Adjudication means intervention of legal authority appointed by the government
to make a settlement which is binding on the parties.

4. Courts of Enquiry:-

The appropriate government may, by notification in the official gazette,

constitute a court of inquiry for inquiring into any matter appearing to be
connected with or relevant to an industrial dispute. A court of inquiry may consist
of one independent person or of such number of independent persons as the
appropriate government may think fit.