UNIT 5

Employee
Safety/Health and
International HRM
Ms. ANKITA SHARMA
 EMPLOYEE HEALTH

Poor working conditions affect employee performance badly.

Under such stressful conditions, employees may not be able to
concentrate on work, leading to serious accidents, at times.

Companies with poor safety record, not surprisingly, find it

difficult to hire and retain skilled labour force on a long term
basis.

In their own interest, therefore, employers should take up health

and safety issues seriously and do everything possible to improve
the living conditions of employees.

Health And Safety

Need of Industrial Health
Promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, social,
and mental well-being of workers
Improve productivity and quality of work
Reduce accidents , injuries, absenteeism and labour turnover
Protect workers against any health hazard arising out of
work or conditions in which it is carried on.
 EMPLOYEE HEALTH
Legal provisions regarding health( section 11 to 20, Factories Act,
1948)
❖ Cleanliness (11)
❖ Wastes(12)
❖ Ventilation and temperature(13)
❖ Dust and fumes(14)
❖ Artificial Humidification (15)
❖ Overcrowding (14.2 cubic meter space for every
workman)(16)
❖ Lighting (17)
❖ Drinking water (marked properly)(18)
❖ Latrines and urinals(19)
❖ Spittoons(20)
Health And Safety
 Measures to promote employee
health
Health promotion focuses on prevention rather than
treatment or cure. The core health promotion activities cover
the following areas
❖ Healthy living
❖ Eating wisely
❖ Exercise and physical fitness
❖ Smoking cessation
❖ Stress management
❖ Protecting oneself from workplace hazards

Health And Safety

 Employee Assistance Programmes
(EAPs)
Employee assistance programmes
❖ offer counselling,
❖medical help and
❖ rehabilitation opportunities to all troubled
employees.
 EMPLOYEE HEALTH

Emotional problems
Depressed employees are difficult to handle in that
they show signs of irritation, carry guilt feelings and
indulge in violence Employees with such emotional
problems could be helped through
❖ Listening attentively and sympathetically;
extending emotional support
❖ Try to Remove irritants
❖ Taking to a psychologist

Health And Safety

 Dealing with alcoholism and drug
abuse: supervisory role

❖ Confront the employee with evidence

❖ Provide coaching to improve employee performance
❖ Encourage the employee to take up assistance programmes
❖ Inform the employee about consequences of poor
performance
❖ Arrange for in-house counselling in case of drug addicts
❖ Initiate disciplinary proceedings against those unwilling to
learn

Health And Safety

Factors Influencing Ethical behaviour at Work

Individual Factors
Organizational Factors
The Supervisor’s Behaviour
Mutual respect
Procedural fairness
Transparency
 Employee Safety

The main purpose of effective safety programmes in an

organization is to prevent work related injuries and
accidents. Safety measures in a factory would cover:
❖ Slipping and falling hazards
❖ Collision and obstruction hazards
❖ Equipment hazards
❖ Fire hazards
❖ Hazards from falling objects

Health And Safety

 Causes for accidents
❖ Improperly guarded equipments
❖ Defective equipment, machines
❖ Unsafe storage: congestion, overloading
❖ Improper illumination: glare, insufficient light
❖ Improper ventilation
❖ Falls on stairs, ladders, walkways
❖ Congested workplace
❖ Unsafe acts such as throwing materials
❖ Unsafe procedures in loading, placing or mixing or by lifting
improperly
❖ People with impaired vision; under the influence of drugs or
alcohol;
Health And Safetyand who exhibit negative, violent behaviours
 Employee Safety
Indian scenario: Laws governing employee safety
❖The Factories Act: The Factories Act, of 1948 is the major legislation in India that
addresses workplace safety and health. The act lays down rules and regulations for safety,
health, and welfare of workers employed in factories
❖ The Mines Act 1952 : To prohibit, restrict or regulate the employment of women in
mines. To make provision for the safety of the person employed in the mine. To
prohibit the employment in a mine of a person as a manager in mine. To provide
provision for the safety of the road and working-place in mine.
❖ The Dock Workers (Safety, Health & Welfare) Act, 1986: Safe means of access to
every part of a lifting appliance shall be provided. (2) The operator's platform on every
crane or tip driven by mechanical power shall be securely fenced and shall be provided
with safe means of access.
❖ Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and
Conditions of Service) Act, 1996: An Act to regulate the employment and conditions
of service of building and other construction workers and to provide for their safety,
health and welfare measure and for other matter connected therewith or incidental
thereto.

Health And Safety

❖Plantations Labour Act, 1951: Under the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, where an adult
worker works in any plantation on any day in excess of the number of hours constituting
a normal working day or for more than 48 hours in any week, he shall be entitled to
twice the rate of ordinary wages for such overtime work.
❖Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970: Its purpose was to regulate
the proper operation of contract workers and prevent their exploitation at the hands of
management.
❖Inter-state migration Act 1979: An Act to regulate the employment of inter-State
migrant workmen and to provide for their conditions of service and for matters
connected therewith.
❖The Indian Boilers Act-1923 : It was enacted with the objective to provide mainly for
the safety of life and Property of persons from the danger of explosions of steam boilers
and for achieving uniformity in registration and inspection during operation and
maintenance of boilers in India.
❖The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 authorizes the central government to protect
and improve environmental quality, control and reduce pollution from all sources, and
prohibit or restrict the setting and /or operation of any industrial facility on
environmental grounds.
❖Insecticide Act, 1968: An Act to regulate the import, manufacture, sale, transport,
distribution and use of insecticides with a view to prevent risk to human beings or
animals, and for matters connected therewith.
 Safety: Legal Provisions
❖ Fencing Of Machinery
❖ Working On Or Near Machinery In Motion
❖ Employment Of Young Persons
❖ Striking Gear And Devices For Cutting Off Power
❖ Self Acting Machines (18 inches from any fixed structure)
❖ Casing Of New Machinery
❖ Hoists And Lifts
❖ Lifting Machines, Chains And Ropes
❖ Revolving Machinery
❖ Pressure Plant

Health And Safety

 Safety: Legal Provisions

❖ Floors, Stairs And Means of Access

❖ Pits, Sumps, Openings In Floors
❖ Excessive Weights
❖ Protection of Eyes
❖ Dangerous Fumes And Gases
❖ Precautions With Regard To Portable Electrical Light (<25
Volts)
❖ Explosive or Inflammable Gas or Dust
❖ Precautions In Case of Fire
❖ Safety of Building And Machinery
❖ Safety Officers
Health And Safety
 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
In recent times, the trade barriers between nations have almost
disappeared.

Communication links have become faster and cheaper.

In this scenario, companies have realised the importance of expanding

their reach throughout the globe, integrating their production, finance,
marketing and research activities in a careful way.

In a way, this would mean sending and more and more employees
overseas on temporary assignments.

When sent abroad on such assignments, expatriates face unique

problems
International Human Resource Management
 The world is full of stateless
corporations

❖ Cola Cola: Is a multinational corporation that

obtains over 80 per cent of its operating income
from outside the United States. It operates in 185
markets, has more than 6,50,000 employees, and
serves more than 5 billion customers. One of the
company's core values is to 'think globally, but act
locally.‘

International Human Resource Management

 Complexities in global operations

International operations have:

❖ More heterogeneous functions
❖ Different approaches to management, since the
population of expatriates and locals varies
❖ More complex external influences, such as from
societies and governments
❖ More cultural differences (with completely different
languages, foods, values, beliefs and ways of doing
things).

International Human Resource Management

 International Human Resource
Management
It is the process of procuring, allocating and effectively
utilising human resources in a multinational corporation.
Generally speaking, there are three sources of employees
for an international assignment:
• parent country nationals,
• host country nationals and
• third country nationals.
When compared to domestic HRM, the scope of IHRM is
very wide as it has to take care of a number of
constituencies.
 Model of International HRM

HR ACTIVITIES

u re
ro c a te lise he
r
P
Al loc Ut i
Ot
m e
Ho
Host Country Nationals (CNs)
s t
Parent Country Nationals (PCNs) Ho

Third Country Nationals (TCNs)

International Human Resource Management

What is Host-country
Nationals (HCNs)?
'Host-country Nationals' are those employees who
are citizens of the country where the company's
branch is located, which is different from the
country in which the company is headquartered.
The main advantage of employing an HCN is that
the language barrier is eliminated.
Host Country Nationals are Permanent residents of
the country where the operations of the company
are located.
(PCN) or expatriate.
In an international firm, a PCN is a person whose
nationality is the same as that of the firm where it
is headquartered, but different from the country in
which they are working: for example, a Japanese
manager working in a UK-based branch of a
Japanese company.
PCNs are Permanent residents of the country
where the firm is headquartered.
'Third Country Nationals'
'Third Country Nationals' refers to employees
working outside their home country in a branch of
the company that is neither in the employee's
home country nor in the company's home country.
 Cultural Differences And HRM
Expatriate managers, generally, face a kind of culture
shock when they begin their operations in a different
cultural setting. The list of barriers that confront them
seem to be unending :
❖ Language
❖ Dress and appearance
❖ Food, eating habits and perceptual problems
❖ Time and time consciousness
❖ Relationships
❖ Values and norms
❖ Beliefs and attitudes
❖ Mental processes and learning
❖ Work habits and practices

International Human Resource Management

 International Recruitment
❖ While hiring executives, global companies are guided by three things;
ethnocentrism, polycentrism and geocentrism.
a. Ethnocentrism: it is a cultural attitude marked by the tendency to
regard one's own culture as superior to others. Some people will simply call
it cultural ignorance. Ethnocentrism often leads to incorrect assumptions about
others' behavior based on your own norms, values, and beliefs.
b. Polycentrism: What is polycentric staffing? The polycentric approach to
recruitment means that we hire locals to fill our positions in a host country. For
example, we could advertise on local job boards or create a contract with a local
recruitment agency.
c. Geocentrism: The Geocentric Approach is one of the methods of
international recruitment where Multi-National Companies recruit the most
suitable employee for the job irrespective of their Nationality.
 International selection
❖ While selecting executives for international postings, the
following things could be kept in mind
i. General and technical criteria
ii. Language skills
iii. Cross cultural suitability
iv. Motivation for foreign assignment
v. Family situation

International Human Resource Management

 International training and development

❖ Careful selection is only one side of the coin. To ensure

success, expatriates require proper orientation, cross cultural
training, career counselling etc must be given.
i. Orientation
1. cultural briefing
2. assignment briefing
3. shipping requirements
ii. cross cultural training (Post arrival)
iii. career development and counselling

International Human Resource Management

 International compensation
❖ Compensation practices for international employees are
much more complex than those for domestic employees
because many more factors must be considered
i. Income that the expatriate was getting before.
ii. Additional incentives to be paid on global assignment.
iii. The income of local employees where the expatriate is
reporting to.

International Human Resource Management

 International labour relations
❖ Labour management relations in international companies depend on
the peculiar customs, traditions, laws and practices followed in respective
countries. Global companies must pay adequate attention to the health,
safety and security of their employees also. HR manager must look into:
1. The role of unions
2. Labour participation
3. Employee health
4. Employee safety

International Human Resource Management

Repatriation

❖ Repatriation is the process of returning an employee to

the home country after being placed on a long-term
international assignment.
❖Expatriates returning to their home countries are called
repatriates. In other words, you are an expatriate when you
enter a new country for a work assignment, and you are a
repatriate when you return to your home country after the
international assignment.
❖Repatriation is considered important because the person
has to re-adapt himself to the home country and the pattern
of work and at the same time begin interaction with their
friends and fellow workers.