admin
Davies Ndumiso Sibanda, Labour Matters
ONE of the underutilised tools in effective management of labour relations is the policies and procedures manual or handbook.
A large number of disputes that result in litigation at huge cost for organisations can be avoided if organisations invest in putting together a comprehensive human resources policies and procedures manual or handbook.
Very often, organisations rely on NEC Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) on conditions of service for non-managerial employees and then extend them to managerial employees with a few modifications.
This is wrong and is usually a source of problems when managerial employees object to being grouped with NEC graded employees when it comes to rights and benefits and at times managerial employees will pick those conditions of service in CBAs that suit them but are problematic for the employer thus causing conflict, which leads to litigation thereby souring workplace relationships.
For an organisation to manage labour relations effectively, its employees should add value and should minimise discipline and grievance cases.
The company must have fair and robust policies and procedures. Many organisations make the mistake of doing human resources policies and procedures in a piece-meal fashion or ask the human resources practitioner to put together the document.
Such approach rarely achieves desired results.
There is a lot of expertise required in crafting policies and procedures that talk to the strategic direction of the organisation at the same time attending workplace harmony and productivity improvement.
Human resources policies and procedure crafting or review is best facilitated by an outside human resources expert with experience in crafting such documents and at the same time must be knowledgeable in labour law and strategic business management. Such an individual will help parties ride over self-interest and provide for best practices.
Organisations that have detailed policies and procedures that are reviewed periodically, generally have happy employees who are clear on rights and limits.
Some common conflict or problem areas are best managed when there are policies and procedures that include all types of leave, overtime, recruitment, promotions, discipline, hours of work, safety matters, travel, subsistence allowances and many others.
A large number of disciplinary and grievance cases reflect badly on the quality of policies and procedures.
Where workers know the policies and procedures there will be very few disciplinary and grievance cases.
The board of directors of an organisation must take keen interest in policies and procedures and make sure they are in place and add value to the management of labour relations.
In conclusion, organisations with human resources policies and procedures have fewer conflicts with workers and tend to get more from workers who know their rights and limits.
-Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Online Reporter