adminFor example, permanent staff with managerial responsibilities is more likely to experience both unreasonable treatment and workplace violence. Better-paid employees are more likely to experience unreasonable treatment. Some of these cases end up in courts while some just simply die natural deaths as the victim will just suffer in silence.
Half of workers claim to have been the victim of ill-treatment in the last two years. A new study (July 2011), undertaken by a team from Cardiff University, found that people said they had been given impossible deadlines and unreasonable workloads, while others had been shouted at or were the victim of someone’s temper. Worryingly, it also found that just fewer than 5 percent of workers had been the victim of violence, some claimed to have been treated disrespectfully and while some felt they were ignored at work. It revealed that workers in the public sector were at the greatest risk of rudeness, disrespect and violence.
“Standard employment policies, like workplace behaviour statements and ‘one-size-fits- all’ dispute procedures, are plainly failing,” said Professor Ralph Fevre of Cardiff University, one of the study’s authors.
Employees who are treated well offer a lot to a business. Poor treatment of employees alienates the employee and everyone in the employee’s circle of influence. An employee who suffers mistreatment from an employer will exhibit many characteristics that minimise the employee’s benefit to the company. A poor employer would say if that is the attitude, then the employee deserves the poor treatment, but in actual fact that is the cause of the behaviour.
The employee begins to work to contract, which means doing only required tasks. This is also known as work-to-rule approach or principle. If an employee wonders if he or she gets involved with a problem at the job that he or she will suffer blame even though it was not his fault, the employee will operate with a lot of caution. The caution might cause an employee fail to serve a client or customer with the utmost care, but that might be another avenue for poor treatment if the employer believes the employee should have acted. It leaves an atmosphere of cautious confusion.
Poor treatment of employees in the workplace can negatively impact on business. Attitudes towards employees are a consideration all managers and supervisors should think about as they interact with their staff members. From a humanistic standpoint, employees deserve to be treated well. The consideration for others is a strong enough reason for managers to treat employees with respect in the workplace.
No one deserves to be disrespected, abused, ignored or receive any kind of otherwise poor treatment. However, there are also several good business reasons why managers and those in supervisory positions should treat staff members with positive consideration. In addition to the obvious reasons why all staff members should be treated well, poor treatment can have a direct impact on performance, productivity and profitability. These three Ps are vital to the success of a business and employee treatment is going to have a strong role in whether or not these objectives are met.
Performance: In a time where the news headlines scream downsize, outsource, layoff and budget slashes, often companies first look to employees as a cost-savings measure. Unfortunately, there are some employers who don’t think highly of employees and treat them as liabilities instead of the assets they are.
As a result, decision-makers often cut back on staff and put the burden of the work on remaining employees. Other tactics can include eliminating benefits, increasing expectations or just plain acting badly towards employees and treat staff as if they are doing the person a favour by employing them.
In reality, however, yes, people need jobs, but businesses also need employees to conduct operations. Without knowledgeable and good employees a business is going to fail.
Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any damages or losses suffered as a result of actions taken based on information contained herein. The information contained herein does not serve as alternative to legal advice.
Taurai Musakaruka is a human resources practitioner. Feedback e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected]
Online Reporter