There are several rights that employees have in the Work Environment. This article is an effort to identify those rights that may not be readily identifiable to the management of companies or organizations. Some may be readily apparent while others may be implied but never really discussed.
One of the most important rights an employee has is to have honesty exist in the workplace. This is from not only management but also other employees. If a supervisor or management of a company is not honest with their employees, they will create an atmosphere of distrust and this will affect the quality of work that is performed by their employees. This will not only affect moral but also it will have an impact on the perception the company receives as this attitude will eventually work its way to the public perception of how the company operates. If honesty does not exist within a company, customers will find out and they will go elsewhere for their products or services.
Today there are many cases of workers being injured in their work environment. Employees have a right to work in a safe, secure environment. This is an important topic for employees today and should be an important topic for management to assure a safe, secure environment. There are safety regulations that apply to numerous organizations and employees have a right to expect that these requirements will be in place. Some of the concerns that employees face is to have the proper safety equipment to perform the job they are assigned.
Another right that employees have is to have the proper training to do the job. If they do not receive it, they should not be blamed for something if they have not been properly trained. It is a right of employers to have employees with the qualifications to do the job but as those needs change, they should provide the proper training for those changes. Part of this scenario involves the position description for the duties assigned. When jobs are advertised within either organizations or outside employees and potential employees have a right to have the position description match the duties. In many position descriptions, a phrase that is placed states other duties as assigned. While this may be a normal portion of job descriptions, the other duties as assigned should not be a significant amount of work as related to the rest of the description.
Employees in positions should perform the required duties for which they were hired with adequate
pay for the duties they are assigned. However, additional duties are sometimes assigned as part of the other duties as assigned. If these duties are a significant change and they are permanent then there should be an adjustment in the pay.
Significant changes would be ones that I feel override the amount of time needed to perform them in relation to the original duties. To make this more clear if the duties amount to a 30% increase in the workload pay adjustment should be made. This can easily be accomplished in many cases while in others it is more difficult. If the work is needed then before it is assigned there should be discussion with the appropriate individuals to get approval for the needed pay increase.
Another right employees have is to be recognized for the quality of the work they provide in support of the organization or company. This should be done on a regular basis through either a bonus or award in recognition of their efforts. While sometimes management can provide comments about the quality of the work and that, they appreciate it additional efforts should be made in recognition. This should be highlighted by having meetings to recognize the efforts. This lets other employees know that their efforts are appreciated and may help to instill some incentive for others to do a quality effort in performance of their duties. People put forth more effort when they know their work will be appreciated and recognized.
Problems sometimes arise in the conduct of business. When this occurs, employees have the right to have the causes properly identified and corrective measures taken to resolve them. Sometimes mistakes are made by employees but they should not be crucified for them. The reason the mistakes were made need to be investigated not just blame the employee. Sometimes it is a lack of training or there could be other reasons but whatever they are, they need to be properly identified and corrected.
Companies to be successful must treat their employees with respect not only as individuals but also as part of the organization. Another right employees have is to expect decisions to be made by their supervisor or management of the company when they have an issue. There is nothing more frustrating for an employee than to bring a problem to their supervisor and not receive acknowledgment or action to resolve it. Employees also have a right to know about decisions made by company officials that may affect their job security or the security of the company to stay in business. They have a right to have this information so they can make appropriate decisions that affect their livelihood in the future.
There are many issues, which company officials must sometimes make decisions but it is not necessary for all of them to be communicated to employees. However, those that affect the status of the company and or their position or job security should be communicated to the employees affected. If issues exist with regard to the security of the company or jobs within it, employees have a right to know before the public. Decisions need to be made by employees who may have their job security affected by decisions that are made. The decisions that are made by the company not only affect the company but their employees and their families. Companies must realize how they would feel if things were occurring that affected their job security and they were not informed properly.