1. Immense amount of resources of a company goes into planning the structure of the company. The costs and benefits of every form of structure are weighed. For example, it is often difficult to choose between centralization and decentralization or between a tall hierarchy and a short one. All of these factors are given so much consideration because they ultimately determine the amount of productivity of employees. A firm’s success depends on the willingness of its employees to steer it on a prosperous path. Therefore, it is absolutely indispensable to take care that the employees do not go through a burnout.
Employee burnout can lead to increased absenteeism. The costs of absenteeism to a company cannot be ignored. When key personnel start taking increasing number of sick leaves, their work is bound to pile up. When important contracts are not delivered on time, the goodwill of the company is bound to suffer. The officers lower in the hierarchy will also lose a sense of direction if the seniors report increased absenteeism.
Moreover, employee burnout can also cause increased rates of turnover. When employees start leaving the organization, the name of the organization suffers as an employer also. Other employees also begin to search for other avenues in view of the prevailing conditions. During the process of hiring new officers, the work load is shifted to the existing ones and so, they are bound to suffer from an overload of work, increasing the chances of burnout all the more. One can also not blink the fact that the cost of hiring new employees is huge. Time and money are invested in order to interview, filter and then train the new recruits.
In addition to the costs of absenteeism and turnover, loss of productivity is also a major factor that should motivate the employer to keep employee burnout away.
2. The industry is concerned with the output of the employees. One is not oblivious to the fact that the better the health of the workers, the better their productivity will be. Therefore, when industries ban smoking during work hours, they are basically ensuring that their works stay away from all kinds of activities that are going to reduce their productivity. Smokers tend to run breathless in a shorter time than the non-smokers. Therefore in labor-intensive industries, the health of the workers will obviously be one of the major concerns.
However, such mandating practice of industries can also have disadvantages. Some workers may declare it as an invasion of personal space and may lose their dedication to the work. They may even start to look for other jobs where such practices do not exist. Smoking is considered a personal choice and although, no-smoking zones are tolerated, a complete ban on smoking might give birth to resentment.
3. Consolidated Bus Transit (CBT) tried to avoid paying 160 drivers their vacation pay for the President’s Day Week (“NY Bus Drivers Win Big Grievance”). The Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) filed a grievance and later, won it. The CBT was forced to pay the $100,000 to the drivers.
I agree with the outcome of the grievance. This is because the holidays for the President’s Day Week are public holidays, and the workers are entitled to a pay for it. The employer does not have the right to deduct the related wages. Therefore, the grievance not only won the support of the authorities but also my support.
Reference
NY Bus Drivers Win Big Grievance. (April 2014). Retrieved from http://www.tdu.org/news/ny-bus-drivers-win-big-grievance
