Looking at employee procedures

Introduction

The first thing that I have to do in this assignment is to describe the features of a typical contract of employment and then analyse it with my own contract of employment for WH Smiths and say what the differences are between the two. In the second part of this assignment I have to design and make a leaflet for Konrho explaining the responsibilities of the employer including the procedures available to them in upholding there rights. I also have to do the same for the employee. In part three of the assignment I have to describe the disciplinary and grievance procedures available to employers and employees and then put this information into a leaflet as-well. In the fourth part of the assignment I have to compile a report on WH Smith which will include a survey into the health and safety regulations and non-discriminatory legislation in two different work environments. Also I have to describe in-depth the procedures available to employers and employees when health and safety or the non-discriminatory legislation’s have been contravened. In the last part of the assignment I have to explain the roles of trade unions and staff associations. The last thing to do is provide recommendations for Konrho in terms of the best practices to gain employee co-operation in there UK subsidiary.

As part of this assignment I am going to have to go to WH Smith and conduct a survey on health and safety, get there health and safety policy and there non-discriminatory policy as-well. I will have to use a library to get the information on trade unions. I will also have to learn how to use DTP to produce my leaflets on Konrho.

To finish the assignment I will have to write an evaluation which will include a summary of the work that I have don and any useful things that I have done or achieved, it will also state any problems that I may encounter during the assignment.

The main features of a typical

Contract of Employment

A typical contract of employment will include various things to do with pay; holiday and your job role, in the following sentences are explanations to what should be on a typical contract of employment. The first thing that should be on a typical contract of employment should be your job role and your job title, these should give you details of what the precise nature of your job is and its exact title. Also included in your contract should be details relating to pay stating if you get paid weakly or monthly. The conditions of overtime and the rates that you get paid for overtime should be included; it should also include any bonuses you may earn or commission that you may get for your job. You regular working periods should be included in a typical contract. There should be information about your normal starting and finishing times and what days that you work, it will also say how many hours you have to work in a week before you are entitled to overtime rates. Your holiday allowance will also be written on a typical contract, which says how many weeks that you are allowed off during the year that you get paid for (normally 4 working weeks). The conditions surrounding sick pay and sick leave should be on a typical contract; also details of maternity leave and paternity leave (normally 5 days paid leave) should be included on the contract. A typical contract should also include the details for adoption leave, which is normally 6 weeks every 5 years. The last few things that a typical contract should have on it is as follows. The pension scheme that the company offers should be on the contract, which states how much of your wages will be contributed to the scheme. The grievance procedure should be on the contract with details as to who is the grievance officer. It should include the period of notification that is required to be given for termination of the contract on either the employers part or the employees part, it will say how many weeks/months are required for termination.

Comparison between my contracts and a typical contract

This is a preview of the whole essay

Comparison between my contracts and a typical contract

My contract of employment contains the following; - it has my job role and title, which is a customer, service assistant this is also my job title. My role as a customer service assistant is to help any customers with any questions and to serve on the till. I am paid monthly and it is paid straight into my bank account, the rate of pay is hourly and extra hours can be worked if required on either the employers/employees part. Since I only work part time I am not eligible for overtime rate of pay. On my contract it states my normal working days and the times that I start and the times that I finish. I am entitled to just over four weeks paid holiday every year. I am entitled to sick leave but I only get paid with a doctor’s note stating why I was off. Also on my contract it states the period that is to be given before I can leave my job. I do not pay any tax because I have filled in a tax return form. To conclude my contract includes all the main points that a typical contract includes.

The analysis of WH Smith’s

Shop floor and stockroom in terms of

Health and Safety and Non-discrimination

For this part of the assignment I have to comment on the shop floor and stockroom for WH Smith. I will look at these two working environments separately but I will include information on both the health & safety and non-discrimination policies for both of these environments. I will firstly look at the shop floor and then the stockroom.

The Shop Floor

The electricity supply complied as the plug sockets were all off and had no lose wires around them. The shop floor also has sharp edges, which are only on the corners of bookshelves, but apart from that have no other sharp edges. There are fire extinguishers on the shop floor and fire exits so it complies with fire safety on the shop floor. The heat conditions or the store temperature comply with the heat & safety legislation as it is warm, the only other heat in the store comes from the top of the computer monitors and they are only warm and not hot. On the shop floor there are no sparks and no surface oil, which is good because it shows safety in the working environment. The machinery on the shop floor is the escalator and the lift and both of these pieces of equipment are safe as the escalator has emergency stop switches at the top and the bottom, the lift is also safe as the doors do not close if something is obstructing them. There are no chemical labels or chemical storage areas on the shop floor so it is safe as no children or customers could get them and use them. The only dust that is on the shop floor is on the top of the big bookshelves that are around the sides of the store. The dust on the shelves will want to be cleaned so that the shop can pass a health and safety check. There are no fumes on the shop floor so it is safe from that particular potential hazard. The only noise that can be heard on the shop floor is background music and the sound of the tills in operation. There are no washing/toilet facilities on the shop floor for customers to use, but there are these facilities in the staff area for staff to use. There are first aid kits behind the customer service desks upstairs and downstairs and there is also a logbook to record any accidents that occur in the store. There is no specific health and safety policy for the shop floor, but there is a policy for the whole store itself. There is no protective clothing to be worn on the shop floor because one is not needed, but staff members are issued with a uniform so that customers know whom to approach. The temperature on the shop floor is in compliance with the health & safety regulations, but the air tends to get a little dry after a while. To link upstairs and downstairs there are some stairs linking the two, but there is also an escalator, which runs from the bottom floor to the top floor.

When I asked a manager at WH Smith’s if they had a non-discrimination policy for the store they said that they kept with what the law stated, so they do not have any special non-discrimination policy for the store.

The Stock Room

The electricity supply to the stock room complied to the health and safety check as all plugs were off and there were no lose wires, also the main fuse box is in the stock room and this was working properly and it also had no lose wires. There are a few sharp edges in the stockroom but they are not really dangerous, they are the metal shelves and the metal cage. There are fire exits and fire extinguishers in the stockroom so the fire part of the health and safety check complied. Through my own experience in the stock room I have found that it is considerably colder than the shop floor so it is contravening the health and safety check. There are no sparks in the stock room so it is safe from that. The only surface oil in the stockroom is in the lift motor room as it is in its own separate room it causes no danger to the people working in the stockroom. The only machinery in the stockroom is the lift and the lift motor but these are not machines that require to be operated by a member of staff. There are no chemical labels or chemical storage places in the stockroom, and there are no fumes so these three points are safe from the health and safety check. There is dust on the very tops of the shelves in the stockroom so this will have to be cleaned to pass the health and safety check. The only noise in the stockroom is from the lift motor room and even that does not make a great deal of noise as it is in its own separate room. There are no washing or toilet facilities in the stockroom but there are these facilities upstairs in the staff area. There is a first aid kit under the main desk in the stockroom, which is easily accessible, incase of an accident. As I said before for the shop floor there is no health and safety policy for each area, just one policy for the whole store. There is no protective clothing to be worn in the stockroom, as there is no need for one. There are only the ladders left to look at in the stockroom that could be considered a risk and a danger to staff when they are using them.

There is no discrimination in the stockroom as WH Smith complies with the law when discrimination is an issue.

Overall non-discrimination

WH Smith said that they do not discriminate at all; this can be backed up by the fact that they have the facilities to employ a disabled person as they have a lift and a disabled toilet. Also WH Smith (at the white rose) has employed a lot of people from the ethnic minority, and there is about equal numbers of men and women working there (actually more women than men). They also employ people working full time and part time; finally their employees are from a Varity of age ranges.

The procedures available to employers and

Employees when there rights concerning H & S and

Non-discrimination have been contravened

Procedures for employers

The procedures that employers must follow if these legislations are contravened are as follows: - they are firstly required to negotiate with the individual to try and meet some sort of arrangement. If this does not work then they have to negotiate through the trade unions and the staff associations to try and come to some sort of arraignment. If this does not work then they are to discuss further with ACAS (Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Services). If this fails to resolve the matter then the employer should take the employee to an industrial tribunal to settle the problem, as a last resort the employee should be taken to court for court action, this is the final step that the employer can take against the employee.

Procedures for employees

The procedures that employee must follow if these legislations are contravened are as follows: - they are firstly required to negotiate with their employer to try and meet some sort of arrangement. If this does not work then they have to negotiate through the trade unions and the staff associations to try and come to some sort of arraignment. If this does not work then they are to discuss further with ACAS (Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Services). If this fails to resolve the matter then the employee should take the employer to an industrial tribunal to settle the problem. If this still does not work the employee must take the employer to court for court action. If this still does not work then the employee can take one final step and take industrial actions against the employer; this is the final step that the employee can take against the employer.

The roles of staff associations and Trade unions

The main roles of trade unions and staff associations are to negotiate, offer advice, and defend the employees and to resolve conflicts. Here are some points that are covered under these topics: - pay and conditions at work, if an employee has a problem at work to do with pay or working conditions then there trade union representative will try to sort it out for the employee. The physical conditions in which the employees have to work are also controlled by the trade union. This is so that any problems at work that are to do with the physical capabilities of the employee is dealt with by seeing if they can either change there job or come to some sort of arrangement with the employers. If employees feel that they have been treated unfairly in terms of the recruitment, selection and promotions process in any way the trade union will review the employers decision to see if it was fair or not and take action on behalf of the employee if not. If employers suspend or dismiss employees without good reason or cause then the trade union will intervene and sort the problem out by talking to the employer and the employee to see if they can resolve the situation through negotiations. If employees feel that they have been allocated to do a certain job or put in a team and they feel that they are unable to do the job, but their employer has told them to do it anyway. The trade union will negotiate a change or something else that is beneficial to the employee and the employer. If the ways that the disciplinary and grievance procedures are used in a way that is unfair in any way to do with religion, race, colour or anything else like that then the trade union will step in to see what they can do to help the employee. The overall thing that a trade union or a staff association does is to negotiate between the employer and the employee for all kinds of disputes that may occur. Staff associations and trade unions are used to protect the rights of employees and employers, this means that they mediate any disputes and provide representation in a court.

Ways of best gaining Employee co-operation

For Konrho

There are many ways of best gaining employee co-operation and I have come up with some of these ways in the list below for Konrho: -

Representation = this is a good method as it is when one member of staff is allowed to represent all staff in the business to put forward any complaints that any member of staff have.

Consultation = this is where management and staff meet to discuss possible changes to the business. This is also a good idea as it shows that the management wants to hear what the workers have to say about any changes to the business that may or may-not happen.

Team working = this is when teamwork is encouraged in the business. This is a good idea as the staff will get along more friendly as the will get to know each other better.

Employee share ownership = this is when the employees are given shares in the company for working there. This is a good idea, as it will motivate workers to work harder so that they get bigger dividends on their shares.

Quality circles = this is when employees and management get together to discuss how to improve the products that they produce so that there are not as many rejects. This is good because the business does not have to keep spending more money on replacing faulty goods so the staff may get incentive bonuses.

Job security = if employees have job security this means that there jobs are safe so they may be motivated to work harder if they know that there jobs are safe.

These are the main ways that Konrho could improve employee co-operation through putting these recommendations into practice.