Introduction to Labour standards & HR Management in a CSR perspective

By CSR adviser, Mette Maria H. Kristensen

SUSBIZ Kenya

Agenda

1. What is Labour standards

2. What is HR Management

3. Labour standards and HRM in a CSR perspective

4. Strategic HR Management

5. Examples from the medias

6. Short exercise

1. What is Labour standards

“Core Labour standards are a series of rules and principles regarding the minimum standards recognised

by the international community for treating workers humanely”.

”Although many kinds of Labour standards exist, the ones referred to as the four core Labour standards are those that the international community has agreed are applicable to all countries because they protect basic

human rights”.

OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.ILO – International Labour Organisation.

The 4 core Labour standards– Elimination of forced and compulsory Labour

Forced Labour is all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. 

– Abolition of child LabourAside from violating children’s basic human rights, sending children to work rather than to school perpetuates poverty and compromises economic growth.

– Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupationDiscrimination includes any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation. 

– Freedom of association and collective bargainingThe right for workers and employers to freely create and participate in organisations to promote and protect their interests. Signatories must give workers and employees the right freely to establish and join organisations of their choice, without any type of prior authorisation. Signatories further agree to establish mechanisms to ensure the right to organise and to encourage the practice of negotiating between employers and workers’ organisations.

2. What is HR Management

“The administrative discipline of hiring and developing employees so that they become

more valuable to the organisation”.

”Activities that management engage in to attract and retain employees and to ensure that they perform at a high level and contribute to the

accomplishment of organisational goals”.

OHS vs. labour-activities

Occ. Health and Safety• PPE• First aid• Fire safety• Industrial hygiene• Machine safeguarding• Safety committee• Physically demanding work• Injuries, illnesses• Hazardous materials• House keeping• OHS training and audit• OHS Management

system /policy

Labour and HR• Recruitment• Contracts of employment• Child Labour• Wages• Non-discrimination• Freedom of association• Working hours• Retention• Insurance • Dormitory housing • HR training and audit• HR Management system

/policy

1. HR Management tools

• Performance management and evaluation• Coaching• Mentoring • Team building and management• Staff development interviews and training• Personality and qualification test • Workplace assessment • Management systems: OHSAS 18000 &

the SA8000 standard.

3. Labour standards and HRM in a CSR perspective

• When HR management is strategic CSR the HR activities often goes beyond following the Labour laws and benefit your employees in a way that also benefits the company’s performance and bottom line.

• Legal requirements: social security, workers compensation, work assessment etc.

• Voluntary activities and benefits: extensive health insurance, retirement, day care etc.

• The objective of strategic HRM is the development of a HR system that enhances the organisations efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customer needs and demands.

4. Strategic HR Management

Strategic HR Management

Strategic HR Management• The positive effect on competitiveness and bottom line is

particularly strong among businesses that have offered their employees continuing education, skills development and/or re-training and improved physical and psychosocial working conditions.

The services offered by the company depend on the employees’ performance. Good physical and psychosocial working conditions result in

- improved employee welfare, and therefore- improved performance, which ultimately shows on the bottom

line.

• The skills and abilities of businesses have often evolved from experience. Therefore, it is often an advantage to retain older employees with core competences, enabling the business to maintain this experience in the business as long as possible and, in that way, optimize performance.

Example: Strategic HR Management

HOLM NIELSEN A/S is a Danish company offering work and services within a variety of building sector segments. The company has about 40 employees.

Strategic HR Management: Works actively to prevent social exclusion by hiring marginalised groups and pursuing a “soft” staff policy where the individual employee is at the centre of attention.

”If you give people a chance, that’s something they remember. This means our social responsibility lays the foundations for talented and loyal employees. And when the employees are dedicated to their work, it improves

performance in bottom-line terms”. Kurt Holm Nielsen, owner.

Strategic Labour standards

”A number of studies find no evidence to support the belief that multinational

enterprises favor countries with lower respect for basic human and worker rights. On the

contrary, evidence suggests that multinational enterprises are more likely to invest in countries with stricter safeguards and

enforcement of basic human and worker rights than in those countries where such rights are

absent or poorly enforced”.OECD

Strategic HR Management

• Reduced absence due to sickness among employees as a result of a health policy.

• Employee satisfaction can pave the way for a lower rate of employee turnover, strikes/go-slow and lower expenses for recruitment and advertising.

• Reduced sickness absence among employees, which is a direct financial benefit.

• Reduced number of overtime hours and rejected products.

5. Examples from the media

• January 2012: Agnes Cupcakes has illegal employment contracts and lying to customers saying old cakes are fresh.

• February-March: Fine, hire PR agency, more media attention and apology from management.

• April: Main investor pulls out.

• May: Change name and

close to going bankrupt.

Examples from the media• Café Summershoes is a trendy CPH restaurant.• June: 20 activists showed up and blocked the

cafe entrance as a protest against:– No extra payment for overtime, holidays, weekends.– Unknown working hours– No payment for intro. and probation periods– No collective agreement and union

Examples from the media

• The owner of Café Summershoes is denying the allegations and has reported the activists to the police.

“The employees sign a employment contract and they know that the probation period is not paid. We have monthly meetings with the employees and they do not complain. My employees are

happy otherwise they would not be able to give the customers a good service”.

Bahram Sari, Owner

Examples from the media Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital on the news last Friday and Saturday the 9th of May:

• Doctors want to join new private union (KPMDU).• Gertrude’s management refuses because union has

not engaged through the Private Hospitals Association.• 38 doctors went on strike on Saturday. • The strike is illegal according to a court ruling. • Legal action will be taking with doctors on strike.• An employee complains that her contract was changed

from a permanent to short term contract because she is pregnant – Gertrude’s denies the allegations.

Questions ?

2. Short exercise

Take 10 min. and discuss with the person next to you:

• How and why does your company work with Labour standards and HR management?

• How does your company find out about new Labour laws and regulations?

• Does your company have a HR policy?• Who is responsible for HR activities in your company?