Since the early 1900s, human resource management has undergone various changes so as to get to where it stands today. In the early 1900s it had what could be referred to as a non-existent role in the work place which included, hiring and firing all to benefit the administration. With new laws passed, on minimum wages and employment insurance, legal compliance became a necessity. More laws were passed in the 70s and 80s including safety and health, due to enforcement of the laws passed human resources roles were no longer simple clerics, they evolved to include health and safety programs, training, compensation and benefits and strategic planning. Human resource management is still undergoing changes (Cascio, 2009).
Safety and health in the work place is of great importance to human resource management (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2009) Dealing with the well-being of the workers in the organization should be a priority in every organization seeing that the workers will either contribute positively or negatively to the organization, if their well fare is not taken care of, then there will be negative impacts such as the high turnover of workers (Dobbin & Sutton, 2008).
Safety policies in work places should be put in place to ensure the safety of the workers. Work places should be completely safe for all the workers. Some jobs such as construction involve working in unstable environments which is unavoidable, proper labeling of the danger zones should be done to minimize on the risks. Proper introduction of the workers to the high risk work sites should be done with all the possible risks being outlined for the employees to know beforehand what they are up against.
Work places with relatively low potential risks such as the office, all potential risks should be identified and measures put in place to prevent them from occurring and if they occur measures should be put in place to minimize the damage such as put up signs in case of a slippery floor.
The human resource department should provide health and safety training to all their employees. Training the employees will ensure that minor injuries can be attended to on site, and first aid can be administered in case of an accident before the victim is taken to qualified healthcare provider, this could help save lives (Sawicki, 2008).
Fire and emergency drills should be held from time to time as is required as part of procedure, they should also be taken seriously so that they can serve their purpose fully. Employees should be encouraged to take some time off in case of a health issue and should not be reprimanded for it (Lanoie, 2002).
The human resource department is conversant with the risks encountered by employees at certain conditions, with good coordination with other departments such as the facility department, they will encourage them to invest in facilities that will help prevent these risks e.g. handrails in the rest rooms will help prevent falls and anti-slip mats will help prevent slips. This way all employees are protected from these risks which help them have a sense of safety in the work place (Hollan, Hutchinsn & Kirsh, 2000).
Employees should be able to express themselves without fear of anything; this is the only way for them to share their honest views on issues that affect the organizations goals on occupational safety and health. Employees will only be honest with their views if they are assured that it is okay for them to do so without bringing harm to their jobs or social life. The human resource department should ensure that the supervisors hired in each department of the organization is concerned for the safety of every employee in the organization, this can be done during the hiring process. The supervisors hired should be trained on accessibility and interaction; this will help enhance open communication.
Human resource personnel should interact one on one with the employees, this can help an employee who is hesitant to approach the direct manager to open up about his as he may be more comfortable talking with the human resource personnel (Trenholm & Jensen, 2008). In case of minor issues on health and safety, they should be addressed through the organization’s notice board in a memo or through emails.
At this time health and safety are being used as part of an organization’s overall strategy for talent retention, overall objectives, and loss-time prevention. When or if employees feel like their work place is not safe, they may decide to leave the organization for one with safer working conditions. This will result to the organization being forced to recruit new employees resulting to unexpected expenditures. A good wellness program in an organization can act as an incentive for young, new, talented people to strive to work for your company and also retain them.
Healthy employees are productive employees, if employees keep getting hurt at their work places forcing them to take time off this will result to fewer employees working at a time and could result to lower output of the products they produce or poor services in case it is a service company. Getting injured or witnessing injuries at work places will not only impact production but also the morale and retention of the employees. Organizations are using health and safety programs to prevent time loss and also keep productivity at the optimum level thus achieving overall goals and objectives (Beamer, & Varner, 2001).
Health and safety program also helps the company avoid law suits that could result from accidents in working places.
Respect creates trust, trust leads to a feeling of safety which in turn frees the organizations productivity thus in order to achieve the two main objectives in companies that is safe working conditions and increase productivity, it all stems from respect. Studies around the world show that leaders who are domineering, intimidating or threatening only diminish the productivity of employees. This kind of leadership is not only out dated but also is destructive. This kind of leadership cannot allow an employee to speak up and therefore safety and health of the employees could be endangered. Respectful leaders create working environments that value and foster their employees, this helps enhance their focus and spirit thus they become committed to the success of the organization such that they see the organization’s success as their personal success (Bratton, & Gold, 2017).
Integrity in the work place is of great importance it is a fundamental value employees should possess and employers seek in their employee’s honesty, trust having sound morals and ethical principles are some of the values that show integrity in an employee. Having these values is important when setting safety and health standards in an organization, when the leaders in an organization are trustworthy, then the employees trust them to set them health and safety programs that cater for their needs, without this trust the process cannot be smooth. The leaders should have integrity to bring the best offer to the table and the employees should have integrity and have what they deserve (Vuontisjärvi, 2006).
The community is of importance to everything that goes on in business, the company and its employees form a community with one agenda and that is governed by common norms, the kind of community created will determine the kind of safety and health standards to be put in place. For example in case of a construction company, the kind of health and safety standards put in place are not the same as those put in place in an official setting. The kinds of risks involved in both cases are different and therefore cannot be under the same programs.
Health and safety standards are of benefit to both the organization and its employees, it is therefore important that every organization has them set aside, if necessary make them part of the organizations development plan (Wells & Bradon, 2002)
References
Beamer, L., & Varner, I. I. (2001). Intercultural communication in the global workplace. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Cascio, W. F. (2009). Managing human resources (p. 251). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Dobbin, F., & Sutton, J. R. (2008). The strength of a weak state: The rights revolution and the rise of human resources management divisions. American journal of sociology, 104(2), 441-476.
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Werner, S. (2009). Managing human resources (p. 358). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Hollan, J., Hutchins, E., & Kirsh, D. (2000). Distributed cognition: toward a new foundation for human-computer interaction research. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 7(2), 174-196.
Lanoie, P. (2002). The impact of occupational safety and health regulation on the risk of workplace accidents: Quebec, 1983-87. Journal of Human Resources, 643-660.
Sawicki, N. N. (2008). Doctors, Discipline, and the Death Penalty: Professional Implications of Safe Harbor Policies. Yale L. & Pol’y Rev., 27, 107.
Trenholm, S., & Jensen, A. (2008). Interpersonal communication (pp. 10-12). New York:Oxford University Press.
Vuontisjärvi, T. (2006). Corporate social reporting in the European context and human resource disclosures: An analysis of Finnish companies. Journal of business ethics, 69(4), 331- 354.
Wells, M., & Bradon, K. (2002). People and parks: linking protected area management with local communities. World Bank.
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