TODAY I focus on what I term a serious lapse in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the manner employers relate to their employees and vice versa.
Last week I was called to mediate in a labour conflict that arose between an employer and an employee.
This was after the employer decided to dismiss the employee from employment.
Any registered formal business with relevant Government authorities whether small or large, does not run as a going concern without engaging labour in its operation because labour, which sometimes is described as human capital in a business, is part and parcel of a proper fully-fledged business set up.
Today, I want to expound on this important business element of labour and see how a business should relate to it in a win-win situation with the employer.
My discussion is not centred on employees that are employed on long-term contracts which attract pensionable conditions and are represented by labour unions in most cases.
It is, however, on businesses that engage employees with no pensionable jobs, but rather are engaged on what can be perceived as short-term periods in nature with a high risk of termination.
Some companies, especially in the categories of SMEs engage employees without any form of written agreement also known as employment
contract and employees go on to work without any form of written document.
At a time of the employee separating from such an employment, serious problems arise to both the employee and the employer.
In my last week’s experience, the employee was dismissed by the employer after she went to attend to the husband who was reportedly sick.
She went for four days continuously without any form of communication to the employer.
When she reported back for work, the employer termed her employment as a deserter and was summarily dismissed from employment.
She argued that the employer knew that she had gone to nurse the sick husband but the employer contended that she had not communicated to the company and there was no evidence to prove her case.
What even compounded the situation was that there was no contract to show conditions of service on which she was engaged.
This woman had worked for the firm for one year and eight months without going on leave.
When I was called in, I did my research which involved going to the labour office to enquire what the law stipulates in the absence of the written contract.
My findings were that the Government workers can be absent from work for a period of five to 10 days in some cases before one is called a deserter while in a private company and in the absence of a contract, one can be called a deserter from as early as three days of being absent from work.
From my findings, what struck me most was the non-payment of gratuity in the absence of a written agreement.
The purpose of writing this article is to draw the attention of the employers and employees to the contract of employment between the employer and the employee to play a fair game to each other.
The employment contract should act as a valid reference and should blow a whistle in case of foul play on either the employer or the employee.
Although the employee is the representative of the weaker side in the negotiation for employment because of the constricted labour force in the country, what the employer must know is that a business cannot operate without him/her.
Because of this, employees are an integral part of any business operations and should be taken as such by their employers.
Therefore, a written agreement that agrees with the Government’s minimum conditions of service must be adopted and explained to employees so that they are not caught unawares in other instances because ignorance is not a defence.
It is, therefore, imperative for employers to draw conditions of service for engaged employees and equally employees when engaged must insist on signing employment contracts which they should study and understand fully.
Otherwise, without any written contracts, the employees are seemingly more disadvantaged than the employers.
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