Due to the economic hardships which most entrepreneurs are facing, hiring a lawyer to assist with legal or labour issues maybe costly.
As such, I would like to share with readers about workplace negotiations, as one of the critical labour issue in most employment relationships.
As entrepreneurs it is important to know that the labour law (labour act, chapter 28:01) allows any business to have workplace negotiations.
Workplace negotiations are not only applicable to big organisations, but any form of employment with at least 2 employees.
How is this done?
Those few employees can elect a workers committee, which can represent them when negotiating with the entrepreneur in terms of section 24 of the labour act.
The workers committee representatives who can be 1 or 2 depending with the number of employees, or the employer can engage all the employees if they are less than five. This is the works council which can negotiate and come up with a binding agreement in terms of section 25A of the labour act.
What is negotiated in the works council?
The entrepreneur and the workers committee in the works council can negotiate on issues which include health and safety, welfare of both employees and the entrepreneur, investments and expansion of the business.
Thus, workplace negotiations fosters, encourage and maintain good relations between the employer and employees. They promote and maintain the effective participation of employees securing the mutual cooperation and trust of employees and the employer in the interests of industrial harmony.
In addition, the workplace negotiations help the entrepreneur in keeping business records and in certain circumstances where the employees sue him/her. Considering that conflicts are inevitable and inherent in an employment relationship, it is important to be proactive.
Generally keeping the records is a challenge for entrepreneurs and when they are sued by their employees, they struggle to substantiate their facts and as a result they lose huge amounts leading to the closure of the business. Whereas if they had engaged their employees and the records kept, that agreement will help the entrepreneur.
Negotiating with employees can be viewed as time wasting, however, for work to be done and objectives to be met, commitment is key. As entrepreneurs how are we going to achieve commitment and gain employee trust without involving them in our business operations?
May As an entrepreneur challenge you today to consider employee involvement through such initiatives.
Pilot Ndhlovu is a seasoned Human Resources Management expert and consultant with over 12 years of experience, 10 of them as an Arbitrator. Currently, he is a lecturer in the Department of Human Resources Management at Midlands State University. Views given in this article are personal as he writes in his own capacity. He is reachable at pilotndhlovu@gmail.com or on WhatsApp at 0713632520
