The term employee welfare means to fare well or to do well. It refers to physical, mental, emotional well being of an individual.

Welfare is relative to time and space. The welfare needs may vary from company to another company and from place to place, and from time to time. Oxford dictionary defines welfare as state or condition of doing or being well: good fortune, happiness or well being of a person, community or things . Workers or employees welfare should be understood as meaning such services, facilities and amenities which may be provided within the vicinity of the undertaking to enable them to perform their work in healthy, congenial surroundings and provided with the amenities conductive to good health and high morale. Thus, welfare means state of living of an individual or group in a desirable relationship with the total environment. It also mean s, efforts to make the life meaningful for the working class. These efforts cover provisions of the amenities to workers over and above the minimum working conditions. Welfare includes anything that is done for the comfort and improvement of employees and is provided over and above the wages. Welfare helps in keeping the morale and motivation of the employees high so as to retain the employees for longer duration. The welfare measures need not be in monetary terms only but in any kind/forms. Employee welfare includes monitoring of working conditions, creation of industrial harmony through infrastructure for health, industrial relations and insurance against disease, accident and unemployment for the workers and their families. Labour welfare entails all those activities of employer, which are directed towards providing the employees with certain facilities and services in addition to wages or salaries. Labor welfare has the following objectives: 1. To provide better life and health to the workers 2. To make the workers happy and satisfied

3. To relieve workers from industrial fatigue and to improve intellectual, cultural and material conditions of living of the workers. The basic features of labor welfare measures are as follows:

1. Labor welfare includes various facilities, services and amenities provided to workers for improving their health, efficiency, economic betterment and social status. 2. Welfare measures are in addition to regular wages and other economic benefits available to workers due to legal provisions and collective bargaining 3. Labor welfare schemes are flexible and ever-changing. New welfare measures are added to the existing ones from time to time. 4. Welfare measures may be introduced by the employers, government, employees or by any social or charitable agency. 5. The purpose of labor welfare is to bring about the development of the whole personality

of the workers to make a better workforce. The very logic behind providing welfare schemes is to create efficient, healthy, loyal and satisfied labor force for the organization. The purpose of providing such facilities is to make their work life better and also to raise their standard of living. The important benefits of welfare measures can be summarized as follows: They provide better physical and mental health to workers and thus promote a healthy work environment Facilities like housing schemes, medical benefits, and education and recreation facilities for workers families help in raising their standards of living. This makes workers to pay more attention towards work and thus increases their productivity. Employers get stable labor force by providing welfare facilities. Workers take active interest in their jobs and work with a feeling of involvement and participation.

Employee welfare measures increase the productivity of organization and promote healthy industrial relations thereby maintaining industrial peace. The social evils prevalent among the labors such as substance abuse, etc are reduced to a greater extent by the welfare policies. Organizations provide welfare facilities to their employees to keep their motivation levels high. The employee welfare schemes can be classified into two categories viz. statutory and nonstatutory welfare schemes. The statutory schemes are those schemes that are compulsory to

provide by an organization as compliance to the laws governing employee health and safety. These include provisions provided in industrial acts like Factories Act 1948, Dock Workers Act (safety, health and welfare) 1986, Mines Act 1962. The non statutory schemes differ from organization to organization and from industry to industry.

STATUTORY WELFARE SCHEMES The statutory welfare schemes include the following provisions: 1. Drinking Water: At all the working places safe hygienic drinking water should be provided. 2. Facilities for sitting: In every organization, especially factories, suitable seating arrangements are to be provided. 3. First aid appliances: First aid appliances are to be provided and should be readily assessable so that in case of any minor accident initial medication can be provided to the needed employee. 4. Latrines and Urinals: A sufficient number of latrines and urinals are to be provided in the office and factory premises and are also to be maintained in a neat and clean condition. 5. Canteen facilities: Cafeteria or canteens are to be provided by the employer so as to provide hygienic and nutritious food to the employees. 6. Spittoons: In every work place, such as ware houses, store places, in the dock area and office premises spittoons are to be provided in convenient places and same are to be maintained in a hygienic condition. 7. Lighting: Proper and sufficient lights are to be provided for employees so that they can work safely during the night shifts. 8. Washing places: Adequate washing places such as bathrooms, wash basins with tap and tap on the stand pipe are provided in the port area in the vicinity of the work places.

9. Changing rooms: Adequate changing rooms are to be provided for workers to change their cloth in the factory area and office premises. Adequate lockers are also provided to the workers to keep their clothes and belongings. 10. Rest rooms: Adequate numbers of restrooms are provided to the workers with provisions of water supply, wash basins, toilets, bathrooms, etc. NON STATUTORY SCHEMES Many non statutory welfare schemes may include the following schemes: 1. Personal Health Care (Regular medical check-ups): Some of the companies provide the facility for extensive health check-up 2. Flexi-time: The main objective of the flextime policy is to provide opportunity to employees to work with flexible working schedules. Flexible work schedules are initiated by employees and approved by management to meet business commitments while supporting employee personal life needs 3. Employee Assistance Programs: Various assistant programs are arranged like external counseling service so that employees or members of their immediate family can get counseling on various matters. 4. Harassment Policy: To protect an employee from harassments of any kind, guidelines are provided for proper action and also for protecting the aggrieved employee. 5. Maternity & Adoption Leave Employees can avail maternity or adoption leaves. Paternity leave policies have also been introduced by various companies. 6. Medi-claim Insurance Scheme: This insurance scheme provides adequate insurance coverage of employees for expenses related to hospitalization due to illness, disease or injury or pregnancy. 7. Employee Referral Scheme: In several companies employee referral scheme is implemented to encourage employees to refer friends and relatives for employment in the

organization.