Book 07-15-2023 20.01

52
Labour Law and Relations:

A Human Resource Management Approach
frequent trade union actions in an organization. Especially

in Sri Lanka, with the high politicalization of trade unions,
trade union actions can take place without any fair or
honest reason. Furthermore, frequent trade union actions
can be a disruption or initiation of few troublemakers in an
organization. Hence, management shouldclearly identify
whether the frequent trade union actions indicate actual
employee displeasure and poor employee relations or not.
At the same time, lack of trade union action should not be
taken as an indication of good employee relations. Lack of trade
union action can be due to lack of proper leadership in trade unions,
lack of power of trade unions, authoritarian management, and fear
of reprisal.
Number of grievance complaints

Number of grievance complaints forwarded by employees is
yet another important method of identifying the level of employee
relations in organizations. Generally, employee grievances would be
high when employees have dissatisfactions or concerns about
issues such as company compensation system, promotions,
training, discipline management, and discrimination. Many, if
notall,areas of employee grievances directly relate to employee
relations of organizations. Hence, when employee grievances are
high, it can be an indication of poor employee relations.
Moreover,management can identify the areas where employee
grievances are highest as areas that need to be addressed in order
to improve employee relations in the organization.
However, to measure the level and nature of employee

relations through grievance handling complaints, companies should
have formal and properly implemented grievance
53
Employee
Relations
handling procedures. For example, ifa company's

grievance handling procedure is not adequately
communicated, employees would not bring their
grievances forward. Here the management cannot assume
that the employees do not have any grievances, just
because there were no grievance complaints from
employees.
At the same time, having a grievance handling
procedure itself can increase the number of grievance
complaints that are forwarded in a company. Studies have
found out that employees tend to make complaints that are
very minute and insignificant just because there is a formal
grievance handling procedure. In such a case, the number
of complaints would not show the real picture of employee
relations. Management should keep this in mind when
adopting this method to measure the level of employee
relations in companies.
Number ofcases in Labour Tribunals, Labour Courts and

Arbitration
With poor employee relations, the number of industrial
disputes will increase, leading to more legal actions against the
company such as Labour Tribunal cases, cases in the Labour
Courts, and cases referred for Arbitration.
Employee turnover rates

Employee turnover rates too will reflect the level and
nature of employee relations in organizations. Generally, it
can be assumed that high labour turnover indicates poor
employee relations. Nevertheless, high labour turnover
would not always be due to poor employee relations.There
can be numerous other reasons why employees leave
54
organizations that are not related to employee relations,

such as high demand for labour in the market and
employee migration.
At the same time, management should keep in mind that low
employee turnover rates might not indicate good employee relations
either. In many Sri Lankan companies, employees do not leave their
employment no matter how poor the employee relations in the
organization is,as finding a new job with better terms and conditions
is harder, due to high unemployment prevailing in the country.
Exit interviews
Exit interviews are interviews conducted by management,
when employees leave organizations. Main purpose of conducting
exit interviews are to gather information regarding reasons for
employee voluntary turnovers; what the employee liked and didn't
like about the employment/ organization; what are the areas that
need improvement in the organization; and what satisfied/ motivated
the employee and what didn't. Generally, exit interviews will give
direct and candid information about the level and nature of
employee relations of organizations.
These interviews can be held face-to-face, through

telephone, or using a questionnaire. Face-to-face interviews are
always recommended, as it will allow the management to gather in-
depth and honest information from employees.
(Also refer chapter 19-section 19.5 for more
information on exit interviews)
Joint consultativemeetings
JCC is another method where level of employee

relations can be measured. The issues that are raised,
Employee 55
Relations
how the meetings are conducted, employee-employer

involvement in the scheme, are areas that the management
can look into in decidingthe level of employee relations in a
company through JCCs.
In addition to above main methods discussed in detail,
the following methods too can be used to measure the level
and nature of employee relations in organizations:
·Number of accidents
Rate of absenteeism
·Quality of production and services
· Performance appraisals
·Number of trade unions
1.10.2 Decide the most suitable method/s

After the level and nature of employee relations is identified,
management should take steps to improve the situation. This
improvement can mean discontinuing existing methods adopted by
the company, continuing good practices, improving existing
practices, or implementing new strategies/methods. Whatever step
the company plans to take, the following factors should be
considered:
- Size of the company and the workforce
- Area that need improvement

Costs that the company will have to incur
Support and acceptance of the relevant parties such as
top management,employees,and trade unions
1.10.3 Get the necessary professional help if needed

Sometimes companies may lack competencies,
specialization, time, or people needed to carry out planned
activities to improve employee relations. In such instances,
56
necessary professional help can be sought from outside. For

example,if a company decides to implement proper policies of
human resource management to improve employee relations,and
found out that they do not have the necessary competencies to do
that, they can hire an outside firm or a specialist in the area to help
prepare their HR policies.
1.10.4 Evaluate the success of implemented methods
Without stopping at the implementation stage, companies

should constantly monitor the methods to see whether the desired
outcomes are achieved. Company can do this by carrying out the
measurements they used earlier to identify/ measure the level of
employee relations. Improvements of the results can indicate
success of the method while similar or more negative results can
indicate failure of the method. Based on the feedback received,
company can take necessary steps to improve, continue, or
discontinue the newly adopted methods; or introduce new methods.
1.11 Employee Relations in the Board of Investment

(BOI)/Export
(EPZ)
Processing Zone
Enterprises
Investments started flooding into Sri Lanka with the
establishment of EPZ in Sri Lanka under the Provisions of Greater
Colombo Economic Commission Law No.4 of 1978. The main
intention of establishing EPZ was to promote foreign investment and
increase export carnings. With theformation of EPZs, numerous
industries were set up and various employment opportunities were
generated. In this background, a new employee relations culture
was created in these BOI/EPZ enterprises.
Employee Relations
57
Many parties seem to assume that the different labour
legislation that exist in Sri Lanka are not applicable to BOI/ EPZ
enterprises and that employees working for BOI/EPZ enterprises are
not covered by these labou legislation in the country. In reality, labour
legislation do apply to BOI/ EPZ enterprises. BOI/EPZ enterprises are
however,granted numerous other concessions and cxemptions such
as tax reliefs,exemptions from laws such as Inland Revenue Act No. 4
of 1963 and No. 28 of 1979, Customs Ordinance and Exchange
Control Act.
Though there is no legal restriction for employees to form trade
unions within the BOI/EPZ enterprises, only a very limited number of
trade unions function in the zones. Main reasons for this dearth of
trade unions in the zones can be identified as:
restricted entry/access into the zone: As the entry/ access
into the zone is restricted for outsiders, it is difficult for trade
unions to gain entry,promote, or engage in different trade
union activities inside the zone.
existence of JCCs/ECs: When JCCs/ECs are
effective and employee problems are addressed
through these councils,employees might not feel
the need to join trade unions.
majority of employees being females: Female
participation in trade union activities are generally
Employee Relations 57
low.
negative attitude and response towards trade
unions: Employers in the zone do everything they
can to discourage employees from forming trade
unions due to their negative attitudes towards trade
unions, leading to employee reluctance to form
trade unions for fear of reprisal.

Book 07-15-2023 20.01

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Book 07-15-2023 20.01

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Book 07-15-2023 20.01

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

52

Labour Law and Relations:

frequent trade union actions in an organization. Especially

Number of grievance complaints

However, to measure the level and nature of employee

handling procedures. For example, ifa company's

Number ofcases in Labour Tribunals, Labour Courts and

Employee turnover rates

organizations that are not related to employee relations,

These interviews can be held face-to-face, through

(Also refer chapter 19-section 19.5 for more

information on exit interviews)

JCC is another method where level of employee

how the meetings are conducted, employee-employer

1.10.2 Decide the most suitable method/s

- Size of the company and the workforce

- Area that need improvement

1.10.3 Get the necessary professional help if needed

necessary professional help can be sought from outside. For

1.10.4 Evaluate the success of implemented methods

Without stopping at the implementation stage, companies

1.11 Employee Relations in the Board of Investment

You might also like