Are employees aware of workplace policies?

In January this year, Mayamiko Banda (not real name) of Traditional Authority (T/A) Somba in Blantyre clocked five years since he started working with one of the manufacturing companies in the country.

As Malawi joined the rest of the world the world in commemorating Labour Day on May 1 this year, Banda was among the few people asked randomly to say his views on the new pension scheme.

He could, however, not participate in the exercise and openly disclosed that he is not aware of what the new scheme enacted in 2011 entails regarding its benefits to the individual and the economy as a whole.

This raises the question of whether employees are given their working conditions and policies to read and understand them. The question is, should more be done to ensure that every employee gets to know their workplace policies?

Banda is just an example of thousands of employees in Malawi who are employed in various companies, but do not know what their working policies site.

According Wikipedia, a workplace policy is a formal policy which is instituted by the management or owners of a business or a company. By convention, workplace policies are clearly written up in employee handbooks or notices, and employees may be required to sign slips indicating that they have received the policy and they understand it.

A variety of topics can be covered by a workplace policy, and such policies are often collected in a handbook for the convenience of employees. Things like rate of pay, required dress or uniform, and workplace demeanor are often addressed in workplace policies, along with discrimination and sexual harassment, drug use, and abuse in the workplace.

But do employers provide their employees with working conditions and workplace policies?

The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) president Newton Kambala director observes that the Malawi labour laws are not favourable to the economic growth and favour the employee.

He said the company which he heads, Mkaka Construction, ensures that employees are given a copy of their work policies and conditions, but choose not to comply.

Kambala notes that most employees are shunning employing people because most of them today do not adhere to the needs of employees and are not cooperative, rendering most people in the country unemployed.

“The labour law protects the employee more than the employer as such people don’t care about their job once employed knowing that even if they don’t deliver, they will get their salary and if they get fired the labour office will protect them.

“It is because such people have no obligation to read their working conditions and policies to make sure they are good enough and protect their positions. They become proud of the job forgetting its responsibilities,” he said.

Old Mutual Malawi general manager Mark Mikwamba told Business News last year that employees and employers are have different interests which is one of the contributing factors on the increasing gap between employees and employers in work places.

“Informing and consulting workers and their representatives on employment matters and business developments more widely should be done to create a better understanding on labour laws,” he said.

The Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam) former president Buxton Kayuni was quoted in the The Nation as saying that there is need to tackle all developments taking place in labour markets and see how they affect the workplace.

“There have been a number of inconstancies in terms of implementation of these laws in the workplace. It has always been believed that as employers, we understand everything but there are a lot of gaps among ourselves; hence, these periodic updates,” he said.

In addition, former chairperson of the industrial Relations Court (IRC) Justice Rachael Sikwese earlier said that some companies have loose agreements between employers and employees to direct them on certain issues.

This, therefore, means that if employees know their workplace and understand them fully, cases of unfair dismissals that flood the IRC could be minimised.