The purpose of company policies and procedures is to set out in a structured
format the norms of behaviour acceptable of employees and management of the
company. Note I say "employees and Managers' and not just employees. A
disciplinary code and policy for instance, is to regulate standards of conduct and
incapacity of employees within a company or organisation. In addition it sets out how
managers should deal with errant employees.
For this reason I am continually shocked at the number of companies who lose
their cases at the CCMA due to employer errors and or managers lack of knowledge.
Another area that causes problems is the inadequacy of policies and procedures.
Managers have an obligation to enforce the policies and procedures as set out
and employees should be expected to adhere to these policies. Having policies and
procedures creates certainty and consistency in the application of rules and
regulations.
Now is the time for all companies to review their policies and procedures and to
seriously look at the reasons why they may have lost disciplinary action and or CCMA
appeals. This in fact is something that should be done regularly to ensure policies are
up to date and up to standard.
A code of conduct is a set of rules that become a standard for all employees
under different circumstances in the workplace. Every company has its own rules
that govern how employees can be expected to behave and how managers can be
expected to respond to misbehaviour. But do the managers respond as required and
are the codes and standards applied equitably?
An employer needs to ensure all employees are aware of the rules, policies and
procedures as set out in such documents. In addition employees and managers must
be aware of the reasonable standards of behaviour that are expected of them in the
workplace.
This is another area that needs to be considered i.e. the standards that have
been set. Are the employees aware of and do they understand what the standards
are and what the consequences of non compliance are? The LRA requires that
employees are aware of the standards that have been set and what performance
and conduct is expected of them. This is why there is a need for ongoing
performance management and reinforcing of the set standards.
The onus is placed on the company to ensure all employees are adequately
trained and understand the terms and conditions of the policies that exist in the
workplace. Notice I say, all employees as this includes managers and not just
subordinates.
Managers in fact should be more trained and up to date on current legislation than
subordinates.
The cost of training managers and bringing them up to date on basic labour
relations, how to enforce discipline and how to conduct hearings may be as little as
R6 to R7000 per person but the cost of an unfair dismissal will be many time more.
Giving employees a copy of the various policies and trusting they will read them - we
all know this doesn?t happen - is not sufficient - there is an obligation to train the
employees and to ensure understanding. Managements understanding of the meaning
of ethics for instance must be the same as the employees understanding.
In addition, the company has an obligation to ensure the rules and regulations are
enforced equitably, as soon as possible after a deviation occurs.
Another area that must be considered at this point in time relates to employment
Equity and Skills Development issues. The department has increased the fine for non
compliance and whether or not we agree we have an obligation to comply with the
act.
You need to ensure you have an EE Forum in place and that the members have
been trained. You need to have an EE plan and policies in place and once again to
make sure management comply with the terms of the plan and policy.
