Do you think employers genuinely care about employee welfare/rights?

royal1990

In short, in today's capitalist driven market where money and 'profit' matter- does the employer actually care for the wellbeing and rights of its' workers?

Obviously there are legal obligations. A company has to look like they are following procedures against discrimination, bullying and mental health.

However, in reality if it werent for the legal frameworks employers wouldnt give two hoots and I think its wrong.

Additionally, employers know that they can get away with being negligent in addressing work grievances because there is a slim chance of a worker ever taking them to court.

In part, due to heavy costs associated with the tribural process and also the rigorous process one has to go through to take them to court. Criteria is hard to meet.

Is it fair that the working man should have to pay the costs of suing an employer for the right reasons.

What do you think?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

999tigger

Some do and some dont. They are the biggest and most valuable asset for some businesses.

Reply 2

shawn_o1

Tell me about it, I got fired from a company that promised the world after training me up only to use my name to contact employers and land me interviews that I'd never pass. Was never going to lie for anyone anyway - but then the termination agreement they forced me to sign stopped me from telling the truth.

Reply 3

mojojojo101

I think a lot of SME owners ould say they are interested in employer and consumer (everyone forgets those) rights however when it comes to paying out of their pocket, as they should, to keep their workers safe, well looked after, well remunerated and their customers safe, happy and able to play on level playing field, that support suddenly evaporates into thin air.

As for big companies, you have 2 types, the oil/mining industry type who don't give a toss and do not profess to. Then you have companies like Apple and (less so) Google who wear diversity and workers rights as a badge of honour, problem is that it has nothing to do with rights and everything to do with selling an image of an ethical company so the executives can take home bigger pay checks.

Reply 4

royal1990

Original post by mojojojo101

I can relate to most points you raise.

I worked for an SME that was commercial firm but rooted in the charitable sector, historically they provided government departments with research on the faminine during the WW. But they were the right arm to the gov for statistics- a philantrophic organisation with housing trusts and a brand that spanned the confectionary world and was routed in Quakerism.

This firm tooted equality left right centre- but as you rightly said, when it came to spending money they were tight and shut the door on you. They looked professional on surface but really just the same as the corps.

I've also had experience of working for a big corporation, and these are the worst!

They make it seem they are ethical and all for the workers. Even the uniform is stitched in such a way that it appears the workers have pockets. When really, they are just seams. All seems very robotic, like a cult tribe. Mind you, it is an American firm.

You dont get pockets until your a higher rank. Us lowly workers arent allowed pockets because we have to earn it.

This is just a very practical example of how corps like to appear equal and wear that badge- but they are just as bad. And god forbid you underperforn and miss targets...your out the door.

Reply 5

bones-mccoy

I don't think my manager cares about any of our physical or emotional states, she once left me and another girl to run our workplace whilst she went off on holiday (baring in mind we were still only getting minimum wage for this) and I worked so many ridiculously long shifts every day that my feet were actually bleeding

Nah

Yes. I also think larger companies tend to be more progressive rather than the stereotypical notion of an evil supercorp and good small family firm.

Reply 8

Whiskey&Freedom

No and why should they?

If you lack the talent to be a wealth creating business owner then are nothing but a unit of labour and are easily replaceable. We need to strip away employee rights as they are already too generous and encourage idleness and low productivity among workers.

Reply 9

royal1990

Original post by Whiskey&Freedom

Disagree entirely.

Reply 10

royal1990

Original post by bones-mccoy

It is tragic being a young Graduate in todays market.

The market is such that employers have pick of the litter; are spoilt for choice and can therefore exploit workers and hold their job security against them.

But thats capitalism for you.

Where are all these so called professional level jobs Labour talked about during the Blairite years?

Go to University he said, better yourself. A skills shortage he said.

Now we have an oversubscribed and overly skilled market, picky employers whom can underpay workers- exploit their skills gained at the ultimate cost of the worker- where organisations benefit 100% and give back nothing.

Other than the promise of perhaps a "zero hour contract" and a speech that sounds like

"you should be grateful you have a job" and; "you have a poor work ethic therefore are undeserving of a job"

Reply 11

bones-mccoy

Original post by royal1990

Exactly. My job isn't exactly skilled but I know I'm lucky to at least be earning, even if it is the minimum wage. I'm overqualified for my current job but not qualified enough to get a job in the sector I really want, I need both more specialised study and experience before I start applying for ~proper~ jobs.

I get literally no benefit from my current job apart from tips, last Christmas I got a £20 gift voucher but only because the committee pressured the head of admin to give all the long-term workers something.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 12

ANM775

employers generally don't care about the welfare of their employees, all they care out is how much work you do [in other words how much money you are making them] and their company image [are you leaving a good impression of the company to customers/the public]

that's all they basically care about.

and many will try and work you as hard as they can during your shift.

I worked at one place briefly and breaks and lunch were timed to the minute ...If you were 1 minute late you'd get a talking to, 3 or more minutes late would get you an official warning or severe talking to.

whilst working there were these people [who were more like slave drivers] standing over you who's sole purpose was to monitor the workers outputs and make sure they were working at godspeed.

I was working so fast that within a couple of hours of starting working I had a migraine, and I NEVER get migraine's

At the end of the day they told me I was too slow and to not come back tomorrow.
I wasn't the only one who got told it that day though....

tbh I'm glad they sacked me......., they'd of ended up working me into an early grave.............

another job I had in an office they expected you to regulary do unpaid overtime at the end of the day. One dude working there told me he was forced to leave the office at lunch and eat it away from the premises because each time he was eating his lunch inside the premisis they would interupt him and give him more work.

A lot of people also left and management didn't want to replace them and thought they'd save money by letting the rest of the workers do their work in addition to their normal work, ....so what you'd get left with is a ridiculous amount of work to do each day and get constantly moaned at to work harder, and then people can't keep up with the work and a sneaky staff member starts to try and blame you to cover their backs for why something isn't done and make up lies about you....

and yeah, I didn't last too long in that job too lol