Impact of Unsafe Working Conditions in an organization
Unsafe working conditions are hazardous activities within an organization that would lead to injury and eventually death to employees. These conditions pose a challenge to the employees as well as their families. The companies they work for, and society also get affected eventually. Organizations should, therefore, work towards managing these hazards.
In most cases, the managers are too harsh to the employees. Such. Such actions, in return, deteriorate the relationship between the management and the employees. It is sad but true that without a good working relationship between the management and the employees, the company suffers. The employees perform their jobs with reservations and lack of respect for the administration. This situation, as well, leads to abysmal results in the organization. The employee’s productivity goes down, and this poses a challenge to the company in the market competition.
An excellent example of an organization extorting employees and exposing them to unsafe working conditions is Apple, a technology company in the US. According to Clarke and Boersma (2018), despite Apple being the best and most promising technology company in the US, the company portrays human rights, environmental, and ethical problems. Most of the employees from the company’s most significant supply chain in China, Foxconn, experience unsafe working conditions. These conditions include meager pay and environmental hazards. This situation has gone to the extent of making the employees commit suicide within the premises. It is saddening that despite the workers’ suicides and their resistance as well as activist campaigns for the change of the working conditions, Apple still demands deliveries on time, and the mitigation methods they put in place were no use to the workers (Pun et al. 2016). The workers continue to experience compulsory overtime work and unsafe working conditions.
Most organizations struggle with avoiding negative behavior within their companies. This behavior, if not handled early enough, ends up tainting the organizations’ image and destroying their position and respect in the society. Every organization should put in place best practices that best fit their organizational structure to avoid negative behavior within the organization. Some of these practices include ensuring that the company checks their work equipment regularly to ensure that it is in good condition and installing warning systems to ensure that employees are alerted in time in case of a hazard. Work unions or the government should ensure inspection of the working premises regularly to ascertain that they comply with the required standards. These practices should be pleasant and practical for both the employees and the management. According to Howald et al. (2018), organizations should put in place policies and procedures to handle relations between the management and employees. An excellent example of these policies could be a fair model where employees can take breaks when they are necessary and even get a day off when they are not well. This move would help the company motivate their employees and keep their image intact.
The ethical practices of Apple are poor, according to how they responded to the employees’ unsafe working conditions. Expectedly such a company as Apple would show compassion and treat its workers well. According to Clarke and Boersma (2018), Apple should respond with dignity and respect to its employees. They should act fairly and ethically and use environmentally responsible practices through the production of their products to safeguard the health and goodwill of their employees as well as the society at large.
responsible practices
In conclusion, Unsafe working conditions make situations hard for both workers and organizations. Safe working conditions are an excellent example of a company that has a vision for both their present and future generations’ growth and development. All organizations should, therefore, put significant effort into ensuring their employees get the best working conditions.
References
Clarke, T., & Boersma, M. (2018). Apple, the $1 trillion company, is searching for its soul. The Conversation.
Howald, N., Lortie, B., Gallagher, C., & Albert, M. A. (2018). Preventing and Deterring Organizational Deviance. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Pun, N., Shen, Y., Guo, Y., Lu, H., Chan, J., & Selden, M. (2016). Apple, Foxconn, and Chinese workers’ struggles from a global labor perspective. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 17(2), 166-185.