Businesses Are Failing On Workers' Rights
- Written by News Company
Businesses across the world have always had a responsibility to ensure their workers are being given all the necessary rights - but more than ever, these rights are being overlooked. More often than not, this is an accidental happening - but accidental or not, it is something which all business owners need to think about more than ever. Taking a step back and looking at business practices can help to radically alter the way in which workers are looked after - and sometimes, it is a failure to look at the details which causes rights to effectively not be granted.
The Right To Safety
If there is any workers’ right in particular which is flagrantly and commonly held from employees, it is the right to be safe in the workplace. As we have said, and as with other rights, this is usually due to a lack of attention to detail, rather than a purposeful holding off of these rights. There are many details to be considered in order to ensure that employees are being looked after - everything, really, ranging from training employees how to lift properly to ensuring that regular smoke alarm maintenance is being carried out. As long as business owners are paying careful attention to these details, it will mean that the employees are much safer on the whole, and therefore that their rights are being respected in the way they should be.The Right To Fair Pay
Of course, the right to safety is only the very beginning, and there are many other kinds of rights which need to be considered if employers are to keep their employees within reach of their legal rights in the workplace. Another hugely important one which is far too often overlooked is the right to fair pay - and part of the reason for this is that there is sometimes confusion about just how much there is involved in this, and how much there is to think about. It is not just a matter of ensuring that people are being paid the same for the same work - something which is unfortunately still too often not the case - but also that the actual rate of pay is fair across the board. There are minimum rates of pay for different industries, of course, and these must be adhered to, but there are also factors such as ensuring that the pay rises each year in line with inflation. There are, as ever, many details to consider if employers are to ensure their employees are being paid properly - and this is one of those rights which workers get particularly upset about not being carried out properly - for obvious reasons.The Right To Breaks
Whatever the job the worker does, they deserve to have breaks. Employers who fail to give their employees breaks are not only breaking the law, but failing to provide their employees with a basic human right as well. The amount of time they need for their breaks depends on a number of things - from the industry’s individual regulations to the kind of work they do - and employers have a duty to ensure that they are paying close attention to all of these factors. Businesses should also find that giving their employees enough breaks actually improves the quality of the work, as overworked workers will not work quite as hard or as well. Therefore, it can be seen that providing plenty of breaks to workers - or at least the bare minimum - is both good news for the workers themselves, and for the business as well.The Right To Benefits
It is commonly believed by workers and businesses alike that benefits are generally generous optionals which the company gifts to employees. However, as far as the law is concerned, this is not quite the case. It is actually a legal responsibility to ensure that employees are given benefits of some kind or another, although the extent to which these need to be given is generally up for debate and differs between industries and businesses individually too. However, there are minimums which need to be adhered to, and many new businesses are guilty of overlooking these minimums. It is also the case that whatever benefits are provided need to be of a certain quality and kind, which again depends on the industry in question and the business’ own decisions as well. But the granting of benefits at all remains a legal requirement which should not be overlooked.As long as these rights are taken on board, businesses should be able to ensure that their workers are being looked after in line with the law