Efficiency Equity and voice in Workplace †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Efficiency Equity and voice in Workplace. Answer: Outline of the paper The Productivity Commission has the role of reviewing workplace relation policies. The purpose of this paper is to throw light upon the role of productive commission in the process of review. the paper provides a brief overview of efficiency, equity and voice in workplace. The paper discusses about employment policies within a work place which may have effect on productivity and industrial relations. These areas include national minimum standards in employment, anti-bullying or harassment framework, penalty rates and domestic violence. The paper also analyzes whether the Productivity Commission refers to the concept of equity, efficiency and voice within the workplace. It is futher determined by the paper that whether the Productivity Commission is able to achieve an appropriate balance between the concepts of voice equity and efficiency within a workplace. Concepts of equity, efficiency and voice: Equity According to Rogers (2016) equity is a bunch of fair and just standards of employment which covers personal treatments which respect human liberty and dignity as well as material outcome. The imperatives of equity are supported by religious, political and ethical theory. The concept simply means that every individual in the work place receives fair treatment. The concept provides for a transparency to effect and cause and it is known to everyone that what should be expected in relation to rewards and consequences. Where there is equity there is an equal access to opportunity provided to all people. The concept establishes an advantageous environment for the employers and the employees both. The opportunity which is provided by the incorporation of equity in the workplace would motivate the employees to meet their goals. Where the employees are provided with the belief that they are treated equally in terms of opportunities and rewards they would also tend to provide extra effort for the organization. Efficiency Budd and Colvin (2015) defines efficiency as the process of seeking the most comprehensive usage of available resources. It is also defined as the task or work which is completed within the workplace by a single employee or a team or a department in a day. Employees are paid within the organization for efficiency and hard work. It is the duty of the employees to attain the target which has been assigned to them within a particular deadline. Efficiency of an organization is primary for its survival. If an organization does not efficiently use its resources it would not be able to sustain in the competitive market. However, long term efficiency cannot be achieved by the organization through illegitimate means and depriving the employees of their basic workplace rights. Equity has to be incorporated into the system for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of the organization in an appropriate manner. Taking away the basic rights of the employees such as making them work for extra hou rs and not giving them appropriate leaves in order to increase the productivity would have a drastic effect on the work-life balance of the employees. where the work-life balance of the employee is disrupted it would negatively reflect on their performance and subsequently the performance of the organization. Voice The means through which the views of the employees are communicated to the employer is known as employee voice. It is the primary medium through which employees can influence matters which causes a concern to them at work (Freeman Boxall and Haynes 2007). Employee voice at workplace is equally important for the employer as it makes a contribution towards innovation, business improvements and productivity. On the other hand it also gives the employees greater influence, increased opportunity for growth and increased job satisfaction. Employee voice helps the employers understand what the employees expect from a work place and what problems do they face (Hassan 2016). Role of the productivity Commission The Australian governments primary advisory and review body on microeconomic regulations and policies along with various other environmental issues is the productivity commission. The productive commission was established by an independent legislation known as the Productive Commission Act 1998 which was passed by the commonwealth parliament. The productivity commission had been asked by the Australian Government to conduct an inquiry for the purpose of determining the functioning and performance of workplace relation structure within the country and make recommendations for its improvement. The role of the public commission was to review the effect of workplace relation structure of matters such as underemployment, unemployment and creation of jobs. The commission also had to make inquiry in relation to equitable and fair pay along with the condition of work and the safety features deployed in the work place (Adams 2005). The role of the commission also extended towards analyzing th e compliance burden on employers with existing legal provisions and red tape as well as appropriate scope for independent contracting. The commission also looked into business investment, competitiveness and productivity and the capacity of the labor market and the businesses for responding properly to changing conditions of economy in relation to labor engagement. The bargaining barriers are also analyzed by the PC. Safety Net The safety Net constitutes of three primary instruments which provides basis for condition and wages for the employees namely, the national employment standards, awards and the national minimum wage. In Australia the minimum wages are set out by the expert panel of the Fair Work Commission, which considered alterations in representations and economic conditions primarily from the Australian government, Union stakeholders and businesses. Generally a modest rise in the minimum wages are determined by the commission. It has been provided by the public commission that although the present minimum wage may be justified dilemma is faced by the FWC to determine the level which is just right. There is a short and long run dimension to such level. Previously the minimum wage based on which a particular level of employment may be sustained depended upon capabilities and skills of the jobless, the employees who are paid the minimum wages and the demand of such people. A critical question which had been identified by the PC was that the extent to which the regulated wage systems appropriately attain the redistribution goals set by it. There have been significant changes in the social system and only one man in the house hold does not work which was used to previously determine minimum wages (www.pc.gov.au 2017). However, where the welfare system of Australia has been significant in promoting income equality it has also discouraged employment, stigmatize people and incorporate social disadvantage. Where minimum wages are not set too high may help to address strong bargaining power of the employer. A reasonable empirical evidence exits which state that various individual firm are provided with some market power for hiring employees. The many frictions which are associated with job matching and search are reflected by this. This also signifies that wages may be suppressed by the unregulated labor markets well below efficient level and may also reduce employment in some cases as it has distributional effect. The pay level of the lowly paid are increased by the minimum wages to the extent that their jobs are retained by them and they want to work for the required hours. However, even where the above discussed rational are accepted the question of their impact on earning and employment is an obser ved matter. Although it is confidently asserted by some that the matter is decided by observing either side of the debate in reality not much evidence is provided in support of the matter (www.pc.gov.au 2017). The risk in relation to jeopardizing employment is only a one of the consideration. The Public commission found that the effect of household income of yearly salary review relied upon what impact does the pay increase have on other form of wages in the market. hundreds of wage rates for different jobs are created by Australia unique system for rewards where annual rates have a connection with alternations in the above minimum wages. It was found by the Public commission that unemployment is not only related strongly to lower income levels but also has a high adverse impact on the well being of people. The national employment standards provide 10 basic conditions in relation to employment which includes working hours, redundancy pay and various forms of leaves. Employment contracts, enterprise agreements and awards cannot omit any element which has been set by the NES. However PC identified various concerns in relation to the NES. In relation to leaves and public holiday the FWC Act provides enterprise agreements and awards to incorporate terms which allow the employees and employer to observe public holiday on a day other than with has been prescribed, however such provisions are not contained in all awards. It has been recommended by the PC that all awards must mandatorily contain provisions through which swapping holiday in the workplace is available as an option. The standards also recognize a holiday which has been declared by the state government and thus by creating new holidays a unilateral obligations with the NES can be created by the state governments. It has also been i dentified by the PC that there is not much support provided to women employees who have just given birth in the work place and therefore major changes in breastfeeding arrangements are required. Whether the Productivity Commission either explicitly or implicitly refers to the concepts of equity, efficiency and voice and relative importance of each in the Productivity Commission Report In its report the public commission had discussed about several issues in industrial relations such as: Institutional reforms Enterprise bargaining Individual arrangements Protecting employees The Safety Net Sham contracting Migrant workers in Australia Public sector bargaining individual disputes and the right of entry In relation to institutional reforms it has been recommend by the PC that new institutional arrangements have to be developed by the Australian government in relation to modern awards and minimum wages. It has been recommended that the government should create a statutory independent workplace standard commission having the responsibility of reviewing and varying modern awards and national minimum wages. It has also been recommended by the PC that in from of a less preferred option the government can establish as a minimum standards division the wage regulator in the FWC. The alternative although applicable would provide a limited scope for initial changes in culture. The divisions must be stated in statues and must have transparently set out legal duties. These recommendation clearly points out that the PC impliedly refers to equity and efficiency within the work place as it seeks to enhance the performance of the employees and well as provide them with adequate wages in the work pl ace. It also seeks to ensure that the productivity of the business is not hampered by the introduction of a wage which is not economically feasible for the businesses (Effinger Frericks and Jensen 2014). In relation to minimum wages it has been recommended by the PC that while undertaking the annual wage review. It provides that the analytical framework has to be broadened by the wage regulator while doing the annual wage review towards systematically considering the variation risk in economic situations on living standards of low paid employees and employment. Thus through these recommendation the PC is referring to employee voice within the workplace by recommending provisions to frequently review their requirements (www.pc.gov.au 2017). The PC has recommend the government to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to remove the provisions of continued four yearly review of modern awards and to include requirements towards ensuring the wage regulator along with NES give a minimum safety net of terms and conditions which would enhance the well-being of the community by taking into account the needs of the employer, the needs of the employed, the needs to increase employment, the needs of the consumer and the needs to make sure that modern awards are understood easily. This clearly indentifies the implied referral of the PC towards equity, voice and efficiency within the work place by ensuring the interest of all stakeholders of the workplace have been addressed. It has been recommended by the PC that as a part of its contemporary review process the FWC should prescribe Sunday penalty rates which are not a part of shift or overtime work at 125% and present Sunday award rate for those employees who are permanent in the retail, restaurant, caf and hospitality industry. This would ensure that efficiency which is required on Sunday in such industries is met and employee voice and equity is also addressed by providing them with higher rate of rewards. In relation to the issue of unfair dismissal it has been recommended by the PC that the government may introduce a requirement by which the fees made in relation to an unfair dismissal claim is nonrefundable. This recommendation would ensure that efficiency of business functioning is ensured and the businesses are protected from numerous unreasonable unfair dismissal claim and in addition those who have an general claim would not be afraid to file a unfair dismissal claim and therefore equity and employee voice is also addressed by the PC. It has also been recommended by the PC that the government bring into effect another non-refundable fee in relation to upfront lodgment fees for those unfair dismissal cases which go to arbitration. Parties must also be advised by the FWC that all arbitration cases do not result in compensation based on the recent decision. This would ensure that the employees do not make an unnecessary unfair dismissal claim. Although such a recommendation addressed business efficiency and productivity, it has hints that it is not addressing the concept of employee voice or equity in the workplace. Through the inquiry conducted and the recommendations provided by PC it is clear that importance have been provided to voice, efficiency and equity in the workplace by the PC however the priority given to each concept is relatively different. The concept of employee vice although addressed by the PCs report has not been provided much priority as compared to the other concepts like Equity and Efficiency. The report has not made much inquiry and provided adequate recommendations on the concept of employee voice. All the recommendations which had been made by the PC is towards enhancing the efficiency of the business and balancing the bargaining power of the employees and the employers within a workplace. When it comes to equity although much importance has been provided by the PC report it is less as compared to the importance provided to efficiency. The PC has made inquiry and recommendation in relation to equity within the workplace and ensured that adequate rights are provided to the employees. however the primary purpose of providing such rights is that business efficiency is ensured as employee satisfaction directly affects business efficiency. The balance between Equity, Efficiency and Voice achieved by the Public Commission Report According to Budd (2004) it is to be noted that efficiency, equity, and voice may often conflict with each other. The concept of equity requires un-biased decision making, objective evidence and appealing to neutral parties where participation in hearing is entailed by Voice. Both the dimensions may conflict each other for instance where the control of the third party may override the voice of the participants and thus an efficient result may not be derived. Therefore it is of utmost importance to establish a balance between three concepts to derive optimum results. In the report published by the PC into industrial relations there is a fair balance between the concept of equity, Voice and Efficient. It has been argued by Budd that the primary objectives of employment relationship are voice, equity and efficiency. The productivity commission report ensures that its gives significant importance to efficiency and equity in work place but not much on voice. It has been seen in the report that the issues which have been addressed by the PC and the recommendations which have been made are in to ensuring equity and efficiency in the workplace. In relation to unfair dismissal the commission recommends that non refundable fees should be initiated. This would ensure that the system has become efficient as unnecessary claims would be significantly diminished. On the other hand it also provides equity to the employee as where the numbers of cases are reduced the employees having genuine claim would have access to faster decision. It suppresses the negative voice of those who have a malicious claim and encourage the voice of those who have a genuine and truthful claim. Although voice is not given equal importance as the other two concepts here there is still a fair amount of balance between the concepts (Pohler and Luchak 2014). A recommendation has been provided by PC that the government has to amend section 341 of the FWA so that it can more transparently provide the provisions in relation to the application of workplace rights. It has been provided by the commission that the exercise of workplace rights have to be indicated by modified provisions in situations where inquiry or complaint has led to suspected adverse action has to have situation which bears tangible and direct relation to employment of the person. In addition the PC recommends that in relation to this, the formulation of a standard test has to be considered like what has been provided in part 3-1 related to unreasonable, harsh or unjust dismissal. Thus through this recommendation the PC impliedly provided more emphasis of equity and voice in a work place as compared to efficiency by increasing the compliance burden on the employers. Therefore for the above discussion it can be provided that where the productivity commission has not provided importance to a single concept it balances the deficiency by providing less importance to some other concept and more to the concept which had previously been overlooked in order to establish an appropriate balance between the system. Although it is difficult to establish a comprehensive balance between the three concepts in industrial relations the productivity commission report has made an successful attempt towards establishing a fair balance between the concepts of equity, voice and efficiency in the work place. References Adams, R.J., 2005. Efficiency, equity, and voice as moral imperatives.Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal,17(2), pp.111-117. Budd, J.W. and Colvin, A.J., 2005. Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice in Workplace Dispute Resolution Procedures.Human Resources Research Institute Working Paper, pp.01-05. Budd, J.W., 2004.Employment with a human face: Balancing efficiency, equity, and voice. Cornell University Press. Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) Freeman, R.B., Boxall, P.F. and Haynes, P. eds., 2007.What workers say: Employee voice in the Anglo-American workplace. Cornell University Press. Hassan, S.A.G., 2016.Smart Working Conditions and Efficiency at the Workplace: A Comparative Study Between the American University in Cairo, and the University of California, Berkeley(Doctoral dissertation, American University in Cairo). Pfau-Effinger, B., Frericks, P. and Jensen, P.H., 2014. Social rights and employment rights related to family care: Family care regimes in Europe.Inter-national Journal of Ageing (forthcoming). Pohler, D.M. and Luchak, A.A., 2014. Balancing efficiency, equity, and voice: The impact of unions and high-involvement work practices on work outcomes. ILR Review, 67(4), pp.1063-1094. Resick, C.J., Hargis, M.B., Shao, P. and Dust, S.B., 2013. Ethical leadership, moral equity judgments, and discretionary workplace behavior. Human Relations, 66(7), pp.951-972. Rogers, B., 2016. Employment rights in the platform economy: Getting back to basics.Browser Download This Paper. www.pc.gov.au (2017). pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations/report/workplace-relations-overview. [online] Pc.gov.au. Available at: https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations/report/workplace-relations-overview.pdf [Accessed 18 Nov. 2017].