While there’s no denying that running a business consists of varying challenges, keeping your employees happy at work should be the main concern as well. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for business owners and upper management to gradually forget just how important employees are for business functions and slowly but surely, staff members become more and more displeased with unfair treatment.
As unfair treatment can be applied to varying elements of employment, from pay scales to compensation and even how they are addressed within the workplace, business owners should focus their attention towards maintaining happy employees with the goal of business success in mind. If you have noticed your startup or small scale business is creating miserable employees, here are a few reasons you should consider consulting employment lawyer Toronto to best assist with the legalities of keeping your employees contempt within the workplace.
Financial Loss For Your Business
If you are hoping to keep growing your business you should focus on keeping your employees motivated rather than miserable. This is because losing valuable employees can cost your business quite a lot. While having to re-employ for the same vacancies on a regular basis will not just injure the reputation of your businesses work environment, but you may also end up paying dearly in the event that mistreated employees seek legal representation to pursue fair compensation.
What’s more, you should also consider that even if your unhappy employees continue arriving at work every day while being mistreated and unfairly paid for their dedication. Your businesses functions will suffer as employees will ultimately feel unwilling to be productive. This factor can be devastating for your business as you will not be legally entitled to dismiss employees based on their general productivity, especially if they are functioning at an entry-level capacity. Rather than risk the legal implications of finding yourself confronted with unhappy employees, you should consider the essential benefits of providing your team members with a pleasant and fair working environment.
Avoiding Legal Implications
Avoiding the legal implications of overworked and underpaid employees is not nearly as extreme as you may assume it is. While ensuring each employee has a legally binding contract that abides by the labour laws applicable to your specific region is absolutely crucial, you should also ensure you are paying your staff fairly and providing them with adequate leave days. In addition to this, you should also ensure your employees are not working too long hours without sufficient breaks as this will not just affect productivity but it will also cost your business in terms of certain clauses within most labour laws that aim to protect the best interests of hardworking employees. It is crucial to understand that while many employees would rather avoid the possibility of losing their income when it comes to voicing their opinions, you should consider yourself responsible for their well-being as their employer.
Overseeing Upper Management
While paying staff fairly and providing each employee with sufficient leave days is vital for employee rights, you should also focus on overseeing upper management to ensure they are treating your employees fairly. Unjust treatment from upper management is entirely your responsibility as a savvy business owner, which means you should take the necessary precautions to ensure all your employees are fully aware of employee rights. Your human resources department is a critical component of your business as this department is aimed at looking after the best interests of employees. Regardless of the size of your business, you should have an HR department to handle all your employee needs from payroll to sexual harassment claims, unfair treatment, outplacement assistance, and both hiring and dismissing staff in an appropriate manner.
Your human resources department will also serve as a department that overlooks upper management. While countless startups and smaller-scale businesses wrongfully assume that human resource departments are only necessary for larger corporations, you will find that this department is as crucial as productions or sales for business success as employees working in HR aim to keep the inner workings of your business ideal.
Handling Employee Complaints
Even though you may feel compelled to overlook certain employee complaints as they may feel irrelevant to you, it would be best to handle each and every complaint from employees with the same attention as grievances can negatively affect productivity and spiral out of control if left for long enough. Depending on the nature of the grievance, you may need to take more action in some cases while others can be handled by your human resources department. However, in the event that grievances suggest the working conditions for employees is simply not up to par, you will need to take immediate action to adjust the work environment. Working condition complaints can refer to health and safety issues that would ultimately end the future of your business. Other complaints relating to workplace conditions include discriminatory acts and unfair treatment. These grievances are all extremely serious.
Other types of complaints that you will have to deal with include grievances related to terms of employment. This category of complaints refers to wages, employee allowances and even employee benefits. It is most often that employers consider terms of employment complaints less serious and opt-out of finding a solution for employees. However, this category of complaints is extremely serious as you may end up having to replace highly valued employees simply because you were not willing to deal with their grievance when you had the chance. It would be best to re-evaluate employee contracts when dealing with this type of grievance as you will be able to re-consider the employees’ value to your business and adjust payment terms appropriately. However, it is vital to handle these types of complaints with legal representatives advice as you will want to remain on the right side of the law when it comes to handling disgruntled staff members. You should show your staff compassion and humanity while re-evaluating their employment contracts as they are essentially the core of your business.
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