Productivity Loss Case Study

Workplace grievances and conflicts are reflections of the failure of basic human urges or motivations to secure adequate satisfaction which are fully cured by good industrial relations. These issues do not spring up in an atmosphere of industrial peace.

One of the key issue of contention as per the case study is that Chris is making a habit of coming to work late without the permission of the employer. For e.g. as mentioned in the case study “Chris is late for work three (3) times by more than half an hour”. Employees who come in late often impact multiple areas of the business, including other employees and the company's bottom line. Some of the implications of late arrival are as follows:

A. Productivity Loss - An employee who isn't working

Since each contract is different, a breach of contract may be due to many different reasons involved. For instance, the employer may be liable for a breach if they fail to pay wages as stated in the contract or if they deny the employee any benefits that they are entitled to. Another common breach of employment contract is where the employer terminates a worker in an unfair manner. Employees may also breach the employment contract when the fail to comply with the working hours as stated in the contract terms. For e.g. in Fiji most organization’s operating hours are from 8.00 am to 4.00pm or 5.00 pm and making a continuous habit of coming late is a breach of contract by employees. Also failure to maintain confidentiality of company’s information is another form of a breach of employment

Discuss.

Once the likely level of misconduct has been determined, the employer has to determine what action to take next. The nature of the misconduct is obvious in some circumstances and it will be necessary for an employer to make a reasonable judgment in many cases of misconduct. These will be determined according to the nature of the company, as some matters may be more important in some workplaces and a failure to follow these requirements could be more of a disciplinary offence in these circumstances.

Referring to the action taken by the company, I believe it was unfair and unjust because to me the employer was confused whether he falls under small business or not and then he/she was not able to make a correct decision in the disciplinary process. It was inappropriate for the employer to give Chris a warning letter because he being coming late to work was not a very serious misconduct since he just started to come late for the past several weeks. To me, his misconduct was a minor breach (i.e. breach of the rules or required standards but not serious enough to warrant dismissal or more formal action initially). In cases of minor misconduct, it is often practical & sensible to first deal with it informally. I believe the employer should have verbally counseled Chris and find out the reasons for him coming in late. The employer should have assisted Chris to find