“Role of HR & Union in Business sustainability”

 

“Role of HR & Union in Business sustainability”

 

In my 11 years career I worked with the MNC as well as Indian companies. I did 3 LTA’s (Long term agreements) with unions. My seniors used to tell me to work in IR/ER is very difficult as it has direct dealing with the unions. Of course, if we see unionization and its past movements in industry, any new entrants in IR role feels scared and think twice before entering in such role. But Somehow, I feel, to work in IR is most challenging as well as enjoyable job.

In my view HR/IR team plays vital role in long sustainability of any business units. Would like to throw some light on this topic.

Recently we have signed a long-term agreement with the union. Union had given their Charter of Demand in May 2019 and discussions started with Management. Both the parties were strong and started discussions/ negotiations with their own stands. I would say that today’s unions are more educated as they are having complete understanding of business functioning, labour laws and they are supported by some external associations/ political parties. In short, I would say to deal with today’s unions is more challenging than older unions. Of course, union office bearers with whom we were dealing were quite competent in the leadership as they are well versed with the business functionality and labour laws knowledge.

Our LTA took around 14 months’ time to settle. In the LTA negotiation period we worked under tremendous work pressure.

We followed three key principles in throughout negotiation:

Long sustainability of business unit

Patience 

Fairness with employees

 

Long sustainability of business unit:

 

Problem solving is the essence of what leaders exist to do. We must be resilient in our quest to create and sustain momentum for the organization and people we serve. When an organization has its own comparative protocols, to solve problems and make sound decisions, nobody can coerce for unrealistic expectations.

It’s difficult to sustain growth when you operate in an environment where people are constantly being overly reactive, rather than proactive.

Hence, I certainly utter, all employed personnel must think about organizations long sustainability factor first. Because, if organization sustains then only our employment exists. In India, lot many business units and start-ups got closed because of labour union matters. I personally not against of unionization. Nonetheless I have seen how the unions are coercing management for their unrealistic demands. In Ranjangaon MIDC only I have seen two industries closure due to union matters. Few union members try to do push their agendas in factories only because of they want to be in in leadership position. Very few unions are coming upfront saying let’s discuss on productivity improvements of the organization. Perhaps there could be some unions those are following this principle. 

I would say, if we wanted to sustain and secure long-term employment, all workmen unions must play a role of business partners through taking ownership and initiative on development of operational efficiency with their ideas on productivity improvements, scrap reduction, improvements in MTTR and MTBF, and most important is optimum utilization of manpower etc. and focus on how we can make our unit more competitive and best in class. 

I am sure unions are having these competences and if they adopt such mindset, business units where such a proactive union exists, will keep growing year on year with growth of employees too.

In nutshell if any business organization wants to sustain long time let’s say 50 years or 100 years and more, need to focus on Operational efficiency & cost control with the focus on variable cost which could be controlled by employees itself & fixed cost must be maintained and controlled by both union and management team, for example salaries, insurance, interest expenses, and potentially some utilities.

 

Patience 

 

It's one of great learning I took from my Manager. If we have to come to a common understanding, we must be patient while dealing with unions. Most of the time unions are coming with lot of aggressions to HR team with their agendas of long-term agreements. It's our responsibility to listen them, understand the reality, genuineness and intention of the office bearers as well as workman.

It is possible, only if we know exact expectations of down the line employees who are working on shop floor. For this you must be closely connected with employees. Understanding their expectations and realistic demands. Whenever employees come to management we should be able to answer them why their expectations are not realistic, how they can get good amount of salary rise by helping management in improving work efficiency.

There are numerous benefits of Patience makes you healthier:

Anger and stress are two things that are enough to collapse a person's health. Patience is a very important tool in overcoming frustration. I believe, Patience allows us to suspend judgment long enough to make informed decisions, thus paving the path to a happy and peaceful life.

When you're patient, you give up the struggle. You relax and enjoy your job which creates confidence, decisiveness, and a thoughtful outlook on our goal. I would say Patience leads to wisdom and success.

 

Of Course, if you are having good patience, you can enjoy better mental health, you will enjoy your tough times and achieves ultimate objectives.

In short in any negotiation patience itself is an action for better conclusions.

 

 

Fairness with employees:

 

This is the moral principle which we kept in our mind while doing long term agreement or dealing with workman’s interest with the union. Being HR professional, it is our first and foremost duty to have fairness while dealing with employees. Of course, we must keep in mind that our employees are our asset. Accordingly, we should deal with them as a family member and ensure fair treatment should be given to all in terms of dignity of their job, fair wages considering their basic needs, and role responsibilities he/she is managing. Even though we faced few pressure tactics used by union to push us for accept their demands, still our Leadership team never let us trouble the union… We team HR had lot of counselling and one to one interaction with office bearers and made the union realized how their demands are unrealistic. Accordingly, we got success and finalized our long-term agreement with union, by giving them fair wages rise and increase in facilities too.

 

Now the question is that have we satisfied the all the workman?

If I step into workmen’s shoes, I would say no… Why? Union and workmen are always thinking that how much we have got in comparison with the other industries and they keep comparing with each other and only this is the reason they are not satisfy.

 

Now I would also put some views from management side. Here being management representative I would say employees must be happy because, being ethical company, we tried to settle the agreement with considering the long sustainability of the unit as well as long employment of the employees. It doesn’t mean we have paid less amount to the workmen to settle the LTA. We have paid good wage rise which is realistic considering their basic needs and dearness in the market.

In summary, I would say Our role as HR leaders is ultimately to help the business perform. Everything you do should be focused on driving high performance in your company, and your employees should be aligned to get outcomes that the business wants to achieve. Ultimately this would result into growth of employees too.  To do this successfully, you need a seat at the table and plan actions accordingly. In my experience working in HR for the past 11 years, I’ve seen too many people waiting to be invited in, it may be blue collar or white collar. The role of HR is to build winning teams, and a passion to drive performance is vital.

Our credibility with employees is key trust factor. To become a true business partner, the relationship between “HR - Union/Employees - business leaders” must be high trust, which will help all stakeholders to be effective and have long sustainability of business and employee’s growth.