Employee Relation in the Workplace Assignment 2022

Running head: EMPLOYEE RELATION IN THE WORKPLACE
Employee Relation in the Workplace
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1EMPLOYEE RELATION IN THE WORKPLACE
Introduction:
Maternity leave policies in the workplaces are the basic rights of a female
employee who is going to give birth to a new born. Different nations have different
policies for their workplaces. On the other hand, people are said to be sexually
harassed if they suffer from sex discrimination. Sexual harassment violates Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Berring and Chan, 2014). This national law forbids
employee discrimination on the basis of sex, colour and race. However South African
companies have different polices which needs amendment. This analysis includes
the amendment of the laws, in the workplace where I am the manager. The
discussion of this essay involves the possible amendment sin both the maternity
leave and the policy of sexual harassment in the workplace. This is done so that the
employees of the companies have better relation with the managers as well as they
enjoy workplace security, along with encouragement and motivation.
Discussion:
Maternity Leave policy amendment.
In the workplace, according to the maternity leave policy, there is a leave that
the mothers enjoy before and after the delivery of their child. However the workplace
where I am the manager of, needs amendment and simple changes need to be
made. The policy can involve a support towards the childcare costs and there can
also be an option of the work from home, for the mothers who have just delivered
their baby. The female employees must be able to enjoy the benefits on the terms of
mutual agreement depending upon the kind of work. Even the maternity policy of
South Africa does not include remuneration of the female employees during their
maternity leave. This option of paid maternity leave should be involved in the policies
of the South African workplaces. According to a study, by Merley (2015), the
countries of Denmark and Serbia provide maternity leave to the new mothers at full
pay and that also not for four months but for an entire year. The country of Sweden
allows the longest maternity leave for the mothers which is about 69 weeks
(Fleckenstein and Lee, 2014). The government of Sweden also pays 80 percent of
the salary for a total of 390 days and also for the remaining days (Fleckenstein and
Lee, 2014). South Africa on the contrary provides a 17 week of maternity leave,
which is less than what the other countries provide to the mothers. According to the

2EMPLOYEE RELATION IN THE WORKPLACE
policies, Norway provides 46 weeks, and UK a total of 39 weeks pre and post
delivery (Petersen, Penner and Hogsnes, 2014). Canada and Australia too provide
45 weeks of maternity leave(Monk et.al, 2013). The workplaces in South Africa too
need to provide ample amount of lease to the mothers. The mothers of South Africa
who subsidise to the Department of Labour’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)
are suitable for 38 to 58 percent of their salary (Woolard and Leibbrandt, 2013). This
policy can be amended and the mothers need to be paid the full amount of their
salary. There must be further development of the law which would allow the parents
to choose who among the two of them will use the leave benefits. This would help to
remove the financial barriers that do not allow the fathers to participate in the leave.
The fathers in South African workplaces receive a paternal leave of only 10 days.
Not only does this strengthen the stereotypes about which partner should take care
of a child, but also often adversely hampers the career of a woman. As a manager,
in the workplace, these needs to be amended in the workplace.
Sexual Harassment policy amendment.
The companies are responsible in maintaining a workplace free of sexual
harassment. failing to address ta hostile work environment can affect the company in
a couple of ways. It can be directly penalized through legal damages or indirectly
through the social disapproval and a negative reputation. The policies that come
under the sexual harassment in workplaces include that the employees must be
treated with dignity and respect. The people who have been subjected to sexual
harassment should enjoy the right to raise a grievance about it and appropriate
actions must be taken against the convict. According to Haider and Vaseer , (2013),
primarily, the sexual harassment itself should be amended and eradicated from the
workplaces. Even if there is a problem, there needs to be amendments in the
workplaces of the South Africa and the employees need to be protected against
victimisation. The employees must be provided with sufficient amount of sick leaves
so that it gets better with time and they can come out of the trauma as soon as
possible. Also, if there is any sort of medical issue, there must be the presence of a
medical counsellor in the workplace which would aid the employees in their trauma
counselling. In case of sexual harassment, the other employees, the management
and the parties concerned must endeavour to ensure confidentiality of the issue
(Batra, 2016).

3EMPLOYEE RELATION IN THE WORKPLACE
Conclusion:
Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that it is essential and
mandatory for the employees to enjoy the maternity leave and there must be policies
strictly followed in the issue of sexual harassment. However, as the manager of the
workplace company of South Africa requires few amendments in order to maintain a
cordial relation between the employees and the managers. The maternity leave
could be extended and must be paid. The new mothers must be provided with a paid
leave both before as well as after the delivery of their child. Also on the part of the
sexual harassment, the employees along with having the right to security, must be
provided with a medical councillor and must also be provided with sick leaves so that
it becomes easy for the victim to come out of the trauma.

4EMPLOYEE RELATION IN THE WORKPLACE
References:
Batra, M., 2016. 32_Sexual Harrasment at Workplace (2014).
Berring, R.C. and Chan, A.A., 2014. Women and sexual harassment: A practical
guide to the legal protections of Title VII and the hostile environment claim.
Routledge.
Fleckenstein, T. and Lee, S.C., 2014. The politics of postindustrial social policy:
family policy reforms in Britain, Germany, South Korea, and Sweden. Comparative
Political Studies, 47(4), pp.601-630.
Haider, S.N.A. and Vaseer, M.A., 2013. The Relationship between Sexual
Harassment and Job Involvement in Female Teachers: A Literature Review. Global
Journal of Management And Business Research.
Merkley, K., 2015. Inefficiency of United States Maternity Leave Policies. AWE (A
Woman’s Experience), 2(2), p.6.
Monk, A.R., Tracy, S., Foureur, M. and Barclay, L., 2013. Australian primary
maternity units: past, present and future. Women and Birth, 26(3), pp.213-218.
Petersen, T., Penner, A.M. and Høgsnes, G., 2014. From motherhood penalties to
husband premia: The new challenge for gender equality and family policy, lessons
from Norway. American Journal of Sociology, 119(5), pp.1434-1472.
Woolard, I. and Leibbrandt, M., 2013. The evolution and impact of unconditional
cash transfers in South Africa. Development Challenges in a Postcrisis World, 363.