Code Of Conduct - Employee Or Employer Oriented?

Respected Seniors,

Kindly suggest steps that need to be taken by an HR professional for the following Scenario.

Scenario 1:

A Limited company has strict policies as follows:

1. Personal mobile phones are not allowed inside the workplace. Employees have to deposit them at the gate security.

2. 30 minutes lunch break in 9 hours of work.

3. No one is allowed to go out of the gate during working hours. Only BD people with OD slip are allowed.

4. Each employee is allowed to have tea/coffee twice a day (1 plastic cup each time, not more).

5. Employees are not allowed to go out for tea nor are they allowed to get tea inside.

6. Smoking inside/outside the premises is prohibited during work hours.

7. Employees are not allowed to have non-veg during the working days.

8. Employees higher than the GM cadre are exceptions.

Now, two employees who have joined, one as an accounts executive and the other as HR, are not feeling comfortable to cope up. What would you suggest?

Scenario 2:

In another Limited company, the rules are very people-friendly, quite opposite to the first scenario. However, the management has the following concerns:

1. People spend more time on breaks.

2. People go out for smoke/tea very often.

3. The cost to the company for providing tea is quite high.

4. Employees don't value senior management as they have equal privileges.

5. People spend more time on their mobile phones rather than working.

6. The company canteen area looks messy and smells bad due to non-veg food particles.

What would you suggest?

Dear Sanjib Jena,

In my point of view, an employee delivers the best results when the company provides more benefits.

Regards,
Pulkit

I would suggest it should be a mix match in this way:

1. Personal mobiles with cameras must be deposited at the security gate, and the rest should be allowed inside the workplace. There should be a policy that mobile phones are to be kept on silent, and people other than business development personnel should not be allowed to spend more time on mobiles for unofficial calls. If found, a warning should be given as this affects the operation of the business. Mobile phones should not be allowed where security is a concern for the business, and data theft is possible through USB ports.

2. A 30-minute lunch break in a 9-hour workday is justified, but an additional half-hour break, which can be taken at any time for 5 minutes or 10 minutes, should be allowed throughout the day.

3. No one is allowed to go out of the gate during working hours.

4. Each employee is allowed to have tea/coffee twice a day (1 plastic cup each time, not more). If an employee needs more, they should pay for it.

5. Employees should be allowed to go out for tea, and they should be allowed to bring tea inside.

6. Smoking inside the premises must be prohibited. Outside the premises, during the balance half-hour, it's the employees' personal decision.

7. Employees are not allowed to have non-veg in the office premises, but they can have it outside the premises.

8. Employees must value senior management, and they cannot be given equal privileges, but a friendly relationship is a must.

[QUOTE=sanjib.jena;1864305]Respected Seniors,

Kindly suggest steps needed to be taken by HR professionals for the following scenario.

Scenario 1.

A limited company which has strict policies as follows:

1. Personal mobiles not allowed inside the workplace. Employees have to deposit them at the gate security.

Absolutely correct, and you cannot call this strict. People must understand. In days when mobile phones were not available, how did people cope? There used to be phones only on the tables of senior executives, and when there are urgent phone calls to be made, people were allowed to make calls. Today, mobiles are not used for emergencies but for entertainment; hence, such rules.

2. 30 mins lunch break in 9 hrs of work.

This is what is required. Absolutely in order.

3. No one is allowed to go out of the gate during working hours. Only BD people with OD slip are allowed.

What is wrong with this policy? In fact, no one will be allowed to go out without a gate pass.

4. Each employee is allowed to have tea/coffee twice a day (1 plastic cup each time, not more).

Generally, many organizations follow this rule. I recommend a slightly more lenient policy on this.

5. Employees are not allowed to go out for tea nor even allowed to get tea inside.

Employees cannot be allowed to go out to have coffee or tea outside. They have come to work and not to enjoy.

6. Smoking inside/outside the premises is prohibited during work hours.

Smoking inside can be prohibited. I do not know how they can prohibit it outside. If an employee is meeting a client, then the organization can say, as a policy, the employee shall not smoke. Otherwise, smoking outside cannot be prohibited, and the management has no control over this behavior.

7. Employees are not allowed to have non-veg during the working days.

I presume that they do not provide non-veg in the canteen. It is absolutely perfect. Many organizations do not allow this.

8. Employees higher than GM cadre are exceptions.

Employees above GMs can be exceptions for coffee but cannot be an exception for smoking and non-veg food. If they are treated differently for smoking and eating non-veg inside the factory, then you need to provide this for all.

Sivasankaran

1. Personal mobiles are not allowed inside the workplace. Employees have to deposit them at the gate security. This is the norm in ITES under ISO 27001 (information security) and in factories too, where mobiles can compromise workplace safety. Families or friends have access to landlines in the office in case of emergencies. Firefighters/hospital staff outside India also do not carry mobile phones on official duty.

2. There is a 30-minute lunch break in 9 hours of work. This is fair enough if you get two tea breaks too. I have worked on this schedule myself for 3 years without fail.

3. No one is allowed to go out of the gate during working hours; only BD people with OD slip are allowed. In certain factories, to curb pilferage of goods/wastage of time, this is being followed.

4. Each employee is allowed to have tea/coffee twice a day (1 plastic cup each time, not more). I will not name the company, but one of my colleagues used to work for a "lala" company where the total number of tea cups in a month was calculated and deducted before making salary payment. During my expat assignments, I noticed you have to pay and have tea in the cafeteria. Having stayed in India for long, it used to pinch me too.

5. Employees are not allowed to go out for tea nor even allowed to get tea inside. Banning foodstuffs inside the workplace is fair on grounds of pest control/damage to goods in transit/health and safety issues. As long as people adhere to allocated breaks, lack of freedom of movement is a noncompliance of fundamental rights. This is a major issue in China wherein walls are 14 feet high, army with machine guns patrol the perimeter, workers have to sleep in dorms, and they are let out once in 24 hours.

6. Smoking inside/outside the premises is prohibited during work hours. On one hand, we have companies which have smoke rooms like Wipro Spectramind, but it's a big no in the manufacturing sector/oil wells/printing and dyeing units, etc.

7. Employees are not allowed to have non-veg during the working days. Every owner's whims and fancies, not fair. It's difficult to change mindsets. During my last assignment in Saudi Arabia, eating or drinking in public leads to prison during the holy month of Ramadan. It's not India; all shops are closed during fasting times. Religious police "mutawah" patrol the streets/offices.

8. Employees higher than the GM cadre are exceptions. There are certain privileges that come with rank. People are allowed to smoke and drink inside their cabins, but then they undermine the credibility of policies/transparency/trust in top management.

Dear Members,

Please let the kid do his own project. We help him now, and in the future when he goes for a job, then he goes to some company and creates a policy like that in scenario one. Please be smart enough to read through the tact used by the kid to get their assignment done through websites. Please let them break a sweat. How can people be so naive?

Regards,
Octavious

This is the perfect policy you are looking for. Don't treat your organization as a military school. People can never give better results in binding conditions, but they can only perform in such conditions.

Mangesh Wakodkar
Aurangabad

Dear Octavious,

Thank you for the suggestion, but I would like to inform you that this is not an assignment but rather a real-time scenario of an organization.

Regards,
Sanjib