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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & BUSINESS ETHICS

Session 4: Responsibilitytowards employees

François MANGIN 2015-2016

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Responsibility towards employees

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Session 4 Learning objectives

By the end of the session, each student is able to:

Present and explain : the occupational risk, the general principles of prevention and the employer’s liability

Present the missions and means of a CHSCT and explain the usefulness of such a joint committee

Distinguish between occupational stress, psychosocial disorders, and burn-out

Present and explain the four types of psychosocial risk factors described in the ANACT model

Explain the Taylorism and the lean management Use these concepts and tools to analyze and to understand a work

situation or a managerial tool or procedure Explain the characteristics and penalties of moral harassment

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Session 2 outline

1. Occupational Health and Safety2. Psychosocial risks and disorders

– Symptoms and stakes– Understanding risk factors

3. Focus: Moral harassment

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1

OccupationalHealth & Safety

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Occupationalhazard

Event whose occurrence endangers the health, safety or lives of people in connection with the exercise of their profession.• The hazard is known• The occurrence is uncertain

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Employer’sliabilities

The employer shall take the necessary measures to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of workers.These measures include:

• Preventing occupational risks and painful working conditions;• Informing and training employees;• Defining suitable organization and means.

The employer shall adapt these measures to take account of changing circumstances and improve existing situations.

Article L4121-1 du Code du Travail

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General Principles of Prevention

1. avoiding risks2. evaluating the risks that can not be avoided3. combating the risks at source4. adapting the work to the individual 5. adapting to technical progress6. replacing the dangerous by the non- or the less

dangerous7. developing a coherent overall prevention policy8. prioritizing collective protective measures (over

individual protective measures)9. giving appropriate instructions to the workers

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Employer’sliabilities

PreventionPerformanceobligation

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Which tools for protecting workers’ health and safety?

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Stakeholders

EmployerEmployees

Health, Safety and WorkingConditions Committee (CHSCT)

Occupational Health ServicesLabor Inspectorate

Occupational HealthInsurance

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CHSCT: missions

• contributing to the protection of the physical and mental health and security of the company's workers and those made available by an external company;

• contributing to the improvement of working conditions, particularly to facilitate women's access to all jobs and meet the maternity-related issues;

• controlling employer's compliance with legal provisions in these matters.

Article L4612-1 du Code du Travail

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CHSCT: powers

Risk analysisProposalsMandatory advicesInspectionsInvestigationsRight to notify

ConsultanciesCourt action

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Right to notify

Immediate and seriousrisk of death or serious physical harm

Immediate investigationPrevention measures

Special Register

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Worker’s rightto withdraw

An employee is entitled to stop work and to leave to get to safety when s-he has the honest feeling of being exposed to a serious and imminent danger that threatens his/her life or health.• Serious: the danger can provoke an accident or a

disease that will cause worker’s death or permanent or long temporary disability

• Imminent: the event can suddenly occur in a short delay

 

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Synthesis:

• Employers have a performance obligation of prevention for the health and security of their employees, who are in a legal situation of subordination.

• CHSCT, Occupational Health Service, Labor Inspectorate are the main stakeholders of employees’ health and safety.

• Workers have collective rights (CHSCT) and individual ones (withdrawal right).

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2

Psychosocial Risks

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Continuous control…

Film: Envoyé Spécial – Taux de transformation

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The occupational MD’s opinion

Vidéo Ch. Dejours

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Case:Employees’benchmarking

Film: Envoyé Spécial – Caisse d’épargne

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Case:Employees’benchmarking (2)

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The manager’s stress

Vidéo La Poste

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25%Employees sufferingof sleep disturbance of anxiety

23%of women take psychotropicmedication in order to cope

with occupational stress

13% of men

400Annual work-

related suicides

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The France Telecoms case

• 2008-2010: A strategic reorientation – The NEXT plan20 000 job cuts et 10 000 changes of job

• 2008-2009: 35 suicides• 2010: Labor Unions file a complaint for “moral harassment”• 2008-2010: 57 suicides• March 2011: CEO resigns• Labor Inspectorate reports:

– Executive management ignored the numerous alerts from CHSCT, Labor Inspectorate and Occupational Medicine

– Requests suspension of the reorganization

• July 2012: France Telecom, its former CEO, COO and HR VP are criminally indicted for ”moral harassment”

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Employee’s reactions to changeaccording to France Telecom training program for the managers who will have to implement the NEXT plan

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Stress and pain at work

• Complaints from « wimpish » employees?• Just a difficult time to get through?• A increasing challenge for business?• A major problem of public health?

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From risks to psychosocial disorders

1. Occupational risks endanger mental and physical health of the employees

2. Risk intensity, accumulation and duration create work-related stress that produces psychosocial disorders

32

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Work-relatedstress

A state of stress develops when an imbalance occurs between

• The employee’s perception of the work requirements and constraints

• The perception of his/her own resources to cope with the situation

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Psychosocialdisorders

Manifestations of work-related damage to health, that can: • present aggravated forms (burnout,

depression) ;• lead to behaviors affecting the personal life of

the employee and/or her/his relationships with others.

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Psychosocial disorders

Somatic problems

• Pain, MSD (musculoskeletal disorders)• Digestive disorders• Skin disorders• Ulcers• High blood pressure

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Psychosocial disorders

Psychological disorders

• Anxiety, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), mental rumination, phobia…

• Burn out• Depression• Mental disorders• Suicidal thoughts

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Burn-out

Degradation of the subjective relationship to work with:

• a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion

• a disinvestment from the relationship to others (indifference, cynicism, brutality...)

• the loss of the feeling of personal accomplishment at work (falling short, waste, failure ...)

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Health- andSocial-Damaging Behaviors

Compensating reactionsMedicationsStimulantsCompulsive overeatingAlcohol & Drugs

Behavioral reactionsUnsafe practicesBlaming others & Moral harassmentActing aggressivelySabotage, theft

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4 Risk factors

Imbalance between perceived constraints and resources in four interrelated fields :

• Work• Social interactions at work• Company strategy• Personal situation

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FirmStrategyIdentity

EmployeeExpectations &

Values

Work relationships Management

ColleaguesCustomers

WorkOrganization &

Content

C

R

C

R

C

R

C

R

Constraints

Ressources

The system of psychosocial risks

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Work

• Work content– Tasks– Workload and pace / cycle of activity– Mental and Emotional demand

• Work organization– Position in the workflows– Autonomy

• Working conditions• Management• HR rules and policies

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Risk factors: Work

• Workload and work pace• Deficient workflow design• Taylorism• Lean management• Pooled means and resources• New technologies• Work requiring a high emotional control• High pressure for the achievement of the objectives• Value conflicts

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Taylorism

Division of labor between :• work design by the experts of the Engineering

department who analyze and optimize processes described in work procedures

• tasks execution by the operators who have to strictly apply work procedures

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Lean Management

Method for work (re)organization aiming, by participatory methods, to optimize workflows by eliminating idle times and the work-in-process stock. Objective: eliminate any operation with no value added for the customer.

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Social relations at work

• Colleagues– in the department– In the others departments

• Management• Public and external stakeholders

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Risk factors: Social relations

• Colleagues– Isolation– Lack of solidarity

• Management– Non-qualified or non-trained managers– Pressure, lack of resources/means for helping– More time devoted to reporting than to manage people– Controlling/assessing people rather than helping them

• Dissatisfied stakeholders: other departments, customers, suppliers…

• Lack of acknowledgment• Harassment (manager, colleagues, stakeholders, subordinates…)

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The company andits strategic stakes

• Economic results– Growth– Profit– Cash flow

• Competition• History and identity• Frequency and pace of change• CEO profile• Governance

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Risk Factors: Company

• Lack of financial resources• Urgency of the need for change• Instability: reorganizations, downsizing,

mergers or acquisitions…• Short term financial pressure, LBO financing…• Threat of hostile take-over bid

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Worker’sPersonal situation

• Expectations• Values• Skills and Competencies• Personal and family circumstances

– Distance from home to work– Partner & children– Finance– …

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Risk factor: Personal situation

• Job increasingly interfering with the family and personal life

• Loss of professional pride• Value conflicts

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Regulating the pressure: balancing constraints by mobilizing resources

• Resources in one area can give ways to cope with the pressure in another one

• E.g.: Facing a work overload?– Requiring the manager to reassess the priorities– Turning to colleagues for help – Working evenings, overnights and weekends and having

an argument with the partner and/or the children…

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Synthesis:

• Psychosocial risks are rooted in the employee’s perception of an imbalance between the constraints and the assigned objectives, and the resources s-he can use.

• 4 sets of factors are to be taken into account to understand work-related stress and pain, whether managers or subordinates.

• Companies tend to escape their liability by focusing on individual weaknesses rather than considering the negative impacts of the work organization and of the management tools and policies.

• Poor economic and social circumstances undermine the way of achieving a balance between constraints and resources at work.

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3

Moralharassment

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Moral harassmentor Bullying

• Characterized by repeated acts that have the purpose or effect to degrade the working conditions by– prejudicing the rights and dignity of the employee at

work– altering his/her the physical or mental health– or jeopardizing his/her professional future.

• Perpetrator: employer, manager, colleague (same or other department), subordinate…

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Legal Proceedings & Penalties

• Reversed burden of proof:The person sued for harassment must prove that his/her behavior is not a cause of harassment

• Punishable by one year imprisonment and by a 15,000 euros fine

• Cour de Cassation, 10 nov. 2009: – managerial and work organizations methods can be

a cause of occupational harassment