In the ESG audits we conduct on sustainability and ethics, we run into all sorts of findings. Much of it is at the Human Resources level. In fact, companies don't always follow legal rules or customer requirements very well when it comes to human resources. Which five HR-related findings do we see the most? You will read it in this article.
1. The lack of control on rest periods
Within this first finding, we encounter mainly two points. The main one is that people often do not have enough rest time between shifts. For example, they work in shifts from 06:00 to 14:00 and from 14:00 to 22:00. In the Netherlands, it is mandatory to get at least 11 hours of rest between shifts, which may be reduced to 8 hours once a week. So if someone has a late shift and takes over an early shift the next morning, they really need to pay attention to keeping those hours and not working too long in the evening.
In addition, in the Netherlands it is a legal requirement to have at least 36 hours of uninterrupted rest per week (for a regular 5-day work week). Most other countries have similar legislation. But people who work a lot of overtime because they want to, are not likely to raise a violation of this guideline themselves. And shift supervisors are just as happy to have the shifts filled. But if an accident happens to the worker in question, you as a company have a big problem when the time records are called in and it turns out that the person did not get enough rest time.
The other issue is about not enough break time. The Working Hours Act describes how many breaks people must take. If someone works for more than 5.5 hours, they are entitled to 30 minutes of break time - which in turn may be split into two times 15 minutes. During our audits, however, we see that breaks sometimes slip through.
2. Exceeding the Working Hours Act or customer demands about working hours
Customers often demand that employees work no more than 60 hours per week or 12 hours per day. But if you look at peak periods, you see that people in, for example, shift work or Technical Services often work too many extra hours. Dutch law dictates that employees can work a maximum of 60 hours per week and an average of 55 hours over a four-week period. It is advisable to properly calculate and keep track of the averages, because there is a chance that you accidentally go over them. And then as a company you are in violation of the law, the client requirement or even both.
3. No control over temporary employment agencies
It is required by law that the so-called hirer pay for temporary workers must be equal to the pay earned by a company's own employees. Many customer requirements and collective bargaining agreements also describe that user enterprises must check that their temp agencies process payment correctly. Do they pay people as they should? Does the temporary worker actually get the amount deposited into his or her account? Does the temp agency pay them the correct overtime bonuses?
After all, surcharges around working at night, for example, should actually go to the temporary worker. Moreover, it is important that no strange 'deductions' are included, for example a reduction in salary from the agency to the temporary worker as a compensation for safety shoes provided.
4. Failure to conduct an identity or work permit check on temporary workers
When companies hire employees, they do an identification check on those individuals. But we see that they don’t always do this with temporary workers. For example, they ask for ten temporary workers to come to work the next day, and when those persons arrive, they are put to work immediately - without a check. The hiring company then does not check whether they are actually allowed to work there, also with regard to work permits, and whether everything went well. There are quite a few stories about people who register with an employment agency and then send someone else to do the job. This is, of course, completely illegal and can result in high fines for hiring companies. The defense of those companies is that they trust the employment agency to have done the identification check properly. But if you don't check yourself who is coming in, you will never be 100 percent sure.
5. No active works council or lack of employee participation
In the Netherlands, the Works Councils Act states that companies with more than 50 employees must have a works council. Those 50 employees could be own staff, but may also (partly) consist of temporary workers. The company must then have used temporary workers structurally over a period of at least six months. For 10 to 50 employees, there must be a staff representation committee or staff assembly to regulate employee participation. Many customer requirements and the law of other countries also state that companies must have active employee participation or co-determination, through, for example, a works council or active sessions.
Companies sometimes find this all a hassle. Or they report that none of their employees apply for works councils. In that case, the company can apply for an exemption from the Social and Economic Council (SER).
Earlier we wrote a blog article about the top 5 most common findings concerning safety, but also on the HR level there is often a lot of room for improvement. We therefore advise companies to take a good look at this topic, so that it is clear what can still be tackled within the organization.
Do you need help with this? Approven Partners is an expert in legislation and customer requirements in the field of sustainability, human rights and ethics. We are happy to help you get your affairs in order, so you won't have any unpleasant surprises later on! Mail to hello@approven.partners or call +31 70 800 22 40.
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