APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY ON PRODUCTIVITY

Most managers of human resources have the view that the employees are the greatest asset of the organization among the production variables (man, machine, money and materials resources) of the organization. Ironically, man is also seen as very problematic to deal with. Man is a rational being very consequently exhibits series of impeditable behavior. Even since Fredrick Winslow Tailors systematic study of management techniques, considerable research have been on the behavioural aspect of organization and members of what can motivate them.

Every business organization has a profit motive and profit is the outcome of productivity. The higher the productivity, the lower the unit cost of production which translate into more profit which of course is most desired by organizational members. A individuals joints a firm in the hope that he would receive a good and adequate medication, free from occupational hazard and most importantly satisfy his own needs or personal goal or objectives. Unilever Nigeria Plc like any other organization has one of the greatest challenges of its human resources, managers as that of influencing employees towards achieving organizational objectives. Because of the profit maximization interest of multinational companies aligned with the declining revenue acting from investment Unilever has places, its own remuneration packages, working environment, fringe benefit like meal subsidy, medical facilities, transport allowances, pension and gratuity benefit etc aimed at motivating staff, increase their satisfaction and enhance their performances. The issue now is what is the relationship between employee’s good health and safety on productivity?

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 

Lack of health and safety policies for employees in organization like Unilever Nigeria Plc leaves them exposed to high risk work hazards resulting in injuries which affect morale towards work, levels of teamwork spirit, and consequently, employee commitment towards work has deteriorated, this manifest itself in the form of lack of initiative and existence of counter productive work behaviours.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 

To establish ways in which employee’s health and safety management systems and teamwork can be used to enhance employee commitment to Unilever Nigeria Plc. In order to investigate the research proposal, the researcher will guide by the following objectives:

a. To examine the commitment of the management of Unilever Nigeria Plc towards employee health and safety (EHS)

b. To examine how employee health and safety and teamwork affect employee commitment.

c. To establish ways of implementing employee health and safety policies in Unilever Nigeria Plc.

d. To put in place a system of getting the employers to comply with the employee health and safety policies.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 

The study will resolve the following questions:

a. How committed is the management of Unilever Nigeria Plc to employee health and safety?

b. How do employee health and safety and teamwork affect the commitment of employees towards their work?

c. How can employee health and safety be implemented in the organization?

d. What is the best alternative means of getting the employers and employees to comply the implementation of employee health and safety?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1. The study will help the management of Unilever Nigeria Plc revise the human resource policies in the organization to cater for health and safety of the employees.

2. The study will provide teamwork for the implementation and consolidation of employee’s health and safety policies in Unilever Nigeria Plc.

3. The study will help boost teamwork and the commitment of employees towards organizations. Unilever Nigeria Plc is a monopolist in the electricity distribution industry in Uganda and hence the results of this study will be representative of what happens in that industry.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

There are many manufacturing firms in Nigeria but for the purpose of this study, the researcher chooses to study two industries in Nigeria, they are Unilever Nigeria Plc and PZ Industries Ltd because they are the leaders in the manufacturing at most needed things in Nigeria for (example) soap, cream, perfume and omo and so on. In these industries, they have different department which are:

a. Marketing department

b. Personnel department

c. Administrative department

d. Accounting department

e. Sales department

f. Purchasing department

g. Safety and health department

Among all, I have discussed two department namely safety and health department and marketing department. Employee Safety and Health Department: Safety, health and environment make sure that workers are in a safe hand by making sure that any worker who is injured will be given a adequate treatment immediately. Marketing Department: They ensure that the goods being manufactured in these industries are sold out to the masses in a very good price.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The following factors limits or hinders the study of the project and the possible means to overcome these problems were explained in the project work. However, the researcher while conducting the research work experienced financial problem couple with time factor. Again it was not easy to travel to all states for first hand information. Most of the findings are based on the experiences from Unilever Nigeria Plc Aba, which of the purpose at this study has been taken as a proper representation of the state in the country.

More to that, most of the workers interviewed do not keep up to date statistic or record of data needed, whereas, some employees of Unilever Nigeria Plc were reluctant to provide the researcher with the needed information due to fear and ignorance of the research work. At the preliminary library research carried out by the researcher, it was discovered that they way up to date, material literature on the employee’s health in the country could not be found easily. Above all, lack of handy transport facilities renders the researchers movement limited to just the Unilever Nigeria Plc cited in Aba, Abia State.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS 

Employee: An employee is somebody /person employed for wages or salary, a person working for another person.

Safety: The state of being safe, that is free from danger or harm.

Employer: A person who employs others, an employer is a person who employs others and paid them either wages or salary.

Health: The state of being well, being free from sickness. It an employee is healthy, he can perform his/her job effectively.

Productivity: Output efficiency and yield from employee protection at work place.

Management: A special process entailing responsibility for effective economical planning and regulating of the operations of an entry in fulfillment of a given purpose of tasks.

1.9 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC

Unilever Nigeria Plc corporate mission, which is to add vitality to life, is the very heart of Unilever. We seek to ensure that when people choose our brands, they are choosing vitality. The journey to achieve this began back in the 19th century. Unilever Nigeria Plc is a public liability company quoted on the Nigeria stock exchange since 1973 with Nigeria currently having 49% of equity holding. Unilever Nigeria Plc was incorporated as Lever Brother (West Africa) Ltd. On 11th April 1923 by Lord Leverhulme, but the company’s antecedents have to be traced back to his existing trading interest in Nigeria and west Africa generally, and to the fact that he had since the 19th century been greatly involved with the soap business in Britain. Unilever Nigeria Plc started as a soap manufacturing company, and is today one of the oldest surviving manufacturing organization in Nigeria.

After series of merger, the company diversified into manufacturing and marketing of food, non-soapy detergent and personal care product. It brought in lipton Nigeria Ltd in 1985, Cheesebrough Ponds Industries Ltd. in 1988. The company changed its name to Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2001. Over the years, it has been a socially responsible and responsive organization that takes strategic action for the improvement of communities and environment in which it operates. The company has made provision for assistance in held of health, education/ children welfare and potable water/hygiene as part of its social responsibility programme in the Nigeria communities.