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WHE721S - Employee Wellness and Ergonomics - 2nd Opp - Nov 2022 |
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nAm I BIA un IVERSITY
OF SCIEnCE Ano TECHnOLOGY
;.j,
FACULTY OF FACULTY OF HUMAN SCIENCES, COMMERCE AND EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
QUALIFICATION: BACHELOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
QUALIFICATION CODE: 07BHRM
COURSE CODE: WHE721S
SESSION:
November 2022
LEVEL: 7
COURSE NAME: EMPLOYEE WEL,L, NESS, HEALTH AND
ERGONOMICS
PAPER:
THEORY
DURATION:
3 HOURS
MARKS:
100
EXAMINER(S}
SECOND OPPORTUNITY EXAMINATION PAPER
Elaine January-Enkali
Donald Hlahla
MODERATOR:
Ms Barbara Dreyer
1. Answer ALL the questions
2. Write/type clearly and neatly
3. Number the answers clearly.
INSTRUCTIONS
THIS QUESTION PAPER CONSISTS OF 7 PAGES (Including this front page)
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Case Study 1 (16 Marks)
TBC has a workforce scattered over many properties, projects and states. Our workforce has
diverse roles where staff can be working in the office or onsite maintaining the facilities and
communities that we serve.
We knew the value in supporting worksite well-being but never had a solution that could
engage staff from our dispersed sites in a seamless way. Givhero did just that. Regardlessof
role or location in the company, everyone could participate, and we could support their
personal well-being and one of our main business objectives - social responsibility. A core
priority here, is to give back to the communities in which we serve. Givhero was the only
solution we found that could combine both wellness and social causes.And it was so easy
for our staff to join, as well as our current community partners.
We rolled out our first wellness challenge with very little administration cir hiccups. It was a
huge success. Our staff were so excited about the first challenge that we implemented our
second challenge before the quarter was complete!
Givhero is an innovative solution to support workplace wellness and social causes. Giving
our organization another way to support our business objectives of supporting our staff, our
culture and our local community partners. I recommend Givhero to any company looking to
do the same!"
·,.
"Our firm has been participating in step challenges for many years and it has become
increasingly more difficult to facilitate these programs as our company grows in size.
We were recording all of our steps through excel spreadsheets that were sent to one person
weekly and they would have to compile all of the numbers and email out a dashboard to all
of our participants. The only consistent way we knew how to track everyone's progress was
through Fitbits, pedometers, and the step app on our phone so employees were limited to
steps being the only form of "working out" in our challenge.
Givhero changed all of this. People signed themselves and their teams up through the app
which also linked straight to their tracking devices so there was no need to enter data in
manually. The Givhero app does have a function where you can insert your data manually
and this let our swimmers, bikers, and weightlifters be part of our competition too! All the
reports were done on the backend and this took our administrative time out of it and
eliminated emails between participants.
One of our favorite parts though was as our employees reached their wellness goals they
were raising money for their favorite local charities. Our company works closely with non-
profits and it was amazing to reach out to 10 of our non-profit clients and tell them that we
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were going to donate money to their cause as our employees hit their daily goals in this
health challenge.
To top it all off, our Givhero team was extremely responsive and helpful as we implemented
this new challenge. There are always hiccups when starting something new, but our Givhero
team was there every step of the way and had communications with us daily. This was an
awesome experience for our firm and we are so excited to use Givhero again in our future
challenges!"
"We are a small business. We always wanted to have a wellness program but lack of
dedicated staff and cost to implement was always a deterrent in implementing any
program. Also, we were never strategic about our charitable giving.
Givhero was very easy to implement with their one-tap on-boarding process. We signed up,
launched and got all employees onboard in one day. We had 100% participation and over
90% of our employees are still engaged after 8 months.
With their giving plan and budgeting feature, we can now plan our giving for the entire year.
We have been supporting our local neighborhood food bank and can't express the positive
feeling we get by supporting a great cause. Our staff is engaged, motivated and keep moving
every day. Supporting my staff and my community, just makes sense."
Tim Hawkins
President and CEO
LTBD
Questions
1 What was the main objective of Project Givhero? (3)
2 What was the key to the success of the project? (4)
3 What incentives were built into the project? (3)
4 What challenges did the organisation face in trying to implement a wellness program? (3)
5 What made Givhero Project a success. (3)
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CASESTUDY 2 (26 MARKS)
Marble miners' harsh working conditions
News- National 2019-07-12 page no :1
HEALTHand safety hazards, wages below minimum, harsh working conditions and working
without employment contracts are some of the issuesthat marble miners in the Erongo
region continue to endure.
Despite various interventions by different government departments, the situation has persisted
over the years, with employees at some quarries, mainly those run by non-English speaking
. ,,
Chinese, still working under difficult circumstances.
The workers, some of whom came from as far as the northern regions of Namibia to seek
employment in the many marble quarries in the Erongo mountains, saythey are forced to work
seven days a week by drilling, cutting and loading marble for a paltry N$1 600 basic salary a
month, with no additional benefits.
A labour study conducted in 2018 indicated that a person earning this amou'nt per month would
not be able to cater for their basic needs, and would be living in poverty.
One of the quarries is the Ekungungu mine, located about 20 kilometres from Omatjete in the
Daures constituency. The 20 workers at this mine, who spoke to Nampa on condition of
anonymity due to fear of victimisation, revealed that they work for close to 12 hours a day.
They further risk their health, as they are required to use one dust mask and a pair of gloves for
at least three months.This instruction is relayed to them by their Chinese supervisors through
the use of sign language as a means of communication.
"At times, three months would pass without us receiving any new masks or gloves, and they
would tell us to just wash the old ones and reuse them, which is unsafe as the gloves are not
durable, and dust masks are disposable," narrated one of the workers. All the workers share
three prefabricated living quarters, and until recently, they have had to sleep on crude
makeshift beds of pallets and planks.
"They recently welded these beds together after the [Mineworkers Union of Namibia's] visit last
month. One toilet was constructed last week," the workers pointed out.They added that the
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company has no transport available on site for emergency cases,and often when the need to
travel arises, they have to wait for hours before a hired pickup truck arriv~s.
"When somebody gets sick, we are forced to walk 10 kilometres to the main road to find
transport to the nearest town. When we need to buy food and other necessities on pay
weekends, they drop us off at Omaruru, and expect us back on site by Sunday, while finding
transport into these mountains is not easy."
The employees, although very dissatisfied with their salaries, have given up complaining about
the matter as they have been told "to just leave if they have any issues"...
"The work we do is too much for what we are earning, but we have no choice as we have
nowhere to go, and have families to feed back home."
At a neighbouring quarry, Ongeama Mine, the seven workers there work in torn gumboots, and
use pieces of cloth to cover their mouths and noses as they are not provided dust masks.
The workers made their own living structures from marble cut-offs, which although steady, are
not durable, especially during the rainy season.
.,.
"The tiny rooms aIways get flooded when it rains, leaving our belongings ruined," they said.One
of the workers confided in this reporter that he was requested to drive and operate one of the
heavy vehicles, even though he does not have a driver's licence.
Contacted for comment, Ekungungu managing director, LukasSasambadenied the allegations,
saying employees are given masks and gloves every week.
"I have a trusted community member whom I have tasked to go and i11~pecthe workers'
conditions every now and then, and unless he is not telling me the truth, he says everything is
going well at the site," Sasamba said.
Sasamba, who revealed that his last visit to the site was about four months ago, added that
although he has given them the freedom to contact him, none of the employees have ever
called him or spoken to the supervisor on site about any grievances. He was thus shocked to
hear about the claims the workers made through Nampa.
He refused to discuss their wages, only telling this agency that the company is "busy making
adjustments to make the employees' living conditions better at the site", and that they are also
busy with wage negotiations with the MUN.
MUN western regional coordinator George Ampweya condemned the working and living
conditions of the workers at the quarries.
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He told Nampa that there has been numerous correspondence with the .cpmpanies, but very
minimal changes have taken place.
"The union intends to engage relevant stakeholders to look into possibly determining a
minimum wage in the marble and granite-cutting industries asthese employees are exposedto
extremely low wages, and little to no benefits," Ampweya said.
Additionally, he noted that the union isfaced with significant challengesof the blatant disregard
and non-compliance with Namibian labour laws by these mostly Chines~-rwned companies.
"We equally urge labour inspectors to partner with us in our efforts to ascertain that the
minimum employment conditions are met and adhered to."
Director of labour services in the ministry, Aune Mudjanima said the labour ministry advises
bargaining unions representing employees to take up such issueswith the line ministries, and
that the necessary investigations will be done.
"The unions are our stakeholders, and they know where and what exactlyJp do when it comes
to issues like these. If it is an issue of conditions of service such as salaries, benefits, then we
deal with them," said Mudjanima.
-Nampa
1. With reference to Chapter 4 of the Labour Act, which legal provisions are being
infringed in the above case (6)
2. Provide any 5 duties of employers to their employees (5)
., ,,
3. Provide any 5 duties of employees (5)
4 What should the government do to stop this type of negligent behavior towards
employees. (5)
5 In your view is employee health, safety, ergonomics and wellness, taken seriously by
Namibian companies. Motivate your answer (5)
. 1,
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QUESTION 2
STRUCTURED QUESTIONS
2.1 Managing a business enterprise or public institution, many responsibilities rest heavily on
the shoulder of management . In the context of wellness ,health and ergonomics, attention
needs to given to some main considerations. Discussthese considerations in detail. (8)
2.2 It's essential for the occupational health worker to realise that there a.r,e. uninsured hidden
costs which are paid by the employer him/herself and are eventually felt by the company or
country as a whole. Discuss any ten (10) uninsured or 'hidden costs' . (10)
2.3 There are employees (vulnerable workers) that must receive different treatment during
employment. Discussthe treatment of any five (5) types of vulnerable workers.( 10)
2.4 Explain the various functions of the occupational health professional in maintaining
occupational hygiene. (10)
2.5 Describe the different ways in which HIV/AIDS affects the Namibian workplace. (10)
2.6 Discussthe features of successful HIV/AIDSworkplace programmes (10)
TOTAL MARKS: 100
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