Study Observations and effects of human resource practices on employee turnover in the
flower industry
The only office that was very close to employees was supervisory. Supervisors were very
arrogant and did not take any chance to talk with employees. They had to push the
employees to meet targets. The way supervisors interact with employees can make a
difference in their commitment to their job. If supervisors treat employees ruthlessly then
their performance may go down. They should focus on interacting with employees to gain
effectiveness and improve performance. Some of the things that supervisors should do is
to build trust with employees by consistently walking the talk. Foster a respectful working
environment. Give credit to this team for successful outcomes. Show employees that you
value and care about them as individuals and create a workplace that is inclusive and
values diversity maintain open lines of communication.
A rest break allows all employees to test for a short period of time during work hours. Rest
breaks are also preferred as crib breaks, rest pauses as tea breaks. The organization of
working time Act 1997 sets out that an employee is entitled to a break of 15 minute after
41/2 hr work period and if more than 6 hrs than it is 30 minutes before breaking for lunch.
What I observed is that an employee checks in at 7.30am and leaves the work place at
2.00pm without having short brakes of may be tea at rest time. This goes against the rule
set by Organisation of Working Time Act of 1997. At the time for checking out these
employees are already time and worn out as they look weary and tired
Sustainable and efficient rest facilities should be provided at readily accessible places.
These rest places could be rest rooms, canteens or restaurant to purchase food in order to
use them. Rest rooms should include eating facilities. Employees should obtain hot food
from restaurant. From my own observation restrooms were not sufficiently stocked. Most
employees carry their lunch and eat them under trees where there are no seats. Some
employees eat their food standing because of lack of available seats.
Most of the employees in flower farms didn’t have the right gear but other has them and
do not put them own. What was majority was missing are the boots that protect them from
thorny plants which could pick their feet gloves they had gloves but did not put them own.
Some had the masks but put them aside. It was observed the protection of natural
environment, cover use of fertilizers, water management, soil conservation, disposal of
hazardous waste and the protection of wildlife and water sources agrochemicals that is
pesticides and fertilizer were the major hazards exposed to the employees. Employees
working in the chemical stores had no masks that prevented them from inhaling the
chemical these exposed them to respiratory related problems. When the researcher visited
green houses it was realized that there was still some smell of chemicals this could suggest
that the time for entering these green houses after spraying was not observed. Most
employees were missing gloves when handling flowers yet they have them. This showed
that employees neglected the health and safety rules that they mat dress appropriately.
This shows that there is need to improve on human resource management practices for
reduced turnover as past researchers concur with above view. They argue that if human
resource management practices are not implemented properly in an organization there are
several negative impacts. An organization with proper human resource management
practices enjoys the firm’s sustainable growth that will maximize the economic
opportunities in order to meet the organizational goals (Tanveer, et al., 2011). Similarly
more significantly related to this research will retain employees and improve their
performance (Singh & Jain, 2014).
Furthermore human resource management is an approach to develop highly committed
and capable workface additionally accountable for retaining skilled employees therefore
with these approaches it is evident that one of the primary sources of competitive
advantage for an organization is employee (Saha & Gregar , 2012). Hence organizations
without proper human resource management practices will invest often more on attracting
and recruiting employees that fits for the organization, train them to align with the overall
culture and strategy of the organization which will incur higher costs (Moon & Li, 2012).
Employee retention today has become a global issue. According to Hay Group, the global
employee turnover rate will experience the severest escalation with in 2014 and by 2018
more than 49 million employees will leave their present jobs compared to 2012 making it
a total number of 192 million employees worldwide (HayGroup, 2013).
Documents Analysis
Document Area Findings
Economic Survey,
2015
Production From document analysis revealed that cut flower
productions has been on increase, other increases were
notable in key crops like coffee, tea and fruits while
sugar cane and pyrethrum production declined. The
total marketed production increased slightly to KSh
336.5 billion in 2014 from KSh 334.8 billion in 2013
(Economic Survey, 2015). The slight increase in value
was attributed to better unit prices for fruits and higher
volumes of flowers and fruits exported. Cut flowers
performed particularly well during the first quarter of
2014, recording a value of KSh 20.0 billion.
Flowers Growers’
Group of the
Agricultural
Association, 2002.
Work-life
balance
From documents analysis according to Kenyan law,
regular working hours are 46 hours of work per week,
with a paid day of rest after every six days worked.
However, on all farms overtime is generally
compulsory and is particularly common at certain
times of the year, such as in the run-up to Christmas,
Valentine’s Day and Mother's Day, when pack house
workers are under great pressure to pack flowers before
the nightly flight to Europe departs. Packers and
pickers on three out of four farms complained of
working long hours, up to 16-18 hours a day (like, 7:00
a.m. to 11:00 p.m.), and sprayers on half of the farms
claimed to be working 11-12 hours, spraying from 7.00
a.m. to 6.00 p.m. One employer acknowledged that
graders were working more than 12 hours overtime a
week, a situation which they are trying to ameliorate.
More female workers interviewed were involved in
overtime work (since they formed the majority of
packhouse staff), which can have serious implications
as they typically also bear the responsibility for work
in the home (childcare and domestic tasks). In and of
itself, overtime is not necessarily problematic if: it is
not excessive; workers are compensated appropriately;
and it is chosen freely. However, participants in several
FGDs complained that overtime is not voluntary and
that they are not given the opportunity to refuse in
accordance with codes. The responses also indicate that
there is no awareness of how many hours per week are
allowable under a code or the law, pointing to
communication issues between management and
workers (Flowers Growers’ Group of the Agricultural
Association, 2002).
Health and Safety
Act No 85 of 1993
Safety Some of the requirements of the Occupational Health
and Safety Act No 85 of 1993 (OHSACT) are that
companies must create a health and safety policy under
the chief inspectors directions. According to section 7
of the Act, the function of the SHE policy regards the
protection of health and safety of employees at work.
The act further requires that the CEO must sign this
policy whereby the company’s commitment,
responsibility and accountability for health and safety
is well stated in order to promote health and safety in
the work place (NOSA, 2011).
Trade Union Training
Manual,
IUF/FIAN/FES, 2001
Safety The IUF Cut Flowers Project ran from 2008-2012, in
Latin America as well as East/Southern Africa. Its
focus was on the rights of women who work on the
horticultural farms that produce cut flowers for export.
There, workers work long hours in hot greenhouses or
in cold storage rooms. Many chemicals are used, from
pesticides to cleaning materials, leading to human
health problems as well as contamination of local water
systems. Many workers also face sexual harassment.
The IUF saw a big need to develop company codes of
conduct in this growing industry, based on
international ILO employment standards rather than
simply the companies’ own self-proclaimed statements.
Out of the project, a training manual for shopstewards
was developed for use on the farms.
European Retailers
Produce Working
Group’s (EUREP) code
for Good Agricultural
Practice (GAP) in
Fresh Fruits and
Vegetables, and in
Flowers and
Ornamentals.
Codes of
conduct
Over the last decade consumers have placed increasing
pressure on companies to account for the ethical impact
of their operations. As a result, voluntary codes, labels
and regulatory standards covering the production
processes of Southern producers exporting to Northern
markets have multiplied. These initiatives have become
increasingly widespread in labour and resource-
intensive industries such as export horticulture.
During the 1990s a number of regulatory measures
were adopted to address the quality, social and
environmental impact of global trade. In the
horticulture industry these standards were initially
imposed to protect the health and safety of consumers
in importing nations and include various trade
agreements and standards enacted at international,
regional and sub-regional levels. By the mid 1990s, the
emphasis on governmental regulation was augmented
by a number of voluntary approaches that extended
beyond the impact on consumers in the North to the
implications for the health, labour and human rights of
people involved in the supply chains of developing
countries. In the cut flower industry this was evident in
two trends. Firstly, consumers took an increased
interest in the environmental dimensions of cut flower
production as concerns about pesticide exposure and
environmental contamination became widespread.
Exposure to such pressures, and the fear of the
commercial loss associated with failure to remedy the
situation, prompted flower traders and
producers to develop their own codes of conduct with
clear environmental standards
ILO Convention 98
(Right to Organise and
Collective Bargaining)
Worklife
balance
Currently this farm gives three months paid maternity
leave, one month in lieu of annual leave. Women
workers can take maternity leave as often as they need,
but the aim of the gender policy is to encourage women
to space their pregnancies for health and economic
reasons. Pregnant women are given special treatment in
their seventh month of pregnancy such as the provision
of light duties and no work in the cold room.
International
Convention on the
Elimination of All
Forms of Racial
Discrimination (1965)
Discrimination In some FGDs male workers claimed that women
would offer sexual favours to reap benefits such as
promotion or lighter work, particularly in the grading
shed. However, the same group noted that supervisors
can sack female workers who refuse their advances in
order to employ women that will provide them with
sexual favours. Alternatively, supervisors can deploy
their power as supervisor to compel a woman to
comply. One respondent reflected, “When a male
supervisor seduces a female
worker and this doesn’t bear fruit, he can use “thorax”
[i.e. job power] to win that female worker
Chemicals
exposure
In FGDs sprayers were very vocal about their
difficulties regarding chemicals such as inadequate
protective clothing, long hours spent spraying and the
potential danger to their health. In one all male role
play, workers depicted a supervisor who forced
workers to continue spraying after their original job
was completed. They also only had one change of
protective clothing and one bar of soap per month to
wash them. However, this is also an illustration of
where workers are ill informed of company policy as
the CBA only requires that employees be issued with
one standard bar soap per month.
The Workmen’s
Compensation Act Cap
236
Ethics During 2002, local civil society organisations
spearheaded a campaign against poor working
conditions on Kenyan flower farms, spawning a series
of articles in the Kenyan press. These activities
generated concern about the reputation of the industry
in overseas markets, and were responsible for bringing
together a range of stakeholders to engage in dialogue
on the labour practices of flower farms. A Steering
Committee – the Horticultural Ethical Business
Initiative (HEBI) – was formed to guide social
accountability in the horticulture sector. It is a tri-
partite body composed of members from government,
civil society organisations and trade
associations/employers. Unions were invited to
participate, although to date they have declined to take
part. There are also a number of observers, including
the ETI, DFID, the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), the Royal
Netherlands Embassy and Africa Now (an international
NGO). HEBI has also received a commitment of
support from the Kenyan government.
HEBI planned to systematise a multi-stakeholder
pproach to code implementation, and has identified a
number of organisational goals to facilitate this.
However, it has experienced teething problems
stemming from the difficulties entailed in managing
the expectations of stakeholders with varying interests.
Nevertheless, there is consensus among the committee
that a multi-stakeholder approach to code
implementation (including worker participation) may
be the only way to resolve some of the persistent
employment problems facing
workers in the industry, while
simultaneously maintaining
Kenya’s reputation and access
to European markets.
