Psychology

Setting the workplace standard is becoming an area of concern in many organizations owing to the revamped entrance of ergonomics issues at the workplace. Organizations are required to set andor develop standards at the workplace that enhance the efficiency and productivity of the organization. There are legal standards that have been established by the Federal and state governments but still organizations can supplement the legislations by improving the working environment in an effort to entice, maintain, and improve on the productivity of the employees.

This paper will explore the recommended workplace standards that meet the physical, psychological, and social needs of employees without leaving out the legal requirements.

Work place standards
An overview of the working standards will be categorized into three main areas including the employment standards, health and safety requirements, and finally the environmental requirements. All these areas combine to provide an excellent working environment that is supposed to bring about positive impacts to the organization. There are legal structures that have been designed specifically to deal with the emerging issues in the highlighted areas. Of great interest is how the employees have been affected by all these factors considering that they are the backbone of every established organization (US Department of Labor, 2009). Implementation of the workplace standards may have impacts on the employees in the physical, social, and psychological aspects.

Employment standards comprises of different elements that includes forced labor, child labor, discrimination, wages and benefits, working hours, freedom of association and collective bargaining, disciplinary practices, and harassment and intimidation at the workplace. Apart from the existing legislations, companies have come up with policies that address these elements in an effort to improve on workplace standards (Queens Printer for Ontario, 2009). Most companies for instance do not encourage the use of forced labor that may come in form of prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor, or any other form of coerced labor. The policy on forced labor generally denounces any means of compulsion to work through force or any form of intimidation. Political coercion is also discouraged as a means of meting out punishment on those that holds or expresses a different political opinion. Forced labor may have detrimental impacts on the psychological well-being of the employees and this may negatively impact on the productivity of the employee in question (Adidas group, 2009).

Child labor is another aspect that has been condemned by many organizations. The law clearly defines punitive measures that are associated with child labor as this is seen as an abuse of the rights of the child (Adidas group, 2009). Child labor may have grave impacts on the physical, emotional, and psychological development of the child. Discrimination has also emerged as an issue that has to be addressed at the workplace (Gomez, 2008). Despite the existing legislation on discrimination, it has continued to pose a great challenge at the workplace. Discrimination has been executed in different forms including in the recruitment and employment policies such as decisions on hiring, remunerations, training opportunities, and termination among other aspects. Recruitment and employment policies should be based on the individuals ability and performance as opposed to other discriminatory criteria that includes sexual orientation, race, nationality, and personal characteristics. Discrimination at the workplace is bound to have psychological and emotional impacts on the victims that may negatively impact on their productivity (Adidas group, 2009).

In regard to wages and the associated benefits, equality has to be observed keeping in mind the legal standards that have been set. The wage has to be equal or above the minimum wage as demanded by law andor the industrial wage depending on which one is higher. Also to be considered is the legally mandated benefits that are affiliated to the job specification. Wages are important as they are used to meet the basic requirements of the employees, including meeting the expenses and savings. The organization is under obligation to raise the living standards of the employees through consistent review and improvement of the wage system, benefits, welfare programs, and other services in order to enhance the general quality of life of its workforce (Adidas group, 2009, Para 9). Employees have also to be compensated for overtime based on the legal standards in the country. Employees have to work for not more than sixty hours in a week including overtime. They should be entitled to 24 consecutive hours of rest in every week and have to get a paid annual leave. This is practiced to ensure that the employees are protected from burn out that physically depreciates their ability. Ample rest will re-energize the employees and positively impact on their production as it eliminates fatigue (Adidas group, 2009).

Employees should be given the right to freely form and join associations and to engage in collective bargaining. Organizations have to come up with workable mechanisms for addressing industrial disputes involving grievances from the workforce. There should be an effective communication mechanism to address the employees and their representatives. When it comes to disciplinary matters, organizations need to treat employees with some respect and dignity. Prejudice and victimization of employees based on discriminatory criteria such as sexual orientation, psychological and verbal harassment, and penalty imposition among other measures aimed at intimidation of the employees should not be encouraged. If encouraged, such practices may have psychological impacts on the employees leading to low self esteem and other related complications. In turn, these effects work to lower the productivity of the employees thereby contributing to the general decline of production of the organization. Employees will always live in fear of being victims of the situation (Tasmania Online, 2010).

Health and safety issues are also an area of increasing concern to many organizations. There is need to provide the employees with a safe and hygienic work environment. This calls for the implementation of the occupational health and safety practices that are aimed at preventing accidents and injuries. The employees have to be protected from fires, fatal and non-fatal accidents, and toxic substances in an effort to assure them of their safety. There is need to have adequate lighting, heating, and ventilation at the workplace (Tasmania Online, 2010). The employees also require accessibility to sanitary facilities which are well maintained and enough. In general, an organization has to bear responsibility of meeting the minimum health and safety standards which includes undertaking a risk assessment, observing the fire safety standards, and reporting accidents and the related dangerous incidences that happen at the workplace to the authorities. Training on safety and health matters might be required in order to empower the employees on such matters. A safe and healthy working environment would go a long way in allaying fears associated with the dangers that are likely to happen at the workplace. The employees will therefore concentrate on the production activities of the organization which is the main duty they were employed to perform (The UK Insolvency Helpline, 2008).

Environmental concern is a new area that has emerged following concern from the environmentalists and the disastrous impacts of global warming. It has therefore to be the concern of organizations to give precedence to the environmental impacts of their operations. Environmental concerns have led to the integration of sustainability values in making decisions. This has also encouraged the responsible use of natural resources adoption of cleaner production and pollution prevention measures and designing and developing products, materials and technologies according to the principles of sustainability (Adidas group, 2009, Para 14).

Conclusion
The insight provided above leaves no doubt that workplace standards have to be observed in an effort to address the related social, psychological, and physical needs of the employees. The existing legal provisions including the OSHA and other labor legislations should be followed to the latter.

Organizations should also be willing to initiate relevant workplace standards that are tailor made to supplement the already existing legislations. Employees are human beings and their productivity will be determined by how they are treated by the respective organizations. Some organizations may look at improving the workplace standards as a costly undertaking meant to eat into the profits of the organization. On the contrary, dedication to improving the workplace standards has been identified as a simple psychological way of improving on productivity. With good working conditions, the organization is deemed to avoid high insurance costs on medication due to injuries and related fatalities unnecessary industrial actions absenteeism due to injuries and accidents and minimum court cases in solving industrial related disputes. All these can result in great losses to the company but can easily be avoided if good workplace standards are observed.