The case 5A a 21-year old intern Moritz Erhardt died after working for long hours at bank Merrill Lynch. Erhardt also suffered epilepsia but he had not told anyone about his condition at the workplace. Allegedly the employees at the bank, and commonly in the same industry, had a competition with each other who can work longest hours. Erhardt was known as passionate, hard-working, humble and down to earth person. He was just a week away from signing a permanent employment contract at Merrill Lynch before he died. (Thomas 2013)
This case A shows that is can be hard to detect if the incident was due to the working conditions or not. In this case it was probably a mix of both. Erhardt was so motivated to work that he forgot his own health and limitations and was maybe under a social pressure to do longer hours at work. I think still the employer should take care that employees cannot work around the clock, set a rules for working hours. In this case the fatal incident did not happen at the work site, but at the intern´s home. The Merrill Lynch representative said that there is no procedure to monitor the working hours of employers, but I think it should be highly considered and taken as a common practice in the banking industry where these kind of incidents are stated to happen commonly (Thomas 2013).
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| Moritz Erhardt |
The case A reminded me of a movie I saw a long time ago. The movie is called ´concussion´ and the movie addressed and issue in the football industry. Will Smith is acting Dr. Omalu, who examinated american football players who where suffering from severe and unexplained symptoms. Some players even died before getting the right medical treatment. Dr.Omalu confronted a previous doctor of the NFL (national football league) players and the NFL presentatives on the issues. Dr. Omalu found evidence on serious concussions in the autopsies he conducted on the players. Dr. Omalu states that the players are exposed to deadly concussion while on the football field.
Here you can see a clip from the movie where Dr. Omalu talks with the former doctor. In the clip, the former doctor denies that he knows about the health problems of the players, referring to the football culture and its importance and how much money the NFL makes every year and donated to charity.
This movie shows as an example when the money is more important for the company than its employees or moral. NFL of course wants to keep up its reputation so that they can continue making business with their players life in danger.
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| An American football player injured |
The case 5B tells about wellness programs at work and if they really make a difference at the workplace. Morgaine states that wellness programs provided by employers are more popular than ever. A wellness program could include giving employees discounts on their health insurance premiums, cash rewards, providing gym or other memberships free or charge or offering healthier food options at work. For companies the motive for providing such benefits is saving money for instance, when employees are healthier, they take less sick leaves and are more effective at work. Morgaine tells that the issue is that most employees do not participate the program, and few solutions are stated; making sure that employees are aware of the program, encourage employees towards it and even nominate a ´wellness leader´ who is close to the employees. (Morgaine 2018)
I have worked in the wellness and sports industry myself and it was self-evident that the employer promoted healthy lifestyle and keeping up a good exercising routines. The employer offered a gym membership for free and the gym facilities were also the area where I worked everyday. I did use the gym actively for a while, but when time passed, I felt that I did not want to stay to workout in the same building where I just had worked for eight or more hours. I also felt that my supervisor who I worked with daily, was not that motivating what comes to healthy eating and training habits.
And my observation after working in the sports industry for years is that even if the employer and the whole company provides great facilities for taking care of oneself, there can still be a lot of sick leaves, illness, burnouts and lack of motivation. My opinion is that sports industry can be demanding and exhausting, physically and mentally, in such a way that it can even make harm for you instead of improving your life quality. Whether is it about a wellness industry or any other, an employees should always look after him/herself and be aware of employers´ responsibilities also to avoid harmful situations or misconducts.
Law and standards
There are certain laws which protect employees in the health and safety matters. For example in the US, the workers´ compensation laws at the state level and also OSHA (occupational safety and health act of 1970) in the federal level. The OSHA act includes different standards in safety, inspections, citations and fines, but it does not provide compensation when accidents happen. Employers are entitled to maintain insurance for the employees at the workplace, and those companies who have higher incident levels, have to pay for higher insurance fees. (Gómez-Mejía L., Balkin D., Cardy R., 530.)
Under OSHA´s provisions are stated that employers have as an obligation to provide safe and healthy work environment, comply with specific occupational safety and health standards and to keep records of occupational injuries and illnesses. For example, if employer does not provide written or electronic records in incidents and illnesses, employer can face fines and citations. Falsifying records can result in fine and six-month prison sentence.(Gómez-Mejía L., Balkin D., Cardy R., 532,534)
Employees also have responsibilities in the safety and health matters. They have to comply with the safety and health standards regarding their occupation. Any injuries, conditions or illnesses should be reported to their employer as soon as noticed. Employees can file grievances or complaints if there occurs and issue at the workplace. (Gómez-Mejía L., Balkin D., Cardy R., 534)
Conclusion
Referring to these topics discussed in this writing, it can be hard for an employer to detect if the incident was caused by the job conditions or other issues in some cases. In my opinion, the employer should anyways encourage employees to take care of themselves, physically and mentally providing a safe and trust-worthy working environment where employees feel safe and respected. Training and providing accurate information on safety and health is a must in today´s demanding working conditions.
Sources
Gómez-Mejía L., Balkin D., Cardy R. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Pearson Education Limited. Harlow. Accessed 9.10.2018.
Picture 1: https://www.georgianewsday.com/news/world/170823-bank-of-america-intern-moritz-erhardt-drops-dead-after-pulling-all-nighters.html
Case 5B: https://www.liveplan.com/blog/does-corporate-wellness-work-the-surprising-truth-about-employee-wellness-programs/ Accessed 9.10.2018.
Movie ´concussion´ clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59wvo9e2XQY
American football player picture: http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/american-groundlessness-grappling-with-the-nfls-concussion-crisis/
EU statistics on accidents at work https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Accidents_at_work_statistics
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