Who is an Employee?

HR DESK

with

Kolawole Nasir

Welcome to another week of HR Desk weekly nugget. I promised in one of our earlier posts to ‘introduce’our stakeholders (Prospective Employees, Employees and Employers) in this ‘department’to you.

Gentlemen and ladies, it is my honour to introduce to you…

But first, is anything common amongst our stakeholders? Obviously yes! – Work. Not having work to do isn’t a pleasant experience especially with its attendant psychology and financial burdens. Prospective employee wants to work, Employee is currently working and Employer gives work to both of them.

Come to think of it, what is work?  Work could simply be put as the exertion of effort and the application of knowledge and skills to achieve a purpose. Most people work to earn a living- to make money. But they also work because of the other satisfactions it brings, such as doing something worthwhile, a sense of achievement, prestige, recognition, the opportunity to use and develop abilities, the scope to exercise power, and companionship.

Lest we digress too far, permit me to introduce to you; Prospective Employee.

A prospective employee is someone who has the potential of being hired, but is yet to be hired. This could be someone who has submitted a resume and participated in an interview. We will also categorize job seekers in this bracket for the sake of HR Desk.

Now, meet theEmployer:

By the provision of section 91(1) of the Nigeria Labour Act, employer is “any person who has entered into a contract of employment to employ any other person as a worker either for himself or for the service of any other person, and includes the agent, manager or factor of that first mentioned person and the personal representatives of a deceased employer”

Simply put, an employer is anyone, be it an individual, organization, government agency or parastatal who retained the services of a labour of another (employee) in consideration of a reward and has control and dictates instructions to the latter (employee).

And finally, the Employee:

The Nigeria Labour Act did not use the word ‘employee’; rather, it adopts the word ‘worker’.A Worker is however defined by the Act, section 91(1) to be precise, as “any person who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract is for manual labour or clerical work or is expressed or implied or oral or written and whether it is a contract of service or a contract personally to execute any work or labour…” it goes on to exclude the following categories of the employed:

a.       Any person employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employers business.

b.      Persons exercising administrative, executive, technical or professional functions as public officer or otherwise.

c.       Members of the employer’s family.

d.      Representatives, agents and commercial travelers in so far as their work is carried on outside the permanent workplace of the employer’s establishment.

e.       Any person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, furnished, repaired or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or the material.

f.       Any person employed in a vessel or aircraft to which the laws regulating merchant shipping or civil aviation apply.

Having done these clarifications, shouldn’t we talk about the relationship that exists among them – employment relationship? I think we should.

Employment relationship is one that is established whenever employers and employees work together. A positive employment relationship is required, one in which there is trust and mutuality. Whereas Prospective Employee is not knitted in the relationship until employed, Employees and Employer are in the mutual union.

The relationship is an undertaking by the employee to provide skills & effort to the employer in return for which the employer provides the employee with a salary or wage. The employer obligation also include the duty to provide a safe workplace, to act in good faiths towards the employee and not to act in such a way as to undermine the trust and confidence of the employment relationship. The employees also have corresponding obligations, which include obedience, competence, honesty and loyalty.

Three types of employment relationship exist: Transactional, Relational and Psychological. Read our subsequent publications to learn more about these.

Always remember “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn”.