Fairness in Employment

Organization should ensure that their employees are motivated; one of the ways to ensure that they achieve this is by ensuring that there is fairness in their places of work. Fairness in employment can be defined as that feeling that employees have when they know that their rights are respected and they are treated equally and fairly without bias. Employee’s perception of fairness has a large impact on their behaviors and attitude towards their work.  When there is fairness in employment employees are more likely to engage in activities that will be of benefit to the organization.  Employees are more motivated when they know that the organization resources are fairly allocated and that the organization decisions are also made fairly (Rosenfeld, 2007).

Fairness in employment decision calls for equal treatment of all employees.  Employees are concerned on how their supervisors treat them. Employees not only expect their employers to treat them fairly but to be also responsible citizens. They are also not only concerned about how fairly they are treated but they are as well concerned about how fairly they colleagues are treated. From previous research, psychologists have pointed out that unfair treatment in the workplace affects the physical and emotional heath of employees as well as their overall performance. A sense of justice leads to loyalty, commitment and more importantly a sense of well-being (Schmitt, 1989).

There are different ways that employees can view fairness in employment. A good example is when employees assess whether they receive an equal reward on whatever they are giving the company, may be in terms of salary and benefits. Another way employees assess fairness is by considering whether the decision made on promotions, demotion, salary increment, and recognition are based on merit.  Employees also consider fairness based on how they are treated in comparison with employees who are working in the same sector and with the same qualification and skills (Loden, 2001).

In accordance with the equity theory, employees view a situation as equitable when employees who give similar inputs receive the similar outcome.  Equity theory points out that individual judge on fairness based on how others like them treated.  Employees who receive inequitable treatment are emotionally motivated to gain equity and in case the inequality persists they may react differently. For instance, they may decrease in input by reducing the amount of effort put in company’s project, become resistance, push for more output, loose trust in the company’s leadership and at times they may quit (Tanner, 2016).

There are different methods that can be used in determining whether bias is present. To begin with, the employee can assess the organizational support by considering the environment and considering whether there is an opportunity for professional development. Employees will consider a workplace where there are given a chance to grow in their career by taking challenging tasks, having mentoring programs or career talks as more equitable compared to an organization where such services may not be available (Conway, 1984).

Another method that employee can use is considering organizational flexibility. Organization flexibility is the degree of flexibility offered by the organization in terms of work schedule and how tasks are completed.  When an employee is forced to work overtime without pay or forced to work during their off day's employees consider this as unfair. Employees are also concerned on how the work is completed for instance they consider whether they are given sufficient time as well as enough resources to complete the task (Schmitt, 1989).

 Another method that employee can use to determine bias is by considering the organization diversity, that is whether an organization values the type of diversity among employees. Employees consider a company that values employee’s diversity as fair. Diversity will mean equal employment opportunity in terms of promotion and salary regardless of the employee origin and beliefs. It also means a suitable work environment that gives each employee a chance to fully express themselves and being in a position to create dialogue. Managers can as well organize social gatherings and business meetings (Loden, 2001).

 The other method used is by analyzing the employee turnover. High employee turnover may be an indication of unfairness in the workplace. Unfair work environment makes employee loose morale and develops a poor attitude towards they work such that whenever they get a chance to work in another organization they never hesitate. At times the employees give up on the company and quit. One can also determine bias by considering the supervisor's support. In case the supervisor does not treat his/her juniors fairly. For instance when called to evaluate job performance the supervisor may be biased by giving high ranking to people who do not deserve that or may not distribute work fairly (Schmitt, 1989).

I will also consider the companies work environment and generally how employees are treated particularly comparing it to people within the same level. Using all of the above methods I can judge whether there are fairness and equitability in the workplace.  A company that embraces workplaces diversity, organization support and flexibility as well as low employee turnover can be an indicator of fairness in the employment (Schmitt, 1989).