Welfare Regime: A Critical Discourse

Introduction

Welfare is a driving vigour which secures the labour force and also augments their quality of living. The term welfare suggests the state of well-being and implies wholesomeness of the human being. It is a comprehensive term and refers to the physical, mental, moral, and emotional well-being of an individual (Aswathappa, 2010). According to Hopkins (1955), welfare is fundamentally an attitude of mind on the part of management, influencing the method in which management activities are undertaken. Employers concerned with introducing or extending welfare programmes now or in the future must be concerned not only with the past and current experience, but also with developing trends.

The traditional economic theory defined labour as a factor of production which consists of manual and mental exertion and receives some return by way of wages, salaries, or professional fees (Railkar, 1990). Labour is any physical or intellectual activity applied in industrial production and one who performs it is a worker. The term labour, labourer, workers, or employee are all used to refer to the wage earning human agents in various industries and organisations. The term welfare is a relative concept; therefore, it varies from time to time, region to region and from country to country. Welfare helps in keeping the morale and motivation of the employees high so as to retain the employees for longer duration. The welfare measures need not be in monetary terms only but in any kind or forms (Lalitha & Priyanka, 2014).

The concept of ‘Employee welfare’ is flexible and differs widely with times, regions, industry, country, social values, and customs, the degree of industrialization, the general social economic development of people and political ideologies prevailing at particular moments (Patro, 2015). Coventry and Barker (1988) assert that staff welfare includes providing social club and sports facilities as appropriate, supervising staff and works’ canteens, running sick clubs and savings schemes; dealing with superannuation, pension funds and leave grants, making loans on hardship cases; arranging legal aid and giving advice on personal problems; making long service grants; providing assistance to staff transferred to another area and providing fringe benefits. Such facilities enable a worker and his family to lead a good work, family, and social life (Sarma, 1996).

Employee welfare entails all those activities of employer which are directed towards providing the employees with certain facilities and services in addition to wages or salaries. Labour welfare is a state of living of an individual or a group in a desirable relationship with the total environment - ecological, economic, and social (John, 2004). A proper organization and administration of welfare facilities can play a vital role in promoting better working conditions and living standards for industrial workers, and also increase their productivity, especially in developing countries (Kohli & Sharma, 1997).

The very logic behind providing welfare schemes is to create efficient, healthy, loyal and satisfied labour force for the organization. Welfare measures practiced in any organization, aims or should aim, at improving the working and living conditions of employees and their families. Pylee and George (1996) stressed that even one discontented employee or an employee nursing a grievance can eventually infect an entire organization with the germ of discontent which, in turn, will result in lower efficiency, poor morale and reduction in overall production. However, the CLW (1969) defined the phrase to mean such facilities and amenities as adequate canteens, rest and recreation facilities, sanitary and medical facilities arrangements for travel to and from and for accommodation of workers employed at a distance from their homes, and such other services, amenities and facilities including social security measures as contribute to conditions under which workers are employed.