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Davies Ndumiso Sibanda, Labour matters
MANY employers have told managerial employees that they are on duty 24 hours a day so many times such that the workers now wrongly believe that they are.

The Labour Act Chapter 28:01 has no provision that requires managerial employees to be on duty 24 hours a day.

Contractual laws that are applicable to non-managerial employees are also applicable to managerial employees except for collective bargaining agreements that are specific on who they cover.

Managerial employees should work the normal hours stipulated in their contracts of employment or given in the organisation’s conditions of service.

Any hours worked beyond the stipulated hours must be authorised and compensated.

When managerial employees work overtime they must be compensated as guided by the organisation’s policy.

The overtime must, however, be authorised.

There are times though when overtime will be authorised after it has been worked.

In my view all employees are protected from being on duty 24 hours by section 65 (4) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which reads; “Every employee is entitled to just, equitable and satisfactory working conditions of work as read with section 65(1), which reads “Every person has a right to fair and safe labour practices and standards and to be paid a fair and reasonable wage.”

Going through the two provisions of our Constitution, it is clear that there is no distinction between managerial and non-managerial employees, they are all persons.

Given that position, any demand for an employee to be on duty 24 hours a day is obviously unfair and cruel to a worker as the worker loses the control of his private life.

Having said that the law allows for fair and just working of long hours, which can be achieved in a humane manner through mutual agreements by the employer and employees, for example, in many industries collective bargaining agreement guide working long hours, overtime, breaks, shift work, standby and many others.

In all these cases there is a way of compensating the workers. Unfortunately, in most organisations, such arrangements are not extended to managerial employees.

I have, however, found in most mines the long hours worked by managerial employees are compensated in a number of ways such as working long hours but doing a four-day week, provisions of meals after work, provision of comfortable accommodation, working 14 days in and seven days out and many others.

All these are measures that create a good work-life balance.

Sadly, most of the workers who work long hours and are told they are on duty 24 hours are Government employees such as teachers, nurses and police officers who work outside towns.

It is my hope that as Public Service regulations get aligned to the Constitution, these challenges will disappear to allow workers a good balance between work and their private homes.

In the private sector a number of employers who have workers who work long hours without pay are using the old British colonial model where the workers are compensated through fringe benefits such as going to the bank, funerals, picking up children and many others during working hours with no deductions from salaries.

In conclusion, this area is a complex and sensitive minefield which can affect productivity and lead to expensive litigation if not well managed. For employers to avoid problems, they must put in place policies and procedures that talk to best practices in human capital management.

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: Email: [email protected]