Introduction Bangladesh is a developing nation.

Today, our employers are thinking more about employee safety and healthy working environment. This shift in thinking is making our country more improved and a better place to work. Laws and regulation regarding safe and healthy working environment is getting stronger. Occupational health and safety is concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational health and safety programs is to foster a safe working environment. As a secondary effect, it may also protect coworkers, family members, employers, customers, suppliers, nearby communities, and other members of the public who are impacted by the workplace environment. HR practice in Bangladesh is better than the past. In the past, HR role was concentrated to hiring firing and letter issuance-dispatching-filing stage. Now it has started to perform more than that, such as employee motivation, employee development, employee retention, facilitating organizational development initiatives etc. and thus contributes to the achievement of organizational goals. Apart from these HR is now mainly focusing on safe and healthy working environment. These value added job has just begun in Bangladesh. For a good tomorrow, this is a starting point. World class education, multinational organization and in broad sense globalization foster these facts even more. Employers have started to understand that the more they invest in human resources, the more output is likely which lead them to emphasize on employee capability development. As such in many organizations, employee development is viewed as part of business plan.

HSBC, Bangladesh In Bangladesh, the HSBC Group's history dates back to 1996 when The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Ltd opened its first branch. Today, the HSBC Group offers a comprehensive range of financial services in Bangladesh including commercial banking, consumer banking, payments and cash management, trade services, treasury, and custody and clearing. General Background

Opened first Bangladesh branch in December 1996 Network of 13 offices, 39 ATMs, 9 Customer Service Centres, an offshore banking unit, and offices in 7 EPZs. 1051 employees as of December 2010

Key business areas:

Retail Banking and Wealth Management Commercial Banking Corporate and Institutional banking Global Markets Shariah Compliant Banking

Key business areas:

Personal Banking Commercial banking Corporate and institutional banking HSBCnet Trade & Supply Chains Payments and cash management Custody and clearing Investment banking and markets Treasury and capital markets Amanah

HR Practices in HSBC Best Place to Work The slogan of HSBC HR is Best Place to Work. They value their employees and work with them to ensure the slogan sticks to its meaning. To make sure safe and healthy working environment HSBC works with local compliance and their groups standard. Health of HSBC Staff: HSBC thinks employees are a valuable asset worth looking after. There are a number of things that HSBC does for the health and well-being of your employees, such as:

Supporting staff at work HSBC believes simple things can add up to big changes in overall feelings of well-being. Senior managers and HR specialists ask "How are you?", they listen when employees ask for help and be flexible and considerate. Communicating HSBC helps employees with what they need to do in their job and encourage them to talk to them about issues affecting both their home and work life. Consulting They ask employees for their views on, and involve them in making, business decisions. Healthy workplace They keep workplace healthy and safe for employees. Monitoring employees They make sure that employees are healthy and feel well. Keeping records They keep health and well-being records about their staff, for instance, who is off sick, when and for how long? Being Pro-Active They look at records regularly so they can identify problems and then take action to solve them. Supporting Sick Employees HSBC help them return to work, example, by using fit notes to identify work they may be able to do, reducing their hours, offering easier work or letting them work from home until they are ready to return to the workplace as normal. Investing HSBC spend money on health and well-being at work, in the longer term they will save money by reducing rates of sickness absence. Training HSBC focuses on training managers to be pro-active about looking into sickness absences and taking action to encourage employees back to work. Encouraging Healthy Living HSBC management encourages employees to live healthy lives, example, by organizing events with sports and exercise or offering healthier food in their staff canteen/restaurant. Leading by Example HSBC supports their managers to be a good role model by looking after their own health and well-being.

Keeping Staff Informed - Making employees aware of health issues by including them in the information and advice they give out in the workplace.

HSBCs HR responsibilities with health and safety HSBC works with local compliance and regional counterpart for occupational health and safety procedures that they implement wherever the work is being conducted be that in an office or home. They developed policies in consultation with all employees. They developed and have in place an occupational health and safety policy to meet the following standards:

ensure that the way work is done is safe and does not affect employees health ensure that tools, equipment and machinery are safe and are kept safe ensure that ways of storing, transporting or working with dangerous substances is safe and does not damage employees health provide employees with the information, instruction and training they need to do their job safely and without damaging their health consult with employees about health and safety in the workplace monitor the work place regularly and keep a record of what is found during the checks

When a new employee starts with HSBC, it is important that they are aware of the occupational health and safety policies and procedures so that they are able to complete their job requirements safely. They:

brief all new employees on occupational health and safety policy at induction provides a training session to new employees on all safety procedures, including evacuation and other emergency procedures make reasonable adjustments if required, e.g. providing clear markings and color contrasts on steps or pathways, building a ramp to allow access to a building

HSBC believes that safe working practices should also be reviewed and emphasized with all employees on a regular and ongoing basis. To ensure that everyone knows the correct health and safety procedures, and that all employees, including new employees, have access to information about safety procedures, they:

ensure that employees have access to information in appropriate formats provide regular information updates and re-training sessions provide access to information about safety procedures

Work-Life Balance and HSBC Work-life balance is about adjusting working patterns to allow employees to combine work with their other responsibilities such as caring for children or elderly relatives. Introducing appropriate employment practices to help employees achieve a better work-life balance brings tangible benefits to HSBC. It can enable employees to feel more in control of their working life and lead to increased productivity, lower absenteeism and a happier, less stressed workforce. Introducing employment policies that encourage a healthier work-life balance for employees can bring real benefits to HSBC. They believe that flexible working and work-life balance policies will also foster a more positive perception of HSBC as an employer. This can lead to better relations with employees and greater staff loyalty, commitment and motivation, reducing staff turnover and recruitment costs. Allowing employees to work flexibly in order to encourage a better work-life balance can lead to improvements in health and well-being. HSBC thinks that the benefits of a work-life balance initiative are not just confined to the workforce. Work-life policies and flexible working practices helps HSBC in many ways. As an employer, HSBC finds it hard to judge whether they are supporting their employees' need to balance their commitments at work with those at home. Tell-tale signs of poor work/life balance include:

employees doing a lot of overtime employees taking a lot of time off to deal with 'emergencies' involving children or other dependants high levels of employee stress high rates of absenteeism or staff sickness high levels of staff turnover

Employee Stress and HSBC Tackling work-related stress is essential to ensure the well-being of both HSBC and their employees and to safeguard the performance of HSBC. Stress can be particularly damaging for owner-managers and the self-employed. Though a degree of pressure can help to perform effectively, excessive demands can reduce productivity and make it more difficult to take important decisions. Stress can also undermine employees' effectiveness, cause a rise in sickness absences and increase staff turnover. HSBC have a legal responsibility to ensure employees don't become ill, either physically or mentally, because of work-related stress. It is noted that stress causes many problems and they are:

a fall in employee productivity and that of HSBC poor decision-making

an increase in mistakes which may in turn lead to more customer complaints increased sickness absence high staff turnover poor workplace relations

HR Specialists recognize the common causes of stress at work so that they can take steps to reduce stress levels where possible. Individuals suffering from stress often display a range of signs that may be noticed by colleagues and other managers. These signs include:

tiredness and irritability reduced quality of work indecisiveness and poor judgment loss of sense of humor physical illness such as headaches, nausea, aches and pains seeming jumpy or ill-at-ease, or admitting to sleeping badly increased sick leave poor timekeeping changes in working day patterns - perhaps by staying late or taking work home arguments and disputes between staff general absenteeism an increase in grievances and complaints greater staff turnover

HR specialists make it sure that following guidelines are followed and they are:

Excessively high workloads, with unrealistic deadlines making people feel rushed, under pressure and overwhelmed. Insufficient workloads, making people feel that their skills are being underused. A lack of control over work activities. A lack of interpersonal support or poor working relationships leading to a sense of isolation.

People being asked to do a job for which they have insufficient experience or training. Difficulty settling into a new promotion, both in terms of meeting the new role's requirements and adapting to possible changes in relationships with colleagues. Concerns about job security, lack of career opportunities, or level of pay. Bullying or harassment. A blame culture within business where people are afraid to get things wrong or to admit to making mistakes. Weak or ineffective management which leaves employees feeling they don't have a sense of direction, or over-management, which can leave employees feeling undervalued and affect their self-esteem. Multiple reporting lines for employees, with each manager asking for their work to be prioritised. Failure to keep employees informed about significant changes to the business, causing them uncertainty about their future. A poor physical working environment, example, excessive heat, cold or noise, inadequate lighting, uncomfortable seating, malfunctioning equipment, etc.