Driver Mistreatment in Uber Australia

Question:

Discuss about the Human Resource In Uber Company.

Uber is a company in Australia which deals with the transport of customers to different places. This industry links various drivers, ‘driver-partners,’ who normally use their vehicles to ferry customers who may require the ride. It was initially started in the USA in 2010 but later copied to Australia in 2012 and has since flourished from then (Mattern, 2017). The drivers are not covered by the employer in whichever case, either insurance or any other work policy covers needed for their survival in the industry.

Many organizations in the world do not value their employees as required (Lee, 2017). A good example is the Uber Australia which has more than 60,000 drivers and specifically calls for driver partnerships. It has been reported that the organization is settling unfair dismal claims to its drivers claiming that they should remain contractual, a factor that has made them feel as if they are in exile and being misused for the specific reason. According to the AFR, the company has admitted that the reason why they treat their drivers in such ways is that the latter does not qualify to be employees and thus they should remain to work on the contractual basis (Michael, 2016). Rideshare drivers association filed another case for being mistreated by the Uber Australia too. A spokesperson from Uber Australia was clearly heard claiming that the main purpose of the regulation could not be achieved whenever the drivers purposed to avoid the employment regulations and thus they should remain to work on the contractual basis.

Other companies have also evolved to challenge the drivers’ mistreatments and assured of fighting for their rights. Rideshare Drivers United pushed forward for an investigative exercise through an ombudsman to research and came up with a clear evidence where the conditions under which drivers are treated really meet the federal industrial relations laws of the Australian government. All these advocacy groups are actually fighting for the drivers’ rights, claiming that they should be treated as fully pledged employees and not as contractors. According to Fairfax Media, there is the likelihood of settling these disputes whenever these drivers get tested by authorities and acknowledged as employees. Uber Australia believes that their driver-partners can lose work if they are found violent or providing the unconducive environment to the riders. This policy has been established to ensure that the customers are treated in a a more human and fair manner and to ensure security to both the riders and their customers. However, the need for an agreement between the rivers and the management of the company must get emphasized to ensure a proper understanding between the two parts hence avoiding conflicts.

Legal Arguments Surrounding Uber in Australia

The rise of popularity of Uber has been accompanied by various legal arguments and rulings from various authorities. The issues raised in the article here are concerned with the various roles of human resource department, though the Uber Company has not yet implemented them. This part is explained in close reference to theories of leadership for the management of the company. These theories include the trait theory of leadership, behavioral leadership theories, and the contingency theories. These issues are discussed below:

Most of the people have been heard claiming that the rights of the riders and drivers are being diminished. One of them is that Uber Australia is not allowed to hold a valid workers compensation policy by the government of Australia simply because it employs its workers on the contractual basis (Warhurst, Mathieu, & Wright, 2017). The company could only possess this policy if only its employees are permanently employed. This has been a disadvantage to the drivers since their work security is not guaranteed. It is the role of the Human Resource in any given company to ensure the well-being of the employees and provide enough security, both physically and financially, a role that has been violating in Uber Australia Company (Palmer, 2017). Uber views drivers and the organizational management as two different entities which cannot correlate in whichever way. Their proper correlation on how to serve the customers properly is considered as the best strategy to improving the company reputation to the country hence winning broader market base.

Drivers, in this case, are always at risk simply because whenever they encounter accidents while driving there is no one to cater for such expenses. They can only be helped by the compulsory third party (CTP) insurance policy which has no relationship with the company. This is the reason as to why these Uber drivers are seen to be fighting for employment rights. Many insurance companies seem to reject these covers when they come to realize that the driver got an accident while driving an ‘illegal’ vehicle (Sparrow & Chung, 2016).

Uber drivers have been deprived of safety measures which should be guaranteed to them by the human resource department. For example, Mr. Harries, 39 who has been a driver in the company and could drive for more than 70hrs weekly had a story to tell. He explained that he was on his way to Brisbane airport for a customer when he was beaten on his face by a man who was a customer of another Uber car driver for no good reason (Cogger, 2014). The other driver did not defend him despite having been worked together for some time. After reporting the matter to both the police and to Uber, no action was taken. Uber deactivated him. This company used the contract factor to employees in order to evade workers satisfaction and not to be attached to various obligations such as employees’ compensation (Plenter, 2017).

The Role of HR in Uber Australia

Being on contractual basis means that the drivers are not fully employed and that their contracts can be terminated anytime, under whichever circumstances. This uncertainty keeps the workers always worried about their job security and to some extent psychologically tortured in one way or another. Uber had not actually been able to complete risk assessment tests on whether its workers are employees or contractors until when AFR brought it to light that the company deals with contractors in order to avoid various risks.

Riders have suffered humiliation in various ways to the point of even leaving the job for greener pastures. At least at the end of every financial period, there should be employee appraisal in order to ensure that there is a positive competition among the employees, a factor which can lead to increased output and profits in the company.  Instead of motivating the riders, the human resource management has remained to neglect and overlooking these employees. They have encountered demotivation severally since the company doesn’t acknowledge them as fully pledged employees but rather as contractors.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Based on the above issues facing Uber operations for the company, the following actions should be taken in order to resolve these issues:

• Uber should employ its workers on the permanent basis, cater for their welfare and always listen to their grievances.
• Correlation should be enhanced among the employees for it will promote teamwork and realization of high yields in the organization.
• It is the role of the managers to set strategies on how the company should perform its tasks, laying its set goals and objectives as far as the human capital management is concerned (Cogger, 2014). Organizational process systems should be formulated to enhance good employee voice, which Uber Company has abandoned for long.
• The safety of the staff and their partnerships should always be the priority to any company. This is a duty to be carried out by the human resource department. It has been noticed with a lot of concern that Uber has rubbished these obligations and there seems to be an upcoming legal fight since the rights of workers should be considered under whichever circumstances. This misuse of workers has made the Uber Company to have been worked by hundreds of thousands of employees, with only about 60,000 being left to try their luck since it arrived in the country in the year 2012. Uber Australia has many employees whose grievances must get listened to for the company to thrive and enhance sustainability in the market.
• The employer should also meet the employees’ demand proper and fair treatment by the management of the company so as to get motivated and gain morale for performing their duties to the customers appropriately.

In conclusion, every work needs attention and whenever the rights of the workers are violated, it automatically translates to the reduced overall output at the end of the financial period. Human resource department has the mandate to ensure that everything goes well and no one is misused in whichever circumstance, may it be the workers or the managers. The reason as to why many employees are violated is only because they have not teamed up and raised their issues to the management as it is said that a divided house cannot stand by itself.

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