Fostering Organisational Justice: Strategies for Workplace Fairness and Wellbeing

At the Policy Place, we aim through our workplace policies to support clients to achieve organisational justice.  In line with this focus, we recently updated our health and safety and risk management policies for our online clients to recognise and address the impacts of psychosocial hazards and risks on work.

In this post, we will explore what organisational justice is, and why its important,  explore examples of organisational injustice and how these can be  addressed to achieve a fairness and wellbeing in the workplace.

What is Organisational Justice?

Organisational justice was developed within social psychology and refers to perceived fairness in a workplace/organisation. It focuses on how workers judge the behavior of an organisation and how organisational behavior affects their own attitudes and behaviors.  Organisational justice is a widely accepted as an essential aspect of health and safety at work and contributes to job satisfaction, and commitment (see Baldwin, S Organisational Justice; Poor Organisational Justice).

Signs of Poor Organisational Justice

Signs of poor organisational justice can include:

• Privacy Breaches: Failing to treat workers’ information sensitively or maintain their privacy (e.g., having performance discussions in front of others or sharing personal information about staff with third parties without their consent)
• Inconsistent Policies: Policies or procedures that are unfair, biased, or applied inconsistently (e.g., promotion based on favoritism, or applying disciplinary policies inconsistently or discriminatorily).
• Unfair Penalties: Penalising workers for things outside their control.
• Cultural Insensitivity: Cultural insensitivity in decision-making processes.
• Lack of Accommodations: Not accommodating the reasonable needs of workers (e.g., failing to provide an accessible workplace).
• Discrimination: Discriminating against particular groups or not applying policies fairly to some groups.
• Inadequate Handling of Misconduct: Failing to appropriately address (actual or alleged) underperformance, inappropriate or harmful behavior, or misconduct (eg not investigating allegations of sexual harassment or not providing procedural justice for workers accused of bullying).
• Unfair Work Allocation: Allocating work, shifts, and opportunities in a discriminatory or unfair way (eg giving ‘good’ shifts based on friendships with supervisors).
• Lack of Decision-Making Processes: No or inadequate processes for making decisions affecting workers (eg policies and processes do not set out the key considerations for disciplinary decisions).

Strategies to Address and Prevent Organisational Injustice

• Monitor Bias in Workplace Processes: Regularly review decision-making, recruitment, and promotion processes in consultation with your staff to identify and mitigate biases.
• Ensure Staff understand Expectations: Ensure everyone in the workplace understands the Kaupapa, the Code of Conduct and other expected standards of performance and that these are consistently and fairly applied across the board.
• Ensure Privacy and Confidentiality: Ensure through policies, procedures and training that everyone in the workplace understands and can comply with privacy and confidentiality obligations.
• Make Reasonable Accommodations: Ensure that the workplace is equitable and accessible and accommodates the needs of all employees, especially during onboarding and throughout employment.
• Clear Reporting & Follow-Up: Provide clear, accessible processes for staff to raise and report issues or concerns and seek reviews of workplace decisions with prompt management responses.
• Transparent Communication: Maintain regular, transparent communication with staff regarding policy updates and organisational changes.
• Prevent Nepotism: Implement transparent and accountable processes for recruitment and tendering to prevent nepotism and favoritism and ensure there’s a good understanding at management level of policies and procedures around managing conflicts of interest.
• Regular feedback and reviews: Apply a no-surprises approach to managing performance so that staff are provided with regular feedback – good and bad- about their performance and given fair opportunity to rectify issues. e
• Fair disciplinary processes:  Follow policies and procedures when dealing with alleged and actual misconduct so that disciplinary outcomes are substantively and procedurally fair.
• Cultural Competency Training: Provide policy guidance and training to promote self-aware practice and raise awareness and understanding of diverse cultures and unconscious biases.
• Wellbeing focus: Promote a focus on Hauora and safety in the workplace and ensure that everyone  has opportunity to participate in health and safety plans and decisions and understands these apply to pyschosocial hazards and risks.
• Inclusive Policies and Procedures: Regularly review and revise policies and procedures to ensure they are inclusive and equitable for all employees and promote appropriate use of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori and other relevant cultural practices.
• Support Employee Initiatives: Encourage peer supervision and other workplace initiatives that provide staff with opportunities to debrief and participate in planning and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Mentorship and Support: Provide workplace processes to support new workers’ onboarding and the advancement and support of staff from underrepresented groups with experienced mentors to support inclusion and support their career advancement and skill development.
• Open Communication Channels: Make sure there are plenty of opportunities for workers to express concerns about organisational justice through team hui, anonymous suggestions and feedback sessions and engage in solution planning.
• Celebrate Diversity: Organise events and celebrations to recognise and appreciate workforce diversity.
• Leadership Commitment: Promote positive and accountable leadership in the organisation and that there is one set of standards for all.

The Risks 

Poor organisational justice can lead to health and safety breaches and broader operational risks. It can cause a stress response that if frequent, prolonged or severe, can cause physical or psychological injury to a worker. Left unaddressed, it can lead to high staff turnover and poor collective morale in the workplace.

Like all hazards, the risks of organisational injustice must therefore be monitored and managed by managers and governors of an organisation.  When identified, risks should be eliminated. If elimination is not possible, the risks should be actively managed. (See above and the following for risk management strategies – Work-related Stress Poor Organisational Justice; Do nothing at your peril!

Conclusion 

We strive for wellbeing and productivity in the workplace. Organisational justice is how we get there.

When staff perceive fairness in their workplace, they are more likely to experience higher levels of trust, job satisfaction, and organisational loyalty. This can lead to a safer workplace, increased productivity, reduced turnover, and a more cohesive and motivated workforce. Additionally, fair treatment helps to minimise workplace conflicts and promotes a culture of mutual respect and collaboration.