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The term welfare suggests the state of well being and implies wholesomeness of the human being. It is a desirable state of existence involving the mental, physical, moral and emotional factor of a person. All these four elements together constitute the structure of welfare on which its totality is based. The term welfare is a relative concept; therefore it varies from time to time, region to region and from country to country. According to the traditional economic theory labour can be defined 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). In a Resolution in 1947, the ILO defined labour welfare as “such services, facilities and amenities as adequate canteens, rest and recreation facilities, arrangements for travel to and from work, and for the accommodation of workers employed at a distance from their houses and such other services, amenities and facilities as contribute to improve the conditions under which workers are employed”.
Employee welfare means anything done for the comfort and improvement, intellectual or social, of the employees over and above the wages paid which is not a necessity of the industry. 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. It includes monitoring of working conditions, creation of organizational harmony through infrastructure for health, general insurance, retirement benefits, housing facilities, and education benefits for employees and their children, and so on. Labour welfare implies the setting up of minimum desirable standards and the provision of facilities like health, food, clothing, housing, medical assistance, education, insurance, job security, recreation etc. Such facilities enable a worker and his family to lead a good work life, family life and social life (Sarma, 1996).
According to C.P John (1998) the term labour welfare in its broad connotation refers to a state of living of an individual or a group in a desirable relationship with the total environment - ecological, economic, and social. 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/forms. Employee welfare is the key to smooth employer-employee relations. 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 and Sharma, 1997). In order to increase employee welfare facilities, employers need to offer extra incentives in the form of employee welfare schemes, and to make it possible to pursued employees. The very logic behind providing welfare schemes is to create efficient, healthy, loyal and satisfied labor 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.
The present study will present a comparative analysis on the implementation of various welfare measures and the employee’s satisfaction level in both public and private sector organisations. It also focuses on the impact of the welfare schemes on the employees’ performance and overall productivity of the organisation.