Responsibilities & Duties of Employee [ Employer Rights ]

The responsibility of an employee to a business or employer is as important as the business itself. Like other assets of businesses – employees are also an asset. Fulfilling responsibilities and meeting employer expectations will be important in success.

Few employee characteristics can make you good because more than 90% of the population is the employee at different stages, some are CEOs of companies but not owner and other are office staff or cleaner.

In general, you need to compete in the market. There are hundreds of applicants for few vacancies, how can you avail those good jobs? Even if you are already at work, how would you move for improvements with some bad comments from the previous employer?  Taking responsibilities and duties seriously would make a difference.

Top Duties of Employee

The responsibilities of an employee in businesses are different depending upon the nature and volume of business as well as the department of employment. Duties and Functions of the Human Resource Department include personnel management but in the marketing department, they maintain goodwill and generate sales.

These may be slightly changed according to the current phase of business, Let say; in days of the boom; the finance department can issue millions for advertisement but in the time of recession, their main goal is to reduce cost & expenses.

So, it depends!

Rendering Personal Services

It is the duty of the employee to render personal service according to the terms of the contract. He may not delegate his duty without the consent of the employer. Being an accountant, you must provide the best of your bookkeeping services that benefit the employer in long run.

Compliance of Lawful Orders

The employee’s duty is to obey his employer’s lawful orders. Lawful orders are those orders given by the employer within the terms of the contract of employment and which are neither illegal nor contrary to public policy.

Let say, the employer wants the salesman to complete monthly tasks, it is to be obeyed but in this case; employer’s unethical tasks shouldn’t be followed.

General Duty of Fidelity

There is a general duty of fidelity imposed on the employee, and this will be extended by the courts to meet the circumstances of any case.

Confidential Information

Where the employee possesses information connected with the employer’s trade secrets or lists of customers, the employee may not use this information freely. The employee has a duty to respect his employer’s confidential information.

This duty continues after the contract of service has been discharged.

The Property of the Employer

Where copyrights, an invention, and a patent represents work done by an employee under a contract of employment, then the copyright, an invention, and the patent are industrial information, the property of the employer.

It does not belong to the employee in these circumstances.

Indemnity

Where a servant, in the usual course of his duties, causes injury or loss to a third party through want of due care in the performance of his duties, the master will normally be liable.

Where the third party succeeds against the master, the servant is under a duty to give an indemnity.

Final words

The employer in business hires an employee for the purpose to expand the business and manage different parts of a business. Every employer has the right to hire and dismiss a temporary or permanent employee (according to employment contract) depending upon his/her devotion towards work.

You are being paid for the services you are supposed to offer.

If being in staff, you do not perform them well – you are cheating the employer.