Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Major Findings

The major findings of the study are as follows:

Recruitment and Selection of the Tea Workers

i. From the study, it has been found that the number of permanent job positions remains the same in tea plantation over the years. No new job position has been created in tea plantation.

ii. Recruitment in tea plantation has been made only on account of the death of a permanent worker or enduringly leaves the job by the permanent worker and replacement is made accordingly.

iii. One of the peculiar issues in the recruitment of tea workers is that the legal heir gets the job of the deceased person or the person who leaves job permanently. For replacement in job, only family members get job in those positions.

iv. On special occasions, fresh recruitment is done rarely on the non-avail-ability of the legal heir of the deceased person or the person who leaves the job permanently. This is done in consultation with the unions.

v. The study found that the recruitment of Bigha workers is made during the peak season only. The study also found that Bigha workers are recruited fr om within and outside of tea estates.

vi. The study revealed that physical fitness is the prime criterion for the recruitment of permanent as well as for the Bigha workers.

vii. The study further confirmed that the traditional and conventional methods of recruitment systems are being followed by the tea plantations in the study region.

Training and Development of the Tea Workers

i. Our study found that training is crucial for the tea workers. The tea plantation industry is one of the labor-concentrated industries. Therefore, a huge quantum of labor is necessary all over the year for nurturing tea plants and for the manufacturing process of tea.

ii. The study has established that only 36 percent, i.e., in 12 out of 33 sample tea estates, have training provision for their workers.

iii. Proprietorship Tea Company occupies the topmost position in terms of the training program offered. Under this company, 7 sample tea estates have training provision out of 13 sample tea estates which were surveyed, i.e., about 53.84 percent.

iv. Our study has identified that the Public Sector Undertaking Tea Company has no training provision for its workers.

v. Coaching and mentoring modes of training are mostly preferr ed by the workers’ community. This mode of training is offered by almost 42 percent of the sample tea estates.

vi. The study has established that the training program offered by the Proprietorship Tea Company and Partnership Tea Company has some positive effects. The overall performance of the worker before training and after training varies largely.

vii. The training program offered by the Public Limited Tea Company is not statistically important. The overall performance of the worker before and after attaining training remains the same.