Labor relations as an indicator of social responsibility in the perception of employees at the Serra Talhada academic unit of the Federal rural University of Pernambuco

Abstract

The emergence of the concept of sustainable development and social and environmental responsibility in organizations has evolved over time, from a view focused on the economic and legal aspects to a new stance of organizations that includes responsibility in labor relations or the social aspect. In this context of change, both private and public organizations have made efforts to contemplate labor relations in their daily practices and in the decisionmaking process. Public institutions, and within them, Higher Education Institutions (HEI),play a fundamental role in this aspect as a driving force in changing proactive behaviors in relation to their collaborators, in addition to having a training role externally, citizens or future entrepreneurs who have a more humane background and are committed to the quality of life in the work place. In this sense, this study aims to investigate the social responsibility practices contemplated in the management of the Serra Talhada Academic Unit of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UAST/UFRPE), from management and operational practices related to labor relations, besides knowing the perception of the servers about suchpractices. The research adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach and is configured forbeing applied and descriptive in nature. For data collection, questionnaires were used. As a result, it was possible to highlight the concern with the issue of labor relations by the institution since it is formally inserted in it’s management, even if in an embryonic way. However, the perception of the staff differs as to the institutional position regarding socialissues, especially regarding labor relations, suggesting the need for better dissemination of existing actions in UAST.