Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations

Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations
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Institution
Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations
Supporting good practice in managing employee relationships involves managing the workplace environment effectively so as to increase employee satisfaction and improve their job commitment and productivity. There are several key issues associated with managing employee relationships. They include:
1 The impact of employment law at the beginning of employment relationship
2 Employee rights during the employment relationship
3 Issues pertaining to termination of employment relationship
1 The Impact of Employment Law at the Start of the Employment Relationship
Employee law affects employment relationship with respect to external and internal factors influencing employment relationship and employment status (Countouris, 2013).
1 a. External Factors:
External factors are those factors that employers cannot influence. Instead, employers adapt to these changes to remain competitive in the market. Two external factors that are almost universal to the corporate sector are state of the economy and technology.
State of the economy
The state of the economy affects the amount of capital available to business companies. Availability or lack of enough capital to invest affects the start of the employment relationship by determining whether companies can create more job opportunities. Accordingly, companies have less vacancies during harsh economic times, thus limiting the number of new employees they can hire (Countouris, 2013). In extreme situations, employers may be forced to lay off the existing workforce. This situation reduces employee motivation because workers become anxious about their job security. During the 2007 economic meltdown, for instance, unemployment rates increased around the world since companies were unable to raise capital for additional investment. Governments had to intervene to keep major multinationals like General Motors in business. In contrast, a thriving economy enables companies to raise investment capital and create new jobs. During the late 20th century, for example, South Korea’s diversification into technology created more jobs and reduced unemployment levels significantly.
Technology
Technology influences employment relationship in two ways. On the one hand, adoption of technology in carrying out certain functions reduces the need for human labor. This results in fewer job opportunities as machines replace people in doing tasks, lead to redundancies or reduce the number of working hours. Besides affecting employment opportunities, it can reduce workers earnings due to fewer job functions. A good example is the adoption of technology in the textile industry, once a labor-intensive operation. The use of machines in tasks like yarning reduced the need for manual labor. In today’s job market, the use of technology has reduced the demand for counter workers in banking sector since individuals can access banking services through mobile phones.
On a positive note, technology can spur economic growth and create more job opportunities. Technology improves efficiency and reduces costs, which allow companies to save and invest. China is a good example where low-cost technology has helped companies such as toy and mobile phone manufacturers to employ more people.
1 b. Internal Factors
Internal factors include the organizational values, culture and employ compensation structures adopted by the company. Employers can modify these factors from time to time to suit their business strategies.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture determines the obligations and responsibilities of workers. A company with strict rules and regulations can make employees to work under pressure, such as banning of worker-worker interactions while at work. Such measures may have a negative impact on the level of employee motivation since they may feel their freedom of speech is violated. In addition, restriction of employee freedom may make them feel unvalued and in turn become less motivated to work hard.
Similarly, organizational culture impacts employment relationship by determining the flexibility of working hours. Flexibility in working hours will help a company to get a flexible workforce that can work around the clock, such as by having daytime and nighttime shifts. Flexibility in working hours impacts employment relationships by creating a convenient work schedule for employees and by allowing employers to increase productivity. This approach to employee human resource management can have a positive impact by making the company attractive to prospective employees.
Pay/Benefits
Employee compensation and benefits can determine the kind of labor that the company attracts and the level of employee productivity. Good pay will attract skilled and experienced labor, while low pay will attract unskilled labor. This is because there is a wage limit below which skilled and experienced individuals will not be willing to work. Similarly, workers who have gained experience are likely to move to other companies or jobs that pay higher wagers. In this regard, it is necessary for employers to offer starting wages that can help them to attract qualified workers..
Similarly, benefits are a strong motivation factors since they signify appreciation if an employee’s contribution to the company. Compensation and benefits impact the start of employment relationship by determining whether prospective employees will consider the reward for their labor as fair or unfair. Offering an attractive pay package for new employees can motivate them as they will feel that they are getting value for their skills.
1 c. Employee Status
Employment status is the nature of the contract entered into between the employer and employee. It determines whether the relationship between employer and employee is formal or informal. There are five common types of employment status.
* Permanent status: the employee has a high level of job security. The employee also enjoys a constant salary despite the number of days worked. Permanent employees are likely to have a long term employment relationship.
* Temporary status: temporary employees are hired to offer services that the company does not require always. An example is hiring plumbers for the duration when renovations are constructions are ongoing. Sometimes temporary employees may be hired to help with work during peak season, such as in the agricul...