Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations

3MER
1.1
2 internal factors which impact on the employment relationship
Pay -
It is well known that pay helps to motivate and even retain staff in
most cases, but nowadays it is not just the financial rewards that
employees are seeking, its possibility of career enhancement and
training opportunities. If employees know that they are being
appreciated and groomed for greater things then this could have a
positive impact on employee and employer relations.
Organisational culture
A companys organisational culture can have a huge impact on
employment relations. Some companies may be very strict about
work timings; so if an employee were to leave work 10 minutes before
they are supposed to, some managers may discipline them for it.
Other companies are more relaxed in this approach as they may let
employees start work a little late, or early with no threat of a
disciplinary. So employee relations could be affected in a positive or
negative manner depending on the type of culture that a company
adopts.
2 external factors which impact on the employment relationship
Technological changes
The advent of new and improved softwares and technologies may
impact employment relationship. Employees may feel that their
company is not keeping up to date with new technologies and
softwares that are constantly being released in order to make
peoples jobs easier. Therefore the employee may feel that company
would rather avoid spending money on new software then investing in
them. This could dishearten employees and make them think that the
company does not care about them and could eventually lead to a
negative employment relationship.
Economy
Due to economic factors, some managers may have to change the
contract timings and salaries for certain employees to save the
company money. Some employees may be told that due to bad
economic climate their roles are reduced from full time to part time.
This could have a negative impact between employers and
employees; especially if the employee in question has been in the
same role for a long time at the company.
1.2
Defining the following work contracts
Permanent
A permanent contract is the most common type of contract in
employment. It does not mean that the job is for life as there can be
factors that may cause the position to be taken away from the
employee, redundancy for example. The main features of this include
the employee having to undergo an interview before employment
commences, signing a contract of employment and undertaking
induction training. Also the contract includes the employee getting
paid monthly wages, being part of a pension scheme if offered and
having to give a notice period of at least 4 weeks if they decide to
leave their current employment.
Temporary -
Temporary contracts are usually issued by job agencies to people
who are looking for temp jobs. A person may be asked to start a temp
job at very short notice, and they may also be told that they are no
longer needed after just a day of employment. It is not the most
stable of contracts but it is convenient for employers as there is no
interview process for them to go through. Temporary contract
employees mainly get paid by the agencies, and the companies pay
the agency to find employees for them.
Temp staff get paid weekly, do not qualify for a pension scheme and
can be released from their contract with basically no notice at all.
Fixed term
Fixed term contracts are offered to employees by the companies that
they work for, not by job agencies. Fixed term contract means that an
individual is in employment with a company until a specific date which
is agreed beforehand, or until a certain project has been completed.
A fixed tern employee could be with a company from 3 months to a
year, or even longer depending on the role or project that needs
completing. This type of contract is used a lot as maternity cover
because it is already established how long the pregnant employee
will be off for, therefore someone is bought in by the company as a
fixed term cover. A company may keep on the fixed term employee
after their contract is up if they wish.
1.3
An individuals employment status is important to determine because
It will determine how much tax is to be paid
To determine the wages the employee will get
When the employee would get paid. Weekly or monthly.
Leaves such as paternity and maternity are only granted to certain
contracted individuals (Permanent)
Only certain contracted individuals would be protected and
disciplined under company disciplinary acts.
Temp employees cannot appeal when they have been let go but
permanent employees can
Rights of tribunal regarding unfair dismissal
Training may not apply to certain individuals on different contracts
Pension schemes do not apply to temp employees
Chances of company progression will be higher for permanent
employees
2.1
Legislations that impact
Employee Holidays -
Employees and workers are permitted to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per
year and this also includes bank holidays. This is according to the
Working Time Regulations 1998.
The organisation controls when annual leave is to be taken as the
needs of the company are taken into consideration. Some months of
the year a company may grant less annual leave then others,
because during the requested month is when the company is most
busy.
Rest Periods
Working Time Regulations 1998 also protects Rest Periods. During
the working day workers are entitled to one 20 minute, uninterrupted
break. This applies if the worker works for more than 6 hours in a
day.
If an employee is a temp, then it is the responsibility of the company,
not the agency, of making sure that the employee is taking a rest
period or break during the working day.
Working hours
The Working Time Directive was brought in 1998, which placed
certain limits on working hours and provide certain entitlement such
as rest breaks and annual leave,
(Introduction to Human resources Management, page 366)
The Working Time Regulations control the maximum weekly working
time, the pattern of holidays and work, and the weekly and daily
break periods.
Night working
Workers who regularly work at night cannot be obligated to work
more than an average of 8 hours in any 24 hour period.
In addition, if their work is involves dangerous elements such as
hazardous working conditions and physically strenuous tasks then
they cannot be required to work more than 8 hours in any 24 hour
period
A Night workers are also entitled to free health assessments under
the Working Time Regulation. In addition it is important that
employers keep records of their night workers for at least 2 years.
This is to ensure that night workers are not exceeding their working
hours.
Why are legislations important for employees and employers?
Legislation regarding employment is vital as it clarifies the rights of
the employer and the employees. Offering them the proper channels
to pursue in case their rights are breached at the workplace. Its
additional benefit is that it will help elevate equality at work and
prevent mistreatment.
2.2
4 ways the legal system supports:
New parents can get up to 52 weeks off during adoption leave and
maternity leave, ad 2 week for fathers. During maternity leave a
mother has the right not to be let go because she is on maternity
leave and she also has the right to re-join her post once her maternity
leave is over.
Numerous pregnant women on maternity leave are allowed to claim
statutory maternity pay (SMP)
Paternal leave can be taken by both mother and father in the case
they need to attend urgent matters pertaining to their child. Parents
are entitled to 18 weeks unpaid parental leave per child. The legal
system protects this right because if the employer rejects the request
for parental leave then the employee who made the request has the
right to go to tribunal.
An employee who adopts a child from a UK based adoption agency is
permitted time off to settle the child in its new home. The legal system
has helped adopting parents by increasing the statutory pay to 136
a week from April 2013.
Dependent leave may occur if a child has suddenly fallen ill and the
parent needs to go off work for few days or so. It is up to the
employers discretion whether or not to pay the employee for this time
off. The legal system supports a dependent because there is no rule
stating that there will be no pay for dependent leave; a parent or
guardian may take leave for a week and still get paid, at the
employers discretion ofcourse.
2.3
2 reasons regarding fair pay
Resentment
Treating employees fairly and paying them fairly is vital in todays
working environment, especially if two people are getting paid
different wages for doing the same job. If one person gets paid a
higher wage then someone else for doing the same job then this
could cause resentment towards the company.
Employees could be de-motivated and even leave the company if
they are not being fairly treated in relation to pay.
Company reputation
More then anything it is the law that every company must abide by
the equal pay act.
If a matter of unfair pay arises then an employee could complain and
take the company to an industrial tribunal. It is preferable to sort the
problem within management but it is not legally required. Not only will
going to tribunal lead to legal proceeding but may also give the
company a reputation of someone who does not treat their
employees fairly in relation to pay.
2.4
Direct Discrimination
When a person is treated unfairly compared to someone else,
because of their religion, sexual orientation, age, sex disability or
ethnic origin. These are the main reasons but there are others also.
Example of direct discrimination could be if a barman refuses to serve
a Sikh customer alcohol because he is wearing a turban in the pub.
Or if a man and a woman both apply for the same role in a company
and the man is hired for the role instead, even though the woman is
better qualified for it.
Indirect discrimination
Indirect discrimination is unfairness which may occur when particular
conditions forced on an individual have a disadvantageous impact. It
arises when a condition applied equally to everyone can be attained
by a smaller number of people in that population.
For example, a clothes store forbids its workers from wearing hats
when serving customers. The implementation of this rule means that
people whose religious beliefs involve them to cover their heads,
such as Sikh men, are prevented from working in the store.
Harassment
Harassment is unwelcomed behavior on the grounds of sexual
orientation, sex, or age etc. This may cause the individual being
harassed to work in an uncomfortable environment where they are
being humiliated, hassled and degraded on the basis of their
particular feature. The most common one is sexual harassment,
which most commonly occurs when a man is constantly making
inappropriate sexual remarks or comments towards a fellow female
employee.
Victimisation
Victimisation is used to define the biased treatment of an employee
by an employer, because of something that the worker has done
which the employee doesnt like. This could also be a personal dislike
to the employer.
For example, an employee may constantly question her managers
decisions, which in turn would make the manager feel insulted.
Therefore the manager would make that employee stay longer at
work than usual, give her the tougher tasks or snap at her on the
smallest of mistakes.
Equalities legislation
The Equalities Act 2010 shields:
Civil Relationships
Sexual orientation
Religion and beliefs
Disability
Gender
Race
Disability
Age
If the equality act 2010 is breached on any of the grounds mentioned
above, then the employee has a right to take their employer to court
or an industrial tribunal.
2.5
Psychological contract
The perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what
their mutual obligations are towards each other' as defined by
GUEST, D.E. and CONWAY, N. (2002), (CIPD). Though the
obligations are not written in a contract, they tend to be taken as a
promise or an expectation that both employees and employers have
with one another and these tend to be mutually agreed. Pointon and
Ryan (2004) that these expectations concern the areas of work, pay,
loyalty, commitment, flexibility, security and career advancement,
C.Leatherbarrow, J Fletcher, D. Currie (2010).
An example of a psychological contract at the Nuffield Orthopaedic
Centre (NOC) would be if one of the physiotherapists is contracted to
see only 7 patients a day. But the physiotherapist may see an extra
patient on the same day if someone has accidently been booked,
which would make it 8 patients on that day. And rather then send the
patient home the physiotherapist agrees to see the patient. This could
be considered as an example of a psychological contract.
The next day the same physiotherapist may want to leave an hour
early due to some urgent matter; the manager may allow this
because the physiotherapist did see an extra patient the day before
even though he did not have to.
This is a true example because it is a regular occurrence at the NOC
due to patients turning up on the wrong day and getting seen anyway
because a physiotherapist has agreed to it. But because they have
seen the patient, they expect some leniency on other days as reward.
3.1
Fair dismissal
Fair dismissal is when an employer or company have a valid reason
for dismissing an employee from their position. The reasons can
include the following:
Conduct
Being made redundant
Legal matter
For example; if a bus driver were to lose his license due to his own
negligence then the company would have a valid reason for
dismissing him. Because he can only do his job on the basis of him
having a valid license for driving a bus.
Unfair dismissal
Unfair dismissal is the termination of a contract of employment for
reasons that may be inadmissible or prejudiced. Or in some cases
the employer may not have followed the proper procedure to dismiss
an employee i.e. no warnings or disciplinary action. An employer may
think that the reason for dismissal was sufficient and fair, but an
employee can take the employer to court if he/she believes the
decision was unfair. It is the responsibility of the employer to provide
evidence that the reason was indeed fair, but in some cases they fail.
There are instances when employees are unfairly dismissed.
Few examples of unfair dismissal
Joining or not joining a trade union
Acting as a representative of another employee
Reporting a manager for an incident
Being a part time employee
Not providing verbal or written warning beforehand
The main difference between these two forms of dismissal is that with
fair dismissal it is usually incidents that are not in control of the
employer.