Impact of Internal Factors of Employment Law on Employment Relationship - Essay Example

IMPACT OF INTERNAL FACTORS OF EMPLOYMENT LAW ON EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP The employment law has a highly considerable impact on the relationship of employee and employer. The organizations that have a focus on long term strategic formulation of business give a lot of attention on the employees’ retention for a long term. There are various factors in the employment law that has a significant impact on the employer and employee relationship. These factors are divided into two categories i.e. internal factors and external factors. Internal factors include the company policy about the employee rights and external factors include the application of law in the company. Some internal and external factors are discussed below to realize their impact on the employment relationship. INTERNAL FACTORS 1- DISCIPLINE AND GRIEVANCES Discipline and grievances are the guidelines that are incorporated in the company’s policy and have a great significance in shaping the behavior of employees in the company. These guidelines are the rules that teach the individual about the company’s culture or way of conducting operations. These guidelines play a very important role in employment relationship. Ethics in the company also derives from these guidelines and every employee in the organization is liable to follow it. Policies design the structure and that structure shapes the behavior of individuals in the company. (CIPD, 2013a). 2- EQUAL PAY In the employment law equal pay refers to the equal pay should be given to both men and women for the same job. None of the employer is allowed make biasness in giving equal salary or wages to men and women. The measuring standards for equal pay should be the productivity or other majors that does not consider any kind of discrimination among them. Women and men should be equally treated at the workplace and their rights should be protected completely. Gender discrimination is the only factor that is considered in equal pay law. Another perspective to analyze the injustice in equal pay is the comparison of pay with the market wage rate. If the company is paying low wage rate then it will negatively affect the employment relationship. (CIPD, 2013d). EXTERNAL FACTORS RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION In the employment clause, religious discrimination is properly mentioned. In many countries like UAE and US there are huge number of people does not belong to the religion of most of the US and UAE people but still they are living with their own identity. Government has the responsibility to incorporate in the employment law regarding visas, work permits and emiratisation without any biasness in the processes. The work permits should be given to the deserving candidates by neglecting their cast, culture, religion etc. Government has considered this factor of discrimination in the employment policy to avoid the presence of this discriminatory factor in the organization and to give the proper rights to every individual in the country. If the employers consider the employees on the basis of their qualification, skills and experience then it would be completely fair way to provide equal employment opportunity. This practice of employer will be able to make strong relationship with the selected candidate who is hired only on the basis of his/her qualification, skills and experience without considering the factor of religious discrimination. By this practice the impression of employer will be very positive in the eyes of other employees in the organization (CIPD, 2013b). RACE DISCRIMINATION Economic conditions Economic conditions have a significant impact on the relationship of employer and employee. If the economy is moving towards growth then the organization would possibly follow the same trend and it economy goes downwards then the organizations would possibly go with the economic trend. When specifically talking about the company’s economy, it is clear that higher profits and lower cost bringing the company towards the growth. The employees in such situation will enjoy extra benefits and from the company and will stay happily with the company. If the situation becomes negative for the company and profits goes down the line then it would impact on the employee benefits and pay as well. The decrement in employee benefits will be negatively affecting the employment relationship. (CIPD, 2013c). IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYMENT STATUS Three types of employment status are stated along with their importance in employment relationship. 1- EMPLOPYEE The status of employee is defined as the person who is enjoying a proper regular salary and benefits from the organization in return of its performance for the organization. It is very important to clearly define the rights, responsibilities and authorities to the employee category by which they would not be allowed to attempt any activity that will breach the employee laws in the company. The description of their responsibilities, authorities and rights keep them in the control of a company. The limitations on the employees contain them on the company policy and procedures and also shape their practices according to the company’s requirement. Employee has the right to ask for his/her rights if it is not been provided to them by the company. 2- WORKER Worker has distinguished position then employee. The rights of worker are different from the employee. Workers are usually hired by the company for the accomplishment of some specific project. The workers and labor are commonly paid on the basis of their working hours. No permanent contract is given to the workers. If a worker gives good performance then company pays according to his/her efforts and this is a part of law. The clause of worker individually defines in the employment law to ensure that no worker has the right to ask for extra benefits from the employer in return of the given performance. The workers of the company will be kept in control with the implementation of this clause of employment law. The well defined status will restrict the workers and employer in their limitations and no one would be allowed to breach the law. The restriction will bound them to behave in a disciplinary manner and the relationship between workers and employer will be positive as well. 3- SELF-EMPLOYED Self-employed is another category of employment in which employee is directly connected with the profit and loss of the company. Company hires such employees in the company and put them to deal with the clients individually. Self-employed people have some benefits of the company like insurance and medical. But they are not provided the complete package of benefits that is given to the permanent employees of the company. High risk is associated with this job because if the employee does not give the productivity then he/she would not be paid by the company. The clause of self-employed is mentioned in the employment law so none of the employer and self employed person is allowed to disobey the conducts. The rights, responsibilities and authorities are clearly stated in the employment law. The limitations in the relationship generate a positive behavior from both the sides and the employment relationship stays positive (CIPD, 2013e). EMPLOYEE RIGHTS DURING THE EMPLOYEES RELATIONSHIP THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK LIFE BALANCE The proper consideration of rights of employees is the responsibility of all the employers. Every company is liable to give complete rights to all the employees of the company. Government has a proper system for the evaluation of implementation of employment law in the companies. If any of the employers found in the disobedience of this law then he/she will be panelized by the government. The work-life balance is necessary for the employees because it reduces the stress of employees. Excessive work can cause a great stress in the life of employees. The proper leaves, holidays and vacations are incorporated in employment law to give the proper rest to the employee and to maintain the work-life balance of employee in the company. According to the UK law of work life and families act, 2006 there are many types of leaves that employee can utilize in the defined circumstances in the law. The types of leaves include annual leaves, maternity leaves, medical leaves and paternity leaves, etc. Flexible working hours is also a pert of this act. The employees’ wants to spend time with their families and friends so these official vacations provide a relief to the employees in their life. If the employer is allowing the employees to avail their complete vacations, holidays and leaves along with the obedience of taking care of their daily working hours then the relationship between them will be very pleasant and the productivity of the employees will be increased as well. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/18/contents FAMILY/PARENT RELATED LEGAL SUPPORT According to the UK law of work life and families act, 2006 Maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave and dependants leave are a part of Family/parent related legal support. Employment law gives the right to the employees to avail all these available facilities when he or she is confronted with one of these situations. Maternity leave is for the pregnancy and delivery period of women, paternity leaves are applicable when the wife of an employee is pregnant or at the time of delivery, and adoption leave are applicable when a child is adapted in the family. All these situations demands for the leave and employee gets stuck between work and his/her personal life if he or she is not allowed to a proper leave at all these stages. It is the employers’ responsibility to give the rights of employees under these circumstances. Government has a proper system for the assessment of realization of employment law in the companies. If any employer found in the disobedience of this law then he/she will be panelized by the government. The leaves under such circumstances create a strong brand loyalty among the employees of the company and make them loyal with the company in a long term. These leaves provide a mental relief to the employees and mental relief has a direct impact on the employees’ productivity. The availability of such leaves increase employees motivation and dedication in the company and has a direct positive impact on the relationship of employee and employer. REASONS FOR FAIRLY TREATMENT WITH THE EMPLOYEES According to the equality act 2010, UK it is the responsibility of the employer to protect employees from all kind of discriminations age, gender, race, disability etc. To get the work done is the responsibility of the workers or employees. On the other hand, giving employees a decided payment is the responsibility of the employers. All the employers are liable to pay a certain decided amount to its workers and employers in return of their efforts. Pay is the right of each and every employee in the company whether he/she is part of management or office staff. According to the law of equal pay of UK, 1970 it is clear that all the employees will be paid according to their performances. No one will be given less wages amount in return to the employees. Discrimination in the wage rate system is highly discouraged by the government. Pay is the return of human efforts for the company and every person works with the purpose of earning money. Employees’ productivity and motivation is highly associated with the pay. Several researches have been conducted so far to identify the impact of pay on the motivation and job satisfaction of employees. Several research studies have determined that pay has a direct proportional relationship with the job satisfaction of employees. So it can be perceived that fair pay is strongly bonded with job satisfaction. Job satisfaction makes the employee loyal with the company for a long time. Job satisfaction creates a high level of loyalty among the employees of a company. Another important outcome of giving a fair pay to the employees is the employees’ motivation. Employees motivation is directly associated with the pay. It has been identified in the many research studies that fair pay increases the employees’ loyalty with the company and loyalty generates the motivation among the employees. Therefore, it has been determined that fair pay has a greater impact on the employees’ motivation and employees’ motivation leads to the higher productivity. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents http://www.supportequalpay.co.uk/EqualPayLaw.aspx MAIN POINTS OF EQUALITIES LEGISLATION Equalities legislation is based on the four main discrimination laws that are made by the government of UK. In the consideration of Equality Act of UK 2010 there are four types of discrimination or unequal behavior that is found at the workplace. 1- Direct discrimination Section 13 of the Equality Act explained the factor of direct discrimination as follows: ‘An individual (A) discriminates against another individual (B) if, because of a protected characteristic in the employment law, A is treating B less favorably than others. 2- Indirect discrimination The indirect discrimination refers to the disability of employee due to which he or she is unable to do the same work that his or her colleagues are doing. So in such circumstances employees should be treated equally. 3- Harassment Section 26 of the Equality Act defines that ‘an individual (X) harasses another individual (Y) if X involved in unnecessary behavior ‘related to the relevant protected characteristic of employees’ which is doing with the reason or effect of violating dignity of individual Y then it will be against the law of discrimination. 4- Victimization Under current legislation to prove victimization a claimant or the employee have to justify that the employer of the company treated him or her less favorably than other employees of the company. http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/employment/discrimination/500288.html All the four types of discrimination cover all the factors of discrimination that can be complained by the employees at the workplace. The factors that are included in all the four types of discrimination are incorporated in some points that are as follows: 1- None of the employer is allowed to hire and promote employees of the company on the basis of their race. 2- It is strictly prohibited by the government in the employment law that the religion of person will not be considered in the selection of individual for the job. 3- No inequity is allowed on the basis of gender of employees. 4- Sex orientation or harassment at the workplace is illegal according to the employment law. 5- Equal pay is the right of each employee and it is mentioned in the employment law, the implementation of law of equal pay specially designed to eliminate the gender discrimination because it usually found on the basis of gender (CIPD, 2013j). THE CONCEPT OF THE ‘PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT’ ALONG WITH EXAMPLES OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES WORKING OF GUESS MODEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT Psychological contract is distinguished from the employment contract that is presented by the government. The main points included in the psychological contract are: 1- Psychological contract is basically the perception of both parties’ employer and employee. It can be viewed as the mutual perception of both parties. 2- From the perspective of employees psychological contract is distinguished for the employment contract in the context of promises and expectations. 3- Employment contract is responsible to fulfill all the promises that have committed with the employees. Whereas, psychological contract is responsible for the fulfillment of employee expectations form the company. 4- The consideration of psychological contract is the responsibility of human resource management of the company. Human resource management has the responsibility to analyze all the facts and figures regarding the psychological contract between employer and employees of the company. THE TERMINATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAIR DISMISSAL AND UNFAIR DISMISSAL FAIR DISMISSAL Fair Dismissal Unfair dismissal Proper investigation of matter is required. Give proper justification with sufficient proves in hearing. Inconsistent approach used and spotlight on fault rather than explanatory circumstance. Give employee opportunity to be represented. If more the one employee is involved the treat all as same. Consideration of warning is important. Misdemeanors v competence The whole procedure should be conducted same as the standard procedure. Un reasonable response from the employer If more the one employee is involved the treat all as same. Consideration of warning is important. Failure to give sufficient notice of the dismissal EXIT INTERVIEWS Exit interviews are conducted when the employment comes to an end for any reason. Exit interview is taken with the purpose of identifying the original reasons that why employee left the job and what are the difficulties he/she faces during the period of employment. This is beneficial for the employer. Every company asks questions regarding their requirement of information in the exit interviews. It has been identified in several researches that in exit interviews employees’ discloses the original reasons of leaving the job and this information is highly beneficial for the company or employer. In another perspective, employee ends its period with company with a positive ending. It gives the opportunity to employee to work for the company again in future. Example is incorporated to get a better understanding of importance of exit interviews for both employer and employee, Female employee is terminated by the company for the high rate of absenteeism. Company asked for the reason of her absenteeism on the time of providing her a notice period but she did not give any solid reason to protect her job. After the notice period when an exit interview is conducted to find out the reasons and asking about her experience then she gave the original reasons of her absenteeism in the company. She told that she was passing through the issue of sexual harassment and she was forced by her supervisor in the duty timings that’s why she did not came regular to the office. The exit interview panel considered her concerns and took an immediate step for the confirmation of this complaint. The management asked other female employees about that supervisor and one of them also complained about that issue. This example justifies the importance of exit interview for the company. Both employer and employee get benefited in this example because the management was succeeded in finding the real problem that is the reason of employees’ dissatisfaction at the workplace. If the exit interview was not conducted in the discussed case then company lost a productive employee and might many more in future (CIPD, 2013h). MANAGEMENT OF REDUNDANCY IN THE ORGANIZATION According to the CIPD the redundancy should follow a properly managed process to maintain the reputation of the company and to make people satisfied with the decision of redundancy by giving them proper justification of redundancy. The principals that should be followed in case of redundancy are defined by CIPD. The rules states that there are some steps that should be followed while the program of redundancy in UK. The steps are as follows: 1- Recognize the assortment pools and figure of post(s) and figures of posts to be redundant. Propose substitute works if be present and provide some opportunity to appeal them. 2- Discuss or consult with employees jointly or separately through meeting and give reasons for the redundancy. 3- Inform Dept business skills and novelty in big size redundancies. Act in accordance with statutory dismissal measures. 4- Use objective selection criteria. Invite volunteers and follow all the steps of statutory dismissal procedure. IMPACT OF REDUNDANCY ON THE ORGANIZATION Redundancy has a negative impact on the overall organization. But still if it is done with proper management as defined in CIPD then company would be able to reduce its impact on the remaining employees of the company. Redundancy directly impact on the job security of the remaining employees. The remaining employees feel unsafe after the redundancy program and some of them become highly unsecure and search for the employment in other companies. But in some cases redundancy highly beneficiates the organization financially and the remaining employees enjoys more bonuses for their performances. Therefore, it can be perceived that the impact of redundancy depends on its reason of occurring. But in the consideration of Corporate Social Responsibility, redundancy has a negative impact on the reputation of the company in the society (Think people, 2012). References CIPD. (2013a). Discipline and Grievances. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-topics/discipline-grievances.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013b). Religious Discrimination. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-topics/religious-discrimination.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013c). Race Discrimination. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-topics/race-discrimination.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013d). Equal Pay. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-topics/equal-pay.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013e). Employment laws FAQ. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/employment-law-faqs/employee-status-legislation.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013f). The psychological contract. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/psychological-contract.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013g). Dismissal. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/dismissal.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013h). Exit Interview outsourcing. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/community/freesummaries/exitinterviewoutsourcing.htm [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013i). Redundancy. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/redundancy.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] CIPD. (2013j). Equality Act 2010. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/legal-timetables/acts-equality-2010.aspx [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] Think People. (2012). Managing Redundancy: Essentials and Tips. Available from http://www.thinkpeople.co.uk/managing-redundancy-essentials-and-tips/ [Accessed 23rd November, 2013] Read More