Employers might find themselves in a mass of employment-related matters. Many federal and state laws affect the recruitment process and implement numerous employment-related protections. It is difficult for new companies that are developing technology to create intellectual property for employees and consultants. Employment litigation tends to distract, disrupt, and is quite costly. For this reason, emerging companies should follow the right steps from the start. In this article, examples, effects, and solutions to several employment issues are stated alongside its impact on employers, employees, labor unions and the community.
Employers should know which questions not to ask during the hiring process. The federal and state laws forbid employers from making any recruitment based on race, gender, religion, color, and disability (McMorris). The company might face a discrimination issue if the employer asks the wrong questions. The employers should shun away from political-related questions, questions about the arrest record of the employee, religious-related questions, and questions about whether the candidate uses drugs and alcohol. Discrimination is one of the leading employment issues. The Irish employment law identifies nine different grounds of discrimination. The number of employment tribunal claims on age discrimination is growing because of mandatory retirement policies. Employers are allowed to have a mandatory retirement age for all the employees. However, they have to provide reasonable explanations as to why they have settled on that age.
It is normal for employees to fall sick once in a while. In such cases, employers should be careful of the additional protection offered to employees especially those with disabilities. Employees with disabilities should be provided with measures to accommodate them in the workplace. If employers fail to do this, it will be termed as an act of discrimination. The Workplace Relations Commission and Labor Court have a history of awarding considerable compensations to employees with disabilities another employment issue is industrial unrest. Ireland has faced cases of an industrial arrest involving Irish Rail, teachers, and Luas drivers. The situation might get worse in the years to come. SIPTU stated that over 60,000 public sector workers would be balloted up due to industrial action caused by issues of pay restoration. Many employment issues have not been solved. Due to this, employers have experienced disruptions in the workplace. Employers in Ireland are advised to brace themselves for more industrial-related matters.
Other common employment issues include communication problems, interpersonal conflicts, performance issues, and poor job fit. In a workplace, there are usually several people with different personalities, worldviews, and communication skills. The differences are one of the significant causes of employment issues. Even though employees have the right to be treated fairly, some of them are discriminated harassed and bullied. For instance, in most countries, members of the LGBTQ community are unprotected in their places of work. Some employees may be dissatisfied in their positions of work as they struggle to improve their job performance. Some people claim that it is difficult to find a job that fits their abilities and interests. Consequences of workplace issues may be low productivity, job termination, stress, and other mental problems. When employees are harassed, it may lead to legal matters for the company.
High-stress jobs also cause employment issues. High-stress situations are common in places where the jobs demand a lot of effort from the employees and the management does little to improve the working conditions. Stressful jobs include fire-fighting, the military, police officers, and airline pilots. Other jobs like health care work, teaching, and social work are known to increase levels of depression. Employees working in construction and mining sites are recognized to have high rates of substance abuse. Another employment issue is how to disclose information about a health condition to an employer. Americans with Disabilities Act forbids employers from laying off staff members who have mental health conditions as long as they can do their work. However, employees who disclose this information may be faced with a fear of lacking promotions, and being treated differently. As a result, most employees shy away from revealing their mental health issues.
Even though sharing such information will be beneficial to the employee, there is a possibility of them being stigmatized. In the end, the employee gets to decide whether or not they will share the information. An employee who is chronically sick will affect both the productivity of the company and their colleagues. If an individual is unable to show up at work, another employee will be forced to handle their duties. One of the ways of managing the reducing levels of productivity is to offer health coverage to all employees. Employment issues may be contributed by employment and labor law. Some of the legal problems faced by employers are discrimination, inequality, and harassments at the workplace. Employers are expected to investigate any cases of harassment and discrimination in the workplace and come up with possible solutions. Employers are expected to accommodate staff members who need adjustments to job issues due to pregnancies or disability.
Some of the laws that deal with employment issues include the American with Disabilities Act, Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Conflicts may arise between the employees and the managers as well as between the staff members. In case of disputes, managers must come up with ways of resolving the issue without interfering with the normal functioning of the company. The employees should be given a chance to voice their concerns and solve them internally (Braunstein). Conflict management will enable the employers to document the issues and the methods used to address them. In this way, the employers will find it easy to deal with similar cases in the future. The process of conflict management needs to be consistent, ensure that it advocates for efficient communication among staff members, and all employees need to be educated on how to use this process when a conflict arises. The policy will ensure that gossip and, misunderstandings are avoided. Also, employees will be sure that their issues will be addressed whenever they voice them out. Employees’ attendance at work is essential and it the responsibility of each employee. An absentee staff member will affect the schedules of his or her colleagues and supervisors.
Attendance policies must be incorporated to regulate the staff’s attendance. An attendance policy should outline the consequences of unexcused absence and tardiness at the workplace. At times employees may show up late and have their colleagues vouch. Some employees may insist on being given overtime yet the employer thinks it is inappropriate. Managers can control thus by installing timekeeping software. The software will help in scheduling to avoid unnecessary overtime and ensure that employees receive pay grade according to their performance. The HR team will be responsible for checking the accuracy of the logins. Security cameras should be installed to aid in the confirmation of the time the employee showed up at work. Employers are expected to take disciplinary actions if employees behave undesirably. The disciplinary actions are meant to improve performance and deal with offensive behavior. The disciplinary measures taken should be following the type and frequency of the mistake done. For instance, a manager can give a verbal to an employee. Employees may have an issue with their working hours. They may claim that the hours are too long.
Issues about pay raise may arise especially if employees get to know that someone else has received a salary increment. Employers need to have a standard procedure for salary increments to reduce the number of complaints. Also, the employees should be notified on how one can qualify for a pay rise. All employers should ensure that they provide a safe work environment for all their staff. The last thing an employer wants is to deal with an injured employee at work. The company should have safety rules and regulations and employ a workplace safety team that will work tirelessly to reduce the number of accidents at the workplace. Accidents can be avoided by ensuring that employees are not overly exhausted from too many overtime shifts.
Annual leave is one of the significant employment issues. Employees need to understand the company’s leave policy (Butts). Also, the employers should ensure that the system is in line with the state and federal laws. The company can incorporate leave management software to prevent the annual leave disputes. The software helps in the creation of a legal and transparent leave policy which cannot be disputed. All employees should have easy access to the procedure. The software will make it easy for the employees to discuss with the HR managers about their leave requests and adjustments.
Labor unions work to either restrict labor supply or increase labor demand. The unions carry out negotiations on the amount of pay the employees should receive. The unions usually ask for more than the equilibrium wage. However, higher salaries will lower the hours demanded by employers. For this reason, unions find it hard to negotiate for higher wage rates thus they end up settling for increased labor demand. When labor demand is increased, the pay will also increase. Labor demand is increased by advocating for a minimum wage increase, increased workers marginal productivity, support tariffs, and quotas on imported goods, and advocate for stricter immigration rules. In some cases, unions are immune to anti-trust laws making them act as a monopoly. Some legal guidelines have been put in place to protect the activities of a labor union.
The Shiseido Group in Japan stated, “good labor-management relations are fundamental to corporate management.” The organization advocates for the sharing of information concerning the corporate activities and carrying out discussions with the staff members to resolve issues properly (Wright). Labor unions have been formed in several group companies. For instance, the Shiseido Company has its labor union. The union caters for approximately 12,000 employees since January 2018. The labor unions need to understand the social mission of the organizations they represent. Labor unions should work to improve the performance of the company by enhancing the economic and social status of employees. Regular labor-management discussions are held to promote the benefits package and working conditions for the employees. Labor unions advocate for work style reforms and reduced working hours to improve the business operations. Every office carries out its issues.
Foreign investors carry out their businesses with respect to labor laws and regulations of the countries they are investing in. In this way, sound labor-management relationships are created through proper communications with employees, the company’s management and labor unions. Working relationships with labor unions can be improved through mutual respect. A company and the labor unions function better when they both acknowledge the importance of each other (Pouratashi). The management deals with its resources and works environment while labor unions help in ensuring employees have the best employment conditions. The employer and employee unions depend on each other as the organization requires a happy and productive staff to meet its objectives. When there is mutual respect, it is easy for employers and employees to realize their goals since negotiations are facilitated.
The federal minimum wage increases its compensation at a different rate compared to the rate at which inflation rises. As a result, employees are left behind economically. The effect of raising the minimum wage will vary depending on the organization, its location and the amount of increase. Setting minimum wages at a high rate will harm the business operation of small private organizations. It is thus essential to consider the type of organization before setting the minimum wage. Also, employers are expected to continually detect the employment issues in their organization and work on solving them.
Works cited
McMorris, Barbara J., et al. "Workplace productivity, employment issues, and resource utilization in patients with bipolar I disorder." Journal of medical economics 13.1 (2010): 23-32.
Butts, Marcus M., Wendy J. Casper, and Tae Seok Yang. "How important are work–family support policies? A meta-analytic investigation of their effects on employee outcomes." Journal of Applied Psychology 98.1 (2013): 1.
Wright, Bradley E., and Adam M. Grant. "Unanswered questions about public service motivation: Designing research to address key issues of emergence and effects." Public administration review 70.5 (2010): 691-700.
Braunstein, Elissa. Neoliberal development macroeconomics: A consideration of its gendered employment effects. United Nations Research Inst. for Social Development, 2012.
Pouratashi, Mahtab, and Asghar Zamani. "Employment issues and its effect on academic burnout (case: agricultural students)." International Journal of Education Economics and Development 9.3 (2018): 236-247.
