Introduction
The knowledge of employment relationships and status enables managers to explore the rights of employees. This paper discusses the internal and external factors affecting employment relationships in organisations.
Employment relationships
The internal factors include organisational culture and structure (Farnham & Institute of Personnel and Development, 2000). Organisational culture refers to shared beliefs, values, norms and practices which characterize an organisation. These shape the employment relationships by determining the behaviour of employees at the workplace. It makes employees have positive or negative attitude towards work and their employers. When employees have positive attitude towards work and their employers, they become motivated and maximise their talents, skills, innovativeness and commitment to their work which increases productivity. Consequently, they feel as if they are shareholders of the organisations which they work for.
Organisational structure refers to how an organisation is structured and how power to make decisions is distributed along the structure of the organisation. It affects employment relationships by ensuring that every employee is answerable to a specific person or authority.
The external factors include work-life balance and collective bargaining (Gennard & Judge, 2005). Work-life balance refers to the balancing of work and social life of employees. It looks at whether work interferes with social life of employees or not. If it does, then the employees lose morale in work. If it does not, their motivation is increased.
Collective bargaining refers to negotiations and discussions which lead to agreements between trade unions and employers on the terms of employment. It affects employment relationships by limiting or strengthening the bargaining power of employees (Gennard & Judge, 2005).
Employment status
The three types of employment status include a worker, an employee, and self-employment (Davies, 2011). A worker has a contract or other work arrangements to render services for rewards or other benefits. Workers do not have written contracts. However, they are entitled to employment rights which include minimum wage, protection from unlawful deductions and discrimination, paid leave and overtime payment for extra hours worked (Davies, 2011).
A self-employed person has no employment contract and employment rights (Davies, 2011). He or she is the boss and hence plans for his or her own work. However, self-employed individuals can be contracted to provide services at a fee. In addition, they are expected to pay their own income tax.
Importance of employment status
Employment status helps in defining workplace rights and responsibilities of employers and employees. This helps in litigation for infringement of the employees’ rights (Davies, 2011). Furthermore, it identifies the sources of uncertainties in the application of employee rights, as well as the relationship between an employer and his or her employee (Davies, 2011). Employment status also plays a significant role in developing a psychological contract.
Conclusion
It is clear that the knowledge of internal and external factors is crucial in determining employment relationships. In addition, employment status provides employment rights that enhance employer-employee relationships. These two play a big role in protecting the rights of employees and employers.
References
Davies, A. (2011). Workplace law handbook 2012: Employment law and human resources. London: Kogan Page. Web.
Farnham, D., & Institute of Personnel and Development. (2000). Employee relations in context. London: Institute of Personnel and Development. Web.
Gennard, J., & Judge, G. (2005). Employee relations. London: Chartered institute of personnel and development. Web.