Common Labor Issues in the Acute Care Department
Creating the environment in which the rights of every employee are acknowledged, respected, and met is an essential step in building trust between a staff member and an organization. However, some companies may use the vulnerability of their employees to their benefit due to the imperfections in the current legislation. Furthermore, the inconsistency in the labor union legal standards may lead to a significant drop in the number of opportunities for nurses.
For example, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) standards, any employee that is regarded as a member of a discrete group should be granted certification. While the identified approach seems reasonable, a closer look at it will reveal that the interests of the employees who fall under the category of a single job classification are likely to be discarded when considering certification applications (Carlson, 2014). Furthermore, the problems associated with rigid standards for nurse licensing should be brought up. The lack of opportunities for skills improvement may also be viewed as an important labor issue. Similarly, the lack of training necessary to engage in cross-cultural communication must be named among crucial concerns. Finally, problems concerning the staff’s safety should be brought up as a serious concern.
HRM Strategies for Managing the Problems
The lack of control over an individual scenario in which staff members may be affected severely by the imbalanced system must be addressed. To handle the specified concern, one will have to introduce a combination of a framework allowing to consider the emerging issues on a case-by-case basis and a strategy allowing for tighter control over the issues faced by the employees. The latter goal can be attained by improving the existing communication systems used to establish a dialogue between nurses and HR managers. For instance, apart from reports, IT devices should be included in the set of tools for maintaining the communication between the identified parties consistent. The conversation may also be hampered due to workplace issues since the setting of acute care implies that a nurse should be able to respond to the needs of a patient as quickly as possible and, therefore, may fail to maintain the consistent contact with the HR manager (Morse, 2015).
Impact of the Issues on Contract Negotiations
The problems listed above are likely to complicate the relationships between nurses and their employers. Particularly, some of the hospitals that focus on the enhancement of communication between their staff members and the HR department are likely to refrain from signing a contract with the nurses that set their requirements in accordance with the principles stated in the current regulation (University of California and California Nurses Association Agreement, 2017).
The active use of strikes and other ways of stonewalling the decisions made by hospitals as far as the contractual obligations of their nursing staff are concerned may also become a possibility. Therefore, the unwillingness of healthcare facilities leaders to accept the changes to the current image and role of a nurse may lead to drastic consequences. It is, therefore, imperative to consider opportunities for enhanced contract negotiations based on the principles of mutual trust and respect, as well as the willingness to collaborate and compromise (2017 national health care retention & RN staffing report, 2017).
Challenges to Be Expected: Introspect
It is expected that nurses will gain more independence as the influence of unions grow in the context of the nursing environment. However, seeing that the identified change will imply that nurses will gain more agency in the environment of healthcare organizations, it is expected that nursing facilities will oppose to the increasing growth of nurses’ impact on the relationships between the two parties. Therefore, nursing staff members may have to face certain conflicts with HR managers when attempting to use their newly-acquired rights in the context of the facility. The specified issue, however, can be handled by using appropriate negotiation techniques and focusing on compromise as the ultimate goal.
References
Carlson, J. (2014). Reform, new labor issues likely to keep unions busy in 2014.Modern Healthcare. Web.
Morse, S. (2015). As unions grow, healthcare execs need to know how to handle them.Healthcare Finance. Web.
2017 national health care retention & RN staffing report. (2017). Web.
University of California and California Nurses Association Agreement. (2017). Web.