Abstract
In every organization, the relationships created during employment term can be either healthy or detrimental to corporate function. In fact, from the beginning, an employer or the firm sees an employee as an individual agreeing to the employment terms including work rates, commissions, salaries, and wages.
Such employees can be grouped as either part time and casual workers or permanent and fixed term workers. Despite being grouped differently, these employees are entitled to certain rights in the course of their employment. However, this has not been case in most corporations.
Among the employment rights that may improve the employees’ sense of belonging to the company are collective bargaining and right to join a union, amicable ways of solving work-related problems, and leave days.
Other rights are holiday breaks, the least wage rates or payment, appropriate recruitment or hiring procedures, as well as minimum employment privileges. Offering these rights to the employees improve their sense of belonging to the company
Introduction
Most corporations tend to build effective employment associations with the employees. As a result, such corporations emerge very successful in the global arena. However, corporations that hardly tolerate employees to exercise their rights by discouraging employer and employees relationships have tremendously failed in their operations.
Employees are the backbone of any company. Thus, any corporation that emphasizes healthy employment associations proves to be very successful.
Study background and research problem
From the global arena, it is apparent that some corporations have opted to create and uphold good-faith associations while others deem such relationships unnecessary. Research studies however show that for healthy individual and cooperative arrangements to emerge in a firm, the employment associations ought to be founded on good faith.
This usually minimizes the chances of employment problems and conflicts within a firm. For instance, firms established on good-faith normally advocate for improved actions and practices on how issues must be handled as well as make certain that workers are aware of such matters.
In order to realize this, such organizations base their operations on the Employment Relationships Acts, which warrants that the parties’ involved (employers and employees) act in good-faith and bargain fairly.
Research question
Does offering certain rights to the employees improve their sense of belonging to the company?
Hypothesis
Ho (null hypothesis): Offering certain rights to the employees improve their sense of belonging to the company
Ha: (Alternative hypothesis): Offering certain rights to the employees do not improve their sense of belonging to the company
Main Body
Prior to accepting or rejecting the employments terms, the parties involved must be conversant with the employment regulations. In fact, the firm and the employee will only set off positively if they set and adhere to the employment contracts.
Such agreements must be well-written and need to incorporate the employment rights, employment settings, and role expectations. Provided that the employment agreement does not cover all these in the recruitment processes, chances are that the firm may infringe the employees’ rights.
As a result, infringing certain employment rights may fail to make an employee feel a sense of belonging to the company (Hajdin, 2005).
Employment rights
The employees are entitled by law to enjoy relatively two types of constitutional rights regarding employment. These include the rights that cater for the means of taking care of the employees at workplace as well as the employee entitlements and the least pay they ought to get.
In fact, irrespective of incorporating minimum rights of employment in the contract terms, it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that they are encountered to ensure a good rapport is developed. However, it is an obligation that a number of provisions ought to be constitutionally incorporated into the terms of employment (Cappelli & Keller, 2013).
The procedure of negotiating bonuses in a better outline is provided for by the law of employment. Hence, such additional entitlements prove to be better than the minimum pay. The employees must not be requested to come to an agreement with the rights that fall below the minimum.
Health and Safety
In regard to health and safety, the employer is required to offer the employees with a place of work that is safe and secure. The place of work should possess fully furnished equipment, proper supervision, and good training.
The duty of safety is achievable by the employer under the analysis of safety and health occurrences as well as management of hazards after valuation and identification. In the place of work, the employees through practical precautions must evade causing damage to colleagues and keep their own safety.
Similarly, the employees are entitled to take part in the events that improve their security and health status. The employees have the right to evade or reject jobs that would create serious damage to their lives. This gives them a sense of belonging and in turn increases the relationship between them and their employees (Randels, 2001).
Minimum pay
Once the terms of reimbursement are agreed upon, the relationship between the employer and the employee generally augments. The workers ranging from sixteen (16) years in age must get a minimum adult wage. This case only applies to those who are no longer apprentices or fresh entrants into employment.
In this regard, the new employees are no longer trainees but include those that have served for not more than three months or two hundred hours in employment. They may also include employees who are not training or handling other fellow personnel and fall between sixteen and seventeen years.
Conversely, employees who fall in the range of sixteen and above are regarded as trainees. The employment terms necessitate that through registered training program, the trainees should agree to not less than sixty credits in a span of one year (Hajdin, 2005).
A minimum wage must be given to any servant working for whichever agreement be it a wage or salary in an hourly basis. Such an employee must also meet some requirements from the employer in order for him/her to enjoy the right. The employees must be partially or totally salaried on a piece rate or by commission.
A yearly review of the minimum rates of pay by the government should be taken care of by the employer. For instance, this time limit exemption helps in the case when a worker with disability is restricted from receiving his/her minimum wage (Tomassetti, 2012).
Break entitlements
Employees working for six to eight (6-8) hours should enjoy a 30 minutes unpaid break for meals and a funded 10 minutes break for resting. In the case of workforces working for four to six (4-6) hours, they should be given a 30 minutes unpaid break for meals and 10 minutes resting break.
Moreover, the employees working for two to four (2-4) hours are entitled to a resting break of only 10 minutes (ENDA, 2013). The break provisions would differ if the time goes beyond eight hours of working time.
For a good relationship between the two, both the employer and the employee ought to come to an agreement on the terms of mealtimes and rest breaks.
In case of lack of scheduling agreement, a realistic and equitable time distribution for mealtimes and relaxation pauses must be done uniformly regarding the phases of work by each employee. It is stipulated that the servant and the employer may reach a decision to extend the break times.
In order to enable the employee to express breast milk or breast feed for the duration of work, the employers must play their part in providing them with suitable time. The purpose of infant feeding might lead the employer and the employee to the periods of breaking.
This must be done where it is reasonable and practicable through accounting for the available resources and workplace setting offered by the employer.
However, the payment of meal or rest breaks would merely transpire under the concord of both the wage earner and the employer (Elegido, 2013). This justifies the fact that break entitlement as a right offered to the employee by the employer increases the relationship between them.
Annual holidays
A member of staff should get four weeks of fully paid yearly holiday. The employer should make sure that this is done at the end of every year of employment. Otherwise, the employer may decide to guarantee the employee more than four weeks. The employer and the employee agree on the constituents of holidays in a span of one week.
Most likely in a year, twelve days within working days would resemble the paid holidays. Interestingly, the annual holiday payment becomes higher than the regular pay given to the employee on a weekly basis (Wears & Fisher, 2012).
Cashing up of holidays
Offering rights such as cashing up holidays to the employee would improve their sense of belonging to company. In every employment year, an employee may table in an inscription a request for a maximum of one week payment of yearly holidays to the employer.
This increases the understanding between the employer and employee as the employer will not compel the employee into holidays cash-in once he/she has tabled the request.
The employee’s application might be dropped and if considered it should be inside an equitable time. Nevertheless, workers would not be able to table any application for yearly trips that are financed provided firms engage a guiding principle of no funding (Wears & Fisher, 2012).
Other leaves and holiday
The employers may entitle their employee to a number of rights of pay and conditions regarding the holidays and leaves in order for the employees to embrace a sense of belonging. Here the employee is entitled to a normal every day pay or pertinent day-to-day wage for bereavement and sickness leaves as well as alternate and public holidays (Feldman, 2013).
Other leaves and holiday payments
In a basic company setting, a good number of employees enjoy an entitlement to the relevant every day wage. The relevant pay in this case denote the amount that would have one to the employee supposed he worked on a certain day.
The appropriate remuneration also incorporates overtime and gratuities which a worker gets in the same working period. The employees motivation is boosted once an agreement is reached supposed there is variation in employees’ daily wages or if a calculation of such cannot be met.
The employer and the employee may come to an understanding of using an average daily pay formula in order to practically compute the relevant everyday emolument. The formulation is simple as the past 52 weeks gross income of the employees is divided by part/whole number of days of leave, paid holiday or work days (ENDA, 2013).
Public holidays
Public holidays that fall under a working day ought to be fully paid off to the employees. This right prompts the employee morale since such holidays are distinct from the supplementary holidays once a year. With different entitlements offered to every holiday, the employer should allow the employee to enjoy two groups of holiday.
The first batch includes the New Year Day, Boxing Day, and Christmas Day. The other lot of holiday that should be paid encompasses Good Friday, Easter Monday and any other holiday depending on the country and location of the company (Kovacevic, 2013).
The employees enjoy exceptional arrangements for the holidays within Christmas Day and New Year Day. Due to good relationship in a company, the firm can discuss with the worker on the right interval to take a different salaried period pause.
In order to meet the company and worker’s personal prerequisites, transference of civic leave to other working period is approved upon by the worker and the company. As set out by the statute, the mutual agreement needs to encounter the least requirements and the employee application requires a good faith consideration.
Yet, the permitted number of public breaks to the employee would not be abridged by such a contract (Randels, 2001). Under a transfer of any public holiday, an employee is allowed to a funded day off through the average or pertinent every day reimbursement.
A work place stratagem by the employers never to transfer public holidays may also suit the needs of employees thus cooperation.
Sick leave
Taking care of the health statuses of every employee would encourage the relationship transpiring within the company. All employees are eligible for 5 days of sick leave that are compensated. The sick leave takes place every employment year and twelve months subsequent to six months of occupation with an employer.
The right allows the employee to strive for for leave to look after their dependent relatives such as parentages, offspring, and next of kin or themselves (Feldman, Falk & Katz, 2011). The employer allows for accrual of sick leave for up to twenty days and the employee is in his/her own right to get pay over the accumulated sick leave.
At the expiration of the employment affiliation, sick days are not and cannot be swapped for compensation. Hence, for intermittent workers or staffs having flexible working hours, a special suitability examination applies.
Proof of injury or sickness
An employee is entitled to take leave for illness after an employer has requested for an evidence of injury or sickness. This is done inside the initial three calendar days as of was put from April 1, 2011.
In order to approve and meet the equitable payments in attainment the proof of ill health, the employer must notify the worker on the necessities of the proof in a good time (Feldman, 2013).
The expenses of meeting the evidence of sickness goes to the employee once the employer’s request of proof comes while the employee is still sick during leave time. The proof of sickness would ensure the employer gains trust in his/her workers thus mutual consent.
Leave of bereavement
The bereavement leave would ascertain to the employees that the company is in the same spirit with them during the time of sorrow. Employees who have served for more than six month in any company are entitled to the leave of mourning by the employer. The employees get leave of one day suppose the employer assents to the sorrow or grief of the employee (Hallock, 2009).
This may include the demise of an individual. Besides, an employee is assured of three days leave given the passing on of in-laws, grandchild, grandparent, fraternal, progeny, parent, and/or the other half. The above case may perhaps not mean that an employee is entitled to receive the entire bereavement claims at once.
Hence, an admissibility special investigation would ensure a good relationship ij the company since different employees have diverse intermittent working conditions and flexible working hours.
Parental leave
Certain principles are agreed upon by both the employer and the employee for a better relationship. These may include eligibility for voluntary and rewarded parental leave which will enable the employee to always feel at home. The government accounts for the remunerated leave granted to the employees.
Prior to the expected day of adoption, an employee must have worked for the same employer for certain duration. Precisely, an employee is supposed to have worked for one year or six months in apportion of forty hours in one month.
Equally, any wage earner must have worked for no less than one hour in every single week, or an ordinary rate of 10 hours on a weekly basis (Kovacevic, 2013).
The workers who meet the standards required by the company gets a parental leave running to fourteen weeks. The fourteen week leave can be partly or fully transferred to employee’s husband or wife.
A comprehensive parental leave of 52 weeks devoid of of motherhood leave included is entitled to the other employees who embrace the benchmarks of twelve months eligibility. Correspondingly, an employee could share this lengthy parental leave with their companions who reach the standard of twelve months eligibility.
To make the sense extra strong, the company might decide to offer unpaid paternity leave to the employees. The partners of employees having 12 months of service in employment acquires an extra two weeks whereas, those serving for approximately six months get an extra one week of unpaid paternity leave (Hallock, 2009).
The partners’ eligibility is tested by the company through the minimum test in working hours. For instance, prior to the maternity leave an expectant mother would be entitled to a ten day free leave for gestation purposes.
Therefore, an employer discerning or discharging any pregnant worker with a reason of parental leave or maternity reasons is going against the law.
Other leave rights
In certain conditions, the employer may entitle the other right to employees in order to maintain the image of the company and its employees. In this regard, the company strives to pay damages to every employee who gets injury through accident while at workplace (Hall & Moss, 1998).
Flexible working arrangements
The condition of flexible working would ensure that the employee get to familiarize themselves with the company requirements and needs. The workers in charge of others are entitled to the privileges of entreating for a deviation in their residence, existences, and duration of working.
While making an application for such flexible working arrangements, the employees should specify the manner in which such arrangements would improve the conditions of their patients (Feldman, Falk & Katz, 2011). The company can either reject or accept the request based on specific considerations.
Equal rights and pay
The employees would feel more secure and engaged only if they are equally paid by the company depending on the scale of employment of each employee. Sexual discrimination should be left apart while offering pay to the company for the feminine worker to fit in the company system.
The employer should not dwell on the certain elements in the employee at the time of promotions, training, pay, and hiring or firing. During this time, the employer ought not to victimize in terms of employee union contribution, political viewpoint, spiritual belief, or age.
Similarly, the company should not tell apart servants in terms of employment rank, family position, nuptial status, sensual orientation, civilization, ethnic group, color, or race (Kovacevic, 2013). These rights surely guarantee the employee to have a great sense of belonging to whichever corporation.
Rights of membership to the union
The workforces possess the right of deciding on whether to join any union of their choice. This provides them with a lifeline as the company has no restrictions that might make them feel isolated. The constitution puts it as unlawful for the employers to discriminate any employee simply because he/she belongs to a certain union.
Additionally, it is against the law for the proprietor to heap much pressure that is irrational to the company workers who decide on joining any union of their own choice. (Tomassetti, 2012). A practice of sincerity and honesty during the union visiting should be originated between the union and the employer.
As union members, the employees ought to be permitted to show up in more than two union assemblies. The employees stay at the meeting must not be more than two hours in each sitting for every calendar year of employment.
The time specification differs from the added time of dialogues amid union representatives as well as union members taking place at the site of work. The Labor ministry has ratified quite a lot of employment relations programs for the employee.
As a result, the employees who represent the union must apply for compensated education leave to attend to these courses. To get affiliated to the company, the employees could have a concord with their employer to subtract the subscriptions required by the union out of their salary or wages and forward them to the union (Feldman, 2013).
Union access to workplaces
The unions should not pop into the company without any due consent. This might derail the relationship between the employer and the employee who seek to be in a common stance under one umbrella.
As such, the officials of the union must first communicate and enquire for authorization from the organization before officially visiting any place of work. The go-ahead by the employer might not be unjustly put out of action once the right procedure is followed.
The company should answer the union back in a certain day of work subsequent to reception of the tabled of the request. Failure of the employer to grant permission to the union representatives should be followed by an explanatory communication.
The company should submit the reasons for denial to access in a clear writing within one day of working after deciding so. Further, the union officials would visit the organization if they fail to get any communication in response from the employer two days the after request submission (Marsden, 2013).
This is a presence of smooth and open dealing with events which increases the relationship flanking the employer and the employee hence, employee would improve their sense of belonging to company.
When problems arise
Something that may damage or that destructs the association between an employer and an employee is a problem. A problem should be recognized as is does not affect the rapport amid the employer and the employee alone. The problems arise in both the employee and employers viewpoint (Wood & De- Menezes, 1998).
The best samples of problems from the employees perception are provocation, difference over cautionary matters, safety and health issues, disparity over employment terms, discipline and misunderstanding, discharges, dismissals, and pay or holidays disputes.
On the employees’ point of view, the problems encompass low presentation, malingering and unpunctuality, lasting sicknesses, non-conformity with procedure of safety and health, law and company rule breaking, misbehavior, and employees’ conflict.
The initial steps towards solving such problems require a mediation form the Ministry of Labor. Failure of mediation, the parties should face Employment Relations Authority that listens to individual grievances (Wood & De-Menezes, 1998).
Similarly, a helpful solution can be met where the same standpoint is embraced by employees over a problem. A suitable agreement could be met by the union for a problem if the union members are also employees.
However, the best solution to every party engaged in a problem is to record prospects and actions and monitor the reasonable procedure that is comprehensible to everybody. Equally, the parties ought to attend to different opinions, pursue resolutions, source facts effectively, and act on the problem immediately after its occurrence.
Prevention of affiliation problems in employment
Relationship is the tool that augments the sense of belonging to the employees. It is only by good faith actions that problems will not surface in an employment rapport. Certain practices ought to be done to prevent the occurrences of problems.
These include informing the employees on their accountabilities and service rights, inscribing the terms of service to employees, and transparency and consistency of the inscribed terms of service.
The other way entails the employees clearing up and preventing confusion, proper consultation in case of a problem, and alerting on the occurrence of any problem (Hall & Moss, 1998).
Processes of solving employment relationship hitches
The best apparatus to resolve a problem in the organization is common sense. Always it is wise to be content with the subject matter, ascertain the facts, and to ensure the affected parties have ample time to reason and take the appropriate counsel towards the problem.
Flawless clarification of the of employment relationship problem solving procedures must be enclosed in the personals and group employment terms.
Conversely, a conventional resolution to the problem by the parties in good faith is significant. This may be through a speedy and less expensive third part (The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment) mediation (Elegido, 2013).
Following a problem-solving procedure
In an employment agreement, postponements to approaching the problem leads to extra avoided misery and hindrance. Likewise, disregarding the problem enlarges it more. Thus an outline of problem solving services must be contained in an employment terms of agreement to develop good relationship.
The employees’ rights are to be protected by vibrant processes to deliver information that backs management and to make the problem moderate through eradicating discrepancies (Randels, 2001).
First steps in dealing with a problem
The initial step in dealing with a problem is to raise it the very moment it occurs. It is important to pint out the facts to differentiate really from a simply mix-up. The employers ought to make every decision reliably and justly by investigating, gathering the info, and reasoning promptly.
The employees require consideration and respect to evade giving them distress. Confidence in touchy issues is important and the root cause of the problem should be identified in order to reduce emotions for a good relationship.
The employee should be allowed to engage a third party so that he/she may fell the sense of belonging. In case of agreement failure, the legal requirements would be preferable like the determination by Employment Relations Authority or Employment Court (Wears & Fisher, 2012).
Personal grievance cases
An employee must air his/her personal grievances to the employer within a span of ninety days. The employer should give the employee an opportunity to explain his/her complaints, offer appropriate time for interaction, obligate the respect for the obtainable resource, and air his/he anxieties to the employee (Yoon, Koi & Baker, 1994).
The Work Supervisors’ role
The superintendents of work ensure the implementation and observing of the application of the least hire acts. They ensure the application of employment laws through close relations with the employers and employees. The inspectors display, administer the minimum conditions of service, and examine grievances on the likely breaches.
The Labor Inspectors also offer the employers and employees with facts and education regarding the law, and support employers in applying the practices and systems at the palace of work (Pila, 2012).
Ending the employment relationship
A number of ways can apply when terminating employment relationships. All these ways prove to be the best way to end a health relationship between an employee and an employee whose rights bind the agreement. These include redundancy dismissal, or retirement.
Through resignation, an employee provides the reasons for his action in a written notice (Kim & Choi, 2010). Under certain conditions, an employee could be forced to resign through the indirect or direct pressure heaped by the employer.
Retirement on the other hand has no universal set up phase for retirement from duties. However, dismissal should be fairly carried out founded on good reasons.
Conclusion
From the above discussions, it is apparent that offering certain rights to the employee would improve their sense of belonging to the company.
These rights include collective bargaining and right to join a union, amicable ways of solving work-related problems, leave days, holiday, the least wage rates or payment, appropriate recruitment or hiring procedures, as well as minimum employment privileges.
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