Employer-employee Relationship Research Articles

Manufacturing informality. Global production networks and the reproduction of informalized labour regimes in Europe’s peripheries

This paper investigates the drivers of informal employment persistence in Global Production Networks. Building on a structuralist perspective, it reframes informalization as a tool of labour control and argues that informalization – while influenced by structural economic pressures and local socio-institutional contexts – is ultimately shaped by the employer-employee relations at the workplace. Drawing on Global Production Networks analysis and Labour Process Theory, the paper builds a novel extended structuralist approach to investigate the reproduction of informalization in the garment-footwear production networks in Italy and Albania. Through a multi-sited qualitative fieldwork, the paper shows that informalization dynamics persist as a response to competitive structural pressures only as long as workers are unable or unwilling to resist them. Yet, the situated bargaining power relations at each node of the chain crucially determine the predominant forms of informalization leading to either coercive and despotic, or hegemonic and negotiated, informalized workplace regimes.

Exploring hospitality workers' career choices in the wake of COVID-19: Insights from a phenomenological inquiry

The COVID-19 pandemic severely hit the hospitality industry and caused employees concerns over health, finance, and well-being. These challenges may trigger their decisions to leave the profession, leading to major talent crises in the industry. Guided by the transactional model of stress and coping and the career construction theory, this study explored how their experiences with the pandemic affected their career choices moving on. A phenomenological approach was adopted, and 31 current and past hospitality employees were interviewed. The findings supported the conceptual model and addressed the connection between stress management and career decisions among the participants. It is also noted that, besides generational differences, most participants' career decisions at this critical moment were influenced by their personality traits, industry involvement, and employer-employee relationships. Thus, to create a sustainable, resilient, and engaged workforce, hospitality practitioners must commit to crafting positive relationships with their employees both in regular and crisis times.

Food for Thought: A Survey on the Nature of Work Precarity in Platform-Based On-Demand Work

This study aims to empirically understand the precarity of food delivery work at online platforms particularly during the COVID-19-led devastations. Food delivery workers are the new form of the global phenomenon in the labour market. This is a result of access to cheap internet and smartphones among customers, which has enabled the platform to create a new form of labour market. Platform-based food aggregators use the terminology of 'delivery partners’ for these workers which alters the traditional employer-employee relationships, allowing corporations to evade labour-related responsibilities. This makes working conditions at digital platforms highly precarious and is reflected by low income and the non-existence of labour welfare measures. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns have worsened the precarious nature of on-demand work. It has caused a massive loss of livelihoods and erosion of income, showing the importance of traditional employer-employee relationships. These precarious working conditions call for affirmative actions in the form of regulations.

Transition of transnational social workers: a critical realist perspective on the need for a response from the profession

ABSTRACT This article examines the absence of a profession-wide response for facilitating the transition of transnational social workers (TSWs) into the host country. TSWs work with various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups and often in unfamiliar socio-political, policy and practice contexts. A qualitative study was undertaken in New Zealand, which involved six focus groups, three with managers of TSWs and three with TSWs themselves and a face-to-face semi-structured interview with a manager who was also a TSW. Coding and analysis of data were informed by critical realism (CR). We found that TSWs’ transitions are framed within an employer-employee relationship in the absence of a profession-wide response and TSWs encounter structural barriers in their transition. A suggestion has been made that the profession’s leadership acknowledge responsibility that attends to the transitional space and an emotional concern about the wellbeing of TSWs. The transnational nature of the profession demands greater accountability regarding inclusion, sustainability, safety and discrimination. It can positively impact on the overall wellbeing of TSWs and the client groups they serve.

Providing a Balance between Employers’ and Employees’ Interests through the Development of a Procedural Mechanism for Protecting Their Rights

Background: This article presents a study of the theoretical and practical aspects of balancing the interests of employers and employees in the context of Kazakhstan and the United States. The core purpose was to develop such mechanisms that can aid in balanced employer-employee relations in Kazakhstan. The article analyses the role of legal codes and frameworks for the elimination of imbalance in disputed employment relations. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted and the relevant legislation, codes and extant literature related to the rights of employees and employers were explored, which included ILO documents and relevant research articles. The article investigates Kazakhstan’s and United States’ labour code and legislation to determine the applicable procedural mechanisms for balancing the interests of employers and employees. Results and Conclusions: On the basis of this study, a number of recommendations have been developed, aimed at protecting the interests of both employers and employees. In particular, the article presents a procedural developed mechanism based on three aspects of employment relations: social dialogue, collective bargaining and dispute resolution aimed at securing the rights and interests of both parties. The developed mechanisms not only facilitate mutually beneficial decisions appealing to the interests of employees and employers via social dialogue and collective bargaining agreements but also aim to reduce the number of labour disputes in the courts in the future with alternative resolution mechanisms.

Analyzing the employee/employer relationships in the corporate social responsibility context: An empirical investigation of SMEs

AbstractWith the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR), firms are invited to identify, consult and take into account the expectations of their stakeholders. In this context, firms are expected to promote direct relationships with their employees while employee participation traditionally took the form of indirect institutional participation via trade unions or employee representatives. By mobilizing stakeholder theory, this study aims to analyze the impact of adopting a CSR approach on the existence of direct relationships between employees and employers. Three relationships are analyzed: information, consultation, and dialog. Using survey data, the empirical analysis shows that SMEs which have adopted a CSR approach in the social field are more likely to inform and consult their employees; but the adoption of CSR is not linked to dialog with them. This research is closely linked to the sustainable development goals 8.8 and 16.7 and gives new argument to promote CSR in SMEs. In particular, our findings underline the importance of CSR as a driver of employer–employee relationships because the CSR‐oriented companies seem more open to stakeholder dialogs with employees. This argument is relevant to companies that are seeking to implement, CSR, innovative human resources practices and industrial relations policies to improve working conditions and to create a win–win situation. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pay Justice and Pay Satisfaction: The Influence of Reciprocity, Social Comparisons, and Standard of Living

This study compares two pay evaluations: pay justice and pay satisfaction. Conceptually, pay justice entails a moral assessment and is more specific to work, whereas pay satisfaction is a broader attitude that includes non-work-related factors. We analyzed German employee data and found overall similarity in determinants but differences in proximity to work contexts. Pay satisfaction was more strongly associated with private pay comparisons and standard of living, whereas pay justice was more strongly associated with reciprocity in the employer-employee relationship through working hours and comparisons at work. The results therefore suggest that employers can influence pay justice more easily than pay satisfaction by means of addressing imbalances in the employer-employee exchange and within organizational pay structures.

Am I in an obstructive employer-employee relationship? The role of breach in employee reactions during tough times

PurposeTo provide insight into how employees react during challenging economic times, this paper aims to examine employee responses to non-fulfilled employer obligations. More specifically, the authors examine two main issues: first, whether perceptions of organizational obstruction (PO Obstruction) mediate the relationship between psychological contract breach and intent to quit, as well as between psychological contract breach and willingness to support the organization, and second, whether breach moderates the relationship between PO Obstruction and intent to quit as well as between PO Obstruction and willingness to support the organization.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, the authors conducted a field study in which 316 employees took part.FindingsThe results indicate that PO Obstruction mediates the relationship between breach and employee outcomes. Regarding the moderating effects of the breach, the findings suggest that breach strengthens the positive relationship between PO Obstruction and intent to quit while it weakens the negative relationship between PO Obstruction and willingness to support the organization.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing literature by introducing a new perspective of the breach-outcome relationship.

A Study of Employment in Organized and Unorganized Retail Sector of Maharashtra

This Research explores the basic features of retail employment and the effects of variables like work environment, employer-employee relationship, training and development, rewards and promotions. These interrelated factors have strong relationship with the overall satisfaction of workers employed in organized and unorganized retail sector. The analysis is carried out only for the total sample of organized and unorganized retail workers. Work environment includes work time and working hours, job insecurity flexibility of arriving and leave workplace, workload Work environment factors like work timings, working hours, frequency of double work / overtime breaks, flexibility to arrive and leave workplace ,setting arrangement, drinking water facilities, supervisor control and job security were studied.

Amendments to the Employment Act 1955: An Analysis of the Key Changes with Reference to International Labour Standards – A Positive Improvement for Malaysia’s Employment Regime?

In Malaysia, employment issues are primarily governed by the Employment Act 1955 [Act 265] being the key piece of legislation on the matter. Hence, it is imperative to analyze whether the amendments brought by the Employment Amendment Act are positive improvements as compared to the current provisions of the Employment Act as well as adequate according to the international labour standards as stated by the International Labour Organization. In 2022, the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 as well as the Employment (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2022 were passed which will bring key changes to the employer-employee relationship in Malaysia. These amendments to the Employment Act 1955 are overdue, given that the last amendments made was more than a decade ago in April 2012. The research employs a qualitative methodology and incorporates a content analysis approach by examining the relevant legislation, the conventions, recommendations and publications of the International Labour Organization, as well as other publications from researchers. The main finding of the research is that although the amendments brought by the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 were a positive improvement, there is still much room for improvement for the employment regime, as well as to expand the amendments to the concurrent legislation in Sabah and Sarawak. However, further research should be conducted to study whether the implementation and enforcement of the amendments to the Act is successful in improving the rights of employees in Malaysia and bring positive changes to the employer-employee relationship.

THE MANTLE OF THE SHOP STEWARD IS NOT AN EASY ONE TO WEAR NUMSA obo Motloba v Johnson Control Automotive SA (Pty) Ltd (2017) 38 ILJ 1626 (LAC) Revisited

NUMSA obo Motloba v Johnson Controls Automotive SA (Pty) Ltd (2017) 38 ILJ 1626 (LAC) (Motloba) raises four discrete, yet interrelated issues that require close examination. The first relates to the constitutional and statutory protection accorded to trade union membership and activities. The second engages the exercise of organisational rights in the workplace. With the demise of the duty to bargain, created to breathe life into collective bargaining and provide the lifeblood to recognised trade unions in the workplace. The third brings to the surface the recurrent headache for management concerning the dual and contradictory role of the shop stewards on the shop floor. The point of immediate relevance is that, while conducting union activities, a shop steward in theory, at least, operates on equal footing with management. It merits emphasising that the theory becomes murky when the union official is also an employee. (Re Workers’ Compensation Board and Workers’ Compensation Board Employees Union (1990) 15 LAC (4th) 332, 335). Put simply, “the ordinary rules applicable to the normal employer-employee relationship are then somewhat relaxed” (FAWU v Haverstime Corporation (Pty) Ltd [2007] BLLR 638 (LC) par 42 (Haverstime)). Be that as it may, a shop steward is still an employee of a company with the usual obligation to conform to all workplace rules.Fourth, and possibly most important, shop stewards’ propensity for an “anything goes approach” in their dealing with management. The contentious issue encountered here concerns the tendency of shop stewards to exceed the bounds of acceptable conduct in fulfilling their representational responsibilities. As a result, trade union representatives have been disciplined and in extreme cases dismissed for misconduct. Accordingly, the marginal line separating insubordination and insolence, the interconnected acts of intimidation and assault, disruptive conduct in the course of collective bargaining process, misconduct at disciplinary or arbitration proceedings as well as the breakdown of the trust relationship and intolerability occasioned by dishonesty deserve critical scrutiny.

Tests to Determine Employer-Employee Relationships in India: Looking towards the Future?

Tests to Determine Employer-Employee Relationships in India: Looking towards the Future?

Managing in Critical Care Settings: A Qualitative Study of South African Nurse Unit Managers and the Psychological Contract.

Little is written about the management of psychological contracts by nurse unit managers (NUMs) in critical care settings and how this perspective contributes to the performance, experiences, and views of nurses and nursing teams. Psychological contracts are important regulators of the employer-employee relationship, with managers (NUMs) being the embodiment of the employer in managing the contract. This qualitative study answers a call for research on the NUM perspective of the psychological contract given the role they play in the wellbeing of critical care nurses and quality of care provided. The study aims to understand the expectations and obligations that constitute the psychological contract NUMs have with their nursing teams, the nature of the contract, and how NUMs practically manage these aspects on their teams. Using an interpretive qualitative research design and a purposive sampling technique, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 of the 14 NUMs from a public health facility about critical incidents relating to their obligations and expectations of managing critical care nurses. A thematic analysis of their responses revealed five main themes that represent the contents of their psychological contracts with critical care nurses: professional commitment and obligation; leading by example; trust and support; teamwork; and on-the-job training and further development. In their discussion of these components, the NUMs also revealed how they manage the psychological contract with nurses. Based on the expectations and obligations NUMs hold with their staff, their psychological contracts were found to be largely relational, with elements of the balanced type, suggesting that they rely on interpersonal connection and coordination, as well as knowledge dissemination, to uphold the contract. This contract appears to be effective in inculcating the commitment of nurses to their profession and professional standards through the building of trust and offering of support. However, recommendations are offered to ensure NUMs are best prepared to sustain these psychological contracts and continue to support nurse wellbeing and related patient care.

Study on Industrial Relations

Abstract: All industrial civilizations share the fundamental trait of widespread wage employment. Workers/employees and employers/management are two separate categories of people who are looking for wage employment, respectively. Known variously as labour-management relations, labour relations, industrial relations, or employer-employee relations, these two groups' relationships are structured. With the exception of the first, these definitions indicate that the relations are at minimum inclusive on the part of the employees. In regards to all problems that concern its members, the labour union negotiates with employers and management. Consequently, the two groups' relationships are structured.

How payments for ecosystem services can undermine Indigenous institutions: The case of Peru's Ampiyacu-Apayacu watershed

Payments for ecosystem services have come to dominate international policies for addressing tropical deforestation. Political ecologists, degrowth scholars, and Indigenous activists have critiqued these approaches on the grounds that by centering economic growth, they can disrupt local conservation systems and compromise forest-dwelling communities' ability to protect forests and live well. Meanwhile, Indigenous groups have developed positive alternatives to ‘green growth’ strategies, including buen vivir (good living) in Latin America. In Peru, the National Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) serves as the state's flagship initiative to address tropical deforestation in Indigenous communities by paying communities for demonstrated reductions in deforestation, so long as they invest those funds according to an agreed up on management plan. We analyzed how the NFCP has interacted with quality-of-life plans, Indigenous planning tools rooted in buen vivir. Our findings suggest that the NFCP has eroded local systems for conservation, including the minga, an Amazonian tradition of mutual aid and shared labor for subsistence livelihoods, pushing communities to replace these systems with commodity production and employer-employee relationships. We argue that instead of imposing onerous conditions and steering communities towards evermore commodity production, conservation initiatives should support the implementation of quality-of-life plans. We suggest that climate justice organizers, political ecologists, and degrowth scholars explore and advocate for such initiatives.

SEMANTIC CHANGE AND VICTORIAN GOVERNESS FICTION

This paper is part of a Cultural Studies thesis researching the contribution of 19th c. Governess writings to the social mutations regarding women’s social role and education, by looking at stereotypes. In this context, the complex Employer Employee relation between the “lady of the house” and th e “Governess” needs to be studied in its language related dimensions. The word “lady”, formerly a precise denominator, transitioned to the semantically augmented and less precise word “lady” of the 19th c. This transition, expressed in newly coined phrases and in new usage contexts, reflects quintessential social changes. The word “Governess’ names a social position at the core of Victorian social debate. It was used in collocation with certain determinant adjectives, carrying little information. This usage pattern is particularly relevant for the Victorian concepts of social interaction and social improvement. The research employs different Governess related texts: advertisements, instructionals , letters, memoirs, children’s books and fiction.

DE-RISKING THE EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP WHEN WORKERS HAVE MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT OR YOUNG ONSET DEMENTIA

Abstract The employee-employer relationship is one that is well established in law and involves a contract between a worker who performs the work, and an employer who determines when, how and where the work is done. Many countries have introduced legislation that helps guide employee-employer behavior when workers’ performance of their duties is disrupted by illness or disability, such as mild cognitive impairment or young onset dementia (MCI|YOD). At any one time, about 8-12% of the workforce is off due to occupational or non-occupational work injury or illness with direct disability and absence costs projected about 7% of payroll in 2000. Drawing from data gathered in a systematic literature review and case study, this paper determined that uncertainty and risk influence employer-employee relationships when workers are identified with MCI|YOD. Employers’ industry context, size and corporate values influence their “integrated risk management” approach to workers with MCI|YOD, and early intervention is considered key to managing financial and liability risk. In contrast, progressive onset, delayed diagnosis, stigma, privacy concerns, workplace uncertainty, and lack of information may delay employee disclosure, a common employee risk mitigation strategy. We conclude by considering strategies to de-risk relationships between workers with MCI|YOD and employers using dual process theory to understand intuitive and rational decisions in the context of the disability management process.

Breaches and buffers: Can meaningful work impact turnover during COVID-19 pandemic?

The fear and uncertainty created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have strained the employer-employee relationship. This research seeks to understand how psychological contract breach shapes employees' perspectives of meaningful work and its influence on turnover intention. Drawing on event systems theory, we investigated how objective events in the environment (e.g., global pandemic) impact employees. We also argue that the career shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected employees' choices based on their job fit and psychological resources. Findings indicate that experiencing meaningful work reduced turnover intention, especially for those that experienced less psychological contract breach. Also, experiencing meaningful work reduced turnover intention most for individuals whose working hours were not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings show that experiencing meaningful work in a relatively stable job reduces employees' potential turnover during exogenous shocks. The study also highlights the importance of meaningful work and why organizations should collaborate and assist their employees in making work more meaningful.

Delivering High-Quality Primary Care Requires Work That Is Worthwhile for Medical Assistants.

Medical assistants are core members of the primary care team, but health care organizations struggle to hire and retain them amid the ongoing exodus of health care workers as part of the "Great Resignation." To sustain a stable and engaged workforce of medical assistants, we argue that efforts to hire and retain them should focus on making their work worthwhile. Work that is worthwhile includes adequate pay, benefits, and job security, but additionally enables employees to experience a sense of contribution, growth, social connectedness, and autonomy. We highlight opportunities during team huddles, the rooming of patients, and career development where the work of medical assistants can be made worthwhile. We also connect these components to the work design literature to show how clinic managers and supervising clinicians can promote worthwhile work through decision-making and organizational climate. Going beyond financial compensation, these components target the latent occupational needs of medical assistants and are likely to forge employee-employer relationships that are mutually valued and sustained over time.

APPRAISING THE DYNAMICS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS JURISDICTION OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT OF NIGERIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

From the time of its establishment in 1976, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria suffered from a number of constraints and jurisdictional crises. Foremost among these was its non- recognition as a superior court of record as well as the fact that it had no exclusivity of jurisdiction with regards to labour related matters. The passage of the Third Alteration Act to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria came as a ground breaking intervention by firmly entrenching the status of the court as a superior court of record as well as conferring on it exclusive jurisdiction on labour matters. The expansion of the jurisdiction of the court to include among others, human rights issues that have a bearing on labour disputes also carried with it diverse thorny issues that need to be properly addressed and resolved. This paper therefore, attempts to comprehensively identify and analyse these issues bordering on the jurisdiction of the court with special focus on the boundaries of its special human rights jurisdiction as touching on the employer employee relationship. The paper adopts the doctrinal research method in undertaking this research and finds that the expansion of the jurisdiction of the court and the exclusivity of jurisdiction in all such other matters has the potential of restricting access to justice. It calls for the removal of exclusivity of jurisdiction in non-labour related matters, with state high courts having concurrent jurisdiction as well as the creation of additional divisions of the National Industrial Court.