Employment Relations Research Articles (Page 1)

Abstract 1 The employment status of trainees and its influence on labour and social security rights and working conditions is still an unresolved issue. This article analyses the employment status and rights of vocational education trainees in Finland in the light of the EÚs Quality Framework for Traineeships (QFT), and the proposals for a reinforced QFT and a Traineeships Directive. In Finland, vocational education trainees are explicitly excluded from the category of employees. It is argued that this exclusion is not in accordance with the practice of the Court of Justice of the EU or with Finland’s own definition of an employment relationship, and has negative effects on the labour rights and social protection of vocational education trainees. Non-employed vocational education trainees have only limited protection as regards their working time, health and safety, information and equality rights, and their social protection is weaker than that of employees. Nevertheless, due to the Finnish universal social protection system, vocational education trainees are covered by mandatory social protection, which fulfils the requirements of formality, effectivity, adequacy and transparency.

This Study Carefully Examines the legal validity of the protections and guarantees provided by the laws of employees who may lose their jobs without receiving formal written notice. There is a notable disparity: despite the regulatory framework (Law 13/2003,Law 6/2023 on job creation,and PP 35/2021) expressly requiring written procedures, unilateral verbal dismissal remains common. These acts essentially constitute the legal principle,the protective principle (in favorem laboris),and the procedural justice doctrine. Using statutes,conceptual, comparative,and case approaches, this study employs a normative legal methodology. This study focuses on the particular factual case of Novita Sari Naibaho. This analysis is further supported by a review of pertinent jurisprudence to analyze the legal implications,particularly the Serang Industrial Relations Court decision(No.21/Pdt. Sus-PHI/PHI/2025/PN.SRG). The discussion shows that the absence of a formal written notification renders the entire termination process invalid. This study concludes that any dismissal that does not comply with this crucial formal requirement is illegal. In the absence of a final,legally binding court decision,it is implied that the employment relationship is continuous, and the employee retains their full entitlement to all normative rights.

The article examines problematic issues of judicial practice regarding the recovery of average earnings for the period of delay in payment upon dismissal. The relevance of the issue is related to the acceptance by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of cases 306/2708/23 and 489/6074/23 on the recovery of average earnings for the period of delay in payment upon dismissal. The author considers two questions: 1) which version of Art. 117 of the Labor Code of Ukraine should be applied to legal relations on the accrual of average earnings for the period of delay in calculation upon dismissal, if the employee was dismissed before July 19, 2022, that is, before the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Optimization of Labor Relations” No. 2352-IX of July 1, 2022, and the calculation has not been made/is not being made even after the entry into force of such law? 2) does Art. 117 of the Labor Code of Ukraine as amended by the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Optimization of Labor Relations” No. 2352-IX of July 1, 2022, the extension of the conclusions of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, set forth in the resolution of September 26, 2019 in case No. 761/9584/15-ts, to legal relationships that arose/continue after July 19, 2022? It is concluded that labor relations regarding the recovery of average earnings during the delay in payment upon dismissal, which take place in the period before 07/19/2022, are subject to legal regulation in accordance with the provisions of Article 117 of the Labor Code of Ukraine (in the previous version); in the period from 07/19/2022, the provisions of Article 117 of the Labor Code of Ukraine (in the version of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Optimization of Labor Relations” No. 2352-IX of July 1, 2022) are subject to application. The conclusions of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, set out in the resolution of September 26, 2019 in case No. 761/9584/15-ts, should not be applied to employment relationships regarding the recovery of average earnings for the period of delay in payment upon dismissal, which arose/continue after July 19, 2022.

This study investigates the relationship between human resource practices and employee attitudes in private banking sector. The research examines how various HR practices including recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, compensation and benefits, and employee relations influence employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work engagement. Using a quantitative research approach with survey methodology, data was collected from 350 employees across five major private banks. The findings reveal significant positive correlations between effective HR practices and favorable employee attitudes. The study contributes to understanding the critical role of strategic HR management in enhancing employee attitudes and organizational performance in the competitive banking industry.

Purpose Achieving success as a financial institution under Islamic business ethics (IBE) is becoming a substantial challenge for organizations in developing countries. This study aims to examine the relationship between IBE and employee relations climate (ERC), life satisfaction (LSN), competitive strategy (CSY) and financial performance (FPE) in Islamic financial institutions in Egypt. Design/methodology/approach The ethical climate theory underpins the framework of this study. This study’s mode is deductive, and it uses cross-sectional data collected from the middle and top managers of Egyptian financial institutions using an online survey questionnaire. This study uses a sample size of 343. Findings The path analysis reveals a positive association between IBE and ERC, FPE, LSN and CSY. ERC is found to be a positive predictor of FPE and LSN. CSY is positively associated with FPE but negatively with LSN. Finally, ERC mediates the association between IBE and FPE, and CSY mediates the link between IBE and LSN. Practical implications This study provides strategies for managers to promote an ethical organizational culture based on ethics such as trust, honesty and justice to bring success to organizations and well-being among employees. Ultimately, this study’s findings contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence from financial institutions in a developing context. Originality/value This study bridges the gap between Western-centric ethical models and those of Arab developing countries, thereby contributing to its contextual relevance. It offers an integrated framework that connects IBE, ERC, CSY, LSN and FPE, specifically in the financial sector in a developing context.

In today's Human Resource Management (HRM), the use of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) plays a crucial role in enhancing Talent Management (TM). This ongoing study explores the factors influencing HRIS utilisation for TM in local municipalities in Limpopo, South Africa. Many municipalities face persistent challenges, including resistance to change and slow technology adoption, which hinder the transition from manual to digital HR systems, leading to inefficiencies in Talent Acquisition (TA). Adopting a positivist research philosophy, this study employs a correlational non-experimental cross-sectional research design with a quantitative approach for data collection and analysis. The study focuses on top-level management personnel, including HR managers, Training and Development officers, Heads of Departments, and Employee Relations officers from local municipalities in the Vhembe and Mopani districts. The findings will contribute to understanding the key enablers and barriers to HRIS adoption, offering insights for improving digital transformation in HRM within local government institutions.

ABSTRACT This article examines how trade unions in Chile adopted legal mobilisation to address a sociotechnical transformation agenda that triggered wage decline and work intensification. The proposed change involved the implementation of a Functional Flexibility Plan by a multinational retailer, facilitated by in‐store logistics and supermarket front‐end sales technologies. Connecting a Sociotechnical Approach with Employment Relations studies, and using longitudinal qualitative methodologies, the findings show how trade unions were able to circumvent collective bargaining difficulties through strategic litigation, organisational misbehaviour, and political lobbying. This demonstrates that legal mobilisation can be an effective strategy for addressing the labour‐related outcomes of sociotechnical change in a regulatory context where union bargaining power is weak and legal constraints limit negotiations over work organisation. However, in the absence of regulatory frameworks that formally incorporate trade union decision‐making on crucial issues, such as the design and implementation of new technologies, legal mobilisation remains reactive and confined to responding to the consequences of such changes for labour.

This study examines the juridical implications of amending Law No. 13 of 2003 to Law No. 6 of 2023 (Job Creation Law) on termination of employment in Indonesia. As a rechtsstaat country, Indonesia prioritizes the protection of constitutional rights, including workers' rights. However, the Job Creation Law has raised concerns regarding potential violations of workers' constitutional rights, particularly in termination of employment provisions. Using a normative juridical method with statutory, conceptual, and analytical approaches, this research analyzes problematic articles in the Job Creation Law that may contradict constitutional principles. The study finds that several provisions, including those on wages, working hours, employment contracts, and severance pay, have reduced workers' protections compared to the previous labor law. These changes potentially violate constitutional guarantees under Article 27(2) and Article 28D(2) of the 1945 Constitution. The research concludes that the Job Creation Law requires comprehensive evaluation and revision to ensure alignment with constitutional principles and adequate protection of workers' rights. This study contributes to the discourse on labor law reform and provides policy recommendations for strengthening constitutional protections in employment relations.

This article explores the implications of digital labor intermediation platforms in paid domestic work (PDW) in Chile, a sector historically marked by informality and vulnerability. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted with members of the Federation of Domestic Workers’ Unions of Chile (FESINTRACAP), we analyze the narratives of workers who engage with digital platforms to access employment. We propose that these platforms, while expanding job search opportunities, reproduce and exacerbate precarious working conditions by weakening employment relationships, increasing surveillance through rating systems, and reinforcing structural inequalities such as gender, class, and migratory status. Using a grounded theory approach, we identify six thematic categories: (1) Access and Technological Transition, (2) Recruitment and Labor Matching Modalities, (3) Procedures and Technological Requirements, (4) Use of Ratings and Reputation, (5) Perceptions of Autonomy vs. Dependency, and (6) Lack of Regulation and Legal Guarantees. Our findings suggest that digital intermediation reconfigures labor relations under a neoliberal logic of individual responsibility while failing to provide institutional protections. We argue that the digitalization of labor intermediation in PDW deepens the sector’s historical patterns of invisibility and exclusion, highlighting the urgent need for regulatory frameworks that address the specificities of this type of employment.

Against the backdrop of increasingly interconnected environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges, enterprises must formulate sustainable strategies to achieve synergistic development among economic performance, social responsibility, and ecological conservation. As a core organizational resource, human resources serves as a critical enabler for fulfilling corporate social responsibility (CSR) and driving sustainable development. Whether enterprises can enhance the contribution of human resources to the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development is an important issue that currently needs to be studied in the field of human resource management. Therefore, this research follows the grounded theory method, integrates CSR and sustainable development theories, and uses systematic thinking to deeply explore the concept and structure of sustainable human resource management systems, and it develops relevant scales and combines exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis methods to revise and validate the scales. The research results show that the sustainable human resource management system is a multidimensional concept, including the following: employee rights protection, employee training and development, employee occupational health, employee relations management, and sustainable development management; its measurement scale contains five factors, with a total of 20 items. The results of factor analysis indicate that the reliability and validity tests of the developed scale have reached an ideal level. The research results enrich the concept and connotation of sustainable human resource management systems, and the development of the sustainable human resource management systems scale aims to promote the extension of the field of sustainable human resource management systems from theoretical exploration to empirical analysis research, providing a theoretical basis for Chinese enterprises to achieve sustainable development goals.

Abstract The democratic character of Norwegian voluntary organizations is facing tension from rising social inequality and increased demands for specialized expertise. This article explores this tension by examining how social class and individual resources influence board volunteering. We argue that an occupation-based class analysis better captures socioeconomic differences in board volunteering than a resource-theory model by considering both the volume and composition of resources. Using a survey from Norway, we use occupational data to operationalize a scheme that allows us to distinguish class positions according to employment relations and skill requirements. We also control for economic, social, and cultural resources. We find that those in higher-level class positions linked to managerial and socio-cultural occupations, but not technical occupations, are more likely to volunteer on boards. Furthermore, class differences are only partly explained by individual resources, demonstrating that class analysis can complement existing approaches in volunteer research.

The proliferation of automation technologies—including artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithmic management systems—has fundamentally altered the psychological and structural foundations of employment relationships. This article examines how automation reshapes traditional notions of job security and explores evidence-based organizational responses that balance technological adoption with workforce stability. Drawing on empirical research and practitioner cases across manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services, the analysis identifies key interventions: transparent transition planning, skills-based redeployment frameworks, participatory automation design, and hybrid work models that emphasize human-machine complementarity. The article argues that sustainable automation strategies require moving beyond zero-sum displacement narratives toward mutual investment frameworks where technological capability building becomes a shared responsibility. Organizations that proactively recalibrate their employment value propositions demonstrate superior retention, innovation outcomes, and stakeholder trust in technology-intensive environments.

This article examines the regulatory landscape governing temporary employment services (TES) in South Africa, with a focus on job security and the protection of fundamental labour rights. Over the years, the regulation of TES has been problematic, especially with regard to exercising fundamental rights and the right to fair labour practices. Despite legal regulation, TES continue to raise concerns about employees' exploitation and job security. Using a doctrinal and qualitative research methodology, this article explores the vulnerability of TES employees and the complexities inherent in triangular employment relationships. It interrogates constitutional issues, employer accountability and fairness in labour practices in light of landmark decisions like Nape and Assign Services. While there is a recognised need for labour broking relationships, the research underscores persistent concerns surrounding their impact on workers, particularly those earning below the earnings threshold. The article highlights the difficulties of preserving the fundamental rights of and fair labour practices for TES employees. The complexity of the TES relationship is illustrated by means of case law on unfair dismissals and unfair labour practice disputes. The article concludes by making recommendations to bolster the protection of TES employees and to reinforce equitable labour standards.

Understanding the factors that influence the job turnover intention of young people will help businesses build appropriate human resource development strategies that contribute to the stable development of the business. This study analyses the factors influencing the intention to change jobs for young people living in Ho Chi Minh City, a place with rapid economic, scientific, and technological development. The study surveyed 240 people aged 18 to 30 living in Ho Chi Minh City. Then, the study used the PLS-SEM method to evaluate and analyse the surveyed data. The results showed that emotional exhaustion, salary and benefits, organisational commitment, and employee relations affect young people’s job turnover intentions.

Community participation is critical for health, particularly during young adulthood. Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) programs for young adults with early psychosis aim to promote community participation; however, research on practices beyond those focused on employment, education, and family relationships is limited. This qualitative study explored CSC programs' community participation practices across a broad range of areas and the factors influencing their implementation. Following a national survey, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 CSC program leaders to examine ten specific practices. Recorded responses were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed using an integrated thematic analysis approach. Findings revealed that programs implemented a range of practices, including outreach to mainstream organizations, fostering mutual support among clients, facilitating independent community participation, and providing targeted support in spirituality/religion, intimate relationships, and civic engagement activities. Effective leadership, organizational culture, and staff factors (e.g., knowledge, skills, supportive attitudes and behaviors) emerged as key facilitators, while primary barriers included limited resources, staff challenges (e.g., lack of training), and environmental challenges (e.g., stigma, rural settings). Client-level factors, such as motivation and interference from symptoms, and the perceived effectiveness and acceptability of various practices, also impacted implementation. Recommendations include enhancing leadership buy-in, staff training, and creative resource use to overcome barriers and sustain community participation efforts. This study highlights variability across CSC programs and provides actionable strategies to strengthen community participation practices for young adults with early psychosis.

This article develops concepts of moral economy to show how workers’ notions of justice and practices of social reciprocity contribute to the structural conditions and value relations of precarious service employment. The article draws on a project which interviewed 75 young workers employed in the retail, hospitality and call-centre industry, exploring the normative ideas and social relationships that shape how young workers’ negotiate their conditions. Data shows that young workers draw on lay definitions of fairness, entitlement and obligation, to make critical and reflexive moral evaluations of their workplaces, and form moral communities enacted through everyday social reciprocity. Lay moralities are constitutive of the social relations of labour and processes of exploitation in the service economy, because they determine the social legitimacy of working schedules and wages, and because they are the basis for young people’s reflexive evaluation of their position as workers.

This themed section explores the lived experiences, perspectives, agency, and proposals of those systematically positioned at the ‘margins’ of social policy frameworks in Japan and South Korea. The articles focus on the cases of marginalised workers, providers of community care services, and female migrant workers. Employing the lens of structural injustice, the study highlights how these groups have been disadvantaged within the productivist and familial institutional structures of the two countries. The ‘margins’ in these countries have been occupied by people outside of the core employment relationship, such as atypical workers and those performing unpaid or poorly supported care work. Although similar marginalisation occurs globally, disadvantages have concentrated more acutely on these groups in Japan and Korea due to limited decommodification and defamilialisation persisting until recent decades. The articles provide insights into how structurally marginalised people can draw on their unique experiences and perspectives to reflect on existing injustices and potentially to catalyse social change. In the face of increasing labour market precarity and rising demands for care, the studies of this themed section have implications for social policy challenges in work and care beyond the region.

The era of globalization has brought significant changes in the structure and dynamics of industrial relations in various countries, including Indonesia. These changes include the liberalization of the labor market, the entry of foreign investment, and the adoption of new technologies and work systems that demand high flexibility in employment relations. This condition gives rise to various complex employment law implications, both in terms of labor protection, contractual flexibility, and the role of trade unions. This study aims to analyze how the Indonesian labor law system responds to the challenges of globalization in maintaining a balance between the interests of workers and employers and ensuring the stability of industrial relations. A normative legal approach is used by examining national laws and regulations, international conventions, and contemporary industrial relations practices. The results of the study show that there is still a gap between labor law norms and the reality in the field, especially regarding the issues of flexible employment, outsourcing, digitalization of the workforce, and protection of basic workers' rights. Therefore, it is necessary to reformulate employment policies that are adaptive, equitable, and oriented towards the development of harmonious and sustainable industrial relations in the global era.

This research is motivated by the current policy of labor market flexibility in the form of outsourcing and Fixed-Term Employment Agreements (PKWT), which has brought numerous negative impacts, such as uncertainty in employment relationships, wage instability, and the lack of career paths. Instead of serving as a forum for resolving labor issues, the Tripartite Cooperation Institution (LKS), sometimes creates new problems in industrial relations dispute resolution. The objectives of this research are to explain the regulations and role of the Tripartite Cooperation Institution; analyze the implementation and challenges of labor market flexibility in Indonesia today; and explain the role and challenges faced by the Tripartite Cooperation Institution in resolving the industrial relations dispute involving Pertamina tanker crews. The results of this study indicate that the regulations for the Tripartite Cooperation Institution are fully stipulated in Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 8 of 2005. However, the Tripartite Cooperation Institution still encounters various challenges in addressing the negative impacts of the labor market flexibility policy, particularly those that occurred in the case of Pertamina tanker crews.

ABSTRACT Aging well has become a critical topic among scholars and policymakers in the context of global population aging. In Australia, the growing aging population underscores the need for a comprehensive index to measure successful aging. However, challenges such as data limitations, contextual constraints, and the lack of a unified social consensus have hindered efforts to establish nationwide measurements. Inspired by the European Union’s Active Aging Index and employing a consistent theoretical framework and calculation method, this paper develops an Australian aging well index comprising 21 indicators across four domains. The constructed index offers valuable insights into Australia’s strengths and weaknesses in supporting older adults, while also enabling comparative evaluations across nations. Australia demonstrates strong performance in the domains of Independent, Healthy and Secure Living, and Capacity and Enabling Environment; however, improvements are needed in Employment and Social Participation and Relationships. Targeted policy interventions are recommended to enhance employment opportunities and promote social engagement, thereby fostering a more comprehensive approach to aging well.