Work and the Employment Relationship: Practical and Legal Challenges Faced by Organizations

This report discusses the challenges faced by organizations in managing employment relationship in contemporary workplace. It highlights practical and legal challenges such as wage and long working hours, health and safety workplace, leave policies and management, workplace harassment and bullying, annual leave dispute, time keeping and attendance, termination of contracts, lack of trust, unclear company policies, and discrimination. The report also provides recommendations to resolve these issues and maintain a positive and healthy working environment.

Work and the
Employment
Relationship

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
PRACTICAL AND LEGAL CHALLENGES WHICH ORGANIZATION EXPERIENCE IN
MANAGING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP WITHIN CONTEMPORARY
WORKPLACE ...........................................................................................................................3
RECOMMENDATION OF SET OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ISSUES .......................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION
Employment relation is the relationship between employee and employer. It is the
responsibility of an organization to maintain a cordial relationship with their employees through
which they can meet enhance organizational performance, meet organizational objectives and
generate higher profits. An effective employee relation can support business for longer period of
time span within the industry and will support in maintaining competitive position within the
industry. Employee relation can create positive as well as negative impact on the overall
organizational productivity and brand image within the industry(Ainsworth and Knox, 2021) .
Hays Plc is operating as a recruiting agency which was started in 1867 and is operating in around

33 countries where they are offering their services. The company have around 10,438 employees
in around more than 265 offices. The recruitment agency is the working towards recruiting
potential candidates for company through which companies can get selected candidates which
can be a human capital for an organization. This project will define the work and employment
relationships. The project will discuss challenges which will be faced by an organization in
managing relationships within contemporary workplace. The report will also outline some set of
employment relation issues.
TASK
PRACTICAL AND LEGAL CHALLENGES WHICH ORGANIZATION EXPERIENCE
IN MANAGING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP WITHIN CONTEMPORARY
WORKPLACE
Employee relations- Employee relation is the process of studying the inter relationship between
employee and employer. An organization puts efforts towards maintaining these relations for a
healthy environment. With the help of positive employee relation, an organization can retain
their employees, increase employee engagement and enhance employee and organizational
productivity(Babenko, 2018). A positive employee relationship is helpful in building motivated
workforce which will be helpful in enhancing creativity and innovation of employees. In case of
Hays Plc, the company focuses on building strong and positive employee relation which
enhances overall organizational performance. It works towards positive employee behavior for
increase in their productivity. There are several practical and legal challenges which can be faced
by Hays Plc while managing employment relationship within contemporary workplace-
 Wage and long working hours- Unfair and unequal wages among different workers and
long working hours has been a major concern of employees. By offering fair and equal
wages, they can encourage employees to feel valued and motivated which will boost their
performance and enhance their productivity. Long working hours may create a gap
between the employee and the employer and can give rise to conflicts, disturbing the
relationship and generating a negative environment, resulting in poor performance and a
lack of creativity by the employees in the organization (Barker and Christensen, 2019).
Wages and long working hours were one of Hays Plc's concerns while expanding their

business internationally on the global level, since they affected employee willingness and
performance expectations.
 Health and safety workplace- One of the key concerns of employees is the company's
health, security and safety policies and programmes, through which they may feel
comfortable and in their absence an employee may feel demotivated. Thus, the
organization while functioning are taking responsibility for its employees' health and
safety at work. This is one of the most serious concerns that may have a negative impact
on the employee-employer relationship, since excessive working pressure and extended
working hours can have a severe impact on employees' health, which can significantly
impact their performance leading to a chaos at the workplace. In the case of Hays Plc, a
lack of health and safety for employees resulted in a lack of motivation and enthusiasm
on the part of employees to collaborate with the company in expanding the business into
other nations. It also proved negative in reaching out for loyalty from the employees
towards the organization.
 Leave policies and management- One of the essential functions that might have an
influence on employee interest and performance while working in any company or
organization is leave policy, attendance, and management of day to day activities. Such
issues make it difficult for an organization to carry out all of its activities on a consistent
basis, which might lead to a rise in staff turnover and absenteeism(Dundon, 2019) . Due
to a lack of technical use and software, a firm may encounter several issues in keeping
track of an employee's attendance and leaves, which may have an impact on the
compensation and incentives that are paid to them as a reward for their work on a
monthly basis. In the case of Hays Plc, the firm was unable to keep track of employee
departures and attendance owing to a lack of register or bio-metric record in their
infrastructure and technology use, which harmed employee relations and, as a result, had
a direct impact on the company's brand image in the sector which worsened in the market
area of the industry.
 Workplace harassment and bullying- One of the most serious challenges that has been
fast increasing and can be seen at a lot of places is workplace harassment and bullying,
which has a negative impact on the employer-employee relationship and can harm the
company's reputation in the industry. Such wrongful activities and misbehavior if

encouraged on the organizational level may result in legal ramifications, affecting
employee relations and the organization's goodwill image among the competitors. In the
case of Hays Plc, the company focused on expanding their business on a global scale by
establishing subsidiary companies in various locations, where employees were subjected
to workplace bullying due to lack of regulations by the heads of the departments, which
resulted in a lack of interest in meeting assigned targets due to negative impressions on
the mental health and negatively impacted their performance standards(Idowu, Ilesanmi
and Oyetunde, 2020).
 Annual leave dispute- Annual leave which is granted to workers while working in an
organization, is one of the primary factors that has had an influence on the relationship
between employee and employer. If they are not granted annual leaves on time they
frame negative image of the organization in their minds. Employee-employer
relationships can be harmed by a lack of communication, and as a result, corporate rules
such as the firm's leave policy might have an impact on the company's management
operations (Morgan and Hauptmeier, 2021). In the case of Hays Plc, the firm has
experienced several obstacles relating to annual leave conflicts, all of which have had a
significant influence on the workers' desire and willingness to undertake all management
responsibilities which they incur while working within the organization. The company's
annual leave policy contains numerous good and negative provisions, which motivate
employees towards work and on the other hand it has the potential to harm employee-
employer relationships owing to a lack of communication and increased
misunderstanding between them. Thus disputes relating to leaves must be resolved in
time.
 Time keeping and attendance- One of the challenges that the company may have is
keeping accurate records of employees and maintaining their attendance sheets, which are
used to calculate their salaries (Nguyen, 2021). Without these the employees may lose
out on their pay. With the case of Hays Plc, the firm ran into problems when working in
subsidiary companies and owing to a lack of technology they were not able maintain
records which gave rise to a crisis at the end of the month while preparing the salary data
of employees. These challenges caused the company to fall behind in keeping current
records of all personnel and led to the downfall of their image in the market.

 Termination of contracts- By terminating signed contracts and reducing salaries
employee behavior towards organization is affected, this is one of the issues that an
organization may face, and it has a significant impact on the employee-employer
relationship, affecting employee performance. In the case of Hays Plc, the company
experienced issues that had a negative influence on the connection between employee and
employer, resulting in a gap between them. Employee relationships were harmed as a
result of a lack of communication and an inability to understand each others issues and
incompetency in discussing their solutions, which had an impact on production and
competency of the employees. Such misconduct resulted in a lack of faith in the
employer and the whole organization, which was a key problem for the corporation and
led to termination of various contracts (Samwel, 2018).
 Lack of trust- One of the challenges that had a significant influence on employee
relations was a lack of trust, which affected employee performance and the broader
organization's performance, resulting in a gap between them, preventing them from
achieving the intended objectives. When there is lack of trust bin the mind of an
employee, they are unable to give their best performance. In the case of Hays Plc, the
company was unable to build trust among employees while working in different locations
for global expansion of the business, which resulted in a lack of trust between employee
and employer, making things more unclear and affecting the flow of information,
communication, and decision-making within the organization.
 Unclear company policies- Company policies that were unclear and unfavorable to
employees and the entire organization made it difficult for the company to maintain a
productive connection between the employer and the employee. Because unclear are the
least productive ones. Such variables might alter the connection between employer and
employee due to a lack of appropriate leave regulations, discrimination policies, and
other employee safety policies. In the case of Hays Plc, the company faced numerous
challenges in employee relations as a result of their company policies while expanding
their business into the global market, as the organization lacked an ethical code of
conduct and a strategically designed procedure which could be followed by all the
employees while working , resulting in a high level of misunderstanding among them

that harmed the employees' overall performance in the company (Shaw, McPhail and
Ressia, 2018) .
 Discrimination- It is a big and critical aspect that can have an influence on employee
relations since workplace discrimination leads to a bad and unhealthy working
environment and impacts the minds of the employee leaving a negative image, which
affects employee performance and the productivity of the whole organization goes for a
toss. Discrimination between male and female personnel, as well as discrimination based
on race, color, caste, or religion, can make it difficult for the organization to carry out its
intended initiatives. This discrimination can be seen in giving a certain post to an
employee, Unequal pay and in promotions. In the case of Hays Plc, the firm encountered
a problem in that it was occasionally unable to manage and address discriminatory
concerns that arose within the organization. There were rising conflicts due to the
growing discrimination between the employee due to their intolerant behavior. Due to the
discrimination and incompetence of the organization, it has affected employee-employer
relationships and created a gap in the organization, preventing them from attaining their
targeted objectives while expanding their business worldwide through subsidiary firms in
the industry.
RECOMMENDATION OF SET OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ISSUES
Employee relation issues- Any problem that arises as a result of disagreements,
discrimination, restrictions, harassment, or other difficulties that influence the employee-
employer relationship are issues that they encounter. Such challenges are accountable for
influencing relationships among the members of an organization and affecting the company's
brand image in the marketplace among the competitors.
There are numerous procedures and processes that Hays Plc may take to resolve
employee relations and the challenges that the firm encountered while growing their business
and operating in subsidiaries in the worldwide market; some of the tips that would be useful to
them to build a positive environment are listed below:
 Giving feedback- Employees can be given regular feedback on a timely basis on their
performance level in the organization and made aware of performance gaps that could be
improved by them by enhancing their productivity and its quality(Townsend, 2019) .
Thus both the employee and the employer should strive to understand each others

perspectives in order to create an effective and strong organizational performance and a
positive and healthy working environment. In the case of Hays Plc, the company should
concentrate on providing regular feedback to employees based on their performance
standards and encouraging them to form mutual corrective measures through which they
can improve employee relations and develop effective approaches to meeting
performance standards. Such positive measures will strengthen employee relations while
also reducing the negative impact of difficulties in their performance level on the
company.
 Stating expectations clearly- By clearly outlining the expectations that the employers of
the organization have with the employees, the organization will be able to offer clarity to
the employees and their intended aims by clear policies, allowing them to fulfil the
required standards(Verčič and Ćorić, 2018) . This may be accomplished via excellent
communication and understanding among the different departments of the company. In
the case of Hays Plc, the organization may settle conflicts between employees and
employers by conveying the desired expectations and criteria that employees must meet
while working in the organization.
 Maintaining anti-discrimination- Anti-discrimination will assist the organization in
promoting a pleasant workplace where no one is superior or inferior in terms of gender,
race, religion, color and where individuals may feel accepted, appreciated, and respected
by encouraging the policies of anti-discrimination in the workplace. In the case of Hays
Plc, the corporation must promote and encourage all workers to stop and prevent
prejudice in the workplace and reduce practices which may seem discriminatory so that a
pleasant and positive working environment may be maintained at the level of the
organizational culture, which will boost employee performance and organizational
efficiency. Such constructive steps will aid in the maintenance of a healthy, respectful,
positive and dignified working environment, which will aid in the avoidance of problems
and the formation of a balanced employee relationship in the organization. These
practices can boost the morale of the individuals by increasing their productivity at work
and encouraging a tolerant behavior(White, Lockett and Currie, 2020).

CONCLUSION
It can be summarised from the project that for a smoother functioning of an organization
maintaining work and employment relations is very important. A positive employee relationship
must be encouraged at the organizational level. The employer-employee relationship must be
cooperative and should involve proper communication and understanding. Employee relationship
has positive and negative effects on the culture and productivity of the organization. The brand
image can be completely transformed by it. The relations can be improved by providing timely
feedbacks to the employees, by clearly defining the roles, responsibilities and expectations, by
inculcating clear organizational policies and creating an anti- discriminatory environment, by
communicating the issues to the employees,etc. These can help in building a supportive
environment with clear communication system. Thus with respect to the above chosen company
Hays Plc, it should avoid heavy work load on employees and should clearly indicate the policies
of the organization so that trust can be built among the employer and employees. This way the
company can become successful.

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