Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations Essay

The discrimination taking place for Sally and her family could be considered to be direct; Sally is being treated less favourably than her peers, associative; Sally comes from a travelling community & perceptive; expectations within the local community and key worker that Sally will move away from the area. Sally is also being denied equal opportunities.

Workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day (this could be a tea or lunch break), if they work more than 6 hours a day.

Breaks for health needs should be required so that those with health conditions can monitor their health properly. What’s covered under a health condition could vary, an example would be diabetes, and employees with this condition would need breaks to check blood sugar, take insulin, and eat to raise blood sugar if necessary. If someone is suffering from high

Temporary workers are also are entitled to legal rights under the employment rights act (1996) and the Agency workers regulations (2010) such as: equal working conditions, holiday leave entitlement which is usually with the same amount of days as a fixed term/permanent employee pro-rata, the 48 hours a week working time regulations and the 12 week qualifying period”.

It is imperative that the employee can balance his/her working life against his/her personal life. With sufficient time off and rest periods, employees will feel “looked after” and be motivated to put in more effort. There will be a reduction of mistakes because the employee has had adequate rest which results in a more positive working environment. Employers who introduce such practices in the work place in order to help employees achieve a better and satisfactory work/life balance can expect to see an increase in motivation, enhanced performance/productivity and greater staff loyalty. By implementing a positive work/life balance, companies are successful, secure a good reputation and promote positive employee relations. The Working Time Regulations 1998 stipulates that employers should provide employees with the following basic rights:

Discrimination can be in four different forms. According to the textbook, it can be in the form of intentional, where you are fully conscious and deliberately discriminate. Also, there is the opposite, unintentional discrimination, where you are “not consciously or deliberately sought, but is brought about by stereotypes or as an unintended outcome”. Individual discrimination occurs with one or few individuals acting on their own. Institutional discrimination is a “result of the actions of all or numerous people in an institutional and of their routine processes and policies”. In a work environment when discrimination occurs, it can be from an intentional and unintentional point of view. When working in an environment it is valuable to understand and reason before you have a conversation, as the listener may grasp it in a different way, therefore they can feel discriminated.

There are three different kinds of discrimination forbidden by law. Direct Discrimination occurs when a worker is treated less favourably on the grounds of race, colour, and nationality, ethnic or national origin. Direct discrimination is relatively easy to identify but can be more difficult to prove. Indirect Discrimination is more complicated and can be difficult to prove in a court or tribunal.

4) Vacation time. Employees are entitled to 12 paid public holidays and an annual leave of at least 28 calendar days. For some categories of employees, the minimum annual leave established by legislation can exceed 28 calendar days.

The definition of a four day work week varies depending who you are talking to. It can refer to four eight hour days; four ten hour days; or even four twelve to fourteen hour days. However all variations of a four day work week fall under the umbrella term “alternative work arrangement.” This term refers to any work schedule that varies from the standard five, eight hour work day that the majority of the United States population is used to (Bird 1063). For the purposes of this paper I will be talking about a compressed four day work week, not a shortened four day work week or extended four day work week, this refers to a four hour work week I will be talking about a schedule that consists of four, ten hour days, which is still a full forty hour work week.

In America it is our culture to work a standard 40 hour work week. Any hours in excess of this are compensated heavily. It is a law that has become our cultural norm, so much so that when it is expressed that someone is working overtime, it is often met with empathy. The contract of employee and employer in America is perceived as a mutual contract with at will to terminate by either party at any time. In Japan, there are no laws that govern a workday; rather it is their cultural norm to provide their employer with as much of their time as possible, out of respect and gratitude

Employers can offer a range of different programs and initiatives, such as flexible working arrangements in the form of part time, casual and telecommuting work. More proactive employers can provide compulsory leave, strict maximum hours and foster an environment that encourages employees not to continue working after hours.

In a company, the support team staff would be required to work shifts that will provide coverage for the employees when the offices are officially opened, they will also need to provide extra time in the evening and weekends, where they will carry out the essential maintenance which may have to involve some downtime. The hours that an employee will have to work will be set out for them in what is called an employment contract. They will be limited by the EU legislation and some other regulations such as working time regulations, which will provide the basic right and protections such as:

Employee relations concentrate on the management and maintenance of the employment relationship between employer and employee. This means dealing with employees either through trade unions or individually to bargain for employment practices, terms and conditions of employment and grievances or disciplinary action. It also seeks to providing employees with a voice (Armstrong, 2012).

10.3. The Company 's holiday year runs from 1st March to end of February. Your entitlement to leave days is calculated on an annual basis. You may not take paid leave for a period greater than your accumulated entitlement calculated by reference to the hours you have worked since the start of your employment or the beginning of the last

Vacations and holidays will be according to the Employees holiday act of 1954 where 1 ½ days a week, 7 medical and 21 annual days and all public and mercantile holidays are an entitlement.