Employee Relations (Essay Sample)

Employees Relations
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University Affiliation
Introduction
Employee relations take into consideration the body of work which is concerned with maintaining the relationships between the employer and the employees (Slater, 2003). With regard to this, employee relation influences satisfactory productivity, morale as well as motivation within the organization (Chan, 2011). This implies that employee relations plays a significant role in preventing as well as resolving problems regarding various individuals which within the workplace setting. Adequate advice to supervisors is vital when it comes to correcting the performance and also the misconduct of the employees. In addition, during employee relations, information is usually provided to all the employees in the organization (Slater, 2003). This is for the purpose of correcting poor performance and also addressing personal issues that they encounter in the cause of their duties within the organization. Bearing this in mind employees are usually advised about the legal framework of the organization. On this, it involves well understanding of legislation, applicable regulations, and bargaining agreements. Again, employees need to know about their grievance as well as appeal rights (Massengill, 2013).
Legal framework is necessary for employees in order to avoid poor relationship with their employers. With regards to this paper, it focuses on the legal frame Walmart and impacts on the organizational structure of the company. On this, it considers the employee relations in the organization. One of the main focuses is the strict policies concerning labor unions.
Walmart
Wal-Mart is a multinational retail corporation headquartered in the United States of America (Slater, 2003). It runs large chains of discount stores as well as stores. Taking the 2013 Fortune Global 500 list, the company is the second largest public corporation in the world. In addition, the corporation is the world’s largest private employer. Being the largest retailer worldwide, Walmart have more than two million employees (Slater, 2003). The corporation is family owned, and the family owns over 50% of the company (Massengill, 2013).
Walmart has more than 11000 stores, located in 27 countries in various parts of the world. However, the companies operate under 55 different names in many parts of the world. With regards to the United States, Walmart division here is the largest division and it accounts for about 258 billion US dollar (Kipple, Kipple & Wherry, 2010). It comprises of three common places which have become well known across the United States. These include Walmart Markets, Supercentres, and Discount Stores. All these places have made the company to be able to employ many employees.
Legal Framework
Legal framework takes into consideration the regulations and policies that govern a certain jurisdiction (Massengill, 2013). Just like any other organization, Walmart has its own legal framework that governs the employees. This is for the purpose of making sure that the organization runs as intended.
As the largest retailer and also the largest private employer all over the world, Walmart has made headlines over the past few years at unprecedented rate (Kipple et al., 2010). Most of these headlines revolve about the infamous employment practices of the organization. This is because of the legal framework of the organization with regard to its policing on employees. The company is not only criticized for its unfavorable policies on employment, but also because of its low employee retention. In addition, the organization has become a symbol of what many could describe as wrong employers (Kipple et al., 2010).
Over the past few years, workers have protested against the organization because of its policies as well as business practices. These include charges of racial as well as gender discrimination. With regard to the policies of the organization, the organization does not support labor unions, and it has been against them for many years (Slater, 2003). Despite having more than 2 million, employees, the organization remain union free. This is not common for such an organization. The organization has been tough on individuals who have tried to unionize the employees. This is because the company understands the impacts of having labor unions. Due to this, Walmart has been able to manipulate the employees as without unions, the welfare of the workers is not considered (Kipple et al., 2010).
Labor unions play a significant part in ensuring that the welfare of employees is taken care of. They advocate for good working environment and considerable wage (Kipple et al., 2010). In addition, labor unions usually enhance job security of which is a major concern for most employees. Taking this into consideration, Walmart does not embrace labor unions for its workers. This is because it understands the power of unions when it comes to protecting workers against malpractices such as discrimination and low salary.
One of the main issues among employees of Walmart is scheduling. On this, employees usually have a certain number of tasks to perform during their normal working day. Just like any other typical workplaces, some tasks become complicated and hence the workers are not able to complete during the set time (Massengill, 2013). The company, however, have set strict policies when it comes to overtime and therefore, in many situations, shelves are left unstocked. The employees in the organization have been trying to form unions for the purpose of changing these policies. Only after changing these policies that the employees will find the company a conducive place to work. However, the attempt to form unions has not bore any fruits over the last many years (Griffin, 2008). This is because the organization has been keen on this issue and hence and it has taken the step of prosecuting those who try to unionize the workers. This has made many workers intimidated and hence making the formation difficult (Vance & Scott, 2004). This implies the workers have continued to work in what they call unfavorable working environment.
Despite the many strikes of employees of Walmart regarding their welfare, the company has not changed its legal frame work when it comes to formation of labor unions (Massengill, 2013). The Walton family, owners of the company, has been anti-union historically. Therefore, it has become extremely difficult reaching employees who often have the fear of retaliation from the organizational management (Twomey, 2010).
Impacts
The legal framework of Walmart had had significant impacts on employees and the company at large. Taking this into account, employees have continued to suffer under the management of the organization (Twomey, 2010). Despite the numerous strikes that the employees have initiated advocating for increase in salary and better working conditions, it has not bore any fruits (Twomey, 2010). This is because the workers do not have unions to cater for their welfare in the workplace. The strict policy regarding formation of unions deters many employees from getting involved with activity (Massengill, 2013). The few who are courageous enough ...