MANAGING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS IN A GLOBAL

CONTEXT
 Table of Contents

Introduction...............................................................................................................2

Discussion on the significant employment relation issues and challenges affecting

the United States........................................................................................................3

Issues related to lack of trust..................................................................................3

Issues related to job satisfaction.............................................................................4

Communication issues............................................................................................5

Issues related to recognition and appreciation.......................................................6

Discrimination issues.............................................................................................6

Critical assessment of the implications of managing the issue of employment

relations in the United States.....................................................................................8

Managing lack of trust............................................................................................8

Evaluating the employee job dissatisfaction..........................................................9

Regulating communication issues........................................................................10

Managing recognition and appreciation...............................................................11

Controlling discrimination issues.........................................................................11

Conclusion...............................................................................................................13

References...............................................................................................................14

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Introduction

Employment relationships refer to the relationship between an employer and the employees,
which eventually impacts the overall business activities of an organization in the long run. In
today's highly globalized world, managing employment relationships has become a challenging
task to carry out. Therefore, it directly impacts various activities associated with Human
Resource Management (HRM). In this report, a detailed discussion will be made on the different
essential aspects of employment relations, including the challenges present in the field and how
they may be appropriately managed in the United States.

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Discussion on the significant employment relation issues and challenges
affecting the United States

Issues related to lack of trust

Trust issues have always been a significant factor which impacted employment relations to a
considerable extent, where employees of the United States often find it difficult to trust their
employers on various grounds, including job roles and emotional detachment from the
employers. Several laws and regulations regulate employment relations in the U.S., such as the
Equal pay act, Immigration Reform and Control Act, Fair labour Standard Act, Medical leave
act, discrimination law and sexual harassment act (Frege and Kelly, 2020). In the U.S., a lack of
trust arises when there is a conflict between the interest, not allocating proper wages to
employees, not feeling safe in the workplace and not being able to get the right to the work
leaves.

Figure 1: Factors associated with trust

Source: (Frege and Kelly, 2020)
Lack of trust creates an unhealthy work culture where employees do not disclose or share all the
necessary information with the employer, negatively impacting employment relations and
organization performance. Effective implementation of employment relations laws can reduce
the trust issues between the employee and the employer (Chiang et all., 2017). In the United

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States, several organisations are adversely affected due to the lack of trust between the employee
and employer (Katz and Colvin, 2015).

Issues related to job satisfaction

Positive employment relations always depend on job satisfaction. In the United States, it is
claimed that the notion of minimum wage is not always successful in identifying competent
employees rather than individuals with soft skills, which impacts an organization's performance.
This practice can negatively impact employment relations (The Economist. 2022). Job
satisfaction of the employees also depends on the job roles given to specific employees, and it
becomes a crucial factor in maintaining a good employment relationship. The United States is no
exception to it. Regularly changing work duties and responsibilities causes employee
dissatisfaction with their jobs, negatively influencing the employment relationship. The
employment relationship in the United States was negatively affected by the covid-19 epidemic
because organizations could not create profit at the time. Thus, they implemented wage cutbacks
and changed work conditions, such as working from home. In such a case, companies are
obligated to terminate the employment of a large number of employees. This circumstance
negatively influences employment relationships (Bartik et all., 2020).
The HRM department of organizations in the United States often fails to implement and adopt
strategies and policies that may improve the employees' job satisfaction levels and negatively
impact the employment relationships. HR managers and executives in U.S. organizations play an
increasingly important role in resolving difficulties in the workplace while also improving cross-
cultural working environments. (Edwards, 2004).

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 Figure 2: Ensuring job satisfaction means ensuring good employee relations in the US
(Source: Edwards, 2004)

Communication issues

Communication issues are the most critical issues regarding employment relations. Without
proper communication, an employee cannot create a good employment relations culture within
the workplace. For a cordial connection among employees, communication must be open and
accurate. The clarity in thoughts is essential. Issues related to communication are considered to
be one of the most common issues affecting employment relations in the United States, and due
to this reason, changes in the HRM policies and strategies play a crucial role in maintaining
healthy and effective employment relations in the long run (Frege and Kelly, 2020). It may be
claimed that managing the diversified workforce of corporations operating in the United States is
challenging. Due to cultural differences, diversified employees are not effectively
communicating with their employer, negatively impacting employment relations.
Employers in the United States often fail to understand the importance of maintaining a solid
network of communication in the organization, which becomes an essential factor in strategically
handling organizational conflicts. Maintaining proper communication has arisen as a significant
challenge in the United States in maintaining successful employment relations. Cross-cultural
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employment relationship management in the United States is a developing concern today. Since
it is impossible to conduct global business efficiently if there is no relationship between the
diverse labour and the employers. (Sanchez et. all, 2020)

Issues related to recognition and appreciation

Employers often fail to understand the importance of recognizing and appreciating the efforts
made by employers, which ultimately impacts the entire employment relationship negatively by
reducing the levels of motivation of the employees of the United States. Employee recognition is
as much an organisational management issue as it is one of the basic employee demands. HR
managers in the United States occasionally overlook employees that have done a fantastic job.
The failure to recognize the employee's task negatively influences the employment relationship.
Acknowledging even the most minor efforts made by employees, on the other hand, stimulates
and motivates employees to a large extent, which has a beneficial influence on employment
relations. The HR departments of numerous corporations and organizations have been hesitant to
pay attention to employees' efforts, causing employment relations in the United States to
deteriorate. Employees' productivity and loyalty to the company are improved if the HR manager
can ensure a good employment relationship. As a result, it has become a necessary component of
sustaining strong employment relationships in the United States. Policies and strategies related to
organizational structure become important in dealing with several topics related to Human
Resource Management (HRM) to run global business operations hassle-free (White, 2018).

Discrimination issues

Discrimination in the workplace has always been a significant issue throughout the world, and
the United States is no exception to it, where employees often face problems and challenges
related to discrimination based on gender, culture and skin colour. Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, or Origin in other
aspects of employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is in charge of this
law. It can occur when an employee is mistreated due to colour, skin tone, social status, sex,
incapacity, or age. It is against the law to differentiate employees on anything connected with
business. Discrimination can likewise stretch out to keeping business open doors from workers

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due to their relationship with a person of a specific race, religion, or nationality. Managers
should illuminate representatives about their privileges under EEOC regulations and incorporate
that all workers will be liberated from reprisal if they document a discrimination objection.
Employers often fail to mitigate the issues resulting from the discrimination, which harms
employment relationships (Barker and Christensen, 2019).
Discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity is a significant factor affecting employment
relations in the United States. HR managers must create solid policies and procedures to deal
with the discrimination problem. Changes in management techniques and implementation
cooperation at all levels may be effective in the United States. Discrimination issues, whether
direct or indirect, must be dealt with utmost attention to managing employment relations
positively by ensuring better organizational culture.

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Critical assessment of the implications of managing the issue of employment
relations in the United States

Employment relations focus on creating and keeping up with positive relations among an
organization's employees. While worker relations are a piece of HR, it is essential to convey
between the business and the employees and provide rules and regulations that create healthy
employment relations. The most crucial part of business management is the
employment relationship. It manages employee concerns such as hiring and retention, training
and development, recognition, working hours, salary distribution, dispute resolution, workplace
safety, and termination. It goes hand in hand with the business structure and relevant market
operations to preserve a healthy connection between employer and employee to collaborate for
organizational success.

Managing lack of trust

Managing Trust in the workplace is an essential aspect of the organization that distinguishes
employee efforts and performance to advance corporate operations toward long-term
sustainability. The more reliable employer may generate employee happiness with a healthy
work-life balance which positively accommodates the business goal with increased productivity
and employee relationship with the organization for a solid commitment to achieving the market
heights. Ultimately, employers in the United States legally must monitor their employees to
engage and direct employee trust issues. They must empathize with and frequently acknowledge
the challenges while taking a constructive approach to resolving the issues under effective
leadership. The management usually listens to both sides without any biases, which may
encourage the employee's trust in the employer with clear foresight and protection of employee
interest in a pragmatic approach. According to state and federal government legislation in the
United States, such as the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the
Family and Medical Leave Act, management practices proactively interact with employees to
avoid disputes and lack of trust. Further, these laws are guiding and strengthening the American
employer to manage the employee relations fulfilling individual concerns with workplace safety,
anti-discriminatory approaches, clear vision and objectives, team bonding, recognition and

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energizing for innovation with personal benefits and development to accompany the individual
aspects in the organization (Greenhouse, 2009).

Evaluating the employee job dissatisfaction

Employee job satisfaction is a vital aspect of the employee-employer relationship where

employee aspects are crucial for business management and organizational benefit. High job
satisfaction has reduced employee turnover. On a specific note, low payment, underemployment,
lack of opportunity, emotional discretion and health issues contribute to job dissatisfaction and
negatively impact the overall business status. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has enforced
more than 100 labour laws for consecutive terms to increase employers' participation in
managing employee choice. The Fair Labour Standard Act has accommodated the organizational
internal business conduct. The Employment and Labour Laws 2021 has specified the
responsibility of both the employee and employer relation in a straightforward way to
communicate the government decision amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and growing employee
dissatisfaction. Moreover, frequent engagement with the employee effectively addresses the
issue with a personal development plan and the opportunity to explore the potential for
promotion and development for better job credibility and satisfaction with psycho-physical
support (Katz and Colvin, 2020).

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 Figure 3: Employee well-being in the workplace
(Source: Katz and Colvin, 2020)

Regulating communication issues

Communication is the essential part of an organization where it enables the acknowledgement of

organizational policy and vision to achieve market competitiveness where lack of
communication may ruin the business outcome adversely. Managers who devote time and effort
to establishing clear communication procedures build confidence among their employees. Solid
trust among employees and organizations leads to increased confidence and efficiency.
Administrators are more forthright about forthcoming changes that affect their groups, and
groups work even more successfully. Instead of managing the leadership ladder, when a
representative has an issue that must be addressed, they send a direct communication to the
appropriate person, resulting in a speedy response. Good and omnidirectional communication
assists the employer in developing a good employment relationship within the workplace which
help to identify the individual effort of the employees. To improve the coordination and

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collaboration within company operations, it is necessary to remove communication barriers and
difficulties to handle the strong connection between employers and employees. In the US, the
National Employment Relation Act has been adopted to protect the rights of employees and
employers, encourage collective bargaining, and curtail certain ill-practises of labour and
management practices in the private sector. Additionally, the federal Service Labor-Management
Relation Statue has verified the miscommunication in the organizational management where
employer personal effectiveness shapes the working culture with cooperation and conflict
management along with the diverse employee strength. The enhanced communication among the
employees and management may boost the employee trust and satisfaction with an improvised
business procedure for inspiration to creativity and innovation (Baldé et all.,2018).

Managing recognition and appreciation

Employee recognition and appreciation are critical for establishing positive employee relations.
Providing positive feedback based on the results or performance of the employee is called
employee recognition. The feedback can be an award, a bonus, a promotion, or a pay boost. In
such cases, casual recognition is given: an oral thanks, a handmade note. Every one of these
techniques can be effective, mainly if they are implemented promptly and sincerely. They're
likewise encouraging and interesting because everyone wishes to be recognized for their hard
work. On the other hand, appreciation is about recognizing an employee's intrinsic worth. Their
achievements aren't the point. It's about their value as a colleague and a person. Appreciation and
recognition of exemplary performance always motivate the employee to exert more excellence in
performance management to outstandingly represent the organizational value and practice.
(Bamber et al., 2015). Apart from that, appraisal, reward, bonus, remote working opportunity,
promotion, and leaves are the possible way to indicate the appreciation and recognition for
employee performance and forward the confidence level of the employee for managing everyday
tasks more smoothly.

Controlling discrimination issues

Discrimination is still prohibited more than half a century after groundbreaking civil rights laws
like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 declared it illegal. Furthermore, by excluding

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smaller companies, federal anti-discrimination rules such as Title VII have carved out
protections for many of our most vulnerable workers, such as domestic workers and migrant
farmworkers on small farms. Organizational effectiveness and employee satisfaction depend
greatly on corporate culture, where discrimination is treated as an intolerant approach. Employee
relations are crucial for the employer to serve the customer with essential products and services
proficiently. The organisation's internal management actively takes care of employees to
generalize the company policy to all employees (Frege and Kelly, 2020). It articulates the health
and well-being of individual employees. It offers an opportunity to quickly address the complaint
in the organization, avoiding micromanagement and sharing the benefit of doubts for more
engagement and participation of employees in the organizational framework of people
management.

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Conclusion

In a concluding remark, it needs to be clearly stated that employment relations in the modern
business world play an extremely vital role in maintaining a strong workforce which helps
maximise an organisation's productivity and performance. Focusing on the various issues and
difficulties connected with employment relations in the United States, for example,
discrimination in the working environment, problems associated with trust, and matters related to
job satisfaction and employee recognition, helps organizations accomplish ideal degrees of
efficiency alongside meeting hierarchical goals. Finally, managing the issues and confronting the
challenges associated with employment relations will also provide better ways to retain skilled
employees for better growth and development of companies in the future.

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