Employment laws, policies and process

Introduction

Policies of an organization towards their employees is one of the most important factors in not only acquisition of employees but also in their retention. Tesco is a multinational company, because of which there is a diversity in workforce. It follows a policy were all the employees are treated equally. Employees are hired on the basis of a contract, and they are given the same benefits regarding work and holiday which is in line with the laws followed by the nation. Employees are also given the liberty to join trade union of their choice which is in coherence with the laws of a country. Safety of the employees is one of the top priorities of the company and it tries to achieve it by reducing the risk in workplace. Employees, on a regular basis are given health and safety training (TESCO, 2007).

Job interview process and employment laws

Since employees are an asset to the company it becomes critical to have an efficient mechanism for selecting an employee. Organizational decision makers prefer employment interview as the most preferred selection technique (Macan, 2009). The very first step is the preliminary screening of the candidates and find out the suitability for the position based on technical knowledge, previous work experience, and other credentials. This helps in narrowing down the number of applicants and selecting the right candidate for interview. The interview will be divided into two parts first will be telephonic round and second will be face to face interview. Telephone interview is a cost effective measure to determine the suitability of the candidate for the face to face interview process. This helps in understanding the communication skills of the candidate and at the same time helps to learn more about the candidate. After this there will be a group discussion round with the other applicants for the job. This will help in understanding the different quality aspect of the candidate such as team handling capabilities, leadership traits and how well he works in a group, . The next process would be face to face interview which will include a technical and the HR round. Technical round will be held to find out the hard skills of the candidate in a particular domain for e.g. if hiring is done for a financial analyst the candidate should have sufficient knowledge in finance related topics. The final round will be the HR round where the candidate will be explained about the job responsibilities and tests will be conducted to check on his soft skills, temperament and dedication towards work.  The United Kingdom government has laid certain laws for the interview process, two such laws are that a candidate cannot be questioned about criminal conviction and date of birth. The company would face difficulty in implementing these laws because firstly some job role requires an employee to travel abroad, and if an employee had been convicted before, chances are high that the visa might get cancelled by the embassy, secondly job where immense handling of pressure is required a person with higher age group might not be the right candidate for the position.

Unconventional workforce: Issues and laws for relationship building

Building a good relationship with independent contractors and temporary workers are important since they are also a part of the workforce. However there are issues faced while developing relationship with unconventional workforce. Issues faced in building relationship with temporary workers are: they cannot be relied upon as they have the tendency to shift to another job, the temperament of the employee also serves as a hindrance because they know that they have job opportunities at different organisation also and the temporary workers themselves might not want to build a relationship, most of the temporary workers are seasonal workers and they know that after a particular season they have to leave the company.  The United Kingdom has laid several rules for temporary workers, one such rule is equal treatment to both permanent and temporary employees (GOV.UK, 2016).  This law will help in building a better relationship as it will give a sense of equality and belongingness to the temporary employee.  Issues faced while building a relationship with independent contractors are: since they are employed on contract basis, face to face interaction is minimal and this forms the biggest hindrance. Sometime complexity of the contract leads to a confusion which in turn leads to a bad relationship with the contractor and motivation of the independent contractor is only limited to the work.

The rule laid by United Kingdom government is that even contract workers are entitled to health and safety benefits. Providing a safe work environment will help to motivate them to work and help in building a good relationship. To promote a diverse workforce following policies are enacted by the company: there is no discrimination to be made in the recruitment process as this helps in getting talented people and promotes diverse workforce.

Challenges faced in diversity: Glass Ceiling Effect and Reverse Discrimination

A multinational company faces several challenges in managing the employee, two of them are glass ceiling effect and reverse discrimination. In glass ceiling effect employees are not given advancement to the next level based on discrimination between religion or gender, whereas in reverse discrimination,  policy are made for minority group. Such policies have a negative impact on the other categories of employees. It is found that women at the top management level are rarely found and they comprise only 10% of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies (Bombuwela & Chamaru, 2013). To overcome both the shortcoming the organisation must have a uniform rule and transparent appraisal system (in which a tool would be used for e.g. excel) based on which they may evaluate themselves and see the result. The appraisal tool will help in reducing the glass ceiling effect, such tools will be accessible by the employees as well. For example very often, employees feel that they are being deprived from a promotion. In this case the employee can use the performance tracker and assess for themselves whether they are really eligible for the promotion. This would give a sense of satisfaction to the employee and will motivate them to work harder the next time. Uniform policy in the organization helps in eradicating reverse discrimination. There is an increase in the burden of cases on US legal system and companies and institution must find a way to make employees feel included (Dover, Major & Kaiser, 2015). For example if the organization gives benefits to a particular group of people (based on caste, gender our colour) at the time of recruitment than the majority of the people feel deprived of the privilege. Having a uniform policy will make them feel they have an equal chance as other group of people.

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Conclusion

An employee is an invaluable asset to the company which helps it to grow. As companies spend heavily on acquisition and training of the candidate, it becomes more important to retain talent for a specific period of time. Different ways in which employee retention might be improved are providing appraisal on regular intervals, providing perks when the performance of the employee is good, provide a good orientation as it helps in understanding the culture of the company, discussion with HR in case the performance of the employee is not up to the mark and identifying the reason for the same.  The performance assessment process in HR decision making is used most commonly in UK as compared to other country (OECD, 2012). A written feedback form and meeting on an annual basis are held for all the staff for assessment of their performance where often the 360 degree feedback procedure on performance is used. As compared to other OECD nation, United Kingdom significantly uses the performance related pay structure. Such assessment are helpful in eradicating various issues such as glass ceiling effect and developing a transparent HR policy.