Employee-Employer Relationship and Expectations - Essay Example

EMPLOYEE – EMPLOYER RELATIONSHIP AND EXPECTATIONS By number and of submission> INTRODUCTION: Whenever a business is started the most important to get it running is the human capital. In departments such as production, administration, organisation, publicizing, selling, transportation, maintenance, repairing etc, a lot of employees are needed. For any organisation to achieve its aims and goals, human capital is one of the most imperative tools. Even in the modern world where technology and machines have made lives easier for many, the need of human capital still persists because the common sense, creativity, problem solving skills and decision making abilities cannot be substituted by the automatic mechanics or computers. Therefore an efficient and effective interaction between the employers and employees leads to the success of the business (Buren & Greenwood, 2008). The smooth operation and organisational consistency greatly relies on setting the standard operating procedures which ensures that the working environment is safe and the work is carried out in the most -efficient manner. The SOP’s can be re-evaluated and re-established with a proper feedback from the employees. If the management has an open door policy, this can be an advantage in the betterment of the business because of the positive input of employees due to the natural free thinking. The feedback is analysed by the employees and is utilised in the best way possible that helps the business without compromising its quality, consistency and reliability. This also improves on the decision making of the management. But, the employee- employer relationship is very critical. The both of employees and employers are different from each other and if these are not somehow met, it results in a conflict. EMPLOYEE – EMPLOYER RELATIONSHIP AND EXPECTATIONS: The relationship between an employer and its employees is not just based merely on economic terms, but it is much more than that. It is an important relationship that is based on mutual dependency and has a great impact on the working and progress of an overall organisation. A set of values and norms that are applicable on all members of the organisation members persists and must be followed. This makes the culture of an organisation that gives it a uniqueness and identification (Zientara, 2009). The workplace in professional life, is like a second home to an individual, so his job is an extremely valued possession that has an effect on a lot of factors. The relationships that an individual maintains at the workplace are different from those that are his personal, and therefore must be very carefully sustained. The employer-employee relationship is the most complicated one and each has a level of expectations from one another. There always has been and will always be an assured push and pull between the employers and employees that cannot be evaded. But if they work together with a mutual consent, they can come up to each other’s level (Zhang, Tsui, Song, Li, & Jia, 2008). Experts say that this tug of war between employer and employee helps to build the synergy vital for focused approach towards the collective goals of the organisation (Evanschitzky, Groening, Mittal, & Wunderlich, 2011). The organisation is a collection of numerous units working together collectively to achieve one goal; the organisations goal. Along the way, the employee tries to achieve his/her goals be it experience, thirst for knowledge, or the never ending need to financial security while using the employees goal as a driving force the employers try to align these goals with the strategy of the organisation. Experts also say that this is the best way to make a winning solution, using the zeal and creativity of the employee, help them achieve their goals but align them according to the goals of the organisation. Why is it so necessary to align all the expectations and the goals together? Why does an organisation needs this synergy? The answer is simple, not only does an organisation believes in efficiency and effectiveness but it also wants to promote quality utilisation of time on part of both the manager and the employee. Consider this example, an employee is assigned a task to analyse a specific set of data, the instruction came clear from the manager, so thought the employee. After working hard on that data and interpreting the results derived from the analysis, the employee turned in his report only to hear the manager say that this is not what he was looking for. What should be taken away from this example? Has the employee failed to understand the instructions of his manager or the manager failed to properly communicate this expectations? The answer is both cases, not only the manager failed to communicate what exactly he was looking for, what that set of data meant and what results can be expected but the employee too failed the understand the instructions given to him, he failed to ask questions about his new task and to create some ground before he started the analysis. Let’s talk about expectation of both parties, the employer and the employee. The employer wants results, happy investor relations, quick recall for the target market in case of brand related business. Employers want results that directly translate into organisation success, number that spell growth and profits year after year (Miles & Bennett, 2009). In terms of non tangible attributes the employer expects loyalty, honesty, dependability, trustworthiness, self-responsibility, reliability, the will to take initiatives and self-discipline. The elements mentioned above helps the management to cultivate an atmosphere where each individual is responsible for his own work, thus leaving the quality and the accountability for work in the employees hands where as managers can better concentrate on the strategic direction of the company. The attributes mentioned above can at times be cultivated inside an employee or luckily once in a blue moon companies often come across such diligent individuals who are willing to give extra to the company other than what is being expected form them. By extra, it means holding a high professional attitude, understanding the needs of the organisation by one own self and adjusting oneself to match the pace of the company. One major element the employers expect is the ability to take initiative. The employers expect the employee to be creative at problem solving, be a self starter. Employer consider it an added attribute when an employee shows ownership about their jobs, mentors often advice to initiate a task with ownership (Berkley & Watson, 2009). Loyalty is another much sought after attribute an employer looks forward to in a candidate. Often pre assessment tests before hiring are designed in such a manner to help the hiring authority gather as much insights about the employee as possible. Employer expect long term commitment in their employees because they intend to share industry as well as business secrets with them. The employer expects their employees to stay with them for a long period of them, groom them, they put their trust in these employees all because loyalty is a profound attribute if found in the employee (Cortini, 2009). Employees are the biggest assets a company can own, the most important assets of the company, employee expect something different from the company, the employees expectation depend on the current situation he/she is in. some employees are looking for a strong financial position for themselves and their families, some employees look for power in their position where as some employees want to learn and grow in their job. Other than these thing employees are expect to be treated fairly and respectfully, they expect fair wages and benefits to be provided by the employer in return of their services to the company, the new world employees also want to be heard, they want to contribute toward the success of the organisation and execute their ideas inside the company (Lester, Kickul, & Bergmann, 2007). Employee want to make valuable contribution, employee want to feel that they are important as individuals in the company and not only as paid employees. After the recession of 2008, when a number of employees were laid off in the name of “right sizing”, a shift was observed in the expectation of employees from their current or in some cases new employers. The shift was toward job security. Employees have always expected a stable employment situation but lately this is one of their major considerations when looking for a job, they expect to be kept well informed about the situation of the company. The current labour market is tough, as mentioned above, the recession of 2008 left many jobless, layoffs were the major reason. Human resource professors have started asking young students how important is job security for them, how can they translate job security in their own language the way they see it. In the corporate world, human resource gurus have hinted at employee engagement strategies as one of the best way to maintain the employee goal and organisational strategy balance. Keeping the employees voice in mind and utilizing it to effectively design an organisation goal will not only help match the expectation of both parties; the employee and employer but will also help keep everyone happy. Why is employee engagement becoming to necessary? With the passage of time, everything evolves, consider the recent shift in the area of technology and how seamlessly it can all be integrated into the company. Progressive managements often find themselves bundled up with questions on how effectively they can solve the prevailing issues in the company, answer to which is engaging employee in a healthy debate to reveal the ground realities. Employees often complain that top management is not aware of all the ground realities because the information sent to them often does not contain anything more than number crunching, the employee expect to be heard on grounds other than assigned targets and achieved results. The employee want to discussion the direction, the growth, the strategies involved and the effect of those strategies on the performance of the company over all; on micro level how the employees themselves are affected (Berkley & Watson, 2009). The level of expectation may change depending upon the stage of ones employment, entry level executive have different expectation from those of managerial level or employees belonging to seniority positions. Entry level employees expect growth, rewards, recognition for their contributions where as senior level employees expect financial security and means of earning because they are nearing their retirement periods (Buren & Greenwood, 2008). CONCLUSION: About a decade ago, there was assumption in the mindsets, precisely a stereotype that the relationship between an employee and employer was ruled by the fact that an employer is like a king and the employees were the slaves in his kingdom, and he had a freewill and power to govern their lives and give them any terms of employment they wished to and treat them in a dictated way. As for employees it was for them to take it or leave but they didn’t have the authority in any way to negotiate on it. There were a lot of problems that the employees faced while at work be it the employers un-justice, load of work or attitude. The level of expectations very different and both the employees and employers could not nearly meet each other’s expectations. But today, there are many laws that protect the rights of the employees as well as the employers. The employers do not have the right to treat their employees according to their own accord. The employees of today have a right to protest, file litigations, sue or inquire for the damages done if they believe and prove that there has been a mistreatment from the employers at stage of their working relationship. The professional environment is very competent nowadays. Both the employees and employers have to protect their rights to safeguard themselves and in order to do so there are certain expectations that have to be fulfilled so that the employees are motivated and happy to work, and the employers gets the result in profitability of their business. Therefore not only in terms of work but also in terms of interaction with people for other than work related issues, having a positive attitude towards each other and catering to the needs of one another will lead to the fulfilment of expectations from one another, if not full than partial. List of References Berkley, R, & Watson, G 2009, ‘The employer-employee relationship as a building block for ethics and corporate social responsibility’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 275-277. Buren, H, & Greenwood, M 2008, ‘Enhancing employee voice: are voluntary employer-employee partnerships enough?’. Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 209-221. Cortini, M 2009, ‘New horizons in CSP and employee/employer relationship: challenges and risks of corporate weblogs’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 291-303. Evanschitzky, H, Groening, C, Mittal, V, & Wunderlich, M 2011, ‘How employer and employee satisfaction affect customer satisfaction: an application to franchise services’, Journal of Service Research, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 136-148. Lester, S, Kickul, J, & Bergmann, T 2007, ‘Managing employee perceptions of the psychological contract over time: the role of employer social accounts and contract fulfillment’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 191-208. Miles, S, & Bennett, N 2009, ‘The changing employer-employee relationship’, Bloomberg Business Week, Available from [Accessed 04 November 2011] Zhang, A, Tsui, A, Song, L, Li, C, & Jia, L 2008, ‘How do I trust thee? The employee-organisation relationship, supervisory support, and middle manager trust in the organisation’, Human Resource Management, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 111-132. Zientara, P 2009, ‘Employment of older workers in polish SMEs: employer attitudes and perceptions, employee motivation and expectations’, Human Resource Development International, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 135-153. Read More