Employment and Society Issues - Essay Example

Running Head: Employment and Society Employment and Society of Introduction The employment rate in any society can confirm its inclination; it can tell whether it is inclined upward or vice-versa. Employment is the essence of a healthy society. So is healthy work environment for employment. Honesty with the work cannot only give a personal satisfaction but also ensure professional benefits. Workplace environment on the other hand can help improve your personality and overcome the flaws. Here, although we will be discussing employment in general, but more emphasis will be towards office jobs. People today are addictive towards their jobs, irrespective of whether they love it or not, they have to do it. Employment and workplace have several issues attached to it. Here we will be discussing those issues and solutions for them. Before that we will talk on some topics related to employment. Employment for Money If you ask a group of people 'why do you work on a job,' the most common answer would be 'for money'. The best reason, which I myself find for working is earning some good money. With inflation on the high people are going towards better paying jobs each day. To keep their families intact they have to improve the standards of living and that requires some good money. Employees keep switching jobs whenever they get an opportunity. It can be safely said that money is the key to happiness these days and being employed is the source for money, thus it can be concluded that, employment is the key to happiness. But on the same time seeking employment is not an easy task, especially with the increase of experienced manpower and increase in expectation in terms of money. The problem faced by the organization as a result is the increase in turnover rate. Organizations are finding it difficult to contain their skilled employees. In these circumstances adding to the miseries of the organizations is demand for wage growth. Do you Love your job Does a person loves his job or is he just stuck because he doesn't have another option In today's competitive environment the answer most of the time would be the latter. Whatever it may be the person should be fair to the job. People most of the time pose to be happy about their job. "To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel. We've got it down to four words: "Do what you love." But it's not enough just to tell people that. Doing what you love is complicated." (How to Do What you Love, 2006). The sentences above explain my point of view. It's very difficult to find a job that you love, so compromise is the word for us, the working class. And I don't think compromise is too bad either if its not affecting the outcome of the job. Turnover Dilemma The organizations are finding it difficult to keep their employees intact. The turnover rate according to Recruitment, retention and turnover survey for UK this year is 18.3% (cipd, 2006). With the turnover rate being high there is a need to take a look at the factors causing it. It is devastating for a company when an experienced frontline employee leaves. Employee's turnover is costly. Employees are a source for business for an organization and when people start leaving, it will have an effect on the business. The reasons for leaving can vary, but most can be prevented if found out. The most common reason for leaving is money and position. Most of the employees leave the job because the wage other company is offering is more or the company is giving a higher rank. This problem if not totally prevented can be cured little by raising the valued employees salary on an annual basis and giving promotions when they deserve it. Lack of management skill can also be the reason for high turnover. Often overloading of work is seen, other than that favoritism and lack of trust in employee's decision-making can be some results of careless behavior by the management (Smith, n.d). Unemployment When we are talking about employment and the society there is a dilemma of unemployment that needs to be addressed too. With unemployment on the rise being employed has become more imperative. According to National Statistics, in the UK, the unemployment rate has climbed to 5.6% this quarter in comparison to last quarter's 5.5% which is the highest in seven years (Unemployment at seven-year high, 2006). With a large number of people moving towards UK for jobs, increase in population can be one reason for unemployment. Another factor that adds to the increase in unemployment is the inappropriate work culture. Many people are forced to leave their jobs because they couldn't cope up with the employees or had some disagreement with the organization. Employment Opportunities in the Country It is a fact that with the continuous growth in the market, employment opportunities have increased noticeably in the UK. Reports say that work force has increased during these years. According to Labor Force Survey education, health and public administration has the highest number of employees followed by distribution, hotels and restaurants and then comes the finance and business services (Economic and Social Research Council, 2004). Employment and Society After giving some statistics I would now discuss the impact the employment can set on a society. Employment is imperative for the society to prosper. On the contrary the hazards of unemployment can be seen in many third world countries where corruption is on high. People tend to do anything for a small amount of money. To be short the society in which unemployment rate is high suffers in many regards. There are a huge number of employed people in our society. Whatever is practiced in the workplaces can affect the society. We can say that in some ways a healthy working environment will create a healthy society. Improving Workplace Environment To improve the working conditions, the workplace environment should be improved. Next we will be discussing in detail how an organization can improve its workplace culture for the betterment of the employees. Empowerment of the Employees If the organization takes care of it employees, they will be loyal to the company. Start by empowering everyone from the top level to bottom to do his or her own job. The person should be well aware of his role in the job. The common allegation against the organizations that employees often put is "we are not allowed to do what we want to". They feel that the company doesn't trust them enough. Ensuring Retention Hiring of employees is a hard task that a company faces. There is a team in the HR Department for recruiting new employees, and then there are officials in other departments who conduct interviews for their departments. Usually two to three interviews are conducted for a single person. In short hiring an employee is a pain-staking job. And this is not it; in most of the cases training of the employee is also wanted. After all these efforts if the employee leaves the job, it will double the misery. The question here comes of how to retain the employee. According to a survey the some workplaces where employee retention was greater are the places where the employees were seen as an important factor to success, the place where employers provided more assurance towards job security and places that have careful employee selection procedures (Wagar, n.d). Team Player Building a team environment where required may give better results. The key in this regard would be to work together, share views, and be a real team player. An author points out three essential elements in order to improve team performance. The three points he mentioned are resources and commitment, ownership and finally learning (Stowell, n.d). When starting a team, time will be needed to connect with each other. There may be fights then, and patience is needed, the outcome will take time. A committed team player will only excel in the long run. He has to take his responsibilities, do the work sincerely and learn from the experiences. Management: The Key The management in a company has a crucial role, and a lot depends on them. It is true that good management skills in a company will be imperative to lead the company towards high. Keeping up the morale high is one issue for the manager, on the other hand they have the responsibility to take care of the under achievers as well. The manager should regularly remind these under achievers of the previous accomplishments, appreciate what they are doing now and provide them with constructive feedback (Entering Management, n.d). This will motivate the employee to come up to the expectations of the manager yet again. Ethics in Workplace Ethics in an office environment should be highly prioritized. Respect the work environment. Unlawful acts should be monitored and dealt with sternly. With Internet connectivity in almost all the offices employees tend to do extra work such as downloading music, online shopping, playing games and visits to pornographic sites. This practice can hinder the performance of the employee. The work he is to give to the office work is being wasted. To come up with an idea to control this activity in the end has become a major challenge for many companies. Many solutions have been talked about from putting firewalls to holding seminars to educate the employees. The solution in my view that would be more effective would be to gain visibility, and then define the acceptable use policies for the Internet (Meta Group, 2004). Prejudice There should be no prejudice in workplace. It is the responsibility of the employer to take care of it that there is no racist behavior going around. There should be no favoritism or politics going around in the workplace. In the office environment everyone should be equal; the only mark for superiority should be performance. According to reports, people are harassed because of their religion and their sexual orientation, which is a wrong act. In these circumstances people with different beliefs find it difficult or rather embarrassing to follow their religious commitments. British government has created law against the sexual and religious discrimination found in the workplaces, which states these acts as unlawful (Toyne, 2002). Result: Control over Employees Many people may feel the above factors will lead to employees being out of control, and as a result, destroying the hierarchy of the organization. Employees will be spoilt if taken much care of. Think again, if you try to control your employee through force, by bossing around, and not giving him the right to take decision; will he like you. Obviously, the answer is 'no' and this no will negatively affect the work that you do there. He will be making plans to quit and go for another job. He would never want to please you, in the end making things terrible for you. On the other hand if you create a competitive environment, let everyone work for himself, and make him believe that you believe in his work. The person will surely work hard to not let you down and as a result the product would be extracting better result out of him. Simply try to understand the employees' psychology; it will give you an edge to extract result from him. According to survey conducted on 3000 employees "Nearly two-thirds of employees are not being given the opportunity to live up to their potential in the workplace and nearly 90 per cent would prefer to be in control of their own professional development according to a new study." (SkillSoft, 2005) It further says that more people are willing to learn at the workplace or from the outside source. This survey can easily explain the psychology of people at work. It can be said positive approach towards the situation can help a great deal. Employees' responsibilities We have discussed a great deal about creating a better workplace from the employers' perspective, but the employees' efforts towards this are also important. In the next few points, I will highlight some duties of the employee in creating a better work environment. The first and foremost responsibility of an employee is to be loyal to the company. Do not leak company's information or misuse your position to gain extra pleasures. Abide by the rules and regulations that the organization has set for you. Be courteous to all the employees. Try to build a network of friends in the organization; this will help you in the longer run. Do not harass or insult people for any reason. Avoid criticizing people as well. Follow your ethical responsibilities. Give prior notice if taking a break. On the same time if absent due to some reason, inform the workplace. Take the responsibility. You are an ambassador of a company; do not degrade it by any action of yours. Conclusion To boss around or being strict is not the prerequisite for better control over employees. Providing them healthy working atmosphere can do wonders for them. If each person is given the responsibility to fulfill and he does it well then what's better than that. The responsibility for the employer would be to create the type of environment in which everyone feels good when working. In the end just remember "Constructive working relationship depend on loyalty and confidence flowing both ways between an employer and an employee." (Chisnall, 2003) References Chisnall, N. (2003). Can employers control employees' conduct outside work hours Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.lawlink.co.nz/resources/conduct.pdf. Cipd. (2006, July). Employee turnover and retention. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/turnover/empturnretent.htmIsSrchRes=1. Economic and Social Research Council. (2004). Work in the UK. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/facts/UK/index5.aspxComponentId=6979&SourcePageId=14975. Entering Management. (n.d). Motivating employees to love their jobs. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.iee.org/OnComms/Circuit/jobs/careerladder/entering_management/motivating_employees.cfm. How to Do What you Love. (2006, January). Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html. Meta Group. (2004, January). The growing security threat: your empoloyees. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.bluecoat.com/downloads/whitepapers/META_Growing_Security_Threat.pdf. SkillSoft. (2005). Employees want control of their own trading. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.skillsoft.com/EMEA/news/17-May-05_2.asp. Smith, G.P. (n.d). Top-ten reasons why people quit their jobs. Business know how. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/whyquit.htm. Stowell, C. (n.d). Teamwork in a workplace: a definition. Ezinearticles. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://ezinearticles.com/Teamwork-in-the-Workplace:-A-Definition&id=47798. Toyne, S. (2002, October 28). New laws could revolutionise office culture. BBC News. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2357279.stm. Unemployment at seven-year high. (2006, November 15). BBC News. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6149830.stm. Wagar, T.H. (n.d). Research forum: Retaining employees. Human resources professional association of Ontario. Retrieved November 21, 2006 from http://www.hrpao.org/HRPAO/HRResourceCentre/KnowledgeCentre/HRProfessional/newscluster/Retaining+Employees.htm. Read More