Employer-Employee Relations Paper

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Employer-Employee Relations Paper

There are many different relationships Charles Schwab keeps with its workforce. Schwab uses every type of employee: temporary, contractor, and permanent (or "regular"). Within these types of employees exists different methods of payment, both exempt and non-exempt. This paper will examine the definition of each type of employee and pay then examine how Schwab handles the relationship with each. Charles Schwab is also an at-will employer and discloses this at the time of employment offer acceptance. The paper will end with a summary of how Schwab addresses this with employee relations.

Schwab's staffing is cyclical with market conditions. This cycle creates large demands for employment which will have a 3 to 6 month term of employment. This fluctuation causes Schwab to use temporary and contractor employees to fill in employee demand gaps. Schwab is currently trying to increase the "regular" staff, know at Schwab as permanent employees. This nomenclature of permanent is clearly defined as a permanent position and not employee in the employee handbook. Due to this use of all three different types of employees, Schwab must use different policies for each level of employment.

A permanent employee at Charles Schwab is defined as a full-time employee who is entitled to full benefits, pay, and legal status as a full-time employee. A regular employee is one who is regularly scheduled to work 40 hours or more per biweekly pay period and whose position is designated to be active for more than six (6) months. Prior to completing the initial six month probation period, regular employees are considered "at will" employees whose employment may be terminated at any time that does not violate public policy. Regular employees are retirement and benefits-eligible (I seek, 2006). Schwab gives all permanent employees a numerical job code. Any code above 50 represents a permanent employee who is eligible for all the benefits offered: health benefits, retirement benefits, and all government mandated benefits.

A temporary employee at Charles Schwab is regulated by a whole different policy. Schwab uses temp agencies to fill these needs as the needs tend to be large and approach quickly. This presents a unique approach to policy as it is a blend of basic Schwab policy and the Temp agencies work policy. This creates joint liability between the two companies, the staffing firm and Schwab (Bennett-Alexander, Hartman, 2007).

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