Hi, need to submit a 2500 words essay on the topic Employee Relations in UK.

Download file to see previous pages…It will be useful for management to conduct seminars and training sessions wherein the see the applicability of employee right in real-case scenarios

In the United Kingdom, the Employment Relations Act (1999) was adopted by the government to provide better working standards for employees. It is intended to improve relations between an organization and its employees by fostering a new climate of co-operation between the worker and the employer. This act lays down the need to implement a statutory procedure for trade unions to be recognized as organizations which speak or put forth the interests of the organization’s employees ( Such a procedure needs to be adopted by any organizations where the employees exceeds 20).

The Employment Relations Act (1999), states that any independent public body such as the Central Arbitration Committee should be given due recognition in cases where a majority members of the workforce of an organization are union members. This law empowers employees by bringing out provisions that protect their rights and also strengthens their rights to belong to unions. Through this law workers have the right to be accompanied by a trade union official at disciplinary and grievance hearings. As a result of this law, it is not possible for employers to dismiss employees who are taking official, lawfully-organized industrial action. One of the hall-marks of this law is that it promotes ideas for a friendly working atmosphere and reforms tribunal awards for unfair dismissal.

After the implementation of this act, it effectiveness was reviewed by government authorities. The review reveals that the act has been well-implemented and has succeeded in its purpose to improve employee relations. Through this act the procedure for recognition of trade unions has been carried out smoothly and efficiently. In the case of any issues of employee grievances, these issues are resolved very quickly, say within less than half the time. After this law came into effect, what was noticed was that inter-union disputes and legal challenges have drastically come down. The Act has encouraged voluntary settlement of recognition claims since its implementation and as a result, there have been about over 1,000 voluntary recognition agreements in the United Kingdom.

Speaking on the effect of the implementation of the Employment Act, the Employment Relations Minister, Alan Johnson, said that there was evidence which showed that the law was doing what it proposed to do. As a result of the law, the number of strikes have comes down and the number of people who were employed was increasing. There is a real change in the attitude of employers towards employees and this has fostered an atmosphere wherein employers and employee are not just working together, but working together really well.

Employee relations and handling disputes

The Employment Act in 2002, made more improvements in the handling of employee relations. It lays down a set of procedures for managing disputes at the workplace. As per the new provisions, all employers must by October 2004, follow a procedure to deal with disputes. This procedure is a three-step process which ensures that disputes are discussed at work. As per this procedure, the dispute or grievance which an employee has against the employer must be set out in writing.

Compose a 3000 words essay on Gender Stereotypes in the Australian Media. Needs to be plagiarism free!

Download file to see previous pages…Women become over-zealous in their attempt to mirror the body image of the fashion models seen on television and in advertisements. The consumer is literally caught inside a media pinball machine as they are sold the latest ‘fat-burger’ and are left with a guilty conscious. Fashion, sports, entertainment, advertising, and society all conspire to push our ideal of the perfect body to an unobtainable position.

There has been a substantial amount of research concerning the media’s unrealistic and stereotypical portrayal of the body image. While much of the research has taken place in the US, other Western cultures including Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the Netherlands have noted similar results and have found women “living with near constant exposure to narrowly defined and highly unrealistic beauty ideals”.1 Television and print advertising are at the core of the drive to sustain a connection between the public and a structure that is acceptable to the members of an in-group. Verri et al. (1997) and Tiggermann (1996) found a direct correlation between the amount of, and the dependence upon, television viewing and the vulnerability to developing an eating disorder.2 In addition, Sanders et al. (1995) found a direct correlation between the numbers of magazines read by 12-year-old girls and the probability that they would consider themselves overweight.3 However, this phenomenon is not unique to females, as men also suffer from poor body image. Bergstrom and Neighbors state, “Body dissatisfaction among men is influenced by many of the same factors as that among women. Significant research has focused on various sociocultural influences on the male ideal body figure, which may contribute to body dissatisfaction” and an unrealistic obsession with muscularity.4 Likewise, the research has also shown that this problem is pervasive from a very young age on through adulthood. Children as young as six are affected by the stereotyping of ideal body image, as are the elderly, though the effect is mediated by older age.5, 6 The media’s influence on body image begins early in childhood and continues through the later stages of life for both genders.

Most people are dissatisfied with some aspect of their body, and many people have a distorted view of it or an unrealistic evaluation. There are two types of body image distortions that lead to dissatisfaction. The first, known as body-size distortion, is a perception that is distorted where the individual “misperceives his or her body size, or the size of various body parts, as being larger than they objectively are”.7 This distortion is often a precursor and a marker for the eating disorders of anorexia or bulimia. According to Bergstrom and Neighbors, “The second type of body image disturbance, termed body dissatisfaction, refers to the cognitive, affective, or attitudinal nature of negative body image”.8 This dissatisfaction is more likely to lead to unhealthy dieting practices, extreme bodybuilding, or cosmetic surgery that may be unnecessary and have long lasting negative effects. Whether people have a distorted image or are simply dissatisfied with their body, the media fuels the problem and people are motivated to take actions that may have negative consequences.