An Employer Perspective: Employment Relations During and Beyond the 2017-2020 General Election

The present government has presided over a number of changes to employment law and has committed to more, should it be returned to office in this year’s general election. However, Covid-19 has cast a debilitating shadow over employment relations, in general, and is obscuring the effects of recent changes, at least for now. It is, therefore, harder to comment on whether or not the changes made, to date, have helped or hindered. However, it is possible to look forward at some of the additional changes being proposed, and assess whether or not, particularly in the economic confines of the Covid-19 straitjacket, changes to holidays, pay equity, and collective bargaining will assist New Zealand’s return to prosperity. This article examines some of these issues through an employer lens.

Employer expectations for graduates from Haiti’s agricultural universities

Human capacity building in Haiti’s agricultural sector can be utilized to reduce the country’s food insecurity. Haitian agricultural university and technical schools are responsible for supplying workforce ready graduates and therefore play a role in poverty reduction. Previous research has been conducted to assess these institutions from the perspective of faculty, students, and farmers. However, the employer perspective has not been considered, which could lead to a disconnect between what employers and the university believe are essential skills for graduates to obtain. This study focused on identifying the perceptions of the Haitian agricultural workforce regarding the ability of technical schools to produce graduates. This study used a basic qualitative design involving interviews of Haitian agricultural employers. The interviews revealed employers perceptive of curriculum strengths and weaknesses as well as desired employer skills for graduates. Employers also provided insight into the current job opportunities for graduates as well as what makes an “ideal” employee. We found a disconnect between jobs available and the skills being taught to graduates to fill these jobs. While employers desire employees with strong soft skills, there is a need for more technical skills to be taught at the agricultural schools.

Employer-perspective cost comparison of surgical treatments for abnormal uterine bleeding

Aim: To estimate direct and indirect costs of surgical treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) from a self-insured employer's perspective. Methods: Employer-sponsored insurance claims data were analyzed to estimate costs owing to absence and short-term disability 1 year following global endometrial ablation (GEA), outpatient hysterectomy (OPH) and inpatient hysterectomy (IPH). Results: Costs for women who had GEA are substantially less than costs for women who had either OPH or IPH, with the difference ranging from approximately $7700 to approximately $10,000 for direct costs and approximately $4200 to approximately $4600 for indirect costs. Women who had GEA missed 21.8–24.0 fewer works days. Conclusion: Study results suggest lower healthcare costs associated with GEA versus OPH or IPH from a self-insured employer perspective.

Exploring employer attitude towards migrant workers

Purpose Migrants play an essential role in economic and societal outcomes of the host society, both as members of the workforce and as citizens. However, integration and finding employment after migration remain critical issues. The purpose of this paper is to employ an evidence-based quantitative approach to identify migrant workers’ most important qualifications from an employer perspective and to explore factors that influence employer perception of migrants. Design/methodology/approach This study uses European Social Survey data that contain responses from managers in European countries in 2014 (n=2,828) and 2016 (n=3,014). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are used to analyse the data. Findings For managers, migrants’ commitment to the host country’s way of life is more important than their job skills, educational level and language proficiency. The effects of managers’ individual characteristics, including demographics, expectancies and personal values, on their general attitude towards migrants are also quantified. Practical implications The study’s outcomes can assist migrants to develop the qualifications most valued by employers, and allow policymakers to integrate the organizational perspective into policies and initiatives for integration of migrant labour. Originality/value Through HR practices, organizations significantly affect migrants’ career outcomes. Yet research on migrant workers from an organizational and managerial perspective is limited. This study identifies migrant workers’ most important qualifications from an employer perspective. It also explores which individual characteristics most influence organizational decision-makers’ perception. Utilizing a cross-cultural and longitudinal data set provides a unique opportunity to generate generalizable findings.

Evolving talent management patterns and challenges in Russia and Kazakhstan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the evolving patterns and challenges of talent management (TM) in the emerging markets of Russia and Kazakhstan from the employer perspective. Increasing the understanding of how TM is recognized from the employer perspective may better equip us to address how to effectively manage and lead the available talents in these and other emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a qualitative study comprising 50 semi-structured interviews, with 37 business leaders from Russian subsidiaries, and 13 from Kazakh subsidiaries, in all cases of Nordic Multinational enterprises (MNEs). Findings The study supports the object approach to TM in the emerging markets of Russia and Kazakhstan. The authors reveal that the exclusive and developable talent philosophy is predominant in these emerging markets, where TM faces the challenges of fierce competition for talents and an insufficient supply, so business leaders tend to be reluctant to inform employees of their talent pool membership. The results demonstrate that MNEs do not act independently of context, thus supporting calls for consideration of the local institutional context. Originality/value TM is still a somewhat novel idea in many emerging economies, and challenges related to managing talents are believed to be far more complex in such settings. Furthermore, to the best of authors’ knowledge, no studies have investigated the notion of talent and TM conceptualization in the emerging markets from an employer perspective.