Essay Example on FMLA: Balancing Family and Work Responsibilities

Introduction

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted in 1993, and it is one of the federal laws that allow employees to take some time off the job as a result of family responsibilities (Faber et al. 2017). This law requires specific organizations to provide workers with unpaid leave purposely for issues relating to the family, for instance, caring for adopted or newborn child or health conditions affecting the employee or family member. This law is essential for it ensures a balance between work and family responsibilities; however, not employees are eligible. In some cases, the company might consider providing employees who have taken leave with additional benefits such as paid maternity leaves and disability insurance. Most of the companies adhere to this law in order to retain talented workers, especially in industries where there is a shortage of qualified personal. Human resources department is responsible for facilitating FMLA. Workers who have worked for at least 12 months and 1,250 hours worked as well as a case where the company employees more than 50 workers within 75 miles from the location of the company are usually legible for FMLA (Faber et al. 2017). St. Mary's Medical Center is one of the health care organizations which adhere to this law. This paper provides an analysis of the impacts of FMLA on teamwork and one of the core functions of human resource management in an organization.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Background

This research is set based on St. Mary's medical center. This hospital is one of the oldest healthcare organization. It is committed to achieving its objectives through a clear mission statement, values, and vision. The organization is grounded from integrity and compliance to their programs. Also, this organization operates with full compliance with federal policies, regulations, and laws. Integrity and compliance to the internal programs and the laws are one of the elements driving forward the organization's progress. Based on the employee perspectives, St. Mary's Medical Center adheres to the Family and Medical Leave Act, the human resource management operates by providing quality services. It is one of the healthcare organization s with a large number of employees and provides outstanding benefits and family and medical leave. FMLA program in this organization is designed to assist employees in balancing family responsibilities and work as well as to retain employees (Faber et al. 2017).

Impacts of Family and Medical Leave Act on Teamwork and Retention of Employees

FMLA is an essential element which applies to all public and private organizations with more than 50 employees. this act is only applicable for eligible employees, some of the reasons to be considered includes

• to take care of an immediate member of the employee's family
• for childbirth and care for the newborn of a worker
• need for medicinal leave
• in case of adverse health conditions

Because of the above reasons, it is clear that the FMLA act is an essential element in an organization. From economic perspectives, this act significantly benefits the outcomes of the employment system in an organization primarily for the increased number of female workers. Teamwork is one of the considerate factors influenced by FMLA. Teamwork is an organizational strategy aimed at providing employees with an opportunity to work together, improve relationships among the employees as well to increase individual accountability. This act makes it mandatory for the company to provide employers with unpaid leave but job-protected for their employees for eligible medical reasons and health conditions. Employers who provide FMLA may experience both positive and negative impacts, on the positive side; FMLA gives a chance for their employees to be cross-trained based on teamwork perspective (Faber et al. 2017). FMLA promotes relations between the employer and the employee, especially when an organization is providing family medical leave with additional benefits such as job protection and therefore improving teamwork. Employee retention is one of the main functions of the HR department, and therefore, the FMLA provides an opportunity for the organization to retain talented employees that require time off. Through FMLA employees are reassured of retaining original position in the organization FMLA is beneficial in boosting employee's morale; making happy and building a sense of belonging to a team helps in aiding teamwork within the organization. On the negative side, FMLA is costly as it involves additional benefits which the company must provide for the employees who are eligible for family medical leave (Isaacs, Healy & Peters, 2017). Teamwork is based on combining efforts from different conference employees from different departments; therefore, in case one of the members is given family medical leave, it negatively cohesiveness and operational strategies.

Employee Centered Approach

Employee centered approaches in an organization are strategies that are delegated to satisfy the needs of the employees. It is an aspect of providing a supportive and conducive environment for workers and promoting interpersonal relations. Employee centered approaches emphasize employee participatory strategies whereby employees are involved in decision making (Ketchen et al. 2017). The organization develops employee-centered approaches to ensure that an individual employee becomes entirely successful. Human resource management must make a conscious decision to ensure that the working environment is aligned with employee satisfaction. It is essential to retain a high percentage of employees to reduce issues to the incompetence of the recruits.

Human Capital Management Strategies

Human capital management approaches are strategies that outline human resources in an organization and skills that are required to enable an organization to achieve its objectives. One of the strategies includes the provision of family medical leave with job retention insurance and additional benefits. Other strategies include health insurance, vacation time, life insurance, and retirement savings strategies. An organization needs to develop sound business strategies, and besides, it is essential to consider who will implement those strategies Ahmad, 2015). Therefore, retaining employees who are well conversant with the strategies of an organization and have sufficient skills is essential. In this perspective, human capital resource management strategies are influenced by the retention of talented and skilled employees. An organization must ensure to retain an employee who is known as a key staff member in an organization. Based on this setting, St. Mary's medical care has its mission statement aligned to human capital management strategies. The mission of this organization is to offer evidence-based medical care, and the core vision is to ensure that they excel in patient care through practice, education, innovation, and research. Their value is to honor the dignity and sacredness of every patient. One of the core values which align to human capital management strategies of this organization and employee's retention is the collaboration. This organization, for instance, it emphasizes on providing an environment where employees and other partners of this organization are involved in daily operation the company intends to retain its employees in collaboration with their strategies. An organization needs to ensure that these strategies are driven to satisfy the employees (Ahmad, 2015).

Effective human capital strategies positively impact employee's satisfaction. Provision of employee-oriented strategies such as additional benefits while on family medical leave and job retain assurance ensures employee satisfaction and loyalty to the organization. Employee retention strategies ensure that the company serves the interest of its employees with dignity. Human capital management strategies truly enhance the lives of employees as well as their wellbeing.

Recommendation to Resolve Challenges Associated With FMLA

FMLA accounts for some of the financial, additional management records and teamwork issues. For a company to succeed, teamwork plays an important role. Human resource managers should ensure that a balance between the number of the employees their competence is enough achieved the objective of the organization and maintain teamwork. An organization should not rely on a particular group or an individual employer who is considered as a critical factor in a specific project. Human resource manager should develop a plan before providing family medical leave to ensure that this act does not affect the progress of an organization because life is unpredictable. Also, HR managers should ensure that FMLA policy is provided, a written policy should be provided for the employees to identify terms that are most significant for the company. One of the criteria that can be utilized is by implementing roll-up of the 12 months, and this may involve rolling forward install as the leave commence for those eligible for the act. Human capital management strategies should make the employees feel considered and valued because they contribute to the daily progress of an organization (Baum & Ruhm, 2016).

Conclusion

FMLA is a principal act that applies to many organizations. This act is beneficial to both the employees and the employer. FMLA ensures that the employees are given chance to exercise family responsibilities as well as work duties. Provision of family medical leave is one of the employee-centered strategies. Besides, it enables an organization to retain workers and give job retention assurance to their worker. Besides, FMLA introduces various challenges, including extended periods affecting tea work and progress of the organization. Employers must, therefore, give designated notice and policy to ensure the effectiveness of this act.

References

Ahmad, S. (2015). Green human resource management: Policies and practices. Cogent business & management, 2(1), 1030817.

Baum, C. L., & Ruhm, C. J. (2016). The effects of paid family leave in California on labor market outcomes. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 35(2), 333-356.

Faber, A., Friend, J., McGee, K., & Wilson, T. (2017). Family and Medical Leave Act. Geo. J. Gender & L., 19, 305.

Isaacs, J., Healy, O., & Peters, H. E. (2017). Paid family leave in the United States.

Ketchen Jr, D. J., Crook, T. R., Todd, S. Y., Combs, J. G., & Woehr, D. J. (2017). Managing human capital. The Oxford Handbook of Strategy Implementation, 283.