Research Paper on 21st Century: Changes in Business Structures and Employment

Introduction

The contemporary world has made advances that have led to new approached that attend to the occurring changes. In a real sense, the changes, especially in the employment sector, have been affected by the global impact due to the consequences that are seen in various capacities globally. The structures of businesses, whether international or local, are going through new changes both in negative and positive ways (Lobel, 2015). All over the world, employers have realized that the 21st Century has advance changes that are creating a shift or challenges in the manner of functionality, and operations of the business. Adapting and conforming to the changes has succumbed to various problems in which the functions and activities of employment law have changed significantly. The essay will elaborate more on the current and future employment laws.

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Workplace Safety Challenges

The controversies surrounding safety at work has been an issue debated for many years. The employment law has always been modified to make sure that the work environment aligns with the standards of the well-being of employees. Primarily, the role of the employment law is to make sure that the working environment for workers has no danger, whether concerning their health or physically (Lobel, 2015). Therefore, most organizations have facilitated the measures to meet the criteria of work safety and health. However, the emerging changes and trends in the sector of employment consider a safe environment for employees.

Global Privacy and Social Media

Technology advancement has come up with various avenues for communication and use on people from a global perspective. With such platforms created to allow employees to communicate with each other, they are also entitled to share images and information. In the employment sector, for instance, social media has always been a problem because many employers are unable to draw, and distinguish the line between using social media for professional purposes and personal use. Ideally, social media is a hub of information that is used in the 21st Century by many companies to look into the potential worker's social media accounts to learn more about their lifestyles (Custers, Hof & Schermer, 2014). Some companies, on the other hand, lose employees because of the content found in their social media profiles.

Prevention of Sexual Harassment/ Discrimination

The development of the 'Me too Movement' and the employment laws were developed to prevent potential employees from sexual harassment. The reason behind this move is that the code is open and fair to the prospective workers (Castellon, 2010). However, people that refuse to accept the selfish demands offered by their employees are often denied the benefits due to intimidation. Research on discrimination and sexual harassment showed that people that fall, victims of such issues, don't report sexual harassment cases in fear of losing their jobs (Castellon, 2010).

The Future of Employment Laws

Two possible scenarios could take place concerning the employment law. The first one is that the employment laws will continue to atrophy while the unions decease. Employee's rights, on the other hand, will fade away because of the combined procedures that narrow the judicial constructions of the current laws to develop robust doctrines that will give workers their rights in papers and not in practice (Lobel, 2015). Pressure will also arise from globalization due to lower labor standards; a monetary standard meant to be followed because of inflation.

Other Protections

Other recommendations are likely to take place concerning future employment law. The first thing is to introduce further protections like zero working hours for pregnant employees or the ones on maternity leave (Lobel, 2015). This is because they are vulnerable and so reducing their hours to zero without firing them will be of help. Again, there is a call for the statutory pay from the moment the individual is employed, to the holidays, and the irregular working hours.

In other words, employers should make it easier for workers to accrue through their continuous service and also supporting the self-employed personnel. Another recommendation is that all unpaid awards must be recovered to simplify the life of workers and also to make employees maintain their name and the brand of their company (Lobel, 2015). In other words, the enforcement powers must be used to extend financial matters like the minimum wage, holiday pay, and sick pay. All employers, in other words, must make sure that all the mentioned pay is facilitated.

Conclusion

The employment laws were established many years ago because of the case that arose in organizations. In the past, the employment laws favored the employers; however, after years, employees were also supported by the rules. Even though technology advancement has come up with various avenues, such as the use of social media at work, most employers have put measures to stop the habit. Even though the current employment laws have gaps and challenges which affect the employees and employers, future employment policies can be adjusted to comfort both workers.

References

Castellon, R. (2010). Sexual harassment prevention initiatives: Quantitative & qualitative approaches. PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2(1), 174-199. DOI: 10.1037/e564912012-001

Custers, B., Hof, S. V. D., & Schermer, B. (2014). Privacy expectations of social media users: The role of informed consent in privacy policies. Policy & Internet, 6(3), 268-295. DOI: 10.1002/1944-2866.poi366

Lobel, O. (2015). National regulation in a global economy: New Governance Approaches to 21st Century Work Law. Labor and Employment Law and Economics, 1(1), 111-147. DOI: 10.4337/9781781953068.00035