Question & Answer: The Nature of Staffing . Chapter 2: Legal Compliance What are the limitations of disparate…..

One of the limitations of disparate impact statistics as indicators of potential staffing discrimination is that although it can help understanding the impact due to potential staffing discrimination in an Organization, it fails to highlight the causes responsible for the same. Moreover, it becomes difficult to arrive at some valid conclusions upon the impact of the potential staffing discrimination as the impact also needs to be backed with the reasons while those reasons also need to be analyzed in the light of various factors in order draw some rational conclusions. Mere study of impacts may hence lead to incomplete facts supporting the case and drawing conclusions thereupon may have adverse effects upon the Organization due the inadvertent prejudice attached with the impacts in the event of lack of information regarding the causes of such potential staffing discrimination.

The relationship of employer-employee is such that none of the parties can work in isolation. They need the support of each other in order to accomplish the personal as well as the professional goals. In this regard, while I do agree to an extent that employers have an upper hand usually when it comes to establishing the employment relationship, the scenario may not always hold true and could also depend upon various other factors that can influence the employer-employee relationship. For instance, the terms and conditions of the employment or contract can be well dictated by the employer as the employer would be in the position to understand the organizational values and norms better than the person whom he is going to employ in the Organization. The employer would also understand the role requirement of a new employee better before the vacancy is created in the Organization for the same. Hence, when it comes to job description as well, the employer would have an upper hand detailing the same. Further, in case of Job location, the employer would know where there is a dearth of staff and where should the new employee so recruited needs to be positioned in the Organization. The employer may also have the rights to terminate the contract or employment period from his end, giving a considerable period of notice to the employee based upon the terms of the employment pre-defined and agreed upon, by both the parties.

While on the other side, employees could also have an upper hand to decide what type of efforts or performance he should put in to derive maximum benefits from the job profile. The ethical aspect is also highly subjective and the employers can only encourage following Corporate ethics while implementation of the same lays in the hands of the employees as well, although punitive steps could be taken to control the same. Further, if the employees are professionals in their fields, then they could have an upper hand in designing his own job profile that could best match the interests of the company and add more value to it. Also in case where there is shortage of professionals and other manpower in the industry owing to various factors, employees so hired, may dictate their own terms of contract or employment as well.

The compensation package is one of the factors as well upon which, either of the parties can have an upper hand depending upon the availability of labor again. If there is surplus labor force available, then the employer can have the upper hand to quote the compensation package which could easily be lower in order to avail more contribution with lesser pay packages while the employee may have an upper hand in the scenario where there is shortage of labor and the employer desperately needs to hire one employee. The compensation package could also be dictated by the employees when they possess distinct professional qualifications like generally none other in the market. For example, a student graduating from a world’s leading management institute or Engineering College. In order to avail their expertise, employers may probably be at the receiving end. Even in case of strikes when the Unionization of laborers’ association takes place, there could be a dearth of manpower due to the protests of the laborers to work for the employer, may leave the employer in a vulnerable state of affair who could either then give in to the demands of the workers and get them back to work in order to cease the declination of productivity in the Organization or may seek to hire employees from outside though even in such a case, the employer would have to pay more compensation than in the usual case.

Hence, employer having an upper hand may not always stand true.