Employment Relations in China

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Introduction

Employment relationship context in china is marked by key characteristics and features emerging from the recent developments and transformations in labour realms. Employment Relations entails the coordination of service provision and labour provision.

The relationship between the employers (labour providers) and employees (service providers) provides the best explanation for what Employment Relations is. The recent decades have seen researchers develop interest in the study of employment relations thriving in various industrial and country realms, owing to their significant differences and complexities (Blanpain Lansbury and Wailes, 2008).

China’s recent strategies have been geared towards competing for survival in the world economy that experiences rapid globalization in the recent years. In addition, the agenda that would enable a reformation of state-owned enterprises (SOE’s) ownership has been top since 1990’s and this is deemed as a crucial factor that will enable promotion of economic advancements in the country via transforming employment relations.

Employees are also considered as the main driver of economic change by their provision of labour for payment. Employee relations system is therefore featured and characterized by interplay of labour force availability and the control of employer-employee relationships by various regulatory bodies. Moreover, the enhancement of employee satisfaction, morale, performance, and productivity, in addition to economic sustainability and increased value are the rationales of such a control (Shih-wei, 2005).

This assessment is aimed at investigating employment relations of china in regard to the main characteristics and features that define the system used. The control of the system by the state, employers, and trade unions will be established in details. Moreover, it is deemed crucial to investigate issues that challenge the Chinese system of employment relations and the future of the system of employment relations in China to increase the understanding of the employment relationship context.

The main features and characteristics of the system of employment relations in China

The system of employment relations in China has very pronounced features and characteristics, since the country is today identified as a rapidly growing and advancing industrial power. First, labour relations has a feature of dynamism, which is an implication of drastic processes that are taking place in the social, economic and cultural as well as the political realms.

The occurrence of such dynamisms creates the need for the transformation of labour, industrial and agrarian and urbanization relations. The need for globalization has seen china develop a main agenda that transforms every sector of the economy for its welfare as well as the welfare of the world.

A second feature is that of increased employment opportunities due to the rapid increase in industrialization. It is also featured by control of a number of regulatory bodies, including the government through application of economic policies, trade unions and employers. Certain challenges are also a main feature imposing hardships to changes in employment relations (Oakley, 2002).

On the other hand, numerous characteristics are used in the definition of China’s employment relations. First, contract has recently become a long-term feature, in employer-employee agreements.

This is following the realization that traditional employments agreements have had major drawbacks, which have created the need for the development of more ample employment method in order to enhance job security. This entails signing of legal documents that define contraction of jobs between the employer and the employee. Moreover, China, being among the rapidly developing countries, signed the 2001 Act of Employment, which states that any employment must be followed by a legal agreement (EWCO, 2009).

Secondly, the system of employment is characterized by work performance. Signing of employment contracts is accompanied by an employee performing duties that are entrusted to him by the employer.

Simply put, work is defined as a human activity that is a causal agent for economic increase, provided its performance is lawfully grounded. The working criterion entails performance of work by an individual on behalf of another for payment. Therefore, work that is done by a person provides direct results to the employer and to the employee (EWCO, 2009).

Thirdly, the remuneration compensation characteristic is very crucial in sealing employment contracts. Payments must be given to the workers in return for work done; this is in form of a remuneration, which is defined as any kind of reimbursement that contributes to improvement of economic significance.

In the case of China, a special remunerability presumption has been established by the act signed by the states in 2001. It advocates that whether a contract signed or not, a worker must be entitled to an attractive remuneration package (EWCO, 2009).

Employment Relations in china is also characterized by direction and supervision. This characteristic enables the employer to duly supervise the employee to ensure work performance. The supervision is a distinct criterion for the identification of employed people and self-employed people that are never subjected to supervision.

To ensure employment existence, it is required that an employee performs positional work in accordance to the directions accorded to him by the employer. This ensures the completeness of all the above characteristics since the employer pays remuneration to a working employee sealing the employment contract (EWCO, 2009).

The role of state in the Chinese system of employment relations

The state plays a significant role in the regulation of Chinese employment relations. The state is made up of institutions, which comprise of the central administration, the police, the legislature, judiciary, and the executive in addition to local government. The influence by the state is often direct or indirect.

The provision of employment as an employer to civil servants, legislation imposition, as well as provision of solutions to conflicts implies direct control, while crucial context provision on regulation of businesses, providing engagement rules in the system of employee relations is indirect mode of the state control (Cooke, 2005).

On a broader scale, the state is responsible for legislation, where every employer is required to have legal rights to partake from such legislation. Peacekeeping is also a crucial role, where the state assists in solving employer-employee disputes in judicial courts of law.

The provision of employments makes the state play a pivotal role as an employer; therefore, it has the experience of remuneration compensation. This enables the state at its position, to strategically regulate the current employment relations system, which is today experiencing drastic changes.

Economic management is also the role of the state, where it sets the fiscal, monetary stabilization, taxation and other macro policies that are used in the control of economic growth. The state also plays a fundamental role in the ideological contribution, where it intervenes in situations of reduced employment, exploitation of labour force and inadequacy in skills acquisition by the employees (Shih-wei, 2005).

The role of the employers in the Chinese system of employment relations

The term employer is used to denote labour providers to an available labour force, whose long-term role is the creation of employment opportunities for the needy employees. Employers are also known to be skills providers, for they offer training programs for their employees at the workplace.

The employment itself is a ground for personal skills enhancement in relevant fields. It is the responsibility of the employers to provide attractive remuneration packages to their employees, as well as offering accordable directions in accordance to work requirements. A genuine employer should also be subject to the protection and safety provision to all employees, by either insuring their lives or signing protection contracts with them in order to create job satisfaction (Blanpain, Lansbury, and Wailes, 2008).

Employers in china’s system of employment relations include the State, multinational organizations, local business organizations, learning and health providing bodies, and small and medium enterprises. Most of the employment bodies have been in control of the state traditionally, which China has been recently transforming their ownership. These employers are entitled to rights of setting up employment standards and policies, with the employees seeking employment having to comply with the employer requirements.

Other roles entrusted to the employers in China’s employment relations system include recruitment and training of employees, inspection, imposing work corrections and overall organizational/ institutional/ workplace management. The responsibility of monitoring the rate of economic changes and facilitation of change processes implementation is also a pivotal role of the employers (Blanpain, Lansbury, and Wailes, 2008).

The role of unions in the Chinese system of employment relations

A significant role is played by unions in the Chinese system of employment relations. Generally, unions are groups or organizations formed by workers, employers and organizations with an intention of attaining common objectives. In China, organizational unions have played a pivotal role in enhancing employment provisions.

Normally, organizations form unions that are geared towards promoting the growth of the prevailing economy by the utilization autonomous outsourcing strategies that enhance competitive advantage. Indeed, the competitive advantage attainment is a factor that enhances international relationship, thus creating employment opportunities (Chen, et al., 2008).

Unions formed by workers foster individual developments, where they act as a tool for the workers’ realization of their rights. They are also intelligence groups where issues concerning protection of workers are addressed. Most of the groups in china are aimed at protecting employees from exploitation by their employers, ensuring health and benefits are provided to every worker by their employers, as well as providing a ground for reactions whenever employers are no longer listening to their aggressions.

On the other hand, employers work in unions to come up with appropriate policies that should govern employment grounds. These unions are very vital instruments in providing support for one another, as well as enhancing sustainability and organizational value. Importantly, sustainability ensures economic stability and thus constant job supply, which ensures stability of employment relations systems (Cooke, 2005).

The issues that challenge the Chinese system of employment relations

Rampant issues are known to challenge every system of economy in china, the employee relations system not being an exception. The labour administration system today faces remarkable transition challenges, owing to the recent agenda of transforming state-owned institutions to privately governed firms.

This ideally subjects the institutions to market reform pressures that are dominated by competition. This has substantially eroded wages, welfare, and employment guarantees, hence reducing the assurance in the employment relations system. In addition, direct domination of the labour-management association by the party-state creates a constant challenge for the labour market operations.

A striking challenge is also that of inadequate employment protection, whereby, most employers are not in a position to cater for their employers insurance requirements, and at the same time, paying low wages such that workers cannot also insure themselves. This becomes a problem where job security is not guaranteed, thus reducing employment relations system substantially (Bain, 2007).

Employment system is also rampantly disabled by massive campaigns and worker’s protests resulting from low wages to the workers by their employers, overexploitation at work places, and slow response of the state to workers’ problems. Other workers are also causative agents for protests due to failure in acquiring their economic and political interests; for instance, the 1997 protest by workers in china as a result of organizational transformations, which slightly destabilized the employment relations system.

This advocated for a reduction in workforce and an emphasis on human resources management to enhance increased production. The trade unions, at the same time, have proved inadequate to offer full control of the workers’ challenges. Long working hours and low-wage payment have also rampantly affected the system in recent years, and so has the performance of non-standard jobs by educated workers.

The contemporary employment relations aimed at improving labour protection is not also well comprehended by many people, and this hinders the government in its market reform policies application. Thus, wages, employment, and labor standards remain an area of concern in the employment relations (Bain, 2007).

The future of the system of employment relations in China

The future of employment relations is likely to encounter waves of success and failure. Primarily, the country is drastically undergoing market reformations in tandem to globalization of the economies. Besides, the institutions of labour are undergoing transitions; thus, the efforts of the government in the imposition of certain policies will still be challenged, resulting to paralysis of corporate control of the state.

China is also known to possess a large population; therefore, application of a labour policy model that is pluralistic would be of help in the future even as globalization processes are kept at bay. The need for efficiency and effectiveness measures will also increase in future because of the employment opportunities due to globalization. Moreover, the state, the employers, and the unions will need to develop employment control strategies that will enhance good employee relationship systems.

The future will also need the implementation of beautiful strategies aimed at maintaining employer-employee relationships through a comprehensive revision of remunerations, as well as avoiding overworking employees, the result of which will be improvement of employment relations systems (Chen, et al., 2008).

Conclusions

Employment relationship context in china is marked by key characteristics and features emerging from the recent developments and transformations in the labour realms. The state, employers, and unions play a pivotal role in determination of employment relations system control in China.

However, implementation of significant employer-employee relationship best strategies will aid in maintenance of the employment relations systems. Moreover, more empirical and theoretical research should be conducted in future to come up with the best recommendations that would improve employment relations systems of China.

Reference List

Bain, P., 2007. Conflict and cooperation in employment relations “with Chinese characteristics.” Proceedings of the 59th Annual Meeting, labor and employment relations association series. University of Alabama. Web.

Blanpain, R., Lansbury, R. and Wailes, N., 2008. Globalization and employment relations in the auto assembly industry: a study of seven countries. London: Kluwer Law International.

Chen, S. et al. 2008. Learning from Chinese Enterprises: Chinese Labor Law and models of employment relations “with Chinese characteristics”. University press. Web.

Cooke, F., 2005. HRM, work and employment in China: Analysis of the changing nature of work, employment, and HRM in Chinese society. NY: Routledge publishers.

Cooke, F., 2005. Employment relations in small commercial businesses in China. Industrial Relations Journal, 36:1, 19–37. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Web.

EWCO. 2009. Fundamental characteristics of the employment relationship. Finland. Web.

Oakley, S., 2002. Labor relations in China’s socialist market economy: adapting to the global market. CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Shih-wei, P., 2005. Transforming Employment Relations in China: Market Reform and the Choice of Labor Policies. Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan. Web.

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