Essay: Paternal Leave Demand & HR Management Implications.

The task is to write a report on a contentemporary news story about an organisation. You will be provided with the new story that is to be the focus of your report. Your business report should

- provide a brief summary of the news story

- identify the human resource issues raised and discuss them in relation to the relevant concepts, frameworks, and theories from the Unit: and

- make recommendations for the future.

The Human resource management function is considered to be a crucial aspect of the organization whereby it becomes increasingly important for the different members of the organization to ensure that they are aware of the different benefits as provided by the organization at large in order to take benefits (Abc.net.au., 2018). With the recent awareness with respect to the equality of gender roles, the maintenance of the work life balance is considerably important not only for the women but also for the men. For this reason, the primary aim of the report is to highlight the increasing demand for the paternal leave by male employees and how it is considered to be crucial for the different organizations to consider this as a growing trend. Hence, this report will summarize the article which will then be followed by a critical analysis of the key topics related to Human Resource Management. The latter half of the report will provide recommendations on the same.

The article named `Concerns inflexible working hours for men could be damaging women's careers` has been penned down by Alina Eacott was posted on 31 August, 2018. The article talks about the gender inequality with respect to the paternal leave and the flexible working hours with respect to men and women (Abc.net.au., 2018). There have been increasing cases in Australia whereby the male members of the organization have been demanding for a paternal leave and flexible working hours. However, as stated by the authors, this has been a rare case whereby some of the Human Resource departments of an organization have found the issue difficult to comprehend, because it has been unheard of. However, the article also states that the gender roles with respect to the development of the child need to be equal and as the women employees are generally provided with flexible working hours with extra leave but men are not allowed to do so due to which they are unable to spend adequate time with their children and moreover, acts as a hindrance to the career of the wife. For this reason, it is stated that the workplaces need to understand that along with women, even the men need to have a flexibility in their work life so that the parenting roles can be shared equally.

The article highlighted various new trends and topics relating to the human resource management in Australia and identified certain issues with respect to the working life of the employees and their additional benefits which are generally provided to them (Stone et al., 2015). The different key human resource issues which will be identified are as follows:

The working hours which are generally provided to the employees has become a source of key concern for the different members of the organization. This means that due to the increased competition as existent in the workplace and in the general business environment as well, the working hours of the different employees have increased considerably and many of the employees in order to ensure that they are successfully able to abide by their work environment tend to work overtime which completely has an impact on their personal life. According to Albrecht et al., (2015), the concept and issue of working hours is largely related to the phenomenon of a work life balance.

Key Issues Related to Human Resource Management

According to Marchington et al. (2016), work life balance is said to be an important aspect of the employment where the organization is essentially required to ensure that the different workers of the organization tend to have a work load and related quality of work life which essentially assists them to maintain a healthy work life balance. A healthy work life balance goes a long way in ensuring that the different employees enjoy adequate home life as well and are able to pay attention to the different people at their home as well. In the same way, the quality of work life at the workplace also needs to be improved. According to Reiche et al. (2016), the quality of work life at the workplace can be essentially described as techniques of job enrichment so that the workplace can be largely elevated.  As given in the case study, due to the home duties as completed by the women employees they are often provided with flexible working hours and leaves so that they are able to manage their work life balance successfully (Tatli et al., 2017). However, this is not the case with the male employees and the different male employees often tend to work overtime and are not allowed to have flexible working hours which then hinders their work life balance and has a key impact on their personal life balance.

The leaves and benefits as provided to the different employees are often considered to be an essential aspect of their work life employment. Stone (2017) states that the right combination of the benefits when provided to the employees may go a long way in providing the organization with a suitable work life and also tends to ensure that the different employees at the work place have an access to adequate leaves as well as benefits. However, the benefits are considered to be discriminatory in nature and are often allowed to a certain group of employees and are not allowed to another group. According to Jackson, Schuler & Jiang (2014), this discrimination at the work place often tends to leads to a misbalance at the work place and a sense of biasness. The maternity leaves which are provided to the various mothers who are expecting a child is often considered to be a biased benefit which is provided to the women employees because very often this might be the case that the male employees are often not granted a paternity leave because it is believed that they have no major role to play in the development of their child. Larrieta?Rubín de Celis et al., (2015), this is the reason why the male employees often are not provided with adequate flexible working hours which then restricts them with spending time at their homes and fulfill their specific duty. For this reason, it is crucial that these employees are provided with equal leaves and benefits which will then allow them to perform well. In relation to this, the two factor Herzberg`s theory can be given whereby it is stated that a mix of motivating as well as the hygiene factors when provided to the different employees will go a long way in ensuring that the employees are motivated to work in a better manner and that they can contribute adequately to the welfare of the organization (Bratton & Gold, 2017).  The article identified that when the male employees are not provided with the flexible work hours and other leave benefits then it tends to have a direct impact on the career of their wives as well and even the father misses out on the development of the child. This may often cause a sense of resentment among the employees and may reflect on their quality of work.

Work Life Balance and Working Hours

Another issue which was identified in the chosen article is that the gender roles at the workplace are often considered to be unequal. According to Brewster (2017), although the different organizations often tend to state that they follow equality among the job roles and other such aspects but this is often not the case and for this reason, there exists a glass ceiling which clearly differentiates between the two genders. Moreover, in order to ensure that these gender roles are often equalized, the women at the workplace are often allowed additional leaves and benefits which then tends to make the men feel quite negative in nature and they often miss out on the essential aspects of life. Brewster, Chung and Sparrow (2016) states that as a result of the inflexible working hours not provided to the male employees as compared to the female employees, the career development of the wives of male employees are often at stake. For this reason, when the female employees want to join the workplace after a break, they find it difficult due to the inconvenient working hours of the male employees. For this reason, Reiche, Harzing and Tenzer (2018), believe that any organization in the present work environment with special reference to Australia need to ensure that the engage in effective career development and planning for their employees such that they are allowed to have a paid flexibility at the workplace and when they decide to re-join the workplace, they can then be allowed to adjust adequately.

Hence, after analysis of the case from the article with respect to the concerns of the inflexible working hours as provided to the different employees, it can be rightfully stated that in order to ensure considerable success in the organization, the human resource department has a strategic role to play and for this reason the following recommendations have been made so that the organizations in the Australian workplace will be able to successfully manage their different employees.

1. Providing equal benefits the employees

Irrespective of the gender and the other family backgrounds, the different employees as present in any organization need to be adequately provided with an equal opportunity at the workplace (Chelladurai & Kerwin, 2017).  Whether this opportunity is with respect to the leaves allowed due to child care or to the additional benefits provided to the different employees, it can be stated that if both the male as well as the female employees need to be provide with equal child benefits which shall then a go a long way in helping them to lead a balanced work life.

2. Ensuring that the female employees are provided with facilities which provide them with an easy entrance into the organization. Although the different female employees at the workplace are allowed a comfortable leave which will then allow them to adjust with their life, their entrance into the workplace becomes quite difficult and hence, it is suggested that with respect to the changing needs of the different human resources as present in the business domain, these employees must be allowed to have a comfortable entrance into the work life after a break (Collings, Wood & Szamosi, 2018).

Conclusion

Therefore, from the given analysis it can be rightfully stated that although these facilities of flexible working hours and additional combination of benefits have been developed to allow the different employees to enjoy a comfortable work life, it also needs to be noted that in order to ensure long term success, these facilities need to be provided to the different employees equally which will then allow them to contribute in a better manner towards the overall welfare of the firm.

References

Abc.net.au. (2018). Concerns inflexible working hours for men could be damaging women's careers [online]. Available at:  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/calls-for-better-working-hours-formen/10184968?section=business  (Accessed on:08 Oct. 2018).

Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Brewster, C. (2017). The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.

Brewster, C., Chung, C., & Sparrow, P. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Chelladurai, P., & Kerwin, S. (2017). Human resource management in sport and recreation. Human Kinetics.

Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.

Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.

Larrieta?Rubín de Celis, I., Velasco?Balmaseda, E., Fernández de Bobadilla, S., Alonso?Almeida, M. D. M., & Intxaurburu?Clemente, G. (2015). Does having women managers lead to increased gender equality practices in corporate social responsibility?. Business Ethics: A European Review, 24(1), 91-110.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2016). Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

Reiche, B. S., Harzing, A. W., & Tenzer, H. (Eds.). (2018). International human resource management. SAGE Publications Limited.

Reiche, B. S., Stahl, G. K., Mendenhall, M. E., & Oddou, G. R. (Eds.). (2016). Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.

Stone, D. L., Deadrick, D. L., Lukaszewski, K. M., & Johnson, R. (2015). The influence of technology on the future of human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 25(2), 216-231.

Stone, R.J. (2017). Human resource management. 9^TH edition. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

Tatli, A., Ozturk, M. B., & Woo, H. S. (2017). Individualization and marketization of responsibility for gender equality: The case of female managers in China. Human Resource Management, 56(3), 407-430.