HR Management, Essay Example

Should all employers be required by federal law to provide health insurance for their employees? Why or why not? Support your answer using key points from the text and real-world examples/application or articles that deal directly with this topic.

All employers should be required by federal law to provide health insurance for their employees. First of all, the modern corporate literature acknowledges that organizations are not responsible for protecting the interests of only one stakeholder group which is shareholders but is responsible towards many stakeholder groups of which employees are one. Employees’ contributions play a major role towards organizational performance and it is only fair that organizations take measures to enhance the quality of life of their employees. It is important to note that low-income employees that cannot afford private insurance are often funded by taxpayers through national and state plans. This is an unfair shift of insurance burden from organizations to taxpayers even though organizations primarily reap the benefits of their employees’ hard work. It is not only the right thing to do but may actually benefit the organization through more satisfied employees as well as low turnover rates. Organizations like Starbucks have demonstrated it is possible to fairly treat employees yet also earn high profits at the same time.

You are the senior HR manager of your firm, which has 150 employees. Your sales/revenues have declined steadily for the past 10 months. You and the executive team have exhausted all efforts to contain costs but are still exceeding the budget required to stay in business through the end of 2011.

The sales/revenues have been declining for the past ten months. Of all the options, I may choose the third one which is eliminating vacation/holiday pay for the remainder of the year. I will not reduce staff because first of all it will lead to lower employees’ morale and should the economic conditions improve, the business will have to incur huge costs on rehiring and training again. I will not choose the second option of reducing benefits because 30 percent is significant amount and may especially negatively affect those with high reliance on benefits such as healthcare insurance. I will not choose the last option of reducing pay by 5% because some may already be struggling and this option will also create fears of further reductions in the future. I have chosen the third option because it provides incentive to employees to work. Since the cost is only upon those who choose to take the vacation, it is also fair in essence. This option also provides an opportunity to the employees to maintain their income and benefits in tough economic climate, thus, boosts employee morale and increase their loyalty to the organization.