Skip to main content

Problems of working for a global company

Many companies get so large they decided to open up new locations, not only locally but global. Expansion of a corporation means better chance of revenue, new clienteles, more product recognition as well as more diversity on their corporate staff. But understanding businesses that expand their production overseas has many different names and not all are the same. As explained by Mr. Lee Iwan,
“International companies are importers and exporters, they have no investment outside of their home country. Multinational companies have investment in other countries, but do not have coordinated product offerings in each country. More focused on adapting their products and service to each individual local market. Global companies have invested and are present in many countries. They market their products through the use of the same coordinated image/brand in all markets. Generally one corporate office that is responsible for global strategy. Emphasis on volume, cost management and efficiency. Transnational companies are much more complex organizations. They have invested in foreign operations, have a central corporate facility but give decision-making, R&D and marketing powers to each individual foreign market” (Iwan, 2007).

For this scenario, my mid-size organization wants to go international, meaning we have no international location or investment; so, we are going into this project brand new. Learning the labor laws, the employment laws, the overseas laws, the new country laws and so on.
            Being that the company is established in the United States, one US employment law that is most discussed, argued over, taken advantage of, and publicly voted upon for adjustment—the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD). This law controls/guides as well as monitors payments for workers; Minimum Wage, Overtime, and Misclassification. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) institutes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting workers in the private sector as well as in Federal, State, and local governments (“Labor Laws and Issues”, 2018). The Fair Labor Standards Act governs the federal wage amount and overtime rate of pay. It also standardizes child labor, limiting the number of hours that adolescents can work. Some U.S. states have a higher minimum wage, different overtime and child labor legislation. In those locations, state law would be applied (Doyle, 2019). In the U.S. it’s pretty simple, but in other countries the payment, salary, wages compensation might be different than here in America.
            One country for thought on employment labor laws that might differ from the United States is Brazil. According to the International Comparative Legal Guides website, it explains “The main source of employment law in Brazil is the “Consolidation of Labour Laws” known as the “Labour Code”. The Labour Code was enacted on 1 May 1943 and has been subject to many changes, amendments and adaptations since then, including amendments provided by the Federal Constitution enacted on 5 October 1988. The Labour Code has been subject to several amendments and updates in 2017, especially in relation to the enactment of a new law regulating the outsourcing of services and of a comprehensive form in the Labour Code (“Labour Reform”)” (Muniz, 2018). In Brazil it’s sort of similar to the work laws in the U.S. but with a few extra conditions. The Brazilian government has a minimum wage or the minimum payment that is negotiated by the Collective Bargaining Agreements and the workers also get 30-day vacation with pay up to 1/3 salary. The employees in Brazil also get a Severance Indemnity Fund and a 13th salary. A 13th salary is sort of like a bonus during Christmas time (Muniz, 2018). They have some very good additional laws that help the community with their salaries.
            Some comparison and differences can be noticed in the wage employment laws between both countries. One similarity is both countries have minimum wage, the only difference is that in the United States the private sectors and government—along with public companies can vary the minimum wage a little higher depending on the annual basis or the corporation itself. In Brazil, “There is a national minimum wage that applies to all employees, regardless of their age, industry or experience, and this is increased on an annual basis. Some states have a regional minimum wage that must be observed if it is higher than the national minimum wage.
Some collective agreements also establish minimum wages for certain professional categories and positions” (de Medeiros Redi, Peres, Cruz Greiner, & Bodo, 2018).  Another similarity is the severance packages, both countries give their employees salary in the case of a laying off event, or a company shut down. One difference that the Brazilian people have that the U.S. doesn’t is the “13th month payment”. According to Personnel Today website, the article explains, every year, Brazilian workers are entitled to be compensated a “13th month” of salary by their company; this is known as the Christmas bonus and is paid in two instalments (“Ten things you didn’t know about employment law in Brazil”, 2016). In the United States, we don’t get annual Christmas bonuses, we get bonuses or promotions if our organization believes we deserve it and at times people don’t see that bonus at all in smaller companies.
            To write or create an international corporate employment policy, is a bit similar to a regular American employment policy. An employment policy describes the commitments that employers make towards their employees. These commitments should be available for all employees. It includes all the basics, from background of a person to the rules and regulations of the hiring process for the company. The only thing I believe that would be different is a separate form completely in the foreign language for the natives to understand, as well as many the country’s forms of regulations and rules for the companies.



Employment policy

Apple Inc.   
100 5th Ave, New York, NY 10011

We acknowledge that employee development and well-being is vital to the success of our corporation, and all the employees are considered part of Apple family.

Our employment policy confirms that:

• Selection is firmly on merit without any consideration for cast, creed, gender, religion, race, color, provincial or national origin, disability, sexual orientation, political opinion or other similar factors.
• Child labor is not allowed, and suitable safeguards are in place for young personnel.
• Working hours and other service conditions are designed for better health, environment and social conditions of staffs and are in agreement with the prevailing applicable laws of the country.
• Human resources development through further education and training is encouraged.
• Workers are unrestricted to leave at any time.
• Any kind of payment will not be taken for employment.

Size of workforce:

• Workforce employed shall be within the permissible boundary as specified in the factory license.

Age and eligibility:

• In no circumstances, will any person below 18 years of age be employed in dangerous activity.
• In no circumstances, will any person below the age of 15 be employed.
• Young workers (15-17) shall only be employed in non-hazardous activities, and appropriate safeguards for their health, safety, development and education shall be in place.
The site must follow the obligations made in the employment policy.
                     
Signature of person responsible within the company:
Head of Apple, Inc. Date 03/10/2019





Works Cited
De Medeiros Redi, M., Peres, C., Cruz Greiner, L., & Bodo, I. (2018, December 1). Employment
and employee benefits in Brazil: Overview. Retrieved from https://content.next.westlaw.com/1-503-5032?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&__lrTS=20171015140426060&firstPage=true&bhcp=1

Doyle, A. (2019, January 16). Review a Comprehensive List of U.S. Employment and Labor
Laws. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/list-of-employment-laws-2062282

Iwan, L. (2007, June 18). Difference between a global, transnational, international and
multinational company. Retrieved from https://leeiwan.wordpress.com/2007/06/18/difference-between-a-global-transnational-international-and-multinational-company/

Labor Laws and Issues. (2018, November 7). Retrieved from https://www.usa.gov/labor-laws

Muniz, A. L. (2018, April 17). International Comparative Legal Guides. Retrieved from
https://iclg.com/practice-areas/employment-and-labour-laws-and-regulations/brazil

Sample - employment policy (Rep.). (n.d.). Retrieved http://www.tft-earth.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/03/Forced-and-bonded-labour-supplementary-materials.pdf

Ten things you didn't know about employment law in Brazil. (2016, August 02). Retrieved from

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/ten-things-didnt-know-employment-law-brazil/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Example of a Self-Concept Case Study

Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) defined self-concept as “the totality of complex, organized, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his/her personal existence” & the self-concept we hold to be true helps us form a “perception of who we are based on expectations from, and responses to, our social environment; stimulated by internal and external factors that can create intense emotional responses, impacting on our willingness to learn and our choice of action - guiding our behaviors” (p. 127). In the case (WA, 2018) Jack is a 36-year-old leader within a major hospital who prides himself as a professional. In his work, he supports and helps each of his team members. In his personal life, he used to focus on eating healthy and exercising regularly. In the past year, his focus on healthy living declined because of professional responsibilities. As a consequence, his state of health deteriorated to a point that hi
Post a Comment
Read more

DeBeers - the diamond trading company

PESTEL analysis Political aspect: In 1994 the DeBeers operation was prohibited in the United States territory because of antitrust legislation. These facts complicate the DeBeers operation and shake the whole company. Economic aspect: Although in 1990s DeBeers ruled the whole industry, after several events such as Soviet Union collapse and Alrosa’s appearing, DeBeers lost its control over the market. In addition, Canada’s appearing in the diamond market forced DeBeers to hold back a large portion of its diamonds from the market and purchase much of the excess supply from these producing countries often at inflated prices (McAdams, Reavis, 2008, p.7). Social aspect: In the mid-1990, Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Democratic Republic Congo were outflanked by rebel forces opposed to the government. DeBeers sponsored this military conflict by “blood diamonds” purchasing. Technological aspect: The main threat is the synthetic diamonds grown is the lab-conditions. This tec
Post a Comment
Read more

Case Study 2: Young, Confident, and Moving too Fast

Introduction             The increasing complexities of organizations as it grows and as some take the path of globalization resulted in diversity and attracted many forms of cultural differences. Hence, the need to manage these cultural differences existing within organizations has been increasingly becoming necessary. This is particularly true for managers who may be caught in between various individual culture that each of its subordinates is accustomed to. Managing cultural differences requires what they called cultural intelligence (CQ). Broadly speaking, CQ is the ability to cut across various cultural contexts such as ethnic, generational, or organizational cultures (Livermore, 2011, p. 5). In this paper, the generational cultural differences between Joanne, the manager, and Julia, the newly hired subordinate will be discussed. To give a brief background, Julia is a confident, fast learner, and passionate young woman who wants to do more in her job without being micromanaged
Post a Comment
Read more