8 Employment Definitions of employment and labor

When we speak about employment we usually mean paid work done by a person or a group of people. Labor, in its turn, refers to the routine work that people do in their jobs, whether it is performing manual labor, managing employees, or providing skilled professional services.

Types of jobs

A full-time job is for the whole of the normal working week; a part-time job is for less time than that.

A permanent job doesn't finish after a fixed period; a temporary job finishes after a fixed period.

With technological advances, more and more people resort to telecommuting. They work away from the employer's office, often at home, but maintain close contact with coworkers and managers through electronic mail and telephone. In some situations telecommuting can increase an employee's productivity; it also decreases time spent driving to and from the office and decreases pollution from automobiles.

There is also informal employment, or paid work on a casual basis. Jobs are irregular, and workers are often self-employed without earning pension and without paying taxes.

Informal employment also includes illegal activity such as theft, prostitution, and selling drugs.

Compensation for work

Compensation and remuneration are formal words used to talk about pay and benefits, especial; those of senior managers. Compensation package and remuneration package are used especially in the US to talk about all the pay and benefits thai employees receive. Compensation is also used to talk about money and other benefits that a senior manager (or any employee) receives if they are forced to leave the organization. This money is in the form of a compensation payment

Problems at work

There are some health and safety issues for people at work. For example, passive smoking, repetitive strain injury, dangerous machinery, hazardous substances and fire hazards. AM these things contribute to a bad working environment. The government sends officials called health and safety inspectors to make sure that factories and offices are safe places to work.

If people are treated differently from others in an unfair way, they ate discriminated against.

If a woman is unfairly treated just because she is a woman, she is a victim of sex discrimination, sexism.

If someone is treated unfairly because of their race, they area victim of racial discrimination or racism.

Recruitment

The process of finding people for particular jobs is recruitment or hiring. Someone who has been recruited is a recruit or a hire. The company employs or hires them and they join the company. A company may recruit employees directly or use outside recruiters, recruitment agencies or employer agencies. Outside specialists called headhunters may be called on to headhunt people for very important jobs, persuading them to leave the organizations they already work for. This process is called headhunting.