Employment Relations At Clipper Logistics Ltd.

Introduction. Employee Engagement. Disciplinary procedure. Employment Tribunal. Conclusions. Reference List. Appendixes.

It is not realistic that the relationship between employers and employees will always be balanced and harmonious.

For those concerned with the management of people at work very important thing remains an understanding of the field of employment relations. Blyton and Turnbull (2004) state that its relevancy is four-fold:

1. the emergence of the individualism associated with contemporary HRM practices and the decrease in the collective aspect of employment does not indicate the end of the need to study collective employment relationships.

2. the world of work remains the main thing to the lives of most people

3. while employees and managers may share a general interest in ensuring a continuous successful enterprise, a tension exists between the workers’ needs for employment security and wages and an employer’s need for profit.

4. employees are essential to an ability of the organisation to achieve its business strategy.

Fox (1966) produces importance between 2 underpinning managerial action ‘frames of reference’ – the pluralistic and the unitary.

Pluralism supposes that the company is composed of groups of individuals who have competing, legitimate interests. Trade unions exist as the legal representative of employees, expressing the basic conflict in their relationship with management. Conflict is seen as an unavoidable result of these groups seeking to further their own interests.

The unitary view assumes an identity of interests between employer and employee with a sole focus of loyalty (the company's goals) and a single source of authority (managerial). The trade unions are observed as an intervention into the company which engages with management for the loyalty of employees. “Drawing on the team analogy, the unitary view perceives conflict to be irrational, the result of misunderstandings or poor communication.”

The role of the management is one of looking to coordinate these unavoidable disagreements in their decision-making.” (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010)

Employment relations issues could be observed as one specific “aspect of the broader decisions that relate to the effective resourcing of organisation” with people. Salamon (1998) indicate that “the issues requiring consideration” could be classified under 5 headings:

•managerial principles,

•the determination of employment terms and conditions,

•the relationship between employees and management,

•the role of procedures,

•meeting mutual expectations.

Clipper Logistics Limited was created in 1992, with a team of 3 people and 1 driver. Today Clipper is one of the largest United Kingdom’s logistics companies with the turnover of over £450m, highly-skilled employees of over 6,500, 46 network sites, 10 million sq.ft space of the warehouses and over 300 trucks. They are the experts in high-value logistics and retail and have the depots, the fleet, the warehousing, the people and the to deliver on all sizes contracts, also the vision to see the bigger picture, without neglecting the day-to-day detail. Clipper Logistics Ltd has a ‘flat’ and flexible structure and a hands-on and responsive approach that gives straight access to the senior team. The company are dealing with market-leaders, start-ups, SMEs and the UK’s fastest emerging brands – to deliver exceptional service and the same flexibility to every business, regardless of their size. (Clipper, 2020)

One of Clipper's largest retail brand is ASDA George. Collaboration between Clipper and Asda began in 2008, the two demonstrate continuous success and a value in every product. This is supported by the 10-year collaboration. On 6 December 2018 Clipper Logistics Ltd extended its partnership contract with ASDA to include George product range and General goods. Clipper is currently responsible for storage, shipping, online orders, returns and receiving of goods. Clipper carries out these operations from sites in Ollerton and Doncaster. Clipper Logistics Ltd Ollerton site is only concerned with the following brands: George, Marks and Spencer Group Plc, Wilko Retail Ltd, River Island, KIDLY Ltd and Polarn O. Pyret.