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There are several pros and cons to labor unions on many different levels. In some industries, unions can be very helpful and are almost required to ensure smooth employee communications and HR policies for the company. However, there are also some industries where unions are about the worst thing that employees can think about, like in most of retail, whether it be because the union is the issue and is taking advantage of the companies and/or employees, or because the company is of an anti-union mindset and makes things intentionally hard for the union based employees but not its non-union employees. This type of thinking is true in the example of Starbuck’s. In 2021, stores in the Buffalo, NY area voted to unionize during the pandemic due to wanting to be heard about health and safety and better pay and benefits during the pandemic. This had years of arguments and dirty tactics from the company about terminating employees, not raising pay for unionized employees and almost refusing to negotiate pay, and more. This is the mindset that a lot of retail organizations have as they want you to believe that they have your best interest in mind and adding other people can create more issues. This is sometimes true, there are definitely unions out there that are always up to no good and not there for the employee. However, unions are not always bad, even though they are not perfect immune to being poisoned. I spoke to my parents and brother, who have all worked for the K-8 school system as certified and classified staff, and in these instances, unions are definitely more helpful than harmful. In their unions, they do have people that do shady things and turn the other way to let people get away with things, which is the case not only in unions, but also happens in the businesses themselves, but also are there to make sure that the employees interests really are in the best place at the company and to make sure that they are taken care of if anything were to happen. With all this, I am not sure if I would insist on joining a union or not, it really just depends on the circumstances and the company and job. I would say that you should always just make sure that you are gathering all the information so that you are aware of everything going on and can always make informed decisions.

Jeanie Kirby, Kevin Kirby, Derek Kirby, Personal Communication, December 7, 2025

Pros and Cons of Labor Unions

USA: Starbucks accused of ‘anti-union’ campaign following union drive across stores; incl. company comments – Business and Human Rights Centre

In my younger years, I always just believed and assumed that stress did not impact me and that I would always just move forward. As I have gotten older, and have learned through different situations in life, both good and bad, as well as learning how to deal with ADD/ADHD throughout life, that stress not impacting is simply not the case. After taking the Coping and Stress Management test and the Type A Personality survey, I found out that I am secretly harboring more stress than I realize,….. and want to admit is there,….. as well as I tend to ignore it and try to focus on more important things. This is not always the healthiest nor best thing mentally to do, and doing so can do much more harm than good in the future. I was actually a little surprised at the amount of stress, and how high the Type A personality score was. I have made great strides over the last 5 years or so to mature and not be the person that I was 10-15 years ago, however, it appears that I need to focus more deep down as well instead of just on the surface. Over the last 5 year or so, but mainly since 2020 when the pandemic started, there has been a huge focus on companies assisting employees with mental health, substance abuse, physical wellness, financial wellness, and other similar programs. Many larger companies have implemented most if not all additional wellness programs that are available for employees to help them throughout difficult times. Where I currently work, they offer tuition assistance, financial assistance and counseling, mental health assistance, and several other programs to help make sure that your whole being is taken care of instead of just offering traditional insurance. This has helped the mood and outlook of work change drastically because it shows employees that companies are willing to invest in their greatest asset, employees, during difficult and uncertain times to help them be taken care of instead of just replacing them if something were to happen, which was common years ago as a mindset.

Slightly prior to the beginning of the pandemic, I used to work for an office supply store full time, or as close to what you would consider full time. At the time, the minimum wage in my state in 2020 was $13.50 per hour. At the time, during tax season was when we got our yearly raises, and my pay was raised to a few cents over $14 per hour. At the same time, however, I also learned that the new associates that had been hired within the previous three months and throughout the next few months were being paid a little more than what I was getting for part time work, while I was getting paid less for being full time with more responsibility. During this time as well, due to the pandemic causing havoc with anything to do with retail, my hours were also being reduced to about 30 per week instead of around 38 where I was previously. All of these compounding factors led me to take a job where I currently work for over $4.50 more per hour and a guaranteed 39 hours per week, along with the prospect of bonuses, and hefty incentives. The main reason that this occurred was because not only had the compensation become completely unsatisfactory, it became an issue of not being able to support myself without working a second or third job and fighting and scraping for every hour possible. This was due to a lack of worth in the position and the company paying the bare minimum they could with as many cuts in hours, pay, and incentives as they could. This is an issue that seems to be common in retail and office work where they do not value and support seasoned employees in order to keep their compensation satisfactory. However, there has been a recent movement where it has almost become a standard to pay employees well above minimum and marker rate for many food, retail, and office positions across the country. This has been a step in the right direction, but there is still more work that needs to be done to make this a standard.

Training and assistance can make all the difference for new employees in an organization. As mentioned in the article, “Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly” (Ellis et al., 2017), adequate training and keeping your employees up to speed on a longer term scale is critical to make sure that your employees are trained correctly, happy, and are retained longer. Managers also play a role in how employees are trained because, “supervisors can promote or inhibit newcomer adjustment through their supportive or obstructive behaviors.” (Ellis et al., 2017) This has happened to everyone at some point, but two personal examples come to mind. I worked at a local grocery store that was part of a Northwest chain and got hired for a part time position while I was starting in college. The training in this role consisted of here is how you clock in, what to wear, where everything is, and your duties, then I was left on my own without any other help or assistance to make sure I was doing my duties correctly, then was scolded when things were not done the correct way or in the correct time. I only lasted a week and a half in this position since they fired me for calling in sick, after having the store manager’s position, however it was for the best looking back on it since I would have continued to be unhappy being there. On the other hand, I had a training for my current position a few years ago for most of the stores in our district with the vendors that went over everything from start to finish for this product, but also let participants that had been in this role for varying lengths of time share their knowledge and help create a sense of community and making sure that everyone felt supported. By doing this, it helps employees stay in this role longer and be more productive because they feel supported and are happy.

Ellis, Allison, Sushil Nifadkar, Talya Bauer, and Berrin Erdogan (2017), Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly.

When I think about good and bad interviews that I have been involved in, it comes down to a few critical things on the business’s side. These are preparation, research, and attitude/caring. These things can make or break an interview not only on whether the company is good in general, but also the applicants view of the company and whether they want to work there based off of first impressions. If you have two equal candidates, but one interviews with the high energy and positive attitude that always wants to be successful, and the other one interviews with the manager who does the bare minimum and does not care about anything, if they offer both the job, who do you think is going to accept the position based off of first impressions. I have had several interviews where the interviewer seemed like they did not care about the position, myself, or even that they were there, and were often times belittling me during the interview. Even if I was offered the job, I often turned down these positions unless I really needed the job. This is where attitude and research come in. Attitude seems like a simple thing, but can be complex during the interview depending on the person. However, always being energetic, interested and invested in what the candidate is saying, and being thoughtful and meaningful in your responses shows that you are giving them the time of day and giving them a great first impression. Research is also important to find the right candidates to interview and to gain more insight into them. Assessments, virtual interviews, social media, and job example games and tests are becoming increasingly more popular with business for good reason. Just like it is important for the interviewee to research the business prior to the interview to be able to interview correctly, it is important for the business to gather as much information as possible using all these resources about the candidates to tailor the interview to them and get as much from the responses aqs possible.

https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews

https://canvas.oregonstate.edu/courses/2014202/files/112862366?wrap=1

Job descriptions are often an HR item that is important up front, but gets put on the back burner until it is thought of again or needed. There is so much that goes into HR, that this is something that is often overlooked since it does not need to be updated until there is a change, which depending on the business and position could be constantly to many many years before something will need to be updated. Some positions, like store manager, or a specific assistant manager, may need minimal updating every few years, but temp positions for specific projects may need to be updates quite frequently as these projects come up or change over time. In the SHRM article, “Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions,” they recommend to update once a year around the annual review time to make sure they are current with what employees are being reviewed on, however, if there is a significant change, take care of it as soon as possible after the change and not wait until the next year. Also, make sure to keep an open communication with all levels of employees in the company to make sure that their duties and the job descriptions match. By doing this, it will help to reduce any employee relations problems or any legal problems that may arise since everything will be always up to date in the system and with the company records. Throughout my several jobs in different types of retail and customer service, I have seen that all the companies that I have worked for do a good job of keeping their job descriptions and postings up to date, however, companies have increasingly added a line that says “Other duties as assigned” to postings lately so that they have some flexibility in what they are able to assign to employees while still remaining within their normal job duties.

https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/hr-magazine/job-worth-update-descriptions