Is JP's policy of paying male workers 20% more than female workers justified? Discuss why or why not and what issues can result from this gender wage differential. Read the following case scenario and answer the following questions. Use the information in the case torespond to each question that follows. Point form answers are acceptable. Make sure you providesufficient information to ensure your points are clear.Case: Newbridge LimitedNewbridge Limited is a Mississauga-based organization that manufactures medical devices andequipment for Canadian hospitals and private medical institutions. Newbridge specializes in makingstretchers and transport chairs. They also make some patient room furniture including bed frames andoverbed tables.Newbridge employs approximately 300 employees. Some of the positions within the organizationinclude Warehouse Managers, Production Supervisors, Production Workers, Sales Representatives,Equipment Service Technicians, Human Resources Administrators, and Marketing Associates.The company has been in operation since 2017. For the first three years that the company was inoperation, the production workers started at minimum wage. Today, the production workers earn $18per hour with a shift bonus if they work the evening shift. However, there is still no formal wagestructure. Currently, wage rates are mostly based on those prevailing rates in the surrounding area andare adjusted by the supervisors to maintain some semblance of equity between the workers. TheWarehouse Manager, Bruno Iksil, noticed that some of the production supervisors follow a policy ofpaying their employees about 10 per cent above what others are paying, a policy that they believereduces turnover while fostering employee loyalty. A greater concern to Bruno is his colleague, JPHinkle, who believes in paying male workers about 20 per cent more than female workers. JP has beenheard to say, "Men are stronger and can work harder for longer hours on the production line, andbesides they have families to support." While the company offers all employees a dental plan, there areno further extended benefits.While Newbridge advertises to be an "great place to work", many of the employees have expressedtheir concerns. Turnover has been a longstanding issue for the company. Employee exit interviewsrevealed that the three most significant sources of their dissatisfaction appear to be inadequatebenefits, monotonous work, and poor recognition. The human resources department is faced with thecontinuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified production workers. The qualifications for thesepositions are a minimum of a high school diploma, excellent gross and fine motor coordination andteamwork skills. Yet, the department often struggles with attracting enough applicants for thesepositions. Management has increased emphasis on productivity numbers and a heightened concern for quality.Consequently, workers are encouraged to put forth additional effort, and production standards havebeen raised to the point where many of the production workers, have complained of the faster workpace. One of the workers commented about the lack of concern management had over the workplace,"If you came in and took a look around, you would find guards off machinery, no written safetyprocedures and you wouldn't find any WHMIS data sheets on site." Just last month another employeewas injured, this time by a filing cabinet falling over in a storage room. He had to be taken to thehospital. Recently, a group of employees got so ticked off about that and they walked off the job inprotest. They sat outside for a couple of hours and then went home.The employees receive an annual performance appraisal consisting of a completed checklist and a briefmeeting with their supervisor. The employees are told verbally by the supervisor what is written in theirperformance review, but they do not see it. The supervisors are not diligent in recording incidencesthroughout the year. The supervisors complain that they have "hundred higher-priority things to attendto". When it was time to complete the performance appraisals, some supervisors will spot-check one ortwo things the employee was supposed to have done and tried to find fault with it. From thesupervisor's point of view this would provide justification for a poor rating.There are few complaints to management since employees have learned lessons from other employeeswho were fired for questioning the decisions made by supervisors. One employee, who was fired forrefusing to follow the orders of a supervisor, launched a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against thecompany. He felt he was asked to complete a task he wasn't trained to do.Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for medical equipment increased over 50%. Recently,the company announced that another production facility will be opened up in Moncton, New Brunswick.Due to some recent plant closures, the unemployment rate in Moncton is much higher than the nationalaverage. The decision to open the eastern plant had been made in hopes of cutting production costs,through lower wages, while increasing overall production to help meet the growing demands.The company will be hiring approximately 200 employees with the majority being production workers.Most of the machinery in the new plant will be şimilar to that already being used in Mississauga. Onemachine, however, a robotic frame assembler, is new. Implementing this new assembler will result in aneed to provide additional training to those employees who will operate the robotic frame assembler.

In general terms, workplace discrimination refers to a scenario whereby unequal treatment is…

Answered: Is JP's policy of paying male workers…

Is JP's policy of paying male workers 20% more than female workers justified? Discuss why or why not and what issues can result from this gender wage differential.

Understanding Business

12th Edition

ISBN:9781259929434

Author:William Nickels

Publisher:William Nickels

Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CE

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