LHR 100Exploring Work and Employment

3 credits · Labor and Human Resources · Penn State

Work and employment are central parts of the human experience. With that in mind, this course has two main objectives. First, to help better prepare students for the role that work and employment will play in their lives. And second, to introduce students to the fields of human resource management and employment relations. The course will begin by looking at the ways in which work and employment impact people's lives financially, socially, and psychologically. It then examines a number of issues that impact the kind of experience that people have at work and that people entering the workforce need to be aware of, including the basic legal rights employees have related to employment, workplace privacy, employment discrimination, family-friendly policies at work, safety and health in the workplace, drug and alcohol testing, and the growing trend of working from home. The course then introduces students to human resource management as a field. It also discusses the various ways that students will interact with human resources professionals when they begin applying for jobs, including the search and hiring process and, once they obtain employment, on issues such as compensation, benefits, and job evaluation. As the employees in some workplaces are represented by labor unions, students will be introduced to the role that unions have historically played in American workplaces. The process for organizing a union will be addressed, as will the collective bargaining process through which employers and unions jointly determine wages and salaries, benefits such as healthcare and pensions, and processes for ensuring fair treatment and due process in the workplace. New alternatives to unions that give workers a voice in their workplace will also be discussed. The final section of the course will focus on globalization and immigration and their impact on work and employment around the world. Both the benefits of globalization (lower costs on consumer goods) and its costs (job losses in developed countries and the exploitation of workers in poorer countries through substandard pay, sweatshops, and child labor) will be discussed, as will the benefits and costs of immigration.