Employer-Employee Relationships Document There are many different relationships that Charles Schwab has with its workforce. Schwab uses all types of employees: temporary, contractor, and permanent (or “regular”). Within these types of employees there are different payment methods, both exempt and non-exempt. This document will review the definition of each type of employee and compensation, and then examine how Schwab manages the relationship with each. Charles Schwab is also an at-will employer and discloses this upon acceptance of the job offer. The article will conclude with a summary of how Schwab addresses this issue with employee relations. Schwab's staff is cyclical with market conditions. This cycle creates large work demands that will last between 3 and 6 months. This fluctuation causes Schwab to use temporary employees and contractors to fill gaps in employee demand. Schwab is currently looking to increase “regular” staff, known at Schwab as permanent employees. This permanent employment nomenclature is clearly defined as a permanent and non-employee position in the employee handbook. Because of this use of all three different types of employees, Schwab must use different policies for each level of employment. A permanent employee at Charles Schwab is defined as a full-time employee who is entitled to all benefits, compensation and legal status as a full-time employee. A regular employee is one who is regularly scheduled to work 40 hours or more per biweekly pay period and whose position is designated to be active for more than six (6) months. Prior to completing the initial six-month probationary period, regular employees are considered "at-will" employees whose employment may be terminated at any time without violating public policy. Regular employees are entitled to pension and benefits (Isee, 2006). Schwab provides all permanent employees with a numeric job code. Any code above 50 represents a permanent employee who is entitled to all the benefits offered: health benefits, pension benefits and all government-mandated benefits. A temporary employee at Charles Schwab is governed by an entirely different policy. Schwab uses temp agencies to fill these needs as the needs tend to be large and approach quickly. This presents a unique approach to policy as it is a blend of Schwab's grassroots policy and temporary agency labor policy. This creates a joint liability between the two companies, the placement company and Schwab (Bennett-Alexander, Hartman, 2007).