Employer-Employee Relations Document There are many different relationships that Charles Schwab has with his staff. Schwab uses all types of employees: temporary, contract, and permanent (or “regular”). Within these employee types, there are different payment methods, exempt and non-exempt. This article will examine the definition of each type of employee and compensation, 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 paper will conclude with a summary of how Schwab is addressing this issue in employee relations. Schwab personnel are cyclical and dependent on market conditions. This cycle creates high job demands lasting 3 to 6 months. This fluctuation causes Schwab to rely on temporary and contract employees to fill gaps in employee demand. Schwab is currently working to increase "regular" staff, known at Schwab as permanent employees. This permanent classification is clearly defined as a permanent, non-salaried position in the employee handbook. Because of this use of three different types of employees, Schwab must use different policies for each employment level. A permanent employee at Charles Schwab is defined as a full-time employee who is entitled to all the benefits, compensation and legal status of a full-time employee. A regular employee is one who is regularly required to work 40 hours or more per biweekly pay period and whose position is designated to be active for more than six (6) months. Before the end of 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 eligible for retirement and benefits (I'm looking for, 2006). Schwab assigns all permanent employees a numeric position code. Any code above 50 represents a permanent employee who is entitled to all benefits offered: health benefits, retirement benefits and all government-mandated benefits. A temporary employee at Charles Schwab is regulated by a completely different policy. Schwab uses temp agencies to fill these needs because the needs tend to be large and close together quickly. This presents a unique approach to policy because it is a blend of Schwab's core policy and temp agency labor policy. This creates joint liability between the two companies, the recruitment firm and Schwab (Bennett-Alexander, Hartman, 2007).