Part 5: Duties to Employees

In this Part, we build on stakeholder theory by examining one group of stakeholders in detail: employees. Employees are a unique group of stakeholders for several reasons: (1) they are essential for running large companies, (2) the law creates special responsibilities and duties for employers and employees, (3) employees have the potential to influence the actions of a company greatly, and (4) employee interests may often be adverse to the interests of other stakeholders (E.g., employees may want more pay, while shareholders may want greater dividends instead. Or, employees may want the company to take certain political stances, which some shareholders may dislike.) Navigating employees as a stakeholder thus warrants its own examination. We will start with a brief review of employment law principles to establish the legal requirements for treatment of employees and then proceed to analyze employees through the lens of stakeholder theory.