Executive Summary
This report serves to examine and discuss the significance of varied stakeholder roles as far as defining the nature of employment relations in the food sector. Aligning with the Industrial Relations Theory, Human Relations Theory and the Socio-legal theory, the theoretical views of employee relationships were addressed. This report was a critical analysis of the concepts of employment relationship and stakeholders. This would include government, employers, and trade unions in the food industry. It also brought out the role played by the governments to regulate standards, the employers to regulate labour, and the unions to secure the worker. These positions are combined under the leadership of theoretical reflections in order to influence workplace behaviours, which facilitate safety, equal treatment, and productivity. The stakeholder engagement creates conflict, negotiation, and cooperation relationships that are needed in achieving sustainable employment relations. It was an educative generalisation that guides the future policy in the food sector policy-making. Moreover, the effectiveness of stakeholders, such as employers, trade unions, and governments, in terms of encouraging positive employment relationships within the food industry, is also important.
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Introduction
Stakeholders play a vital role in shaping employment relationships within organisations (Dumont and Ots, 2020). In the context of corporate, a stakeholder refers to the group, individual, and organisations that are influenced by or have the ability to impact and have an interest in the project or work of the organisation (Hendricks, 2025a). Stakeholders can involve employees, customers, media, suppliers, governments, other regulating bodies, shareholders, investors, competitors, partners, communities, and associates (Weiss, 2021). The purpose of this report is to analyse and explore the significance of stakeholder roles in terms of shaping employment relationships within the food industry. The global food industry size was $8.7 trillion, which is expected to grow at 5.6% and reach $9.2 trillion by the end of 2024 (Cognitive Market Research, 2024). In this report, in order to fulfil the purpose, the influence of employers, trade unions, and the government in the food sector will be the key focus.
Theoretical Frameworks
The Industrial Relations Theory, the Socio-legal Theory, and the Human Relations Theory can be used to understand theoretical perspectives of employment relationships. According to Bamber and Lansbury (2024), Industrial relations theory focuses on explaining the relationship among employees, employers, and trade unions. This theory also involves labour policy and labour law of the government, which have direct relevance to employment. Industrial relations came into action when workers started forming syndicates and demanding an enhancement in work conditions to support their rights. Later, these worker syndicates, recognised as worker unions, became influential in shaping policies regarding work (Bayar, 2017). On the other hand, employees also need certain work conditions to enhance profit levels and production efficiency. These two groups combinedly influence the policies of the government in their favour. The negotiations among employees, unions, and the government laid the main unity of the industrial relations area. Thus, through the lens of this theory, it can be stated that the alignment of the government policies, employees' and work unions' needs can nurture a good employment relationship within the food industry.
In the world of the food industry, the workers and employees are highly dependent as they are crucial in the production and sale of food products and they ensure stability in the cash flow. According to Omolawal (2021), the human relations theory revealed that people want to belong to a team that is guiding and promotes growth and development. The theory is also known as one of the management strategies that perceives employees as human beings with desires and needs outside of all tasks within their respective job positions (Fraraccio, 2025). The human relations theory emphasises the importance of emotional and social welfare of workers as crucial element towards the organisational achievement. In accordance with this theory, one can say that employment relationships may be negatively affected when employees or trade unions feel that their needs or wants are not acknowledged by employers and the government in the food industry. This may also cause strikes, change of jobs, demotivation and poor productivity.
The socio-legal theory by Creutzfeldt et al. (2020) provides that analysis of the regulations and laws is directly linked to the social situation analysis, in which the laws and regulations are enforced. Hence, the theory can be used to explain how employment relationships can be affected by the regulations and rules of the government concerning employment. Through the lens of this theory, it can be stated that the adherence of employment laws and regulations by employers helps to meet employee and trade unions' demand, which help businesses to maintain a good employment relationship. Furthermore, the responsibilities of different stakeholders in the food industry, such as employers, trade unions, the government, and employees, can be explained by aligning with these theories. Trade unions are the biggest supporters of workers within the food industry (EFFAT, 2020). Their activities and responsibilities revolve around the well-being and fulfilment of the needs of workers across the industry. Combinedly, they have a greater influence on the business of organisations operating in the food industry.
On the other hand, workers and employees are the key people within the food industry as they are directly associated with the production of the products of this industry. Key responsibilities of workers within the food industry involve producing food, maintaining safety, and complying with the food safety and labour laws of the government. Whereas employees within the food industry are not directly related to the production processes, their actions and activities impact production within the industry. Employers in the food industry typically refer to the organisations that operate across the industry. Therefore, they are directly responsible for the profit and revenue generation for the industry. In order to maintain the cash flow in the business, they have to maintain a positive employment relationship within their organisations, which often requires adherence to the government laws and regulations regarding employment. Also, employers' responsibilities involve addressing employees' and unions' needs and concerns.
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Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities
Governments are also considered in the regulation as they provide statutory employment standards, which provide the statutory basis of fair working practice. The workers of the food industry are guaranteed a good remuneration in relation to wages, paid leaves, and a reasonable time to work in the UK legislation in both the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Working Time Regulations Act 1998. To justify these interventions, the Keynesian theory of the economy can be applied through government intervention to ensure the lack of deficiencies in the market and to secure the employees who are in danger (Schulten and Müller, 2021). Besides, the employers also owe a duty of a safe working environment under the virtue of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, especially in food processing plants and kitchens where accidents and contamination always threaten (Theodoropoulos, 2025). Government regulation of the industry, therefore, is the institutional formation where exploitation is kept down, and social justice is enhanced at the workplace.
The employers, on the other hand, are accused of providing the requisites of labour management practices that are accepted and lawfully valid in addition to being productive. The employer has to strike a balance between the flexibility of the workforce for the operations and the well-being of the food industry employees, where efficiency in operations and customer satisfaction are paramount (Chang, 2024). This balance is, in fact, advocated by the Strategic Human Resource Management theory (SHRM) because it connects the labour policies and business objectives. Amongst them are the Greggs employee development programmes and fair pay policies that are meant to assist companies in attracting and retaining workers, and can also be correlated with Herzberg Two-Factor Theory, which states that hygiene factors are pay and working conditions, and motivation one is career development (Bridger, 2022). The capability of employers to involve employees in participative management and ethically upright leadership will directly influence job satisfaction, commitment, and performance, which will define the overall culture of employment that is prevalent in the food industry.
Their major roles are to negotiate on behalf, resolve disputes, and offer advocacy for good working conditions. The Marxist theory of labour says that the unions are returning something to the strength of the employer, as part of the redistribution of the gains of economics to a more equal and fairer distribution (Korpi, 2022). The Unite and Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) are some of the unions that have questioned the UK-based food industry to increase the living wages, improve their health and safety, and give them assurance of employment. Multicollinearity and negotiation can determine the way the state and the employers should treat the workers justly and without being prejudiced against their rights. The result of these interactions between the three forces as the final product is the employment standards in the food industry. Governments make up the legal system, employers within the companies make up the labour norms, and trade unions protect the welfare of the lower masses.
Contextual Analysis-Macro, Meso and Micro Levels
Employment relationship within the food industry needs to be analysed at three interrelationships between governments, employers, and trade unions called macro relationship, meso relationship, and micro relationship. Each of them illustrates the overall connotation of the work terms and labour standards by the legislation, industry practice, and individual employment dealings.
At the macro level, the governments can intervene in the employment conditions in terms of legislation, policy frameworks, their role in the working conditions, and the workers' rights. A case in point is laws with regard to minimum wage, working hours, health and safety, which provide minimum standards throughout the food industry. The aggression of global trade and retail giants is another issue that governments have had to address by promoting the aspect of having sound supply chains at the expense of labour protection (Naeej et al., 2024). These macro-level areas overlap the institutional theory according to which organisations are adapted to the legal and normative power in the environment. In addition, the global retailer’s expectations tend to influence the self-regulation or voluntary industry policies that correct the government policies, but not necessarily strictly. Therefore, the governments introduce the minimum basis of law and favourable conditions, which inflate labour relations within the food sector.
Meso level involves industry practices as well as trade affairs and collective bargaining that are carried out between the general policy and the workplace. The concern of the workers is also safeguarded by the food industry trade unions, such as the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, that enter into collective agreements to control the wages of the workers, their safety, and status of employment (Hernandez, 2023). The pluralism theory of industrial relations could also be applied in collective bargaining, where the employer and employee representatives are equal in power and they negotiate with one another. The trade bodies also use the industry to establish the standards and enhance the best practice, and in other instances, even liaise with the unions and other governments to sort out the situation. The collective bargaining of the European meat industry is an example that has resulted in material contributions to the workplace as a result of unions and social discourse activism. Such meso-level relations present some pragmatic and negotiated standardised labour that converts the law into industrialised practices.
The micro and meso factors of the macro level are operationalised in the micro level through the employment relationship existing between the individual managers and their employees in the day-to-day work setups. Motivational theories, such as Herzberg Two-Factor Theory and Vroom Expectancy Theory, that expound on the importance of equitable remuneration, recognition, and positive supervision would come in handy in interfering with the micro dimension (MESFIN, 2024). The fast-food sub-sector means the managers should manage very basic operations and achieve a cost-effectiveness point in their relations with the working population. The result is a high commitment and low turnover due to good micro-level employment relations, which are founded on trust and participation. On the other hand, ineffective supervision can be considered a generator of strains in the labour fields despite the presence of standards at superior levels of legal provisions.
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Impacts and Implications
Stakeholders within the food industry have both positive and negative implications in the food industry, especially in terms of issues like zero-hour contracts, high staff turnover, and precarious work. According to McWha-Hermann et al. (2025), precarious work involves short-term, unstable, and part-time jobs that do not consistently offer legal and social protection. Thus, this type of job role involves a lack of labour rights, protections, and financial security. In this case, the employer may have some positive impact as they do not have to take much responsibility for these employees and can reduce employment costs. On the other hand, trade unions may fail to fulfil their responsibilities for such work as employees or workers who are working as part-timers do not have legal rights to demand any additional benefits as full-time workers or employees. However, employee engagement has a positive impact on the employment relationship in the food industry. The engagement of employees is not limited to the full-time employees who are working in the food industry. Rather, engagement of employees who are working on a contractual basis, or for short-term, or as part-timers can promote diversity within the industry and proactively contribute to the growth of the industry (Dwivedi et al., 2025).
Furthermore, zero-hour contracts are one of the issues that have a significant impact on employees. A zero-hour contract refers to a type of arrangement for employment where employers and employees or workers have a flexible option. However, in such a work setting, employers are not bound to pay minimum wage, and employees do not have any fixed working hours (Greene, 2025). Thus, this type of arrangement is not beneficial for both employees and employers within the food sector. This may create difficulties for employers to manage employees’ work as they will start working as per their convenience. It will have a negative impact on the employment relationship, as well as work, and may not receive minimum wage, which will create a conflict situation within organisations. Additionally, high staff turnover can be the result of a lack of proper management of employment relationships in the food industry. If employers fail to address the requirements and concerns of employees and trade unions. This will lead employees and workers to demotivation, less engagement with work, and increase the chance of looking for alternative jobs, which will increase the staff turnover rate within the industry.
Effectiveness of Stakeholders
The government, trade unions, and employers play vital roles in fostering positive employment relationships in the food sector. Trade unions advocate for the working conditions and rights of employees. Thus, engaging with trade unions enables the industry to support and encourage positive employment relationships (Hendricks, 2025b). Also, they promote sustainable workplace practices and reduce conflicts by addressing employment or labour issues that affect productivity and the satisfaction of employees. In contrast to this, governments and other regulatory bodies help to create a safe, ethical, and fair environment for business operations (Hendricks, 2025b). Through mentoring environmental regulations, safety protocols, and adherence to legal standards, governments and other regulatory bodies foster positive employment relationships in the food sector. Furthermore, ethical and legal practices of employers, by aligning the concerns and demands of employees and workers, can help to foster positive employment relationships.
Conclusion
In conclusion to this, it can be stated that the Human Relations Theory, the Industrial Relations Theory, and the Socio-legal theory were used to explain the behaviour of stakeholders and their responsibilities within the food industry. In order to analyse the actions of stakeholders, the micro, meso, and macro levels of their actions were discussed. Furthermore, it was found that the government are the policy maker for employment, trade unions focus on enhancing work conditions and employee rights, and employers address employees' or workers' needs and concerns to maintain good employee relationships. Positive and negative implications of stakeholders were evaluated in this report based on the issues, such as zero-hour contracts, high staff turnover, and precarious work. Lastly, the effectiveness of employers, trade unions, and government in terms of resolving conflicts while encouraging sustainable workplace practices was evaluated in this report. The regulations of fair and safe working practices are controlled by the efforts of the governments, employers, and trade unions. These guarantee that their interests are converged to the favour of compliance, in the order of working and entitlement of workers, which is inherent to the food industry.
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