EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
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Definition
Employee Relations
is concerned with maintaining employer-employee
relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity,
motivation, and morale.
is concerned with preventing and resolving problems
involving individuals which arise out of or affect work
situations.
involve relationships with employees-directly or through
collective agreements where trade unions are recognised
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The HRM approaches to employee relations
A drive for commitment
An emphasis on mutuality
The organisation of complementary forms of
communication, such as team briefing,
alongside traditional collective bargaining
A shift from collective bargaining to individual
contracts
The use of employee involvement techniques
such as quality circles or improvements groups
Continuous pressure on quality-TQM
Increased flexibility in working arrangements
Emphasis on teamwork's
Harmonisation of terms and conditions for all
3 employees
Elements of employee relations
The formal and informal employment policies
and practices of the organisation
The development, negotiation and application of
formal systems, rules and procedures for
collective bargaining, handling disputes and
regulating employment
Policies and practices for employee involvement
and communications
The philosophies and policies of the major
players in the industrial relations scene: the
government of the day, management and
through trade unions
The legal framework
The number of institutions such as the Advisory,
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arbitration service and the employment tribunals
Advantages of maintaining good employee
relations
Reduced absenteeism
Improved morale and motivation
Harmony in organization
Attract good talent
Lesser attrition-reduced cost on
training, less cost of retention
Responsible for increase in productivity
Open to organizational changes
Shared learning and continues
improvement
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Significance of good employee
relations
Employee attitudes and commitment
are strongly associated with organization
performance
Managers see employee voice as
contributing to performance via better
employee contributions and productivity
gains
The informal climate of involvement and
consultation appears to be more strongly
associated with employee satisfaction
and commitment .
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What do people with employee relations
responsibilities need to know?
Understanding collective labor law
Knowing how representative structures work
Awareness of general employment law
Facilitation and communication skills
Negotiation skills
Understanding how to develop trust and respect
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What do people with employee relations
responsibilities need to know?
Personal qualities- objectivity,
robustness, confidence to tell
senior people what they think
Awareness of employee attitudes
Business knowledge
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Management relationship to employee
relations
Organizations are collective bodies of
individuals engaged in a common purpose
through individual and group efforts.
Channelizing human energies in a
predetermined desirable direction is not
possible unless harmonious relations are
maintained among organizational
members.
Management relationship to employee
relations
Relationship among employees
provides the context in which
organizational roles assigned to
members are
Performed
team spirit inculcated
expectations clarified
conflicts resolved and
shared norms of behaviour developed.
Management relationship to employee
relations
Maintenance of harmonious relationship among
employees across the vertical and horizontal
levels of the organization is thus a necessary condition
for enabling organizations to move towards
excellence.
Despite the significance of healthy employee
relations, there are occasions in the life of every
organization when relationships are strained,
particularly between the management and the
individual employee.
Management relationship to employee
relations
The management has certain expectations of the
employees in terms of standards of behavior and
performance, code of conduct, desirable actions
and behavior which are made known to the
employees through formal or informal, written or
verbal means.
Failure to meet these expectations or deviations from
the laid down norms of behaviour on the part of the
employees leads to the problem of indiscipline.
Management relationship to
employee relations …Contd.
In such situations, the management must
initiate action to ensure that an
employee’s behaviour is in conformity
with their expectations.
Likewise, the employees also have
certain expectations of the management
in terms of their conditions of service,
working environment, satisfaction of their
variety of needs, freedom of expression
and operation and equitable, just and fair
treatment which are often made known
to the management through various
means of upward communication.
