Employee Relations
What Does 'Employee Relations' Mean?
Simply the process or effort of the company to manage
relationship between employers and employees.
‘The approaches and methods adopted by employers to
deal with employees either collectively through their trade unions or
individually.’ (Armstrong, 2017)
An organization with a good employee relation put fair
and consistent action to all employee’s expectations so they will be committed
to their jobs and loyal to the company and it prevent and resolve problems
arising.
In general, this is the interrelationship between
employers and employees.
‘In general [the employee relations agenda] is no
longer about trade unions. There is more emphasis on direct communication,
managing organisational change and involving and motivating staff. Issues about
work–life balance and the war for talent reflect a changing workforce with
changing expectations.’ (CIPD, 2005; pp.3–4)
Employee
Relations: unitary or pluralist?
Unitary means
employers and employees are in same concern and interest. Management believes
that it is the rule-making authority tends to view the enterprise as a one
source of authority one focus of loyalty to the organization.
Notion of
‘mutuality’ (Walton, 1985)
Getting the message across that ‘we are all in this
together’ and that the interests of management and employees coincide
Pluralists reject
the idea of unitary as ‘naive, unrealistic and against the interests of the
employee’ (Armstrong, 2017)
Pluralism acknowledge
that a number of competing interest groups will be allowed to
share power. In this sense, pluralism is considered a key element of
democracy.
Approaches to
Employment Relations Policy
There are 04 main approaches
to ER and details below
Ø Adversarial:
the
organization decides what it wants to do, and employees are expected to fit in.
Employees only exercise power by refusing to cooperate.
Ø Traditional:
a
good day-to-day working relationship but management proposes and the workforce
reacts through its elected representatives.
Ø Partnership:
the
organization involves employees in the drawing up and execution of organization
policies, but retains the right to manage.
Ø Power
sharing: employees are involved in both day-to-day
and strategic decision making.
Some key
Employment Relations Policy considerations
Trade union recognition – Employers policy
about trade unions whether trade unions should be recognized
or derecognized, which union to deal with for collective bargaining and/or
employee representational purposes;
Collective bargaining – Collective
bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of
employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions,
benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights.
Participation and involvement – the
extent to which the organization is prepared to give employees a voice on
matters that concern them
Important of Employee Relations
The most important part of any business is its people. No
business can run effectively without them. People need to communicate and work
to get their job done and they don’t like to work alone.
Employers need to manage relationships in the workplace to
keep the business functioning smoothly, avoid problems, and make sure employees
are performing at their best.
Employee relationship
plans are an important part of a human resource strategy of an organization and
designed with the purpose of most effective use of people to accomplish the
organization's mission and this will result competitive edge in the market
place.
Human resource
strategies are deliberate plans and program companies use to help them work
on issues affecting employees, such as pay and benefits,
supporting work-life balance, and safe working conditions.
One of the most effective
way is that places a high value on employees as stakeholders in the
business who are affected by its success or failure then they feel more valued
for the job they do.
Conclusions
Strong and effective
employee relations generally lead to a better performing organization.
Employees want a culture where they are comfortable with each other, share a
good rapport and work in close coordination towards a common objective. A healthy
employee relation promotes a positive workplace and employees feel happy and
satisfied at work. They look forward to going to work and contributing to the
mission, vision and goals of their employer.
References
Admin, 2021. HRAFFILIATES.
[Online]
Available at: https://hraffiliates.com/strategy-for-effective-employee-relations/
[Accessed 28 July 2021].
Armstrong,
Michael;, 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Managment Practice. 10th
ed. London: Kogan Page Limited.
Employee relations focuses on creating and delivering people practices which develop - and maintain - positive working relationships between an organisation and its people. Working closely with unions and employee representatives, you'll need to ensure that people practices are fair and transparent. This will be the best method to take collective decisions on organizational future.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your adding Oshadha.
DeleteThank you for sharing Sunith, I agree that effective employee relations lead to improved productivity and performance of the company. Also, it greatly helps to retain loyal and performing employees and reduce conflicts between management as well as between employees. I feel Unitarist model approach to employee relations is more harmonious than Pluralist model.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Fayaz.
DeleteGood job Sunith. When employees have a strong, healthy relationship with their employers the entire organization benefits. Employees who have mutually respectful relationships with their employers are more likely to be happy, loyal and productive in the long-run. Unfortunately, building a relationship of this nature is easier said than done. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Harsha,
DeleteHi Sunith. Employee relations have a direct impact employee satisfaction and engagement. Therefore, many companies today advance more resources to improve employee relations and keep their workplaces strong. This is actually describe about employer and employee relationship.Right employee relationship management must include effective communication, structured employee experience plan, employee engagement creativities, , and implementation of the right tools and technology. Here The word "communication" takes the big place. Communication is a helping line for managers to truly connect with their employees.
ReplyDeleteThanks Parami, for the comments made.
DeleteHi suneth,Employee relations is about making your employees feel valued and more than mere workers in your business. It's the simple things, like talking to them, being honest about change and engaging them with praise and fulfilling tasks to improve mood and focus...
ReplyDeleteThanks Mihirani, for the comments.
DeleteWell written article.
ReplyDeleteif add something more, Employee relations, according to Donohoe (2015), are the study of the relationships that exist between employees and their employers. Essentially, effective employee relations place a high value on the human element in the organization, resulting in increased employee engagement, motivation, and productivity. Considering employee relations' strategic role in organizations According to Yongcai (2010), employee relation is a specialized discipline in human resource development and management.
Thanks Umesh, Thanks for the comments also.
DeleteEmployee Relations Management (ERM) is a philosophy and strategy, that is critical to the success of business organizations these days. It emphasizes the interaction between employer and employee that enhancing staff engagement, innovation and productivity and reduce the turnover, absenteeism and grievances.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the adding Rukmali.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAn ERM is significant on the grounds that the digitization of HR is a freshly debated issue at the present time and that's just the beginning and more organizations are deciding to digitalize their HR administration, particularly little however developing organizations that are advancing from a beginning. The digitalization of HR prompts measures being streamlined, increases effectiveness and, as a control, and more modern HR operation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Gangani.
DeleteThe term "employer-employee relationship" (ER) refers to the relationship between employers and employees. In the workplace, ER focuses on both individual and group relationships, with a growing emphasis on the interaction between managers and their team members. Employee relations may make or break the atmosphere in the workplace, as well as your company's performance. The excellent practices you discussed in this post might greatly assist in establishing a successful ER in any company.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Nadeeshan.
DeleteHi Sunith well drafted your afticle with adequate information and supported theories. Employee relations, or how management and HR authorities connect with employees, may have a great impact on the culture of your organization. Employee morale gets improved, workplace conflict is reduced, and productivity is increased when good employee relations are maintained.
ReplyDeleteAll the best with your upcoming blog articles. Thank you for sharing.
Employee relationship is an very important role for a smooth function of an organization which ensures unity among different departments, groups and teams work cooperatively and harmoniously in carrying out the different tasks and activities to achieve the organizational common goals and objectives through a proper control method. Nice article. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDelete