Employee Relations - Week 4

Employee Relations

The term Employee relations itself indicates that it is a relationship between an employer and an employee. This is a very important area in any business to succeed. Organisations need to have good relationships between the employer and the employees. An employee will spend most of his or her time in a working environment and this has to be in a satisfactory manner. People have different needs but there are basic human needs and this must be met to have a good working environment. A good employee relationship will lead to good output and good profitability.

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According to CIPD "Employee relations has replaced industrial relations as the term for defining the relationship between employers and employees. Today, employee relations is seen as focusing on both individual and collective relationships in the workplace, with an increasing emphasis on helping line managers establish trust-based relationships with employees. A positive climate of employee relations - with high levels of employee involvement, commitment and engagement - can improve business outcomes as well as contribute to employees' well-being" ( CIPD, 2018).



Relationships are based on mutual understandings. Both employer and employee has to meet the expectation and the legal obligations of each other. Employee relationships are built on effective two-way communication, understanding and clearly defined job roles. Employee relations primarily focuses on managing and maintaining employee whilst in the organisation by communicating, consulting, resolving problems, handling disciplinary and disputes.

Employee Relations Policy

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Employee relations policy is where an organisation adheres to a policy which suits the company need. Every organisation has its own policies and it reflects how employee friendly the organisation is. Organisations need to have a better policy in order to attract and retain the employees it needs. Having a clear employee relations policy will help the employees to have a better understanding of the organisation. Some companies have published their employee relations policy to the public to showcase their approach towards their employees. Following links provides us with two good examples of such occasions.

www.nestle.com
www.prudential.co.uk



There are four types of employee relations policies.

1. Adversarial - This is where the organisation dictates what it wants and it expects the employees to adhere to it.

2. Traditional - This is about "give and take", Management proposes and the employees react to it. Employees might accept the proposal or reject it.

3. Partnership - Organisation permits employees to engage in drafting and practicing company policies but the organisation retains the rights to manage

4. Power sharing - This is where employees are allowed to get involved with the board of directors in strategic and day to day decision makings.

(Armstrong, 2014) 

Giving a clear indication of the employee relations policy gives a clear idea about the organisation. It helps the employees to decide whether they want to work for the organisation or not. This even gives a clear indication to the employees that whether their concerns will be addressed or not, will negotiations be effective or not. Employee relations covers all area of work life cycle. A better employee relations policy will promote great experience, positive relationship for all the employees of the organisation. This will provide a framework for the employees to do a better job with satisfaction.












References:

Armstrong, M., 2014. Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th edition, London. KP.

LMU, 2017/18. MN7181 Module guide, People and organisations: Principles and Practices in Global Context.

https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/employees/factsheet.

Image 1: http://zmariyam.blogspot.com/2009/11/employee-relations.html
Image 2: https://www.business2community.com/strategy/strong-employeeemployer-relationship-important-achieve-0876781