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IMPORTANT
Introduction
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.
Here, we explore what employee relations means to employers and looks at the current state of the employment relationship. It briefly looks at key employee relations competencies, specifically in the areas of communication and conflict management. Finally, the factsheet considers the continuing value of positive employee relations for trade unions, employers, HR practitioners and line managers.
TIP
The informal workplace climate has a strong influence on employee satisfaction and commitment levels. Employers should also pay attention to the mechanisms that contribute to good employee relations, such as effective approaches for employee voice including two-way communications, joint consultation, employee attitude or engagement surveys and a 'partnership' style of working.
What is Employee Relations?
'Employee relations' has replaced the term 'industrial relations' which referred to collective relationships between employers and their workforce. Today’s interpretation of employee relations is much wider and refers to individual as well as collective workplace relationships. It reflects the increasing individualisation of the employment relationship following the rise of individual workplace rights and the decline in trade union reach and influence.
Trade union influence is still an everyday reality for some organisations, particularly in the public sector, but continues to decline across the wider economy. In line with the growing focus on individual relationships at work, there’s an increasing emphasis on helping line managers to establish trust-based relationships with employees.
The Meaning of Employee Relations to Employers
Some broad conclusions:
- Despite well-publicised instances of industrial action, employee relations embraces the relationship with individual employees as well as collective relations at work.
- The ideas of 'employee voice' and the 'psychological contract' have been accepted by some employers and reflected in their employee relations policies and aspirations.
- Employee relations skills and competencies are still seen by employers as critical to achieving enhanced levels of employee involvement, commitment and engagement.
Employee Engagement
Organisations are increasingly dependent on individual employees to achieve their goals. As employers’ attention has shifted increasingly from collective to individual relationships, employee engagement has become a key part of the employment relationship.
However, this shift has not entirely displaced the collective dimension. Employers should recognise the links between the way in which collective consultation and workplace conflict are managed, and levels of employee commitment.
Employee Relations Competencies
Effective communication in the workplace is central to good employee relations and includes focusing on positive behaviours and outcomes, taking a proactive, problem-solving approach, and recommending solutions. The more traditional, formal negotiating skills associated with collective bargaining are still useful but needed less often in today’s workplace. A much wider set of competencies is now required, such as consultation, surveying and interpreting employee attitudes, spotting potential signs of conflict and early resolution of differences between employees and management.
The guiding principle is that communication should be a two-way process, involving dialogue and listening rather than simply giving out information and instructions. Yet many organisations perform badly in this area, failing to give employee communication the priority it deserves.
Managing Workplace Conflict
The ability to manage conflict remains a key issue for all organisations because conflict is inherent in the employment relationship. The increased popularity of ‘alternative dispute resolution’ (ADR) techniques such as early neutral evaluation and mediation to resolve workplace differences represent an important shift from the traditional industrial relations framework. The emphasis of the traditional approach tended to be on formal discipline and grievance procedures, but ADR represents more of a ‘win-win’ approach, aiming to halt conflict at an early stage.
Despite the decline in strikes and other forms of industrial action, workplace conflict remains a fact of organisational life and needs to be managed. Individual and ‘unorganised conflict’, in the form of sickness absence, unhealthy relationships, employee turnover and bullying, can be just as harmful and costly to an organisation as organised industrial action on a collective level.
The Value of Employee Relations
Employee relations remains an important concept for organisations, for example:
- Trade unions remain a strong presence in the public sector. This is partly through the existence of institutions of collective consultation, reinforced by continued reliance in many cases on industry-level bargaining and the public policy emphasis on ‘partnership’.
- Employee relations is built on an underlying philosophy and skill set that is still needed by HR practitioners. Managers need technical as well as softer skills to be the effective people managers essential to a successful employment relationship.
- Employers need to train and support line managers in areas such as teamworking and change management as the basis for establishing and maintaining motivation and commitment. Managing the employment relationship rests heavily on the shoulders of line managers, but their competence in this area is often seriously neglected, with many employers failing to see employee relations and conflict management as a strategic issue.