Employee Relations

Definition of Employee Relations

The definition of employee relations refers to an organization’s efforts to create and maintain a
positive relationship with its employees. By maintaining positive, constructive employee
relations, organizations hope to keep employees loyal and more engaged in their work.
Typically, an organization’s human resources department manages employee relations efforts;
however, some organizations may have a dedicated employee relations manager role. Typical
responsibilities of an employee relations manager include acting as a liaison or intermediary
between employees and managers, and either creating or advising on the creation of policies
around employee issues like fair compensation, useful benefits, proper work-life balance,
reasonable working hours, and others. When it comes to employee relations, an HR department
has two primary functions. First, HR helps prevent and resolve problems or disputes between
employees and management. Second, they assist in creating and enforcing policies that are fair
and consistent for everyone in the workplace.

Importance of Employee Relations

Having good employee relations is crucial to every company, as when employees and managers
share a positive relationship, employee engagement, productivity, motivation and morale are
high.
Employees who get along with their manager and enjoy rather than feel anxious about going to
work in the morning have a better overall work experience. Happy employees work harder,
produce better work, and ultimately keep the customer happy and the business thriving.

The Four Pillars Of Employee Relations

Here are four simple ways that managers can help maintain positive employee relations.

Open Communication
In any relationship, communication is the key. Employees spend the majority of their days at
work so it’s important that they feel comfortable with their manager and fulfilled in their
tasks.One way to ensure this is to ABC – Always Be Communicating. Let your team know that
you are there to talk about their work or anything else they need, and be as transparent with them
as possible about what you need from them.
One way to keep a constant pulse on how your team is feeling is to conduct simple weekly
surveys that allow employees to submit anonymous feedback.It’s a great way to keep
communication flowing at all times, engage your employees and let them share their thoughts
anonymously in a safe environment.
Show Recognition
Simple gestures of thanks and kind words go a long way. Longer than you might think.

In fact Appreciation and gratitude mean so much to your employees, and the truth is that
reinforcing good work is what is inspires them to keep it up.

Giving public praise is another great way to show recognition

while also inspiring the rest of the team. Rewarding your team properly is what cultivates a
culture of appreciation between employee and manager, ultimately inspiring your employees to
continue to work hard for you and the company.

Constant Feedback

Offering frequent feedback to your employees on their great work and constructive criticism on
where they can improve is essential in nurturing a positive relationship with your team.

Employees want feedback, they want to learn and grow and improve. Providing them with the
tips and guidance they need to get there by holding frequent feedback sessions like monthly one-
on-ones, will be highly appreciated.

Invest In Your Employees

Show employees that you care about them as people, not just as 9-5 workers. Expressing that
their fulfillment is important to you, on a professional and personal level, is a big statement that
will elicit their respect and keep them engaged.The truth is, if an employee is happy in their
personal life, they’ll be much more productive at work, so investing in their lives at large and not
just at work will be beneficial for everyone.

Four Ways To Show Them You Care

Offer them a gym membership so they can keep healthy and feel good.
Allow them to pursue side projects that are interesting to them.
Offer to support professional development initiatives.
Allow the option of paid time off to volunteer.

How To Improve Employee Relations

There are many things that a manager can both do, and stop doing that will help improve
employee relations.

1. Stop Micromanaging
When a leader micromanages instead of trusting their team and giving their employees
autonomy, the employee risks becoming disengaged. Subsequently, the quality of their work will
suffer, which actually leads to more micromanagement, and creates sort of a vicious cycle.
Keep in mind that there is a difference between offering guidance, and micromanaging.
Guidance and feedback are always great and keep employee relations positive, but watching their
move at every step, hovering and offering too much unsolicited advice will actually begin to
make employees doubt themselves and this will lead to a slew of other problems.

2. Don’t Play Favourites

It is generally obvious when an employer chooses favourites, and it can completely demoralize
the rest of the team, ruining employee relations. The other danger of playing favourites at work is
that it creates tension between colleagues and this can lead to employee disengagement.

3. Be As Clear As Possible
Again, this ties back to good communication, but employees need to clearly understand their job
roles, and what’s expected of them. Then you can work with them to meet those expectations,
but a lot of the time, this confusion leads to stress, which will lower their engagement.

4. Collect Ideas from The Team

You want to make employees feel like they are part of the team, and part of the decision making
process. Ask employees to submit their ideas, or at least make it known that their ideas are
always welcome and that suggestions for new initiatives will always be considered. But
remember, don’t just collect ideas for the sake of collecting, this will have an even bigger
negative effect. Instead of just listening to your employees’ ideas, try to implement some as well
and put action to your intention.

5. Share The Company Vision

When Dan Pink talks about the motivators that drive us, one of them is purpose. Employees need
to feel like what they’re doing is important. They need to feel like they are part of something
bigger than them. If you want to fuel your employees’ passion, share the long term vision of the
company with them, and don’t be shy to communicate this frequently.