Employee Relations (ER)

Introduction

Today employee relations are a much broader area than ever, which involves keeping good working environment to satisfy the individual employees and the management while focusing on organizational goals. The relationship between employees and employers is not always straightforward; they both have their own set of needs and requirements (Bingham, 2016).

An employment relationship is one which establishes a set of mutual rights and responsibilities between the employer and employees (Bingham, 2016). And further Bingham (2016) writes that the relationship is main path that helps employees to gain access to the rights and benefits which are related with employment in the areas of labor law and social security.

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Union Representation

CIPD (2005) says that the employees’ relations have changed since 1990s.  Many companies prefer to have a good relationship with employees and, with the trade unions if it is important (CIPD, 2005).

CIPD (2005) have categorized the employers based on their interest in making a relationship with the trade unions.

·        Some employers are completely anti-trade union ones.

·        Some employers do not have strong opinion or practical experience of dealing with trade union, if they feel that the trade union can add business value then, of course, they can be persuaded.

·        Some employers are having long-term relationship with trade unions and they like to build new progressive relationship with them.

Management

CIPD (2005) suggests the people those who are responsible for employee relations in an organization should have the following skills: collective understanding of labor law, good knowledge of general employment law, knowing the way how representation structures work, knowing the way how to develop trust and respect, understanding the awareness of employee attitudes, facilitation and communication skills, negotiation skills and business knowledge.

Challenges

The managers must be able manage the gloomy areas of employees relations such as handling people with PSTD (Posttraumatic stress disorder), anxiety and LGBT (Forbes Human Resources Council, 2017).

Managers should be able to take necessary actions quickly with the support of human resources management to communicate laws changes effectively; it can be federal or local levels (Forbes Human Resources Council, 2017).

Dell makes its effort to recruit people those who are open, direct and good fit with its values, and importantly it focuses on the people those who have abilities to get the job done rather engaging in office politics (CIPD, 2005).

Conclusion

Today human resource (HR) professionals will have to work as a bridge to build a good employer-employee relationship while helping to find solutions for the challenges in this regard. At the same time HR professional will have to play a vital role with trade unions in order build a good relationship between them.

References:

Bingham, C. (2016). Employment Relations: Fairness and Trust in the Workplace. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

CIPD. (2005). WHAT IS EMPLOYEE RELATIONS? Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Forbes Human Resources Council. (2017, April 13). 10 Critical Demands Managers Face And How HR Can Help. Retrieved June 30, 2018 : 8 pm, from forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2017/04/13/10-critical-demands-managers-face-and-how-hr-can-help/#630812e35bac