EMPLOYEE RELATIONS


What is Employee Relations?

Organizations require human resource to meet targets, accomplish goals and objectives. Group of people working together in an organization to achieve common goals are called employees. The efforts of every single employee will directly impact the success and the downfall of the organization hence employees become a key resource of an organization. In order to achieve goals and perform well in an organization employee must have a healthy relationship and understanding among them which will result integrity, honesty and respect for each other (Juneja,2018).

According to Rea(2018) company’s attempts to handle and maintain the relationships among employers and employees is described as employee relations. Proper and satisfactory employee relations program will results employees to be devoted and faithful towards the organization while avoiding and dissolving issues and complications that could occur at work.
“Employee relations, known historically as industrial relations, is concerned with the contractual, emotional, physical and practical relationship between employer and employee.” (Shriar,2017)
Shriar(2017) states that basically, employee relations indicate the rapport between manager and employee through mutual respect, appreciation and trust.As stated in CIPD(2018) “individual as well as collective workplace relationships” are referred as employee relations.

Armstrong(2014) describes employee relations as “dealing with employees either collectively through their trade unions or individually handling employment practices, terms and conditions of employment and issues arising from employment; and providing employees with a voice and communicating with employees.”Rapport between the employees, employers and employees is defined as the employee relations (McKinley,2018). Further it is stated that organizations that emphasis on the value of healthy employee relations always succeed through high engagement, high motivation resulting increased efficiency and profitability.If a company needs to thrive, grow and improve performance they should focus on positive employee relations. (Human Resources MBA,2018)

Nature and Importance of Employee Relations

Employee relations programs are generally a part of the human resource strategy formed to assure the most efficient use of employees to achieve organization goals and mission. Employee relations programs pay attention to problems disturbing the employees as payments and benefits, it even helps in gaining work-life balance and promotes safe working conditions.Having a human resource strategy which reflects employees as the stakeholders can be considered as one of the best ways for an organization to assure the positive employee relations. When employees are given the importance, the respect and when they are convinced that they are able to influence the outcome, more important they would feel for the kind of job they do and the possibility of wanting the business to succeed by the employees will be more as much as like a stakeholder(Rea,2018).

According to Jones (2018) employee relations can be consisted of working conditions, wages, entitlements, other additional benefits and work place rights and also incorporate appraisals, work life balance, recognition and rewards. The crucial thing is managing the employee relations and nurturing the positive relations which will lead to improved productivity, efficiency and business performance.
Shriar(2017) states that having healthy employee relations is very imperative to every organization because when “employees and managers share a positive relationship, employee engagement, productivity, motivation and morale are high.” When employees have a cordial healthy relationship with the mangers, they are motivated to come to work in the morning and not feel frustrated or nervous to go to work in fact they enjoy work which will result a good overall work experience. “Happy employees work harder, produce better work, and ultimately keep the customer happy and the business thriving”.Shirar(2017) further discuss about four pillar of employee relationships which portrays four ways that can be used to establish and sustain healthy employee relations as follows:

1.                  Open Communication

Communication is crucial in any kind of relationship. It is important that the employees feel very relaxed and comfortable in the working environment, specially with the managers as they spend most of their time in work stations.One method of doing this is “Always Be Communicating (ABC)” Mangers should always make the team realize that he is there to discuss about work or any other related things while being as much as clear about his expectations from the team.Letting employees to provide “anonymous feedback” through “weekly surveys” can be used as one method of being constantly aware, updated and informed about the team, involving the employees and “allowing them to share their thoughts anonymously in a safe environment” can be considered as great ways to sustain the communication flow.

2.                  Show Recognition
Being thankful, appreciative motivates and encourages the employees which can result enhanced performances, strengthened work relationships, increased efficiency and productivity. By doing so employees will live up to expectations and will maintain good performances. Studies shows that “77% of the employees are starved for recognition”.Praising the employee in the public, while motivating the rest of the team members is a good way of showing recognition where the self-esteem will be increased and will feel important at the same time. Rewarding the team accordingly creates an atmosphere which promotes appreciation among employees and managers which could inspire the employees to perform better and succeed.

3.                  Constant Feedback

Providing the employees with constant feedback on the great performance and the capacity as well as “constructive criticism” through instructions and supervision as to how they can grow and evolve is needed in building and fostering healthy relationships with the team.

4.                  Invest in employees

Making the employee realize that mangers and the organization care about them not just as employees working in the organization but as people and that their well-being is important in a personal level may be through offering gym memberships, being flexible and providing the necessary freedom will result improved respect and loyalties towards the managers and organization.According to Shirar,2017 happier the employees are in personal life more productive they will be at work. Thus, looking after the employees will ultimately be an advantage for the organization.


Successful companies such as Facebook, Google and LinkedIn can be considered as good examples for managing healthy employee relations. According to a survey conduct by pay scale and Business insider it was found that 97% of Facebook employees are satisfied with their job and are happy at work. As per the findings, Facebook; popular for its abundant benefits such as in-built gourmet food courts, medical care, laundry services, bikes to travel inside the company, the comprehensive company culture and paid parental leave has the happiest employees and holds the number one position in the rankings of the best places to work in the America(Loudenback, Martin, Pipia, 2016).

Unlike other organizations who refrain from taking risks, Facebook encourages the employees to take risks, be innovative and still have complete faith in them. They believe with the changing world “The riskiest thing is to take no risks”. Some of popular slogans of Facebook are “Move fast and break things.” and “Done is better than perfect.” These explains the relationship they have with the employees. They motivate employees to move fast, thick quickly even though some might  turn into critical problems. They are not the type of employers who would fire employees on the decisions they make. Other than offering attractive salaries, incentives and other benefits such unlimited sick days,21 payed off days, paid parental leave Facebook also invest in the well-being of the employees to keep the employees focused and motivated. Growth, success and financial development of the employee individually is as import as the growth and the success of the company. Management of Facebook always ensures that the employees are comfortable and relaxed in the environment they work in. Facebook has in built shops which offers free ice creams, cookies, free barbeque and even alcohol. With employees from around the world Facebook provides a range of cuisines in the food court covering all the countries. They even paid extra 600 dollars for the employees who lived with a mile of Facebook head office to make the employees live closer to office so that they can drop by anytime they want either for meetings, team work or event to get free food. Rewards are based on the performance results gained from the information obtained through continuous feedback from the colleagues while motivating the employees by having a reward differential of 300 percent between the top and bottom performer (Sulivan,2013).


 Reid Hoffmen Executive Chairman and Co-founder of LinkedIn says that in todays networked age, to be successful for an organization more than anything relationships matter most. She further states that relationships are the base in finding opportunity, resources and efficient management. The management of LinkedIn focus on building and nurturing healthy, trustworthy, long term relationships with the employees which encourages open communication, transparency and honesty. This allows both employers and employees to be clear with the expectations and the benefits they will get in return. Through these approaches employers as well as employees will look in to the ways they can multiply the benefits resulting innovation, sustainability increased productivity, efficiency and overall performance (Winkle ,2014)

Process of the Employee Relations

Employee relations process is made up of methods, strategies, tactics that will be used by the employer to interact with employees as groups or separately. These procedures consist of agreements, negotiations, problem solving and managing different situations related to employment relationship and working atmosphere as well(Armstrong,2011).

Armstrong (2011) describes employee relation policies as follows:

§     Adversarial
Employees are supposed to adopt according to decisions made by the organization.” Employees only exercise power by refusing to cooperate.”

§     Traditional
Even though the management decides what the plan is, employees are able to raise their opinion through elected representatives hence facilitates a better working relationship.

§     Partnership
Employees are invited and encouraged to design the plan along with the organization, yet the organization holds the power and authority to manage.

§     Power sharing:
Employees are allowed to be a part of day-to- day and long-term decision making.

In present society adversarial is the least used approach unlike in 1960s and 1970s while the traditional approach is considered as the most used approach in organizations. Partnership approach focus more on building, managing a healthy, reliable and trustworthy atmosphere for employee relations(Armstrong,2011).The aim of employee relation is to manage and preserve the healthy relations with the employee individually and collectively promoting a supportive and friendly environment for employee relations through maintaining good work processes and improving loyal employee base.

REFERENCE

     ·       Armstrong (2010). Armstrongs Essential Human Resource Management Practice A Guide to People Management. [ebook] pp.293-298. Available at: https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Business%20Administration/ARMSTRONGS%20HANDBOOK%20OF%20HUMAN%20RESOURCE%20MANAGEMENT%20PRACTICE/54%20-%20The%20Employee%20Relations%20Framework.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2018].

·       Armstrong (2011). [ebook] pp.877-890. Available at: https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Business%20Administration/ARMSTRONGS%20HANDBOOK%20OF%20HUMAN%20RESOURCE%20MANAGEMENT%20PRACTICE/54%20-%20The%20Employee%20Relations%20Framework.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].


·       Armstrong (2011). ARMSTRONGS HANDBOOK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. [ebook] pp.905-920. Available at: https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Business%20Administration/ARMSTRONGS%20HANDBOOK%20OF%20HUMAN%20RESOURCE%20MANAGEMENT%20PRACTICE/55%20-%20Employee%20Relations%20Processes.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].

·       Armstrong (2011). ARMSTRONGS HANDBOOK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. [ebook] Available at: https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Business%20Administration/ARMSTRONGS%20HANDBOOK%20OF%20HUMAN%20RESOURCE%20MANAGEMENT%20PRACTICE/54%20-%20The%20Employee%20Relations%20Framework.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].


·       Armstrong (2011). ARMSTRONGS HANDBOOK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. [ebook] pp.935-940. Available at: https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Business%20Administration/ARMSTRONGS%20HANDBOOK%20OF%20HUMAN%20RESOURCE%20MANAGEMENT%20PRACTICE/56%20-%20Employee%20Voice.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].

·       CIPD. (2018). Employee Relations | Factsheets | CIPD. [online] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/employees/factsheet [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].


·       Employee Engagement: A Conceptual Framework. (n.d.). [ebook] pp.56 -66. Available at: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/110806/11/12_chapter3.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].

·       Humanresourcesmba.net. (2018). What is Employee Relations? – Human Resources MBA. [online] Available at: https://www.humanresourcesmba.net/faq/what-is-employee-relations/ [Accessed 26 May 2018].

·       Jones, M. (2018). What are employee relations?. [online] Breathehr.com. Available at: https://www.breathehr.com/blog/what-are-employee-relations [Accessed 27 May 2018].


·       Juneja, P. (2018). Importance of Employee Relations - Why Employee Relations at Workplace?. [online] Managementstudyguide.com. Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/importance-of-employee-relations.htm [Accessed 26 May 2018].

·       Juneja, P. (2018). What is Employee Relations? [online] Managementstudyguide.com. Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/what-is-employee-relations.htm [Accessed 25 May 2018].

·       Loudenback, Martin, Pipia, a. (2016). 13 of the happiest companies in America. [Blog]

·       Morgan McKinley Ireland. (2018). What's the difference between employee relations and industrial relations?. [online] Available at: https://www.morganmckinley.ie/article/whats-difference-between-employee-relations-and-industrial-relations [Accessed 25 May 2018].

·       Rea, A. (2018). What is Employee Relations? – Human Resources MBA. [online] Humanresourcesmba.net. Available at: https://www.humanresourcesmba.net/faq/what-is-employee-relations/ [Accessed 26 May 2018].


·       Roehling, M., Cavanaugh, M., Moynihan, L. and Boswell, W. (2000). The nature of the new employment relationship: A content analysis of the practitioner and academic literatures. Human Resource Management, [online] 39(4), pp.305-320. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9586/d251f3f37d39387e8400d00e83e6a5329527.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2018].

·       Shriar, J. (2017). The 4 Pillars Of Employee Relations. [online] Officevibe. Available at: https://www.officevibe.com/blog/4-pillars-of-employee-relations [Accessed 31 May 2018].

·       Sullivan, J. (2013). A Case Study of Facebook’s Simply Amazing Talent Management Practices, Part 1 of 2. [Blog] Recruiting Intelligence. Available at: https://www.ere.net/a-case-study-of-facebooks-simply-amazing-talent-management-practices-part-1-of-2/ [Accessed 30 May 2018].

·       Winkle, A. (2014). The Evolution of the Employer-Employee Relationship: Real World Examples. [Blog] The Evolution of the Employer-Employee Relationship: Real World Examples. Available at: https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2014/11/the-evolution-of-the-employer-employee-relationship-real-world-examples [Accessed 30 May 2018].


Comments

  1. employee engagement is beneficial for the employer to increase their productivity as same time employer engagement also should be there to motivated and give reward to keep the employee engagement continuously if not in some time employee will loose there engagement and might be look for a new job

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    1. Healthy employee relationship results increased satisfaction among employees thus the productivity increases. Workplace converts to a happy place and employees start concentrating on work than other unproductive things.

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  2. Effective communication is vital for employee relationship. A professional must communicate effectively by carefully putting his thoughts into relevant words to avoid confusions and better understanding at the workplace.

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    1. Yes, correct communication must be transparent and detailed for a warm relationship among employees. Employees should be aware on the expectations, their main duties and responsibilities, roles and the benefits. These should be communicated in a healthy and a precise manner for them perform their level best. Management should be very straightforward and clear about their expectation. Random thoughts and abstract ideas only create confusions and misunderstandings and ruins the relationship among the employees.

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  3. The term 'employee relations' refers to a company's efforts to manage relationships between employers and employees. An organization with a good employee relations program provides fair and consistent treatment to all employees so they will be committed to their jobs and loyal to the company. This paper extends social categorization theory to understand how personality traits related to information sharing may correspond with positive perceptions of demographically different people, thereby enhancing their experience and performance in organizations (Armstrong,2011) A sample of financial services firm officers and found that people who were more demographically different from their coworkers engendered more negative impressions than did more similar coworkers. These impressions were more positive, however, when demographically different people were either more extraverted or higher self-monitors. Further, impressions formed of others mediated the influence of demographic differences on an individual's performance such that the negative effect of being demographically different disappeared when the relationship between impression formation and performance was considered. This suggests that demographically different people may have more control over the impressions others form of them than has been considered in previous research (Juneja, 2018)

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    1. Thanks for your input on this Rangani. Some of the points are already discussed in the blog.

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  4. Building relationships requires the creation of mutual trust. It depends on the view that both sides are being treated equally, and show each other respect. (Emmot, 2017), “By focusing on employee engagement, line managers can limit the scope for conflict or prevent it happening in the first place. If that doesn't work, employers can fall back on ethical or disciplinary codes and procedures” (Emmot, 2017). Emmot (2017) further explains that the critical issues in building relations are the trust and fairness).

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    1. Yes.Further adding to your points, employees feel motivated in a company with people whom can be trusted and fall back when needed. They feel safe and becomes confident and performs their level best. A sense of trust is very important in a work environment

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  5. Employment relationships can also be expressed in terms of a psychological contract, which, according to Guzzo and Noonan (1994), has both transactional and rational qualities (Armstrong, 2006). The factor that has being researched and confirmed to play an important role in Employee Relations is the psychological contract. However, this perception is not something that sits straightforwardly in the `traditional' outlook of employment relations with it largely being focused on the institutional-level. Yet this concept depending on how it is defined, has great possibility to fill an emerging gap in employment relations. The gap becomes apparent when a broader, more `contemporary' viewpoint on employment relations is considered. This approach moves beyond an institutional-level focus to consider all the behaviors, outcomes, practices, and organizations that relate to the employment relationship.


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  6. Representatives have distinctive desires for their partners than they have for their chiefs. Study comes about give an important commitment to the collection of learning identified with trust administration. Subsequently consider results can be utilized to manufacture, keep up, and fortify intra-authoritative trust connections. New associations fitness may assume a more noteworthy part than consideration or honesty in building up intra-hierarchical connections. Study comes about demonstrate that, in develop associations, trustworthiness may assume a more noteworthy part than fitness and kindness in keeping up intra-hierarchical connections (Krot K.,2012)

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  7. It is important that the management promotes healthy employee relations at workplace to extract the best out of each individual. Competition is essential but it should not promote negativity or any kind of enmity among the employees.

    Praise the individual if he has done something exceptionally well. Reward him suitably. The names of the top performers must be displayed on the notice boards for others to draw inspiration from them. Encourage everyone to perform well to live up to the expectations of the superiors as well as the management.

    A healthy relation among employees promotes a positive ambiance at the work place and employees feel happy and satisfied at work. They look forward to going to office daily and also work hard to realize their team’s as well as organization’s goals.

    https://www.managementstudyguide.com/strategies-to-improve-employee-relations.htm

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    1. Thanks for the ideas Dinuka. Some points have already been discussed in the blog.

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  8. Employee relation is seen as focussing on both individual and collective relationships in the workplace, with an increasing emphasis on helping line managers to create trust-based relationships with employees. Industrial relation is also a word for describing the connection between employers and employees. A positive environment of employee relations, with high levels of employee participation, commitment and engagement can increase business results as well as contribute to employees' better health and well-being (CIPD, 2018). Hence, to maximize the results of an organization, a sound employee relationship is very much important in today’s highly competitive business environment.

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    1. I agree. A satisfied and engaged employee would always stay loyal to the company, will do thinks for the success of the company and will retain from doing anything that will spoil the name of the company. Therefore, will always try their best to perform better and justify their salary.

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  9. Employee relation is very essential for the company to increase its productivity and on the other hand the employee gets rewarded for his contribution.It improves connection and the feeling towards the institution of the employee and makes him contribute more towards the well being of the organisation.

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    1. I agree. Being recognized for the effort one puts at work is always a good thing. Employees feel valued and appreciated and will be motivated to enhance their performance. This will enhance the overall performance and success of the organization.

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  10. Better to more explain about the Psychological Contract with employee.
    Schein (1988) is largely responsible for this notion of a psychological contract and
    his suggestion was that between employer and employee there exists an implicit
    contractual relationship which is derived from a series of assumptions on the part of
    employer and employee about the nature of their relationship. These assumptions
    may not be legally enforceable but they constitute a set of reciprocal arrangements
    and form the basis for a series of expectations that may have a considerable degree
    of moral force.

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  11. The part of work life balance has a major relationship in worker's choice to retain or leave the association (Deery, 2008). Employment natures like work fulfilment and responsibility, individual reasons, such as confident and undesirable emotions, the part of work-life balance demonstrated to decrease high turnover rates. Thompson and Prottas (2006), who research the relations among authoritative help for family needs and turnover levels, discover a connection between informal hierarchical help and turnover intention. In later investigations look at the manner by which Japanese firms execute arrangements that help work– family balance, and find critical connections between the worker encourage approaches set up and the levels of female representative turnover (Yanadoria and Katob, 2010).

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  12. Since the employees are the pillars for the companies building of relationship with the customers, a deliberate and well-thought-out initiative is required by the companies to build foundation for a strong relationship of employees with the organization (Rai , 2013, p. 327). It is a given that change is inevitable and employee relations management is increasingly geared towards increasing productivity, returns and competitiveness. ERM aims towards building and maintaining commitment, morale and trust so as to create a productive and secure workplace environment (Singh & Kumar, 2011, p. 126). According to Wargborn,( 2008) ERM have many advantages such as 1. Strengthens corporate communication and culture. 2. Fosters learning - about company products, services and customers. 3. Provides real time access to company training. 4. Targets information to employees based on their interests and needs – user personalization. 5. Streamlines performance management. 6. Manages resources creatively. 7. Frees the HRM department to concentrate on more strategic tasks. 8. Raises productivity. 9. Encourages innovation levels. 10. Reduces turnover. 11. Reduces recruitment and training costs. 12. Affords effective and consistent rewarding.

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  13. The relationship between an employer and an employee is a key deciding factor because it is really important to have a mutual understanding. An employer should trust his employee and an employee should trust his employer. This trust factor actually benefits in building a strong relationship between both the parties. Once this trust factor has built the base of the relationship between the parties is set. Going forward trust helps to maintain the relationship and helps both the parties to understand each other well so that both can contribute to the development of the organization and personal development. It helps in maintaining the satisfaction level of both the parties which is very important for both the employer and employee as if any of the party is not satisfied the growth of the organization is not possible. (Russell 2013)

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  14. Employee relationships between organizations are perceptions of management, employees and their representatives on how arrangements are made between employees and how the parties (managers, employees and trade unions) behave in the negotiations each other. Employee relationships can be created by a style of management
    (see below) or the behavior of trade unions or employees' representatives (cooperative, hostile, militant, etc.) or interacting. It can be good, bad or indifferent to perceiving how much:
    • management and employees trust each other;
    • management treats employees fairly and with valuation;
    • Leadership is open about their activities and intentions - Employee and Employee Relationship Policies
    procedures are transparent;
    • harmonic relationships are generally maintained on a daily basis, which is the result
    in willing cooperation rather than reluctant submission;
    • Conflict, if appearing, is resolved without resorting to industrial activities and solutions
    is achieved by integration processes that lead to a win-win solution;
    • Employees are generally committed to the interests of the organization and,
    management considers them to be interested parties whose interests should be protected as soon as possible
    (https://nscpolteksby.ac.id/ebook/files/Ebook/Business%20Administration/ARMSTRONGS%20HANDBOOK%20OF%20HUMAN%20RESOURCE%20MANAGEMENT%20PRACTICE/55%20-%20Employee%20Relations%20Processes.pdf)

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  15. interest and focus result in errors and delay in the task. Employees involved in constant disputes tend to spread negativity around and spoil the ambience of the organization. One doesn’t feel like going to office and eventually his work suffers. He starts treating work as a burden. One feels suffocated at places where individuals sitting on adjacent workstations do not talk to each other. Your happiness, sorrows, tensions need to be shared with others. Imagine a situation where you are constantly fighting with your siblings at home. Would you ever feel comfortable ? - The answer is no. In the same way if one is involved in constant arguments with his fellow workers, he would never feel like stepping into the office. One needs to have friends at work for him to stay motivated in the organization. No individual can work for 8-9 hours at a stretch. He needs a break and people around for him to relax.

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    1. I agree, Humans are not machines who are supposed to work once a button is pressed. They need people to talk to, associate, share emotions. A person cannot work in isolation, they need to associate with people and to have a good rapport with them. An isolated working environment stresses and demotivates the employees. Healthy employee relations discourage fights and disputes among employees encourages people to adjust more treat each other as friends and stop finding faults of colleagues and concentrate on their responsibilities It is vital that employees are comfortable with each other and work together helping each other as a single team to accomplish the business goals.

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. The employment relationship could also be elaborated as a legal link between employers and employees. It exists when a person performs work or services under certain conditions in return for remuneration. It is through the employment relationship, however defined, that mutual rights and obligations are created between the employee and the employer. As per Armstrong (2014), employers would like to simply have employees with full commitment and to do whatever they are requested to do. In the meantime, employees would like to have security of employment, good working conditions as well as health and safety also to be taken care. However, HR managers has a key role to link both parties in a way that each ones needs are met appropriately, in order to safe guard a good employee relationship.

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    1. HR professionals plays a key role in connecting employees together and involving employees and employers in activities which will help to develop trust and relationships. Meanwhile HR is also responsible in ensuring the needs of both parties are met and requests are fulfilled for better performance of the organization.

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  18. According to Leat (2008) Employee relations is a study of the rules, regulations and agreements by which employees are managed both as individuals and as a collective group, the priority given to the individual as opposed to the collective relationship varying from company to company depending upon the values of management. As such it is concerned with how to gain people’s commitment to the achievement of an organisation’s business goals and objectives in a number of different situations.

    According to Gennard and Judge (2002), in addition to a reward package representing the monetary and extrinsic aspect of the relationship, employees may have the following expectations:
    • Security of employment
    • Social relations and sociable atmosphere
    • Potential for advancement
    • Access to training and development
    • To be treated as a human being rather than as a commodity
    • Job satisfaction and empowerment regarding their job
    • Family-friendly work–life balance
    • Conditions of work
    • Fair and consistent treatment
    • Some influence over their day-to-day operations but also at a policy level (often the term ‘voice’ is used in this context).

    They also suggest that, in return for the reward package offered, employers have the following implicit expectations of employees:
    • Functional, task flexibility
    • Minimum standards of competence
    • A willingness to change
    • Ability to work as a member of a team
    • Commitment to achieving organisational objectives
    • Capability to take initiative
    • The talent to give discretionary effort.


    Mike Leat (2008), Employee Relations

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    1. Open communication is vital in healthy employee relations.It is always better to be clear about the expectations of both employees and employees.That way they can have a better working environment which avoids misunderstandings and confusions.

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  19. Schein (1988) is largely responsible for this notion of a psychological contract and his suggestion was that between employer and employee there exists an implicit contractual relationship which is derived from a series of assumptions on the part of employer and employee about the nature of their relationship. These assumptions may not be legally enforceable but they constitute a set of reciprocal arrangements and form the basis for a series of expectations that may have a considerable degree of moral force. The main assumptions are that:

    ·employees will be treated fairly and honestly;

    ·the relationship will be characterized by a concern for equity and justice and this will require the communication of sufficient information about changes and developments;

    ·employee loyalty to the employer will be reciprocated with a degree of employment and job security; and

    ·employees’ input will be recognized and valued by the employer.



    Underlying this notion of a psychological contract we can also detect assumptions about what people look for in terms of returns and satisfactions from work and, indeed, there is an element of prescription in that Schein can be interpreted as specifying the way in which employees should be treated.

    In this particular instance it is pretty clear that these underlying assumptions are essentially consistent with the sets of individual needs identified many years ago by American researchers such as Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939), Maslow (1943) and Herzberg (1966), and which encompass equity and justice, security and safety, recognition of worth and input, and self-fulfillment. This model of a psychological contract, where fulfilled, provided the means for employees to derive intrinsic as well as extrinsic satisfactions and rewards from their work.


    Mike Leat (2008), Employee Relations

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  20. ER has become a vital ingredient for enhancing performance and productivity. The management and co-ordination of human activities has become the cornerstone for achieving organizational survival. This achievement facilitates the protection of employees’ interest and their welfare for the purpose of avoiding conflict relations between the employer and the employee (Mike, 2008). ER focuses on management of relationship between employees and employers in order to heighten their commitment (Gennard & Judge, 2002), passion, performance (Hameed, 2009), loyalty, productivity (Mike, 2008) and motivation (Crandall& Perrewe, 2005). Employee relation largely focuses on the prevention of conflict issues and solving problems in the workplace (Cooper &Payne, 2008).

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    1. employee relations can either make or break the business. Happy employees become more productive and puts more effort in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities. They do their level best to meet employer expectations and support the growth of the company. A healthy relationship between employers and employees will result increased employee engagement and motivation. This leads into more effective accomplishments of business goals.

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  21. A desire for flexibility can be found on both sides of the employment relationship. Organizations facing increasing competition and rapid technological change favor, if not require, greater flexibility (Burack & Singh, 1995; Tsui et al., 1995). On the other hand, as a result of changing workforce demographics and work values, employees increasingly desire flexibility in addressing work and their non-work needs and interests (Holmes & Friedman, 1995; Ruth et al.,1995).The norm of reciprocity, thought to be a universal norm (Gouldner, 1960), suggests that if organizations expect employees to be willing to be flexible in order to address the employer’s needs, organizations ought to offer employees flexibility to meet their needs and interests. In other words, flexibility in the new employment relationship should be viewed as a two-way street, and it would be a mistake for employers to treat it otherwise.

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  22. Employee relation is the emotional commitment employees feel towards their organisation and the actions they take to ensure the organisation’s success; employees demonstrate care, dedication, enthusiasm accountability and results focus.When employees care - when they are ‘engaged’ - they use discretionary effort.
    They stay behind to get a job done because they are committed and feel accountable and want to, they pick up the cups left behind on the table in the meeting room or the rubbish that missed the bin because they care about their workplace. They stand up for their company because they are proud to be a part of it, they find solutions to problems and create ideas to improve.

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    1. Thanks Salinda. Some of the points are already discussed in the blog

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  23. Employee relations is the key to success in any department/team/organization. It is very important for any employee of an organization to keep a good relationship with team leads, managers & one another. Keeping a good relation leads to employee motivation & employee engagement, which makes any organization successful since employees will work for the organization with the genuine intention of making both themselves & the organization successful. Which every organization is looking for.

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    1. Thanks for ideas Veranga. These points are already discussed in the blog

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  24. A well-designed job design will help increasing employee involvement and satisfaction and motivates them to perform well by giving their best to their work. It helps employees to become highly productive and increases their loyalty towards the organization as well. It states that there are five core job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) which impact three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes, andknowledge of the actual results). Organizational Factors. Organizational factors include characteristics of task, work flow, ergonomics, and work practices. Characteristics of Task: Job design requires the assembly of a number of tasks into a job or a group of jobs. Employing the right people for your business is the most important part of your organization. It is essential to have a good recruitment process to attract the right kind of employees for your business needs. A good recruitment process can minimize the time involved in the searching, interviewing, hiring and training.

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  25. The tradeoff between employees’ workplace privacy and employers’ need to protect company assets, safeguard proprietary information, and avoid costly litigation has been receiving increased attention (Lee and Kleiner 2003; Mello 2003; National Workplace Institute 2004). This tradeoff often favors employers, as the legal system provides much leeway for employers to monitor employees’ electronic communications in the workplace. However, employers need to consider the effect such monitoring has on their employees since employee and employer attitudes about monitoring often diverge.

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  26. Power sharing between leaders and employees increases employee satisfaction and an employee’s sense of control over his or her personal workspace. Psychological ownership and transformational leadership affect employee decision-making (Han, Chiang, & Chang, 2010). Transformational leaders can create an environment in which to increase employee motivation (Muchiri, Cooksey, & Walumbwa, 2012). A motivated employee is more likely to have a personal investment in the organization (Zhu, Chen, Li, & Zhou, 2013). Perceived ownership provides employees with an incentive to achieve successful results. Han et al. (2010) found that workers who felt psychological ownership demonstrated a positive association with the organizational commitment, Individual informational sharing correlated with psychological ownership, organizational commitment, and personal knowledge with(Han et al., 2010). Psychological ownership and transformational leaders positively influence overall employee attitudes and job performance. Organizational performance and positive behavior ultimately result from the attitudes and personal choices of the employee. Rothmann and Welsh (2013) studied the psychological conditions for employee engagement in the developing countries. Rothmann and Welsh found that work-role fit, job satisfaction, and available resources affected employee engagement through psychological availability. Work engagement improves customer loyalty, employee productivity, and profitability (Rothmann & Welsh, 2013). Psychological commitment is the first step in the process of
    employee engagement.

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    1. Thanks Skandakumars. Some of the points are already discussed in the blog.

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  27. The objectives of employee relations policies may essentially include maintaining good relations with employees and their unions, developing a cooperative and constructive employee relations climate, maintain an effective management of the work process, the control of labour costs along with the development of an engaged and committed workforce. When these policies are articulated, they provide guidelines for taking action on employee relations issues and can help to ensure that these issues are dealt with consistently. They provide the basis for defining management’s intentions (its employee relations strategy) on key matters such as union recognition and collective bargaining (Armstrong, 2004).

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  28. Employee and employer relationship is important in any organization, communication between the two parties is important to solve problems taking place in the organization, employees would know whats happening in the organization if employer communicates with the employees, they may also feel valued.
    Employee relations are concerned with preventing and resolving problems involving individuals which arise out if or affect work situations. The workplace is changing to include more diversity,different generation,various international productivity so Communication between the employer and the employee is really important. Competitive managers must attract and retain the best employees by simply improving their listening ability and adaptability and decision making skills.

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    1. Thanks for your contribution Tharindu. These points are already discussed in the blog.

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  29. An organization which wants to succeed in the industry should maintain a good employee relationship. It is vital for an organization to build a rapport with colleagues and management. To maintain a good employee relationship working environment, wages and other benefits need to be in a good condition. The important fact is managing a good relationship and enhance the productivity and profitability (Jones, 2018)

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    1. I agree, further adding to your points,employee relations can either make or break the business. Happy employees become more productive and puts more effort in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities. They do their level best to meet employer expectations and support the growth of the company. A healthy relationship between employers and employees will result increased employee engagement and motivation. This leads into effective accomplishments of business goals.

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Employees are the focal point in the success of every organization. If the employees work together and share a good relationship with employers they can achieve their tasks much faster. Managing employee relationship is important and valuable to the organizational success and achieving competitive advantage. It is necessary to have a strong relationship between employees and employers that leads to productivity, motivation, and better performance.

    Employee Relationship Management (ERM), in some organizations is labeled Employee Relations Management, meaning the same thing, is a tool and a strategic process to manage and increase motivation in the workforce by increased focus on continuous perfection of the individual relationships between the employer and each employee (Wargborn, 2008, p. 67).

    Applying of ERM within an enterprise is now a critical success factor for strategic HR policy. ERM is not technology, or software product, but a concept that focuses on new forms of communication within a company (aedem.nl, 2008). Like any other new management concept, ERM is viewed as an advantageous approach that offers mutual values for employees and employers.

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