Employee Relations

HR Glossary
March 9, 2023

What are employee relations?

Employee relations refers to an organization’s efforts to create and maintain a positive relationship with its employees. Maintaining positive employee relations helps keep employees loyal and engaged in their work. Typically, an organization’s human resources department manages employee relations efforts. The department has two primary functions: preventing and resolving problems or disputes between employees and management and assisting in creating and enforcing policies that are fair and consistent for everyone in the workplace.

How do you maintain positive employee relations?

To maintain positive employee relations, an organization must view employees as stakeholders and contributors rather than just paid laborers. Employers need to seek employee feedback, value their input, and consider the employee experience when making decisions that affect the company as a whole.

What issues arise with employee relations?

Examples of employee relations issues can include fair compensation, useful benefits, proper work-life balance, and reasonable working hours. To handle employee relations issues, it is crucial to listen carefully, communicate rules and expectations clearly, and maintain consistency across the board. Document everything accurately and keep legal and employee records in case they are needed for reference or legal purposes.

An employee relations strategy is a way to create balance between employers and employees, where both parties have their needs met.