Employee relations
Employee relations is concerned with how employers work together with their employees. Good employee relations can lead to a motivated workforce.
Poor employee relations can lead to workers not co-operating, industrial action and a bad reputation for the organisation.
Trade unions
Trade unions are organisations that employees can join to enable them to have a collective voice. Employees pay an annual subscription to have the trade union negotiate on their behalf.
The role of a trade union is to:
- negotiate better pay and conditions
- get involved with the resolution of disputes
- provide legal and financial support for its members
Industrial action
It is important to ensure that your employees are motivated. When employees are unhappy with their working conditions or are demotivated this could lead to industrial action. Industrial action can have a big impact on an organisation in terms of their success, productivity and reputation.
Industrial action is usually a last resort by employees who feel their opinions and views have not been taken into consideration by the organisation鈥檚 management or owners. The aim of industrial action is to put pressure on managers to negotiate and agree to workers鈥 demands.
There are many types of industrial action:
| Method | Description | Impact |
| Sit in | Employees occupy their workplace in order to prevent any work from taking place | Production will be stopped leading to customers going to the competition to fulfil their needs/orders |
| Overtime ban | Employees refuse to work any overtime hours | Employees refusing to do overtime may lead to deadlines not being met |
| Work to rule | Employees will only carry out the duties that are specifically listed in their contract of employment | Decreased levels of production could lead to delays in orders creating a bad reputation for the organisation |
| Go slow | Employees will complete all their duties but at a slower pace | Customers will be lost due to orders not being produced in the required timescale |
| Strike | Employees refuse to go to work | Production within the organisation is stopped which could lead to the organisation being unable to fulfil orders or meet customer demand |
| Picket line / protest | Employees stand at the entrance to the organisation with banners to demonstrate against the organisation | Picket lines outside an organisation can lead to a poor image and a fall in share price due to the poor reputation of the organisation |
| Method | Sit in |
|---|---|
| Description | Employees occupy their workplace in order to prevent any work from taking place |
| Impact | Production will be stopped leading to customers going to the competition to fulfil their needs/orders |
| Method | Overtime ban |
|---|---|
| Description | Employees refuse to work any overtime hours |
| Impact | Employees refusing to do overtime may lead to deadlines not being met |
| Method | Work to rule |
|---|---|
| Description | Employees will only carry out the duties that are specifically listed in their contract of employment |
| Impact | Decreased levels of production could lead to delays in orders creating a bad reputation for the organisation |
| Method | Go slow |
|---|---|
| Description | Employees will complete all their duties but at a slower pace |
| Impact | Customers will be lost due to orders not being produced in the required timescale |
| Method | Strike |
|---|---|
| Description | Employees refuse to go to work |
| Impact | Production within the organisation is stopped which could lead to the organisation being unable to fulfil orders or meet customer demand |
| Method | Picket line / protest |
|---|---|
| Description | Employees stand at the entrance to the organisation with banners to demonstrate against the organisation |
| Impact | Picket lines outside an organisation can lead to a poor image and a fall in share price due to the poor reputation of the organisation |