employee relations

• positive employee relationships

  positive image for treating staff well leading to higher standards of people applying to work there, disputes between employees and employers are less likely because employees feel they have been consulted, changes is easier for management as employees will be more flexible, employees will be more committed so the business is more likely to meet its objectives
• employee relations

  how employers work together with their employees
• negative employee relationships

  workers not co-operating, industrial action (strikes), bad reputation for the organisation
• impact of legal and company policies and procedures on employee relations

  grievance, discipline, dismissal, absenteeism, redundancy
• grievance

  complaints raised by employees, procedure outlines what an employee should do if they're unhappy with something, usually involve the HR department or trade union representatives
• discipline

  procedure used if an employee is not following the code of conduct, sanctions put in place
• dismissal

  last stage of disciplinary procedure, where the employee has their contract terminated
• absenteeism

  attendance policy put in place to manage staff absence, if there is high absenteeism it falls under disciplinary procedures
• redundancy

  when an organisation no longer requires a job role that is being carried out by an employee, redundant payment and period of notice is given, last resort to cut costs, gives a bad reputation
• external institutions

  trade unions, ACAS
• trade unions

  organisations which support and represent employees, enable employees to have a collective voice, annual subscription required so they can advance the interest + achieve the best working conditions + negotiate pay deals + attend grievance and disciplinary meetings + provide legal and financial advice for their members, collective bargaining
• collective bargaining

  where many people speaking with one voice achieves better results than a solitary employee who could be easily ignored
• trade union examples

  eis, unison, bma, unite
• employer's associations

  owners' and managers' version of trade unions, represent employers during any negotiation with the unions
• advisory, conciliation, and arbitration service (ACAS)

  aims to improve employee relations between employers and workers, involved in disputes or disagreements between the differing parties, they assess the dispute and come to an independent resolution
• employee participation

  improves employee relations by involving them in the decision making process
• ways to increase employee participation

  work councils are made up of employees and managers that come together to discuss factors that may impact the business, consultative committees are made up of employees and managers and other stakeholders, worker directors are employees that are elected to sit on the board of directors to represent the interests of the workers