Dominic Le Fort
September 26, 2023
Your HR department may be great at routine office tasks — but is the team equipped to handle quiet quitting? In fact, do you even know whether your company has quiet quitters? This, of course, is the fancy new buzzword of the week — a term for dissatisfied employees that only do the absolute minimum that's required to keep their jobs — but it is just one example of how poor employee relations and low morale can have a very real impact on your organization’s ability to perform.
It may surprise you to know that as much as half of the US workforce are potentially quiet quitters, so the chance that at least some of your own employees fall into this category is pretty high.
How do you deal with quiet quitters? Employee Relations! ER is a hot term these days in human resources management. More and more companies and organizations are discovering that better workforce management (beyond HR compliance) is key to happier employees, greater productivity, and less turnover. So what exactly is ER? This article will demystify employee relations and provide you with 8 key ER strategies to make your workforce hum!
What does the term ‘Employee Relations’ mean, anyway?
The concept of employee relations refers to managing relationships in the workplace. It covers two types of relationships:
Vertical ER: the relationship between employees and their supervisors, company leadership and administration.
Horizontal ER: the relations between coworkers in general and relations within and between teams or project groups.
The difference between ER and HR
When it comes to employee management, HR (human resources) is the umbrella department that deals with everything related to employment: hiring, firing, payroll, and implementing and enforcing organizational policies.
ER (employee relations) is a specialized function within HR. It deals with employee experience and satisfaction — including quiet quitting. Depending on the size of the company or organization, ER may be executed by the HR department or by a dedicated ER specialist or team.
Why it's important to focus on employee relations
ER plays an important role in a company's health. Its functions include:
Keeping employees happy, positive and engaged
Ensuring better employee retention and less turnover in the workforce
Facilitating improved employee productivity
All three points are critical for a thriving business. Gallup's State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report found that productivity loss from non-engaged workers adds up to $7.8 trillion globally. Well-managed ER can help a business avoid financial loss due to disengaged employees.
Employee relations begin at the top
It's tempting for business owners to blame low engagement or poor performance on the employees themselves. But that's not always the case.
Often, a company's leadership plays an active role in lowering employee engagement, whether they realize it or not. When top brass is too focused on production figures and client relations, for instance, employee wellbeing and engagement can take a hit.
So, to be believable, leadership needs to set the stage for optimal employee relations. This includes vision-sharing, reporting on successes, showing an interest in the workforce, and setting an example of an optimistic spirit and a balanced life.
Typical issues addressed by ER
In a moment, we'll look at strategies for effective employee relations management. But first, here are some of the typical issues and problems that ER staff handle.
Work habits and discipline
A routine function of ER is dealing with workplace regulations and discipline as they intersect with workers' personal habits, including issues such as:
Habitual tardiness
Unauthorized or frequent absences
Underperformance and quiet quitting
Not performing well while working from home — demotivation and disconnectedness
A messy work environment that affects coworkers' morale
Workplace safety issues
Though a department such as Operations may be responsible for workplace safety protocol, ER staff deals with employees' behavior related to safety. Defiant behavior may include:
Ignoring safety warnings
Violating safety protocols
Not or improperly using safety clothing or equipment
Bringing personal items into the workplace that pose a safety risk (e.g., space heaters)
ER is also responsible for staging regular fire drills and other safety protocols, such as for potential violence in the building.
Time tracking issues
ER personnel are responsible for making sure employees' work hours get logged accurately into the company's tracking software. This includes:
Ensuring accurate reporting by employees
Dealing with intentional or unintentional errors and discrepancies
Managing project codes
Compiling organizational reports
Pay raise requests and fairness complaints
ER typically handles situations where employees feel they aren't compensated fairly, including issues like:
Requests for an individual raise
Complaints about perceived or actual differences in pay for similar jobs and responsibilities
Gender gap issues
Workplace conflicts
Even in the best of companies, conflicts arise. ER involvement typically includes:
Investigating the situation
Administering the company's conflict resolution process and bringing about positive outcomes for all parties involved
Disciplinary measures for repeat offenders
Restoring peace in the affected teams or departments
Lack of respect for coworkers and supervisors
Workers sometimes exhibit a less than stellar attitude towards their coworkers. ER may be called in to deal with issues of disrespect among coworkers or between an employee and their supervisor, such as:
Spreading gossip
Shunning
Being uncommunicative
Vandalism/theft
Bullying
ER is the go-to place for employees who experience workplace intimidation. Bullying can be subtle and hard to prove. Yet, when it's not dealt with quickly and fairly, it can have a devastating effect on employee morale. Typical bullying includes:
Younger workers bullying older ones and vice versa
Workers of longer standing in the company harassing newer employees
Supervisors using their power position in the company hierarchy to intimidate or harass team members
Making fun of coworkers with physical, mental or emotional disabilities
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment in the workplace often lurks in the shadows. Victims may feel ashamed or intimidated. If the harassment involves a supervisor, manager or even the company boss, employees may not speak up out of fear of retaliation or losing their jobs. The ER department is meant as a safe place to confidentially report sexual harassment:
Between bosses/supervisors and employees
Between coworkers
When somebody lodges a complaint, ER follows company HR policies to investigate, mediate and resolve the situation, which may include starting a discharge procedure against a transgressor.
Diversity, equity and inclusion issues
The modern workplace expects tolerance from its leadership and employees. Non-discrimination policies play an important role in keeping a workplace with a diverse body of employees working harmoniously.
ER is responsible for making sure that the workforce understands the company's approach to DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) and navigates issues like:
Racism and interracial tensions
LGBTQ intolerance
Personal hygiene issues
ER staff sometimes have to spring into action when employees complain about a coworker's poor personal hygiene. Typical issues include:
Strong body odor
Grooming oneself at one's desk in sight of coworkers
Sloppy eating habits
Leaving food out too long at one's desk or in the common kitchen or fridge
Not cleaning up after oneself
Substance use disorders and addictions
Compulsive substance use usually begins in an employee's private life. However, when it leads to an addiction, workers may take it into the workplace. Most employees will try to hide their addictions, but coworkers may find out and report them to HR. Common addictions include:
Alcohol
Drugs (recreational drugs as well as medications such as strong painkillers)
Pornography (watching sexually explicit material on work computers)
ER staff can support the employee in finding professional help. If the intervention isn't fruitful, they may have to start a performance review that leads to letting the employee go.
8 key strategies for employee relations management
In this section you'll find eight important strategies for improving employee relations in your organization or business.
1. Set employee-friendly policies and procedures
Businesses benefit from implementing policies that promote employee satisfaction. But there's a serious discrepancy in perspective. Zippia reports that 60% of CEOs believe their companies are empathetic towards their employees — but only 24% of employees feel their employers are empathetic towards them. So, employers will have to go the extra mile to change their employees' perceptions by implementing employee-friendly policies that show that employee wellbeing is as important to them as work output. Some examples:
Bring your baby or your pet to work/company childcare options
Fitness or recreational activities at work
Employee wellness programs
Formal hybrid work policies (working partly from the office and partly from home)
Ask your employees for feedback and they'll give you plenty of ideas for worker-friendly policies!
2. Communicate often and effectively
Good communication is a critical factor in vertical as well as horizontal employee relations. According to one survey, a whopping 86% of employees and managers blame a lack of adequate communication and collaboration for problems in the workplace. Here are some helpful ER communication strategies:
Share the company mission, vision and strategic goals often and enthusiastically
Give regular updates on company matters
Ensure effective communications within and between teams and departments
Share and celebrate successes
Address problems with honesty and transparency
3. Create a safe and enjoyable work environment
The impact of the physical work environment on employees is hard to underestimate. TeamInsights reports that 50% of employees believe that “the work environment has a significant impact on their health,” and 43% “associate workplace wellbeing with motivation.” An employee-friendly workplace includes features such as:
Natural light and quiet, green, pleasant surroundings
The right equipment, tools and software programs
The correct safety equipment and instructions needed for certain jobs
4. Encourage collaboration for greater job satisfaction
According to Zippia, "more than 50% of workers in the United States say their jobs are reliant on collaboration. About 75% of employees rate teamwork and collaboration as being very important." Effective collaboration influences employee wellbeing. It reduces turnover rates and "employees are, on average, 17% more satisfied with their job when they engage in collaboration at work." Good strategies for increased collaboration are:
Promoting projects that require collaboration
Investing in collaboration and sharing software that makes it easier, faster and more enjoyable for employees to work together
5. Measure and celebrate employee performance and success
Measuring performance is important, but few employees appreciate the review process. However, dreaded annual performance reviews can take a positive turn with these ER strategies:
Using a constructive, non-intimidating method for performance measurement that considers the whole person, not just someone's work output
Using performance review outcomes as part of an acknowledgement and recognition strategy; recognizing excellent performance and giving meaningful rewards
Offering fair, transparent promotion strategies and career paths
6. Invest in your employees beyond just their jobs
Nothing shows better that you care about your employees than investing in their personal lives. Meaningful gestures include:
Offering education and training that promotes general skill development
Supporting a healthy life/work balance
Celebrating important events (birthdays, weddings, babies, etc.), as appropriate
Organizing some fun events outside the workplace (picnic, outing, games, sports event, etc.)
7. Have clear processes for employees to contribute ideas and suggestions
Every year, employees offer millions of suggestions for how to improve their companies' processes and procedures. However, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, most of these suggestions are reviewed by Human Resources departments rather than by management. And of those ideas that make it up the ladder, many will never be implemented. ER staff can help improve this situation by taking steps such as:
Soliciting targeted feedback and suggestions through a survey once or twice a year
Implementing a clear process for sharing employee ideas with top leadership
Reporting back to the workforce on ideas received and implemented
Considering rewards for excellent ideas that save or earn the company money
8. Deal effectively and timely with employee grievances and complaints
Even in the best work environments, things happen that are cause for grievances and complaints. Vaultplatform reports that "75% of employees have either personally experienced or witnessed some form of misconduct during their work lives." When not dealt with, these situations can quickly erode trust between a company and its employees. ER staff can remedy this by offering:
A safe place for airing grievances and complaints
Clear, written procedures for handling both
Commitment to dealing with the issues in a fair and timely manner
Conclusion
Employee relations is an important HR function for company health and growth. Attention to effective ER strategies can make a big difference in employee productivity and retention. If you don't have an ER strategy yet, it may be time to work on an implementation plan for your business or organization.
Consider executing your plan in partnership with Bambee's dedicated HR manager to receive expert guidance and support when navigating complex employee relations issues or for developing an on-going ER strategy to improve the employment experience for members of your team.
With features like documentation, easy requests for HR policies, and an Employee Voices tool, you can protect your business and provide your employees with a great work experience!