The relationship between an employer and an employee can be thought of in terms

  • 9/80 Work Schedule
  • 147c
  • 360 Survey
  • 401(a)
  • 401(k)
  • 403(b)
  • 457(b) Retirement Plan

  • Absence Management
  • Absenteeism Policy
  • ACA (Affordable Care Act)
  • Accessibility
  • Accruals (Leave)
  • Action Item
  • Actual Deferred Percentage (ADP)
  • Adaptive Device
  • Administrative Services Only (ASO)
  • Advanced Earned Income Credit
  • Adverse Impact
  • Affirmative Action
  • Affirmative Action Plan (AAP)
  • After-Tax Deduction
  • Ageism
  • Agile Organization
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
  • Annualized Salary
  • Annuity
  • Applicant Flow Log
  • Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
  • At-Will Employment
  • Attachment
  • Attrition
  • Automated Clearing House (ACH)
  • Awards and Prizes

  • Baby Boomers
  • Back Pay
  • Base Wage Rate
  • Basic Salary Meaning
  • Before-Tax Deduction
  • Behavioral-Based Interview Questions
  • Behavioral Competencies
  • Benefits Administration
  • Bereavement
  • Bereavement Leave
  • Biweekly Pay
  • Blended Workforce
  • Bona Fide Occupational Qualification
  • Boomerang Employee
  • Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
  • Business Agility
  • Business Necessity
  • Business Partnership

  • California Labor Laws
  • Career Path
  • Career Plateau
  • CASDI
  • Certificate of Good Standing
  • Circular A
  • Circular E
  • Common-Law Test
  • Compensation
  • Compensatory Time Off
  • Competency Based Pay
  • Conditions of Employment
  • Constructive Discharge
  • Contingency Recruiting
  • Contingent Worker
  • Core competencies
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • CP 575 Letter
  • CPP (Certified Payroll Professional)
  • Cross-Functional Teams

  • Deduction
  • Deferred Compensation
  • Dependent Care Benefits (W-2)
  • Direct Deposit
  • Direct Reports
  • Disability Leave
  • Disciplinary Action
  • Disciplinary Actions
  • Disparate Effect
  • Disparate Treatment
  • Disposable Earnings
  • Disregarded Entity
  • Dual Labor Market
  • Duties Test

  • Earned Income Credit (EIC)
  • Earnings
  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
  • Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Employee
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Benefits Administration
  • Employee Database
  • Employee Deductions
  • Employee Empowerment
  • Employee Engagement in HR
  • Employee Evaluation
  • Employee Handbook
  • Employee Management
  • Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
  • Employee Onboarding
  • Employee Orientation
  • Employee Relations
  • Employee Satisfaction
  • Employee Turnover
  • Employee Type
  • Employer Identification Number (EIN)
  • Employer Payroll Taxes
  • Employment Contract
  • Employment Status
  • Evidence of Insurability
  • Exempt Employee
  • Exemption
  • Exempt vs. Non-Exempt
  • Exit Interview

  • Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
  • Federal Holidays
  • Federal ID Number
  • Federal Income Tax (FIT)
  • Federal Income Tax Withholding (FITW)
  • Federal Mileage Rate
  • Federal Mileage Reimbursement
  • Federal Minimum Wage
  • Federal Tax Deposit
  • Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)
  • FICA
  • Flat Tax Withholding
  • Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
  • Flexible Workplace
  • Floating Holiday
  • FLSA Status
  • FMLA Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
  • Form 940
  • Form 941
  • Form 942
  • Form 1040-ES
  • Form 1042-S
  • Form 1099
  • Form 1099-SA
  • Form 1120-S
  • Form 2553
  • Form 5498-SA
  • Form 8109
  • Form 8233
  • Form 8809
  • Form 8832
  • Form I-9
  • Forms 1094-C and 1095-C
  • Franchise Business
  • Fringe Benefits
  • Front Pay
  • FSA Limits
  • FTE (Full-Time Equivalent)
  • Full-Time Hours

  • Garnishment
  • Generation Y
  • Generation Z
  • Glass Ceiling
  • Good Standing
  • Gross-to-Net (GTN)
  • Gross-Up
  • Gross Amounts
  • Gross Income
  • Gross Misconduct
  • Gross Pay
  • Gross vs. Net Income
  • Gross Wages

  • Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
  • Health Reimbursement Account (HRA)
  • Health Savings Account (HSA)
  • Holiday Pay
  • Hourly Employee
  • Hourly to Annual Salary
  • Hourly to Salary
  • Hourly to Yearly
  • Hours Worked
  • HR Business Partner
  • HR Software
  • HSA Contribution Limits
  • HSA Reimbursement
  • Human Capital Management (HCM)
  • Human Resource Audit
  • Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
  • Human Resources Management System (HRMS)

  • Impute
  • Imputed Income
  • Inclusion
  • Independent Contractor
  • Indirect Compensation
  • Inflation
  • Informal Communication
  • Injunction Relief

  • Job Classification
  • Job Description
  • Job Dissatisfaction

  • Knowledge Management

  • Labor Force
  • Labor Market
  • Leave Accrual Processing
  • Leave of Absence
  • Letter of Termination
  • Levy
  • Limited Purpose FSA

  • Magnetic Media Reporting
  • Medical Leave of Absence
  • Medicare Wages and Tips (W-2)
  • Military Leave from Work
  • Millennials
  • Minimum Wage

  • Nepotism
  • Net Pay
  • New Hire Report
  • Non-Discrimination Testing
  • Non-Qualified Plans (W-2)
  • Non-Resident Alien

  • Occupational Stress
  • Offboarding
  • Onboarding
  • Operating Budget
  • OSHA Form 300
  • OSHA Form 301
  • Overtime

  • Paid Holidays
  • Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • P and L Statement
  • Part-Time Hours
  • Partial Pay
  • Passive Candidate
  • Pay Calculation
  • Pay Group
  • Pay Period
  • Payroll
  • Payroll Activities
  • Payroll Deduction
  • Payroll Service
  • Payroll Software
  • Payroll Tax Rates
  • Pay Stub
  • PCORI Fees
  • Per Diem
  • Performance Improvement
  • Performance Management
  • Performance Review
  • Personal Income Tax (PIT)
  • Pre-Tax Deduction
  • Preferred Provider Organization
  • Prior Period Adjustment
  • Professional Employer Organization (PEO)
  • Profit and Loss Statement
  • Proof of Insurance

  • Qualifying Life Event
  • Quarterly Federal Tax Return

  • Real Time Processing
  • Recruiting Software
  • Regular Time
  • Retaliation
  • Retention Strategy
  • Retro Pay
  • Rightsizing

  • Salaried Employee
  • Salaried Non-Exempt
  • Salary Basis Test
  • SDI Tax
  • Seasonal Employment
  • Secondary Insurance
  • Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction
  • Self-Employment Tax
  • Shift Differential
  • Sick Leave Pay
  • Skills Gap
  • Social HR
  • Social Media Background Screening
  • Social Media Recruiting
  • Social Security Administration
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Social Security Tax
  • Social Security Tips (W-2)
  • Social Security Wages (W-2)
  • Sourcing
  • Standard Deduction
  • Standard Hours
  • State Tax Withholding
  • State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA)
  • Statutory Employee
  • Stay Interviews
  • Straight-Time Pay
  • Substantial Limitation
  • Succession Plan
  • SUI (State Unemployment Insurance)
  • Summary Dismissal
  • Summary Plan Description
  • Supplemental Unemployment Benefits
  • Supplemental Wages

  • Talent Acquisition
  • Talent Management
  • Tangible Rewards
  • Targeted Recruiting
  • Taxable Wage Base
  • Tax Levy
  • Termination Letter
  • Time-to-Hire
  • Time Tracking
  • TIN Number
  • Total Remuneration
  • Transitional Employment
  • Turnover Rate

  • Upward Mobility
  • Utilization Analysis

  • Vacation Pay
  • Virtual HR
  • Voluntary Benefits
  • VTO (Voluntary/Volunteer Time Off)

  • W-2 Form
  • W-3 Form
  • W-4 Form
  • W-5 Form
  • Wage Drift
  • Wages
  • Wage to Salary
  • Withholding
  • Work-Life Balance
  • Work Behavior
  • Worker
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Workforce Analysis
  • Workweek

  • Year to Date (YTD)

  1. HR Glossary
  2. Employee Relations

What is the definition of Employee Relations?

The definition of employee relations refers to an organization’s efforts to create and maintain a positive relationship with its employees.By maintaining positive, constructive employee relations, organizations hope to keep employees loyal and more engaged in their work. 

Typically, an organization’s human resources department manages employee relations efforts; however, some organizations may have a dedicated employee relations manager role. Typical responsibilities of an employee relations manager include acting as a liaison or intermediary between employees and managers, and either creating or advising on the creation of policies around employee issues like fair compensation, useful benefits, proper work-life balance, reasonable working hours, and others. When it comes to employee relations, an HR department has two primary functions. First, HR helps prevent and resolve problems or disputes between employees and management. Second, they assist in creating and enforcing policies that are fair and consistent for everyone in the workplace.

Why is employee relations important?

By maintaining positive, constructive employee relations, organizations hope to keep employees loyal and more engaged in their work. 

To maintain positive employee relations, an organization must first view employees as stakeholders and contributors in the company rather than simply as paid laborers. This perspective encourages those in management and executive roles to seek employee feedback, to value their input more highly, and to consider the employee experience when making decisions that affect the entire company.

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What are examples of Employee Relations?

Examples of employee relations issues are:

  • Workplace Conflicts - Disagreements and disputes between employees happen all the time. Often, these are the results of ineffective communication. An HR department or employee relations manager will never please everyone, but if frequent conflicts come up, low morale is building and the issues will only get worse unless resolved.

  • Workplace Bullying - When a simple conflict escalates into bullying, you’ve got a big problem. The consequences of letting this take place on the job are low employee performance, increased absenteeism, and bad brand reputation (not to mention legal action). Take bullying reports seriously and launch investigations when necessary.

  • Workplace Safety - If accidents are happening in the workplace, an employer may be held responsible for any injuries, medical leave, and lost wages. On top of that, the company will suffer from the high cost of lowered production. Promoting and immediately addressing workplace safety issues is a top employee relations concern.

  • Hour Issues - When employees constantly complain that their hours are not getting counted correctly (or if managers suspect dishonest hour tracking from employees), it’s time to get into the details of what is going on. Federal wage and hour violations break the law and need to be taken seriously.

  • Pay Raise Requests - Declining or ignoring pay raise requests is just asking for disgruntled employees and high turnover rates. Even if you do offer fair wages, fully consider each request to see if there is room to offer a raise (or other perks instead).

How do you handle Employee Relations Issues?

There are many types of employee relations issues, and the way to handle them can vary depending on the particular issue. However, there are some general guidelines to follow. One of them is to listen. Give your full attention and try to focus on what is being said both vocally and physically. 

Another guideline is to educate and communicate. The more your employees know the rules and expectations, the better. Consistency across the board is key here. If some employees have privileges over others, no one will care what you say.

Finally, document everything. Keeping accurate legal and employee records is vital when it comes to employee relations issues. You will find yourself needing to refer back to them again and again. They will be especially useful if there is ever an employee lawsuit brought against the company.

What is an Employee Relations strategy?

An employee relations strategy is a way to create balance between employers and employees by creating an environment conducive to each’s needs. Employers want productivity and performance; employees want acknowledgment and appreciation. A good employee relations strategy will help both get what they want. 

Your strategy should include at least the following KPIs:

  1. Number of recognitions

  2. Number of complaints

  3. Complaint response time

  4. Quarterly benefits and compensation data compared to competitors

  5. Employee satisfaction

  6. Employer performance

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