Good relationships between employer and employee do not just happen. Manager or employer-employee relationship is a result of a strategy and activities that both parties relate to each other through means of improving communication between employees and management. It is basically an effect of attitude towards each other that incorporates right and just labor, employment laws, resourcefulness and human resource expertise in developing practices that improve working relations.
One of the effective ways to improve and or strengthen the manager-employee relationship is through increasing the amount of personal interaction or communication with employees. All too often, human resources department is situated in an inaccessible area in such certain workplace. This prevents employees from making a quick stop to maybe ask for benefits, payroll, taxes, and any other concerns or work issues. Best strategy or implementation to make here is to have an accessible outlet for the human resource to the employees. Employee relations managers improve access to human resources through modifying the human resource department hours to accommodate employee schedules and make time for employees during regular walkthroughs or quick stops of the workplace. Giving feedback is also the solution to this situation. It’s a win-win strategy; you see, human resource manager’s task should be done in a healthy way and at the same time he might make friends with the employees, on the other hand, the employee would know the issues through the human resource manager while at the same time, he could do well in his job, plus the bonus of making a friend. Maintaining an open line of communication with upper management is also a crucial step but very helpful when achieved properly; this will help improve the manager-employee relationship. Regular conversations about workplace strategy improve the possibility of having a well-rounded relationship with both employer and his employees.
Putting a bad or hard image on human resources can make a perception or makes a significant impact on the employees; they could maybe perceive it as equivalent to going to the principal’s office in school or may be facing a judge that would criminally condemn and judge you or stuffs like that. When an employee relations manager’s work is to teach the company’s supervisors and managers to administer discipline in a hard and unpleasant way and results in negative employment actions, it would be perceived as a non-employee advocate, right? Best practice in this situation is to implement and support activities that improve the perception of human resources from and administrative-based department to one that acts in the best interest of an organization, its workforce and of course, its individual employees. Treating employees as customers is a big step in moving toward positive interaction with the employees as well as progressing towards employees’ productivity.
Managers who focus on employee relations devote a significant amount of their time and effort to improve and or ensure the employees’ job satisfaction. Best practice or strategy for this is to use tools such as employee focus groups, one-on-one conference with their respective supervisors or managers, interviews for any feedback. Always think of the satisfaction of the employees aside from the satisfaction of the customers, after all, it’s the employees who worked for the betterment and productivity of your company, thus give them the contentment and gratification they deserve.
