Top 10 Tips for Healthy Employee Relations

Maintaining healthy employee relations is crucial for your company’s success. In general, employee relations involve preventing and resolving issues which might stem from or influence the work environment. Effective employee relations lead to a more motivated and productive workforce that can greatly impact the quality of products and services, as well as the levels of sales and customer retention.

Top 10 Employee Relations Tips

1. Ensure the workplace has an open door policy where employees are free from retaliation for bringing forth “good faith” complaints and suggestions.
2. Train management staff in how to listen and communicate with employees and openly address concerns.
3. Review applications of policies, discipline and performance management to make sure that there is consistent treatment of employees to avoid complaints of discriminatory practices and/or inconsistent treatment.
4. Conduct appropriate investigations when warranted based on good faith complaints from employees related to discrimination, harassment, inconsistent applications of discipline and/or policies and practices.
5. Make sure that employees are given due process or an opportunity to tell their side of the story prior to handing out discipline or corrective action.
6. Implement an Employee Handbook that clearly communicates workplace rules, standards of conduct, and dispute resolution processes.
7. Establish a progressive disciplinary system and apply disciplinary policies consistently among employees.
8. Develop and implement a formal performance evaluation process. Also, encourage all managers to provide informal feedback on an ongoing basis to employees.
9. Maintain a zero-tolerance policy for Harassment, Discrimination, and Workplace Violence.
10. Intervene in employee conflict early to avoid unnecessary escalation and reduce workplace stress.

For more information, please contact GTM Payroll Services.