Building Effective Employee Relations

HR professionals: HR business partners, employee relations specialists and HR officers

Line managers: department managers and section heads who manage staff day to day

Supervisors and team leaders who handle complaints, conflict and conduct issues

Investigation and compliance staff involved in workplace investigations and disciplinary cases

Staff relations and employee services staff in government entities and large organisations

Explain the employment relationship, the psychological contract and what employees expect from their employer

Identify the causes of poor employee relations in their own organisation

Design communication and employee voice channels that give staff a genuine say

Build trust through consistent, transparent and fair management practice

Recognise conflict early and apply suitable resolution techniques, including facilitated conversations and mediation

Handle grievances through a fair, timely and documented process

Plan and conduct a workplace investigation and prepare a clear investigation report

Apply fair and proportionate disciplinary procedures, from informal action to formal outcomes

Use negotiation skills to resolve individual and collective workplace issues

Measure the employee relations climate and prepare an improvement plan

Understanding Employee Relations and the Employment Relationship

• What employee relations covers and why it matters to performance
• The psychological contract and changing employee expectations
• The roles of line managers, HR and senior leadership
• Labour law, internal policies and fundamental principles and rights at work
• Diverse and multinational workforces: cultural factors in employee relations
• Diagnosing the employee relations climate in your organisation

Communication, Trust and Employee Voice

• Employee voice: surveys, forums, consultation and open-door practice
• Communicating policies and changes clearly and consistently
• Building trust through fairness, transparency and follow-through
• Engagement and its link to employee relations
• Communicating during restructuring and organisational change
• Digital channels, HR self-service and their effect on relationships

Managing Conflict Early

• Sources and stages of workplace conflict
• Conflict styles and choosing the right response
• Difficult conversations: preparation, structure and tone
• Facilitated conversations and workplace mediation
• Bullying, harassment and respect at work
• Role play: resolving a conflict between team members

Grievances, Discipline and Investigations

• Principles of fair procedure: consistency, timeliness, the right to respond and records
• Handling grievances: informal resolution, formal hearings and appeals
• Planning and conducting a workplace investigation
• Interviewing, evidence and writing the investigation report
• Disciplinary procedures, proportionate outcomes and appeals
• Confidentiality, data protection and avoiding bias in decisions

Negotiation, Measurement and Continuous Improvement

• Negotiation skills for individual and collective issues
• Working with employee representatives where they exist
• Employee relations indicators: grievances, absence, turnover, exit interviews and survey data
• People analytics in employee relations: uses and ethical limits
• Building line manager capability in employee relations
• Action plan: an employee relations improvement plan for your organisation

Employee relations climate diagnosis

Employee voice and communication

Trust building and fair management practice

Workplace conflict resolution and mediation

Grievance handling

Workplace investigations

Fair disciplinary procedures

Negotiation in employee relations

Employee relations measurement and improvement planning