Employee relations

Employee Relations (ER) can be terrifying if it’s not part of your day job.  

I’ve worked in HR for 15 years and specialised in Employee Relations for around 5 of those – it’s a complicated subject and it’s crucial you take advice when faced with a new ‘case’.  

The more employees you have, the more likely you are to have an ER issue. And unfortunately ER issues seem to breed other ER issues with the risk of becoming part of the culture if not managed correctly and swiftly.  

Have you seen groups of employees complaining about each other’s behaviour? 

Or maybe ganging up with separate complaints about a particular manager?  

Or have you noticed absence levels increasing once probation periods are passed, or clusters of absent employees in response to increased workload?  

Do employees seem to think they’ll ‘get away’ with things whilst under a particular manager, or have standards slipped without you realising and it’s become acceptable for employees to behave in a certain way without repercussion? 

These are all Employee Relations issues and they can all be solved with good policies, processes and line manager training.

ER is a collective term for lots of ‘people’ related problems that you’ll come across as a business owner or manager of people. 

Some examples you might be familiar with are:  

Grievance – “they’ve complained that overtime is always given to the same person”  

Disciplinary – “they stole the petty cash”  

Performance Management – “they need more training, they aren’t working quickly enough”  

Absence Management – “they’re never here”  

AWOL – “they haven’t turned up for their shift today”  

Long-term Absence Management – “they’re having an operation, recovery will take months” 

Health related Capability – “they don’t think they’ll ever come back to work”  

TUPE – “they’re bringing it in-house”  

Probation Management – “they’re just not getting it, it’s not working out”  

Redundancy – “we’re going to have to make cuts due to a downturn in work”

There are plenty of ways I can support your organisation with Employee Relations casework – it’s your decision what that support looks like and it could differ with each new scenario. 

You might get one ER case every now and again, or maybe you’re overrun with ER problems and need my help to get to the root cause.  

Here’s how I can support you with ER cases:  

o Full Case Management – This is my most ‘hands on’ method whereby I actively track all cases to ensure letters are issued, meetings take place, outcomes are confirmed etc. I work with a designated point of contact in your organisation (usually the employee’s line manager) and talk them through the process, book meetings, write letters for them to issue, coach the manager, attend the meetings as HR representative and notetaker, confirm the outcome and direct the manager on any follow up actions.  

o Employee Relations Advice – An advice only service, I provide advice to yourself or an appropriate line manager on a particular scenario. This advice will include obtaining the full facts of the case by asking lots of questions or viewing documents, then advising you on the legal requirements, your Company Policy and potential options to manage the case. This service does not include attendance at meetings or administration support. 

o Appeal or Grievance Management – in smaller organisations, or where matters seem to involve every possible manager, you may want to appoint me as a Grievance or Appeal Manager. In this circumstance I step in to run the process as if a manager in your organisation, and see it through to completion, feeding back any lessons learned to appropriate people.  

o ACAS Support – If a new or ongoing claim to the Employment Tribunal has led you to my page, help is at hand. I provide support throughout the claim, starting with Early Conciliation and advising you on whether a settlement offer may be best, or progression to Employment Tribunal. I can complete all ET correspondence for you from your initial response to the EC1 form to providing additional information when requested by the Tribunal or collating the bundle of documents.  

o Administration Support – Letter writing or template creation for your processes. For example invite and outcome letters, templates for note taking, performance improvement processes. 

o Training for line managers – this is designed to prepare your managers to handle straight-forward scenarios themselves and without my advice. If you have regular Employee Relations issues within your organisation, this option gives a good return on investment and empowers your internal talent to manage ER issues competently and confidently. Training courses are available as a one-to-one basis or group sessions, I provide in-depth training on all areas of HR including Employee Relations. More details are available on my training pages here: