Employee Relations Articles

In just a few short years social networking sites have gone from something that people thought might just be a fad to a major part of our society. You’ve probably seen the statistic that if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth largest in the world. It might also surprise you to know that based on Facebook’s last publicly released data, their fastest growing segment is adults aged 40-55.

The difficulties of 2009 are finally in the rear view mirror and each week there seems to be a bit more evidence that the recovery is for real, even if slow. Many companies are currently trying to figure out ways to make the most of 2010 and position themselves properly to benefit from the recovery, but to do that it’s important to have a solid employee relations strategy that will help you manage and structure your workforce sentiment.

Today’s working environment is an unusual one. On one hand, voluntary attrition is lower than it’s been in nearly two decades due to the scarcity of work and overwhelming economic pressures. On the flip side, survey after survey shows that employee morale is nearing all time lows. Together, these facts suggest that organic retention might become a significant problem for many companies once the employment market stabilizes.

Under any circumstances, retention strategy is always high on the human resources priority list. With today’s complicated market conditions, figuring out the best way to keep your star players is more difficult than ever. Traditionally, organizations hold on to their key talent by paying those employees above market rates, or providing compensation increases beyond the national average. In these trying times there are many companies who aren’t able to play by those traditional rules.

Do you have an employee who has been diagnosed with PTSD that is severe enough to qualify as a disability? If so, it’s time to start looking at ways to accommodate them at work. This should be done with an eye toward ADA compliance and good employee relations. Your responsibility as an employer is to assist workers with disabilities so that they can accomplish their assigned tasks in a non-hostile environment. This should tie in with your goal of promoting the achievement of your organization's overall objectives.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can affect anyone in your workforce. However, it is especially common among men and women who have served in combat zones while in the military. If you have employees who are returning to work after a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, there is a possibility that they will need accommodations they did not previously require. This situation can put the employee relations skills of HR staff and department managers to the test.

Employee reviews are one of the best opportunities to align your workforce’s actions with the greater goals of the company and ensure that each employee understands how they can affect the company’s success.  During a review it is natural for the employee and their supervisor to discuss their personal goals, objectives and assignments for the foreseeable future and this is the perfect time to talk about how that employee’s work fits into the larger picture.

Over the past few years many companies have gone from having separate sick and vacation policies to having just one, consolidated paid time off (PTO) program. While the flexibility of these programs can be attractive to employees and companies alike, there are also some serious consequences that can arise from a poorly planned PTO program. If you haven’t recently reviewed the potential legal impact of your current PTO system, here are a few topics to consider.

Human resources executives are constantly setting goals to push their companies forward and bring strategy and focus to their teams. However, it’s far too common for these high level strategy goals to get pushed aside by the HR department’s most common cycle: focus on recruitment, focus on retention and then repeat. Human resources leaders understand the value and importance of breaking this cycle.

Great leaders all know that no plan ever goes off as expected. Recent events in our global economy have certainly sent many of us back to the drawing board when it comes to prioritizing our top initiatives. The last few quarters have required each of us to spend considerable amounts of time working on short term shoring up of our businesses to combat a volatile and challenging market. As the signs begin to point to some inherent stability in the marketplace (if not a small turnaround), it is time once again to turn an eye to succession planning.