Importance Of Employee Relations And Development Of Policies And Procedures

Role of Industrial Relations Policy in Achieving Organization’s Strategy

Part A

1. What is your understanding of employee relations?

Employee relation can be defined as the effort of an organization to manage relationships between the employers and the employees.

1. Which area of the business is responsible for managing employee relations?  

The Human resource department is responsible for managing employee relations

1. Name two key reasons why an organisation should develop good working relationships with all its employees?
2. To ensure effective relationship between the managers and the employees so that conflict can be avoided.
3. To avoid excessive employee attrition
4. What are the benefits to a business of having good employee relations?
5. Increased productivity
6. Higher employee retention rates

• Enhanced motivation and loyalty of the employees towards the organization

1. Less absenteeism
2. Increased revenue of the company
3. Who are the internal and external stakeholders that are interested or involved in employee relations issues?

Internal stakeholders: employees, managers, investors, boards of directors

External stakeholders:  Government, consumers, investors, suppliers

1. Name the key legislation that relates to employee relations.

Employment law is a part of civil law.  The key legislation that relate to employee relation includes Fair Work Act 2009.

1. Detail 5 key points in the above legislation and how they can be applied in the workplace.
2. Employees should be provided with equal opportunities.
3. No discrimination
4. N oppression against the employees
5. Enables fairness at work
6. enables flexible workingarrangements 
7. What can be some of the symptoms be of a poor employee relations environment?
8. Excessive employee retention
9. Lack of work satisfaction
10. Frequent workplace conflict

Part B

Recently 7-Eleven was in the news due to its poor employee relations practices. Research and identify the key problems in this case study.

1. What did 7-Eleven do wrong?

7 Eleven unethically made the employees work for a lower amount of remuneration and deported or terminated employee if they complained.

1. What legislation did 7 Eleven Breach. List any other non-complaint breaches?

The organization breached The Fair work regulation 2009.

Apart from unethical act towards the employees, the company also denied to pay its franchises.

1. What was the consequences to the business

High employee attrition, loss of revenue due to lawsuit and decreased consumer base due to negative publicity were the consequences.  

1. What was the consequences to the employees

The work life balance of the employees got adversely impacted. Besides that they were also suffering from lack o job satisfaction.

1. How could 7-Eleven have avoided the situation?

The company should have abide by the rules of the fair work act in order to avoid the consequences.

1. What lessons can other businesses learn from the 7-Eleven case?

It is highly crucial for the organizations to abide by the fair work law in order to maintain effective employee relation and avoid negative consequences.

Task 2: Develop employee and industrial relations plans and policies

Proposal for employee relations strategy

Respected Sir,

It is high time for the company to deal effective employee relation strategy to help the company meet its full potential by cultivating positive staff relationships.  The three strategy that the company should implemented by Next iT includes:

1. Develop policies and procedure to ensure fair work place and effective employee relation.
2. Establishing an internal communication tool in order to enhance the communication between employers and employees
3. Each and every employee will be given training and education in order to understand their legal as well as ethical responsibilities towards the organization.

The skill that will be required by the management in order to comply with the strategy are enough knowledge about the employee relation issues and polices that an be implemented to eradicate the same.

Cost benefit analysis

Option	Cost–benefit analysis	Risk assessment plan
Cost	Benefit	Outcome	Associated risk/s	Consequence	Likelihood	Risk level (monitor, low, medium, high, very-high)	Risk control
1.	· Investment in meeting, email, phone call, massaging and other virtual communication procedures · Appoint liaison officer for effective communication	· Prevent discrimination  in decision making process · Effective and viable policies	· Work satisfaction of the employees · Decrement in conflict and employee attrition	· Technological fault · Employees may not abide by the policy	· Police development may remain incomplete · The strategy will not be of any help	Moderate	Moderate	· Developing strict measures in case the policies are not followed.
2.	· Invest in networking technology · Investing on User Interface devices · Inviting on cyber license	· Regular and easier communication between the employees	· Effective relationship between the employee and the employees	Employees may use the process for excessive unofficial communication	Loss of productivity and revenue	Moderate	Moderate	Invigilating the system regularly
3.	Invest in training of the employees	Employees will be able to understand how they are expected to act within the organization and what are the negative consequences of unethical	No discrimination in the organization will take place	Employees may not participate in the training program	Loss of revenue and ineffective of the strategy	Low	Low	Compulsory participation should be mentioned i the policies and procedures developed

Part B: Next iT policy development

1. Purpose

The purpose of the policy is to ensure that the Next iT organization is practicing fair business and all the employees are able to enjoy an environment friendly workplace that is free of discrimination ad unethical act.

1. Scope

The scope of the report is that the policy is relevant to all the employers as well as employees of the Next iT system.

1. Background

Next iT is facing several issues associated with employee relation that is affecting the overall progress of the company.  

1. Definitions

Consequences of Poor Employee Relations Practices

The term ’employee relations’ refers to a company’s efforts to manage relationships between employers and employees. 

1. Legislation

The company will abide by the legislation Fair Work act 2009 while developing the polices and procedures

Policy

1. The company is liable of treating all the employees fairly, consistently and reasonably in maters associated with discipline, grievances and capabilities.
2. Strict action will be taken against any employee who have practice discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race and sexual orientation.
3. No favoritism should be performed by the employers.
4. n, Managers need to allow all employees the opportunity to state their case when a disciplinary matter arises and ensure that all facts of the case have been thoroughly investigated prior to any disciplinary hearing.
5. Both the employees and the employers needs to abide by the policies in order to avoid legal allegations
6. The organization will deal wih the grievances expeditiously and fairly
7. Grievances and the proceedings under this policy will be treated with the greatest degree of confidentiality possible.
8. Employees will be protected from discrimination as well as retaliation in connection with exercising rights under the grievance policy.

Procedure

1. All the employees are expected to maintain the standard of conduct. Any breach of good conduct will be subjected to disciplinary action.
2. Where an issue of alleged gross misconduct has arisen, the employee should normally be suspended from work on pay pending the outcome of an investigation and any disciplinary hearing.
3. Employee having any grievance must submit the grievance in writing to the immediate supervisor. The grievance must be submitted within 3 0days of the occurrence of the incident. The supervisor will respond to the grievance within 10 day of submission.
4. In case the victim is not satisfied with the decision he or she can apply to the department head within 10 days of the report provided by the supervisor. Aboard meeting will be conducted ad the decision will be passed to the employee within 15 days following the date of meeting.
5. In case the victim is not satisfied with the decision made by the director head, he or she can appeal to the President of the Company. The president of the company along with the group of reviewee will review the case . Within the following 30 days fowoing the recent of the grievance, the ultimate decision will be taken by the president of the company.
6. Student Task 3: Implement employee relations policies and plans

Employee relations options:	1. Enhancing the relationship between employees and employer
2. Empowering the employees
3. Educating employees about the importance of  employee relation
Activity (training, mentoring, enterprise bargaining, etc.)	Timeline	Description/tactics/rationale	Resources/ budget	Person responsible
Informing the employees about the newly developed policies and procedures	7/100/2018	Through email	Through intranet	The HR manager
Educating the employees about the importance of employee relation	8/10/2018	By conducting meetings	Laptop	The HR Personnel
Entertaining any query of the employees regarding the newly developed policies and procedure	9/10/2018	By conducting meetings	Laptop	The Hr and operational manager
In case of any difference in opinion employees can raise the case to the higher authority	11/7/2018	By conducting meeting	Laptop	The Hr and operational manager
Employers will be trained so that they can handle team conflict effectively	12/7/2018	Through both meeting and activities	Not applicable	The Hr and operational manager

Employee relations options	Associated risk/s	Risk likelihood	Risk consequence	Risk level (monitor, low, medium, high, very high)
1. Enhancing the relationship between employees and employer	Employees may not abide by the policies and procedure	Moderate	Conflict	high
2. Empowering the employees	The management may not abide by the policies and procedures	Low	Misunderstanding	High
3. Educating employees about the importance of  employee relation	Employees may not attend the lessons	Low	Lack of knowledge about the policies and the procedure	High
ER option:	Enhancing the relationship between employees and employer
Risk mitigation strategy or contingency plan:
On job training will be provided to the employee in the form of coaching

ER option:	Empowering the employees
Risk mitigation strategy or contingency plan:
Employees should be incorporated in all crucial meetings

ER option:	Educating employees about the importance of  employee relation
Risk mitigation strategy or contingency plan:
In order to educate employees about the importance oof team bonding  sessions will be provided where the attendance will be compulsory

Training task	Student group	Objectives	Required competencies	Training methods	Number of sessions	Proposed timeframe
Implementation of employee relations strategy	HR supervisor (self) Operations Manager Business Development Manager Schedulers Site supervisors	To support the implementation of employee relations strategy	Respecting co-workers on the basis of race, gender,  age and sexual orientation	On job training will be provided to the employee in the form of coaching	3-4	2 to 3 months
Conflict management techniques and skills	Site supervisors	To develop conflict management techniques and skills	Educating the employees about the law and  regulation against asexual as well as sexual harassment	Both induction as well as refresher training	2-3	2 to 3 months

Student Task 4: Train stakeholders and assess compliance

1. Training plan template

Knowledge to be taught	Method of training	Expected outcome	Duration of the training
Respecting co-workers on the basis of race, gender,  age and sexual orientation	On job training will be provided to the employee in the form of coaching	Bondage an collaboration between the employees will increase	2 to 3 months
Educating the employees about the law and  regulation against asexual as well as sexual harassment	Both induction as well as refresher training	Employees will develop awareness about the policies and procedure available for than when it comes to work place harassment	3 months
Educating the employees about the importance of diversity within the organization	On job training will be provided to the employee in the form of coaching	Lower number of conflicts as well as employee attrition	2 to 3 moths
Teaching the employees the procedures that they needs to conduct in order to raise their concern associated with employee relation	Through simulation exercise	Bondage an collaboration between the employees will increase	2 to 3 months

1. Monitoring and reviewing plan template

Description of output/ outcome/activity	Measurement	Baseline mark	Target	Data collection and analysis methods
monitoring of the effectiveness of the training	Generation of weekly performance report	At least 0.5 percent improvement in each week	5 percent performance improvement in each week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees
Increased bonding between the employees and the employers	Generation of weekly conflict report	At least 1 percent improvement per week	10  percent performance improvement in each week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees
Increased bonding between the employees	Generation of weekly conflict report	At least 1 percent improvement per week	10 percent performance improvement in each week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees
Enhanced knowledge about the policies and procedures of the company	By conducting a weekly meeting where the knowledge of the employees as well as employers will be assessed.	At least 2 percent improvement per week.	10 percent improvement at the end of the week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees
Employee empowerment	Employees should be incorporated in crucial decision making process by the organization.	At least 1.5 percent improvement per week.	15 percent improvement at  the end of the week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees
Employee friendly workplace ambience	The number of conflicts and discriminatory act will be assessed per week	At least 1.5 percent improvement per week.	15 percent improvement at  the end of the week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees
High employee retention and loyalty towards the Next iT organization	The number of employee attrition per month will be assessed	At least 2 percent improvement per week	15 percent improvement at  the end of the week	By analysing the feedback given by the supervisors as well as employees

Task 5: Present report to your assessor

The purpose of this report is to identify as well as analyze the grievances that have been raised by the employee of Next IT.  The current situation needs to be handled based on the grievance policy of the organization in order to reestablish an effective employee relation at the Next IT organization.  First it is crucial to identify the chief issues that have been raised by the employees.  The major issues associated with employee relation are as follows:

1. Long working period: The employees of the mentioned organization are made to work more than 40 hours per week.  However, according to the Safe Work AustraliaWorking Arrangements Policy, all the employees working a any Australian institution are liable of working up to 47 hours per week.  For any extra effort, extra monitory provision needs to be provided to the employees.   Employees are not able to consume meal or take minimum amount of rest due to excessive work pressure which in turn is affecting their work life balance.
2. Low Wage: In spite of this prolonged after of office work, employees are not obtaining incentives which is further demotivating their aspiration to work for the organization. . No formal workplace agreement currently exists for staff and new starters are hired under a verbal agreement in relation to the relevant award.

Considering the fact these two issues have let to high dissatisfaction among the employees and they are planning for a strike, if the condition remain unattended highly adverse effect on the business of Next IT will take place. In order to prevent this, the management needs to follow the grievance policy of the organization.  In the following paragraph, effective recommendation to eradicate the issue has been discussed.

Firstly, a meeting should be conducted with the employees where the higher management team including the HR manager will be present. In the meeting detailed discussion about the two mentioned issues will be conducted and the employees will be given possible solution that poses the potential to eradicate the issues. In order to compensate for high working hours , employees will b provided with incentives. Nor only that, a half yearly employee appraisal will also be conducted in order to  enhance the basis salary of the employees. When it comes to the incentive, no employee will be forced to work overtime and hence it will be totality their decision weather to peruse overtime or not .  in order to reduce the work stress of the employees, the break that every workers are entitled to, that is a  10-minute rest break in the morning  and 30-minute meal break and up to an additional 30minute rest break for extended overtime shifts till the evening will be given to the employees.  All these solutions will be presented to thee employees during the meeting. If the workers get satisfied with the solution, the case will be closed. In case of disagreement between the management and the employees,  the employees will be asked to submit their grievances to the department head as per the grivabce policy an procedure.

References

Arcioni, E., 2015. Historical facts and constitutional adjudication: the case of the Australian constitutional preamble. Giornale di Storia Costituzionale, 30, pp.107.

Love, K., 2014. Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law The University of Melbourne.

Quinlivan, J.A., Battikhi, Z. and Petersen, R.W., 2014. What factors impact upon a woman’s decision to undertake genetic cancer testing?. Frontiers in oncology, 3, p.325.