'Employee relations' describes the relationship between employers and employees. Today’s interpretation of employee relations refers to individual as well as collective workplace relationships. It reflects the increasing individualisation of the employment relationship following the rise of individual workplace rights.

Individual voice channels are very important. But collective channels, that use union and/or non-union representatives, give employees a collective voice that can complement and reinforce individual channels. 

Informing and consulting the workforce is a core people management principle and should be a priority for every organisation. If done well, it provides an effective mechanism for dialogue between management and workers, typically via their elected representatives. This provides senior management with the opportunity to impart important information or plans to the workforce and gain buy-in. For their part, employees can exercise their collective voice, an indirect channel via their representatives, to make suggestions, ask questions or raise concerns. 

Employee relations is an area of specialist knowledge in our Profession Map. It emphasises the importance of making sure the relationship between an organisation and its people is managed through transparent practices and relevant law.

A positive employee relations climate and high levels of employee engagement have the potential to bring better business outcomes as well as better health and wellbeing for employees.

Trade union influence

There has been a transformation in many aspects of UK employment relations over the past 40 years, none more profound than the changed role and influence of trade unions. The declining levels of union membership and density, combined with a huge fall in collective industrial action, are well charted. 

According to 2021 UK official statistics, trade union membership declined to 6.4 million in 2021 and the proportion of UK employees who were trade union members fell to 23.1%, down from 23.7% in 2020.

Prior to these 2021 figures, UK trade union membership levels among employees had risen for four consecutive years, mainly driven by an increase in female membership, and by a rise in trade union numbers among public sector workers. 

Despite the longer-term downward trend in membership levels, trade union influence is still an everyday reality for many organisations, particularly in the public sector. CIPD research in 2022 shows that, among those employers with representative arrangements for informing and consulting with staff, 40% reported both union and non-union representation, 39% just non-union representation and 18% cited union representation only.

CIPD research in 2022 shows that employers are mainly positive about the employment relations climate in their organisation, with 87% describing relations between managers and employees as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ and just 3% as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.

The COVID-19 pandemic put enormous pressure on organisations. As well as implementing stringent health and safety measures, many employers had to shift business practices at speed and introduce new working arrangements at scale. The impact on individuals and their employee representatives, including the trade unions, has also been far reaching. 

We asked employers with union representation whether or not they thought the relationship between management and the trade union(s) had changed in their organisation over the past two years. Almost half (46%) said it had remained the same which is a good outcome given the turmoil of this period. Almost three in ten (28%) said the relationship is now more positive while just 15% said it was more negative. 

These findings show how employment relations are truly tested during a crisis, and the importance of employers building a positive, problem-solving approach with their employee representatives

Workplace conflict remains a fact of organisational life and needs to be managed positively and proactively. Individual and ‘unorganised conflict’, in the form of sickness absence, bullying or harassment, and employee turnover, can be just as harmful and costly to an organisation as organised industrial action on a collective level.

According to our research on managing conflict in the modern workplace, conflict at work is a ‘common occurrence’ according to a quarter of employees, with one in five employers saying the same. 

Organisations need to develop proactive approaches to managing conflict and ensure that line managers are confident to resolve disagreements at an early stage as part of a problem-solving approach.

Working in partnership 

‘Partnership’ between trade unions and employers is no longer always promoted as a modern employment relations model. But its focus on joint working, collaboration and mutuality still has relevance. Essentially, it’s ‘about employers, unions and employees working together and creating long-term positive relationships which focus on the future of business and improving working life for employees’ (John Monks, TUC General Secretary, 2001).

CIPD research shows almost six in ten (59%) agree that ‘working in partnership with trade unions can benefit the organisation’. Further, almost four in ten (39%) respondents say the purpose of their organisation’s arrangements for representative participation are ‘to support partnership working or collaboration on specific projects’.

Fostering a climate of mutual co-operation with recognised trade unions and employee representatives – whether union or non-union – can complement both individual voice channels and people management practices. Such an approach can also result in benefits for the business as well as for employees.

Over the past two decades, less value is often attached to the role of employee relations as an HR discipline, with employee relations and conflict management typically viewed as operational and transactional in nature.

This view needs to change. Against a backdrop of tumultuous political and economic change and highly pressurised work environments, there has never been a greater need for the expertise offered by employee relations specialists. The status of the employee relations specialism need reasserting, and its reach needs broadening so that managing the employment relationship, and conflict, is seen as an integral part of every people professional’s role.

The more traditional, formal employee relations and negotiating skills need to be complemented with a much wider set of competencies, such as consultation, surveying and interpreting employee attitudes, spotting potential signs of conflict and early resolution of differences between employees and management. These skills need to be extended to line managers who have day-to-day responsibility for managing the employment relationship.

Develop a positive employee relations framework 

It’s important that organisations develop an effective, holistic employee relations framework, for example:

• Set up multiple and complementary mechanisms for employee voice, including direct methods with individuals and indirect methods for collective voice, via employee representation.
• Establish structures and processes for communicating with union and non-union representatives and employees at all levels of the organisation. 
• Have a system to evaluate the feedback, to ensure that people’s feedback is captured and listened to from across the different voice channels.
• Train and guide managers so they understand the organisation’s aims and practices for information and consultation, and have the skills and knowledge to promote effective employee voice.
• Ensure a positive joint working ethos is cascaded throughout the organisation, so that managers at all levels approach working relationships with representatives in a constructive way and build trust.

Contacts

Acas

GOV.UK - If your business faces industrial action

Books and reports

ACAS. (2014) Reframing resolution – managing conflict and resolving individual employment disputes in the contemporary workplace. London: Acas.

AYLOTT, E. (2018) Employee relations: a practical introduction. 2nd ed. HR Fundamentals. London: CIPD and Kogan Page.

BENNETT, T., SAUNDRY, R. and FISHER, V. (2020) Managing employment relations. 7th ed. London: CIPD and Kogan Page.

SAUNDRY, R., FISHER, V. and KINSEY, S. (2019) Managing workplace conflict: The changing role of HR. London: Acas.

SAUNDRY, R. and UNWIN, P. (2021) Estimating the costs of workplace conflict. London: Acas.

Visit the CIPD and Kogan Page Bookshop to see all our priced publications currently in print.

Journal articles

GORDON, L. (2020) The legal consequences of getting employee relations wrong. People Management (online). 10 January.

KAUFMAN, B.E. (2014) History of the British industrial relations field reconsidered: getting from the Webbs to the new employment relations paradigm. British Journal of Industrial Relations. Vol 52, No 1, March. pp1-31.

CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.

Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.