Question
This is the 7MER-Managing Employee Relations. The major focus is on the case study of Peddie which is an organisation that is being faced by different employee relations issues.
Solution
Executive summary
This report has provided an analysis of the employment relations that are common in the modern organisation practice. These relations have been identified as both individual and collective relationships in workplace which inform on the need of assisting the line managers to establish trust-based relationships with employees. Through the focus of a Peddie’s company which is an organisation operating in UK hotel sector, it has been noted that these relations leads to high levels of employee involvement, commitment and engagement influencing the overall wellbeing of their workforce. The employment relations issues that have been evaluated include remuneration issues, redundancies, wrongful and unfair dismissal, flexibility in their work roles, miscommunication, lack of adress of the employees voice and issues with their presentability while in the organisation. Also, their engagement levels while working in their organisation is minimal and failure in embracing to change. Based on the criteria of short and long-term, there are different reccomendations that have been provided. In short term, the issues that would be adressed include remuneration/compensation/national minimum wage, recognition of the employees as part of the workforce, communication and employee voice. In the long run, the issues that have been noted to be adressed include redundancy and right model of dressing which have been identified to be more policy based and changing their systems of operations. The identified reccomendations can be implemented both in Peddie’s case and also in an active organisation practice in future as a HR practitioner.
Table of Contents
1.0 Chapter 1: Introduction. 2
2.0 Chapter 2: Literature review.. 2
2.1 Theories and Perspectives of Employment Relations. 2
2.2 Critical analysis of the key employment relations issues at Peddie’s. 3
2.3 Short-term issues to focus on. 4
2.3.1 Dissatisfaction with pay that is no longer higher than statutory minimums. 4
2.4 Long term issues to focus on. 5
2.4.1 High levels of sickness absence in the Manchester store affecting remainng staff’s wellbeing 5
2.4.2 Communication and Employee voice issues across stores. 6
3.1 Addressing the remuneration issue. 9
3.2 Addressing the high level of absence issues. 9
3.3 Addressing the redundancy issue. 10
3.4 Addressing the issue of Communication and Employee Voice at Peddie’s. 10
1.0 Chapter 1: Introduction
The employment relationship plays a key part in all aspects of the human resource management in an organisation, from recruitment to all the aspects of employment. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the employment relationship is the legal link between employers and employees (ILO, 2006). It exists when a person performs work or services under certain conditions in return for remuneration. According to CIPD (2019a), employee relations is seen as focusing on both individual and collective relationships in the workplace, with an increasing emphasis on helping line managers establish trust-based relationships with employees. This report highlights the fact that a positive employment relationshiphas parallel positive impact on employees’ performance. Hence, employee relationship can lead to business outcomes such as improved workforce’s wellbeing, interest in their role and willingness to exceed organisational expectations. There are several broken links at Peddie’s that affect the employment relationship such as pay dissatisfaction, organisational underperformance, high sickness absence levels, communication issues, lack of employee engagement, and resistance to change. These listed employment relations issues are to be addressed in the short and long-term, and recommendations for addressing them will take possible implementation issues and tensions into consideration.
2.0 Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Theories and Perspectives of Emploment Relations
According to Abbott (2006) there have been on-going debates over the meaning of the Employment Relations terminology and the angle through which this concept is understood. The terminology Employment Relations is better understood through three perpectives that hold different views on conflict in the employee relations, the role of unions and job regulation (Edwards, 2003). They are the Unitarist, Pluralist and Marxist perspectives. Based on the British literature, the terminologies are described as the following;
- Normative and unitary concept describe the functional activities and interactions of HRM. In this given case, the employment relationship is summed up as the prescribed functional activities and collaborative interactions between managers and employees, in the flexibility, skill and loyalty of employees.
- As a positivist and pluralist concept when describing the existing institutional and regulative settings in which the functional activities and interactions of HRM take place. This sense acknowledges the plurality of group interests, the potential occurrence of conflicts typically revealed in dispute settlement and negotiatory procedures.
The issues at Peddie’s will be critically analysed in light of the above perspectives.
2.2 Critical analysis of the key employment relations issues at Peddie’s
According to the CIPD (2019b), in order to integrate the employment relationship into the organisational performance, an organisation must consider the following:
- Effective communications
- Enabling employees to have a voice
- Role modelling of the organisation’s values
- Implementing processes and policies
- Equal and fair remuneration
Edwards (2003) further highlight that a key set of employment relations need to be prioritised such as conflict management, working hours and salary issues, health and safety in the workplace, annual leave, timekeeping and attendance issues. This is to ensure positive organisational performance as the listed elements play a key role in improving job satisfaction, which is individual’s reaction to job experience (Berry, 1997). Peddie is facing issues with these key sets of employment relations. Some require immediate attention, whereas others require a long-term approach. We will critically analyse them in the next section.