Solution Addressing employee grievances effectively forms the foundation of a fair, transparent, and supportive environment. For the new merged public sector organisation whose leadership and management teams are unfamiliar with public sector employment relationships, dealing with grievances correctly preserves the trust, morale, and productivity of the staff. That is important because if employees feel their concerns are being taken seriously, it reassures them that minor issues will not es...

Inequality in Treatment Inequality in treatment could be in the form of biased promotions, unequal pay or unfair use of the rules of discipline. During the course of the merger, staff could find themselves feeling side-lined if new managers favour new recruits or ignore established practices. According to Webber (2023), this erodes employee trust, harms morale and could result in formal grievances or legal action. Prevention of this behaviour can be achieved by enforcing policies regarding e...

Solution Unfair Dismissal for Capability Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, capability encompasses an employee being unable to perform their role to an adequate standard, for reasons including poor performance, illness, or lack of qualifications (CIPD, 2024). Capability term can include long term sickness absence, consistently unmet targets or insufficiencies in the skills of an employee which prevent them from fulfilling contractual job expectations. To dismiss someone for capabili...

Solution Increase in Strike Activity and Working Days Lost The UK industrial relations climate has witnessed sharp increase in strike activity, which is one of the most significant recent trends. More than 3.9 million working days were lost to labour disputes in the 12 months leading to May 2023, the highest since the 1980s, as recorded by the Office for National Statistics (Stone et al., 2023). However, this surge has been especially pronounced in public sector services, such as rail, he...

Solution Organisational Conflict Organisational conflict is defined in Acas (2020b) as disputes or disagreements among individuals, teams or management within a workplace. This can stem from conflicting interests, poor communication, organisational change or the perception of unfair treatment. In the newly merged public sector organisation, there could be conflict, if one team feels that they are being overlooked in favour of another group for promotions or policy decisions. Conflict can ...

Solution Better working lives, according to Acas (2020a), is about building positive and meaningful work experiences for employees beyond pay and job security. It is about establishing environments which allow people to feel valued, supported, and nurtured to thrive both professionally and personally. In a newly merged public sector organisation, focusing on better working lives can help rebuild morale, trust and engagement during the structural change (CIPD, 2018). Ways to Design Better ...

Solution Employee Voice and Organisational Performance Relationship CIPD (2023) defines employee voice as the opportunity for the employees to put forward their views, give their feedback and suggest ideas on work related matters. On the other hand, organisational performance refers to the extent to which the organisation is able to achieve operational, financial and strategic goals. Organisations that intentionally seek to promote employee voice can draw on much greater knowledge, greate...

Union Employee Representation (Trade Union) A trade union is an independent organisation that speaks for the employees when it comes to pay, working conditions and policies of the workplace. In the UK trade unions have statutory rights governing their right to negotiate with employers for their members, to collectively bargain and represent individuals in disciplinary or grievance situations (Acas, 2024). In the public sector organisations, unions such as Unison are essential to promoting em...

Solution Differences Between Employee Involvement and Participation Employee involvement is a management driven initiative to encourage employees to give their ideas and feedback, but the final decisions lie with leadership. According to CIPD (2025a), it increases engagement and morale but has minimal impact in decision making power. On the other hand, employee participation gives employees a more direct role in decision making, allowing them to participate in decision making in a more fo...

Solution Q12. Discuss how Kath could consult and engage with employees to understand why employeeturnover at Calmere House has increased. (AC 3.3) Method of Consultation – Liaising with Internal CustomersA sound approach to consulting that Kath may employ is speaking directly with the internal customers, i.e., employees, during frequent one-to-one meetings or casual discussion (CIPD, 2023). The one-on-one sessions of this nature provide a safe haven where employees feel at liberty to expr...