Employee Relations and It's Impact on performance

According to Armstrong (2014) an organization consists of people who work together to achieve the organization's goals. Employee or employment relations are concerned with managing and maintaining the relationship through their trade unions or individually. In other words how management and employees live together and what they can do to achieve their goals.

Figure 1-The Key To Improving Employer-Employee Relations? (2018)

Further he explains that many employers simply want employees to do what they assigned/communicate without costing too much. On the other hand employees are also expecting a fair salary, security of employment, good working condition, safe working environment etc.. Due to this, conflicts can occur between the employer and employee. Employee rights / policy documents, HR policies, Code of ethics & union agreements are implemented to maintain this relationship between the two parties

According to the Global Competitiveness Report of (2017-2018), South Africa has the worst labor-employer relations in the world and it won't be changed unless the trust levels between employers and employees in the country improves drastically

Employee Relations Impact on performance

As per Bahreini(2017) maintaining a healthy employee relationship is essential to organization's success. Employee relation is mostly required, not only for retaining staff but for high productivity and human satisfaction within the organization. If there is a strong relationship between employees, the place will be more productive, less quarrel and will be more loyal.

According to Bahreini(2017) there are 4 tips for improving employer-employee relationships through technology.

1. Track Goals With Performance Analytics - Employee's performance tracking can be done through real time systems and reports can be shared on same day in order to have a better product positioning

2. Communicate better via video - Communication tools like video platform enables employers to build more confident & employees' believe that their performance would improve through corrective feedback.

3. Provide training on demand in the cloud - Cloud based services have given employers the ability to equip their staff on real time training materials & interactive web based training activities. This is especially helpful in ensuring compliance across the organization

4. Prioritize with digital checklists - Since paper lists are outdated, equip staff  with digital check lists. So they will success in meeting initiatives, company standards and instantly prioritize the tasks too.


CIPD Annual survey report (2015) explains that business, commercial awareness and the ability to work with cooperation are the key elements to success in L&D process


Referances

Armstrong, M. (2014). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th Ed

Bahreini, S. (2017). Four Tips For Improving Employer-Employee Relationships Through Technology
Available at : https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2017/08/23/four-tips-for-improving-employer-employee-relationships-through-technology/#5eb7a3de6f01

CIPD (2015). Learning & development Annual survey report.
Available at : https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/learning-development_2015_tcm18-11298.pdf

The Global Competitiveness Report (2017-2018)
Available at : https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-competitiveness-report-2017-2018

Aligning Learning & Development Strategy with Business

Figure 1-Learning and Development Tutorial

Learning & development aims to ensure that people in the organization gain and develop the knowledge, skills and competencies they need to carry out their work efficiently & effectively for the betterment of the organization & employees'.

Armstrong (2014) learning & development defined as the process of ensuring that the organization has the knowledgeable, skilled & engaged workforce it needs.

* Learning is the process which a person acquires and develops knowledge, skills, capabilities, behaviors and attributes as per the job requirement.

* Development is the growth or realization of a person's ability and potential gain through continues learning and educational experiences.

Aims of strategic L&D

Strategic learning & development aims to produce a consistent and broad framework for developing people through a learning culture. It is therefore developing the intellectual capital required by the organization, ensuring the right quality people are available to meet present and future needs.

Figure 2-Armstrong, M.(2014). Armstrong's Handbook
of Human Resource Management Practice

Aligning L&D to the Business Strategy 

According to Dessler (2013) employers strategic plans should ultimately align with its training goals to identify the employee behaviors. Through that employer can execute its strategy & deduce what competencies employees will require to meet the present & future job requirements.

According to a survey done by Reiser (2007) establishing a linkage between learning and organizational performance was the number one issue faced by the training professionals. Training has a major impact on influencing performances of an organization.

"ADDIE" is the gold standard training model that training experts have used for years.

A - Analyze the training need
D - Design the overall training program
D - Develop the course.
I  - Implement training ( Ex - On the job or online training)
E - Evaluate the course's effectiveness

According to CIPD spring 2015 Employee Outlook survey, most frequently used & most effective L&D practices are,

*On the job training (Selected by 50%)
*Online training (29%)
*In house development programs (25%)
*Learning from peers( Through face to face interactions or online networks) (25%)
*External conferences, workshops & events (15%)

According to the above survey, on the job training was considered to be the most effective learning practice while online learning, mobile learning, external events and instructor led training off the job were among least effective.

References 

Armstrong, M.(2014). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th Ed

CIPD. (2015). Learning & development, Employee Outlook survey 2015

Available at : https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/learning-development_2015_tcm18-11298.pdf

Dessler, G.(2013). Human Resource Management. 13th Ed

Reiser, R. (2007). Trend  and  Issues  in  Instructional

Managing Diversity of Workforce

A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and market place. The world's increasing globalization requires more interaction among people from diverse cultures, beliefs, backgrounds and they are now part of a worldwide economy. In this highly competitive market organizations need to become more diversified to remain competitive

Flagg (2002) stated that organizations need to learn how to manage diversity in the workplace to be successful in future as diverse work teams bring high value to the organization.

Figure 1- workforce diversity driving company performance, innovation,
and profitability-transcript by New Work & Digital Education (2018)

Diversity Defined

According to Esty(1995) diversity defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing and celebrating differences among people irrespective of their age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice and public assistance status.

Challenges of Diversity in the workplace

Diversity issues are now considered important and are expected to become even more important in the future due to increasing differences in organizations. (SHRM, 1995)

Some of the diversity issues at workplace are :-

* Respect 
The key component in achieving a favorably diversified workplace is establishing teamwork and mutual respect among staff members.

* Generation Gaps
In larger diversified corporations, staffs are often made up of workers who range in age from teenagers to senior citizens & generation gap could become an issue.  

* Communication
Even when no prejudice exits, a diversified workplace can bring about certain communication issues.

Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

According to Kurek (2018) when an organization has a diverse workforce, they're getting more perspectives involved and it directs to more debates, better decision-making. Further it leads to have a better understanding about diverse group of customers.

Managing Diversity effectively through the use of technology

According to Chandler Macleod magazine (2016) there are 4 technological elements that can use to manage diversity effectively. 

* Automated hiring processes
By automating elements of the hiring process, like initial candidate screening, bias can be reduced or eliminated, making selection a fairer and more objective.

* Increased accessibility 
Some organisations have integrated specialist translation software for people who may not be especially strong in English

* Effective communication
With technological advancements, management teams can tailor their communication efforts to suit the needs of individual team members

* Global connectivity.
It allows organisations to develop high performing teams without necessarily needing them to be in the same office


References

Chandler Macleod Magazine (2016) How technology can help unleash diversity
Available at : https://www.chandlermacleod.com/blog

Esty, K. Griffin, R. and Schorr-Hirsh, M. (1995) Workplace diversity. A managers guide to solving problems and turning diversity into a competitive advantage.

Flagg, A. (2002) Managing diverse work groups successfully

Kurek, E. (2018) Workforce diversity driving company performance, innovation, and profitability - transcript

Society for Human Resource Management (1995) 
Available at : http://www.shrm.org