5HR01 Employment Relationship Management: Case Study

This unit examines the key approaches, practices and tools to manage and enhance the employee relationship to create better working lives and the significant impact this can have on organizational performance.

CIPD’s insight

Employee Relations

Employee relations has replaced industrial relations as the term for the relationship between employers and employees. Today, employee relations is seen as focusing on both individual and collective relationships in the workplace, with an increasing emphasis on helping line managers establish trustbased relationships with employees. A positive climate of employee relations - with high levels of employee involvement, commitment and engagement - can improve business outcomes as well as contribute to employees' wellbeing.

https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/employees/factsheet#gref

Managing the Employment Relationship

A positive employee relations climate and high levels of employee engagement have the potential to lead to enhanced business outcomes, better health and well-being. Clicking on the link below takes you to a collection of resources covering employee relations and the psychological contract; employee communication and employee voice; employee engagement; mediation and conflict; absence management; diversity in the workplace; and flexible working practices.
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations#gref

Trade Union Recognition and Industrial Action Planning

Industrial action raises complicated issues and legal advice should always be taken. Useful information is available from the TUC, individual unions, GOV.UK and the Code of Practice:

access and unfair practices during recognition and derecognition ballots. The core legislation is the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (`TULCRA`) which has been amended over time, the most recent additions arising out of The Employment Relations Act 2004 and The Trade Union Act 2016

The link below takes you to a Q&A page where you can learn more about concepts such as collective bargaining and the main legal consequences of industrial action https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/employees/tradeunions-questions

Case study

You are the HR manager for Makite Solutions, a small-medium sized logistics company which distributes products nationally. Makite provide high-performance logistics and supply chain management to customers. Starting by delivering in their local area, they have experienced explosive growth over the last 3 years, becoming one of the leading lights in their sector. Makite is a unionised workplace.

This growth, however, has caused problems for Makite Solutions. Employee relations have become difficult between Makite and their staff and conflict is starting to become commonplace. Employees have mentioned “differences in personality styles”, “lack of respect” and “lack of support”. There is currently industrial unrest within the organisation, with instances of go slow tactics and talks of strikes.

As the HR manager, you have been tasked to create a policy document of key legal aspects and their implications, for Makite’s intranet library. You will also generate an advisory briefing note to senior managers facing industrial unrest in the organisation.

Preparation for the Tasks:

• Refer to the indicative content in the unit to guide and support your evidence.
• Pay attention to how your evidence is presented, remember you are working in the People Practice Team for this task.
• Ensure that the evidence generated for this assessment remains your own work.

You will also benefit from:

• Reflecting on your own experiences of learning opportunities and training and continuing professional development.
• Reading the CIPD Insight, Fact Sheets and related online material on these topics.
• You should relate academic concepts, theories, and professional practice to the assessment task(s), in a critical and informed way, and with reference to key texts, articles and other publications.

Don’t forget to:

• Complete the front cover sheet, sign with a “wet signature” and place at the front of your assessment.
• Use the bullet points below each task as headings and sub-headings so your marker can see where your answer begins.

Task One – Policy Document

You are required to produce a policy document containing key legal aspects and their implications.

This should be designed to sit on the company’s intranet and should be formal in style.

The policy document can be broken down into two sections:

Section 1

1. A review of emerging developments to inform approaches to employee voice and engagement (AC 1.1)
2. Differentiate between employee involvement and employee participation and how it builds relationships (AC 1.2)
3. Assess a range of employee voice tools and approaches to drive employee engagement. (AC 1.3)
4. Critically evaluate the interrelationships between employee voice and organizational performance. (AC 1.4)
5. Explain the concept of better working lives and how this can be designed. (AC 1.5)

Section 2

1. Explain the principles of legislation relating to unfair dismissal in respect of capability and misconduct issues. (AC 3.1)
2. Analyse key causes of employee grievances (AC 3.2)
3. Explain the skills required for effective grievance and discipline-handling procedures. (AC 3.3)
4. Advise on the importance of handling grievances effectively. (AC 3.4)

Task Two – Advisory Briefing Note

This task requires you to produce an advisory briefing note to senior managers facing industrial unrest in the organization.

The advisory note should contain:

• Distinguish between organisational conflict and misbehaviour, and between informal and formal conflict. (AC 2.1)
• Distinguish between official and unofficial employee action. (AC 2.2)
• Assess emerging trends in the types of conflict and industrial sanctions. (AC.2.3)
• Distinguish between third-party conciliation, mediation and arbitration. (AC.2.4)
• Explain the main provisions of collective employment law. (AC 4.1)
• Compare the types of employee bodies, union and non-union forms of employee representation (AC 4.2)
• Evaluate the purpose of collective bargaining and how it works. (AC 4.3)