Is Employee Relations Important?

Interacting with employees is one way to build good employee relations.

Some husbands jokingly tell people the secret to a successful marriage is to live by the adage, "A happy wife is a happy life." A similar sentiment can apply to the employer-employee arena. Happy employees tend to be more productive and stay on the job. The concept of employee relations helps ensure a successful and productive work environment.

The Bottom Line

Employee relations can affect a retail company's bottom line. Take the Radio Shack example. Radio Shack grew so big that its focus was on its product; its business model became one of high volume and low margins, to the detriment of the employees, according to "Inc." magazine. Employee relations dwindled. Employees became an expense item to be controlled, as evidenced by the infamous email Radio Shack sent to 400 employees in August 2006 -- the email that informed employees they were fired. Firing by email indicates that a company places employee relations low on the value meter.

Help Customers

When employees aren't free to provide quality customer service, the consumer who needs help with a purchase might head over to the independent retail outlet that has employees with expertise. According to "Inc.," great customer service begins with great employees and great employee relations. Retail employees who can engage with and help customers solve problems become this way from support from their managers. An employee who has authority and is free to do the job is generally a more satisfied employee, according to "Inc."

Better Workers

In non-retail settings, employee relations are important, as well. When an employee has a good and open relationship with her employer, she tends to feel better about her job; she has morale. An employee with morale is motivated to perform the job, has a degree of job satisfaction, finds meaning and takes pride in her work, and has a certain amount of organizational commitment, according to Entrepreneur.

Tips for Employers

The trick for employers is to determine what types of actions hurt or help employee morale. A workplace experiment reported by Entrepreneur found that when management provided feedback to an employee, if the manager had a good relationship with the employee, the feedback lifted morale. But if the manager had a bad relationship with the employee, the same feedback lowered morale. When an employee feels good about his supervisor, he tends to feel better about the workplace in general. Ways managers can become close with employees are to communicate company plans with employees, interact with employees face-to-face and to maintain an egalitarian environment, according to Entrepreneur.

References

• Entrepreneur: When Do Feedback, Incentive Control, And Autonomy Improve Morale? The Importance Of Employee-Management Relationship Closeness
• Inc.: Great Customer Service Starts With Employee Relations
• Sloan Work and Family Research Network: Employee Relations, Definition(s) of