There are drastic changes in the Industrial world. This is the era of digital technology and technology is changing very fast. The education level of Employees, awareness level and their needs have increased. It occurred to me that the Employees issues facing the industry aren’t unique. Employees want to be treated with dignity and respect, and they want to know that their issues are heard and swiftly resolved.
What has changed is that employees no longer believe they need to advocate for themselves. There are two significant changes that I think led to this change. First, employees have witnessed the power of social media. They’ve also observed how social media can powerfully influence stakeholders’ attitude towards your Organisation.
Second factor that didn’t exist just a few years ago is crowdsourcing. Opinions are crowd sourced. So is pay information (Pay Scale) and attitudes towards employers.
This leads to an interesting dynamic in the workforce. If individuals can’t get their information redressed by a manager, they’ll seek to get it by collective action or through their legal body. This is especially true with younger workers who believe that there’s power in the collective that they can tap into. This is true. But while they may think of it as crowdsourcing a complaint, they’re probably involved in behaviour that, under the Industrial Dispute Act, falls under concerted protected activity. You probably already know that that the Industrial Dispute Act covers your employees’ concerted protected activity even if they are not represented by a union. But your employees are probably unaware of this, and may not understand the ramifications of concerted protected activity, unionization, or collective bargaining.
There are important tips of leadership behaviours you should implement to foster healthy employee relations:-
1. Right man on the right job :- Selection of a competent employee and build effective relations from day one is the key activity. During the recruitment process, give the equal importance to the value system of the employees and match with value system of the organisation, as currently employers are giving the importance to the skillset of the employees. You must try to understand you employees completely as family details, interest, passion, professional and personal goals and other aspirations.
2. Focused credible communication: - In order to build trust with the employee there must be consistent and focused communication based on accuracy and integrity in data, facts and information.
3. Visible Leadership: - An engaging, accessible, and approachable leader is one of your most valuable assets. A leader must meet with the employees in all formal and informal meetings like canteen, club, social functions and official meetings with full enthusiasm.
4. Credible and consistent Leadership:- Consistent decisions help employees predict what the leader will decide to do if a situation is appealed to them. This foreknowledge will build trust. Your leaders should be vulnerable enough for people to know them on a human level and not just a corporate suit.
5. Employee Advocacy is not HR function:- Every organization has made its share of mistakes. Great organizations recognize the unintended consequences that occur and rapidly change them to make sure employees aren’t negatively impacted. But let’s take this to a higher level. True employee advocacy means proactively taking care of your people. This could be as simple as Rain coat supplies before the rains starts for employee use, or even just texting your employees after rainy season passes to make sure they’re happy.
6. Make sure that changes are equitable and fair :- If you make any change, be sure that you can communicate a compelling business reason for it. Otherwise managers will become transparent and blame “corporate”. When this happens, “corporate” becomes a faceless, nameless entity and the only associate your employee has with it is their employee ID number. Passion and commitment go by the wayside.
7. Recognition of the job:- Recognition doesn’t have to be wrapped around a complicated program. A simple thank you is often enough, especially when it’s said sincerely and often. When someone first starts a job, their first thought is, “How am I doing?” Make sure your managers continue to give them feedback throughout their employment, and not just when it’s time for performance reviews or when performance deteriorates to the point that documentation is required. Feedback should never be a surprise. If an employee does well, recognize them publicly. If they need coaching, do it privately.
8. Timely Payments: - All the payments must be made in time or one day in advance.
9. Employees Involvement: - Always involve your employees in every process of change and give due importance to their suggestions.
10. Show them growth path:- Always help employees to find their growth path and provide support to grow faster as skill development, higher studies and on the job learning.
Summary- There’s an old saying among lawyer: “you get the union you deserve.
Put these fundamentals in to practice and you’ll do more than avoid union organization. You’ll see a reduction in turnover, an influx of candidate referrals from employees, greater customer satisfaction, and potentially a bigger profit margin.” It means, you can minimise your problems and increase your profitability and Employer Branding.
For any further support you may write or send your comments to V K Dynamic Learning Centre at 8720008570 or
From India, Delhi
29What has changed is that employees no longer believe they need to advocate for themselves. There are two significant changes that I think led to this change. First, employees have witnessed the power of social media. They’ve also observed how social media can powerfully influence stakeholders’ attitude towards your Organisation.
Second factor that didn’t exist just a few years ago is crowdsourcing. Opinions are crowd sourced. So is pay information (Pay Scale) and attitudes towards employers.
This leads to an interesting dynamic in the workforce. If individuals can’t get their information redressed by a manager, they’ll seek to get it by collective action or through their legal body. This is especially true with younger workers who believe that there’s power in the collective that they can tap into. This is true. But while they may think of it as crowdsourcing a complaint, they’re probably involved in behaviour that, under the Industrial Dispute Act, falls under concerted protected activity. You probably already know that that the Industrial Dispute Act covers your employees’ concerted protected activity even if they are not represented by a union. But your employees are probably unaware of this, and may not understand the ramifications of concerted protected activity, unionization, or collective bargaining.
There are important tips of leadership behaviours you should implement to foster healthy employee relations:-
1. Right man on the right job :- Selection of a competent employee and build effective relations from day one is the key activity. During the recruitment process, give the equal importance to the value system of the employees and match with value system of the organisation, as currently employers are giving the importance to the skillset of the employees. You must try to understand you employees completely as family details, interest, passion, professional and personal goals and other aspirations.
2. Focused credible communication: - In order to build trust with the employee there must be consistent and focused communication based on accuracy and integrity in data, facts and information.
3. Visible Leadership: - An engaging, accessible, and approachable leader is one of your most valuable assets. A leader must meet with the employees in all formal and informal meetings like canteen, club, social functions and official meetings with full enthusiasm.
4. Credible and consistent Leadership:- Consistent decisions help employees predict what the leader will decide to do if a situation is appealed to them. This foreknowledge will build trust. Your leaders should be vulnerable enough for people to know them on a human level and not just a corporate suit.
5. Employee Advocacy is not HR function:- Every organization has made its share of mistakes. Great organizations recognize the unintended consequences that occur and rapidly change them to make sure employees aren’t negatively impacted. But let’s take this to a higher level. True employee advocacy means proactively taking care of your people. This could be as simple as Rain coat supplies before the rains starts for employee use, or even just texting your employees after rainy season passes to make sure they’re happy.
6. Make sure that changes are equitable and fair :- If you make any change, be sure that you can communicate a compelling business reason for it. Otherwise managers will become transparent and blame “corporate”. When this happens, “corporate” becomes a faceless, nameless entity and the only associate your employee has with it is their employee ID number. Passion and commitment go by the wayside.
7. Recognition of the job:- Recognition doesn’t have to be wrapped around a complicated program. A simple thank you is often enough, especially when it’s said sincerely and often. When someone first starts a job, their first thought is, “How am I doing?” Make sure your managers continue to give them feedback throughout their employment, and not just when it’s time for performance reviews or when performance deteriorates to the point that documentation is required. Feedback should never be a surprise. If an employee does well, recognize them publicly. If they need coaching, do it privately.
8. Timely Payments: - All the payments must be made in time or one day in advance.
9. Employees Involvement: - Always involve your employees in every process of change and give due importance to their suggestions.
10. Show them growth path:- Always help employees to find their growth path and provide support to grow faster as skill development, higher studies and on the job learning.
Summary- There’s an old saying among lawyer: “you get the union you deserve.
Put these fundamentals in to practice and you’ll do more than avoid union organization. You’ll see a reduction in turnover, an influx of candidate referrals from employees, greater customer satisfaction, and potentially a bigger profit margin.” It means, you can minimise your problems and increase your profitability and Employer Branding.
For any further support you may write or send your comments to V K Dynamic Learning Centre at 8720008570 or
From India, Delhi
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Healthy tips.doc