Overview
his 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
organisational performance.
CIPD’s insight
The Professional Map – Employee Relations
Employee relations is about creating and maintaining a positive working relationship between an
organisation and its people.
An important part of that relationship is the culture, and the extent to which the organisation
seeks to be resolution-focused. People professionals have an important role in setting that culture
through the development of policies and processes which apply the law in a practical, fair and
transparent way. So, specialists in this area need a deep understanding of employment / labour
law, keeping up to date with legislative developments in order to advise the business and line
managers to create the best outcome for individuals and the organisation.
https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map/specialist-knowledge/employee-relations
Employee voice
Wellbeing, commitment and innovation are negatively impacted when employees feel they are
without ‘voice’ in their organisation. We believe all employers should have policies and practices
in place which enable employees to express themselves on matters that are important to them in
their work.
Employee voice means individuals being able to safely put forward their viewpoints on their work,
at work, irrespective of where, when and how they do their work. When employee voice channels
work effectively, employees can feel valued, trusted and influential. In turn, this can increase
their job satisfaction and performance.
For employers, effective employee voice can mean better relationships with their employees and,
ultimately, improved organisational performance. Line managers, people professionals and voice
champions have a responsibility to actively bring out, listen to and respond to employees’ voices.
They can encourage employees to express themselves in individual and collective channels, both
directly, for example to their team leader, and indirectly, for example through an employee
representative.
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Employee voice channels include individual self-representation, for example one-to-one meetings
with a line manager and employee surveys, as well as collective representation such as trade
unions and an employee representative on the company board. Employee voice platforms
increasingly include digital technologies, for instance for group meetings, and protected social
networking apps for more informal communication.
https://www.cipd.co.uk/news-views/viewpoint/employee-voice
Engagement
Employees who have good quality jobs and are managed well, will not only be happier, healthier
and more fulfilled, but are also more likely to drive productivity, better products or services, and
innovation. This mutual gains view of motivation and people management lies at the heart of
employee engagement, a concept that’s become increasingly mainstream in management thinking
over the last decade. As part of our work in this area, we sponsor Engage for Success, the
voluntary UK movement promoting employee engagement.
Employment law regulates the relationship between employers and employees. It governs what
employers can expect from employees, what employers can ask employees to do, and employees’
rights at work.
Please note that the purpose of this insight is to link you to CIPD’s research and evidence within the subject
area, so that you can engage with the latest thinking. It is not provided to replace the study required as
part of the learning or as formative assessment material.
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Preparation for the Tasks:
• Watch the supporting video for this unit:
• At the start of your assessment, you are encouraged to plan your work with your assessor
and where appropriate agree milestones so that they can help you monitor your progress.
• Refer to the indicative content in the unit to guide and support your evidence.
• Pay attention to how your evidence is presented.
• Ensure that the evidence generated for this assessment remains your own work.
You will also benefit from:
• Completing and acting on formative feedback from your assessor.
• Reflecting on your own experiences of learning opportunities and continuous professional
development.
• Reading the CIPD Insight, Fact Sheets and related online material on these topics as well as
key research authors on the subject.
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Scenario
The public sector organisation that you work for has recently undergone a merger with another
similar public sector organisation that has had significant staff changes across key departments.
The incoming leadership, management and people practice teams are relatively new to their posts
and have limited awareness of managing employee relations in the public sector as many of them
have been recruited from the private sector.
There are concerns that this could affect commitment to existing employee relations practices.
With this in mind, your people practice director has asked you to write a briefing paper. You need
to provide the teams with knowledge and understanding about:
a) the various forms of representation that can be employed at work and how these are used
to support workplace harmony, and
b) the different forms of conflict and dispute resolution and how to manage performance,
disciplinary and grievance matters lawfully.
To complete the briefing paper, you should include written responses to each of the 10 points
below, making appropriate use of academic literature, case and statutory law, codes of practice,
research and good practical examples to substantiate your response and illustrate key points.
Please ensure that you use reputable sources as indicated on the unit reading list and that all
cited sources are correctly acknowledged and presented in full in a bibliography at the end of your
briefing paper.
Briefing paper
Referring to the above scenario:
1) Differentiate between employee involvement and employee participation and how they
build relationships. (AC 1.1)
2) Compare forms of union and non-union employee representation. (AC 1.2)
3) Evaluate the relationship between employee voice and organisational performance.
(AC 1.3)
4) Explain the concept of better working lives and how this can be designed. (AC 1.4)
5) Distinguish between organisational conflict and misbehaviour. (AC 2.1)
6) Assess emerging trends in the types of conflict and industrial sanctions. (AC 2.2)
7) Distinguish between third-party conciliation, mediation and arbitration. (AC 2.3)
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Your evidence must consist of:
• A briefing paper setting out written responses to each of the 10 instructions
above.
• And be approximately 3900 words in total (refer to CIPD word count policy).
8) Explain the principles of legislation relating to unfair dismissal in respect of capability and
misconduct issues. (AC 3.1)
9) Analyse three key causes of employee grievances. (AC 3.2)
10) Advise on the importance of handling grievances effectively. (AC 3.3).