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The area of employee relations covers a broad range of topics centered on the behaviour and interaction of people in the workplace. It is particularly concerned with the relationship between you, the employer, and your employees. As an employer, you are responsible for managing employee relations within your business.

Employee relations can extend to include situations where there has been a breakdown in interactions between employees, causing disputes and complaints to emerge. It is your role as an employer to have a process in place to deal with these disputes as they arise.

An initial way of being able to manage employee relations is by being approachable to employees. If employees feel comfortable in coming to you for assistance, then problems are more likely to be identified and brought to your attention earlier. The earlier that you are made aware of these issues, the easier they are to solve in most cases. You can find additional information on employee relations at the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

Maintaining good employee relations has a number of benefits for your business. It can improve communication between employees and therefore increase your productivity and efficiency. When people feel that there are good employee relations within the workplace, they are generally more likely to want to remain with the business, therefore improving staff retention.

Another important part of managing employee relations involves training and development. Staff should be made aware of their roles and responsibilities as employees. They should also be made aware of policies regarding discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Workplace training and development is a proactive measure to prevent future disputes and therefore helps to maintain employee relations.

For further advice on managing employee relations in your business, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman.