Are You Tracking These Common Employee Relations Issues?

If you own a business or are a HR manager, maintaining unified employee relations is integral to your company’s success. Though you may constantly try to have a finger on the pulse of your company, you know that a plethora of unexpected problems can pop up on a dime.  While this is inevitable, the key to dealing with common employee relations issues is having a plan and multiple supports in place so that when issues do arise, they can be addressed swiftly and effectively. 

Common employee issues HR should be tracking to avoid legal ramifications:

1) Conflict Management

Managing conflicts efficiently is one of the most critical skills you can implement when dealing with employee relations issues.  While conflict or disagreements are unavoidable a (let alone in the workplace), being prepared to deal with them can prove invaluable. 

Setting the expectation early on that effective communication skills are the best way to avert or deal with disagreements will be your best bet.  If the people or parties involved do not deal with the issue head on, then the odds of finding a resolution could markedly decrease and spiral to affect other employees and departments as well.  While it is probable that human resources will be called in for intervention, the involved parties need to work towards resolution through effective communication on their own.

2) Time & Attendance

Plain and simple, attendance policies that are strictly enforced improve productivity. If employees are continually absent without acceptable justification, prone to lateness, or they leave earlier than business hours, a company loses money and operations suffers. Time and attendance issues can be a major detriment to an organization. It wreaks havoc on individual performance and overall ROI; plus, it can lower morale among collaborative teams. If not addressed in a timely fashion, employee attendance issues can result in termination. However, without the right procedures in place to support termination, demotion, or suspension of wages, companies may be faced with costly lawsuits of unfair business practice or unlawful termination suits.

3) Leave Disputes

Similar to time tracking issues, annual leave policies and PTO, can be a common source of contention. Your leave policy should be in clear accordance with state and federal laws.  If there is any uncertainty or gray area with your employees’ awareness of this policy, you could be leaving your company vulnerable to annual leave disputes.  Again, this is where having the right tools and technology in place to deal with employee relations issues could prove highly beneficial, since it will help you publish a finite and clear leave policy with no room for misinterpretation. Make it accessible to your employees on a company Intranet or in a HR repository along with other Human Resources policies, and offer your employees an automated system for submitting and approving leave requests.

4) Non-Compliance

State and federal regulations set forth by the DOL are strictly enforced in the workplace. A safe and supportive environment must be maintained. Therefore, when employee grievances arise pertaining to discrimination and workplace harassment, or in regards to disability, parental leave, or any disputes in direct relation to employee rights and compliance violations, opening a case and archiving all supporting documents is necessary.

Employing a comprehensive, yet simple employee relations plan is crucial and provides a huge benefit to HR professionals.  Staying ahead of the aforementioned common pitfalls with effective communication and automated software will help corporations operate smoothly and with minimal employee relations issues day to day.

LaborSoft’s innovative technology is one of many integral solutions that keep your business, in business. Our employee relations analytics, case management workflows, and our central repository of documentation streamlines case management to mitigate risk of operational bottlenecks, costly lawsuits, and legal ramifications stemming from common HR issues and complaints. This sensitive data requires that maximum security protocols are in place and that your information is protected at all times.

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