The Peninsula Hotels

Ratti Dujda

Employee relations is not a new topic within the human resource management domain. Back in my university days, employee relations was perceived as an easy subject in a classroom. The only thing that came across my mind was common sense practice. However, in the real world of business, it is not easy to get employee relationships right. What is an ideal manager-employee relationship look like? From my experiences within the hospitality industry, being a manager is like walking on a lonely road because, as a manager, your staff will act differently around you. They act and behave differently in front of you.

Employee relations are important for managers because they are essential for creating productivity and developing a positive work culture. When managers get it right, it can increase employee commitment, improve job satisfaction, reduce turnover, and create loyalty. From what I have learned during my time as a manager, there are three tactics that I find effective in developing a healthy relationship with my staff. These include giving autonomy at work, putting employees first and creating a workplace with psychological safety.

"Poor relationship between manager and employee can affect staff retention and productivity."

What does it mean to give autonomy at work to employees? What I do at work with my team is to give them the freedom to carry out tasks and complete them with the expected outcomes. I have been working with new generations of employees who have different work values. What works well with me is to allow them to complete assigned tasks without close supervision. When managers adopt a more flexible approach, employees become more productive and contribute new ideas to improve things at work. This develops trust and creativity as their voices and opinions are valued. This leads to the next employee relations practice, empathetic leadership.

Empathetic leadership is about putting employees first, and this is one of the most effective practices in developing a good employee relationship. After a global pandemic, the need for empathy at work is greater than ever. This is partly because employees were in lockdown and worked remotely. Therefore, employees were missing the whole human interaction. When employees are back to work, managers are required much more than before to adopt an empathetic leadership approach to encourage staff to share experiences. I recalled when I was asked to attend a mental health first aid course so that I was equipped with the necessary skills to support and engage the whole human interaction with employees. When managers show empathy, trust develops, which gives them a sense of inclusion.

How do we give employees a sense of inclusion? The answer to that is to create a workplace with psychological safety. At the early stage of my career, I made mistakes by focusing on giving command and taking control. With this approach, I found that staff turnover was high, and there was a lot of gossip among team members. This created a toxic work environment. Since adopting an inclusive approach, team energy has changed. To do this effectively, managers must encourage employees to give opinions and allow them to be the one who speaks during team meetings. It is important for managers to be the last to speak and allow team members to speak first. Managers should also include employees in the decision-making process for things that will affect their work. This will give them a clear view of how and why certain decisions are made.

In conclusion, the role of the manager is not to command and control. To get the best effort from staff is to have a good relationship with them. This does not mean that managers should create friendships with employees. It is a combination of trust and respect, which is more important than friendship because this is a professional work environment. Poor relationships between managers and employees can affect staff retention and productivity. For long-term success, managers should encourage staff to express their views about work and give them the freedom to conduct their day-to-day duties without close supervision so that they feel the line manager has trust in them. Trust is vital to a good employee relationship. It gives staff psychological safety at work. If they feel safe psychologically, they are less likely to leave.