Employee Relation

We want to focus on improving employee relationships as it is crucial for a company’s success. But how do we do it? Well, if you are one of those managers or seniors who is thinking about how to form a lasting bond with employees, then you are at the right place.

Good employee relationship management helps in reducing conflicts, reducing turnovers, and increasing productivity. Efficient relationships between all employees in your company are crucial for success. In simple words, how your employees bond with one another makes all the difference.

If your employees form a healthy relationship, your firm will function without any problem. However, quarrels and problems between employees or managers will not let your organization move ahead in life.

Being an entrepreneur I very well know how the relationship between employees can determine the fate of your company. 

When I was selected as the ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the year 2011’ by ET Now, I had to go through three rounds of selection process. In my third round, I was interviewed by Sam Pitroda, who founded the National Innovation Council(2010) and served as the advisor to the Prime Minister of India.

He asked me what is the most important thing in business. Without a doubt I said it’s the employees and human resources. He was very happy with the response and we had a long discussion about why HR is an essential part of any organization. 

When I took over our family business, things were not so well in our company. Most of the attention and work was done on making profits. No attention was paid to employee relations or employee mental health. People were stealing and cheating each other, filling their pockets and earning extra profits.

When I continued my family business after my husband’s demise, I knew a lot was supposed to be done before I could focus on the monetary side of our organization. However, the employees thought that being a housewife I knew nothing about business and it’ll be easy to betray me.

As soon as I started my journey, improving employee relations was my priority. Soon I noticed how people of different departments would not agree to each other’s ideas. They would deliberately try to bring the other department down by pointing out their mistakes.

Conferences and meetings would turn into a debate competition where everyone would try to blame their mistakes on other people. I knew the company won’t go anywhere or achieve any goal if this scenario pertains. 

I decided to bring major reforms and called all the seniors to discuss. I had to prove to my employees how they need each other to work efficiently. It could only be done by showing them the value of teamwork. 

I called all his employees into the conference room. As the employees went there, they saw balloons and markers on the tables. The managers asked all the employees to blow a balloon and write their names on the balloon. The employees did so and left the room.

They were called again after 5 minutes. Now what they saw was a room full of balloons. The manager had mixed more balloons without names in the room.

Now, I asked the employees that they have to find the balloon with their name. I gave them 10 minutes, and everyone started hunting extensively. As the timer stopped, only two out of forty employees could find their name balloons.

Now I decided to twist the game a bit. I asked the employees to look for balloons and hand over the balloon with the name of the person it belongs to. I again set a time for 10 minutes, and everyone stopped after it.

However, this time almost everyone had found the balloon of their name. I told them how in the first round everyone was working on an individual target, but in the final round, they were working individually and also for each other.

It is the power of teamwork. The work that you do in 2 hours can be done in 20 minutes with teamwork and healthy employee relations. My employees learned their lesson, and since then, there have been no complaints or quarrels among them. The productivity and work environment has been extremely improved.

We define ‘Hamari Jung’  which stands for unity. We take any problem of the organization as our problem no matter how big or small the problem is. I further taught this strategy to many corporations through coaching. They all saw a rise in their efficiency, productivity, and profitability.

Peer relationships, if cultivated properly can play a significant role in your company’s culture. A good relationship boosts morale and builds better relationships. When employees work in a team, they get to learn new skills from each other. They also motivate and collaborate to bring in better results. Such a healthy work environment encourages employees to perform well and achieve their goals.

Here are some ways in which you can improve employee relations in your company.

• Foster Open Communication

I have seen many organizations where open communication is not practiced. It is mainly because managers or seniors think that confidentiality must be maintained in an organization. However, I believe open communication brings many benefits and perks to an organization. Open communication is not only about talking openly. It is more about being able to raise your voice when needed. Companies need to set a system where employees are truly listened to, and their ideas are valued. Be open to talk to your employees. Transparency can be maintained by keeping your employees in the loop. Also, feedback makes a prominent part of communication. You should be open to criticism to remove negative ripple effects.

• Build Cross-Functional Teams

One very effective way of improving employee relations is forming cross-functional teams. CTF allows employees from different departments to come together as a team and combine their skills to work towards a common goal. When employees from diverse departments get to know each other, they form friendly relations. Also, efficient results are obtained, and innovative ideas emerge. CTFs allow employees to see how their team members club their thought processes and accept each other’s ideas.

• Set Realistic Expectations

One thing that disrupts employee relations or relations with managers is miscommunication among people. It generally happens when managers expect their employees to do something unachievable or unrealistic. It often leads to hard feelings and problems. Managers need to know what they want their employees to deliver. The manager first has to be clear about what work is to be done, how it is to be done, and when it is to be done. If you are helpful to your employees, they’ll respect you and work more efficiently.

• Create a helpful environment

A healthy environment can help employees work with positivity and a helpful attitude. When your workplace has a motivating environment, your employees will always give their best. For instance, if there is an office with no interaction and loads of work on every employee, the productivity will be low and employee relations will be bad. On the other hand, if there’s an organization where employees are given freedom and attainable targets, they’ll do the work more productively and will be able to form better employee relations. In this way, a healthy work environment can help create better employee relations and friendships.

• Build Trust

No matter what type of relationship it is, all relationships are built on the foundation of trust. From personal to professional, any relationship needs to have trust between two individuals to sustain. If you’ll not trust your employees or your seniors, you can never form a good relationship with them. Employers need to trust their team and not put them under a microscope. Also, do not give constant feedback to employees. It might put a lot of pressure on them or form a feeling of anguish. If you won’t trust your coworkers, team members, managers, or employees, your workplace will not progress. You’ll simply be too scared to give someone a responsibility. Trust is a critical factor for employee relationships.

These were some ways in which you can ensure your workplace has a harmonious environment with cooperative employees who are ready to bring ideas and change to your organization.

Our corporate counseling covers all aspects of a healthy workplace. Being an entrepreneur, I understand how companies work in depth. My coaching is not only oriented towards problem-solving. I understand the problem in-depth and then work on it.

One organization that I coached was a Fortune 500 company earning hundreds of crores. However, the organization had many internal issues and bad relations. The employees won’t listen to each other because of overconfidence. They would think themselves very talented and wouldn’t take orders from others. 

I started their coaching and it was an arduous task to bring coordination in a company where all employees were riding on high horses of their pride. I helped the organization with cohesion and improved the work environment. Their profits increased three times because of the enhanced efficiency and productivity.