As an employer, employee relations should be one of your main priorities!
If you and your employees lack communicative, cooperative relationships, it may be time to step back and review your employee relations. To maximise results, you could even consider outsourcing your Employee Relations (ER).
By working with specialised experts to tackle your ER, you could discover new ways to strengthen professional relationships, while reducing costs and focusing more on core business operations. In this article, we’ll cover the benefits of outsourcing your ER, some challenges that come with this, and a few best practices to guide you through the process.
What are Employee Relations?
Employee Relations (ER) refers to the management of relationships between an employer and its employees. It includes policies, practices, and strategies that work towards fostering a positive, and productive work environment.
What are some Benefits of Outsourcing ER?
1. Legal Compliance and Best Practices
ER experts consistently stay up to date with employment laws and regulations, ensuring that your business policies and actions align with legal obligations. Outsourcing to external experts also ensures that your organisation benefits from up-to-date knowledge and best practices for your specific industry.
2. Cost Efficiency
Maintaining an in-house ER team can be costly, particularly for small to medium-sized organisations. Outsourcing can allow your company to access expert services without potential financial burdens in the long run. Proper handling of employee issues also reduces the risk of lawsuits, fines, and penalties that can arise from employment law violations, or wrongful termination claims.
3. Increased Focus on Core Activities
HR departments often juggle multiple responsibilities from recruitment, to training, to payroll management. By outsourcing ER, you can free up internal resources, and focus on strategies that directly drive business growth. External ER professionals can also assist in designing and implementing fair and effective performance evaluation systems – which could skyrocket your team’s efficiency and workflow.
4. Impartial Conflict Resolution
External HR experts bring a sense of objectivity to handling sensitive employee issues like personal grievances, misconduct, and workplace disputes. Some employees may feel more comfortable discussing sensitive issues with an independent party, leading to fairer outcomes, and improved morale. By proactively addressing concerns, outsourcing can help prevent conflicts from escalating into greater problems.
5. Enhanced Employee Experiences
Outsourcing ensures that all employees receive consistent handling of disputes, complaints, and disciplinary actions. Overall, a well-managed ER system leads to a more positive, lively work environment. Happy employees equal increased employee satisfaction, leading to higher engagement and retention in the long term.
Some Potential Challenges of Outsourcing ER
1. Lack of Internal Knowledge
Outsourced experts may not have a deep understanding of your company’s culture, values, and history. This could lead to longer and difficult discussions to establish new systems and strategies. On the other hand, some employees may prefer discussing sensitive issues with internal HR departments who are more familiar with their work environment.
2. Lack of Employee Engagement
Some employees may be skeptical about discussing workplace issues with an outsourced expert, due to a lack of personal connection, or worries about confidentiality breaches. If outsourcing, clear communication between you, experts, and your employees, is crucial to maintaining trust and transparency.
3. Service Quality
Choosing the right outsourced ER services is essential to ensure consistency, responsiveness, and adherence to company policies. ER is not one size fits all, and can vary greatly across organisations. This is why direct communication and regular feedback is especially important when talking to external experts. Setting clear expectations while staying open-minded is key.
What are some Best Practices for Successful Outsourcing?
Select a Reputable Service: Research to find companies with a strong track record in ER management, ensuring they have the relevant, industry-specific expertise to help your organisation.
Define Clear Expectations: Make sure to establish clear expectations to ensure responsibilities, timelines, and performance metrics are well understood by experts.
Maintain a Collaborative Approach: Outsourcing ER should be a partnership rather than a full handover. Regular check-ins between your external provider, you, and your internal HR department can help align strategies.
Communicate Transparently with Employees: Clearly inform employees about the role of the outsourced ER experts, and what they intend to achieve. This reinforces a commitment to fairness and professionalism within your organisation.
The Bottom Line
Outsourcing employee relations can be a strategic move for your organisation if your goals are to enhance efficiency, compliance, and conflict resolution methods. While finding the right experts has its challenges, careful service selection and integration can lead to a more effective approach to managing your workplace’s ER!
How we can Help
At People Associates, we provide a comprehensive range of employment relations services to optimise workplace performance and minimise disputes. By understanding the intricacies of employment laws and industry best practices, we empower organisations to navigate challenging employment relations issues, and achieve sustainable business success.
Want a free consultation? Fill out this form to get in touch with our widely experienced team of consultants.
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