Employee Relations in Finder - Possible Solutions to the Identified Problems - Case Study Example

Employee Relations – ‘Finder’ Case Study Introduction The importance of employee relations in an organization arises owing to the fact that employees are at the core of an organization, particularly in terms of accomplishment of organizational goals. Employees represent the greatest of all resources for a business organization. It is for this reason that employee relations holds high significance. It is in most cases highly challenging for an organizational management to deal effectively with their employees. This is so because employees are generally unconvinced about their management and managerial communications which they rarely trust. In many cases where employees feel that they are not rightly treated right, they become hostile towards their management resulting in reduced productivity from them as well (Stoldt, Dittmore and Branvold 2012). Managers of an organization, especially the human resources managers, who are responsible of dealing with employees and hence control the measures of employee relations, need to understand the impacts of negative performance of employees on the overall performance and outcomes of the organization. Employees in general expect that their organizational management would keep them well informed and updated about the business processes being planned and implemented. Moreover, they tend to bear a positive relationship with the management and the organization if they are allowed to take part in the decision making process of the organization (Hendrix and Hayes 2009). Employee relations are mainly concerned with the interactions and communications between the employees of an organization and its management. Conflicts and issues arise when the needs and demands of the employees are not taken care of by the management or are not fulfilled. The relations between the employees and the employers tend to worsen in such cases hence affecting employee relations and its impact on the organization (Leat 2012). This particular takes into consideration the case study of Finder Industries and discusses on the employee relations problem faced by the organization thereby trying to determine possible solutions to the situation. Finder Case: Analysis of the Situation Considering the case of Finder Industries, it could be obtained that the company has been performing well in terms of its manufacturing, engineering and technological innovation. With its growth, the number of employees working for the organization has also increased significantly. Its operations being spread across 70 countries in the world, employs more than 20,000 people for different departments that include research and development, manufacturing and operations, and others. As the company has overcome the worldwide economic crisis, and performed well in the market, the demands for the company’s products are significantly high; this implies that the need for effective employee performance is a major necessity for the organization. However in spite of such performance and level of working in the industry, one of the major problems faced by the company is in regard to the increasing rate of absenteeism among the employees. This is a problem related to employee relations of the company and can lead to high costs for the company if not addressed effectively. Particularly as the company is following lean manufacturing process, hence it is essential for employees to be present and be ready such that whenever orders are placed, the manufacturing processes can be immediately conducted to fulfill them on time. However if employees remain absent in such cases, it becomes difficult for the company to deal with increasing demands in the market. Rates of absence has been found to be more at certain times such as for night shifts, making excuses of illnesses, accruing their annual leave, and so on. Thus the issue of absenteeism can be said to have developed as a major concern for Finder Industries. If this situation can be analyzed then it can be understood that the increasing rate of absenteeism that Finder is experiencing is causing significant challenges and problems for the overall effectiveness of the organization. Hence this requires addressing the issue in depth trying to understand the underlying factors that are affecting the employees’ level of interest or moral for the organization. This issue is associated with employee relations and is important because employees are the core of an organization and without their effective roles; it is not possible for a company to accomplish its goals and tasks. Hence when employees are absenting it causes problems for the organization in meeting the demands of the market (Cascio et al 2011). Absenteeism is essentially a problem that needs to be dealt by the management, particularly by the human resources management. If employees are increasingly being absent, it implies that they are not completely satisfied with the activities of the management and this is a major cause of concern, because if the underlying problems are not identified and corrected, it is likely that the employees would leave the organization increasing the problems and costs of the organization. The issue is serious as it comes in the way of attaining the goals of an organization, in this case of Finder Industries (Venkataratnam 2004). Employee relations come into play as such cases of absenteeism as productivity and employee satisfaction is associated with the employee relations maintained by an organizational management. Some of the underlying factors that can affect employees include stress, grievance, which might not have been managed effectively by the management. The discipline of the organization and the relation that the company maintains with its employees are needed to be addressed to see whether employees are satisfied or not (Venkataratnam 2004). In case of Finder the absenteeism can be considered as an essential issue related to employee relations owing to which employees are increasingly absenting although the company is performing well in the market. Possible Solutions to the Identified Problems Theoretical views reflect on the fact that individuals actually do not prefer to work but they have to do so in order to maintain their standards of living, earn, and hence it is assumed that even if the conditions within an organization are highly satisfactory, there will be some level of absenteeism among the working employees in any organization. Now, in cases where the ideal conditions start changing making it more stressful and difficult for the employees to deal with the work pressures at their companies, the rates of absenteeism could increase (Wilcox 2008). The possible solutions to address and solve the issue of absenteeism as part of employee relations issue can be listed as follows: Flexibility in work timing often leads to employees working more than less causing them frustrated as they feel more stressed out. Hence they tend to absent from their work. Instead confounding fixed work timing helps to keep employees targeted towards their work and post the work timing they become free, which makes the work more interesting for them. Thus a possible solution is to make the work timings fixed instead of flexible for the employees (Koslowsky and Krausz 2002). If there are extra works that need to be completed, then a possible solution to keep employees satisfied and hence maintain a good relation with their employers is to allow them discretion in choosing their own time for the completion of the extra responsibilities (Koslowsky and Krausz 2002). Shift systems of working are preferable for business organizations such that work load can be distributed among the employees. However, this again has its negative aspects as in most cases people do not prefer to work at night, which has also been reflected in the case of Finder. Hence a possible solution would be to consider the choices of the employees and accordingly place them in the different working shifts. In case of particular needs to put employees to a particular shift, proper communication between the management and the employee might work well, such that the employees can understand the need of the company (Koslowsky and Krausz 2002). Another possible solution to reduce the employee relations problem of absenteeism is for the management of the organization to realize the determinants and factors that cause absenteeism among the employees. Unless the factors are identified, the causes will not be realized and hence solutions cannot be effectively decided upon (Jex and Britt 2008). Work environment is an extremely important factor to influence and keep employees attracted to workplaces. Thus a possible solution to reduce absenteeism is to create a highly positive and attractive work environment within the organization. This can be considered as part of the absenteeism management policy of an organization. The employees can be allowed to discuss their issues with their managers and accordingly the work environment may be developed considering it as a possible solution to the problem (Lowe 2012). Another possible solution is not to recruit people who have records of poor absenteeism at their workplaces. If such employees are not recruited in the first place, then the problems of absenteeism would not arise. For employees who are regularly being absent, the solution would be plan for some strict actions against them, such that they fear the loss of their jobs and hence absent from work only for genuine reasons such as health problems, etc. (Young 2010). Recommendations for Finder Industries At Finder, the main problems faced by the management are in association with the increasing rates of employee absenteeism. Such absenteeism could be found to be followed in certain patterns as well, such as absenting on the Fridays, absenting during the night shifts, absenting considering long term sick leave between three and six months, absenteeism reflecting short absence but on regular intervals, as well as tactical absences where the absenteeism took place during times of performance reviews and hence when the employees returned to new supervisors who did not know of the details of policies would incur no sanctions on the employees. It can be well realized that the three major problems that may be underlying this act of absenteeism among Finder employees include: Employee dissatisfaction with the work environment hence not being able to feel interested to stay within the organization for longer periods of time; Work pressure being too much and work timings being unacceptable which the employees were unable to cope up with, particularly owing to the increasing demands in the market; and Management is not caring enough to realize the issues or problems faced by the employees or to fulfill their needs and demands, hence a lack of good employee relations affecting the performance and interests of the employees. Considering these factors, the following recommendations can be suggested for Finder: Firstly, the management needs to be concerned about the needs of the organizational employees. The management needs to understand that employees are the most essential part of the company, without whose performances the organizational goals and tasks cannot be accomplished effectively. Hence the management will have to ensure suitable employee relations. This includes enhanced communications between the employees and their management allowing the employees to share their points of views and problems, based on which the management will be required to consider measures to fulfill their needs and hence keep them satisfied. Employee satisfaction will enhance employee relations and reduce their level of absenteeism from work. Secondly, even if the company is performing well as far as its fulfillment of market demands is concerned, it can be well assumed that the work environment of the company is not suitable to keep employees attracted for work. It can be assumed that the level of performance and expectations of the management are too strict making it boring or frustrating for the employees. Varying roles and responsibilities given to the employees can solve this problem. Employees would feel more interested in their responsibilities and for their company when they do not have to do the same work every day. Hence changing roles and responsibilities would create a more challenging and effective work environment for the employees keeping them attracted. Thirdly, the management of the company needs to reduce the pressure of work by taking orders at a level depending upon the number of workers that they have. If the orders are too many to deal with, then it would be suggested to employ higher number of employees instead of increasing the pressure on the existing employee strength. Timing is also a factor that needs to be addressed. There might be employees who would not at all prefer to work at nights. In such cases, it will be effective for the management to communicate with the employees, and if they are more comfortable with different shift timing, they should be allotted with that such that the employees would be satisfied, be present and give their best efforts. Employees also are suggested to be allowed to take part in the decision making processes of the company. This is to ensure that the employee employer relations are improved and the employees feel themselves as important for the tasks and decisions of the company. This feeling can be expected to make them feel more interested towards the organization and hence reduce absenteeism. Possible Barriers to Be Overcome While the above mentioned steps have been suggested to reduce the rate of absenteeism among the employees in Finder, it can also be said that there are certain barriers that would still be existing that will affect the process and hence will be needed to be overcome. The most essential barrier is the lean manufacturing process that the company follows. Owing to this form of manufacturing, the manufacturing of the products is done only when orders are placed for the company (Watson 2006). While this is beneficial for the overall organization and reduces wastes as well, this leads to increasing work load for the employees, particularly when the orders are high in number, and the employees have to handle the manufacturing and operations extensively to fulfill the orders in time. In order to overcome this problem, it will be necessary for the management to ensure that that all materials that are necessary for the process of manufacturing are ready from before, such that the employees can focus only on the manufacturing once orders are received by the company. This would reduce the work pressure to some extent. Otherwise, if materials are not available after the orders are placed, it would create more difficulties for the employees losing their interests in their works. One major barrier or problem is the fact that before weekends, employees feel lazy and distracted from their work. This is the reason owing to which employees in Finder Industries have been found to absent on the Fridays in most cases. This problem can be solved by making the Fridays more interesting and attractive for the employees. For example, if work is done during the day and some form of amusement or parties are arranged for the night, then employees would come for work and not absent. In this way, they would both enjoy the work and the party, increasing their level of interests with the company and also improving upon their relations with their management. One major factor that could be obtained from the case study is that at Finder, the employees are absenting considering the time when their performance reviews take place. Thus when they return, new supervisors take the roles and as they have lack of knowledge of employee policies, hence the employees do not require any sanctions for their absences. This is a barrier as such processes have been ongoing and a company would require performance reviews for its growth and development. This barrier can be overcome with new supervisors being guided by the former supervisors and other managers of the company in regard to employee policies, as soon as they take the roles. This will also prevent employees taking advantage of the process and hence reduce absenteeism. Conclusion From the above study it could be realized and hence concluded that employee relations is essential for a business organization, considering the fact that employees are the most essential part of a business and involved in accomplishing the goals and tasks of the business. Hence if employees are not satisfied, and are not interested and engaged with the organization, their performance would be severely affected, affecting the overall performance of the organization. One of the major problems in regard to employee relations is the decreased employee satisfaction, which in most cases arises due to the management not taking enough care of the needs and demands of the employees. Absenteeism which could be obtained as the major problem in Finder case could also be associated with poor employee relations in the company. Owing to increasing workload and pressure, lack of a proper work environment, and lack of interesting activities, employees tend to lose their interests in their work and in their organizations, thereby tending to be absent. Hence it could be concluded from the study that management needs to communicate suitably with the employees and hence identify their needs and problems, solve them and provide them with a suitable work environment to make them more attractive. Also, in order to reduce absenteeism, it is essential for the management to involve employees in the decision making processes of the company, making them feel more important and responsible for the company, and allowing them to take more interest in the company affairs and hence avoid remaining absent as can be understood from the reflection of this study (Appendix A). References Cascio, W. et al. 2012. HR Strategies for Employee Engagement (Collection) (Google eBook). New Jersey: FT Press. Hendrix, J. and D. Hayes. 2009. Public Relations Cases. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Jex, S.M. and T.W. Britt. 2008. Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach (Google eBook). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Koslowsky, M. and M. Krausz. 2002. Voluntary Employee Withdrawal and Inattendance: A Current Perspective. New York: Springer. Leat, M. 2012. Exploring Employee Relations (Google eBook). London: Routledge. Lowe, G. 2012. Creating Healthy Organizations: How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Stoldt, G.C., Dittmore, S. and S. Branvold. 2012. Sport Public Relations: Managing Stakeholder Communication (Google eBook). Illinois: Human Kinetics. Venkataratnam, C.S. 2004. Personnel Management and Human Resources. India: Tata McGraw Hill Education. Watson, J.L. 2006. Integrating Lean Manufacturing with Technology: Analyzing the Effects on Organizational Performance in Terms of Quality, Cost, and Response Time. Michigan: ProQuest. Wilcox, C.W. 2008. The Influence of Organizational Incentives on Absenteeism: Sick Leave Use Among Postal Employees. Michigan: ProQuest. Young, M.R. 2010. Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way. Cambridge: Radcliffe Publishing. Appendices Appendix A: Reflective Statement It could be reflected from the study that for every business organization, it is essential for the management to maintain effective employee relations to avoid issues or absenteeism or other employee related problems within the organization. Read More