How to Navigate Complex Employee Relations

In any organization , in order for a business to be successful , they need employees , and every employee has a heart , they have a spirit , they have a different personality that may or may not mesh with other personalities out there , so you're going to need a professional to be in there and making sure not that you change people's perceptions of each other , but at

the very least give an understanding of what it means to be respectful at work , knowing what you can and can do at work and knowing what kind of resources and tools you have to make your life better at work . At the end of the day , that's what employer relations is .

So some of the challenges that we would face is some of these differences that these employees may have could get in the way of productivity . Right , and , at the end of the day , for especially for-profit organizations , that becomes into an issue .

So you want to make sure you've got the right people in place from an HR perspective , the right rules and the right people managing those rules , to make sure everybody at work are able to exhibit who they are as an individual but , at the same time , be on the same team when it comes to making sure that the organization attacks X goals , whatever goals they

may have for the quarter .

And it's a delicate dance , Pete right , Because everybody's different Employee relations from person A can be very different than person B , person C , person D .

And what HR professionals and leaders need to be an expert at doing is to make sure , whatever issues are happening in the organization , you fix them or you help solve them in a way that is a perfect balance of the employee gets what he or she wants and the organization still gets to make money with the relationship that the organization has with the employee .

That's the difficult part , that delicate dance , and you have to have a really particular set of skills not to sound like that guy from the movie Taken , but you do have to have a particular set of skills to be able to do that successfully .

It is important to let everybody know that , yes , you have the freedom of speech to express who your favorite candidate is , but you have to be able to do it in a way that's respectful .

You have to do it in a way that you can get along with other people and , at the end of the day , we have to do it in a way that it does not disrupt business operations . That's the part that's important . It doesn't get in the way of the organization making money and conducting business .

Civility , and a couple of months ago I was a host of the Jacksonville Shrimp Conference and I had the opportunity to interview the former kicker for the Jaguars , josh Gobi , and he says something that stuck with me . It really did .

He says I don't understand why people feel compelled to be ugly to each other these days , and I thought that was profound because , to me , that hit me , because I'm like you know what . We're going through another political cycle . People are at each other's throats and we don't stop to think about why do we think it's okay to do that ?

Why do we think it's okay to put somebody down ? Why do we think it's okay to do all these things ? And if we could just take a step back ? Right , and here's what I tell all of my leaders If you're having an issue with the office , your goal is to lower the temperature . Your goal is not to escalate .

Your goal is to take a step back , have everybody take a breather and then have a conversation amicably . Folks remember , human beings are always going to be human beings . They're not always going to be perfect , so some people are going to snap . They're not always going to be perfect , so some people are going to snap .

Right , and you just have to be ready for that and be ready to nurture , whatever happens , in a way that the employee knows never to do that again and at the same time , business continues . So lots of patience is what I'm advising people , and de-escalate a situation . Regardless on how you feel about it . You should not escalate a situation any further .

So as soon as the holiday spirit starts to happen around the call center , a Christmas tree comes up . So here comes the people who don't believe complaining why do we have to see that ? What does that have to be seen ? What's going on ? And then you have the people who have a different faith , right .

So , like Jehovah's Witness , how come they can do that and we can't do this ? So it's a matter of listening to what they have to say , because as soon as people see something come up that other people are allowed to do , that they are against .

They think it's a matter of just sitting down , listening to the employee , listening to their concern , because nine times out of 10 , once you listen to what they have to say , that's all they needed . They just wanted to be heard .

So in the example of Christmas , when somebody complains , how come they get to get a Christmas up and I can't , I'm like nobody's saying you can't have a Christmas tree ? Oh , okay , then put a Christmas tree up , right , I had one guy and Pete . This is a hundred percent true , a hundred percent true Ever seen Seinfeld .

Of course , somebody wanted to bring a pole and they wanted to celebrate Festivus , right ? And they did this whole thing . For now I'm not going to lie , he was making fun of the whole thing . He really was right . But other people started complaining because he's saying this is the real Christmas and other people like , no , this is it .

So I'm like , look , here's what we need to do . This guy has every right to celebrate whatever religious affiliation . Whether you agree with it or not , he can celebrate it . Folks , you can have this discussion , we can have this conversation . What we cannot do is let it get in the way of productivity .

What we cannot do is let it get in the way of productivity as soon as it gets in the way of employees producing or , even worse , some other employee who's not involved in this conversation not has to hear this crap people going back and forth for that person for that reason . That's when HR steps in and puts a stop to it .

Here's what I don't want HR people to do to just stop people from celebrating anything at all , which is a mistake , right , it's a reaction the other way , because then what are you going to have then ? Orwell was right back in the book 1984 we're just going to be people , machines in a cubicle , working monday to friday , nine to five .

If you want your employees to continue working , if you want your employees to continue showing up to work on monday morning , you've got to give them an environment where they're comfortable to be themselves .

So make sure you allow employees to celebrate Christmas , kwanzaa , whatever the case may be , so long as the parameters are in set , where it's done respectfully .

So there we have it Politics , religion , dog breeds , hr challenges for sure . Is there anything else you'd like to share on employee relations before we wrap up ? That'll help everyone listen in .

Start having these conversations now . You don't necessarily have to address the political factor , but you just have to address how people need to be respectful at work , because there's a really fine line Pete between being animated about something and being insulting about something . So we have to know what that difference is .

So my advice is be patient with employees , let them know what a respectful work environment is . Do it proactively and , last but not least , yorkies are the best breed of dogs .