Importance of Employee Relations in Application of Employment Law

This document discusses the value and importance of employee relations in the application of employment law. It explains the different types of rights, duties, and obligations of employers and employees within the workplace. It also explores various mechanisms for managing the employment relationship and analyzes how stakeholder engagement and contribution can support positive employment relationships. The document focuses on the case of Sainsbury, a global supermarket chain.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Value and importance of employee relations in application as well as explanation of the
fundamentals of employment law..........................................................................................3
Different types of rights, duties and obligations an employer and employee has within the
workplace and an exploration of various mechanisms for managing the employment
relationship.............................................................................................................................4
A stakeholder analysis for the organisation and analysis of how stakeholder engagement and
contribution can support positive employment relationships.................................................6
An analysis of the impact of both positive and negative employee relations on different
stakeholders............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Employee relation is the process of managing the relationship of employees and
employer in the company. It is basically the effort of the organisation in order to build healthy
relationship among the employer and employee. In order to sustain the loyal staff within the
organisation, it is important for the companies to bring healthy employer and employee relations
so that they remain consistent and loyal to the company (Abdullah, 2017). The organisation
chosen for this report is Sainsbury, a global company dealing in supermarket chain which offers
groceries and other products. It was founded in 1869 in London, UK. This report shall deal with
the value and importance of employee relation with its application to employment law, different
types of duties, rights and obligation of employer and employee and a stakeholder analysis
together with analysis of engagement and contribution of stakeholder in positive employment
relationships and its impact on stakeholders.
TASK
Value and importance of employee relations in application as well as explanation of the
fundamentals of employment law
Importance of employee relation
It refers to the term which is used to describe the relationship of employer and employee
which they share within the organisation. The main aim of this is to improve the relationship of
employee and build collaboration in the workforce so that healthy working environment is
created. In context to Sainsbury, the employee relation has its importance which includes-
 Employee engagement- An engaged employee can feel satisfaction from its job because
it makes the staff valued. In order to take the employees satisfied from their job roles, the
managers have to work on building strong communication so that they can deliver their
issues well and their solutions can be given quickly (Curtin, 2019). For instance, in order
to manage the conflict in the workplace, the employer of Sainsbury build the network of
communication so that they can listen to their grievances and find solution to it. This
makes them feel job satisfied and engaged. If the management is flexible in listening to
the staff, it will bring build strong relationship between employee and employer.
 Employee productivity- The employee engagement and satisfaction boost the
productivity of the workforce. When a company has strong employee relation, it results

in high productivity and profit. For instance, the employers of Sainsbury must
communicate with its workforce and take regular feedbacks from them in order to engage
them in decision making, this will increase their morale and ultimately their productivity.
For example, if a staff feel demotivated, it will decrease its performance which will affect
the performance of the company. The employers of Sainsbury must communicate
regularly with employees in order to boost their confidence and this will result in healthy
employee relation.
Fundamentals of employment law
The employment law is designed to protect the rights of the employees from the
exploitation. It is focused on building strong employee relationship so that the workforce feel
safe and secured while working. There are many legislations like for instance, The health and
safety at work Act, 1974 which imposes duty on employer to comply with all safety standards
(Forret, Balachandra and Anand, 2018). For example, Sainsbury deals in production activity so
the employer of the company must ensure safety compliance so that safe environment is created
for the employees and healthy relationship is build in the company.
Another legislation is Equality Act of 2010 which is framed to prohibit discrimination in
the company. The employers must not discriminate among any employee in the organisation and
give fair and equal opportunities to all so that all employees feel engaged and satisfied form their
working. This will build strong employee relations. The employers of Sainsbury, for instance
must not discriminate between its workforce in case of any conflict and give equal and fair
chance to the parties so that they fair treatment is given to all so that healthy environment is
created.
Different types of rights, duties and obligations an employer and employee has within the
workplace and an exploration of various mechanisms for managing the employment
relationship
Rights, duties and obligation Environment safety: It is a right of every employee to work in a safe and positive
environment of a firm. In context of Sainsbury, It provides such environment to their
employees in terms of working bases or entertainment basis so that employees did not get
demotivated with their environment and could work efficiently.

 Basic necessities: It is the right of every employee to get basic facilities at their
workplace. In context of Sainsbury, they provide all basic and important necessities to
their workforce like safe drinking water, canteen, tea and coffee and sometimes snacks,
washroom facilities for separate males and females, cleanliness and many more which are
required by the employees. Equality: It is the right where everyone is treated equally in terms of colour, work
performance, gender, racism, discrimination and many more. In context of Sainsbury,
these are adopted by the firm so that employee satisfaction can be maintained between
the employees which can reduced the turnover of the employees. Holidays: It is right of every employee that they must get the paid holidays but in limited
in number of the firm which the firm assigns. In context of Sainsbury, they provide the
leaves on big occasions. Moreover, two paid leaves are also available in a month which
the employer or employees both can utilise the same, this creates interest in the
employees to work better . Respect: It is the rights of every employee, most important right, because respect is
something which everyone wants to receive or earn. In context of Sainsbury, this is done
by leaders, they train to the employees that how to communicate with each other with full
respect without hurting or disrespecting a person. Asking right: Right to ask is a necessary right which every firm must adopt in order to
operate the business more interactively and effectively. In context of Sainsbury, there
always a session of problems in every two weeks a day to ask something any query
regarding work or some personal things. This can help firm in more communication with
the employees with the interactions between them. Harassment prevention: It is right which describes the right to safety in terms of physical
and mental safety. In context of Sainsbury, mental harassment has been prevented by
reducing the level of informal communication in an organization. There are strict laws
against physical harassment so if anyone tries to do so will be behind the bars
immediately.
Mechanisms for managing the employment relationship
Vertical relationships

These relationships are between employers and employees from various level level of
management which includes, top level, middle level and operational level (Sahoo and Sahoo,
2018). Management: This can be managed by knowing the team more deeply and analysis of
the skills of each member so that work is assigned according to their skills. Never close
the communication channels otherwise it can lead to lots of misunderstanding and poor
working in the firm. Try to ask the employee about their opinion in decision making
process, this can assist the firm with more new ideas and confidence among employees.
Listening to the employees topic of discussions can make an employee more motivating
for their work. This leads to the encouragement to stand for their rights and moves in a
better manner. Only leading is not a solution, but being a part of the team can be.
Horizontal relationship
These relationships are between the equal post or designation people, either between two
or more employers or between two or more employees (Sharma, 2020). Management: This can be managed by developing honesty and trust culture in an
organization, by encouraging the interactions between the people socially. Today’s
world, autocracy means being arrogant, so never be autocratic in order to manage
relations. Try to create or generate opportunities for connections among people, assisting
the employees to work in dynamic environment or different teams so that more and more
interactions could be done. Feedback can be the great option for setting up a
communication channel because giving and receiving the feedback helps to know the
person or a team in a more better way.
A stakeholder analysis for the organisation and analysis of how stakeholder engagement and
contribution can support positive employment relationships
Stakeholder analysis
The stakeholders are the interested parties of the company which directly or indirectly
affect the working of the company (Jennings, McCarthy, and Undy, 2017). In context to
Sainsbury, the main stakeholders of the organisation involves employees, customers, investors,
competitors and many other. The following is the stakeholder analysis of Sainsbury company

which is done by using the power interest matrix which states the level of power and interest of
each stakeholder. The analysis is discussed below-
 High power, highly interested people- These include those stakeholders which have
interest and power in the organisation. In context to Sainsbury, the management team like
board of directors, investors are included in this. They closely manage the activities of the
business. The organisation works to satisfy them the most because they have high power.
 High power, less interested people- These include those stakeholders which have high
power in the company but are less interested in the working of the organisation. It are
involved averagely in the organisation. In context to Sainsbury, the employees come
under this category because they have more power to run the business but are not
interested in the profits an revenues.
 Low power, highly interested people- These include those stakeholders which have
high interest in the company but have no or little power. In context to Sainsbury,
customers are included in this category as they are highly interested in the functioning of
the organisation but have no power in its working. They just need regular updates on the
company's working.
 Low power, less interested people- These include those stakeholder which have less
power and interest in the organisation. In context to Sainsbury, suppliers are such which
are included in this category. These are not required to be informed on large or small
details rather they are just monitored by the company in order work with them.
How stakeholder engagement and contribution can support positive employment
relationships-
In order to create healthy and positive employee relationship, it is important to have
employee engagement and satisfaction. Whenever an employee is satisfied from its working, it
results in positive relation of employer and employee (Kataria and et. al., 2020). The
stakeholders of the company play a major role in creating a positive environment so that strong
employee relation is built. In context to Sainsbury, the stakeholders of the company plays a
major role in supporting the positive employment relation as their contribution and engagement
fulfil the requirements. For instance, if the employees have regular and proper communication
with the employers and they are involved in discussions and debates, it results in healthy
relationship between them secondly I the employee is involved in decision making process and is

appreciated for their efforts and are rewarded and benefited, it results in positive employment
relations.
Another stakeholder is management team which includes investors, shareholders and
board of directors. In context to Sainsbury, the management team involves the employees in their
working and reward them for their extra effort. These stakeholders motivate the employees in
order to enhance their productivity so that they can efficiently work for the success of the
company. By motivating them and rewarding them, the management put one step ahead for
building a positive employer employee relationship which at the end benefit both employer and
employee.
Another stakeholder is customer which is the king of the business. The working of the
company depends upon customers. As Sainsbury is a supermarket chain, the employees of the
organisation has a major duty to handle the customers and serve the best. In order to effectively
deal with the customers, the employees are appreciated from their employees which makes their
relationship better (Riccio, 2017). The customers by way of sharing their experience or feedback
appreciate the effort of the workforce which in turn is appreciated by the employers. This helps
in retaining the loyal customer base which is contributed by the employees as they are highly
engaged with them. So like this, the stakeholders of Sainsbury contribute in creating the positive
employment relations.
An analysis of the impact of both positive and negative employee relations on different
stakeholders
Compensation
Positive employee relations enhances the performance of the employees in their work and
do their task with good effective and efficient manner, This results in the good increment of the
salary, promotions and impressive compensations from the employers which ultimately brings
harmony in an organization. Negative employee relations distracts the employees from their
workings and cannot perform their tasks on time so it demotivates them to work even harder and
it never leads to the increment of the salary, promotions and poor compensations (Unsal and
Brodmann, 2020).
Job security
Positive employee relations facilitates the job security and confirms and guarantees the
job satisfaction with good operations of both the employer and the employees side. Because

positivity leads to the appreciation among employees to each other which maintains the relations
between them which results the job to be more secure. Negative employee relations leads to the
anxiety and jealousy among the employees through which employees cannot get job satisfaction
and not able to do their tasks properly which leads to the employee turnover resulting in job
insecurity (Unsal, 2019).
Culture and environment
Positive employee relations maintains the positivity in the environment which supports
the business in doing their operations with more effectiveness which results in achieving the
firm’s objectives and goals of sales and revenue generations. Negative employee relations brings
negativity in the environment of the firm which hampers the growth and development of the
company because of poor operations in a firm that ultimately leads to the non-achievement of
plans, goals and objectives which were discussed at the time of business plan.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that employee relation is the essential task of the
company. It helps in enhancing the productivity of the employees which in turn result in profit
maximisation. The importance of employee relationship includes employee satisfaction,
employee productivity and many other. The employers and the workforce undergo different
duties and obligations in order to create positive employee relation which includes creating
effective policies for the employee, complying with safety measures and many other. Further it is
concluded that stakeholders play an important role in contributing to the positive and strong
employment relationship as they helps in motivating the workforce and contribute in their
enhanced productivity. Lastly, the employee relationship have both positive and negative impact
on the key stakeholders of the company.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abdullah, A.B.M., 2017. Managing the psychological contract: Employee relations in South
Asia. Springer.
Curtin, P.A., 2019. HOW EMPLOYEE RELATIONS SHAPED AND MAINTAINED US
CORPORATE WELFARE. Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of
History.
Forret, M., Balachandra, L. and Anand, S., 2018. Labor relations, employee relations and
negotiation. In Teaching Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Jennings, C., McCarthy, W.E.J. and Undy, R., 2017. Employee Relations Audits. Taylor &
Francis.
Kataria and et. al., 2020. Forty years of Employee Relations–The International Journal: a
bibliometric overview. Employee Relations: The International Journal.
Riccio, S., 2017. Blackfoot farms, scenario a: Communication and employee relations. Society
for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Sahoo, R. and Sahoo, C.K., 2018. Employer–employee relations in a state-owned power sector
undertaking: an analysis. Industrial and Commercial Training.
Sharma, D., 2020. Employer-employee relations: A judicial perspective. LBS Journal of
Management & Research. 18(1). pp.17-24.
Unsal, O. and Brodmann, J., 2020. The Impact of Employee Relations on the Reputation of the
Board of Directors and CEO. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance.
Unsal, O., 2019. Employee relations and firm risk: Evidence from court rooms. Research in
International Business and Finance. 48. pp.1-16.