The term ’employee relations’ refers to a company’s efforts to manage relationships between employers and employees. An organization with a good employee relations program provides fair and consistent treatment to all employees so they will be committed to their jobs and loyal to the company.

Here are seven leadership behaviors you should implement to foster positive employee relations:

1. Carefully select employees and quickly build a relationship with them
Don’t just evaluate candidates for skills. Consider the candidate’s values as well by asking questions about how they handled peer and management interactions at other jobs. If you want to formalize this evaluation, there are some excellent values assessments on the market that can help you create a perfect candidate profile.

Go beyond traditional on-boarding and make sure that the employee’s new manager builds a strong relationship with the employee.

2. Distribute focused, credible communications
In order to build trust with your employees, you need to have regular, focused communications with your employees. Your communications should be raw, real, and relevant.

3. Make your leadership available
An engaging, accessible, and approachable leader is one of your most valuable assets. Your hourly employees will be comfortable approaching the leader with issues on a one-on-one basis, which is exactly what you want. On the other hand, if your district or regional leaders only interact with your restaurant managers, your employees won’t even know who they are or their role in the organization.

4. Credible and consistent leadership 
Consistent decisions help employees predict what the leader will decide to do if a situation is appealed to them. This foreknowledge will build trust. Your leaders should be vulnerable enough for people to know them on a human level and not just a corporate suit.

5. Employee advocacy isn’t just an HR function
Great organizations recognize the unintended consequences that occur and rapidly change them to make sure employees aren’t negatively impacted. But let’s take this to a higher level. True employee advocacy means proactively taking care of your people. This could be as simple as stockpiling supplies before a storm for employee use, or even just texting your employees after a storm passes to make sure they’re OK.

6. Make sure changes are equitable and fair
If you make a change, be sure that you can communicate a compelling business reason for it.

7. Recognition for a job well done
Recognition doesn’t have to be wrapped around a complicated program. A simple thank you is often enough, especially when it’s said sincerely and often. When someone first starts a job, their first thought is, “How am I doing?” Make sure your managers continue to give them feedback throughout their employment, and not just when it’s time for performance reviews or when performance deteriorates to the point that documentation is required.

For more information, visit: http://www.globalbpc.net/blog/7-tips-for-positive-employee-relations/