“Where the heart is willing it will find a
thousand ways,
But where it is unwilling it will find a
thousand excuses.”
Sorneo Proverb
Employee
Relations is a very vital part of public relations. It is as important as other
elements of public relations which include: customers, shareholders, community,
distributors, law enforcement agents etc.
The reason is
that the employees
are the first
point of contact
with the organization. The absence of employees, renders
an organization inactive. This is so
because in the factors of production:
land, capital, entrepreneur etc. are passive while the employees
(labour) are active.
The employees must coordinate the other three factors of
production before production can take place. But employee relations is the most
neglected aspect of public relations practice. The reason for this neglect is
not far-fetched.
First, many so
called public relations practitioners in most organizations are not trained in
the field of public relations. Some of them are company secretaries, marketing
managers, administrative managers etc. who also double as public relations
officers and are designated corporate affairs managers. These people are not
versed in the activities of public relations and the end result of their
performance is total failure. The job of public relations is not an all comers
one. It is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry rather, it is a management
function which can only be handled effectively by professionals who are trained
in the field of public relations.
Second, the managements
of most organizations don’t even recognize the importance of public relations
as a profession not to talk of employee relations which is just a segment of
public relations. Thus, the neglect of employee relations has engendered
industrial crises in various organizations across the nation. This is because
employees of any organization are brought together from different backgrounds.
But these employees from various cultures, religions, education, beliefs, ages
etc. must be coordinated in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the
organization the employees work with. To bring these diverse groups of people
into one united group whose views and perceptions will agree with those of the
organization, there must be as a matter of fact, a deliberate policy that will
ensure a two-way communication between the organization and the employees. This
policy is aimed at winning the goodwill and support of the employees for the
continuous existence and success of the organization which is beneficial to all
the stakeholders-employer and employees. This is what employee relations is all
about.
Nevertheless,
for an effective two-way communication to exist in any organization, two
factors are required. The two factors are trade union and meeting. A trade
union is an organized association of employees that protect their interests. It
is in the trade union meetings that junior workers bring out their views
together. But the views of the employees cannot reach the management of the
organization if it does not have an open door policy of holding meetings
regularly with the employees. It is when the management of an organization
holds meetings periodically with employees that it gets to know the needs of
the employees and attend to them. So, meeting,
which is one of the tools of public relations communication between the
employer and employees, is vital for the peaceful existence of any
organization. Other tools of public relations communication with internal
publics are house journals, notice boards, wall posters, audio tapes, letters
to employees, suggestion boxes, seminars and workshops etc.
Suffice it to
know that most privately owned organizations do not allow trade unions. They
see trade unions as threat to the peace of their organizations. But this is not
true because trade unions are not formed to cause crises, rather they are
formed to protect the interest of workers. They are formed to articulate their
views and agitate for their rights, the right to good conditions of service.
It must be made
clear that for any organization to succeed, it is imperative for it to maintain
good relations with its employees. But, because of the ignorance unqualified
public relations practitioners have towards the employees, they spend huge sums
of money on external publics, neglecting the employees who are vital for the
existence of the organization. The poor economic situation prevailing in the
country made employers cultivate a nonchalant attitude towards their employees.
They feel that if their employees are not satisfied with what they can offer
them as salaries, they can look elsewhere for better employment. The result of
such attitude is low productivity, wastages, inefficiency, strikes, low worker
morale etc. Sometimes, it also results in willful damage of machinery and
property. This is more prevalent in manufacturing companies where the use of
machinery is more pronounced.
Employee
relations like other aspects of public relations, is well planned and
coordinated programme of actions that serve the interest of both organization
and its employees. The Public Relations Manager works very hard in order to
keep good relations with the media and other publics of his organization. He
must maintain the same strength of work to sustain employee relations. To
maintain a cordial relationship between the organization and the employees, the
Public Relations Officer must as a matter of necessity employ relevant employee
techniques for fruitful communication. An effective employee relations can
prevent industrial crises and encourage cooperation between the organization
and the employees.
An organization
that has a policy for employee relations, will give room for dialogue and
collective bargaining. In this way, the employees can express their feelings
concerning issues that affect their welfare. By this, they are indirectly
participating in the decision making process of the organization. This usually
lead to industrial harmony, peace and increase in productivity. On the
contrary, when the management of an organization takes a unilateral decision
and tries to force it on the employees, there is bound to be disagreement and
the end result is low productivity and strikes.
In a nutshell,
the issue of employee relations cannot be over-emphasized. When there is
effective communication, good employee relations will show increased
productivity, high worker morale, job satisfaction, sense of belonging etc. It
is noteworthy that where all these benefits abound, the corporate image of the
organization will be better and attract the sympathy of all and sundry.
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