HR 101 - ER: Everyday Culture

Employee Relations starts with the day to day interactions between employees and the company's management. This will also set the tone for how employees interact with each other and even with customers.

Here is my simple definition of good employee relations: Mutual respect and fair treatment of employees.

Here's what it looks like...
-Managers treat employees decently and fairly - employees respond
     -Managers earn the employees' respect daily through effective leadership
     -Employees earn Managers' respect through productive results
-Everyone realizes that the Company's success and their personal success are the same
-All employees feel that is a good place at which to work

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HR 101: Employee Relations

This term is commonly used to describe the interactive, two way relationship between the company organization and the employees of the company. That is why a more accurate term would be "employee/company relations."

So we are going to take an in-depth look at this relationship over the next several posts.

This is a mission critical subject for every company. But it rarely receives much thought from owners and managers. That is a BIG mistake.

Why?

Because positive employee relations means the best business possible.
Negative employee relations guarantees minimal/bad business.

Read on.

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HR 101: Benefits

Your company is not required by law to provide any employee benefits. This includes paid time off/vacation, paid holidays and medical insurance. Benefits are the results of  labor market influence and your social conscience.

An HR professional will determine which benefits are common in your geographic and business market, and then shop for the best possible rates for products such as health insurance. They will also calculate the cost of paid time off (PTO) to the company since it is a vested benefit in California.

Then there comes the endless task of administering and updating your benefits program. You really want to leave this task to some HR type. It is pedestrian but important to be done accurately.

I would also include the various Leaves of Absence required in California in the benefits bucket. Another ultra-clerical but important element for legal compliance.

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HR 101: Compensation

Compensation refers to  much more than pay in the HR world, but we will focus directly on pay and closely related items.

Here is what an HR Compensation Specialist can do for your company:

-determine the real labor market value of your jobs
-set pay ranges for all the jobs
-calculate individual pay rates for each person in a job
-determine which jobs must be paid an hourly rate and which can be paid with a salary
-install sales commission systems
-structure bonus programs
-implement stock option programs
-write job descriptions
-manage performance reviews

And that's just for starters. We will discuss Compensation in more detail in the future. This is HR 101.

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