Sy, Jane B.

MM – Master in Management
MM505 – Human Resources Management
Chapter 10 – Employee Relation Management

Introduction

A Client of Beststart Human Resources, a specialty food distributor company with

approximately 50 employees who had recently undergone a merger. There is alleged
constituted gross misconduct issue with one of its male senior sales manager who is spending a lot
of time on the internet for personal use. It’s not clear what was being viewed because of the
unwillingness of staff to make complaints as the manager was long-serving and popular.

There was a company policy on the use of the internet for personal browsing; due to the merger
there was doubt about whether everyone was aware of it. The company had a small senior
management of just to individuals.

Statement of the Problem:

One of its male senior sales managers who is spending a lot of time on the internet for personal
use, It’s not clear what was being viewed because of the unwillingness of staff to make complaints as
the manager was long-serving and popular. How would the organization address the problem
without being bias and ensure that it’s in line with the ACAS Code of Conduct.

Alternatives

1. Consult with Human Resources Expert. initial advice by HR consultant was firstly, to
email all staff and make sure everyone was aware of the standards expected on using the
internet on company equipment for personal browsing and secondly, to try to get some
firsthand experience or evidence from their outsourced IT company about the extent of the
problem.
The investigation carried out by Beststart HR covered a number of areas. It involved
Reviewing the appropriate policies and procedures to ensure the guidelines were clear and
that these were known and understood by the individual concerned. Browsing had been on
normal shopping and social media sites but much had been on sites covering an array of
pornography. The times the browsing had taken place and the duration of the sessions and
visits to each site were identified and calculated, so that daily data could be provided on the
amount of working time used.

2. It was decided that one Best start HR Consultant would carry out the investigation alone; the
Finance Director and another HR Consultant from Beststart HR would take any disciplinary
action if required; leaving the Managing Director and a third Beststart HR Consultant
available for any appeal. This also involved ensuring within Beststart HR that there were
‘Chinese walls’ with the case not being openly discussed or shared between our team. This
would ensure that independent advice could be provided at each stage.

Proposed Solution

Given the company had a small senior management of just to individuals; it is a good
decision to hire Human Resource Expert to deal with the problem stated in the case study. However
it would best if the organization can put up its own Human Resources Department to handle
employee concerns. It is important that employees share a healthy relation with each other at the
work place.
Recommendation

Human Resources play a very important role in the success of the organization; Employee
Relations is one of its functions. It Ensure proper labor relations and strengthen the employer-
employee relationship. Strengthening is done via measuring job satisfaction, building employee
engagement, and resolving workplace conflict.
Thus, the company has its Employee Relation function, there are still possibilities that
incidences go unreported due to fear — fear of being fired, retaliated against, considered a
troublemaker, embarrassed or not taken seriously. HR cannot properly manage complaints if they
are never reported
Therefore, the company should strengthen its reporting system by observing four key steps.
First, HR needs to re-frame the concept of reporting. Instead of employees believing they’re simply
tattling on a coworker, HR should rebrand reporting as a process that enables them to clarify or ask
questions about company policies or procedures and speak up when they suspect improper
employee behavior. Second, create various reporting avenues like an anonymous hotline or a
specific email or web portal. Third HR needs to ensure the reporting process is consistently
communicated, adding that it’s vital to remind employees about why reporting is important and how
the process works at every opportunity, including onboarding, new manager training, leadership
programs, town hall meetings and in employee communications. The last step is to increase
transparency, which in turn demystifies the entire reporting process by keeping employees updated
on any developments in a case.