mcintyre - mastering employee relations
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MASTERING EMPLOYEE RELATIONS RESULTS IN A SUPERIOR ORGANIZATIONGene McIntyre, JDTRANSCRIPT
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MASTERING EMPLOYEE RELATIONS RESULTS IN
A SUPERIOR ORGANIZATION
Gene McIntyre, JDHR Strategic Consultant & Business Partner
August 2011
STRATEGIC BUSINESS PARTNER
HR CONSULTANT
PERSONNEL MANAGERSREGULATORY/POLICING
RECORD KEEPER/PROCESSINGCENTER
PAYROLL PROCESSORS
The Evo
lutio
n of
the
HR Pro
fess
ion
Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
Where does the HR Consultant concept come from?
Birthed as a reaction against the HR police paradigmStrong emphasis on partnership rather than policingRecord keeping, auditing & processes become tools rather than goals of departmentsEmphasis in Policy Development/Implementation & TrainingEmphasis on Family and Employee Friendly policiesRequired:
Development of teams of HR generalists/technicians HR Analysts with the ability to learn, understand
and interpret the law Strong interpersonal, administration & presentation
skills Ability to “seat at the table”/speak the business lingo”
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
The Ultimate Evolution – The HR Strategist or Business Partner:
Reaction as a result of HR as a cost center/non-revenue generatorStrong emphasis on business understanding - P&LAll HR Services still indispensable, but a givenHR expected to have impact on business performance (add value)Relied upon to reduce costHR serves as advisor/trainers to leadershipRequired:
Technicians/generalists do day-to-day Interpersonal/communication skills & political savvy are a
must for the consultant Ability to understand the business & foresee needs Seats at the table with operational leaders & participates in
strategic planning & budgeting Understands profit & loss business factors
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011 Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
The Personal Commitment of the HR Strategist:
Become a master in team member & human relationsDevelop business political savvyEstablish a long-term commitment to learn your employer's businessUnderstand profit & loss & budgeting processesInvest in your training and professional developmentStay familiar with current and upcoming trends & legislationActively participate with professional associations & networkLeave behind the old HR paradigm Read and stay abreast on human capital matters; e.g.:
Emotional intelligence Human Psychology and Behavioral Patterns Benchmarking HR-related case law
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011 Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
As an HR strategist you will be expected to improve your employer's business performance by:
Anticipating human resource needsPlanning and executing workforce strategiesMonitoring & upgrading the quality of the workforceRevamping organizational structures per business needsAvoiding litigationResolving conflictEliminating unnecessary costApproaching your responsibilities from a programmatic rather than a reactionary perspective (systems thinking)
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011 Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
How would you answer the following questions:
What percentage of your time do you spend resolving issues?
What percentage of your time to you spend developing and executing strategy to prevent issues from happening?
Are your employee relations managing you or are you managing your employee relations?
How do you go from managing to mastering?
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011 Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior OrganizationsSystems Thinking – Managing Employee Relations
Events - What we experience on a day-to-day basis
• A team member walks off the job because she does not feel her job is appreciated.
• You lost another administrative assistant to the same manager.
• You received an EEOC complaint for harassment in the workplace.
• Loss Prevention notifies you that a team member got caught stealing. You need to terminate employment.
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
Systems Thinking – Managing Employee Relations
Patterns – A sequence of events that repeats itself as a result of systemic conditions
• Your organization is focused on generating revenue & spends little to no time in recognition.
• Manager C has been in the organization for years and his temper outbursts are legendary. It takes a trooper to last in his department.
• Your managers are super stars when it comes to their technical and sales abilities, but most are fairly new to leadership and do not command Title VII, harassment, discrimination or other critical HR topics.
• Due to the nature of the business, employees in this retail environment spend hours unsupervised. Theft is rampant.
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
Systems Thinking – Managing Employee Relations
Systemic Structure – Any manner in which you can affect events or patterns on a sustained, basis; affecting the root cause, rather than the
apparent event.
• You develop a formal recognition process, including rewards for those rewarding & showing appreciation for their team.
• You make an appointment to meet with the manager whose department has a high turnover of administrative assistants to assess whether he understands the reasons. You follow up with suggestions.
• You research sources of diversity and/or harassment training and establish a calendar to deliver such training throughout the organization to managers and non-supervisory employees alike.
• You initiate a conversation between loss prevention, operation leaders and HR to assess strategies to stop theft.
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
The Three perspectives that will establish the difference between the HR reactionary versus the HR strategist
Events perspective – Reactive action to correct a problem by finding out who is responsible or the causes of the specific issue. Quick fix.
Patterns perspective – Adaptive action- you are not trying to fix a problem necessarily. You assume that this pattern is unavoidable or one that the business is willing to deal with, so you adapt your practice and business to it.
Systemic structure perspective – Creative Action – you modify the system – the structures, circumstances and agents that have a direct impact on events.
A great start to transform your organization or business - Start with the modification of your own perspective!
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
Self Assessment – What kind of Firefighter are You?
Events perspective – Are you the one putting out fires?
Patterns perspective – What is your priority - learning how to put out fires or preventing them? Is crisis mode yourmode? Do you believe your employee relation challengescan be addressed in advance or not?
Systemic structure perspective – Are you taking the time to look at every problem and analyze its root cause so you are not fixing it again in a couple of months? Are you working on developing a more systematic approach to problem solving?
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted
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Mastering Employee Relations = Superior Organizations
Are you adding value to your current business?
To your employer?
Adding Value – Mastering rather than being Mastered by Employee Relations is the Name of the game for any serious HR Strategist.
Gene McIntyre, JD August 2011Copyrighted