Our primary work is with people and their relationships at work. Typically, our engagements involve auditing organizational effectiveness for employee relations, preventing labor relation problems by avoiding or countering union organizing drives, and training or developing a management team.
Auditing Vulnerability
Using outside auditors to objectively review financial status is a well-established business practice. Using a similar process for reviewing an organization’s overall employee relations environment is equally beneficial. A company must have insight into the validity and extent of workforce perceptions.
Our experience shows that hidden issues and concerns typically lead to employee frustration. Workplace dissatisfaction can easily express itself in lower productivity, turn over, inter-group conflict, litigation, and higher operating costs. Pinpointing areas for improvement can lead to prescriptive changes, before serious employee relation issues erupt. Disregarded issues can often lead to unrest, which easily may advance to the disruption of a union organizing campaign.
Labor Relations
Being pro-employee is not anti-union. Respect, trust, and understanding between employees and their organization assures success without interference. But, when decisions are not communicated well, are misunderstood, or perceived as not in the best interest of employees, support suffers.
When fairness is questioned confidence in management drops. Some employees may conclude that management won’t or can’t respond to employees’ concerns. In these circumstances employees often seek union representation.
Union organizers are skilled. They formulate plans that speak to unique issues. A company must move quickly and aggressively in countering a union and its rhetoric, particularly now with shortened election periods. We have successfully resolved hundreds of these crises. Assessing, formulating a strategy, training a management team, and establishing critical communications between an employer and its employees is vital.
Inexperienced or untrained supervisors and the language barriers of multi-ethnic employee populations can create obstacles which often require the need to speak directly with voters. Many of our consultants speak multiple languages, allowing us, when a client and legal counsel agree, to function as third party persuaders. We have found this strategy to be increasingly effective.
With expertise in pre-petition and card mitigation strategies, and winning union campaigns either through an election or petition withdrawal, the strategies we deploy are successful. Where union representation already is in place, we are skilled in all processes of collective bargaining including contract negotiations and administration.
Training and Development
We help create leaders who know how to work with people.
Successful supervisors and managers are leaders. The best know how to work with and inspire others. They convey a dedicated commitment to their team that encourages cooperation. Difficult situations are handled especially well.
Unfortunately, natural leaders are the exception. We excel in developing leaders for organizations by conducting skill based developmental and team building programs. We prepare managers and supervisors with skills they need to build good relations with their employees.
Our education and development presentations create leaders who know how to work with people. A management team that is more responsive and consistent is more effective.