Proactive vs. reactive

If you've even dabbled in employee relations, you may have thought to yourself, I could write a book about this stuff. Navigating employee relations causes you to reflect on what would, could or should have been. Your experiences can be captured in chapters and later used to tell the greatest of tales. Now that I've got you thinking about memoirs, let's discuss common employee relations categories and how you can work with proactive strategies or determine reactive solutions and employee relations. As you navigate employee relations, it's important to understand how to categorize events. Doing so allows you to accurately define what's being addressed. You never know. Perhaps some of your employee relations categories will become chapters in your book. Employee relations engagement and scenarios are often related to company policy, company culture, and employee interactions. Proactive employee relations strategies have often been built or are shaped by the need to stay ahead of labor and industry changes, required training or other mitigating factors. Reactive employee relations are the direct result of proactive strategies not being in place or being outdated. Proactive employee relations strategies are in place to promote engagement. In a fairy tale, a proactive strategy would prevent us from ever having to discuss reactive solutions and allow us to live happily ever after. Examples of proactive strategies might include open door policies, regular employee surveys with a cadence to take action or performance management activities that inspire open and ongoing communication. On the other hand, reactive solutions come into play when proactive strategies are not in place, not widely communicated or outdated. When there's no proactive employee relations strategy in place, you may encounter events such as interpersonal conflict, which are disagreements that occur between employees. Career dissatisfaction leading to turnover, low productivity and increase in complaints or wage and hour issues related to employees not being paid properly or feeling they are not fairly compensated. It's important to note that conflict can arise in both virtual and in-person environments, and conflict can be subtle and ongoing versus sudden and overt. Employee relations may occur as the result of personal experiences, expectations or beliefs and culture. Events may even be shaped or influenced by current and past workplace experiences, changing cultures and resources, or the lack thereof. Many organizations have strategies in place to navigate concerns, but when there's a turn of events, human resource professionals are expected to navigate both the proactive strategies and the reactions necessary to move toward a solution. Now, think about employee relations you've encountered. Do the issues fit into the categories you've just heard? If not, where is most of your time spent? How are the chapters of your book or memoir shaping up? Make note of employee relations that you've encountered with your employer. Determine whether or not there are strategies in place that address employee relations. If there are no resources in place, use your notes to partner with stakeholders to determine what actions can be taken to implement future strategies.