Employee Relations that enhance your business
Creating an employee relations environment that supports performance – not just one that avoids problems.
We help you build employee relations that support your business, where people feel treated fairly, have a genuine voice, and can influence how things are done. That might mean clearer ways to raise concerns, employee forums that shape decisions, and better routes for frontline ideas to reach leaders.
Done well, employee relations becomes a source of insight and improvement — not just a hygiene factor. You get a clearer view of what’s really happening, what’s getting in the way of good work, and what would make life better for both the business and your people.
And when issues do arise, we help you handle them proportionately — from “something doesn’t feel right” through to complex conduct, performance or grievance cases — balancing legal risk, people impact and commercial reality, without defaulting to a formal process every time.
What we can help you with
Employee voice and forums
We help you design and run employee forums, representative groups and feedback channels that influence decisions, rather than just ticking a box.
- What you get: clear purpose, structure, cadence, and a feedback loop employees trust.
Early informal resolution
We support you to spot issues early and deal with them proportionately — with clearer conversations, expectations and follow-up — so fewer things escalate into formal cases.
- What you get: practical scripts, manager coaching, and an approach you can evidence.
Workplace conflict and relationships
We work with you on tricky working relationships, team tensions and conflict — exploring where things have gone wrong and how to reset expectations and ways of working.
- What you get: a reset plan, boundaries, and a route to rebuild trust (or separate cleanly if needed).
Conduct and performance issues
We help you handle conduct and performance concerns in a way that is fair, clear and grounded in your policies, so decisions are consistent and defensible.
- What you get: process mapping, letters/templates, meeting support, and a clear paper trail.
Grievances and complaints
We guide you through grievance and complaint processes — from first raising the issue through to outcome — with a focus on fairness, clarity and closing things off properly.
- What you get: investigation support, balanced outcomes, and next-step recommendations.
Supporting managers
We brief and coach managers so they know what to do, what to say (and what not to say), and feel confident handling difficult conversations and decisions.
- What you get: calmer conversations, fewer escalations, and consistent handling across teams.
Real stories of effective employee relations
These are real examples from organisations we’ve worked with. We’ve changed some details to protect confidentiality, but the situations and outcomes are exactly the kind of work we do.
Rebuilding trust in a broken team
A team’s morale had dropped significantly after an employee became convinced they were being treated unfairly compared to colleagues. They believed others were being favoured and that raising concerns was being ignored.
As tensions grew, the employee’s behaviour escalated. A disciplinary process followed, which the employee viewed as further injustice — believing they were “calling out” wrongdoing rather than doing anything wrong. Although they remained in the team, trust had broken down.
The employee became consistently unhappy at work and increasingly short with colleagues, criticising capability and questioning decisions. Other team members felt drained and uncomfortable, and the wider team started talking about leaving — either the team or the business.
What we did
1) Established the real drivers
We began with a structured 1:1 conversation to understand what sat underneath the employee’s anger — what they believed was happening, what they needed, and what they felt had been missed in the earlier process.
2) Reset expectations and boundaries
We clarified what respectful behaviour looks like day-to-day, how concerns should be raised, and what would and wouldn’t be acceptable going forward — protecting the team while keeping the approach fair.
3) Facilitated supported mediation
We ran a series of facilitated sessions between the employee and key colleagues to address specific incidents, rebuild working relationships, and agree practical changes. We used coaching and cognitive techniques to shift unhelpful thinking patterns, reduce defensiveness, and move from blame to solutions.
4) Put a workable plan in place
We agreed clear actions on both sides — communication agreements, ways of escalating concerns, and check-in points — so progress could be tracked and confidence rebuilt.
The outcome
- Team relationships stabilised and day-to-day interactions became respectful again
- Colleagues reported a noticeable improvement in morale and psychological safety
- The risk of resignations reduced and the team regained focus on performance
- The employee felt heard and clearer on how to raise concerns productively
- Managers had a clearer framework for early intervention and boundary-setting
Why this matters
Employee relations issues like this rarely start with “bad behaviour” — they start with a perceived unfairness that isn’t addressed early enough. The right combination of listening, firm boundaries, and facilitated resolution can stop situations escalating and protect both people and performance.
Turning an authoritarian culture into a high-performing, high-engagement site
We worked with a single site of a multi-site business where the leadership culture was very authoritarian and rule-driven. At another nearby site in the same business, employees were gearing up for union recognition.
Our work focused on shifting the leadership style and improving employee voice – creating genuine ways for people to influence working conditions and how the site ran. Over time, employees at the site developed a strong mechanism for raising issues and driving improvements, and actively wanted to keep that rather than pursue union recognition like the neighbouring site.
That change in culture contributed to the site becoming one of the best performing in the business, with some of the happiest employees and a far healthier relationship between leaders and the workforce.
Start building strong Employee Relations now
Employee relations works best when it’s proactive — giving people a voice, building trust, and resolving issues early before they become formal, costly, or damaging to morale.
Whether you need support with a live situation or you want to strengthen how employee relations works across your organisation, we’ll help you take a clear, proportionate approach that protects your people and your business.
What you’ll get from us
- Practical, calm HR guidance that keeps things fair and consistent
- Clear options and recommended next steps (informal or formal)
- Support with conversations, documentation and process
- Coaching for managers to handle issues confidently
- A focus on restoring working relationships and performance