Description: Today we are talking about improving employee relations. Hear from an HR expert Advisor on how to foster better relationships between employees and management, and ultimately create a more positive and productive workplace. We’ll look at how to handle common challenges, communication breakdowns, and performance issues. We'll explore effective techniques for building trust, boosting morale, and creating a culture of respect and collaboration. Whether you're an HR professional, a manager, or an employee looking to make improvements in your workplace, tune in for valuable tips and actionable advice for cultivating positive relationships at work. Resources:  Protecting Your Most Important Asset With a Positive Employee Relations Culture  MRA Membership  About MRA  Let's Connect: Guest Bio - Amy Whittenberger Guest LinkedIn Profile - Amy Whittenberger  Guest LinkedIn Profile - Sam Siebenaller  Host Bio - Sophie Boler  Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler  Transcript: Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word. 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03UnknownHello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here. 00:00:21:04 - 00:00:51:16UnknownNow it's time to thrive. Hello, everybody, and welcome to MRA's 30 minute Thrive podcast. Today we're going to be talking about improving employee relations and hear from an expert advisor on how to foster better relationships between employees in management and ultimately create a more positive and productive workforce. So Amy Wittenberg is one of MRA's HR advisors. So she's on our 24 seven hotline answering any HR questions you may have. 00:00:51:18 - 00:01:10:16UnknownSo, Amy, welcome back. I'm glad you're on the podcast again. Thank you. It's fun. I enjoy it. Good. Well, employer relations is such a big topic and we only have 30 minutes, unfortunately, in the episode. So let's kind of break this down a little bit and just kind of give us an overview of what employee relations is and what can be done about it. 00:01:10:19 - 00:01:40:07UnknownSure sounds like fun. When I think of employee relations and being on the hotline is probably my favorite call. Yes. You know, because you really get to work with the show in terms of discussing an issue that may or may not be easy in working through, you know, what is the best way for them to handle it. I give them a lot of respect because most of time they're calling and knowing that the answer is, but they just want to walk through it with someone to make sure that they're thinking about all the things that they need to do. 00:01:40:09 - 00:02:04:00UnknownIt's really where we can help coach and brainstorm ideas and maybe even it's even training the trainer, coaching them how to talk about the supervisor regarding an issue. And this is where we really get to help each other thrive. Yeah. So in terms of what's going on, when I think of employee relation issues, you know, it's running the gamut between investigations. 00:02:04:01 - 00:02:29:11UnknownIt could be employee complaints about how they're working with the fellow colleague or maybe with their supervisor. It could be complaints about bullying, offensive behavior and performance, attendance, things going down, the terminations. Sometimes managers come to us and say, you know, we don't think this employees working out or is a good fit because they're, you know, toxic or rather brawls or gossiping, things like that all really hard. 00:02:29:13 - 00:02:50:08UnknownAnd then there's the cell phones. You know, they're everywhere these days. So we get regular calls in terms of, you know, what do I do with employee that this texting about another employee, I'm using the phone too muc