November 2022 Volume 4

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

Employee Relations: Maintaining and Strengthening Your Workforce By Rich Melford

If you run a union shop, words like collective bargaining, contract negotiations, grievances and shop stewards can give you a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. They can signal challenging times ahead. A metal working shop often cost millions of dollars to equip and maintain, and you may not want to divert cash away from keeping the place maintained and running. These are valuable assets and need to be up and running to insure the plant’s viability. However, you may not consider it, but your employees are also very important, if not your most valuable assets. Working Together in Challenging Times Go by any business and you see “help wanted” signs. Workers are in short supply and skilled and experienced are even harder to find. No matter what your plant’s level of technology and automation, you still need someone to run everything. Competition for employees is fierce and you want to keep your current employees. Wage and benefit packages are becoming increasingly more expensive, and you need to keep your cash flow strong to cover the ever-rising cost of supplies and materials. To survive you need to have a corporate culture that attracts employees and keeps them on the job. You need to ensure that the union negotiators understand that companies go bankrupt daily, and that there is a balance between what goes to the employees and what is needed for company operations. If the company fails, then they also fail in their ability to provide food, shelter, and healthcare for their families. So that means working together to help the company and at the same time ensuring the workers can maintain the standard of living that they are accustomed to. Understanding &Meeting Expectations Today's inflation is eating away their paychecks. A trip to the grocery store or gas station is painful and a budget buster eliminating vacations, weekend road trips and other sources of enjoyment. Morale is dropping in their daily lives which in turn effects their workplace job performance. What can be done to improve this situation starts at the negotiation table. At the start of negotiations, you need to know what information is being discussed by the employees on the shop floor and in the offices. You need to determine what is incorrect and that which reflects the general mood of your employees. This may give you a clue as to what will be the focus of your negotiations. Initial union and nonunion demands will often reflect that mood. Most certainly economic issues will be a main topic followed by medical insurance coverage and workplace issues. Doing your homework before the start of talks can help you come in prepared. Hopefully, the person

across the table is concerned about the economic pressures facing the company and the companies' current financial position, and not just strengthening the work rules and union issues. A good union representative realizes weakening the company's position among its competitors leads to failure of the company and then everyone loses. Any agreement reached needs to be fair for both sides. There is no golden goose. You need to maintain high workers morale including fair pay and a clear understanding of what is expected off all employees. Rules need enforced, otherwise workers who are arriving on time and doing their jobs see others are getting away with violating polices without consequence and can develop an attitude of “ if others do not have to follow the rules why should I? ” This is reflected by decreasing employee morale and poor job performance and overall productivity. Set up clear guidelines and enforce them. Establish progressive consequences for failure to follow company policy. An employee handbook ensures that every knows what is expected. It is easy to develop a handbook and then review it with a series of company meetings. It should be part of a new employee’s orientation and job training. It helps employees see that everyone is being treated fairly and equally. Making Safety a Priority A metalworking facility can be a dangerous place. Workplace injuries can range from minor to catastrophic. No one wants to go to work feeling that they will get injured on the job. That has a very negative effect on morale. “Safety is no accident” is a phrase that you often hear. Workplace safety practices need to be in place and understood by everyone. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) must be supplied and used. Safety must be part of the corporate culture. Continuing safety training to OSHA standards for all employees’ emphases that the company cares about its workers and this attitude has a big effect on morale. Workplace injuries to an individual can often be caused by a fellow employee. It is important that everyone is involved in safety training. In addition to employee morale and lost productivity, safety is reflected in your Workers Compensation experience rating. Workers’ Compensation rates in the metalworking industry are among the highest. Workers’ Compensation is expensive and has a major impact on the bottom line. If health insurance coverage is provided, then you realize it is increasingly more expensive. It is a major expense but also an important benefit for your workers. Most companies can no longer afford to provide company paid “Cadillac”

FIA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2022 56