Keeping your employees engaged is a crucial part of maintaining business success. A Gallup study shows that concrete performance management activities, such as providing the right employee resources, results in a more engaged workforce.
To put it simply, companies who have a focus on creating positive employee relationships show more success as a result. This success is thanks to their more engaged and, thus, more productive employees. Knowing how to address employee relations at your company will depend on your needs. For example, some HR departments share employee relations tasks amongst one another.
Conversely, other companies benefit from focusing any employee relations initiatives into a single manager role. So, whether you’re looking to add a new employee relations manager or a uniquely skilled labor relations candidate to your department, having the right interview questions can help your search.
Consider using some of the following employee relations interview questions when looking for a candidate that meets your needs.
Employee Relations Interview Questions
How do you stay up to date with changing legislation?
The first topic on our list of employee relations interview questions looks at how well a candidate understands legislation. Specifically, this question looks at what knowledge a candidate has already and how active they are in staying up to date on changes to legislation. For example, an ideal candidate should have some surface-level knowledge of legislation such as the National Labor Relations Act and other federal legislation that protects workers’ rights.
Additionally, you may use this question to see how much your candidate knows about state and city legislation. Ensuring that your company remains compliant with both national and state legislation is part of the employee relations role.
What experience do you have in creating and implementing HR policies?
While a general HR candidate may have experience in creating or implementing policies, you’re looking for a unique employee relations policy experience. So, you may use this question to ask a candidate what kind of policies they’ve worked on previously. Typically, employee relations policies involve things like employee well-being.
Let’s say you’re looking for a new way to improve the work-life balance of your employees. If so, your ideal employee relations candidate would have some experience in creating policies that target this specific subject.
Describe the methods you have used to resolve conflict in the workplace.
As an employer, it’s natural to want to avoid any conflict in the workplace. Nevertheless, conflict can arise even in the best of work environments. Therefore, having the right employee relations staff can help your HR department with preventive measures as well as useful conflict resolution processes.
Additionally, you can use this question to see what ways a candidate might improve on your current conflict resolution processes. This gives you some insight into what perspective the candidate can bring to your team.
Strengthen Workplace Relationships With the Right Employee Relations Hire
In the end, employee relations can give your employees the aid they need in the workplace, so finding the right candidate is crucial. Having the right interview questions is a great starting point for a successful candidate search.
Overall, however, a comprehensive candidate search can be too time-consuming for many employers. To ensure you find the talent you need in a timely manner, partnering with an experienced search firm like Interim HR Consulting can help.
By focusing on HR staffing needs, Interim HR’s team uses its in-depth experience when meeting a client’s needs. Additionally, clients receive timely results without having to sacrifice candidate quality.
Make the most out of your upcoming employee relations search and contact the team at Interim HR for a custom staffing solution today!
IHR cannot and does not provide legal advice. It’s important to consult with qualified counsel before adopting any new policies. It’s also your responsibility to determine whether legal review of work product is necessary prior to implementation.