Lesson 19- Ways to manage employees who are represented by a union

Ways to manage employees who are represented by a union

Here are seven helpful ideas to think about:

• Approach managing all employees the same way, whether they’re represented by a union or not because effective management applies to both: being honest, communicating well and often, listening to and resolving issues as they arise, recognizing and rewarding good performance, and creating an environment of trust and respect. Discipline yourself to treat all employees the same — because once you start to treat them differently then they will begin to look at and react to you differently.
• Learn how to work with shop stewards — the first level of representation for your employees represented by a union. The shop steward may come to you first to resolve a situation, or they may be on hand with an employee to make sure that the employee understands his/her rights. The best practice is to work with them as though they are an extra set of eyes and ears for you — like a partner helping to manage your employees. Utilized effectively, they can be a helpful ally to you.
• Resolve disputes quickly and fairly. Formal grievance procedures are standard in most union contracts, but they’re there only if you and your employee can’t resolve a disagreement first. Talk to the people in your organization who can help you — your supervisor or HR — then work openly with your shop stewards and your employees.
• Know what you want because you’ll have to put it in writing. Contracts replace handbooks and they are “hard and fast” rules that govern your relationship with these employees. Research best practices and language in other contracts so you better understand all your options before you agree to anything. You may want to consider putting language in your union contract that creates a process to update contract rules and policies if there are changes that would be warranted. You’ll have to get approval from the union, but that’s better than waiting until the next round of negotiations when the contract expires.
• Review your non-union policies and procedures to make sure that you’ve got similarity between what you give each group. Again,