Regular feedback from employees can be used as an indicator for measuring ER in an organization. For more information, see the following, please:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/employee-relations-overview.aspx

Dear Debi,

The attached link explains the best HR metrics, the part about employer relations follows

It’s essential that you balance employee engagement with employee productivity in order to ensure that managers don’t abuse or burnout their employees in an effort to maximize productivity. Both are important, and there are studies that demonstrate the impact of high engagement on productivity and a firm’s success.

Managers should be rewarded for both high productivity and high employee engagement scores.

Employee engagement Metrics  include:

1-The percentage of employees who “look forward to coming to work” everyday

2-The percentage of employees who feel that their managers exercise expected management behaviors (from survey results relating to two-way communication, challenging and exciting work, exceptional growth and learning, recognition and reward, some degree of control over their job, and knowing that their work makes a difference)

I have also attached a course module on employee relations from Edinburgh business school.which it is worth reading. 

http://www.ere.net/2004/07/26/what-are-the-best-hr-metrics-for-a-large-organization/

Thanks dear Asmat and Behrouz, for your interesting answers. Traditionally, the state of IR has been used by measuring the man-days lost, number of strikes, number of industrial disputes, number of grievances, etc. I was just thinking if we have some such measures for ER as well.

ER is believed to be the process of relationship-building  between the management and employees through human resource interventions and culture-building activities. It symbolizes a shift from adversarialism to cooperation between the two sides. Surely, your answers are quite relevant in view of this wider definition of ER.

Staff Turnover(The percentage, each year of employees who leave their jobs for reasons other than dismissal, retirement, retrenchment or death ),Absenteeism,Quality of products,Disputes,Bench marking are some of the important indicators in the Employee Relations. 

Dear @Debi, I think that productivity is the main and most important indicator to measure the state of employee relations, because if the organization is productive and is growing this leads to employees' satisfaction and therefore more positive relations among the employees.

First of all, I think that a positive indicator is when the employees are punctual in coming to the organization & upon leaving it on daily basis.

Secondly, when there is a drop in asking for permits to leave & when there are rare cases of absence from work then this is another positive sign.

Thirdly, an important positive indication of good (IR) & (ER) is when the employees are engaged in their work with real (and not fake) enthusiasm & production is visible.

Add to the aforementioned, when the employees provide suggestions for innovation & betterment in the organization, then this is a healthy sign.

When (IR)& (ER) are in a dismal state of affairs, employees will show signs of introversion, slow actions or low degree of activity, and less care. They will just count the minutes in waiting for leaving their shifts, for the salary, and for holidays.

Employee relations can be defined as the manner in which management addresses and interacts with the staff. Maintaining good employee relations helps reduce workplace conflict, raise staff morale and increase overall productivity.

I am not very well versed with the subject, but here are a few references that should help.

http://www.slideshare.net/Dovetail_Software/5-employee-relations-metrics-you-should-be-tracking-why

http://www.koenig.ca/files/HR_Metrics.pdf

http://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1360245438.2538human%20resource81.pdf

Some of the common indicators would include:

1. Staff turnover/ attrition rate 

2. Rate of absenteeism (employees who feel less motivated are not just more likely to play truant but also more prone to stress-related illnesses. Good ER and IR can lead to positive stress which can in turn, can aid higher productivity.

3. Quality of services and products, since productivity and efficacy are direct by products of good ER

4. Business performance in relation to similar, competing organizations. This is directly related to Point #3. There is a clear correlation between social capital and business outcome.

Social data mining on employee satisfaction through their status on social media that related with their work or the company. And following your other thread using utrecth work engagement scale or job engagement scales to measure employee work engagement.

Indicators i agree what @behrouz said employee engagement,@asmat and prof .Shafig said of feedback,employee turnover,combination of KPI and PMF for employee productivity.

Human relations form the basis of growth or fall of any institution.

If we relate an institution to a tree, the roots will be important for stability growth and nutrition. The stem and branches are which gives upward growth which starts from new shoots.

The leaves give shelter nutrition beauty and food back to the root and also controls environment.

The flower and fruit is what you sell to enjoy the profit.

The fruit does it part by producing seed and the flower by pollinating.

An institution grows only if the employee and employers think themselves as part of a lovely tree.

I think good relations among employees is considered one of the dimensions of job satisfaction. Therefore, job satisfaction can be an indicator to measure the state of employee relations.

Dear Satyaprasad ji, Thanks a lot for your unique and very valuable answer. It definitely helps build a relevant context to looking at this issue. Certainly, the assumption of all employee relations  (ER) intervention to strengthen the roots of the employer-employee relationship by nurturing it continuously, and so as to be  acceptable to both sides as just and fai. Though the advocates of  adversarial industrial relations (IR) see this as "iron fist with velvet gloves" or "a wolf in  sheep's clothing," but now there is ample research evidence that shows that employees as individual are quite happy with positive climate of ER rather than clamouring for a hostile and adversarial  IR scenario.

Dear all, Your answers to the question of indicators are extremely helpful, and most of the indicators you have suggested are novel. They will help me plan a more comprehensive list of indicators for a research student of mine who wishes to explore further into this area. I would say each is likely to prove more useful than the other. Thanks for your generosity in thinking on this issue and your help. and coming out with some very thoughtful solutions. 

The employees (Human Resources) is the first and foremost for the growth of any organisation, nowadays they are considered as  partners/part of the organisation instead of just "Employees" . This concept is certainly healthy for the development of the employees and the institution alike.

Further, the relations (Employee/Employer) in such a scenario will be healthy,sustained,and mutually beneficial.

I suppose added some points to the discussion.

Human resource are the intangible assets of the organization, involving them in decision making and creating a satisfactory environment with in the organization and frequent checking their satisfaction through informal meeting, survey, drop box or suggestion box opportunity can be use as indicator.

Thank you Debi sab

British government conducts a employment relations study at regular intervals. The Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) is a national survey of people at work in Britain. It is the flagship survey of employment relations in Britain. It collects data from employers, employee representatives and employees in a representative sample of workplaces. i think the indicators used by them in the study can be helpful. they carry out the study by collecting data from employer, employees and worker representatives. major indicators used are:

who manages employee relations??

how much time HR manager spend on each HR function??

what is the level of employee representation through union?

what is the attitude of MANAGEMENT TOWARDS UNION ETC.

Please find attached the report.

Positive indicators to measure state of employee relations

Key indicators to measure the state of employee relations in an organization include six major elements that are trust, satisfaction, commitment, exchange relationship, communal relationship and mutual control.

Relation is always a dynamic state.

knowing the dynamics at various levels is more important than speculating on a few events.

knowledge performance and acceptance forms a  key indicator.

contribution appreciation rebuke rejection, all matter  lot.

Assessment of employees relationship is an important part of the HR management. Therefore, like HR management strategies, indicators for employees relationship may also be revisited from  to time in accordance with changing situations. Furthermore, periodical survey and feedback are also  important. 

Hi

I think these papers will help you.

http://www.ebsglobal.net/documents/course-tasters/english/pdf/h17er-bk-taster.pdf

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFYQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebsglobal.net%2Fdocuments%2Fcourse-tasters%2Fenglish%2Fpdf%2Fh17er-bk-taster.pdf&ei=wQbuU5mpKuqc0QXU1IGQCQ&usg=AFQjCNElChcLTMjcf4OHq-E3LUBmc2C38A&sig2=lVb92yi86_d8jF-JJYBD5A&bvm=bv.73231344,d.bGE

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ilo.org%2Fpublic%2Fenglish%2Frevue%2Fdownload%2Fpdf%2Fghai.pdf&ei=wQbuU5mpKuqc0QXU1IGQCQ&usg=AFQjCNHUZq8_XG_arDtQLrmPUtNwGs0ZRw&sig2=Eym9oRlnxeTP6FVza_g49g&bvm=bv.73231344,d.bGE

Regards

Thanks Atena for the attachments. Indeed, the last attachment is quite helpful in identifying the indicators if one reads the paper carefully and focuses  on the decent work indicators that are impliedly identified  in the paper. For, decent work is directly related to the building of positivity in employee relations.

your welcome

Measuring Employee relations is a Subjective search towards

• identifying the ambiance for a launch of certain initiatives
• To gauge the pulse of employee satisfaction, after an intervention.
• To check the attitudes , perception and motivation of employees during the progress of a Organization-vide activity.

Thanks dear@ Alexandre for your thread. I agree that reduction in absence is a good indicator for measuring positivity in  ER. Perhaps, by the term number of contributions, you are meaning suggestions given by employees or making contribution in any other way. That too is an important point to be taken care of in identifying the indicators of employee relations.

Dear @ Krishnan, no doubt, all the three indicators that you have suggested are very important  indicators of ER. Tata Steel is known to be focusing on the creation of an ambiance that facilitates employee engagement  as a necessary area of focus of all its HR activities. Your points on employee attitudes, employee satisfaction, and motivation levels that you have suggested also reflect your thoughtfulness. Much appreciated.

Dear Debi,

Employee relations can affect many variables, such as job satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and loyalty.

Regular feedback, countering conflicts, listening to the demands of employees and a healthy and social atmosphere with friendly as well as team spirit are needed for this.

The question has been asked about employee relations, does this mean employee and employer relation, or inter employee relation, or organizational relation.

Employee and employer relations are the most delicate ones. inter employee relations are to be monitored and tailored so that there is no competitiveness between employees but progressive growth on a common platform. the massive difference of a socialistic or capitalistic attitude would play a major role.

Dear Debi,

Give the employees a feeling and sense of ownership role in the organisation, show them they are part and parcel of the organisational growth, and if they want to grow and climb the ladder then they have to have set the precedence, have to be sincere and trustworthy.

A constant and  fair,transparent review mechanism should be  in place to avoid any conflicts.

ONE INDICATOR COULD BE THE PREVALENCE OF RUMOR

The degrees to which employees show affective commitment, display openness in communication, support co-workers, and defend the organisation are possible indicators of healthy employee-employer relation.

Dear Debi,

There are a number of leading and lagging indicators (e.e. turnover, work-life

balance and family, etc.) on employee relations in the article attached, hope you find it useful.

Article Designing a General Set of Sustainability Indicators at the ...

Potential metrics include:

• Performance turnover, satisfaction, commitment, exchange relationship, communal relationship and mutual control.
• Short, frequent surveys.
• Communicating the results and improving.
• Follow up and repeat.