Blog # 4: Employee Relations.

One thing I have become very aware of since working at Curtin Business School International is the importance of employee relations. Over the nine months that I’ve been working here I’ve come to love the different personalities I work with and I can honestly say that everyone in my department works really hard. However, with the pressures of modern life, there’s no denying that the staff here (and everywhere for that matter!) are often under enormous amounts of stress.

Employee relations is a topic that is often covered in PR classes such as PR Principles and PR Techniques. Personally, I have always paid a great deal of attention to the recommendations that lecturers and tutors suggest because where would a workplace be without its staff?

For anyone that has worked you would know that it’s extremely important to feel valued at work. If your employer can give you a sense of worth and the reassurance that what you’re doing is making a difference then it can mean the world.

In relating this to my placement at CBS International, I’ve paid attention to what goes on around me. I sit in an office with a number of Program Administrators who act as the ‘Student Services’ for students on offshore Curtin campuses in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Mauritius and Sydney. They have direct contact with students on a daily basis so what they do is extremely important as students are, of course, one of Curtin’s key stakeholder groups. The happier the staff are, the better they can deal with enquiries which can then result in a more satisfied student. Everyone wins!

Listed below are some of the programs and practices that CBS has established to increase employee morale and motivation. **Please note that I refer to CBS and not CBS International from now on because this topic is easier to address when I talk about the business faculty at Curtin as a whole.

· Access to professional development courses
· The right to be involved in the Healthy Lifestyle Program http://worklifebalance.curtin.edu.au/

· Study support
· General Staff Blog and The Vice-Chancellor’s Blog
· Staff meetings
· Staff committee groups
· Team building days
· Extracurricular emails (e.g. staff receive emails about sporting events, opportunities to be involved in footy tipping etc.)
· Staff benefits such as parental leave, home-based work and flexible working hours
· ‘Your Voice’ staff climate survey
· Birthday cards
· Christmas party and Secret Santa

What more could CBS be doing?
It appears that CBS do a lot to ensure that staff are kept in high spirits and yes, I truly believe they should be commemorated for their efforts thus far. However, there’s no harm in suggesting some recommendations for the future! Perhaps a thing or two can be learnt from Google. Check this YouTube clip out – you’ll be amazed! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWlHtvZHbZ8

My first suggestion to CBS is to think about introducing a staff newsletter. Whilst this is a simple tactic I really think that it will bring a sense of unity to the staff group. The newsletter can celebrate staff achievements, include staff of team profiles, promote key messages and include fun things such as quizzes or interesting facts.

Another suggestion would be to launch a campaign that encourages employees to give feedback in regards to their workplace environment. Perhaps it could be called “Your Opinion Matters.” There will always be general chit-chat in a workforce and to ensure that employee concerns are dealt with before they balloon into a big issue it is important that staff know where to go to voice their opinion. Whilst I believe the “Your Voice” staff survey at Curtin is a great tool to measure staff satisfaction, I believe that evaluation has to be ongoing and the feedback needs to be acted on where possible.

So now I turn to you:
Do you think CBS can do anything more to stimulate positive employee relations?

So that is it. My final blog for Public Relations Professional Practice is complete. My placement at CBS International has been a fantastic learning experience and I’m lucky enough to have secured my position until the end of the year with the possibility of gaining a full-time position in 2012.

I look forward to reading your suggestions for increasing positive employee relations. Good luck with your reports everyone and all the best in your PR careers!

-Sami x

Samantha Cobb Study Abroad Coordinator CBS International Curtin Business School Curtin University Tel +61 8 9266 4572 Email Sam.cobb@curtin.edu.au Web www.curtin.edu.au