An employee relation is one of the major responsibilities of the human resources managers, it is meant to ensure that there is a good relationship between the employees and the employers with the objective of increasing the productivity, morale and motivation. One of the major functions of the employee relation is to ensure that the problems of the workers are solved and preventing such problems occurring. The supervisors are given the responsibility on the action to take to ensure that the employees discipline and conduct adheres to the rules of the organization. Guidelines are drawn to assist the employee understanding of the goal and objectives set by the management, more so, information is given to help the employees while taking corrective action and they are further given advise on how to go about bargaining their terms of employments, legislation and regulation.

Employees relations is some times confused or used as a synonym for industrial relation since it deal with the relationship of workers and management and the conduct of workers in the in work place. To understand the employee relations, one must start by understanding the legal frame work in the work place, and then consider the social psychological influence aspect part of the employee in terms of trust, communication and commitment. In deep understanding of the employee relations, it's important to consider factors that influence the employer employee relationship

Globalization is one of the factors affecting the employee relations, otherwise known as the industrial relations. Strategic management is important because changes in employee relations has resulted to increased bargaining power of the employees, flexibility in working time as well as changing job functions and this has occurred due to the increase in competition, product processes changes due to consumer awareness combined with the increasing essence in quality, productivity and skills. An integration of all these factors has had impact on the practices and policies of the management. While managing change in the firm, the employee involvement in making sure the change is effected is very important while the management has to ensure that the skills processed by the employees are compatible with those required in the market to meet the customer needs. The results of globalization are that:1)Countries have become more interdependent economically than before due to the breakdown of barriers of trade hence they cannot become self reliant; 2)Governments have been unable to control information, technology and capital flow across the boundaries; 3)Markets are now not regulated allowing the goods, services and capital to integrate like the European Union; 4)Companies are becoming global entities which are forming the global webs due to de-nationalization of firms; 5)The firms have discovered the importance of remaining competitive in the market b y producing high quality services and goods.

A strategic human resource management is essential in making sure the objectives of production of high quality products, ability to counter fast to the dynamics of the market and continuous innovation are attained, and this can only be achieved through employee training, involvement and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, this making the employee relations to be of paramount importance in management. In many firms which include the general motors, the employee relations are taken to consist of five values which have enabled the management to succeed in achieving its objectives, these are: 1)How the works are organize; 2)Acquisition skills and development of employees; 3)Compensation and pay processes and structures; 4)Security arrangements on employment and staffing; 4)Labor management issues.

With the increased importance of the employee relations, the human resources is has shifted it focus to quality, innovation and reduction of the cost. The importance of human resource management (HRM) is reflected in the personnel management in the firms. Employee relations (ER) is better viewed as a long term goal rather than short term because it deals with the way the HRM treats the people in long term view. In successful companies like General Motors it's noted that how the workers are treated is a key item feature in the long term beside other factors like the corporate culture and the objectives.

Today in most industries, the HRM is recognized since it's of big concern to the company since it's not meant to only ensure that the employees comply with the laid down policies but also win commitment of the workers, this therefore makes the ER a worthy investment. HRM strategies are affected or influenced by the decisions made in relation to the structure, strategy and considering the external factors like the legal system, labor market position and the influence of trade unions.