Medical services provider nearly loses
union election, then transforms its employee relations environment
in only one year - and the union never returned!
This company suffered about as near
a miss as you can - they won a union election by just one vote in a
unit of around 150 employees. They hired us to help them after this
election.
This organization had a number of
serious issues, starting with a challenging relationship between the
owner of the company and its top operations manager. One of our primary
tasks for the year was working this out or making a change. Ultimately
a new leader was selected for the position.
The survey results
also showed frustration with pay and benefits and immediate supervision.
The company's growth outpaced many of their employee relations systems
and our task over the next year was to catch up. We developed policies
and procedures to help ensure consistency across departments (a major
complaint).
We were able to implement a number
of other communication improvements. Things were really on a roll.
Then
disaster struck. About a month before the union could file another
petition (which we figured was a near certainty) the company learned
that it would be forced to pay nearly 50% more for health insurance. It
was able to absorb about half of this increase, but employees would be
asked to pay about 25% more for insurance.
We used this very negative development
to test how well we had done preparing supervisors for their role as
communicators during the year. Each supervisor met individually with
his or her direct reports and explained the situation. They went over
all the options with employees.
In the end the benefit communication
went as well as could be hoped. Employees weren't entirely happy (which
showed up in the survey results) but they were sure that the company
was doing everything it could - and they saw tremendous improvement
over the last year.
Surprisingly, the union never came
back. This was a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to the hard
work done by the leadership team of this company.
NOTE: Due to the
sensitive nature of these interventions, the company identity is kept
confidential. If you would like to learn more, or wish to arrange a discussion
with the actual client, please contact Phil Wilson at 888-435-0002. |
Transform your workplace this year!
