At 2023’s CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition, Vista’s Head of Learning, Vicky Roberts, shared some insights published by our sister company, esphr, into how middle managers and HR feel about how employee relations (ER) issues are managed in their organisations.

If you missed it,  we explored why first line managers went to HR every time there was an ER issue; yet more senior managers wanted to deal with it themselves, but expected HR to deal with the risk – or should we say aftermath – of doing it ‘their’ way.

We explored two personas, Charlie and Sam –  and our audience told us which characteristics resonated with them the most. Here are the results:

(right click and select ‘open in new tab’ to see them better!)

Sound familiar? We thought so. So, how can you help your managers tackle ER issues head on?

In the light of all we know from our experience and this research, we’ve put together a blueprint of your next ER programme: designed to develop middle managers’ confidence and capability. 

ER Training ‘BluePrint’

• Understand why your policies say what they do
• Recognise the importance of recording ER issues to gather data on trends
• Develop your teams skills to be respectfully curious
• Give them the confidence that it’s okay not to know the answer to a situation
• Ensure they have the capability to make good quality decisions, such as:
• Evaluating evidence
• Identifying root causes of situations
• Whether formal management is required
• Commitment to take the time that’s needed to ‘show their workings’ for decisions.

To help with point 1 of the blueprint, try this approach to explaining the ACAS Code of Practice: It helps managers understand the mindset they need to have as they’re following your processes.  Suddenly, the reason why your template disciplinary invite letter is asking them to set out the details of the allegation makes so much more sense when they know they need to ‘be clear’!

And finally, to help with point 4, make your training technique-led. Try our three-part technique for breaking down an investigation.  Here it is, in a nutshell.

It makes for a comprehensive training need analysis (TNA) tool to hone exactly what your investigations development needs to contain. We’ve developed a TNA which asks you a series of 15 questions about the investigations that have been conducted in your organisation. The questions are designed only to help you diagnose knowledge or skills gaps – so be honest, and we’d love to hear how you get on.

If you missed the Middle Managers research from esphr, you can download it here.