Employee Relations and Regulatory Practices: The Global and Kenyan Perspective

In the globalized world today with the related heavy competitiveness prevailing in the business world, much attention is given towards the employee relationship as if not handled properly outcome may be disastrous to any business organization. The responsibility of maintaining healthy employee relations primarily lies with the hands of the management but employees too have a major role to play as it has to be a collective game plan in order to achieve a win-win situation for both the employees as well as the institution. The HR professionals should display their competencies in employee relations, management of conflict in the workplace and ongoing value of the employee relations rather than as a management function or well-defined area of activity. It is the key point of reference for determining the nature and extent of employer’s rights and obligations towards their workers. Employee relations has been, and continues to be, the main vehicle through which workers gain access to the rights and benefits associated with employment in the areas of labour law and social security. This paper will examine the issue of employee relations involved in the management of human resources in Kenya and international organizations. It will focus on the basics of employee relations, labour laws in Kenya and future trends in employee relations in Kenya and Africa in general.