Human Resources Employee Relations Specialist: Roles and Responsibilities

The Employees Relations department is one of several major functions of Human Resources and plays a very integral role in employer-employee correlation.  HR Employee Relation Specialist collaborates with management to promote positive working relationships among the employees. Depending upon the size of an organization, Employee Relations deals with several aspects concerning the employees’ well being.  Employee relations endorse effective HR practices that are essential in establishing and maintaining positive employer-employee relationships. Whether it is conducting investigations for sexual harassment claims, discrimination claims, grievances, union issues, advising on performance appraisals, monitoring OSHA statistics, or determining appropriate disciplinary action procedure. These are things that many specialists handle on a day-to-day basis. As an employee relations specialist, an individual’s main focus is to determine the best course of action for employees’ complaints and other issues one may encounter within the company. Simply put, the specialist seeks to align the employees’ needs and rights with the needs of the organization. This dynamic team is the key link between the organization and its employees overall. If an organization seeks to have an excellent employer-employee relationship, it should have an excellent employee-relations team in place. 

If you are considering a career as a Human Resources Employee Relations Specialist, keep in mind that no day will be the same, but will vary. For example, one day you may have to conduct an investigation regarding a sexual harassment complaint.  And the next day you may deal with grievances issues. And another day you may have to investigate a racial or sexual discrimination complaint. Or better yet, you might have to deal with multiple- dissimilar employee issues in one day.  This is why- in addition to great people skills; an individual would need to possess excellent multi-tasking skills, organizational skills and time management skills to be successful in this job.  One must also have good listening skills, problem-solving skills and patience. Bear in mind, this job is very involved and exhilarating as well.  The ideal person will handle highly sensitive material such as employee personal data and must possess the ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality at all times.

The minimal educational requirement for an Employee Relations Specialist is a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related discipline.  Some employers also require that you have previous experience as well.  Now if you are considering an upper- management level position as an Employee Relations Counselor or manager, you will need to have your MBA or a Master’s degree with a concentration in Human Resources or Management along with 6 to 8 years of experience. If you are presently employed as an Employee Relations Specialist and desire a management role, advancement should not be difficult -provided you hold a graduate degree in the required discipline.

The job outlooks for Employee Relations specialist are good. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Relations, between 2004 and 2014, Human Resources career opportunities will increase by 24% from 166,100 to 206,200.  The median salary range for an Employee Relations Specialist is 52,300, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Also, see grid for salary percentile, per

Salary Wizard for 2011 below.
10^th%                        25^th %                            75^th%                                  90^th%
$37,900                    $ 42,911                         $54,511                              $60,061


Sources:  Salary Wizard,  U. S. Department of Labor Relations, Bureau of Labor and Statistics