How to improve the workplace

For many of us, our employment relationship is one of our principal relationships in life. We don’t go so far as to marry our work, but we will often spend more of our waking hours with the people we work with than the people we live with.

Unlike family relationships, however, employment relationships are contractual. That is, the employment relationship between an employer and an employee comes into existence when the parties complete an employment contract.

However, an employment relationship is not just contractual, or rather, it is a very different type of contract. Unlike your contract with a plumber or your accountant, an employment relationship includes a duty of good faith. And that duty has real teeth — for both parties.

The Employment Relations Act 2000 spells out what it means to act in good faith. That includes:

■ Not doing anything directly or indirectly that is likely to mislead or deceive each other

■ Being responsive and communicative

■ Providing access to relevant information that may affect the employment relationship

■ Listening to one another before making key decisions

Other duties include the obligation to ensure confidential information remains confidential, (for employers) to provide a safe working environment, and (for employees) to look after the employer’s interests.

I work in both family law and employment law, and I know that many of our family relationships would benefit from a duty of good faith. However, for those of us in employment relationships — as either employee or employer — it is helpful to think what we can do better to make the employment relationship work well.

A key issue is where communication has not worked well. Sometimes it will be when the employer is contemplating a change to their business that may affect the terms and conditions of their employee’s employment. Sometimes it will arise when an employee is struggling with their health and it is starting to affect their work performance.

The Employment Relations Act requires the parties to an employment relationship to work together constructively when these issues arise. That is the natural upshot of a duty of good faith.

Although the duty goes both ways, it will often be the employer who needs to be proactive as they are the one who usually initiates change or identifies issues they want to address.

The good news is that it is easy for employers to show good faith by following some basic rules. They are:

■ Get your facts right, which means properly looking into an issue without jumping to conclusions

■ Raise the issue with the other party before taking action

■ Give the other party a reasonable opportunity to respond before making any decisions

■ Maintain an open mind when considering the other party’s response so when it comes time to make a decision, your decision is fair and reasonable.

Observing these basic rules and principles can make the workplace a much better place.

If your workplace is struggling for any reason and you want advice and assistance, please contact the team as CS Law for help.

You may be surprised at how quickly an apparently unsolvable problem can be resolved when you get the right people involved.