Assignment Tasks Case Study Employee Relations at South-West Trains The company has a well-established collective bargaining agreement with ASLEF, the RMT, TSSA and AMICUS, which operates through the South-West Trains Company Council. This agreement gives the unions negotiating rights on a range of issues, including pay and terms and conditions of employment. They are also consulted on issues relating to performance and attendance, MEC_AMO_TEM_034_01 Page 1 of 14 Employee Relations (BUSS 1704) - Spring -20 -CW2 (Assignment) All-QP changes in working practices, and redundancy. The Company Council is supported by a number of smaller groups. South-West Trains needs to ensure that it can involve and engage all staff, not just its union members. A number of employees are not represented by a union and have a limited formal voice in the company. In addition, the firm's 'Tell Us' employee survey shows that a percentage of staff don't feel they're consulted about major decisions. These factors, combined with the approach of the new Employee Information and Consultation Regulations requiring that all staff are included in consultation arrangements, led the company to review its existing arrangements The company would prefer the current collective-bargaining machinery to be adapted to allow non-union representatives to be informed and consulted alongside union representatives. However, other options may be possible, including establishing employee forums that would be open to all staff and would operate in parallel to the Company Council. Although it has a very good working relationship with all the unions, the company has moved away from relying solely on collective machinery to inform and consult employees. It takes responsibility for communicating with all employees and has improved its direct methods of communication. It holds ad hoc forums on specific issues to generate feedback from employees. Staff surveys have shown that employees want face-to-face communication, where possible through their line manager. Time with your manager sessions have been introduced for operational staff to ensure that individuals have regular conversations with their line manager. HR seeks to get across the message to line managers that negotiating skills are basically communication skills, and that authentic conversations are needed to establish trust-based relationships with employees. "Partnership in the company is seen as being essentially between employer and employees, while the relationship with the trade unions is a professional one. In addition to regular team briefings by line managers, the company is increasingly using email and the company intranet to communicate with employees. Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2015. Employee Relations (BUSS 1704) - Spring - 20 -CW2 (Assignment) - All-QP Answer the following questions: Q1. Critically analyse the importance of collective bargaining to South-West Trains. (15 marks) Q2. Critically discuss two issues that are addressed through collective bargaining in South-West Trains and their impact on organizational performance. (20 marks) Q3. Critically examine two employee participation practices in South-West Trains and their impact on employee performance. (20 marks) Q4. Critically evaluate the impact of performance appraisal policy on South-West Trains performance and employees' performance. (25 marks)