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5HR01 Employment relationship management
Learner Assessment Brief V2
Assessment ID / CIPD_5HR01_22_01
Level 5 Associate Diploma in
▪ People Management
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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5HR01 Employment relationship management
This unit examines the key approaches, practices, and tools to manage and enhance the employee relationship to create better working lives and the significant impact this can have on organisational performance.
CIPD’s insight
The Professional Map – Employee Relations
Employee relations is about creating and maintaining a positive working relationship between an organisation and its people.
An important part of that relationship is the culture, and the extent to which the organisation seeks to be resolution-focused. People professionals have an important role in setting that culture through the development of policies and processes which apply the law in a practical, fair, and transparent way. So, specialists in this area need a deep understanding of employment / labour law, keeping up-to-date with legislative developments in order to advise the business and line managers to create the best outcome for individuals and the organisation.
https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map/specialist-knowledge/employee-relations
Employee voice
Wellbeing, commitment, and innovation are negatively impacted when employees feel they are without ‘voice’ in their organisation. We believe all employers should have policies and practices in place which enable employees to express themselves on matters that are important to them in their work.
Employee voice means individuals being able to safely put forward their viewpoints on their work, at work, irrespective of where, when, and how they do their work. When employee voice channels work effectively, employees can feel valued, trusted, and influential. In turn, this can increase their job satisfaction and performance.
For employers, effective employee voice can mean better relationships with their employees and, ultimately, improved organisational performance. Line managers, people professionals and voice champions have a responsibility to actively bring out, listen to and respond to employees’ voices. They can encourage employees to express themselves in individual and collective channels, both directly, for example to their team leader, and indirectly, for example through an employee representative.
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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Employee voice channels include individual self-representation, for example one-to-one meetings with a line manager and employee surveys, as well as collective representation such as trade unions and an employee representative on the company board. Employee voice platforms increasingly include digital technologies, for instance for group meetings, and protected social networking apps for more informal communication.
https://www.cipd.co.uk/news-views/viewpoint/employee-voice
Engagement
Employees who have good quality jobs and are managed well, will not only be happier, healthier, and more fulfilled, but are also more likely to drive productivity, better products or services, and innovation. This mutual gain view of motivation and people management lies at the heart of employee engagement, a concept that’s become increasingly mainstream in management thinking over the last decade. As part of our work in this area, we sponsor Engage for Success, the voluntary UK movement promoting employee engagement.
Employment law regulates the relationship between employers and employees. It governs what employers can expect from employees, what employers can ask employees to do, and employees’ rights at work.
Please note that the purpose of this insight is to link you to CIPD’s research and evidence within the subject area, so that you can engage with the latest thinking. It is not provided to replace the study required as part of the learning or as formative assessment material.
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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Preparation for the Tasks:
▪ Refer to the indicative content in the unit to guide and support your evidence.
▪ Pay attention to how your evidence is presented, remember you are working in the People Practice Team.
▪ Ensure that the evidence generated for this assessment remains your own work.
You will also benefit from:
▪ Completing and acting on Draft Assessment feedback from your Assessor.
▪ Reflecting on your own experiences of learning opportunities and continuous professional development.
▪ Reading the CIPD Insight, Fact Sheets, and related online material on these topics as well as key research authors on the subject.
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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Scenario
Go Quest is a privately owned company that has accepted union recognition for its employees. It produces high-end adventure clothing and has seen a consistent increase in growth during and post the pandemic. You have recently taken on the role of Employee Relations manager at Go Quest and at your first meeting with the Directors they explain that they are keen to draw on your knowledge and experience of working in the public sector within employment relationship management as this is an area that the company management seeks to improve. They have asked you to produce a report for senior and line managers that provides them with knowledge and understanding of approaches to employee voice and how these can be best used to foster engagement, performance and better working lives. Additionally, they need to understand the different forms of workplace conflict behaviour; disputes and sanctions; the role and main provisions of collective employment law; third party interventions; and managing discipline and grievance resolution.
To complete both sections of the report, you should provide written responses to each of the 16 points below, making appropriate use of academic theory, case and statutory law, research, and good practical examples to substantiate your response and illustrate key points.
To assist the reader, please make use of headings and assessment criteria references to signpost the assessment criteria being addressed.
Section One – Report
The first section of the report should provide knowledge and awareness to Go Quest’s management on approaches that might be adopted to facilitate direct and indirect forms of employee decision-making processes and support engagement, performance and better working lives.
The points that need to be addressed in the first section are:
1) Review emerging developments to inform approaches to employee voice and engagement. (AC 1.1)
2) Differentiate between employee involvement and employee participation and how it builds relationships. (AC 1.2)
3) Assess three employee voice tools and two approaches that might be used to drive employee engagement. (AC 1.3)
4) Critically evaluate the interrelationships between employee voice and organisational performance. (AC 1.4)
5) Explain the concept of better working lives and how this can be designed. (AC 1.5)
SECTION ONE
Your evidence must consist of:
▪ Report format for each of the 5 instructions above.
▪ Approximately 1,500 words in total, refer to CIPD word count policy.
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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SECTION TWO
Your evidence must consist of:
▪ Report format for each of the 11 instructions above.
▪ Approximately 2,400 words in total, refer to CIPD word count policy.
Section Two – Report
This section of the report needs to provide understanding to Go Quest’s managers on the different forms of conflict behaviour and dispute resolution and how to manage performance, disciplinary and grievance matters lawfully. You need to:
1) Distinguish between organisational conflict and misbehaviour, and between informal and formal conflict. (AC 2.1)
2) Distinguish between official and unofficial employee action. (AC 2.2)
3) Assess emerging trends in the types of conflict and industrial sanctions. (AC 2.3)
4) Distinguish between third-party conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. (AC 2.4)
5) Explain the principles of legislation relating to unfair dismissal in respect of capability and misconduct issues. (AC 3.1)
6) Analyse key causes of employee grievances. (AC 3.2)
7) Explain the skills required for effective grievance and discipline-handling procedures. (AC 3.3)
8) Advise on the importance of handling grievances effectively. (AC 3.4)
9) Explain the main provisions of collective employment law. (AC 4.1)
10) Compare the types of employee bodies, union, and non-union forms of employee representation. (AC 4.2)
11) Evaluate the purpose of collective bargaining and how it works. (AC 4.3)
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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Assessment Criteria Evidence Checklist
You may find the following checklist helpful to make sure that you have included the required evidence to meet the task. This is not a mandatory requirement as long as it is clear in your submission where the assessment criteria have been met.
Section One – Report Assessment criteria Evidenced Y/N Evidence reference 1.1 Review emerging developments to inform approaches to employee voice and engagement.
1.2 Differentiate between employee involvement and employee participation and how it builds relationships.
1.3 Assess a range of employee voice tools and approaches to drive employee engagement.
1.4 Critically evaluate the interrelationships between employee voice and organisational performance.
1.5 Explain the concept of better working lives and how this can be designed.
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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Section Two – Report Assessment criteria Evidenced Y/N Evidence reference 2.1 Distinguish between organisational conflict and misbehaviour, and between informal and formal conflict.
2.2 Distinguish between official and unofficial employee action.
2.3 Assess emerging trends in the types of conflict and industrial sanctions.
2.4 Distinguish between third-party conciliation, mediation, and arbitration.
3.1 Explain the principles of legislation relating to unfair dismissal in respect of capability and misconduct issues.
3.2 Analyse key causes of employee grievances.
3.3 Explain the skills required for effective grievance and discipline-handling procedures.
3.4 Advise on the importance of handling grievances effectively.
4.1 Explain the main provisions of collective employment law.
4.2 Compare the types of employee bodies, union, and non-union forms of employee representation.
4.3 Evaluate the purpose of collective bargaining and how it works.
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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5HR01
Employment relationship management
Assessment Criteria marking descriptors.
Assessors will mark in line with the following assessment criteria (AC) marking descriptors, and will indicate where the answer sits within the marking band range for each AC.
Assessors will provide a mark from 1 to 4 for each assessment criteria within the unit. Assessors will use the mark descriptor grid as guidance so they can provide comprehensive feedback that is developmental.
The grid below shows the range for each unit assessment result based on total number of marks awarded across all assessment criteria.
To pass the unit, the assessment must achieve a 2 (Low Pass) or above for each of the assessment criteria.
The overall result achieved will dictate the outcome the assessment receives for the unit, provided NONE of the assessment criteria have been failed or referred.
Please note that the assessment will receive a Pass or Fail result from the CIPD at unit level.
Overall mark Unit result 0 to 31 Fail 32 to 41 Low Pass 42 to 52 Pass 53 to 64 High Pass
Level 5 Associate Diploma
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Marking Descriptors
Mark Range Descriptor 1 Fail
• Insufficient demonstration of knowledge, understanding or skills (as appropriate) required to meet the AC.
• Insufficient examples included, where required, to support answers.
• Presentation and structure of assignment is not appropriate and does not meet the assessment brief.
• Insufficient or no evidence of the use of references to wider reading to help inform answer. 2 Low Pass
• Demonstrates an acceptable level of knowledge, understanding or skills (as appropriate) required to meet the AC.
• Sufficient and acceptable examples included, where required, to support answers.
• Required format adopted but some improvement required to the structure and presentation of the assignment.
• Answers are acceptable but could be clearer in responding to the task and presented in a more coherent way.
• Sufficient evidence of the use of references to wider reading to help inform answer. 3 Pass
• Demonstrates good knowledge, understanding or skills (as appropriate) required to meet the AC.
• Includes confident use of examples, where required, to support each answer.
• Presentation and structure of assignment is appropriate for the assessment brief.
• Answers are clear and well expressed.
• Good evidence of the use of references to wider reading to help inform answer. 4 High Pass
• Demonstrates a wide range and confident level of knowledge, understanding or skill (as appropriate).
• Includes strong examples that illustrate the point being made, that link and support the answer well.
• Answers are applied to the case organisation or an alternative organisation.
• Answers are clear, concise, and well argued, directly respond to what has been asked.
• The presentation of the assignment is well structured, coherent and focusses on the need of the questions.
• Considerable evidence of the use of references to wider reading to inform answer.