Employee Relations
A human resource manager who stays in her office all day will not be effective at building strong relationships with employees. Another function of the human resource manager is to gain the trust and confidence of employees--the best way to establish trust and confidence is through daily interaction with the workforce. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Human resources occupations require strong interpersonal skills.” Again, with a smaller workforce, the results of an HR manager's interpersonal skills may be seen more quickly than in a large organization. Employee relations is a large part of the human resources manager’s job function, because employee concerns encompass a wide range of issues over which the manager has influence. The human resource manager is the “face of HR” and therefore relied upon to be both human resources expert and employee advocate.