What is the difference between employee relations and industrial relations?
Industrial relations are those between an employer and a collective workforce, almost exclusively held together by a recognised union, although this does not necessarily need to be the case. Employee relations involves all matters involving the relationship between an employee or employees and the employer and is a far broarder term – which is why the phrase is most commonly used in HR departments. So in short, employee relations could involve anything at all (absences, pay, disciplinaries), Industrial relations is specifically referring to unions.
