Employee relations issues are surprisingly similar in almost all organizations: a workplace conflict, a manager who wants to fire someone for poor performance but never documented their feedback, or a policy that’s applied unfairly for different people.
If these issues aren’t addressed and resolved by employee relations teams, they can grow into bigger problems.
This guide covers 81 employee relations issues, examples per type and industry, best practices, and how Sodales handles them.
Read more: Five people will have five different answers when asked about employee relations; workplace issues are just one aspect. Check out our complete guide.
What Are Employee Relations Issues?
Employee relations issues are conflicts or workplace problems that come up between employees, managers, and the organization.
Common ones are workplace conflicts, performance issues, policy violations, communication failures, employee disengagement, and absenteeism.
Read more: Definition and Scope of Employee Relations.
Importance of Addressing Employee Relations Issues
Employee relations (ER) issues cause disruptions in the workplace and affect how employees feel, creating a need for organizations to protect themselves.
There are three main problems when these employee concerns are left unresolved:
Litigation risk. An unfairly treated employee files a lawsuit that becomes an expensive case to defend, regardless of who wins.
Erosion of trust. Unaddressed workplace events easily turn into low morale, disengagement, and teams that stop pointing them out at all.
Repeat cases. If HR cannot see patterns, they will keep reacting to the same underlying issue instead of fixing the root cause.
Documenting, investigating, and resolving ER issues is a matter of urgency to protect organizations legally and reputationally.
51 Examples of Employee Relations Issues and Their Solutions
Below are 51 employee relations issues under five categories with specific examples and solutions that HR can apply.
1. Interpersonal and Workplace Behavior Issues
This category includes conflicts between coworkers or between an employee and their manager. Symptoms are usually seen as friction, tension, or personality clashes.
Workplace issues get formally escalated to employee relations when:
- the same employee is named in multiple complaints
- threat or harm is involved
- a report ties to a protected characteristic.
Issue | Example | Solution |
1. Coworker conflicts | A manager and employee clash over project timelines. | Mediate a direct conversation, clarify roles. |
2. Personality clashes | Different work styles cause friction. | Clarify expectations, adjust team structure if friction persists. |
3. Gossiping | Rumors causing mistreatment. | Find the source and reinforce communication norms. |
4. Bullying | Condescending attitude towards a colleague. | Investigate, address, monitor. |
5. Manager-employee tension | Employee reports inconsistent feedback from a manager. | Train manager and set clear expectations. |
6. Can’t get along with team | One employee is at odds with entire team. | Look for a pattern, mediate individually, involve HR if it continues. |
7. Perceived favoritism | A manager is seen giving preferential treatment to an employee they like. | Review manager decisions objectively, train on consistent treatment. |
8. Pushing religious or political views on coworkers | An employee keeps pushing their personal beliefs on others. | Set clear workplace conduct expectations. |
9. Swearing or cussing | An employee’s language makes others uncomfortable. | Document instances, address directly, escalate if recurring. |
10. Disrespectful conduct | Feedback is met with unprofessional or hostile language. | Document, address, escalate. |
11. Intimidation or veiled threats | An employee implies harm towards others through remarks. | Take seriously, investigate immediately, involve legal authorities if necessary. |
2. Performance and Accountability Issues
This category includes when an employee’s output, reliability, or conduct does not meet the organization’s expectations. Common symptoms seen are unresponsiveness, reduced work quality, and missing deadlines.
These issues are escalated to formal ER when:
- performance issues persist after documented coaching
- a policy is violated (e.g. unavailable during work hours).
Issue | Example | Solution |
12. Missed deadlines or low output | A strong performer’s output suddenly drops and they start missing deadlines. | Arrange a meeting to understand context, create a clear improvement plan. |
13. Poor customer feedback | An employee’s service receives multiple complaints. | Review specific incidents, train employee on gaps, monitor follow-ups. |
14. Sudden drop in sales or productivity | A sales rep’s numbers fall below their baseline. | Investigate cause, set realistic and measurable goals, check in daily or weekly. |
15. Struggling during probation | A new hire isn’t meeting their manager’s expectations. | Increase check-ins, set clear expectations, be as fair as possible to give them a real chance. |
16. Lack of attention to detail | Consistent, avoidable errors present in delivered work. | Provide specific examples, set a quality standard for them to follow. |
17. Poor time management | An employee keeps missing internal deadlines. | Train on prioritizing tasks and check-in with them. |
18. Difficulty completing tasks | Assignments are started but not always completed. | Break work into smaller, manageable milestones, increase accountability check-ins. |
19. Cannot accept constructive feedback | An employee becomes defensive, hostile, or dismissive when receiving feedback. | Review how feedback is delivered and have a crucial conversation with employee. |
20. Weak written or verbal communication | Reports or updates are not articulated coherently. | Provide training and set communication expectations. |
21. Remote employee consistently unreachable | A remote employee doesn’t respond during peak hours. | Clarify availability expectations & document patterns. |
3. Policy and Compliance Issues
This category is a violation of a company’s policy. It includes aspects like repeated violations, legal exposure, or training gaps.
Formal ER receives these cases when:
- a violation is repeated
- there’s legal or regulatory exposure
- there’s a gap in manager training (instead of employee’s action).
Issue | Example | Solution |
22. Missed deadlines or low output | A strong performer’s output suddenly drops and they start missing deadlines. | Arrange a meeting to understand context, create a clear improvement plan. |
23. Poor customer feedback | An employee’s service receives multiple complaints. | Review specific incidents, train employee on gaps, monitor follow-ups. |
24. Sudden drop in sales or productivity | A sales rep’s numbers fall below their baseline. | Investigate cause, set realistic and measurable goals, check in daily or weekly. |
25. Struggling during probation | A new hire isn’t meeting their manager’s expectations. | Increase check-ins, set clear expectations, be as fair as possible to give them a real chance. |
26. Lack of attention to detail | Consistent, avoidable errors present in delivered work. | Provide specific examples, set a quality standard for them to follow. |
27. Poor time management | An employee keeps missing internal deadlines. | Train on prioritizing tasks and check-in with them. |
28. Difficulty completing tasks | Assignments are started but not always completed. | Break work into smaller, manageable milestones, increase accountability check-ins. |
29. Cannot accept constructive feedback | An employee becomes defensive, hostile, or dismissive when receiving feedback. | Review how feedback is delivered and have a crucial conversation with employee. |
30. Weak written or verbal communication | Reports or updates are not articulated coherently. | Provide training and set communication expectations. |
31. Remote employee consistently unreachable | A remote employee doesn’t respond during peak hours. | Clarify availability expectations & document patterns. |
4. Misconduct and Disciplinary Issues
This category of employee issues are, by definition, escalated to formal ER due to strict requirements for documentation and investigations.
Issue | Example | Solution |
32. Harassment or discrimination complaint | An employee reports inappropriate behavior from a colleague. | Route it through a structured complaint process – intake, investigation, findings, resolution – with legal counsel involved. |
33. Inappropriate jokes or messages | Offensive content is shared via company channels. | Pull the message thread as evidence, identify who forwarded it, give a warning that escalates if behavior repeats. |
34. Inappropriate material accessed on company systems | An employee is detected accessing inappropriate content at work. | Preserve system logs before confronting the employee, cross-check against policy, apply corrective action stated. |
35. Demeaning comments towards coworkers | An employee makes objectifying or demeaning remarks. | Get a written statement from the person who raised it, interview witnesses, log the incident against the employee’s record for patterns. |
36. Discriminating comments | An employee makes a derogatory remark referencing a protected characteristic. | Escalate to a formal investigation, seek legal counsel before any disciplinary conversation, document verbatim what was said. |
37. Misuse of company funds or credit | An employee uses a company card for personal expenses. | Check the transaction record, get the employee’s explanation in writing, recover the funds and apply progressive discipline based on findings, amount, and intent. |
38. Substance use affecting work performance | An employee’s performance suffers due to clear signs of impairment during work hours. | Remove from safety sensitive duties immediately, document specific observed behaviors from witnesses, use the reasonable-suspicion testing process in your policy. |
39. Covering up a colleague’s misconduct | An employee is found concealing a colleague’s clear policy violation. | Interview the silent employee separately and weigh their conduct as a mitigating or aggravating factor in their discipline record. |
40. Formal disciplinary warning or performance plan | An employee’s conduct or performance requires formal action. | Reference prior discipline history before deciding the warning level, define measurable expectations, and a review date in writing. |
41. Repeated violations requiring termination of contract | An employee continues violating policies despite prior warnings. | Confirm all steps of progressive discipline are followed and documented, review with legal before finalizing the termination. |
5. Engagement and Wellbeing Issues
These workplace events are related to how an employee feels about their role, including disengagement, burnout, or feeling underappreciated.
Formal ER is involved when employee disengagement becomes a team-wide issue or when well-being concerns coincide with attendance or performance issues.
Issue | Example | Solution |
42. Disengagement or silently quitting | An employee does the bare minimum and stops contributing outside of their job description. | Check-in with employees, identify root cause, have biweekly 1:1s. |
43. Burnout affecting performance | An employees shows signs of exhaustion and low output. | Review their current workload capacity and make adjustments, redistribute tasks where possible, connect to EAP support. |
44. Low commitment to role | An employee isn’t that invested in company outcomes. | Check job description against what’s being asked of them, if the role has changed, offer compensation and set new expectations. |
45. Reluctance to raise problems directly | An employee lets issues build instead of raising them early. | Open a confidential feedback channel and follow-up on any issues they raise. |
46. Wage dispute | An employee disputes how many hours they worked or wage received. | Check time records, payroll records, and deduction authorizations. Verify against policy and resolve quickly. |
47. Employee feels undervalued | An employee expresses their source of frustration as a lack of recognition. | Audit team recognition processes and address it specifically with the employee instead of opting for a general policy fix. |
48. Low team morale | Team sentiment declines after a change or unaddressed problem. | Conduct pulse surveys and manager check-ins, interpret leading causes, communicate and act on the feedback. |
49. Reluctance to use support resources | Employees avoid EAP or wellness programs despite clear signs of stress. | Reinforce confidentiality after referring them directly and have managers normalize the resources in routine conversations. |
50. Career stagnation | An employee feels stuck without a clear path for growth. | Have a structured conversation about the next 6-12 months, attach milestones and growth opportunities. |
51. Work-life balance difficulties | Employees constantly feeling like they’re on the clock. | Set clear boundaries on response-time expectations during off-hours, and check workload distribution. |
25 Employee Relations Issues in Regulated Industries
The 50 issues mentioned above show up in all organizations, across all industries.
But some sectors face another layer of employee events based on their regulatory pressure, workforce structure, or work conditions.
Below are 25 examples in five highly regulated industries: public sector, utilities, construction, transportation, and healthcare.
Employee Relations Issues in Public Sector
52. An employee files a grievance claiming the union contract wasn’t followed.
53. A dispute over unpaid or miscalculated overtime.
54. A scheduling disagreement.
55. A performance or behavior issue for a unionized employee.
56. A public, disciplinary case involving a government employee.
Employee Relations Issues in Utilities
57. Employees exhibit symptoms of burnout or stress due to a storm response, emergency callouts, or hazardous work conditions.
58. A dispute over overtime pay for emergency hours work.
59. An employee refuses to take a drug or alcohol test which is a requirement for a safety sensitive role.
60. A senior employee disengages due to nearing retirement and is not invested in passing their knowledge.
61. An employee’s safety certification is no longer eligible, and they are showing signs of incompetence.
Employee Relations Issues in Construction / EC&O
62. A union employee’s grievance over an issue like a wage, discipline, or promotion covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
63. A harassment complaint in a majority-male workforce.
64. A temporary worker creates issues with a permanent crew.
65. An employee reports being treated inconsistently depending on which supervisor or crew they are working with that week.
66. An employee reports an unsafe condition which leads to them being punished (retaliation for reporting).
Employee Relations Issues in Transportation
67. A driver is punished for not agreeing to exceed their hours-of-service limits.
68. An employee loses their license and disputes their redeployment or dismissal.
69. A warehouse worker files a grievance related to a strike or labor action.
70. An independent contractor disputes their classification and argues they are treated as an employee.
71. A driver’s irregular hours creates a performance issue that isn’t explicitly covered in a standard policy.
Employee Relations Issues in Healthcare
72. A conflict between staff escalates quickly due to direct effect on patient care.
73. Short staffing creates resentment if one coworker is covering a higher workload.
74. Hospital staff is physically assaulted by a patient or a patient’s family member and needs support that goes beyond an incident report.
75. A nurse resents the pay gap between themselves and a travel nurse covering the same role on their unit.
76. Night-shift work affects an employee’s health and causes a performance concern.
How Sodales Identifies Employee Relations Issues Before They Escalate
Sodales tracks leading and lagging indicators (early signs & outcomes) to identify employee relations issues before they become patterns that cost organizations a lot to fix.
Unresolved workplace conflicts easily cost around $160,000 for each legal claim and wrongful termination settlements exceed $100,000. There is typically a 6x cost difference between resolving an employee relations issue before litigation ($50,000) versus it escalating to a litigated case ($296,361).
Here are 6 employee relations issues that create chain reactions across health & safety and labor relations.
Employee Relations Issue | Leading Indicator | Cascades Into |
77. Patient or visitor assault | Staff is physically or verbally assaulted while doing their job and require support. | Incident: the assault has to be entered as a workplace violence incident. Disability: if the injury (physical or psychological) needs time off, it becomes a workers’ compensation or disability claim. Return-to-work: the employee needs a documented plan (with restrictions) before returning. |
78. Discipline following a hazard report | An employee reports a workplace injury or unsafe condition then gets disciplined under a vague rule. | Incident: the original hazard must be entered into a system. Disability: the injury can lead to a disability claim. Retaliation: the discipline can become an OSHA whistleblower complaint. |
79. Discipline overlapping with FMLA leave | An employee is disciplined at same time as requesting or returning from FMLA leave. | FMLA case: the leave must be documented and tracked for compliance. Discipline: the write-up becomes part of their file. Legal: the timing may be grounds for an FMLA interference or retaliation claim. |
80. Slow response to an accommodation request | An employee requests a workplace accommodation and no one gets back to them. | Accommodation: the request must be processed, investigated, and documented. Legal: the delay may be classified as a failure to accommodate. EEOC: a formal charge may be the outcome that gets it approved. |
81. Substance abuse related discipline | A workplace conduct problem is related to drug-related concerns, so the employee begins treatment. | EAP: A referral to a treatment program. Discipline: Decision to address the misconduct issue. Legal: If employee begins treatment, they become protected. If employer takes the wrong step, it can become a discrimination claim. |
82. Promotion denial after a complaint | An employee who files a formal complaint is not considered for a role they were qualified for. | Job bidding: the hiring decision is scrutinized for possible retaliation. Complaint record: the original complaint becomes primary evidence. Legal: Retaliation can be proven even if the original complaint wasn’t proven true. |
Best Practices for Handling Employee Relations Issues in 2026
Employee concerns are solvable when they are addressed straight away. If they are allowed to build, a small problem easily turns into a documented case.
- Set clear expectations. Relationship issues or conflicts in the workplace are often caused by an expectation mismatch. Setting clear expectations early prevents a relationship issue from occurring.
- Provide reporting channels. Give employees a clear process or defined path for reporting their employee concerns. Anonymous channels for whistleblowing complaints protect an employee’s identity.
- Investigate impartially. A formal investigation based on objective findings and a compliant process is a crucial best practice.
- Document clearly. Document what happened, when it happened, and who was involved as the situation occurs. Provide timely feedback where necessary.
- Apply the same standard to all workplace decisions. Inconsistent treatment of employees leads to a workplace decision being challenged. Consistency ensures fairness and reduces organizational risk.
- Centralize records in an ER case management platform. Sodales helps document, investigate, and resolve ER issues through its employee relations case management software.
- Train managers. Undertrained managers accidentally create employee relations issues, which can be addressed through formal training.
See How Sodales Solves Employee Relations Issues
Are you prepared to handle employee relations issues correctly & consistently?
Sodales is the system of record for all employee investigations.
Every complaint, discipline, and case is connected to give HR the context they need to identify issues early and prevent them from escalating.
Let us show you how Sodales protects your organization from litigation risks caused by inconsistent employee relations decisions.
