Employee Relations & Workplace Investigations in Des Moines, Iowa and Nationwide
Practical HR Guidance for Difficult Employee Situations
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Employee Performance & Behavior Issues
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Workplace Complaints & Investigations
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Manager Guidance & Documentation
What Is Employee Relations?
This is the text area for a paragraph describing this service. You may want to give examples of the service and who may benefit. Describe the benefits and advantages of this group of services, explaining to users why they should choose your company.
Quick Answer

Employee relations is how an organization manages workplace issues, communication, performance, expectations and concerns between employees and management.
When an employee situation becomes difficult, HR Excellence Consulting helps business owners and managers understand the issue, determine appropriate next steps and handle the situation consistently and professionally.
Whether you’re dealing with a performance problem, attendance issue, workplace complaint or a more serious concern such as harassment or theft, you don’t have to navigate it alone.
When an Employee Issue Becomes an HR Issue
Most employee problems don't arrive with a label telling you what to do next.
An employee's performance has changed. Someone isn't showing up consistently. A manager has received a complaint. Two employees aren't getting along. An employee alleges harassment. Or you know a difficult conversation needs to happen, but you're concerned about handling it correctly.
For a small business without an HR department, these situations can quickly consume a business owner's or manager's time.

HR Excellence Consulting gives you an experienced HR resource to call before you decide what to do next.
HR Compliance Support for Small Businesses
Our team can help with a wide range of workplace situations, including:
Performance concerns: Guidance on addressing performance problems, expectations and improvement.
Attendance and behavior issues: Helping managers respond consistently and document concerns appropriately.
Difficult employee conversations: Preparing managers for conversations they'd rather not have—but need to.
Employee complaints: Helping determine how a workplace concern should be addressed and what next steps may be appropriate.
Discipline and documentation: Developing a more consistent approach to employee documentation and corrective action.
Manager support: Giving managers an experienced HR professional to turn to when they aren't sure how to handle a situation.
Employee separations: Helping leadership work through the HR considerations surrounding difficult employment decisions.
Sometimes the best time to call HR is before you act.

A quick conversation before sending an email, issuing discipline or having a difficult employee meeting can help leadership slow down, gather the right information and approach the situation more thoughtfully.
Workplace Investigations
When Does a Workplace Complaint Need to Be Investigated?
Quick Answer
Some employee complaints can be addressed through normal management conversations. Others may require a more formal workplace investigation to understand what happened and determine appropriate next steps.
Complaints involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, theft, serious misconduct or conflicting accounts of workplace events may require a more structured review.
HR Excellence Consulting can conduct workplace investigations or help your leadership team determine when additional investigations may be appropriate.
An Objective Approach to Workplace Concerns
Workplace investigations can be particularly challenging in small organizations where everyone knows one another and managers may already be involved in the situation.
Having an outside HR professional conduct the investigation can provide a more neutral process for gathering information.
Depending on the situation, an investigation may include:
- Reviewing the complaint and relevant documentation
- Identifying individuals who may have relevant information
- Interviewing the people involved
- Reviewing applicable workplace policies
- Documenting information gathered during the investigation
- Providing findings or information to leadership for consideration and next steps
The goal is to understand the facts and give leadership the information needed to make an informed decision.
Your Managers Don't Have to Figure It Out Alone
Many managers are promoted because they're excellent at their jobs, not because they've been trained to handle difficult employee situations.
Suddenly they're expected to address poor performance, document problems, respond to complaints and have conversations that can be uncomfortable for everyone involved.
HR Excellence Consulting can work alongside your managers, providing practical HR guidance before, during and after challenging employee situations.
Better manager support can lead to more consistent decisions, clearer expectations and fewer HR surprises.
One Employee Issue or Ongoing HR Support?
You don't have to become a fractional HR client just because you have one employee problem.
HR Excellence Consulting can help with an individual employee situation or workplace investigation. If your organization is experiencing recurring employee issues or your managers need an HR resource they can regularly turn to, ongoing fractional HR services may make more sense.
Employee Relations Support in Des Moines and Throughout the U.S.
HR Excellence Consulting is based in Iowa and works with small and growing businesses throughout the Des Moines area, across Iowa and nationwide.
Our team brings decades of combined HR experience, including experience working with organizations where managers and business owners wear multiple hats.

We understand that you don't need unnecessary complexity. You need practical guidance that helps you determine what to do next.
Have an Employee Situation You're Not Sure How to Handle?
You don't need to know which HR service you need and you don't need to have all the answers before contacting us.
Tell us what's going on. We'll start there.
