Discussion on the term 'employment relations' is more useful than 'industrial relations', 'human resource management' and 'employee relations' in assisting us to better understand the behavior of individuals and groups of employees in workplaces. This essay contrasts the benefits of ‘employment relations’ that assists us to better understand the behavior of individual and groups of employees than industrial relations and human resource management. The term Employment Relations is ‘concerned with the behavior and interaction of people in the workplace and is primarily associated with relationship between employers and employees’ (Slade 2002). Human resource management is a term which is widely used but is very loosely defined. It should be defined in such a way as to differentiate it from traditional personnel management and to allow the development of testable hypotheses about its impact (David 2007). Industrial relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship. However, "To a large degree, most scholars regard trade unionism, collective bargaining and labor-management relations, and the national labor policy and labor law within which they are embedded, as the core subjects of the field"(Bruce 2007). ‘Employee Relations’ involves the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale. Essentially, Employee Relations is concerned with preventing and resolving problems involving individuals which arise out of or affect work situations. When an employer hires a new employee, he is not just bringing a new member of the workforce aboard, he is also starting a new relationship. Because employers and employees often work in close quarters, they necessarily develop relationships. Managing these relationships is vital to business success, as strong relationships can lead to greater employee happiness and even increased productivity. To reap these benefits, keep the dynamics of your employer-employee relationship in mind. Generally, employer and employee relationships should be mutually respectful. The degree of closeness in these relationships will depend on both the employer and the employee. Some employers opt to keep their employees at a distance and, in doing so, ensure that there is no confusion as to the hierarchy that exists between them. Others elect to become friendlier with their employees, seeing this as a way to amp up employee happiness. While neither option is entirely right or wrong, it is wise to avoid getting too close to employees, as doing so can cause the line between employer and employee to become blurred. It can be argued that industrial relations (IR), human resources management (HRM) and employee relations (ER) are each representative of differing ideologies. IR is seen as being pluralist, while employee relations and HRM are largely unitarist in nature (Slade 2002). This means that employment relations (ER) encompasses IR, employee relations and HRM, and combines both practical and ideolog