Staff Matters

From around 1860, an increasing recognition of workers’ rights to form trade unions grew, which had as a key aim the negotiation of pay, benefits and working conditions.

Since then, changes in both legislation and the representative power of trade unions have led to a widening role for employee consultation, to the extent that, not only is it seen as good practice, but it is also a requirement in changing situations. For most large organisations, the process of consultation is well understood and well managed, on the basis of a long history of negotiations with established trade unions.

Where trade unions are recognised, they normally form the primary conduit for consultation about issues affecting the workforce, including pay and benefits, terms and conditions of employment, major change programmes, such as relocation and redundancy, and major HR practices, such as job evaluation, grading and performance management.

Many small and medium-sized organisations, however, do not have a relationship with trade unions and must undertake direct negotiations with members of their workforce. All organisations have a range of issues requiring direct consultation, such as those concerning workplace layout and day-to-day working practices, where the involvement of the unions may be unnecessary.

There are some circumstances in which employers are required by law to consult with their employees. For example, organisations with 50 or more employees must consult on changes to contracts of employment, on plans for making 20 or more employees redundant, on proposed changes to pension schemes, and on the sale or transfer of all or part of the business.

Employee consultation also fulfils other key objectives for the organisation. One is maintaining good channels of communication between management and employees, helping to defuse problems and manage potential conflict. Another is to enable a shared understanding of the opportunities and threats facing the organisation, so that there can be a mutual focus on performance and innovation.

But, perhaps the most important is to sustain employee engagement, promoting good employee relations and supporting a positive psychological contract.

Forms of consultation

The most direct way of consulting employees is face-to-face. This may be achieved through appraisal processes, which can include discussion of personal aspirations and employee development. For many organisations this can also be the main way of discussing pay and benefit changes that affect individual employees, leading (where required) to personal agreements about individual compensation packages.

It can also be achieved through informal day-to-day channels between managers and their teams. It may be less appropriate, however, for large-scale consultation about, and negotiation of, issues such as organisation-wide pay and benefits changes, and on major change programmes, such as relocation. In those situations, other forms of consultation, such as employee surveys, focus groups and team meetings, may be a more manageable approach.

Employee surveys are most useful for two main purposes – painting a picture of the climate and culture of the organisation, and identifying the aspirations and preferences of the wider workforce. Both of these are important where major change is contemplated and where workforce support is crucial to successful change.

Focus groups are useful for discussing local issues, such as operational procedure reviews or changing a specific personnel policy. The focus group not only identifies problems as they arise, it can also defuse potential conflicts by removing the argument that the workforce was not involved in change planning and design.

A focus group can also be a good way of communicating with the workforce, so that important messages can be dispersed quickly. The fastest way of disseminating information is through team meetings, especially if these are regular and well-structured.

Practical issues

• Face-to-face consultation.

Where managers are required to consult their team members individually, it is important that each manager is well-briefed about the form and content of the consultation process.

• Employee surveys.

Conducting employee surveys is a specialised activity demanding knowledge of survey design techniques, although many of these can be readily accessed through training. In some circumstances, for example, where there is a history of conflict, it may be beneficial to use an external survey organisation to maintain a neutral stance on key issues. Well-designed surveys can produce a rich vein of data that, given suitable analysis and interpretation, can reveal detailed patterns.

Differences between groups can identify local issues and problem areas, but might also show where benefits can be obtained. For example, positive responses to proposals or the generation of good ideas may suggest a good local culture, well-managed employee relationships or other factors that could be usefully translated elsewhere in the organisation.

Interviews can complement or be an alternative to questionnaire-based surveys, but it is important to ensure that interviewers are sufficiently skilled to obtain good quality information. This may be an area where a specialist external supplier can be useful.

• Focus groups.

Where changes are planned, issues are being addressed, or ideas are being sought, focus groups can be a useful way of tapping collective views and suggestions that also benefit from mutual discussion among the group members. Groups can be interdisciplinary, enabling an issue to be examined from a range of perspectives, and also cut across grades and job levels.

In this way people can be encouraged to share knowledge and experiences, leading, over time, to the possibility of the group developing into a community of practice. Focus groups can also benefit from the psychological phenomenon of “risky shift”, which means the proposals made in the group can be more flexible and far-reaching than those made by individuals in one-to-one situations with their managers.

There is also some evidence that decisions and agreements made in groups gain greater commitment than those made by people working alone. Key to running a successful focus group is providing a clear purpose and aim, and a mutual understanding of the objectives and outcomes. Help to focus debate by providing group members with some background briefing. Not insisting on a manager as group leader can help to generate a high level of commitment to group outcomes.

• Team meetings.

Many of the points made about focus groups also relate to team meetings, except that it is the team manager who usually leads the discussion. Ideally, the organisation should provide templates for regular team meetings, with briefing material, an outline agenda to which the manager may add items, and a vision of the outcomes being sought.