‘Employee voice’ is the way people communicate their views to their employer and influence matters that affect them at work. For employers, effective voice (often just called ‘voice’) contributes to building trust with employees, innovation, productivity and organisational improvement. For employees, self-expression in voice often results in feeling valued, increased job satisfaction, greater influence and better opportunities for development. Employee voice is important in creating inclusive working environments too.
Why is employee voice so important?
There are two main purposes of ‘voice’:
- Employee voice is a fundamental right for everyone. It allows employees to express matters that are important to them and is integral to good work.
- Employee voice can help improve the effectiveness and performance of an organisation, by allowing employees to suggest ways to improve operations.
Research shows that effective worker voice can lead to positive outcomes for both individuals and organisations. Participating in decisions is important for people’s wellbeing and motivation, as it provides a way to improve work experience and overall job quality. Employers can benefit from higher productivity and innovation, and reduced workplace conflict and absenteeism.
Voice is also an important part of employee wellbeing. Research on voice shows that employees’ involvement in decision-making is significantly and positively linked to job satisfaction.
Employee silence
When individuals choose not to speak up on matters of importance to them, despite having something to say, this is known as employee silence. Employees are unlikely to speak up if they believe the costs of doing so outweigh the benefits – for example, if they feel that their position in the organisation would be threatened. Power dynamics influence people’s willingness to speak up, particularly on information which challenges the status quo or could be judged negatively by a more senior colleague.
Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that a quarter of employees report high levels of silence. It is important for all employees to feel safe to express their voice, particularly where some employee groups are underrepresented. Leaders, line managers and people professionals should champion the use of voice channels, so that businesses hear from a diverse range of employees.
Participation and consultation
Direct participation
Direct participation is employees’ ability to influence decision-making themselves (that is, not through representatives). It can take different forms, such as control over the way job tasks are carried out, or influence over wider organisational decisions.
Recent changes to the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations (known as the ICE Regs) apply to UK organisations with 50 or more employees. They give employees rights to request their employer makes arrangements to inform and consult them about issues in the organisation. CIPD’s guide, produced in collaboration with the Involvement and Participation Association, outlines recent changes to the regulations and highlights effective ways of setting up and running employee forums.
Representative participation
Representative participation enables employees to have a collective voice and involves trade union or non-union representatives consulting with management on behalf of employees. Approaches include:
- Trade union representation – elected representatives from recognised trade unions consult on issues affecting their membership and negotiate employees’ terms and conditions, such as pay, with management. This is known as ‘collective bargaining’.
- Joint Consultation Committee (JCC) or forum – in unionised organisations, the trade unions typically provide the employee representatives, but JCCs also run with non-union employee representatives who meet with management for consultation and information sharing.
- Specific issue representation and consultation – eg on issues such as health and safety, redundancy, TUPE.
- Worker representation on the board
