Treat employees as equals by giving them a voice that you hear and respond to .
mployee voice exists where a company ’ s
E mechanisms and culture enable it to have an ongoing conversation with colleagues , in different ways , to ensure opinions and ideas are heard . It ’ s embraced by companies that see their people as central to delivering their vision and strategy .
Achieving this is not just a task for HR . Boards have a remit ( under the revised UK Corporate Governance Code ) to “ establish a method for gathering the views of the workforce ”; implement “ a means for the workforce to raise concerns in confidence and ( if they wish ) anonymously ”; and “ ensure that arrangements are in place for the proportionate and independent investigation of such matters and for follow-up action ”.
However , it feels as if ‘ employee voice ’ is still misunderstood . For me , it boils down to gauging sentiment , ideas sharing / problem solving , and issue raising . Gauging sentiment involves knowing how people are feeling and segmenting audience groups to understand the causes of these sentiments . Surveys enable you to benchmark and track progress , but frequent dialogue-based interventions such as leadership listening sessions add first-hand exposure .
With problem solving , consider how people can share ideas around processes and innovation ( before bringing in external consultants ). Innovation jams and hackathons are helpful for giving focus , with board members part of the assessing panel . During a listening tour , boards could simply ask employees , “ what would you change if you could ?”.
Raising issues goes beyond whistle-blowing to creating a safe environment in which people can question how things are done . Strong employee voice can only thrive under three conditions :
It must be two-way , with people given the opportunity to speak as equals . Messages imparted must be representative of diverse views across the organisation , and the process must be repeated . Board members need
Consider how people can share ideas around processes and innovation , before bringing in external consultants
to spend time with employees in multiple locations and conduct data and sentiment analysis on a regular basis .
Ways of giving employees a voice within organisations include conducting regular surveys ; enabling unions to act as intermediaries between staff and boards , creating two-way communication channels ; and board member site visits , including listening sessions .
Schemes to enable the reverse mentoring of board members also amplify workers ’ views , while some firms develop employee boards to feed perspectives into the main board , or allocate a non-executive director to lead on employee voice and engagement . Former prime minister Theresa May proposed putting workers on company boards as part of corporate reform , but this was dropped from the government ’ s plans .
In my view , developing robust employee voice requires all of the above . If ‘ employee voice ’ is represented too narrowly , understanding will be limited ; without some formality , it only takes a small change in leadership composition or company fortunes for employee voice to be relegated . ‘ Voice ’ sounds like communications , but it ’ s about culture , engagement , involvement and motivation . The UK Corporate Governance Code gives HR an opportunity to re-stress its importance to C-suite in a strategic conversation that links people and business outcomes .
Louisa Moreton is a partner at Finsbury , specialising in employee engagement , communication and change .