Employee Consultation

You may not have noticed, but another casualty of the recession has been the utterly pointless workplace survey. When times were good, not a week would pass without a press release plugging things like "the twelve most bizarre excuses for being late for work". Not any more.

When they're confronted by a downturn, business leaders all tend to take the same short-term, top-down approaches. But in the longer term, they don't work. So how about taking some really tough decisions - like asking the people who work for you what they would do to get out of this mess?

Organisations in the UK are missing out on valuable ideas, reducing their profitability and increasing employee turnover simply because they don't talk to and listen to their staff enough.

How much expertise in your organisation is being wasted simply because managers can't be bothered – or are too arrogant – to speak to the people who work at the coalface?

Employee satisfaction surveys have evolved from being something of a touchy-feely add-on to a key tool for businesses. But are they making best use of the information they collect?

All any of us wants at work is for someone to listen to us. But all too often, people with suggestions are viewed as troublemakers or complainers. So how can managers – or any of us – learn to be better listeners?

Few U.S. multinationals are doing a good job when it comes to communicating with their employees around the world, with only three out of 10 global firms even having designated communication resources in other countries.

A workplace that values adaptability, consistency, a clear direction and employee involvement is more likely to deliver better returns, sales growth, productivity and shareholder value.

Looking for a simple resolution for the New Year? How about "honesty". Because according to a new book, honesty issues have a significant impact on virtually every workplace – and true honesty equates to simple, straightforward communication.

Despite the rise of emails and intranets, employers still value face-to-face communication the most when it comes to keeping staff up-to-date, according to a British survey.

New European laws are changing the way employers are communicating with their workers, and creating a culture of greater openness and information a new study has concluded.

British workers are bombarded by corporate jargon and 'communications initiatives', yet complain they are none the wiser about what is really going on or whether what they are doing is making any difference.

Writing in the Guardian on Saturday, Ian Wylie argued that the bonds of trust between employers and their staff in British and American workplaces are being broken down by the insidious rise of surveillance and by employers who "are free to invade our privacy at will".

The first employees recruited by small firms tend to climb the corporate ladder faster than those who join later. But favouring the 'first born' is fraught with peril, according to those who have seen the results.

A quarter of firms in Britain have complained that family-friendly employment laws are having a negative effect on their business as managers spend a growing amount of time dealing with requests for flexible working.

Growing numbers of employees can expect to have their work assessed more frequently than in the past. While annual appraisals are still the norm, over a third of now carry out six-monthly reviews, a new survey has found.

Employers still believe that employee appraisals can deliver tangible benefits to company and individual performance. But the gap between aims and delivery is considerable.

One employer in four has faced an employment tribunal claim in the past two years after disciplining an employee, with one in five facing a claim after an employee grievance, latest research has suggested.

Misconduct, harassment and unethical activity remain rife in may organisations because a significant proportion of employees feel unable to report or challenge unacceptable behaviour.

Dishonesty and anti-social behaviour in the workplace have become "rife", according to a new report. But loyalty is a two way street: employers who show their staff little loyalty can expect less in return.

If the impact of change can't be simply drawn then be on guard. If it hasn't been created with the knowledge of those who are expected to implement it then fear for the worst! If it reverses the best things about the organisation then worry.

As many as one in three UK workers claim they are kept in the dark and never consulted when a major change occurs in their organisation

After hearing one too many horror stories about bosses who never practice what they preach or rule with an iron fist with the "my way or the highway" approach, I've decided to pen an open letter on behalf of mismanaged employees everywhere.

When a business gears up for growth and the inevitable changes this brings, everyone looks to the top for direction. This is especially true – and difficult - for SMEs.

British workplaces are so riddled with gossip that employees believe they are more likely to hear important workplace announcements through the office rumour-mill than direct from their managers.

Every company is made up of human beings and human beings are fallible, so it’s only natural that mistakes will be made in business. It's how we deal with them that really matters.

Only a third of Britons regard their manager as a role model, with many seeing their boss's failure to involve them when developing new ideas or making decisions as a real turn-off.

Three-quarters of employees are not aware that April 6 will bring them new rights to be consulted on major employment issues in the workplace.

Firms that ignore new EU information and consultation regulations could find themselves being forced to adopt rigid arrangements for consulting staff that do not suit their business.

Workers in Britain are significantly more cynical about the job being done by senior management than their counterparts in the USA, with fewer than a third expressing trust and confidence in their leaders.

They may often seem trivial, irrelevant or downright silly, but ideas generated by staff can be worth hundreds and thousands of pounds, a study has suggested.

Communication, communication, communication is the best way to keep staff happy, loyal and engaged, a study has concluded.

People need to know how they contribute to the big picture. So if you’re not communicating your company's vision, you’re killing motivation (and lowering profits) in a big way.

Suggestion schemes that encourage staff to come forward with ideas can backfire spectacularly if they are not managed properly, according to a new survey.

The business lobby in Germany is calling for fundamental changes to legislation which mandates companies to let their workforce have a role in corporate decision-making.

"The only way companies will keep their customers (and their revenues) is if they can keep their customers happy." It seems stunningly obvious. But so many organisations forget it.

Insurance giant Legal & General has been dubbed Britain's best employer because it retains a good pension scheme, has refused to offshore jobs to India and consults with its staff on business decisions.

UK businesses still have their heads in the sand about next year’s Information and Consultation Directive – and as a result risk missing out on a golden opportunity to engage with their workers.

In order to motivate people, you first need to eradicate demotivation, writes Brian Bloch in the Telegraph. But too many bosses still cling to the perennial fallacy that "people will work properly if they are paid enough".

Half of Britons admit that they could more productive at work but feel that they would get more done if their employers valued them more and gave them greater control over their working patterns.

Performance evaluations are the most underused tool in management. And when they are used, they are the most misused tool in management. Why?

Employees in UK PLC are keen to deliver excellent customer service but are let down by a lack of support from their bosses, a new report has found, with utilities companies emerging as the worst on almost all counts.

New legislation on dispute resolution in Britain's workplace's comes into force in October. But employers are ignorant of its implications and view it as yet more unnecessary red tape.

With less than a year before the Information and Consultation Directive comes into force, three out of four companies in the UK have no procedures in place to cover its provisions.

Too much change, poor leadership and a lack of communication have been blamed for the breakdown of trust within UK organisations as yet another survey shows that employees mistrust both the top table and their immediate supervisors.

Almost half of UK of FTSE 500 companies do not measure levels of employee motivation, morale and engagement, a new report has found.

Two-thirds of employees say things that they later regret during appraisal by their bosses, with many loosing their temper when criticised or blaming others for their poor performance.

British Airways seesm to be in no mood for compromise in the increasingly rancorous dispute over the introduction of automated clocking-on software.

New Government plans to make organisations consult employees about business decisions face a massive challenge from the many companies hostile to employee consultation, The Work Foundation warned today.

A forthcoming book, The Democratic Enterprise, by Lynda Gratton, associate professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, looks at how supermarker giant Tesco employs the same techniques it uses for customer research to help it to understand its 200,000 staff.

Researchers have found that unfair bosses not only make working life a misery, they can also increasing the long-term risks to their staff of a heart attack or stroke.

Without major changes to employment law the EC Information and Consultation Directive will end up as 'another example of a puffed-up right which raises expectations but delivers little', warns a new report.

Line managers top the trustworthiness rankings as employees' most reliable channels of company information. But one in five people think that senior executives can't be trusted to tell them the truth.

The UK’s workplaces are hotbeds of suspicion, mistrust and dishonesty according to a new poll of 600 UK employees, with managers setting a bad example to their employees.

A new report has rejected claims by employers groups that new European legislation giving staff the right to be consulted about major business decisions poses a threat to business.

To manage performance effectively you must be able to communicate. Done well, a performance review builds confidence, renews enthusiasm and generates trust. Done poorly, it de-motivates and destroys.

The Government faces a fresh clash with unions after rejecting calls to improve workers' employment rights.

Research shows that human resource managers are strongly committed to the concept of an annual employee appraisal, but they often harbour doubts about the effectiveness of their own organisation's approach.

Tensions are boiling in Britain's workplaces, according to new research. Have you experienced work rage - as a victim or perpetrator? Let us know your experiences.

Growing pressure and insecurity at work is leading to a epidemic of workplace aggression as the lid blows off Britain's “pressure-cooker” workplaces.