The situation

Employee voice means individuals are able to safely put forward their viewpoints on their work, irrespective of where, when and how they do their work. When employee voice channels work effectively, employees can feel valued, trusted and influential. In turn, this can increase their job satisfaction and performance.

For employers, effective employee voice can mean better relationships with their employees and, ultimately, improved organisational performance. Line managers, people professionals and leaders have a responsibility to actively bring out, listen to and respond to employees’ voices. They can encourage employees to express themselves through individual and collective channels. This means using both direct mechanisms, such as employee surveys, and indirect ones, for example through an employee representative.

Collective representation such as trade unions and non-union employee representatives can complement individual voice channels. The most effective approach is for an organisation to develop a holistic approach by setting up multiple and complementary mechanisms for employee voice that encourage effective two-way dialogue between the business and its workforce.

CIPD viewpoint

The CIPD believes all organisations should have meaningful policies and practices that enable employees to voice their opinions and raise concerns.

We recognise two distinct forms of employee voice:

• individual voice involving direct dialogue between the organisation and employees whereby individuals can voice opinions and make suggestions
• collective voice via trade unions and their representatives, as well as non-union employee representatives, for example a staff forum.

There are two main purposes for employee voice:

1. To address the fundamental right of every employee to have good work, including a voice to shape their working life
2. To improve an organisation’s function and performance by hearing from a diverse range of viewpoints.

However, our research shows that not all forms of voice are used equally. Individual voice channels, rather than collective channels which use employee representatives, still heavily dominate in UK workplaces. Both forms of voice have an important role to play and employers should seek to have a range of mechanisms to reflect this. 

Other CIPD research on employees’ experiences of voice indicates that more needs to be done to expand and enhance employee voice so that more individuals feel confident and safe in using their voice at work. Our case studies highlight the importance of actively encouraging people in more junior and operational roles to play a role in employee voice.

Recommendations for employers

• Develop an effective, holistic strategy to encourage collective and individual forms of employee voice.
• Ensure your organisation informs and consults employees in line with their statutory rights, for example on health and safety issues.
• Establish effective information and consultation structures and practices for employee representation.
• Implement a range of two-way communication and consultation methods to encourage employee voice.
• Ensure voice methods are used regularly, such as weekly meetings and annual surveys for individual voice and a staff forum and/or joint consultative forum for collective voice. Employers should provide clear and transparent follow up information to demonstrate how employee voice is influencing change.
• Demonstrate senior leaders support for inclusive employee voice to encourage participation from a diverse group of employees.
• Foster an organisational climate and culture in which employees feel psychologically safe and confident to use their voice and speak up.
• Train and develop line managers to facilitate employee voice in their people management behaviours and work relationships and make these part of their performance objectives.