In this blog, CIPD chief executive Neil Carberry shares the key points from his speech to the Evershed Labour Relations Conference. He explains why compliance alone won’t build better workplace relationships, and what employers, government, unions and the people profession each need to do next.
The law can establish rights, processes and thresholds. It cannot tell us whether employees trust their employers, whether managers can handle conflict or whether workplace relationships are strong enough to survive difficult decisions.
That takes something more demanding than compliance. It takes capability, judgement and trust – built long before they're tested.
This is why I think we need to start acknowledging that we are entering a new collective age – and respond accordingly. Very few of the challenges we face as leaders, professionals, managers or teams can be addressed one employee at a time. Hybrid working, AI implementation, youth unemployment, the facilities or location of our workplaces: all are often looked at as individual decisions, but their consequences reach across teams, organisations and the wider economy.
So, we need to build consensus. But some of the capabilities we need most are precisely those we have allowed to ossify. Negotiation. Collective consultation. Meaningful employee voice. The ability to work constructively with trade unions where they are present, and to develop credible collective approaches where they are not.
No-one is proposing a return to the practices and policies of 1970s Britain – with its attendant three-day weeks, power rationing and flying pickets. But we do need to dust off the skills that help us build consensus and collaboration across organisations. These aren't relics of an earlier industrial age. They are increasingly important tools for navigating the one we're entering.
And responsibility doesn't sit with employers alone.
Government needs to listen to employers' practical expertise and ensure that new rights work in real workplaces. Trade unions need to negotiate improvements that can endure beyond any one parliamentary majority. Employers need to invest in management capability and workplace relationships before the difficult decisions arrive – not when they're already dealing with the consequences.
We need to be relentlessly useful to our members, helping them develop the confidence, expertise and professional judgement to navigate change, advocating for the value of our interventions.
But advocacy cannot mean defending everything the profession does. It also means being prepared to challenge it.
Because if the people profession wants greater influence, it must expect greater accountability. The test isn't whether we updated a policy on time, completed a consultation or met the minimum legal requirement.
Did we build trust? Did we equip managers to handle difficult conversations? Did we give employees a meaningful voice? Did we help organisations make better decisions?
Get this right and the prize is considerably bigger than compliance: stronger organisations, better jobs and a labour market better equipped for the world already coming at us.