Staff feedback, ideas and forums

The involvement of trade unions and union and non-union employee representatives can provide a collective voice for all or part of your workforce.

Information and consultation requirements apply to all organisations with at least 50 employees. For more information see how to inform and consult your employees.

Trust, cooperation, and information sharing are essential to the employee voice and the collective voice within your organisation. Your approach to employee and collective voice should support and complement each other.

A genuinely engaged workplace will be a foundation for the more formal process of involvement and consultation.

How to align your collective voice and employee voice

To align your collective voice with employee voice, you could:

Involve union and non-union representatives at an early stage

Invite union and non-union representatives to presentations on business progress and performance before briefings are given more widely to your employees. See work effectively with trade unions and working with non-union representatives.

Include representatives in key discussions

Invite representatives to become involved in meaningful discussions on a broader range of business topics beyond those formally agreed.

Use representative platforms

Ask representatives to canvass their members on ideas for improving your business or responding to a particular challenge. Staff may be more willing to voice their ideas and give more meaningful and honest feedback when using representative platforms.

Work with representatives to implement actions

Invite representatives to presentations on the results from employee surveys and ask them to work with you on plans to address any issues.