DISCUSSION PAPER

HIGH PERFORMANCE WORKPLACES 
The role of employee involvement in a modern economy

Contents

	Executive summary
	Questions for discussion
	Response form
	Full document (157Kb)
	Executive summary and Questions for discussion - in Welsh

Executive summary

The EC directive on informing and consulting employees – to be implemented in the UK by March 2005 – establishes a right to new minimum standards for workforce communication and involvement in large firms¹.  The basic case for these new standards is fair treatment for people at work. It is simply not acceptable for employees to hear on the media for the first time that they are going to lose their jobs. But information and consultation can also contribute to improved performance at the workplace. There is a good deal of information, consultation and involvement already in the UK. The legislation will not cut across existing good practice or impose rigid arrangements across all businesses. It will not be imposed on workforces, but will give those who want it the right to information and consultation. These standards will be supportive of existing best practice.

The Government has taken a number of steps to improve the performance of the UK labour market through measures to promote flexibility and fairness. We are seeing the benefits in terms of employment growth, greater participation in the workforce, especially by women, and more flexible working practices. But UK productivity still lags behind some of our major partners.

Organisational issues at the workplace are part of the explanation of the productivity gap. Our best workplaces achieve word class productivity, but there are too many where outdated attitudes and practices hinder performance. There is no single, simple formula for achieving high performance at the workplace, but successful workplaces do have some common characteristics. One of them is a positive approach by management to communicating with and involving the workforce.

Involvement, participation and consultation can take many different forms. This paper looks at current UK experience and identifies examples of best practice, ranging from team briefings and quality circles, to firms where management and the workforce have agreed to adopt a “partnership” approach. They show that best practice takes many different forms, ranging from schemes of direct manager-to-employee communication and involvement, to more formalised, representative involvement. And they demonstrate that what works best is what most suits the needs and circumstances of the particular business and its workforce.

Industrial change is an inevitable and desirable part of raising productivity and creating wealth, but must be handled sensitively, especially when it may involve redundancies. Managing the process well – including keeping staff properly informed and involved - is a vital part of good employment relations, and employees deserve no less.  It can also benefit relations with the staff who remain.  Many UK businesses have already shown the benefits that can be had from this approach, even in times of economic difficulty.  For quoted companies, this can be managed within the constraints of the Listing Rules.

There is a variety of information and consultation arrangements in other EU countries which could be a helpful source of ideas for implementing the directive in the UK. But the different history, traditions and culture of employment relations in each country, and the context in which works councils and similar structures operate, mean that caution is needed in drawing lessons.

The long history of practice and thinking on employee involvement in the UK, combined with the absence up to now of any general legal requirements in this area, help explain the diversity of practice here. The Information and Consultation Directive does not impose a single “one size fits all” approach. In considering how best to implement the directive in the UK, our objective should be to enhance the contribution of all employees, to the benefit of the company and the employees; we should avoid a single, static solution and put the emphasis on voluntary agreements; legislation must be fully consistent with the directive, but strike the right balance with promoting of best practice; and commitment from both senior managers and employees in individual firms will be needed if arrangements are to succeed.

We will be consulting at a later stage on specific proposals for implementing the Information and Consultation Directive. Before then, we wish to have the views and experience of as many people as possible on the questions for discussion set out in the next section. The deadline for comments is 11 December 2002.
 

Questions for discussion 

Before making specific proposals for implementing the Directive, the Government is keen to gather the views and experience of all the key stakeholders in our economy and as many people as possible who are interested or taking part in workplace practices of employee involvement. We would therefore welcome your comments on the following questions:

• what do you see as important contributors to high performance workplaces?

• what do you think employees want from their place of work?

• what benefits do you see in employees being informed and consulted about their company or organisation?

• what information and consultation mechanisms are used in your company? What works well and why? What are the main obstacles to developing a meaningful dialogue?

• what issues do you think employees should be informed and consulted about? How and when do you think this should happen?

• do you have any experience of information and consultation arrangements overseas that you think might be relevant to the UK?

• what should be the key features of domestic legislation to implement the Information and Consultation Directive?

• should the Government try to promote information and consultation in small and medium-sized enterprises not covered by the Information and Consultation Directive (those with less than 50 employees)? If so, how should it do so?

Responses to these questions can be e-mailed to informing@dti.gsi.gov.uk, or sent to:

Information & Consultation Team
Employment Relations Directorate
DTI
1 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0ET

You may also respond via a form on this website

The deadline for comments is 11 December 2002.

Your response to this consultation document may be made publicly available in whole or in part at the Department’s discretion. If you do not wish all or part of your response (including your identity) to be made public, please state in the response which parts you wish us to keep confidential. Where confidentiality is not requested, responses may be made available to any enquirer, including enquirers outside the UK, or published by any means, including on the internet.

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Last updated 14 October 2003