Inform and consult your employees

Consulting your employees

Consultation involves managers and business owners seeking and taking into account the views of employees before making a decision. You are required by law to consult with employees, their representatives or recognised trade unions on:

• health and safety issues
• changes to the contract of employment
• redundancies - if 20 or more are planned
• undertakings or transfers, ie the business is to be sold or part of it is to be contracted out, or the contractor is to be replaced by another
• pension schemes
• training policies, progress and plans - if the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) has imposed a bargaining method in the statutory trade union recognition process - see our guide on  recognising a trade union - the issues

You must use the appropriate consultation method depending on the circumstances, eg through employee representatives, joint consultative committees/works councils, joint working parties or trade unions/collective bargaining units.

Voluntary consultation

Many businesses benefit from consulting employees on a regular basis and making staff aware of ways they can contribute ideas and raise concerns. It's not always necessary to have elaborate structures for consultation - often ad hoc groups can work better. See the page in this guide on  communicating and consulting - ways and means .

Techniques for effective consultation include:

• explaining final decisions - particularly when employees' views are rejected
• giving credit and recognition to those who provide information which improves a decision
• ensuring that the issues for consultation are relevant to the group of employees discussing them
• avoiding minor issues and petty grievances
• making the outcome of the meeting available to everyone

Where established information and consultation systems already exist, these arrangements may continue under the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations providing they are supported by the workforce.

Where information and consultation systems do not exist already, employees may make a "valid request" (dated and in writing) for the establishment of a system. Smaller businesses (those with 50 or more employees) will not be required to comply with this until April 2008.

Read about the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations on the DTI website . You can also find out more about ICE Regulations on the Acas website .

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Why good communications are important
• Legal requirements for communications
• Consulting your employees
• Communicating and consulting - ways and means
• The art of good communication
• Examples of good practice
• The role of training
• Here's how asking employees for ideas improved our business

 

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