Habits acquired in the good times serve you well in the difficult times
But if you haven’t started involving your staff! it’s time to start. And the changes to the Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations! that became law on 6th April this year! mean that it is easier for employees to trigger an information and consultation request austria phone number library their employers (the threshold has been lowered from 10% of the workforce to just 2%). This is! of course! a legal requirement for many collective redundancies.
We have critical things to discuss that go beyond coronavirus
The ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign! and the loss of trust in some institutions! has reminded us that racial equality has to be permanently on our workplace agenda; and there are other big cultural changes we want to see! for example around gender equality and eradicating use behavioral data for better personalized digital marketing harassment. Consultative groups can keep these issues in the forefront of our minds every day! and help formulate solutions! especially if the membership is diverse.
We need solutions
As the Acas paper reminds us! “management don’t have a monopoly on good ideas”; so why be numbers you trawl far and wide for creative ideas? Also! it’s worth noting that the health crisis has given everyone a chance to reflect on what matters most to them! with environmental and family concerns coming more to the fore! so if we are to understand our people! we need to understand their shifting priorities and interests.
Unions have reported an upturn in new members in recent months and! as champions of workers’ involvement and participation! they have a hugely valuable role to play. But what we must change is the idea that consultation is just nice to have! because it’s an essential ingredient of fair and productive workplaces. Consultation can too easily be regarded as a ‘foul weather friend’ that you turn to when times are tough. The conversation needs to keep going beyond the immediate crisis.