Releasing voicefor sustainable business success

01 Foreword

02 Executive summary

06 Part 1: Background

10 Part 2: The purpose of voice

16 Part 3 Factors enabling voice

30 Part 4: Conclusions and agenda for change

34 Sources, notes and appendix one

35 Appendix two

37 Appendix three

39 About IPA and Tomorrow’s Company

40 Acknowledgements

Contents

Foreword

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As Nita Clarke and I travelled around the UK researching and interviewing for our2009 report ‘Engaging for Success’ it quickly became apparent that the presence ofan effective employee voice was a precondition for effective employee engagementin an organisation.

The importance of feeling listened to – and therefore valued and respected – atwork, by colleagues, by line managers and by the organisation as a whole, cannotbe over-estimated. We know that it is one of the key factors influencing how muchemployee value their organisation, and that being heard is vital for authenticworkplace relationships based on trust.

Employee voice is one of the key enablers for engagement, alongside an effectiveorganisational story, managers who know how to engage their people, and acongruence between the values of and behaviours in an organisation: integrity.

However, it is one of the least understood – and perhaps less practised – aspects ofengagement. Voice takes many forms; too often it may be pigeonholed as a staffsurvey, considered to be just a component of techniques such as LEAN, or thoughtof as simply employment relations. It is all these and more. How these differentforms of voice interrelate and impact upon each other, and how to ensure that voiceis effective, is one of the least understood aspects of engagement.

That is why this comprehensive report from the IPA and Tomorrow’s Company is sowelcome. It unpacks – perhaps for the first time – the essential components foreffective employee voice, building on the experience of some of Britain’s leadingcompanies. It both enriches our understanding of the nature and effectiveness ofemployee voice, and provides tools and ideas for organisations and managers aswell as employees. It will form an important component of the new Engage forSuccess website (www.engageforsuccess.org), where its findings will both provideuseful guidance and hopefully stimulate debate.

David MacLeod,Co-chair of Engage for Success employee engagement Task Force

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Executive summary

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Voice is a critical part of achieving sustainable business success – it is no longer anoption but an essential part of creating value through the multiple relationshipsorganisations have with their stakeholders.

Employees are central to building and maintaining these relationships – theyconstantly interact with their managers and colleagues, as well as with customers.Releasing voice enables deeper employee engagement, enhances decision makingand can drive innovation.

Creating effective voice requires attention to both culture and behaviours andstructure and processes – both elements need to be right and working in harmonywith each other.

Having a shared purpose and living the values of the organisation, both byemployees and leaders at all levels, helps create the conditions of trust needed forvoice to flourish. People feel safe to give voice to ideas, suggestions and concerns,without worrying about being treated unfairly as a result.

But voice is a two-way street. It must be approached in a genuine and authentic wayto be effective and to gain the maximum benefit to the organisation as a whole. Ithas to be more than just a cosmetic exercise. Where the employee is invited tospeak up, the organisation in return will listen and will respond to what the employeeexpresses, even if they decide not to carry out a request for change.

Leadership style is therefore critical, especially that of the line manager who has thegreatest impact on the individual employee’s experience of work. Part of this isgiving the autonomy to make their decisions and act on ideas.

Voice requires channels through which it can be heard – at the individual andcollective level, direct and indirect, up and down and across the organisation. Avariety of different channels are therefore needed to both ensure all can have theirsay and to capture the richness of ideas from these dialogues.

Although collective channels of voice remain important, we have identified a shiftover the last thirty years towards a greater focus on individual voice. With the growthof social media, we are starting to see the emergence of what we call ‘social voice’in the last few years.

Involving employees in complex discussions and strategic decision-making ischallenging. It takes leaders and employees beyond their established roles. Leadersneed to share information and discuss issues that may be seen as ‘owned by them’and employees may need support and training to help them engage better and in aninformed way.

Releasing voice requires investment. But it is an investment that will be returnedthrough helping the organisation respond better to its changing environment, to itsemployees, its customers and in so doing to help achieve sustainable businesssuccess.

All the factors that influence voice, identified through this second phase of research,have been captured in the model presented opposite, which is also used as asignpost for readers throughout the report.

We also present an agenda for change highlighting some of the questions leaders,managers and HR departments can ask of themselves when seeking to achieveeffective voice in their organisations.

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Value creation requires voice This report is the outcome of work done by the IPA and Tomorrow’s Company,working together with the ‘Rethinking Voice Forum’, which has brought togetherleading companies, all of whom share the conviction that employee voice is crucialto the success of their businesses.

We know that voice is one of the least understood and most difficult enablers ofemployee engagement. So we are delighted that our findings will be feeding into thework of the National Task Force set up by the Coalition Government being led DavidMacLeod and Nita Clarke of the IPA which takes forward their work on employeeengagement in their 2009 report ‘Engaging for Success: enhancing performancethrough employee engagement’.1

In November 2011 we published our first report, ‘Rethinking Voice for SustainableBusiness Success’. We set out why voice matters, the changing context for voiceand the experiences of challenges faced and approaches taken by our forummembers in tackling employee voice in their own organisations.

This report takes the next major step, building on those arguments, setting out howin practice senior leadership, human resources and line managers can create theconditions that need to be in place to allow voice to flourish, with a tool-kit whichlooks at cultures and behaviours, structures and processes and key questions forsenior leaders, human resources and line managers to focus on to create theconditions to enable voice to exacerbate.

However, it goes much further. Our central argument is that companies andorganisations cannot achieve sustainable success without active, confident andvocal employees.

Like so many profound arguments it is very simple – but experience shows it is alsovery hard to do in practice.

We need to overcome the biggest challenge we face if we are to drive this agendaforwards: ourselves. We need to really understand the dysfunctionality thattraditional beliefs about how companies and organisations work have produced andits day-to-day consequences in our workplaces.

That goes beyond proposing new practices. Effective employee voice demands anew mindset, a paradigm shift – and that’s always the hardest, but also the mostimportant thing that is needed to achieve systemic change.

Voice is the ultimate expression of faith in employees – and to be authentic, it has tohave at its core a profound belief that they are the solution, not the problem and notjust a cost on the balance sheet.

Voice is also a two-way street; ‘it takes two to tango’. So management and leadershipbehaviours that promote dialogue have to be at the heart of effective voice.

The challenge is going beyond lip-service to the slogan ‘our employees are ourgreatest asset’ to believing this with such certainty that it changes behaviours - whatwe do and how we do it – because we have new beliefs about what works and why.

Nita ClarkeDirector IPA

Tony ManwaringChief executive Tomorrow’s Company

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There is plenty of evidence in this report from great businesses that this analysis isright. We look at organisations that for a combination of reasons – leadership,globalisation, opportunity – have overcome the legacy of early industrialisation andsuccess rooted in a more traditional, hierarchical but no longer fit for purpose way ofdoing business.

Without voice, value cannot be created. Value is not only created through people, itis co-created through people inspired by a common purpose, working to sharedvalues, inspired and engaged, giving more of themselves to a common and sharedendeavour.

To give voice is to be fully human. To listen to voice is to be truly social.

Translating that understanding into the DNA of organisations is the challenge, but itis also the opportunity of voice.

Nita Clarke Tony ManwaringDirector Chief executive IPA Tomorrow’s Company

T Chief executive

I Tomorrow’s Company

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Part 1: Background

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In November 2011, IPA and Tomorrow’s Company published an initial report‘Rethinking Voice for sustainable business success’.2 The key findings were:

• not paying attention to employees and to what they have to say about their needsand the overall business strategy can affect employees’ engagement,performance and commitment – and as a result, the company’s success

• though it is difficult to evidence a direct causal link between employee voice andproductivity, performance and innovation; it is clear that the existence of effectiveemployee voice supports a more productive, open organisational culture that isbetter equipped to adapt, to learn and to perform

• giving employees a say in decisions affecting their work can enhance confidence,job satisfaction and creates a greater sense of community, working togethertowards common objectives and impacts

• a relationship between employers and employees based on regular information,open communication, and fair treatment makes voice more effective andimproves levels of trust in the workplace

• the ability of a company to align the talent and skills of its employees effectivelytowards clearly understood organisational objectives is at the heart of highperformance

• voice is a two-way street – effective voice will also depend on the investment andcommitment of employees

• greater employee voice is also necessary to bring corporate culture into line withchanges happening in society – citizens and workers expect transparency, tohave a say and to have the opportunity to shape their future.

The report also presented an initial working model summarising the range of factorsthat can influence voice:

• the purpose of voice –sustainable business success

• the outcomes of voice —engagement, commitment andperformance

• the culture and behavioursassociated with voice

• the structures and processesassociated with voice

• the commitment needed ofemployees in return.

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Since this initial report, we have undertaken further research to test our earlier ideas,focussed on the factors influencing voice from the employer’s perspective rather thanwhat is required of the employee in return to match the investment made by theirorganisations.

This report sets out what we have subsequently learned through the research. Ourmethodology, covered in more detail in appendix one, has included:

• in-depth case studies, based on site visits and extensive interviews

• survey responses from over 130 managers and HR professionals (see appendix two)

• findings from Towers Watson’s research which includes opinions of more thanhalf a million employees in the UK (see page 29)

• along with analysis by Concentra of FTSE 100 annual reports and data fromwww.glassdoor.com. (see appendix three)

The research has focussed on what employers need to do to create the conditions inwhich voice can be expressed rather than on what is needed in return fromemployees and their representatives in return to make voice effective.

We have also identified some adjustments to the previous model, which we discussmore fully in the report. The revised model is shown opposite and is usedthroughout the report as a signpost for readers.

We also present an agenda for change that we hope will help practitioners inimproving and developing effective employee voice as part of their widerengagement strategies.

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Part 2: Thepurpose of voice

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Voice was recognised in the MacLeod Review of 2009, ‘Engaging for Success’, asone of the four key enablers of employee engagement. They explained voice asfollows:

“Employees’ views are sought out; they are listened to and see that theiropinions count and make a difference. They speak out and challenge whenappropriate. A strong sense of listening and of responsiveness permeatesthe organisation, enabled by effective communication.”3

We define employee voice in our first report as follows:

“Voice describes the various forms of two-way communication betweenemployers and employees in the workplace. It can be focussed on resolvingdisagreements and differences of opinion, sharing information, or ininvolving employees in decision making and gaining access to theirknowledge and expertise. Voice is rarely about simply asking what theemployee wants – but what they value and think about products, processes,the brand and customer experience to highlight areas for improvement. It isabout encouraging them to actively voice opinions on decisions that affectthem.”

We found through our research that voice and engagement were often usedinterchangeably by companies who find it difficult to talk specifically about their workon employee voice without stepping into discussions about wider engagementactivities/strategies.

But voice and engagement are not the same thing and it is important to understandthe distinction between the two. Voice, as recognised in the ‘Engaging for Success’report, is an enabler of employee engagement. A strong employee voice helpssupport engagement but the latter term includes other issues such as a strategicnarrative, enabling managers and authenticity.

Voice is also an outcome of effective engagement activities. When an employerengages openly and honestly with its staff and provides opportunities and channelsfor them to express opinions, it will enable employee voice. But voice cannot becreated or generated by employers. They can only create the conditions in whichemployees can express voice. Both sides play a role.

Voice is about enabling conversations to take place across the whole organisationon all matters that affect the current and future success of the organisation. Itmeans that the things employees say and the ways in which they say them positivelycontribute to helping an organisation meet all its objectives – from the level of theimmediate task being undertaken through to the strategic objectives of theorganisation. It is about achieving success through learning and sharing together.

We argue that the purpose of voice is to help create sustainable business success.Success that is defined not just in narrow and short-term financial performanceterms but through understanding the dynamic relationship between the globaleconomy, society and the environment, and the opportunities that this brings.

Value is co-created through people – through the relationships that an organisationbuilds. Encouraging active, confident and vocal employees boosts their participationand their engagement in a shared endeavour.

“The true value ofemployee voice is thecollective experienceand knowledge itpossesses. Anorganisation of 6,000people would give you18,000 years ofpersonal experiencesof that organisationalone to tap into.”

Nigel Harris, Director -ProgrammeManagement Office,IAC Group

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Employee voice can have a transformational impact on an organisation and improveperformance and help deliver sustainable business success by:

• acting as a key enabler of employee engagement

• enhancing decision making

• driving innovation.

Employee engagementEmployee engagement is defined by the ‘Engaging Success’ report as

“A workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed totheir organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute toorganisational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their ownsense of well-being”.4

Voice, as a key enabler of employee engagement, has a crucial role to play in drivingsustainable business success.

There is a significant and growing body of evidence on the impact employeeengagement can have on business success:

• engaged employees are more committed to the organisation – they are moreproductive; less likely to take sick leave; and are more likely to advocate theirorganisation

• companies with engaged workforces are more profitable and successful –there is evidence that improving engagement correlates with improvingperformance.6

Research by Ipsos Mori forCIPD shows that two of thekey drivers of engagementare the ability ofemployees to feed viewsupwards, and feeling wellinformed about what washappening in theorganisation.5

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Effective decision making and implementationThe modern economy is a fast-moving environment in which to operate, requiringorganisations to understand the challenges and opportunities that they face,anticipate change, adapt nimbly to changing circumstances and to be prepared tomake important and often difficult decisions quickly.

Having a strong and informed employee voice is vital for effective decision makingboth at an operational and at a strategic level. And arguably both are needed toengage employees effectively.

Voice enables employees to input into decisions and ensures that once a decisionhas been made it is implemented smoothly and effectively. It therefore improves boththe quality of decision making and the subsequent implementation of the chosenaction.

Employees are ideally placed to help companies make well-informed decisions. Theyhave a vast amount of accumulated knowledge, experience and expertise – a vitalasset to any organisation. Employees are close to customers and understand theirneeds, they know the organisation and how it works in practice. They are well placedto judge where changes will work and where they would not.

Where there is a strong employee voice, decisions are more easily implemented.Voice enables companies to take their employees with them when making difficultdecisions.

Obviously managers might not always want to, or be able to, pursue the optionemployees might prefer. But, where there is a difficult decision to be made that maylead to disagreement, consulting employees and giving them the opportunity to feedtheir views, means it is more likely that they will accept the decision that is eventuallymade – whether it was their preference or not.

Conversely, when a decision has been made based on a flawed or incompleteprocess of consultation, or when there has been no consultation at all, employeesare far less likely to accept the outcome. In such cases, employees will be moresuspicious about the process. Implementation of the decision will be far moreproblematic, with employees at best being uncooperative, and at worse beingobstructive for example through taking industrial action.

InnovationIn addition to engagement, effective decision making and implementation ourresearch suggests that employee voice fosters innovation.

Innovation is increasingly important to sustainable business success. The economyis becoming ever-more globalised, emerging nations are becoming competitive; andtechnology is growing in importance. In such an environment, innovation is vital tosuccess. If companies fail to innovate, they will lose their competitive edge.

Employees know and understand their job and their organisation: their product orservice and their customers. They are therefore well placed to identify how toimprove products and services, to identify new markets, and/ or drive efficiency andreduce costs. Voice helps organisations realise this potential for innovation; byencouraging the sharing of these ideas for the benefit of all.

“I believe [voice]improves performanceas it helps us makebetter decisions andchallenges what we do.”

HR Director, mid-sizeTech company

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BAE Systems – the power of employee voice to drive innovation,engagement and performance

BAE Systems represents an excellent example of the power of employee voice todrive innovation, engagement and performance.

Introduced at their Warton and Samlesbury sites in late 2009, Working PracticeChange (WPC) aimed to embed a culture of continuous improvement, provide aprogression scheme for employees and drive efficiencies.

Their success was based on an understanding of why previous change programmeshad failed. Managers wanted to ensure that all parties were kept informed and thatthey would understand what the changes meant for them. They had informative Q&Adocuments that detailed the need for change, the proposals and the impacts andtheir opinion was sought from the start. There were regular ‘shed meetings’ and‘brew room conversations’ where managers and staff would come together todiscuss the process and identify areas for improvement. This “gave them a level ofcontrol over their destiny. WPC belonged to them and they were able to influence it.”

They recognised the importance of building a strong relationship with the union andgetting their buy-in to the process. As Mark Gregory, the key contact at BAESystems with the union explained; “we proceeded through debate and dialogue,instead of confrontation and mistrust. There was no grandstanding. We cametogether with a common goal to make something happen.” There was a focus onunderstanding, listening and joint problem solving between the parties. The regularexchange of questions and answers between employees and managers, enabledthe development of a more trusting relationship.

In terms of actually identifying improvements to working practice, managers pulledtogether small and multi-disciplinary teams from all levels. These included seniormanagers, supervisors, engineers, union representatives and shop floor workers.They examined production processes and techniques to see where they could findefficiencies. By involving people from all levels of the company – including those onthe shop floor – they were able to tap into the immense reserves of experience andexpertise that resided within their employees.

WPC achieved and indeed exceeded its stated goals. Through involving staff, £26mof improvement opportunities were identified by the shop floor and the number ofworker hours required to build each plane fell by over 25%.

In addition to these tangible benefits of innovation, there were many more indirectwins. It had a significant impact on team morale. As Mick Darlington, a senior unionsteward in the Electrical building explained; “the lads did it themselves – a complexpiece of work developed and delivered by the shop floor. There’s huge pride in thequality of the process and the work.” There was also a reduction in sicknessabsence and workplace accidents.

You can find more about employee voice at BAE Systems and read the full casestudy here.

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TUI UK and Ireland – performance and engagement through voice

TUI UK and Ireland [hereafter TUI] is the UK’s largest tour operator, employing ateam of 13,800 and serving over 5.5 million customers each year. Employeeengagement is seen as one of the key strategic imperatives for the business andthey understand that voice, as an enabler of engagement, is therefore vital.

Given the size, diversity and geographical distribution of the workforce, accessingvoice from all parts of the organisation poses significant challenges. This challengehas been overcome by the use of a wide array of channels including onlineplatforms.

TUI has a well-established and effective staff forum ‘Be Involved’ that serves tochannel employee voice upward and to make for a more participative culture. Theysee the role of the forum as “ensuring they have an on-going dialogue and involvecolleagues with matters that are important to them”.

The TUI approach to voice is flexible and takes account of the differences betweentheir various functions. For example, unlike the rest of their workforce, their airline isunionised and the leadership at TUI recognises that the union is an “integralstakeholder in contributing to employee voice within the company”.

TUI also has a number of channels to support the expression of individual voice.They continue to place a high importance on one-to-one meetings betweenemployees and managers as an open and honest forum for communication. Theyrun a company-wide employee survey, ‘Your Voice’ from which they produce tailoredaction plans, followed up with ‘You Said. We Did’ messaging to close the feedbackloop.

Given the geographic spread of their workforce, TUI makes full use of onlinechannels including their intranet and interactive blogs.

TUI’s strategy is detailed through their ‘Big Picture’, a pictorial way of demonstrating,where the business has come from, where it is today, their strategy for success andlong-term vision.

To ensure that all employees understand the big picture, all areas across thebusiness hold ‘the big conversation’. By introducing these conversations thebusiness is able to create a more open and involving culture.

TUI knows they need to offer both high quality service and travel products that meetthe needs of their customers. Employee voice helps deliver both of these aims.Through supporting employee engagement, voice helps maintain quality customerservice. Through involving employees in decision making, voice helps TUI remaininnovative and competitive.

The leadership at TUI understands the importance of the link between voice,engagement and performance. As they explain in their annual report, “We believethat engaged and happy colleagues are key to both superior customer service andthe Group’s continued success and profitability.” It is clear that they have beensuccessful in delivering high levels of engagement in the workforce with theirperformance in their staff survey far out-stripping national benchmarks.

These high levels of engagement and customer focus have fed through andcontributed to business performance in recent years. Despite the challenging globaleconomic environment, it has shown impressive levels of resilience in terms ofrevenue and profits. As one representative on the staff forum commented, “voice isintegral to the success of the company”.

You can find more about employee voice at TUI UK and Ireland and read the fullcase study here.

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Part 3: Factorsenabling voice

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Culture and behavioursOur original model identified the following important cultural influences on voice:

• purpose and values

• ownership

• leadership style

• devolvement

• influence, and

• safety to speak.

This further stage of research has identified the additional importance ofauthenticity. It has also found that although ownership structures have an impact onculture it is not as significant as originally identified.

Values, authenticity and trust

Our initial report ‘Rethinking voice’ argues that purpose and values give a sharedsense of direction and set the tone so that employees can engage. Creating the rightenabling conditions for voice to flourish builds the trust that is needed for voice towork well.

Part of building trust is about ensuring that the use of voice is authentic. Voice mustbe approached in a genuine and authentic way, and treated as more than just acosmetic exercise.

An authentic use of voice means that when the employee is invited to speak up, thecompany in return will both listen and respond to what the employee says, even if itis just to explain why they cannot carry out a request for change. Feedback is vitaland action must be seen to follow.

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“Pretending to listen isworse than not listeningat all – if you are goingto listen you have todemonstrate that youdid, even if it is to sayno; it’s much better toexplain why.”

Deborah Dorman, Headof Great Place to Work,Sainsbury’s

"Employee ownership isnot a prerequisite forengagement. OurPartners are notmotivated by profit sharebut by shared purpose…Any organisation canfacilitate voice,engagement comes frommaking it integral to theway you do business. Itrequires trust, somethingwe know we can nevertake for granted and thatwe must work hard tosustain."

Juliet Mountain, Manager,Insight & PersonnelStrategy, John LewisPartnership

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United Welsh Housing Association – a ‘partnership’ approach

United Welsh Housing Association is a not-for-profit organisation providing housingand related services in South Wales.

One of United Welsh’s core values as set out in their corporate strategy is‘partnership’ which they define as “working together in productive relationships bothinternally and externally”. Their commitment to partnership runs right through theorganisation and it is central to how they approach employee voice.

They have developed a distinctive approach to cultivating voice which they call‘Choice Based Engagement’. This focuses on building and maintaining employeevoice in order to develop trust which they see as crucial in terms of managingdifficult decisions. They recognise that cultivating a good relationship with their staffand the union enables the organisation to make swift decisions when needed. Theyalso understand the role employee voice can play in informing their services andbusiness decisions.

As well as enabling rapid decision making and maintaining staff buy-in, UnitedWelsh also sees employee voice as contributing to the quality of service andtherefore to their business success. They identify with the ‘John Lewis model’,arguing that “if you look after people they will deliver for your customers and makethe difference to your business”.

Authenticity is at the heart of their approach to voice. The director of corporateservices, Gareth Hexter, believes that working in partnership has to be more than acosmetic exercise: “people will know very quickly if the discussion is not genuine.”For example, engaging in a consultation when a decision has already been madewould undermine trust. Asking opinions has to be done in good faith: “transparencyis integral to voice... People expect to be told the truth.”

Voice is mainstreamed into all of the work United Welsh does. When it came todeveloping the organisation’s vision and values employees were split into workinggroups to develop these drafts. The ideas were drawn together and presented to theentire workforce at a staff conference. This ensured the values would be anauthentic representation of the organisation.

United Welsh understands the importance of line managers to engagement andvoice. They have developed a leadership training programme with Henley BusinessSchool which has been delivered to the senior management team and heads ofservice and is due to be rolled out to all managers within the organisation. It clarifiesexpectations for managers in terms of engagement and equips them with the toolsto facilitate voice. Managers also have the support of David Williams who splits histime between being a union representative and as United Welsh’s partnershipmanager.

You can find more about employee voice at United Welsh and read the full casestudy here.

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Safety to speakSafety to speak is a good indicator of whether trust exists in an organisation. Ourresearch shows companies increasingly committing themselves to mechanisms thatoffer safety to speak in extreme situations – such as whistleblowing lines, but safetyto speak is about much more than that.

Employees will only voice their opinions and ideas if they are certain that speakingup will not put them at personal risk, for example of being embarrassed or negativecareer consequences.

Creating a safe environment is about having a culture of openness in which robustinformation is routinely shared. It means having a culture that welcomes theexpression of ideas from employees and reassures them that there will be nonegative consequences and their ideas will always be considered. A culture wheremanagers are open to ideas and suggestions, and are willing to listen and act onthem.

Leadership styleFor voice to effectively support employee engagement there needs to be buy-in andcommitment at the top of the organisation.

Leadership style and support can enable or disable voice. The impact of leadershipstyle cascades through the organisation, from the most senior managers to the frontline. Senior leaders therefore need to promote a culture that is open to and indeedwelcomes the expression of voice. In large organisations, the senior leadership canoften seem distant from employees. In such cases it is important for leaders todemonstrate that they value the views of employees, and to put in place channels toenable communication to take place.

How line managers behave is of critical importance as this is the most directrelationship that an employee has with the organisation and influences how anemployee perceives the organisation as a whole.

Our research has identified that the key characteristics of leadership that empoweremployee voice are openness, good communication and approachability. This kind ofstyle encourages two-way conversations. Where it is effective, it can create a sense ofcoherence around the role an employee plays and influences the overall atmosphereand ‘feel’ of the workplace. A leadership style that builds strong working relationshipsstrengthens trust, loyalty and commitment and is essential to creating a cultureconducive to encouraging employees to give their opinions and share their ideas.

Devolvement, inclusivity and influenceAchieving effective voice relies on both the commitment of the organisation and itsemployees. An inclusive culture which celebrates the contribution of employees andembeds voice in the organisation’s strategy creates the right environment foremployees to use their voice.

It is not enough to just seek employees’ views only on day-to-day operations. To gainthe maximum benefit from voice involves giving employees the opportunity to have avoice in organisational decision making on both operational and strategic issues.

The level at which decisions will be made affect the scope and impact of employeevoice. Devolving responsibility to employees gives them the opportunity to voice theirviews and suggestions and promotes a sense of shared responsibility for theirorganisation’s success.

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Unipart Group – ‘no problem is a problem’

Unipart is a manufacturing, logistics and consultancy group working in a variety ofsectors such as technology, automotive, retail and financial services. Unipart has aparticular capability in continuous improvement developed over a period of time. It is aprivately owned company and the senior management and executives typically have along tenure; the chief executive has been in place since the formation of the company.

At Unipart voice is firmly embedded in the ways of working, and indeed, is viewed asnecessary to achieve successful outcomes in many areas. The successful developmentof the Unipart approach to continuous improvement and change management has led toa widespread conviction and commitment across the organisation to employee voice. The‘Unipart Way’ provides the principles, tools and techniques to facilitate employee voice,leading to common practices across the Group.

For employees, voice has a clear link to how respected and how valued they feel theyare by their managers and the company. Employees believe that consultation andinvolvement, often by their managers, strengthens their commitment to the site wherethey work, ensuring its success. The no blame culture helps to mitigate potentiallystressful situations such as performance monitoring or frequent role change, andprovides a sense of control through their confidence that they will be involved in anychange. This is captured in the concept that ‘no problem is a problem’. In Unipart thereis an acknowledgement that rather than avoiding problems, they should be activelysought out as opportunities for improvement.

Many of their voice channels are designed to elicit their knowledge to ensuresuccessful innovation and implementation. The idea that employees, and not theirmanagers, are the experts in their area of work supports this form of engagement:

• at an individual level where people’s ownership of their work is expected togenerate voice as employees offer feedback and raise problems with linemanagers

• at a team level where teams are expected to take ownership of their work, solveproblems and make improvements

• at a site and divisional level where strong forums are encouraged as a way ofmanagement and employees engaging on cross site issues.

Several factors are significant in enabling employee voice at Unipart. Privateownership has helped the company to take a long-term perspective in developing itsapproach with its employees, and continues to allow managers relative freedom to act.The decentralised business model devolves much decision making to the lowestpossible level in the organisation and makes it feasible for employees to influence thatprocess, thereby making consultation more meaningful and incentivising involvement.

The leadership and management style works to create an environment in whichproblems, both personal and performance related, can be raised and managers act asfacilitators to solve problems. Indeed, from team leaders to managing directors, thereis an emphasis on knowing employees in a personal capacity – for example, knowingemployees’ names, personal interests or family context. Both employees and leaderssee this as strengthening loyalty and commitment to the leaders and their aims andobjectives, and also encouraging employees to discuss problems with production.

In devolving decision making to the lowest level Unipart demonstrates that severallocal factors are of key importance; these include authentic leadership, a long-termpartnership approach with clients with a commitment from the whole team to meettheir needs and the use of a continuous improvement approach to give people theskills and opportunity to enable them to own their own work.

You can find more about employee voice at Unipart and read the full case study here.

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Sainsbury’s – local and central leadership key to enabling‘colleague’ voice

Sainsbury’s is a listed FTSE 100 retailer with a large and diverse workforce of 150,000spread across the UK, working in supermarkets, convenience stores and depots. Thecompany believes that people are vital to their business success and call allemployees ‘colleagues’ to reinforce a sense of equality and shared responsibilityamong their people. Director of colleague engagement Jacki Connor explained “acompany that cuts off voice from their colleagues is missing a really important sourceof ideas generation.” The company has created a role called ‘customer service andcolleague director’ at the operating board level specifically to achieve strategicalignment between colleague involvement and customer service delivery.

Sainsbury’s has developed a variety of well-structured channels to ensure allcolleagues can exercise their voice. Sainsbury’s deliberately seeks ideas from theground, and devolves power to act through allocating decision making budget on someof its engagement initiatives to local Colleague Councils (employee forums) chaired bylocal store managers. Colleague Councils are employee forums held at four levels,starting from shop level and going right up to the national representation. The chiefexecutive, Justin King and the senior management attend the National ColleagueCouncil meetings.

Sainsbury’s also uses more informal and direct methods of accessing voice. Theyhave a ‘Tell Justin’ scheme whereby colleagues can feed ideas directly up to JustinKing, by postcard, text message or email. Everyone receives an individual response.At the time of writing this summary more than 50,000 suggestions have been receivedand they consider this channel to be an effective way of accessing feedback from staffand identifying new ideas and business opportunities.

Justin King and the other directors regularly attend ‘Start the Day’ sessions at stores tohear directly from staff on the issues that matter to them and the suggestions theyhave for the business. In addition to this, store managers are seen as having a pivotalrole in accessing employee voice through regular team and one-to-one meetings.

Sainsbury’s recognises the potential of colleague-to-colleague voice but also thechallenge in facilitating this within an organisation whose workforce is spread acrossthe country. Colleague Councils also work as a channel for horizontal communication.They bring together representatives from different stores within a region to expresstheir views and share best practice. The leaders’ buy-in has reinforced theeffectiveness of employee voice. If voice is now widely spread and heard throughoutSainsbury’s, this is partly due to the leadership style of Justin King and his board.Sainsbury’s has created opportunities for colleagues to directly interact with their chiefexecutive and other board members. Their commitment to spend time with colleaguesdemonstrates the significance they give to voice as part of their colleagueengagement strategy and their conviction that it links to productivity.

Sainsbury’s is very conscious of the importance of responding to what theircolleagues have to say – “pretending to listen is worse than not listening at all - if youare going to listen you have to demonstrate that you did, even if it is to say no; it’smuch better to explain why.” The egalitarian use of voice (all colleagues have similarvoice opportunities) ensures that there is an open and honest conversation betweenthe management and colleagues. Colleagues know they are respected, that they willbe heard and their ideas will be listened to, and that their contribution is acknowledgedby the organisation.

You can find more about voice at Sainsbury’s and read the full case study here.

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Structures and processes Our original model identified the following structures and processes as beingimportant enablers of effective voice:

• information

• rewards, status & conditions

• development and training, and

• voice channels.

In this report we have treated the nature of information shared as an issue to do withculture and have covered this in the previous chapter. We have also removed thesection on rewards, status and other conditions as we found no other organisationsthat used this to encourage voice.

The main factors are therefore:

• voice channels

• development and training.

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Voice channels Voice can take many forms and all need to be heard to ensure that the organisation canrealise the full benefits.

The channels used need to capture both the views of an individual and also theaggregated opinions of a group (collective voice). Voice can be indirect throughrepresentative structures such as a trade union or a staff council. Or it can be directbetween employees and employer such as at a one-to-one meeting.

Approaches to voice constantly evolve, in line with changing cultural attitudes, workorganisation and technological developments. One of the key shifts that has taken placeover the last thirty years has been a relative decline in the importance of collective voiceand an increasing emphasis on individual voice:

• Decline in union membership. The thirty years following the war can be described as the era of collective voice. The period was marked by high levels of unionmembership, which reached a peak of 55% of the working population in 1979, fromwhere it has steadily declined to its current figure of 26%.7 However, unions are still animportant channel for voice especially in sectors where membership remains high suchas the public services. They act as invaluable interlocutors, representing the views ofemployees to their employers, and negotiating on their behalf. Being elected andrepresentative, unions have a mandate to engage with employers.

• Staff forums have become a valuable vehicle. Although their use initially promptedsome unease within the union movement, our research has shown staff forums andunions often co-exist, fulfilling different but complementary roles. Notable examplesinclude Prudential and TUI UK and Ireland.

• Increasing use of staff surveys. Our survey showed that three out of four companiesused staff surveys and 15% said they were the most important facilitator of voicewithin their organisation (see appendix two). This figure is in line with evidence fromConcentra which shows the increasing use of staff surveys in recent years. 76% ofFTSE 100 companies now use staff surveys, compared to 69% in 2009. More of thesecompanies are now reporting on their staff survey results in their annual reports. (seeappendix three)

Our research has supported this shift in emphasis from collective towards individual voice.Direct and individual sources of voice (including line manager meetings, staff surveys ordirect contact with senior leadership) were both more common and more valued byemployers than collective and representative channels. Collective voice channels includingunions and forums were less well-used and less highly valued.

The advent of social media channels has led to another significant shift and theemergence of what we are calling ‘social voice’. This change has been driven both bythe development of technology and by changes in wider society which has becomes moreindividualistic and more networked. Social media has enabled individual employees andgroups of employees to express their views upwards to management, across to othercolleagues and outwards to customers and the general population in a less structured andhierarchical manner.

But social media is a new and unfamiliar tool for employers. Our survey showed thatseven in ten employers either forbade or discouraged employees from using social mediato express views about their employer. (see page 35) This suggests a degree of uneaseon the part of employers driven by the relative novelty of the technology and/or theinability of employers to control what is being said.8

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Using a variety of channels

It is crucial that employers use a variety of different channels for voice and achieve abalance across them:

• employees need to be able to express their views both individually andcollectively, therefore voice channels need to strike a balance between the two

• using a variety of tools ensures that the organisation gets a broad perspectivethat is representative of their staff as a whole

• channels have to be fit for purpose. For example, direct and instantaneous voicechannels are more effective for the sharing of ideas to promote innovation, whilemore structured and formal channels, such as trade unions or staff forums, arebetter suited to consultations on redundancy, reorganisation or re-structuring

• employees tend to have preferences about which channels they wish to use.Some may be happy to speak up at team or union meetings, others might not feelcomfortable

• using approaches to voice that do take into account the growing use of socialmedia, or those that prevent effective bottom-up communication betweenemployees and managers/senior leadership or between employees within anorganisation, represent missed opportunities.

Companies need to make conscious choices around how they provoke and stimulateemployee voice. Using a variety of appropriate channels, analysing what is beingsaid and identifying specific suggestions for action to follow through and feedingback demonstrates the organisation’s commitment to voice and thereforeencourages employees to participate more fully.

Understanding and embedding this cycle creates a self-reinforcing or virtuous circleto achieve effective voice.

“There is no ‘best way’ toencourage voice. A numberof different options arenecessary to suit individualpreferences and meet theneeds of the organisation”

HR Manager, mid sizepharmaceuticals company

Voice

Listen

Understand

Act

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Prudential – supporting collective and individual voice

Prudential plc is a leading international financial services group.

Within the Prudential UK & Europe business, listening to the voice of employees is acentral part of the company’s culture. This enables effective decision making acrossthe organisation, and increases levels of employee engagement which positivelyimpacts the wider success of the organisation.

The approach to facilitating employee voice at Prudential is wide-ranging. In terms ofcollective voice, it has a well-developed and influential Employee Forum. Initially theForum mainly served to involve employees in difficult decisions aroundorganisational restructuring. This enabled the business to draw on the experience ofits employees to guide decision making and, in the words of Heather Milligan, theUK employee forum chair, to “bring people along with you”.

It was soon recognised that the Forum could have an important on-going role as adriver of employee engagement. This led to a culture shift whereby the Forumbecame more proactive, focusing on business issues. The Forum, in turn, is highlyvalued by the chief executive and the senior leadership team who trust it as a‘barometer’ of the business.

In addition to the Forum, Prudential also accesses collective voice through Unite, thetrade union. Initially they were not the easiest of bed fellows. In the words of SteveO’Donnell, the senior representative from Unite, the Forum was seen as “creepingonto its territory”. However, through working closely together and setting out clearlydefined responsibilities, they have been able to develop a shared understanding anda positive relationship to the benefit of employees and the business.

In addition to collective voice, Prudential also looks to engage with employeesdirectly and on an individual level, including through a staff survey. Managers areoffered support to interpret the survey results for their team and develop an actionplan to address any potential issues.

Voice at Prudential has the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, whetherthis be consulting during change, or engaging to sustain voice and improve thebusiness. This means that employee voice remains strong, constant and informed,adding value to the business. The success of this approach is demonstrated by thejump in levels of engagement at Prudential as evidenced by this year’s staff survey.This increased significantly, despite the difficult times for the sector, and nowoutscores both the national average and the sector average.

You can find more about employee voice at Prudential and read the full case study here.

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Adnams – enabling an authentic relationship built on trust withcustomers and employees

Adnams is a Suffolk-based brewer, distillery, hotelier and wine merchant. Despite thecurrent attitude of most organisations in regards to social media, Adnams firmlyencourages its employees to use social media networks to interact with each other,and with stakeholders. Out of their 380 staff members, 50 use Twitter or Facebookor a number of other social media sites on a regular basis.

Adnams does not monitor its employees’ use of social networks. Instead theyencourage their employees’ personality, and views to shine in order to help buildpersonal ties with customers. The use of social media has proven to be fertileground for prompting ideas or initiatives.

While Adnams recognises that inappropriate public disclosure can occur, the use ofsocial media sits naturally with its brand and ethos of authenticity and telling storiesis actively encouraged.

The authenticity and spontaneity triggered by Twitter and other social networksreinforces trust between Adnams and their people. The empowerment of employeesto voice their views on Twitter is based on absolute trust. It comes from a belief thattheir employees are engaged with what they do and how they do it, and will upholdthe company values. Adnams’ policy on the use of social media sets out what theorganisation wants to achieve through the use of this channel and gives employeesthe power to accomplish this in any way they want to. When some employees strayoutside of the policy, Adnams nudges them in the right direction, e.g. on thelanguage they are using. Employees respect the trust they are given and Adnamshave seen this trust earned and repaid with staff respecting the social mediaguidelines.

The spontaneity of the online conversations between employees and customerscreates an authentic connection between the company and its customers, as well asgenerating instant feedback on their products. Social networks also are used torecruit, to tell stories, and to promote events and activities. Apart from connectingcustomers with employees, Adnams believes that Twitter creates better and lessformal communications between employees themselves.

Adnams values the personal dimension Twitter brings to their employees’ voice.Their combined professional and personal views shine through, which greatlyenhances the brand and gives it a personality of its own.

Adnams recognises that they could better use social media as a catalyst foremployee voice. Feedback on employee voice is still given through the traditionalstructures of one-to-one’s, email or employee forums. They also know that they areon a journey to create the alignment between their employees’ whole self, theirbrand and ethos, and their business success.

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Development and trainingStaff and managers will often need training in order to support voice.

First, they might need training to understand the structures and processes involvedin formal voice channels such as unions and staff forums. In addition to these formalstructures, both sides might need support to develop skills such as communication,active listening or negotiation, enabling the discussions to be more productive.

Employee representatives – whether they are union or staff forum representatives – may need to be up-skilled in order to canvass and understand the views of theircolleagues or helped to develop the confidence required to make a differencethrough these roles.

For example, at United Welsh Housing Association, it was felt that the unionrepresentatives might not have the specific skills necessary to understand andinterrogate the budget proposals which would include setting pay levels.Management wanted to involve the representatives as much as possible in thisprocess and so provided finance training for them so that they could better engagewith the process and scrutinise the plans. This in turn allowed them to explain thesituation to members and come to an agreement.

This demonstrates the importance of ‘informed voice’ – engaging with employees onan adult level, involving them in complex discussions and strategic decision making.Such conversations may be beyond the scope of an employee’s day job and sorequire support to develop the requisite skills. However, getting the conversation tothis stage is vital in order to make sure voice really adds value to an organisation.

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Inform, empower, engage: what role do employee surveys have to play?By Towers Watson

Employee surveys are a widely used organisational tool to overcome barriers to opencommunication, and can be vital in promoting an authentic employee voice. Ourresearch shows companies that encourage and act on employee voice, and informemployees regularly on matters that affect them in a variety of ways, are moresuccessful financially than companies that fail to leverage their employees’ feedback.

Well designed and administered surveys are a confidential and robust channel foremployees to have their say on issues that affect them, and their organisation. Theyallow all employees to have an equal say, rather than amplifying the voice of the mostvocal. They help management understand whether employees are motivated, enabledand energised to deliver their best, as well as what to celebrate, and what to improve.

However, it is not enough simply to conduct an employee survey. Giving employees avoice makes a lasting impact when employees also feel well informed andempowered to act. A survey with badly designed questions, with no clear sponsorand purpose, and no attempt to communicate or take action on the results, willincrease the ‘disempowering distance’ between management and employees.Companies can however transform the employee survey into a vehicle thatenhances rather than stifles employee voice. To achieve this, leaders must createthe right environment by:

• communicating openly and often about business goals, objectives,priorities and challenges. This creates the context in which employees givetheir feedback, so that the employee voice ‘speaks’ to the issues that are relevantto the business

• listening and responding. Employees should feel listened to, rather thanjust asked for their opinions. Regular feedback sessions, at which employeesand their managers openly discuss progress in responding to the survey issues,are key to ensuring that the investment in the survey project reaps the rewards

• involving employees on an on-going basis. A survey should not be a one-offevent. It is critical to involve employees in shaping the response to survey results.In the best examples we have seen a clear cascade of results from seniormanagement initiating an on-going dialogue between managers and employees,leading to continuous improvement and a sense of shared success.

Organisations should only encourage voice when leaders are genuinely prepared tolisten, and to act on outcomes. Surveys must be confidential, in order to buildemployee trust. Authentic adult-to-adult relationships help to convince employees ofan organisation’s integrity, and open the door to wholehearted engagement.

Increasingly, companies want continuous feedback of employee views tocomplement an annual employee engagement survey. There is also increasingawareness of the value of qualitative feedback from open-ended questions inrebalancing the emphasis on the ‘hard data’ of engagement scores andbenchmarks. One organisation recently used our Active Listening tool to analysecomments provided online from over 100,000 employees. The power of thisapproach was its ability to analyse, distil and report back to a senior leadership teamthe combined ‘voice’ of a large and diverse employee base. By putting the issuesbefore its leaders using the actual words of employees, it was much harder for themto ignore what employees had to say.

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Towers Watson’s research into the features of financially high performingorganisations finds more than 70% of employees in these organisations believingthat management acts on survey feedback. This compares to the UK average ofaround 50%. A distinguishing feature of high performance organisations in the UKseems to be their effective and responsive approach to employee surveys. Webelieve that all organisations can learn from their example.

Some key findings from Towers Watson research

Engagement is more likely when employees both have a say and feel empowered toact.9

In an average company in the UK in 2012:

• 2/3 (65%) of employees in the UK feel it is safe to speak up

• Half (57%) of UK employees are confident management will take action onproblems identified by an employee survey

• Half (50%) of employees believe they have the opportunity for input beforedecisions are made that affect their job.10

Given the importance of open dialogue, it might be a surprise to hear thatemployees in the UK feel management style has actually become more secretive inrecent years.

• In 2012, 29% of UK employees feel management style is open (compared to35% in 2008)

• In 2012, 41% of UK employees feel management is secretive (compared to 36%in 2008)11

There are certainly opportunities to improve the flow of open dialogue beyond anannual employee survey. Currently, 48% of employees in the UK never use internalsocial business/collaboration tools (for example, wikis, blogs, discussion forums) forwork-related purposes. Just 19% of UK employees use these tools once a week ormore.12

In high performance companies* employees feel more able to speak up, moreinvolved in decisions that affect them and have more confidence in the decisions ofsenior management which is oftentimes a key driver of engagement.

*Towers Watson High Performance Companies consistently score above average fortheir sector on financial and employee engagement measures.

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Part 4:Conclusions andagenda forchange

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In today’s world, voice is integral to sustainable business success. We have enteredan era where organisations are operating in a context where the dynamicrelationship between the global economy, society and the environment is thebackdrop to success, where value is co-created through the various relationshipsthat exist within businesses – between managers and employees, as well as withcustomers and with other stakeholders. In this context, voice is of vital importance.

Organisations will only be successful in the future if they are able to be innovative, tosustain employee engagement, and to make decisions effectively. Employee voice isessential for all three of these outcomes but embedding effective voice requiresinvestment of time and effort and can also present challenges to the status quo:

• Voice is affected by both the ‘soft’ culture and behaviours within an organisationas well as the ‘hard’ structures and processes. There is a dynamic relationshipbetween the two factors and sustainable business success. Both requireattention.

• If business leaders want to access employee voice, they must first ensure thatthe organisational culture is right. This means having a supportive leadershipstyle; emphasising values, authenticity and trust; ensuring safety to speak; andproviding for devolvement, inclusivity and influence.

• A plurality of channels, with a balance between individual and collective, areneeded to ensure that all voices can be heard, listened to, analysed and actiontaken as a result to create a virtuous circle of voice.

• With the growth of social voice, we are entering an era where employees will bemore able to express voice spontaneously to each other, to their employers andto their customers. Employers will need to adapt to this new reality.

• Engaging employees in both operational and strategic decisions means thatleaders and employees must move beyond the boundaries of their day-to-dayroles. Both may require training and development to support this.

Those businesses that rise to these challenges and learn to harness voiceeffectively will prosper; those that do not will increasingly struggle.

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An agenda for changeThis tool-kit has been developed drawing on the findings of this report. It is intendedto be a practical resource for organisations that want to encourage employee voice.

Although the report identifies good practice, you will need to tailor the approach toyour organisation to meet its specific needs. This tool-kit therefore serves as adiagnostic for practitioners to understand voice in their organisation and how it mightbe better used. It provides both questions to help you understand the current state ofvoice and prompts as to how this might be better be used.

The first two sections are for senior leadership, Human Resources and linemanagers, focusing on the conditions that need to be in place to allow voice toflourish. The third focuses on questions you might want to ask of employees to gettheir feedback and encourage them to think about their role in supporting voice.

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Questions for Leaders, HR and Managers

Culture and behaviours• What purpose does voice play in your organisation?

• How do you help employees to feed in to strategic decision making?

• How do employee views and suggestions contribute to the success of yourorganisation?

• To what extent are employees consulted on all issues that affect them?

• To what extent is the senior leadership committed to gaining and acting on theviews of employees?

• How can you be authentic in accessing the views and contributions ofemployees?

• Feeding back and responding to the views of employees is vital. How do you do this?

• How does your organisational culture allow problems to be aired and resolved?

Structure and processes • Employees need to be able to express their views individually and collectively.

How does this happen in your organisation?

• How can you allow employees to use social media positively to express viewsabout their work?

• Employees need a variety of communication channels to express their views.How can employees do this in your organisation?

• All members of staff need the opportunity to be heard. How do you ensure thiscan happen?

• How can you access employees’ ideas on innovation? Has your team identifiedimprovements in the way they work in the last 3 months?

• What response do you get when you ask employees for their opinions? What isyour response rate to employee surveys?

• How do you measure the difference employees’ views and ideas make in yourorganisation?

Questions your employees might ask of themselves

• To what extent do you feel able and encouraged to express your views at workindividually/collectively?

• Do you have the confidence to express your opinion?

• To what extent do you feel the organisation listens to you?

• To what extent does your organisation feed back and act on the issues you raise?

• What could your employers do to encourage employees to contribute their views?

• What could you do as employees to improve the effectiveness of voice?

• To what extent do employees/employee representatives have the skills they needto be heard?

• To what extent do you have the information you need to influence decision-making?

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Sources and notes1 Clarke N and MacLeod D, ‘Engaging for Success; Enhancing performance throughemployee engagement’, July 20092 IPA and Tomorrow’s Company, ‘Rethinking Voice for Sustainable Business Success’November 20113 Clarke N and MacLeod D, ‘Engaging for Success; Enhancing performance throughemployee engagement’, July 2009, p.754 Clarke N and MacLeod D, ‘Engaging for Success; Enhancing performance throughemployee engagement’, July 2009, p.95 Truss C., Soane E., Edwards C., Croll ., and Burnett J. (2006) Working Life: Employeeattitudes and engagement published by the Chartered Institute for PersonnelManagement6 Clarke N and MacLeod D, ‘Engaging for Success; Enhancing performance throughemployee engagement’, July 2009, p.147 Nikki Browlie, ‘Trade Union Membership 2011’, (London: Department for Business,Innovation and Skills, 2012)8 Sharon Tan, ‘Use of Social Media by Employers and Employees’, E-Commerce, Law and Policy, March 2012; Zain Waddee ‘Social Media is a powerful engagement tool’, HR Magazine, 05/10/129 Towers Watson Normative Database: UK 201210 Towers Watson Normative Database: UK 201211 Towers Watson Normative Database: UK 201212 Towers Watson Global Workforce Study 2012

Appendix one: MethodologyThe research was conducted from January 2012 until November 2012. It built on ourinitial report, Rethinking voice for sustainable business success. Additional researchcarried out included the following elements:

• In-depth case studies of seven organisations; Adnams, BAE Systems, Sainsbury’s,Prudential, TUI UK and Ireland, Unipart Group, and United Welsh HousingAssociation.

• An online survey of 160 business leaders, HR professionals and managers between30/07/12 and 20/08/12. Respondents were sourced through the Chartered Institute forPersonnel and Development, the Chartered Management Institute, Engage ForSuccess, and the IPA.

• We have worked in partnership with Concentra to deliver a study of reporting by allFTSE-100 listed companies over a 3 year period and employee data fromwww.glassdoor.com, generating a searchable database accessible online.

• We have worked in partnership with Towers Watson to develop our ideas and explorethe prevalence and nature of employee voice in the UK today. To determine what levelof voice is ‘normal’ in the current economic climate, we have drawn on TowersWatson‘s Normative Database including up to date opinions of more than half amillion employees in the UK.

All of the individual elements of the research are available to view in full on theRethinking Voice website: www.rethinkingvoice.com

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Appendix two: Survey of employers aboutemployee voice Key findingsAs part of our research, we conducted an online survey of 160 business leaders,HR professionals and managers between 30/07/12 and 20/08/12. The survey wasintended to add more breadth to the in-depth case studies carried out. It focused onthe understanding of employee voice, the approach to accessing and measuring it,and the perceived impact on business success.

The key findings of the research include:

• The vast majority of respondents believe voice has a positive impact on theirorganisation. They picked out the impact of voice in terms of supportingengagement and organisational health, informing decision making and drivinginnovation and performance.

• Respondents defined voice not just as allowing staff to express of their opinions,but also encouraging them to speak up, actively listening and involving them indecision-making.

• In terms of the channels, used, there was a clear preference for ‘direct’ and‘individual’ channels over ‘collective’ and ‘representative’ structures. 86% saidthey used team meetings to facilitate voice with 85% using line manager or one-to-one meetings. Accessing voice through representative bodies was somewhatless common. Just 61.3% used staff forums and only 44.3% accessed voicethrough unions. Larger organisations were more likely to use these representativebodies and smaller organisations were more likely to rely on the ‘direct’ contactwith management.

• There were similar results in terms of employer perceptions on which were themost important channels. Again, direct and individual channels were favouredover indirect and representative ones. Line manager meetings were seen as mostimportant, being picked out by 27.9% of employers. However, just 10.6% pickedstaff forums and 2.9% union meetings.

• Employers – particularly larger organisations – remain very wary aboutemployees using social media to express opinions about their company. 26%forbid the use of social media in this way while another 46% say it isdiscouraged. Just 7% encourage employees to do this.

• Most respondents measure voice and the wider area of engagement through astaff survey. Some just use informal conversations with managers. One in tworespondents correlate voice measures with other indicators. This was normallyengagement overall or organisational health, but some correlated voice withperformance.

• Employee voice focuses on both ‘personnel’ issues such as redundancies andpay and conditions; and ‘business improvement’ issues including service andproduct innovation, efficiencies and business strategy. It is therefore used both tonegotiate the settlement between employer and employee and to allowemployees to contribute ideas to improving their business.

“We get lots of goodideas for improving ourbusiness and feedbackon what’s not working forcustomers.”

Head of Risk andCompliance, mid-sizecompany in Finance

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• When asked about the barriers to accessing employee voice, respondents tendedto emphasise issues with employees themselves. The most common responsewas ‘cynicism from staff’, highlighted by 54% of organisations. Similarly, 44%identified ‘getting buy in from staff’ and 39% highlighting ‘lack of response toinitiatives’. Employers also identified barriers coming from managers themselveswith 40% saying ‘getting manager buy-in’ was a problem. This suggests a linkback to the importance of culture. One can assume that such cynicism and lackof buy-in from staff may often arise due to a perception that the efforts to engageand consult are not genuine or worthwhile. Larger companies were more likely tosee ‘getting manager buy-in’ as a barrier, suggesting this is a greater issue inorganisations with more levels between leadership and staff at the ‘shop floor’.Smaller organisations are most likely to identify no problems in accessing voice,suggesting voice is easier when managers and staff are closer together andknow each other.

• Employers were asked what advice they would offer other organisations in termsof accessing voice. Common responses included:

- Getting manager buy-in – organisations need demonstrable commitment fromthe top in order to ensure authenticity and encourage staff involvement.

- Feeding back and acting on issues raised – leaders and managers mustrespond to the results of voice activity, even if they don’t choose the courseadvocated by employees. This is key to maintaining trust.

- Using a variety of channels – this is important to give an equal opportunity toallow all to contribute their views and to get a realistic picture of voice acrossan organisation.

- Being open and honest – staff can see when an attempt to access voice isgenuine or not. Doing so just as an exercise will be transparent and will leadto cynicism and harm engagement.

The full results of the survey can be found here.

The survey data is also available online and can be accessed and analysed throughOrgvue, an interactive data-visualisation tool produced by Concentra.

“Obtain leadership buy-in and participationfrom the very top”

Industrial RelationsManager, large businesssupport servicesprovider

“If you ask for feedback,act on it otherwise staffwill lose confidence.”

Customer ExperienceManager, Large financialservices organisation

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Appendix three: FTSE-100 employeeengagement reporting, a work by ConcentraHow do top companies engage their employees and give them voice? How arecompanies listening to their employees? Are all sectors the same?From 2009 to 2012 we have monitored FTSE-100 annual reports and CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) reports to see how listed companies describe theirmethods of engaging employees. Listed companies have a legal obligation to report on their impact on their employees, so we have created a website to maketransparent what any FTSE-100 company reports about its approach to employeeengagement and to allow outsiders to compare this across companies. See http://eer.orgvue.com

We applied a scoring method over the three years of data, rating companies highestwhere they give detailed descriptions of employee communications, engagementmethods and data on trends in engagement. Companies were also scored onwhether they gave details on their approach to ethical codes, CSR reporting andcustomer satisfaction. The results show some interesting trends.

Our first area of research showed a big increase in the number of companiesproviding engagement data from 40% of the FTSE-100 in 2010 to 63% in 2012.Sector by sector, it has historically been the case that service industries havereported more about their employee engagement methods than the heavyindustrials. Service industries have large numbers of customer contacts andtherefore staff engagement might be expected to be important to drive good service.

In 2012, the sectors saying most about employee engagement continue to betelecommunications, banks and insurance companies; whereas those with least tosay are mostly the heavier industries: mining, industrial general, food and beverages,aerospace & defence, household, leisure and personal goods. The odd one out in2012 is the ‘Financial General’ sector, which scores much lower than other servicesectors.

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There have been some large changes in behaviour by sectors, however, over theperiod. Mining companies, for example, have seen their average scores for reportingon engagement rise from 30 points in 2010 to 45 points in 2012. Xstrata, forexample, now gives extensive descriptions of its employee engagement surveyingand communications methods. In Oil & Gas, Essar stood out as the highest riserover the period, going from 99th place in 2010 to 16th in 2012 because it began toprovide detailed reporting on its CSR approach, including benchmarked employeeengagement scores covering a 6 year period.

The lowest performer in the entire index over the 3 year period was Carnival, whichin 2010 only mentioned its employees in its annual report in the context of liabilities,share options, need for training and risks of strikes.

Our second area of research addressed the challenge of transparency andauthenticity, comparing what companies reported about themselves with whatemployees had to say. We obtained data from employee feedback websiteglassdoor.com to compare the results that we obtained from public companyreports with what employees said through anonymous channels.

Some companies performed better than we would have expected from their annualreporting - oil & gas companies in particular got very high ratings on glassdoor fromtheir employees. Other companies were rated lower than we expected; BSkyB wasone; Autonomy (before its takeover by HP) was another. The message we take issimply that transparency is increasing faster than ever. Glassdoor states that its userbase has increased from 1 million to over 10 million in the last 24 months.Companies cannot insulate their brand by clever use of internal communications orannual reporting. Current or potential employees seek out other information sources.So companies have an incentive to behave consistently and with authenticity toavoid reputational damage.

In conclusion, FTSE-100 companies increasingly say they recognise the value thatengaged employees add. They explain more than ever about how they reach out toemployees, how they survey and give detailed results. Even some sectorstraditionally left behind, such as mining, are changing rapidly. Yet the same technicaladvances that help capture voice inside companies are operating at even greaterpace outside. Social media and external employee feedback are making companiesunprecedentedly transparent. We believe this will increasingly make authenticity acore requirement.

To see the results company by company, visit: http://eer.orgvue.com

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About IPA

The IPA exists to promote the involvement and participation of employees in theirplaces of work, and through doing so improve the quality of working lives. The IPA isBritain’s leading organisation delivering partnership, consultation and employeeengagement in the workplace. Through our research and practice we develop newways of working, based on trust and collaboration, that deliver better workplaces andbetter outcomes – employee wellbeing, increased productivity and improvedservices.

IPA is a not-for-profit organisation, funded by membership subscriptions and feeincome from consultancy and training services.

We are one of few ‘open spaces’ in the UK where employers, trade unionists andother workplace representatives, academics, legal experts, human resource andemployment specialists can come together with politicians and policy makers todiscuss and debate employment issues and policy.

www.ipa-involve.comFollow us on Twitter at @IPA_Involve

About Tomorrow's Company

Tomorrow’s Company is shaping the future of business success to build lastingvalue. We are a London based global think tank delivering value for business leadersand owners by addressing the systemic questions of the business world through theoverarching themes of: leadership & talent; sustainability & models of businesssuccess and governance & stewardship.

We believe business can be, and must be, a force for good; and we believe thechallenges the world faces are best served through harnessing business’ innovation,creativity and resources. Our solutions are by business for business, built on deeprelationships with business leaders, government, opinion formers and the media.

Tomorrow’s Company distil emerging issues, convene the discussions, enlistbusiness leaders and owners, and harness businesses’ resources to shape thestrategies that will deliver current and future success. We use our lens of provenmethodology, intelligence and experience to drive practical solutions, with originalinsight.

We defined the inclusive duties of directors for The UK’s Company Act 2006; ourwork on capital markets informed the creation of UN PRI; our thinking is at the heartof the UK Stewardship Code; King III acknowledges our influence. We inspired ageneration of business leaders to shape the way they do business.

Tomorrow’s Company defined the ‘Triple Context’, the dynamic relationship betweenthe global economy, society and the environment that is now used by manybusinesses as their definition for success.

Our work today will restore the licence for business to operate and for businesses tobe successful tomorrow.

www.tomorrowscompany.com. Follow us on Twitter at: @Tomorrows_Co

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Acknowledgements

First, we would like to thank our project partners, without whom this research wouldnot have been possible:

• BAE Systems

• British Gas/ Centrica

• HSBC

• International Automotive Components Group

• TUI UK and Ireland

• Unipart Group

Specifically, we would like to thank the following individuals who have helped ussignificantly with our research: Jane Burgess, Alison Brewer, Andrew Cocks, JackiConnor, Sarah Coop, Deborah Dorman, Mike Emmott, Martin Gash, John Greatrex,Nigel Harris, Gareth Hexter, Alison Meale, Heather Milligan, Juliet Mountain, LindseyOliver, Angela Paul, Cate Prescott, Miranda Scott, Geoff Simmonds, Nick Tatchell,Sarah Veale, Peter Rose, and David Williams.

We would also like to thank the following organisations:

• Towers Watson for their contribution to the report and their role as knowledgepartners

• Adnams, Sainsbury’s, Prudential and United Welsh Housing Association for theirsupport with the case studies

• John Lewis Partnership for allowing us to visit their Oxford Street branch anddiscussing with partners

• Concentra and especially Giles Slinger, Ben Anscombe, Christelle Dossa,Jasdeep Rai, Will Sheldon for their support with the data analysis andvisualisation.

• Tomorrow’s Company would also like to thank our volunteers who greatlysupported us during the research: Fahrida Benzerrouk, Jaishree Dholakia, LisaHevey, Anna Jones, Stewart McEwan, Yinka Ogunrinade and Patrick Taylor.

• CIPD, CMI and Engage for Success for their help in publicising the survey.

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We wish to thank...

IPA Tomorrow’s Companywww.ipa-Involve.com Centre for Tomorrow’s CompanyRegistered company number 648436 Charity registration number 1055908Registered charity number 200468 Registered office: Samuel House2nd Floor, West Wing, Somerset House 6 St Alban’s Street, London SW1Y4SQStrand, London WC2R 1LA

November 2012

Please join us on our journey atwww.rethinkingvoice.com