Episode description

In the fourth episode of our “In Conversation with…” podcast series for 2023, Lucy Lewis, Partner at Lewis Silkin LLP speaks to Nita Clarke OBE. Nita is the Director of the Involvement and Participation Association, a leading organisation delivering employee engagement, partnership and employee voice in the workplace.  

“People want respect and fairness and to be listened to, and to have their diverse needs thought about. That operates in workplaces now in a way I genuinely don’t think it did a generation ago”.

Nita and Lucy discuss the important role employee voice has to play in building organisational trust as well as the challenges and opportunities that the evolving landscape of collective and individual voice presents for employers. 

Key takeaways from the conversation: 

• Unions are not the only mechanism for employee voice: works councils, employee forums as well as individual employee voice all have an important role to play. Assimilating different forms of employee voice can be challenging but extremely beneficial for employers. 
• Employee voice must be informed: to get the most out of employee voice, employers must share strategic information with their workforce to empower them to engage in a more developed discussion. 
• Trust is key: to succeed, employers must trust their staff and treat them as serious stakeholders in their organisation. Building a culture of trust and listening to employees also protects organisations from reputational risk.
• Employee engagement can benefit society: effective engagement strategies could help to solve the UK’s productivity puzzle by increasing performance and productivity. 
• Management styles need to change: shifting generational attitudes and expectations at work mean that organisations taking a command and control management style will lose out.