EMPLOYEE VOICE

Employee Voice

Employee Voice

Employee Voice means the employee participation which is having an impact on major decision related to the way the corporation functions or towards decision making related to the corporate level. Platform through which employees are given this voice are both formal as well as informal. This is done in order to bring improvement in the communication process, reduce the chances of issues as well as increase the retention of staff through just treatment as well as boosting their morale. (Boxall, Purcell, 2007 page 5)

Employee voice is attained through both informal and formal mechanisms. Informal employee voice mechanisms include general conversation between employees and employers, email communication, employee feedback, social functions and meetings at the workplace. Employees can also influence corporate decision making through their actions, such as turnover.

Formal mechanisms include communication tools implemented by an organizations human resource department, such as employee surveys and suggestion boxes. Some organizations promote employee voice through financial participation, such as share ownership and profit-sharing opportunities.

Employee consultative committees and representation through trade unions are also formal ways of ensuring employees are informed and are given a voice in decisions that affect their employment. The European Union was identified as a significant influence in encouraging voice initiatives in the workplace. Employee participation is a type of authority and motivation that helps in increasing the employee's productivity and their retention ratio. Whereby coming down to the participation and involvement there is a difference among these two words.

Participation refers to the behavior in which anyone, be it an employee, or a CEO of a company takes a part or is involves in contributing or sharing some valuable insight. This is not forced, not rigid; anyone can put in their effort if they want. The reason why participation is being encouraged is due to the fact that it is giving rise to enhanced employee productivity as they feel part of the organization. Involvement is when a person gets directly or indirectly involved or wrapped in a certain assignment, process etc. this involved is assigned to him, it is not by free will. With respect to involvement it is not something to be taken lightly, as it involves ones reputation. (Brewster, Brookes 2007, page 1246-1262.)

Drivers

Drivers are the key components that emphasis the reasons why organizations have started incorporating Employee voice. The main drivers include

Employee dissatisfaction:

Employee dissatisfaction can be with respect to the environment of the work place or it can be with respect to the work or it could be related to physiological factors such as stress etc. Employee dissatisfaction is an essential driver has definitely forced a lot of organization to consider the policy of employee voice.

Lower employee retention ratio

It has been observed a lot of organizations were facing a lot of issues which involved employee leaving their job, switching to other organization. The reasons behind their resignation were at times not known. Management was always concerned that why are the employees not sharing their issues. The loss of some valuable employees is another driver that caused ...