Bringing employee voice into the boardroom

Jay OwenReforming Global Finance, SRI/ESG News, Sustainability News, TV Series, Beyond GDP

 

 

 

The government will shortly be launching a consultation on corporate governance which, among other things, will be examining the introduction of employee representation on boards. All this is part of the Prime Minister’s commitment to move towards an economy that works for the many not the few. 

The intention is admirable. The challenge is how to make it practical. The risk is that blanket legislation imposes burdens on companies that are already at the forefront while the laggards obey the letter and resist of the spirit of legislation. 

Yet it is too easy to fall back on saying ‘It won’t work here’. We’ve heard from people in the UK and different parts of Europe for whom it does work, provided there is no doubt that a director owes her or his duty to the company, not employees or any other group. So we have built on our previous work about strengthening employee voice and developed what we think is a practical and flexible way forward. 

Our latest report presents the government with two options for how companies can bring employee voice into the board room. You can download the report here. We would like to hear your thoughts on the topic and invite you to take part in our survey. 

Take our survey

Involving employees in governance and decision making is just one part of the government’s consultation into corporate governance reforms. You can read our submission to Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS) Committee’s inquiry on corporate governance here and we will be launching our report for the All-Party Parliamentary Corporate Governance Group in March next year.