The importance of employee voice

Invaluable employee voice

The term employee voice defines an opportunity given to staff, inviting, listening and involving them in company decision-making.  It offers staff a platform to contribute openly and transparently on what they see is important within the company.

Employee Engagement experts, Engage for Success, say ‘employee voice exists where the organisation has put mechanisms in place to enable it to have an ongoing conversation with its staff, in different ways, to ensure every voice is heard’.

Whereas CIPD research found that a quarter of practitioners said that the principle ‘people should be able to influence the decisions that affect them’ is one that they never apply in their decision-making, or they merely see it as a ‘nice to have’.

But how important is the employee voice and why should organisations be empowering staff instead of silencing them?

Key advantages of an employee voice

Giving employees a voice can create a catalogue of advantages, from increased productivity to a more engaged working environment.  Explore the top five reasons for why giving employees a chance to speak up can benefit your company:

Awareness:  Employees give you all-encompassing perspectives of the entire company with first-hand accounts of productivity and operational processes. They could unveil challenges and company weaknesses.

Investment: Giving employees a platform to share their views and opinions can increase employee engagement and productivity.

Problem-solving: It can open up solutions to business issues that you may not have considered and encourages effective decision-making.

Innovation: Engaged employees may have more innovative ideas that can help steer your company in a different direction.

Performance:  Better engaged employees who can see that their voice is being heard and integrated into decision-making will perform better in their role.  Motivated by the effects their opinion has on processes, it can save companies money in the long-term.

As the Involvement and Participation Agency (IPA) and Tomorrow’s Company’s report ‘Releasing Voice for Sustainable Business Success’ aptly states:

‘without active, confident and vocal employees, companies and organisations will not be able to achieve sustainable business success’.

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At ClearVoice Comms, we are experts in delivering employee engagement and communication strategies that inspire your people and transform your business. We influence change through the power of communication to improve your company’s performance. For more information or help with giving your employees a voice, call or email us today and let us show you how the power of communication can change your business.