Managing HR in a downturn: improve employee engagement by using the legal requirement to consult

Consultation and communication have always been at the heart of HR responsibilities. At a basic compliance level this means ensuring any change initiated by senior management ticks all the legal boxes and is carried out in a way that would be defensible in a tribunal. However, HR should consider the more strategic benefits of consultation, such as providing an opportunity to get a clearer picture of employee engagement or through using employee representatives as a means of communication within the organisation.
 

Language does not simply reflect what is going on in organisational life: it also influences what people think and what they do

Linda Holbeche, director of the Holbeche Partnership and visiting professor of HRM/OD at Cass Business School