Worker relations. Time to talk

Date: 29/10/05

New laws on workplace representation are a waste of everyone's time

IN MANAGEMENT, the girl-band Bananarama might have sung, it's what you do, not the way that you do it. Sadly, the thought is lost on those in Europe who proposed rules that have since April allowed British workers to group together and demand information on subjects such as corporate strategy and hiring and firing. A survey published this week by IRS Employment Review, a journal, concluded that two-thirds of firms now have some kind of works committee; a quarter have set one up in the past two years. Today, the rules apply to firms with more than 150 workers; by April 2008, any firm with 50 will have to comply.

The rules' main backers are the trade unions. Historically, unions have been against such laws, fearing that they would be company-controlled and would therefore undermine their power. But modern unions have been losing private-sector members for decades, and there is now little power to preserve. Their support is pragmatic, not ideological. "We're not opposed, because of the change in the industrial relations landscape," says Sarah Veale of the Trades Union Congress. "This is another opportunity to represent workers."

Business groups doubt the laws are needed. Small business is unworried about their impact. "Even when the limit drops to 50, this will still miss 90% of the firms in Britain," says Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses. Richard Wilson, the head of business policy at the Institute of Directors, worries that they will make management too formalistic, and points out that it always was in a firm's interest to keep its staff well-informed. Many big companies already have such schemes, and those that do not may be tempted simply to formalise a few procedures and carry on as before.

Where communication is a problem, the real issues lie elsewhere. According to a survey of workers published last month by CHA, a consultancy , the main grouse is the quality of the information and how it is presented. Two-thirds of workers think they get too much irrelevant guff from management, and most prefer the boss to talk to his underlings in person rather than publish his thoughts in an obscure corner of the company intranet.

The law is too blunt an instrument to fix such things. Indeed, the law need not get involved at all: commercial forces are a more potent incentive for managers to improve their people skills. CHA's research shows that people who feel they are being kept in the dark tend to vote with their feet. "I find it hard to believe that this is a pressing issue," says Mr Wilson.