How do organisations benefit from a partnership approach?

Benefits of partnership

Partnership is built on principles and practices of shared commitment between the organisation and the people who work there.  This should produce the following business benefits:

• Change implemented with assistance rather than resistance
• Competitive edge for the organisation
• Dealing with issues before they become problems
• Less bureaucracy
• Fewer, if any, tribunal cases
• Higher levels of staff retention
• Greater ability to recruit high quality staff
• Low levels of absenteeism
• Less conflict
• Better decision making

For a trade union, all of these are benefits too. There are also some specific areas that a trade union working in partnership will benefit from:

• Opportunity to maintain or increase its influence on company strategy
• Opportunity to ensure that the impact of staff is considered in any decision
• Opportunity to increase membership levels
• Opportunity to develop the skills of the representatives to a much higher level
• Opportunity to become an equal stakeholder within the organisation

 These, if the union approaches partnership working in the right spirit, are benefits to the organisation as well.