An excellent opportunity to promote employee voice?

It's ten years since the introduction of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations. When first introduced in the UK, they were seen by some as an excellent opportunity to promote employee voice. The UK comes second bottom of the European Participation Index - a multi-dimensional measure of worker participation developed by the ETUI - beaten into last place by Lithuania.

Employers who give their workforce a say and involve them in decision making tend to be more profitable and more productive. This is especially crucial to the UK, where there has been a 'productivity deficit'. German and French firms have much stronger employee voice - and they are far more productive. We do not think these facts are unrelated.

In this publication, we look back at the ICE regulations 10 years on - and their impact or lack thereof, on the UK labour market. We also assess the various factors that explain their lack of impact, before considering how the EU directive on information and consultation has been implemented elsewhere, with case studies on Germany, France and Denmark. We then look at the future of the regulations, trying to learn the lessons of our experience and of other EU member states. 

We would like to thank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for their support once again with this project.

To download the full report please click here.