You may have noticed
that a new bit of important legislation 'went live'
this April – the Information and Consultation
of Employees (ICE) Regulations 2004 – which applies
to all UK companies and public and private sector organisations
with 50 or more employees. The question is, have you
done anything about it yet?
Even if you regard it as another piece of EU-inspired
red tape, just as with bent bananas, you need to get
it straightened out – and do it soon. If your
organisation doesn’t comply and your employees
succeed with a formal complaint to the Employment Appeal
Tribunal, it could result in a fine of £75,000.
But avoiding a whack from this particular stick is
not really the best motivation for tackling ICE. Much
better is that it gives you the opportunity to pursue
the carrot of an improved employee communications protocol,
shaped through a formal agreement to which you and all
your employees, through their elected representatives,
sign up.
This positive approach reflects the spirit of ICE,
which seeks to help organisations become ‘high
performance workplaces’, in which the workforce
are more involved and productive and in which a culture
of open and constructive communication arises or matures.
Whether your bottom line is measured in sterling or
service level agreements, improvements are almost bound
to follow.
However, we all know that a gain can mean a pain first.
Even if you already have wide-ranging employee communications
frameworks in place, you will still have to follow the
formalised procedures laid down in the ICE Regulations:
finding Negotiating Committee members representative
of the whole workforce; working with them to achieve
a written Information and Consultation (I&C) Agreement;
then working with these or other elected Information
and Consultation Committee members to ensure conformity
with the terms of the Agreement going forward.
For many organisations, more painful still may be the
fact that the terms of the I&C Agreement need minimally
to cover the why, when and how of informing and consulting
with the workforce on three core, potentially sensitive,
areas –
- Recent and probable development of the organisation’s
activities and economic situation
- Situation, structure and probable development of
employment within the organisation and on any anticipatory
measures envisaged, in particular where there is a
threat to employment
- Decisions likely to lead to substantial changes
in work organisation or in contractual relations,
including collective redundancies and business transfers
Under ICE, the employees must be given a practicable
chance to consider these kinds of possible developments
and have their concerns or ideas addressed in a genuine
and open manner. This is not something many bosses are
comfortable doing, which is probably why the ICE Regulations
have been imposed.
There is good news, though. The Regulations leave it
entirely open to each organisation and its employees
to decide the mechanics of its I&C Agreement (for
example, the methods and frequency of communication),
and the organisation’s leaders need not be bound
by the responses of employees to any decisions they
make. There are also ample protections for the employees
involved in the I&C work, and to cover commercial
or organisational confidentiality.
ICE does represent a forced step-change in the complexion
of employer/employee communications. And like most things
that cannot be avoided, it is far better to embrace
it positively rather than reluctantly if you are to
gain the most out of it.
Take advantage of our experience in implementing ICE
and contact the Saffron
House Consultancy now.
Steve Leddy is a Saffron
House Consultancy partner and an independent business
communications advisor with 25 years’ experience
in employee and customer communications consultancy
to national and international manufacturing and service
companies.
|
