What Is Employee Representation?

Employee representation is a right of employees to negotiate with management on issues such as wages, hours and working conditions. This can take place through trade unions or through works councils – or similar structures elected by all employees.

In a European context, employee representation has become an important principle of social policy and legislation. Across the 28 EU states plus Norway, the main way of employee representation is through local union bodies.

Unions

Unions are democratic membership organizations that foster political participation and provide support and representation on a wide variety of issues. Their primary function is to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.

Employees have a right to form a union if their employer allows it. To do this, a union organizer must gather signatures from 30 percent of the workforce, and then file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

After the NLRB facilitates a card check to determine that more than 50 percent of employees agree with union representation, an election is held to determine if a collective bargaining agreement is put in place.

Workers often face intimidation and harassment when they organize. This can include being forced to attend anti-union “captive-audience” meetings that their employers require them to attend, or facing disciplinary action or discharge.

Non-union structures

Unions often impose fees and dues on all employees, which can make workers’ total take-home pay lower than it would be in a non-union workplace. Employees who work in a non-unionized workplace can avoid these costs, and instead negotiate wages, benefits and contracts directly with their employers.

Employers in non-unionized workplaces also have the option of promoting employees based on merit rather than seniority. These merit-based promotions can be a great way to move talent into positions that benefit the business.

However, non-unionized employees also have the option of forming their own union and negotiating their own wages, benefits and contracts. This can lead to higher take-home pay for highly productive employees.

As mentioned previously, the influence of unions on nonunion wages has declined dramatically over time. For example, our estimates suggest that a 14 percentage-point decline in industry-region unionization rates (the basic trend in private-sector density rates between 1979 and 2013) results in a 7 percent drop in weekly wages for nonunion men.

Legislation

Legislation is the process by which laws are proposed, debated and enacted. The process usually begins with a member of the legislature sponsoring a bill.

A bill must then be referred or assigned to a committee for study, and the committee may decide whether it should be released or not. If released, it goes to the House of Representatives or the Senate for debate and a vote on passage or amendment.

Typically, bills must receive three readings in each legislative chamber before they can be passed. When a bill is passed by a simple majority, it is then sent to a conference committee of the House and Senate, which works out any differences between the two versions.

Employee representation on corporate boards is becoming a popular policy issue in many countries, with a variety of approaches being implemented. However, while worker participation is often considered a positive step, it has also been shown to have negative consequences in some cases.

Surveys

Surveys are an excellent way to gather feedback about employees’ perceptions and experiences at work. They can be conducted online, by phone, or in person.

There are several things to keep in mind when developing employee surveys, including the types of questions asked. Creating good questions is crucial to getting accurate responses that can help you improve your business.

The questions should be based on what you want to learn from your data. For example, if you want to know how well your employees are working as a team, you should ask them to rate their overall satisfaction with their team’s performance.

While there are many different ways to collect data, there are also several statistical methods that can help you make sense of it. One of the most common is cross-tabulation, which involves analyzing raw data and plotting it to see how it’s trending over time. It can also be used to compare data from different studies or research parameters.