Has anyone launched employee feedback initiatives in response to the UK corporate governance code? Curious to see how others are thinking about this…
Some more context; the code applies to all public companies in the UK with more than 200 employees. It’s most recent version includes the following provisions:
- The board should assess and monitor culture… as part of their process for investing in and rewarding the workforce.
- Engagement with the workforce (alternative to committees)
- Workforce is able to raise concerns anonymously
I’ve worked with a number of companies on this topic. For context, I lead the employee comms proposition at a UK communications agency. Here’s what I have found:
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CEOs and C-Suite are now involving HR Directors to develop purpose, culture, values and specifically, how to capture insights from employee voice. Businesses are at very different stages of maturity with these areas.
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The most common approach (anecdotally) seems to be to appoint a non-Exec director to lead this work at Board level.
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Some companies are establishing, or formalising, employee forums - and sharing insights to leaders and the Board for reporting.
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I’m working with three companies right now who have not had any kind of engagement survey, just starting programmes to listen to employees via regular, pulse, surveys.
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Many leaders and Boards are concerned about how to assess and report on culture i.e. they are not sure where to start and how to do it.
It’s an exciting time for culture and the workplace as the compliance nudge from the code change has pushed this up the agenda to board level.
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