What is Employee Voice?

The concept of employee voice allows everyone in an organization to be able to professionally express their opinions. It has to do with the effort an employee is willing to take to be able to express their opinions, ideas, and concerns.

This could be a rich opportunity for the employees and managers to exchange ideas about company issues. This could also be an opportunity for employees to provide feedback or ideas for organizational improvement.

Having a work culture that supports employee voice can help the company in many ways. Sometimes, it isn’t easy for employees to speak freely about their concerns. If they feel that they are not heard, usually, they will not speak up, resulting in trouble for the business and organization.

Employees need to know that they are making a difference within the company. This gives them the feeling that they belong. When including employees in the decision-making process, you can have a broader range of perspectives to provide a more precise approach that accurately represents the business.

Here are reasons why you should consider promoting employee voice in the business:

INCREASED PERFORMANCE

Companies that promote employee voice empower their employees and increase employee productivity.  

IMPROVED ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY 

Employee voice helps companies adapt faster to the changing market conditions. Transparency and honesty are vital for lasting and substantial change.

Managers alone cannot create a clear plan or strategy for business evolvement. Leaders can get more expansive knowledge and insight when they encourage people to voice their concerns and ideas. Leaders must be trained to understand better their employees’ feelings, well-being, and beliefs.

This way, you have a happier, more productive, and more engaged workforce. Employees will be willing to communicate their ideas and opinions because they will be confident that their suggestions have an integral role in their decision-making.

This mindset can make it possible to build a culture based on respect and shared values. 

How should you start implementing a new employee voice program?

To successfully implement a culture of employee voice, you have to create a system that supports and ensures that concerns and inputs are addressed and heard.

Employees will stop giving feedback if they recognize that their ideas are not acknowledged and suggestions fall by the wayside.

Explain why the company chose a different direction. This can make the employees feel valued because their opinion was at least taken into consideration.

Employee voice for a higher collective learning

To achieve a higher level of collective learning, promote better engagement with regards to difficulties and challenges that keep companies agile and adaptable to change.

Strong participative management and employee voice allow organizations to tap into a vast source of knowledge and insight spread across the organization. This drives senior leaders to make decisions with more well-rounded information, and more accurate data, leading to better outcomes.

Every strategy that aims a collective improvement is worthy of our energy. Better communication means better ideas, better relationships, and better results.

Cultural difference impacts employee’s voice

Cultural diversity is brought about by globalization, different races go out to explore the world and share their own culture with their peers. Different cultures represent different values, traditions, and ways of thinking owing to the different social backgrounds. In modern organizations, people who work together in the same company may come from different places and countries. Therefore, communication between them is vital to the development of the company.