Clio Springer linked to an article in the Times which says employees of big banks are being denied credit card and other insurance that we call on when we lose our livelihoods during the recession.
Informing and Consulting Employees (ICE)
I’m a noobe in the UK but in 18 months here I have not come across any one who consults employees about the financial prospects of their organization as provided by ICE.
For those who aren’t familiar with these regulations, as I understand them, in a firm with more than 50 employees, if 15 employees request consultation, employers must provide it. That number drops to 10% at 150 employees and 2500 employees in the largest firms. The consultation is fairly extensive and includes the profit-and-loss account.
You are tagged – tell me about ICE, please!
There are all sorts of frivolous memes on the internet. This is a serious one.
British/UK HR practitioners –
- Which companies operate ICE consultations?
- Which unions insist upon ICE consultations?
- Do/did the banks offer ICE consulations and if not, why not?
Tagged! John Ingham, Scott Macarthur, Rick of Flipchart Fairy Tales, PJLaw, Michael Carty, and anyone else they tag to straighten me out on this question.
Which firms consult their employees fully viz. their financial futures?
That’s a great question, Jo, Your description sounds about right to me. Prior to the implementation of the directive, many companies, and certainly most of the larger ones, brought in their own consultation arrangements, rather than being forced to follow a prescribed model. And yes, this does mean they should be discussing the current crisis through these arrangements. It’s strange that I’ve not heard any commentary on how these arrangements are working…
However, I wouldn’t go quite as far as you – certainly my main clients at the moment are involving their employees in this disucssion. In fact, they see it as a key opportunity to ensure engagement increases rather than declines in this environment.
But it’s a very good question, and now that you’ve raised it, I’m surprised that no-one in the ‘professional’ HR media has dealt with this one.
Most large employers will have an employee forum, particularly if they have operations in Europe.
Most unionised employers will have a collective bargaining process.
Having employee representatives that have been elected make a number of tasks easier, like 20+ redundancies, TUPE, and changes to pension schemes.
@Jon @Philip Thanks. It’s the silence I find interesting. So surely employees were reading in the banks and Woolworths knew what was happening long before it happened?