Employee involvement and Participation

This document, with the accompanying Action Guide, has been prepared jointly by the Industrial Participation Association (IPA) and the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM). It has developed from an initiative by the IPA in 1982 when proposals for a national framework for employee participation were put forward to stimulate discussion on how best to encourage the further development of participation in the United Kingdom on a voluntary basis in ways that would secure broad support in both management and trade union circles. The response showed overwhelming support for a Code of Practice, although there were mixed views as to whether this should be an entirely voluntary Code or should be supported by legislation. Accordingly the IPA decided to take the matter further, and invited the IPM, as the professional body most directly concerned with employee relations, and as having also been actively concerned with furthering employee involvement and participation, to join in preparing a detailed and practical document. The IPM agreed to do so and a joint working party was set up to undertake the task. The Principles and Standards of Practice is the result. The document has been formally approved by both organizations' governing bodies, which in the case of the IPA include both senior management and trade union representatives, and of the IPM, leading practitioners concerned with employee affairs. Both organizations believe that it provides the most appropriate and practical approach to the development of participation in this country, and one likely to be supported by a large section of both employers and employees. These principles and standards of practice are therefore commended to all employing organizations in the United Kingdom for their consideration, adoption, and implementation.