Collective consultations - giving you the benefit of NQHR's experience

An effective collective consultation is about a lot more than meeting the minimum legal requirements and, in our experience, a successful outcome is often contingent on how well the early stages are managed. These are the aspects we think should be front of mind at the planning stage:

Engage in the process in good faith and with empathy - this is easy to say but more challenging than you might think to get right in practice.

Understand your legal obligations - ensure the process is legally compliant and build it out from there.

Prepare thoroughly before you begin, including by preparing key people - this is not a 'business as usual' event and if your key people aren't confident, it can seriously impact on their credibility and undermine the process.

Have a clear business case, timeline, and meeting plan - this is absolutely essential to success.

Allow sufficient time for the process, and build in time for the unexpected - it's a balance; the process needs to move forward but transitioning to the next stage when staff aren't ready can backfire.

Plan meetings and communication carefully - think about content and tone and where you need to use legal terminology, acknowledge it and don't assume understanding.

Give appropriate support to employee representatives and manage relationships carefully - think practically about how employee representatives can most effectively engage with staff .

Be prepared to accept proposals that are made, and to give clear reasons where you don’t accept - using active listening techniques will demonstrate understand and build trust, even if the proposals cannot be accepted

HR can play a pivotal role in a collective consultation process to ensure it runs smoothly and has the best possible outcome. Our experience has shown that early preparation, transparent communication, and empathetic engagement are key to achieving a constructive outcome. Whether managing changes to terms and conditions or navigating emotionally charged situations such as school closures, we are well placed to provide the specialist support needed to ensure your consultation is both effective and lawfully sound.

If you are interested in the support which can be provided by Narrow Quay HR please contact Caitlin Anniss or Claire Parr.