Anyone been an Employee Rep?

funky_snow

Hi there - long time reader of the forums - but newly registered as I can't find any similar topics after searching...

Has anyone been an employee rep for the consultation process in their company?
We have just had notification that our function is at risk and the company is entering the Consultation process and the first step is to nominate/vote for employee reps.

I've been with the company for a while so I know how it works and am a bit of a stickler for paying attention to the details so thinking of putting my name forward...

Has anyone got any advice/tips/experiences they can share

[Deleted User]

I was an employee rep late last year when my company went through the redundancy process.

I didn't put my name forward for the role of staff rep myself, I just let it be known in my department that I would be willing to do it, but them other people actually put you forward. The nomination is seconded and I had to sign to say that I was happy with the nomination.

TBH I don't think I would do it again. It is good to be in the meetings and find out exactly what is being said, but it is emotionally exhausting and it really does take up lots of your time. I found that I didn't have time in the day to be a staff rep and get my work done so I was staying late in order to finish my work off. You will also get constantly asked questions by people in your department on how things are going. I sent regular email updates etc... but people will still want to discuss their individual circumstances.

I suppose it all depends on how you feel about the situation. You have to be prepared to put your point forward in the consultation meetings and not be fobbed off. There will also be some things that are discussed that you cannot pass onto your department, which is quite hard to do. You also have to be prepared to make notes in all meetings, and make sure that you have got all pertinent points recorded - if you do take notes you do not have to publish them to the management in the meeting, but you should be provided with minutes that HR might take.

As well as the consultation meetings all the staff reps had regular meetings together as well to discuss our 'game plan', and to show a united front to management. You don't want different staff reps to have vastly different opinions. You should always poll you 'constituents' (i.e. the people you are representing), to get a majority opinion on things as well. For e.g. we had a poll about whether people wanted to reduce the consultancy period or not, what they felt would be a suitable redundancy package, whether they would consider part time instead of redundancy and a few others.

My best piece of advice is to really negotiate on the package - ask for at least double what they are prepared to offer with an ideal meeting point somewhere in the middle.

If you do decide to do it I wish you all the best. If you have any further questions let me know and I might be able to help.

funky_snow

thanks for the reply - really good food for thought...

I'm gonna gauge friends and family opinion also and sleep on this over the weekend - as we don't have to decide till Tuesday...