Have British Workers Lost their Voice, or Have they Gained a New One?

Over the last two decades, there has been a major switch in British workplaces away from union voice and representative worker voice more generally, towards direct, non-union forms of voice. This paper assesses the implications of this switch for the effectiveness of worker voice, as measured by employee perceptions of managerial responsiveness. In general, perceptions of management are no better among employees with voice than they are among employees with no voice. However, intensive use of direct communication methods improves perceptions of management. Direct voice is particularly effective in a union setting.