A union vulnerability assessment is one of the most effective tools for management to employ to identify problem areas before they become toxic or can be exploited. A union vulnerability assessment allows management to develop positive employee relations programs towards rewarding employee and organization development which minimizes vulnerability to union organizing. Conducted in a controlled environment, "employee focus groups" will ascertain employee and manager attitudes about the organization and its readiness for change. This provides the quickest and most economical means of an organizational assessment.

The management/supervisory audit is used to ascertain the perceptions and assess the capabilities of the managers, their understanding of employee issues, and the presence or potential for union activity.  Properly utilized, the management audit is a valuable strategic and tactical tool that provides insight into organizational issues and the employee relations climate.  We determine employee issues, concerns, and the client's vulnerability to union incursion. The assessment will highlight employee relations and the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. The analysis will highlight the ability of the organization to withstand an organizing drive and management's ability to respond to it.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS:

• Viewed as an expression that top management is interested in their comments and suggestions
• Allows participants the opportunity to tell a neutral party how they really feel, knowing their comments will be conveyed to management with anonymity

BENEFIT TO MANAGEMENT:

• Management is perceived as caring enough to solicit participants opinions
• Enables top management to get an overall view of the organization and how their employees feel 
• Eliminates information filtration that exists in most organizations

DESCRIPTION:

The Employee Opinion Survey is a formal confidential, individual employee input program utilizing a questionnaire developed in conjunction with the organization's management group. to determine organization climate at all levels and in all areas.  Specific issues and concerns can be highlighted using quantifiable questions and employee responses. It is a customized approach that is organization specific and designed to obtain feedback from a large cross section of employees.  The questionnaire results are computer tabulated and analyzed, and are enforced by feedback sessions with participants to elicit in-depth causes of particular questionnaire responses. Employees are guaranteed individual confidentiality. In addition, management receives participants' verbatim comments and a comprehensive report from The Burke Group summarizing the survey results and outlining corrective recommendations.This instrument has a core group of questions (15) to which the client can add, which will ensure a customized, quantifiable survey that will become a working document that allows the organization to measure progress and develop a more effective communications process.  Working with a consultant, the client will determine and design the best questions to ask and, most importantly, what questions NOT to ask. 

KEY TOPICS:

The survey questions are assigned to ten categories:

• The Organization
• Top Management 
• Middle Management 
• Supervision 
• Peer Relations 
• Pay and Benefits 
• Communications 
• Upward Mobility 
• The Job 
• Confidence in the Organization

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS:

This is their opportunity to "talk" directly to top management and they perceive management is sufficiently interested in their opinions and feelings.

BENEFIT TO MANAGEMENT: 

• Management credibility in the eyes of the employees is enhanced 
• Management gains an overall view of the organization and employee concerns 
• In multi-unit organizations, one unit can be compared to another 
• In a nonunion environment, if history of a survey exists, a survey can be given even If there is union organizing activity. The survey can also be given where a union resently represents employees