Employeeempowerment:towards greaterworkplacedemocracy

Patrick Briône andChris Nicholson

: Advisory Board

Rt Hon David Laws MP (Chair)Lord AlderdiceRt Hon Lord AshdownNick Boles MPBaroness Bonham CarterRt Hon Dr Vincent Cable MPJames CameronRt Hon Nick Clegg MPDan CorryRamesh DewanAndrew Duff MEPNatascha Engel MPDaniel FinkelsteinRt Hon Chris Huhne MPWill HuttonAnatole KaletskyBaroness KramerRt Hon Lord MynersLord NewbyAlan ParkerProf Philippe SandsLord Turner of EcchinswellAndrew Tyrie MPRt Hon David Willetts MPProf Alison Wolf

: Trustees

Duncan Greenland (Chair)Charles BrandIan HargreavesLord Kirkwood of KirkhopePaul MarshallDame Judith Mayhew Jonas

: Management Board

Paul MarshallDuncan GreenlandRt Hon David Laws MP

: About CentreForum

Through its publications and events CentreForum is seeking to build adistinctive and coherent vision of a liberal Britain. Our research focusesupon four broad themes: education and social policy, economics,globalisation and liberalism.

Education and social policySocial mobility has stalled in Britain. The ladder from poverty to wealthis getting longer and fewer people are climbing it. People's chances inlife are too often determined, not by their talent or hard work, but bytheir social background. How can government ensure that everyone hasthe opportunity to fulfil their aspirations? And how can we ensure thatall benefit from a good education – the engine that powers socialmobility?

EconomicsThe last 200 years have shown how free markets produce levels ofprosperity that centralised states cannot. But markets need institutionsand laws to constrain their excesses and to provide support in momentsof crisis; great liberal economic thinkers include not only Smith andHayek but also Keynes. The recent financial crisis has forcedpolicymakers to revisit their assumptions about how the economyshould be regulated. Our work aims to identify how capitalism can bereformed, so that a route can be plotted towards sustainable growthand shared prosperity.

GlobalisationGlobalisation has delivered many benefits. The greater movement ofgoods, capital and people has made the UK, and the world, richer andfreer. But globalisation also brings challenges – climate change, cross-border crime and terrorism chief among them. How then can weharness the benefits of globalisation while negotiating its pitfalls?Liberalism, with its easy accommodation of both the market economicsthat drive globalisation and the internationalist politics needed toregulate it, is a creed tailor-made for this challenge.

LiberalismLiberalism is back in vogue and Liberals are back in government. Butall three main parties seek, on some issues at least, to portraythemselves as liberal, while two of the leaders explicitly use theterm to define their politics. Is this liberal consensus genuine? Whatdoes it mean for public policy? And what relevance does it have for21st century politics?

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Employee empowerment:towards greater workplace democracy

There is strong evidence that giving employees more of avoice in the firm that employs them is of benefit to both thefirm and the employees. Just as important is the democraticcase: employees have a fundamental right to be involved inkey decisions that affect their lives.

Boosting employee participation should therefore be anintegral part of the coalition's growth strategy of supply-sidereforms.

This report sets out a package of measures that thegovernment should consider to promote employeeempowerment and workplace democracy.

"Increased employee participation in how companies are run has been a longstandingLiberal Democrat principle, and CentreForum offers some radical proposals for howthis can be promoted. Their paper deserves serious consideration."

– Rt Hon Nick Clegg MPDeputy Prime Minister

"Innovation, creativity and endeavour can only come from people. It is high time wetreated employees as grown ups and gave them a voice as workers, just as they havea voice as consumers and citizens. This paper shows not only how this can beachieved but that we are starting from a broad base of political support for greateremployee empowerment."

– Neal LawsonChair, Compass

"There is strong evidence that the combination of employee empowerment andemployee share ownership can help boost company performance. The CentreForumpaper makes a powerful case for why this should be embraced as part of the coalitiongovernment's growth strategy of long term supply-side reforms."

– Ed Davey MPMinister of State for Employment Relations,

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