Linking Workplace Practices to Community Engagement: The Case for Encouraging Employee Voice

Abstract

Research on employee voice suggests that providing employees with the sense that it is safe to speak up to their managers about their concerns, ideas, and suggestions can have very positive effects on employee behavior inside organizations. However, studies also show that many employees do not feel safe speaking up and often choose to remain silent about the issues or problems they encounter at work. We argue that providing employees with voice opportunities is not only likely to have positive effects inside organizations but is also likely to be essential in building positive organizations that contribute to the development of human potential in our communities and societies. We elaborate the micro-level processes by which employees’ experiences with trying to speak up in the work domain may “spill over” into nonwork domains of their lives. We also consider how employee voice opportunities in for-profit organizations may be influenced by the law and prevailing attitudes about corporate governance.