The Elements for Employee Voice of Non-Union Employee Representation in Malaysian Manufacturing Sector

Abstract

Voice of employee rights are important to make sure that their suggestions, opinions, concerns and ideas are heard. This can improve the employees’ productivity and avoid any discrimination at the workplace. Employee voice representatives for non-union employees is also essential for fostering a positive work environment, improving communication and addressing employee concernsregarding issues at workplace despite there absence of formal labour union in the organizations. Non-union employee representation (NER) acts as intermediaries between the workforce of non-union and the organization’s leadership. Thus, the purpose of the study is to explore the elements need for the framework of employee voice of NER in Malaysian manufacturing sector. Thematic analysis is used for the data analysis to identify these elements for the framework to give direction for the better employee engagement including voice at workplace. The approach of smart partnership by having open communication, joint collaboration and good networking are the key elements of this study to ensure that the relations of NER and management can give benefits for the organization especially employees.The findings suggest some interventions should be taken especially from multi stakeholders, governments, industry and institutes to give awareness and understanding related to trade union and worker’s rights of voice at workplace.