How should management respond to unionization efforts?

The labor movement is having a moment—quite a few, actually. And that momentum is likely to continue through 2024. 

Over the past few years, we’ve seen major companies respond to unionization efforts in all kinds of ways, from Amazon taking disciplinary action against workers involved in a unionizing campaign at a Staten Island warehouse, to Starbucks agreeing to sit at the bargaining table after two years of resistance.

Because many more workplaces are likely to organize in the near future due to a new National Labor Relations Board ruling that makes organizing logistically easier, it’s important that managers know how to respond the right way when their workers consider forming a union. 

HR and communications experts who I spoke with say that first and foremost, companies and managers should take the opportunity when employees are interested in unionizing to reflect on why this is happening. “This an opportunity to say: ‘What have we done, what have we not done that has led us to a point where our own employees feel like their only recourse to get us to listen is to organize?’” says David Kryscynski, an associate professor of human resources at Rutgers University.

From then on, it’s important to gather important stakeholders in one room to make sure management is communicating clearly, being transparent with employees, and trying to emphasize real-life conversations over digital missives. 

But it’s equally important to know how management should avoid responding to a union drive. That includes not taking it personally, staying away from any kind of reactionary messaging, and ditching any kind of token gestures intended to placate workers without a thorough follow-through. 

Perhaps it’s most important for employers to remember that “workforces are not interested in destroying companies,” says Kryscynski. “Employees want to be treated fairly, they want to be treated respectfully, and they want to be able to live happy lives and be healthy at work.”

Check out more in-depth coverage of what HR and communication experts had to say here.

Paige McGlauflin
paige.mcglauflin@fortune.com
@paidion

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