G&G verified business evidence
Among UK firms that acted to improve management quality in 2023, 64% consulted employees about areas for improvement.
The denominator is firms in the ONS Management and Expectations Survey that reported taking action to improve management quality, not all UK businesses.
Conditional estimate among firms that took management-improvement action.
Office for National Statistics
Management practices in the UK: 2016 to 2023
The report states that 64% of firms taking action consulted employees on improvement areas.
Office for National Statistics. Management practices in the UK: 2016 to 2023. 13th of May, 2024. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/productivitymeasures/bulletins/managementpracticesintheuk/latest
Employee consultation can surface process problems and practical improvements that senior managers may not see. The statistic gives firms with at least 10 employees a benchmark for involving staff in management improvement, while not implying that consultation alone produces better performance.
The 64% denominator is firms that reported taking action to improve management quality, not all UK firms. Other approaches within that group included formal online training (43%), in-person training (42%), government-funded training (13%) and hiring management consultants (13%). The wider survey found that 89% of firms took at least one improvement action. Firms in the lowest management-score decile were more likely to report no action and, when acting, tended to rely on internal consultation or their own experiments rather than formal training.
Consulting employees was the most common reported management-improvement approach. That makes employee input an important part of the improvement toolkit, but the survey does not show what form consultation took, whether suggestions were implemented or whether performance improved as a result.
This is a conditional, self-reported result from firms that said they had acted to improve management; it must not be presented as 64% of all UK businesses. The survey covers production and service firms with at least 10 employees and excludes agriculture, financial and insurance activities and the public sector. Results are weighted, the response rate was 27%, multiple actions could be selected and the measure does not establish causation.
G&G perspective: ask employees focused questions about recurring delays, errors, customer friction and unnecessary work, then close the loop by explaining what will change. Use a repeatable channel that fits the business, such as short team reviews, structured one-to-ones or process workshops. Record actions, owners and outcomes so consultation becomes part of continuous improvement rather than a one-off exercise.
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