By Gill Maxwell, Research Advisor, and Jane McDonald, CIPD Ireland’s HR Projects and Engagement Manager 

Gill Maxwell, Research Advisor, and Jane McDonald, Ireland's HR Projects and Engagement Manager encourage you to have your say!

We all know that freedom of expression is a core value in democratic societies, allowing us to air and discuss opinions collectively and constructively. In this way, we can influence how our society develops. Well-known philosopher John Stuart Mill argued that free speech is necessary for social progress.

Organisations provide what sociologists call structural functionalism - giving rhythm, purpose and order to everyday life. They are a very important part of society, and they also benefit from freedom of expression, when employees can express their views on their work. The CIPD advocates giving all employees the voice and choice they need to shape their working lives, as part of good work . And we offer guidance on employee voice.

We can grow as individuals, personally and professionally, by expressing our views too. As influential business leader Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook urges, ‘Speak up, believe in yourself’. The CIPD’s  improved and soon to be launched Learning Hub will include peer-to-peer collaboration and communities of practice as channels for you to have your say while developing your career, for example.

We want you to keep us up-to-date about your work and your opinions on it. You can do this by engaging in and speaking up our events, conferences and virtual courses, for more examples of channels for having your say. Or simply by joining in the conversation with us and each other on our social media platforms.

In these interactions, you are contributing to our efforts to champion better work and working lives. By improving practices in people and organisational development, together we’re helping to ensure that work benefits individuals, businesses, economies and society.

And right now, you can have your say in our survey on the current people profession.

Tell us about your work in the people profession.

This year's annual People Profession survey, in association with Workday, is more important than ever. Managing people has been extraordinarily challenging in the past year or so, with the global COVID-19 pandemic bringing about dynamic and dramatic changes in work.

Which is why we’d love to hear from you on the key aspects of your work at this time, whether as an in-house practitioner or an independent consultant. If you’ve already completed our survey, brilliant, thanks -  and feel free to spread the word!

If not, we’d really appreciate you making the time – less than 15 minutes –  to complete it.

All responses are analysed anonymously, assuring your confidentiality. Our research partner, YouGov, is conducting the survey.

Thank you for having your say and taking part.

https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/insights/research-action/share-views-people-profession