Hi Lucia.

I have been involved with employee reps and management meetings and the company I worked for held 1 meeting one week which was just for the management team and then another 2 weeks later which included the employee reps and this worked as they were aware that some discussion didn't really warrant the reps being there.

Helen

Welcome to the community Lucia.

Its entirely up to you depending on what value you, the managers and the other employees may get out of it.

There are of course some things you may not wish to choose to share with your employees and there are other items which you will - and in doing so, may stop rumours and the feeling of being 'excluded from decision making. Helen has explained what happens in her company regarding have meetings with & without reps.

My own view as an ex TU rep! and that of many others - is that provided the reps are OK, is that they can add to meetings. After all, they are doing the work that you manage and often will have quite legitimate input and help in making things run more smoothly and efficiently. They do after all have a unique insite into what is happening. However it may require some adjustment of thinking for some managers, in that they may strongly feel that they alone can make decisions - after all they are employed as managers! and if the staff reps are deliberately kept in the dark without sufficient information they won't be able contribute at the same appropriate level and they may well, rightly, question decisions because they've not shared the same level of input and knowledge that the management have already had.

Quality circles, for example, run properly were the solely run by line staff and I know a couple of companies where they saved considerable amounts of money being wasted, in that they were able to come up with better and more efficient methods of doing things.

Hi Lucia
My preference would be to keep managanent meetings for management but to provide regular opportunities for interaction (at least monthly) at a forum comprising managers and staff representatives. There are clearly subjects whose details are for management eyes/ears only, but whose implications can be shared and exchanged upon with staff reps. Unless you are running a cooperative, then managerial decisions should remain a management preogative - but with views and input from staff