Employee Involvement/Participation

A key premise of the Digital Change Toolkit is that relevant stakeholders should be involved throughout the entire process so that their knowledge about different work and organisational processes can be considered at all stages. Employee involvement is crucial for ensuring ownership, commitment and engagement towards digital change and ensures that it unfolds in an inclusive and sustainable manner. 

In the initial phase, the Digital Change Toolkit emphasises the importance of engaging stakeholders who have a direct interest in the digital change process (i.e., those whose work will be affected by the new technology, not just those managing these processes). By involving these stakeholders from the start, it sets the stage for subsequent decision-making processes to benefit from diverse perspectives and expertise and ensures that the most important issues to address are identified and prioritised. Here is a breakdown of this phase:

1. Identify relevant stakeholders: Such as individuals, groups, or organisations that are directly impacted by the digital change under examination in addition to technical and digital tool experts. This may involve conducting scoping interviews with key stakeholders to gain initial insights into the different stakeholder groups involved. For more complex systems, a formal stakeholder analysis may be necessary. This involves a more systematic approach to evaluating stakeholders' interests, relevance, and resource control. 

2. Consider stakeholder relevance: Once identified, it is essential to assess the relevance of each stakeholder to the digital change process. This involves understanding their level of interest in the change process and how it affects them, as well as their potential influence or control over resources (e.g., financial resources, training, culture) that are important to the digital change. For example, if job roles are likely to be modified as a result of the digital change (with implications for job grades) then it can be useful for a representative from Human Resources to participate. If the organisation is unionised then involving a union representative can be helpful to facilitate union commitment towards the change. If the change is cross-organisational or cross-supply-chain, it is important to involve representatives from different organisations in the supply chain. Including employee representatives (and not just managers) is important for gaining representative views within the process. 

3. Invite stakeholders to participate: Identified relevant stakeholders should be formally invited to participate in the digital change. In line with the principles of inclusive and sustainable digital change, it is important that stakeholders are made aware of why they are being invited to contribute to the digital change and the potential benefits of their contribution.

Involving relevant stakeholders ensures that the analysis is comprehensive, considers diverse viewpoints, and ultimately leads to more informed and inclusive decision-making processes. It also fosters stakeholder buy-in and ownership of the outcomes, making it more likely that the resulting changes and action plans will contribute to the success of the digital change project.