Companies That Listen To Employees Are 'Likely To Have A Winning Hand'

Every single company in this world, big or small, young or old, have employers that need employees, and employees and need employers.

No company can run without two parties working side-by-side.

Both employers of a company, and their employees, need to synergize in order to create a system that works. Without one, the other would be rendered useless.

That is at least what Brad Smith from Microsoft is trying to convey.

The attorney that is also the President and Vice Chairman of Microsoft, said that employees have the legal rights to organize labor.

According to Smith, employees have the ability to choose to form or join a union, so their aspiration and voices can be heard by their employers and the world, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith wrote that:

What Smith is trying to say here is that, Microsoft recognizes that sooner than later, the technology sector would see organized labor, where employees demand their rights and so forth.

But employees who work for companies that do listen to them, "will never need to organize to have a dialogue" with their companies' leaders

Smith added that he doesn't believe that employees or other stakeholders of any company will benefit by resisting lawful efforts to participate in activities like unionization.

His statement came after some agitations happened from employees working at several technology companies.

An example, is when workers from Activision Blizzard, who voted in favor of unionizing, after being taken over by Microsoft. Employees at Amazon have also organized unionizations.

"Recent unionization campaigns across the country — including in the tech sector — have led us to conclude that inevitably these issues will touch on more businesses, potentially including our own," Smith said.

Reflecting these factors, Smith said that he believes stakeholders of companies should be served best with an open and constructive approach based on the following four principles:

1. Believe in the importance of listening to employees’ concerns.
2. Recognize that employees have a legal right to choose whether to form or join a union, by presenting a specific unionization proposal.
3. Commit to creative and collaborative approaches with unions when employees wish to exercise their rights.
4. Build on global labor experiences, and maintain a close relationship and shared partnership with all employees, including those represented by a union.

These are Microsoft's four “principles for employee organizing and engagement with labor organizations.”

In the statement, Smith committed to collaborating in the principles, which "will make it simpler rather than more difficult for our employees to make informed decisions and to exercise their legal right to choose whether to form or join a union."

"We acknowledge that this is a journey, and we will need to continue to learn and change as employee expectations and views change with the world around us," he said.