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View full libraryA step-by-step guide to help managers launch and run an employee forum that promotes engagement and open communication.
Purpose of the guide
To support managers in creating a structured, inclusive employee forum that encourages open communication and employee engagement across the organisation.
What is an employee forum?
An employee forum is a group of elected or nominated employees who meet regularly with management to discuss workplace matters, raise concerns, and suggest improvements to enhance working conditions and culture.
Why have an employee forum?
Employee forums are a valuable tool for building trust and collaboration between staff and leadership.
They provide a safe, structured space for employees to voice ideas, concerns, and feedback. This can lead to faster identification and resolution of workplace issues, improved morale, and stronger employee engagement.
Having an active forum helps organisations stay responsive to employee needs, reducing turnover and supporting a positive culture where everyone feels heard.
Steps
1: Gain leadership support
Start by securing buy-in from senior leaders and key stakeholders.
Explain the benefits such as improved employee engagement, quicker resolution of issues, and stronger culture.
2: Plan and communicate
Develop a clear communication plan to inform all employees about the forum’s purpose, how it will operate, and what participation involves.
Transparency at this stage builds trust.
3: Draft terms of reference
Agree on the forum’s objectives, scope, membership criteria, meeting frequency, and decision-making processes.
This helps set clear expectations and structure.
4: Open nominations and run elections
Invite employees to nominate themselves or colleagues.
Run a fair and confidential election process ensuring representation across departments, teams, and diversity groups.
5: Induct forum members
Hold an induction session covering roles and responsibilities, confidentiality, meeting etiquette, and how to represent colleagues effectively.
6: Schedule regular meetings
Set a meeting calendar with clear agendas and allow time for open discussion.
Provide administrative support such as note-taking and action tracking.
7: Promote ongoing communication
Share meeting outcomes and progress updates widely with all staff.
Encourage two-way feedback between forum members and employees to keep engagement high.
8: Evaluate and improve
Regularly review the forum’s effectiveness through surveys or feedback sessions.
Adjust the process, membership, or communication approach as needed.
Role of the manager
Managers should facilitate, listen actively, and act on agreed actions.
It’s key to respect confidentiality and maintain trust between employees and leadership.
Tips for success
Keep meetings focused and time-efficient. celebrate wins and improvements driven by the forum.
Provide training for forum members to build confidence and skills.
Need the complete Employee communication process?
Explore the Employee communication templates toolkit
This guide supports managers in setting up an employee forum from scratch, including planning, elections, meetings, and ongoing communication.
It outlines how to gain leadership support, ensure fair representation, and maintain momentum with clear structures and feedback loops.
Employee forums build trust and foster a culture where all voices are heard, improving morale and organisational responsiveness.
Yes. This template has been designed for organisations of all sizes, including small businesses, charities and growing employers. It follows UK employment law best practice and can be adapted to suit your organisation.
Our templates are developed with UK employment legislation, Acas guidance and HR best practice in mind and are reviewed and updated as relevant requirements change. However, every employment situation is different, so the template should be adapted to the circumstances and checked against the employee's contract and your organisation's procedures before use.
Yes, we highlight the areas of the document that you need to update with your own details, and where you need to make decisions to suit your situation. This saves you time and ensures that you meet best practice.
Yes. Once purchased, you'll be able to download it instantly. Templates are provided in editable format (such as .doc or .xls) so you can customise them easily, and in PDF format for easy sharing.
If you're looking for broader support, we also offer toolkits and library bundles that include the Managers guide to setting up an Employee Forum, along with other HR templates and policies for fully managing your situation. These may be more cost-effective if you need deeper advice.
AI can produce a document quickly, but effective HR documentation needs to be more than well-written words. It needs to reflect relevant UK employment law, HR best practice, practical considerations and the circumstances in which it will be used. These resources have been professionally developed around that wider HR context, drawing on extensive practical experience, rather than simply generating a generic document from a prompt.
How this content is developed and reviewed
The Managers guide to setting up an Employee Forum is developed using a practical HR methodology that considers current UK employment legislation, ACAS guidance, CIPD good practice and the real-world HR process it supports. Templates and supporting information are regularly reviewed and updated, with additional reviews triggered by significant changes to legislation, guidance or established HR practice, helping ensure each document remains practical, relevant and suitable for UK employers.
Darryl Horn, Chartered HR Director
Darryl is a Chartered HR professional with over 25 years' experience in senior HR and employee relations roles.
He has extensive practical experience of managing employee communication HR processes and founded hrdocbox to provide businesses with practical, professionally developed HR resources grounded in UK employment law and best practice.
HRDocBox has been creating practical UK HR documents since 2009.
"Darryl provides support and advice with excellent judgement, and has a strong understanding of people, policies and UK employment legislation."
"He is someone I trust; consistent, dependable, and committed to doing things properly."
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