Union Vulnerability Audits Can Be Effective

​Nonunion employers that want to stay that way can undertake what is sometimes referred to as a "union vulnerability audit" to address key problem areas and measure employee satisfaction.

"The bottom line is, if you are solving problems quickly and your team loves their leader and their work environment, you'll never have to worry about unions," said Phillip Wilson, president and general counsel with the Labor Relations Institute in Broken Arrow, Okla.

Identifying problem areas within the workforce—a key feature of union vulnerability audits—can be beneficial even if a company is not concerned with its employees organizing, noted David Pryzbylski, an attorney with Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis.

What Is This Type of Audit?

A union vulnerability audit analyzes the degree to which a nonunionized workforce may be susceptible to a union-organizing campaign, noted Tom Mandler, an attorney with Akerman in Chicago.

"A typical union vulnerability audit analyzes the terms and conditions of employment—job security, pay, benefits, policies, rules, etc.—and compares them to similar employers to determine how they measure up to area standards," he said. For example, if the audit determines that wages are below area averages, the employer should consider pay increases to counter any union-organizing pitch that focuses on increasing wages, Mandler said.

A union vulnerability audit tries to identify locations or departments with existing issues that could trigger complaints, Wilson said.

Employers "want to prevent issues from coming up at all or solve them early," he noted. "The point of an audit is to understand in a structured way which locations or departments are more likely to have complaints than others. This lets an employer focus resources where they're needed most."

An audit would examine objective and anecdotal data points. Employers commonly look at employee engagement survey scores as one data point.

"You can also look at other factors, like employee turnover, manager turnover [and] number of complaint calls made," Wilson said.

Employers could also review objective business performance measures, such as low-performing locations or departments that often have leadership issues. "Further, you can gain more anecdotal measures like focus group feedback or stay interviews, where you talk to team members about their day-to-day experiences at work and what they would change if they could," he noted.

Locations or departments in the bottom quartile on these factors would be where the employer would focus energy on positive employee relations and leadership development, Wilson added.

Union vulnerability audits can help uncover whether problems exist and afford an employer the opportunity to make changes that may not be legally possible if organizing arises, Pryzbylski said.

An audit that involves direct discussions with rank-and-file employees cannot be lawfully done if the company is aware of current union organizing, he emphasized.

It's unlawful to engage in surveillance of union activity or to ask employees about their opinions about unions, "so we recommend avoiding the topic of unions completely" in an audit, Wilson cautioned.

Action Items

A union vulnerability audit helps a company identify problem areas that may range from underperforming supervisors, inconsistent application of rules, or pay and benefits discrepancies to favoritism, Pryzbylski said.

"These issues often spur union organizing, so learning of them early and having a chance to remedy the problems is key," he noted. In addition, such a process can help maintain high employee morale.

Supervisor training would be one possible action item if an audit revealed dissatisfaction. This training could consist of training on rules and policies to ensure consistent application or general management training, he said.

Supervisors also should be trained on what they can and cannot do or say during a union-organizing campaign to prevent the filing of unfair labor practice charges.

"Smart union-free employers will use the information gained during a union vulnerability audit to proactively minimize their employees' susceptibility to union-organizing approaches," Mandler said. For example, if the audit found that employees complained about poor communication, an employer should adopt new methods of making sure employees are informed, he noted.

Leadership training is commonly recommended when an audit identifies a leader who is having difficulty, Wilson said. At times, though, the problems are more mundane.

"Sometimes specific issues are identified that the company can then go fix, like that microwave in the break room that can't even warm up a cup of coffee," he added.

Often, it's just refocusing on tools and processes that are already in place. These tools might be "things like communicating clearly about how to raise and solve an issue, and regularly communicating and celebrating when teammates make suggestions or raise issues that are solved," Wilson said.

It's a good management practice for a company to learn how it can function better. "This includes learning from employees their concerns, suggestions for improvement, and things they like and don't like about the company, such as its policies and even its managers," said Jonathan Keselenko, an attorney with Foley Hoag in Boston.

Any nonunion company that wants to stay that way should consider conducting a union vulnerability audit, possibly annually, Pryzbylski recommended.