Building Effective Employers' Organizations

Effective employers' organizations exist because member enterprises recognize that they add value through the delivery of services, representation and advocacy. The Bureau for Employers Activities programme provides the building blocks for strong employers' organizations to enable them to better meet the needs of enterprises. The Bureau's vision is to be recognized as the partner of choice inside and outside the ILO for effective employers' organizations.

A key element of the Bureau's programme to build effective employers organizations is its technical cooperation programme for employers, which is global but with decentralized implementation in the field. One focus of the technical cooperation programme is to strengthen organizational structures and internal management of employers' organizations and to develop new and improved membership services that make the organizations more valuable to enterprises. Strategic planning and staff competence building are central to this element.

A second related element of the technical cooperation programme is strengthening the institutional capacity of employers' organizations in policy development and lobbying so that they can influence national, regional and international policy debates. The focus of assistance in the policy development work includes employment and social policy, labour market planning as influenced by changing demographics, migration, climate, and economic development, and skills development policies and strategies.

The Bureau has also developed a global product-based offer which addresses specific employers' needs. The products are targeted either directly to employers' organizations to improve their organizational structures and management, or are based directly on the needs of the organizations' corporate members. A training package on Effective Employers Organization designed to help employers' organizations build and run their organizations more strategically and effectively is available. It is a set of five different guides on governance - (pdf 3,46 MB), strategy - (pdf 2,19 MB), advocacy - (pdf 3,38 MB), revenue building - (pdf 2,74 MB) and communications - (pdf 4,6 MB).

The revenues of European employers' organizations - Short survey on current policies and practices - (pdf 241 KB)
The present short survey supplements Guide 4, Revenue Building, of the Effective Employers' Organization series, by shedding some light on current revenue policies and practices in employers' organizations in Europe. While it focuses on membership dues and fees for services as the two major sources of revenue, it also covers less common sources of income.