We collect insights shared by union representatives at this month's GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit

If you run a video games company, working with unions is rapidly becoming an inevitability rather than a possibility.

This is especially true in the UK, where October 30 will see the first waves of changes to the Employment Rights Act implemented – including a mandatory requirement to allow unions access to your workplace in some form.

For some leaders, this may seem somewhat daunting, but a panel discussion on unions at the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit earlier this month shed some light on the realities of working with such organisations.

While the specifics from the session were for attendees only, in order to create a safe space that facilitates a deeper discussion with the union representatives on the panel, we have collected the key takeaways for you below.

Throughout the session, the union representatives emphasised that the relationship between an employer and a union should be collaborative, not combative, and that companies do have a say in how that relationship builds (primarily through their HR leaders).

In fact, the unions claim the relationship can largely be determined by how companies approach them: whether they view trade unions as an opponent or as a stakeholder with a legitimate informed voice.

They also emphasise it's inadvisable to view unions as an opponent, because as soon as you view the process as a form of a competition, you begin to question who is the winner and who is the loser.

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