31st May 2011
All the latest stories from the world of work
Managers could be contributing to declining morale in the workplace, according to the Chartered Management Institute.
The Institute’s Spring Economic Outlook survey showed that 70 per cent of managers said morale in their workplace had got worse in the last six months. It also showed that almost half of workers felt less involved and valued.
The CMI admitted that managers could be responsible for failing to halt declining morale, but claimed that many managers lacked training and did not know how. Only one in five managers in the UK has any formal training.
CMI CEO Ruth Spellman said: "The phrase 'people are our most important asset' has become a corporate mantra, but CMI's latest figures indicate managers aren't doing enough to make their staff feel valued.
"These statistics are an indication that not enough is being done by managers at present, but this might well be because they just don't know how to do better. Government statistics indicate that only one in five managers in the UK has a formal management qualification, demonstrating a skills shortfall which, if not addressed, could have negative impacts on the UK economy," Spellman continued.
Describing the added challenges posed by the current economic conditions, she said: "We need to recognise that today's managers are operating in unchartered territory. The rules have changed and many of the old certainties no longer exist. Our members tell us that such an atmosphere leaves them feeling lost and in the dark. They need guidance on how to behave and practical help with the seemingly endless stream of challenges presented to them and the opportunity to find out how their peers in other sectors and organisations are coping.”
The number of foreign-born workers filling low-skilled jobs in the UK has doubled over the last nine years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
20.6 per cent of low-skill jobs were held by foreign-born workers in the first quarter of this year, compared to 9 per cent in 2002. Workers from eastern or central Europe were the largest group.
Despite rising levels of unemployment and the weak pound, the figure continued to rise through the recession, even though the total number of low-skilled jobs remained the same at approximately 3.2 million.
Over the last nine years 367,000 more foreign-born workers are working in low-skilled jobs in the UK, taking the total to 666,000. The number of UK workers in low-skilled jobs fell by 480,000 over the same period to 2.56 million.
Two-thirds of employers are planning on raising employee pay in 2011, or have done so already, according to the latest CIPD rewards survey.
However, 26 per cent of employers responding to the survey are introducing or continuing pay freezes. Only 1 per cent were planning on cutting pay.
Charles Cotton, performance and reward adviser at the CIPD, commented: "We expect that there will not be much change to the proportion of organisations making a pay award in 2012. This is again due to a public sector that doesn't have much money to play around with as employers freeze pay, scrap bonus schemes and ask employees to pay more towards their pensions."
The survey also revealed the widespread use of performance related pay; 67 per cent of organisations used some form of performance related reward, with merit based pay rises being the most common practice.
