28th November, 2011
All the latest stories from the world of work
Employee engagement expert David MacLeod gathered with representatives from leading UK businesses this month for the launch of the joint IPA-Tomorrow’s Company project on the future of employee voice.
Co-hosted by IPA director Nita Clarke and Tomorrow’s Company chief executive Tony Manwaring, the event also saw the release of the project’s first report: “Rethinking voice for sustainable business success” which sets out the importance of employee voice in building world-class companies and services in the UK.
Figures show only 28 per cent of NHS employees feel involved in important decisions, revealing extent of the challenge.
The project will seek to raise awareness of the importance of employee voice for future business success, and provide practical support for business to make the most of their workforce. As John Greatrex, Group HR Manager at Unipart put it, “people working on the front line can often see opportunities that their managers would simply never know about.”
The message from the day was clear – faced with the aggressive growth and expansion of economies such as India and China, the key to Britain regaining the competitive advantage lies in improving employee voice, and companies who underestimate or ignore the potential behind employee voice will be left behind.
The next stage of the project will entail the conducting of in-depth case studies in order to “identify innovative and best practice, thought leadership and the barriers to effective voice.”
If you have any thoughts, experiences or research which you would like to share on this, then we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at
hannah.jameson@ipa-involve.com.
‘Bad management’ may be costing British businesses £19.3 billion per year, according to a report published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) this month.
Based on a survey of 2000 employees, the results reveal that three quarters of workers waste close to two hours every week as a result of their managers’ inefficiency – a third of which is a direct consequence of unclear communication; another third is the result of a lack of support; 26 per cent is due to micro-management and another quarter is because of a lack of direction.
“This survey highlights some disappointing – but not necessarily surprising – numbers” says Christopher Kinsella, acting chief executive for CMI. “With only one in five UK managers holding a professional management qualification and many organisations not properly investing in management training, it’s not surprising that some managers are making mistakes in how they work. Yet we are in one of the hardest economic climates we’ve faced in some time, and business bosses need to understand the financial impacts of not having properly trained and qualified managers. Improving the skills of the management workforce is absolutely key in terms of individual business success, in terms of delivering effective public services and in terms of helping the UK deliver on a world stage.”
Worryingly, this may be just the tip of the iceberg according to the director of the talent management organisation European Leaders, Ashley Ward: “Reality tells us the cost of bad management in terms of time lost is a great deal more than that indicated in today’s CMI report. A great deal of time is lost as employees discuss the lack of communication from, and behaviours of, management.”
All, however, is not lost and it is within management’s power to reverse this, provided there is leadership: “An efficient working culture stems directly from the very top of an organisation. If a business leader actively promotes a happy work culture based on openness, transparency, good communications and gender diversity, the organisation will be far closer to the top of its game and employees will view it as a good company to work for.”
New figures released in November show that UK unemployment rose to 2.62 million in the third quarter, whilst a Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) report has indicated that even gloomier times lay ahead for the UK jobs market.
Earlier this month the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released statistics revealing that unemployment had risen to 8.3 per cent, the highest rate since 1996, and up 129,000 on the preceding quarter. Additionally, and of particular concern , was the fact that unemployment amongst 16 to 24-year-olds had now risen to the highest level on record – 1.02 million.
This unfortunate landmark was announced only days after Anne Marie Carrie, chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, had complained that “Britain’s uneven playing field is causing an entire generation of the most disadvantaged teenagers to become ‘lost in transition’. Proof of this lies in the unemployed rate for 16 and 17-year-olds, which has almost doubled over the last decade.”
The Barnardo’s CEO was making these comments at the same time as the CIPD’s latest Labour Market Outlook report was detailing yet further negative news:
“The figures point to a slow, painful contraction in the jobs market”, said Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at the CIPD. “Many firms appear to be locked in ‘wait and see’ mode, with some companies scaling back on all employment decisions against a backdrop of increasing uncertainty as a result of the eurozone crisis and wider global economic turmoil.”
