27th October, 2011
All the latest stories from the world of work
October saw the launch of a new forum focused on promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, a move welcomed by Trevor Phillips and David Blunkett.
The Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI) will build upon the work of the Employers Forum on Age (EFA) and the Employers Forum on Belief (EFB) (both now incorporated into the newly formed network) and will aim to “drive forward the inclusion agenda, share best practice and advice, and inspire businesses to tackle equality and inclusion issues in the workplace.”
The decision to create the ENEI, whose Patron will be former Labour Cabinet minister David Blunkett, should find favour with the approximately 200 members of the EFA and EFB, who earlier this year expressed, in their majority (86%), an interest in moving towards an integrated network that would cover all nine protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010.
Speaking at the 18th October launch event, which gathered over 200 business leaders as well as some of the leading figures in the UK’s diversity and equality sector, ENEI Chief Executive Denise Keating said “We are very excited to have launched a new employer-led, charitable, membership organisation in response to members’ needs. Having Rt Hon. David Blunkett MP as a Patron will further leverage our strengths and raise our profile by helping position us as a cutting edge employer network covering all aspects of equality and inclusion issues in the workplace.”
A report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has this month revealed that the depth and pace of job losses have been much greater than had been expected, causing concerns that the initial Government projection of 400,000 may well be exceeded if current trends are maintained.
The report, entitled “Spending Review: One Year On”, found that whilst private sector job creation had offset the losses in the public sector in between December 2009 and June 2011 (290,000 losses against 600,000 gains), the trend was significantly reversed in the second quarter of 2011 which saw job losses in the public sector reach 111,000 in contrast to the 41,000 new private sector jobs.
“The public sector job losses have come much faster than anticipated”, said Paul Cleal, PwC partner and head of public sector. “After only one quarter of data for this financial year, the job losses in the public sector have already exceeded the OBR forecast for the whole of the 2011-12 financial year.”
A further worry to come out of the report is that in addition to the Q2 job losses, which are more pronounced at the local government level, the private jobs created have been disproportionally part-time, thereby reducing the average number of hours worked to 31 per week.
This news comes at a time when morale amongst public sector workers appears to be nose-diving according to research undertaken by the recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark. Their survey shows that four out of ten public sector employees’ morale has dropped dramatically as a result of the job losses within their organisations.
One third of employees want to work from home
36% of employees would like to work remotely on a regular basis, according to a new study by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), with 43% claiming that they are currently able to request to so, but only on an ad hoc basis.
This comes at a time when there appear to be suggestions that the Government may backtrack on its previous commitment to grant all workers the ability to request flexible working, along with the extension of maternity and paternity leave.
Opinion in employment circles is divided over whether or not these changes should introduced, but has the support of the former director of the Future Work Forum at Henley Business School, Peter Thomson, who stated that “Flexible working has been shown to increase productivity, reduce employee turnover and halve the rate of absenteeism.”
The potential benefits for employee wellbeing could also be significant according to a senior lecturer in management learning and leadership at Lancaster University Management School: “For some men and women flexibility can make the difference between being able to cope at work, and going under due to poor work-life balance”, said Caroline Gatrell. “It is for the benefit of all for organisations and governments to facilitate flexible working practices."
The system currently in place only allows parents of children under the age of 17, and of disabled children under the age of 18 to request flexible working. This is extended to carers of dependent adults who reside at the same address.
