Business leaders have issued a strong warning that threatened EU regulation would slash the chances of work and overtime for thousands of people in the UK.
The warnings come in a wide-ranging annual assessment of trends in the world of work, published by the CBI with employment agency Pertemps.
- 45% of employers would offer fewer temporary work assignments under the Temporary Workers Directive.
- 59% of employers said the directive would impose extra costs making temporary workers less affordable, removing a vital flexibility for employers and denying a crucial route into work to the unemployed, ex-offenders or working mothers.
- Proposals to remove the right to opt-out of the Working Time Directive would cost thousands the choice to do overtime. Thirty-nine per cent of employers said losing the opt-out would have a serious impact on their business.
- 19% of all employees regularly used the individual opt out. In the smallest companies 24% regularly used it.
Pensions
The report also shows firms increasingly being priced out of final salary pensions. Almost half the employers with a final salary pension scheme last year closed it, usually to new entrants. In last year’s survey a quarter had closed their scheme. This year 27% of firms were offering a final salary scheme compared with 43% a year ago.
The CBI stressed that employers are still committed to pensions despite the difficulties. Stakeholder pensions were being offered by 57% of firms and, where final salary schemes remain, the average employer contribution is nearly three times the average employee contribution.
“On pensions the dam has burst as rising costs overwhelm employers who are increasingly being forced to pull out of final salary schemes for new employees. So far the loudest calls have been for things such as compulsory employer contributions and pensions protection which will only push up costs. We need radical proposals that will make pensions simpler and more affordable.”
Trade unions
The survey shows government trade union legislation has not destabilised UK industrial relations. Of the quarter of companies that recognised a union only 3% had done so since the introduction of the Employment Relations Act in 1999. The proportion of companies expecting an approach for union recognition has steadily fallen. In this survey only 5% expected one compared with nine per cent last year and 13% in 1999.
Trade union involvement in worker consultation has declined. Ahead of the National Information and Consultation Directive being introduced in 2005, more companies were introducing mechanisms for informing and consulting employees with 47% saying they had a mechanism compared with 35% in 2002. Ninety per cent used regular team meetings to involve staff. But 67% of companies that had a procedure said trade unions were not involved. That compares with 45% last year and 40% in 2001.
Flexible working
The CBI also says that the impact of legislation giving a right to request flexible working has not been overly damaging. Most employers had not suffered because 80% already seriously considered such requests. Eighty-two per cent of employers offered part-time working. Thirty-four per cent offered job sharing and 32% flexi-time.
Tim Watts, Chairman of the Pertemps Group said: “Many people choose flexible working arrangements because it suits their lifestyles. The UK’s flexible labour market creates many more employment opportunities. That is why more women and traditionally under-involved groups are in work in the UK than in most other European countries. Squeezing these people out of the world of work would be bad for them and bad for the economy.”
Skills
Employers increasingly recognise that their own skills are the key to their future competitiveness. In the last two years, management skills have overtaken skills of the workforce as the main HR factor determining future competitiveness and were expected to become even more important.
Management skills were regarded as the most important element of competitive advantage by 56% of employers. Workforce skills were mentioned by 44%. Looking ahead, 67% believed management skills will be the most important.
