Employers are having to find new ways to retain staff as more than three quarters have failed to reinstate pay cuts that were introduced to avoid redundancies during the recession.
According to research undertaken among 1,000 workers by recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark, a huge 77% of the 8.7 million employees that took a pay cut have not seen their wages increase again even though the UK is now officially out of recession.
While 76% of workers said they were optimistic that they would return to full pay over the next few months, a mere 15% have been promised that this will in fact be the case.
Lynne Hardman, Badenoch & Clark’s managing director, said: “Now the UK is emerging out of recession, we could see employees being given more work for a lower renumeration package that pre-recession, which in turn could lead to many embarking on a search for new employment. Where budgets are tight, employers need to find other ways to incentivise staff to keep them engaged and prevent them from looking for new opportunities.”
Flexible working was deemed the most positive incentive to encourage personnel to stay, particularly among female workers. About 38% are currently being provided with this option, with about 16% being given access to remote working facilities or additional annual leave (16.7%). Some 32% felt that the provision of training would likewise be an inducement to remain with their current employer.
