Friday 4 February 2011

Times are still tough but .....


This quarter's Employee Outlook Survey from CIPD illustrates the extent to which employees are concerned about their standard of living, as inflation continues to erode the real value of wages. The survey of 2,000 employees finds almost a third of staff say their standard of living has worsened over the last six months compared to 10% who say that it has improved.

On top of this, more than half of employees report their organisation has either frozen pay (46%) or cut pay (7%). Highlighting the growing impact of spending cuts on the public sector in particular, the survey finds that seven in ten public sector workers have had their pay either frozen (63%) or cut (6%). This compares to 42% of private sector employees who've seen their pay frozen, and 7% who've seen it cut.

There's also a growing sense of realism in the public sector relating to the risk of redundancy. The survey shows that a fifth of all employees (20%) believe it is likely they could lose their job, but in the public sector this figure rises to 31%, up from 25% last quarter. In the private and voluntary sectors, however, redundancy expectations have remained largely static, standing at 17% and 22% respectively, compared to 17% and 23% last quarter.

Gareth Osborne of APA said: "At a time when employees are feeling the effects of financial pressure employers need to deliver consistently high quality leadership and management on the front line. How managers communicate, consult, coach and develop staff is critical. Many leading organisations in both the public and private sectors are already prioritising improving people management capability and employee engagement as they recognise this is central to gaining competitive advantage. These employers are looking closely at how they develop and support managers (including PAs). APA is seeing an increase in PA training this year by companies positioning themselves for recovery."

APA

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