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There is no shortage of commentary on the cost of living, but what about the cost of living lonely? Official figures show that 1 in 4 of us feel lonely ‘always’, ‘often’ or ‘some of the time’, with potentially significant impacts on our health and wellbeing, including a 26% increase in the risk of mortality. For UK employers, loneliness carries an estimated cost of £2.5 billion a year, primarily as a result of increased staff turnover and lower wellbeing and productivity.

Yet we are barely scratching the surface when it comes to having regular, meaningful conversations about loneliness. While some employers and workers have become more open about their mental health struggles – it is arguably one small silver lining of the pandemic – there’s still a great sense of shame attached to the subject of loneliness. The government recognised this in its 2018 strategy and set out an overarching objective to “reduce stigma by building the national conversation.”

Acas’s framework for positive mental health is a good place to start. Developed in collaboration with customers and other key stakeholders, it sets out the shared responsibility and goal that employers, managers and individuals have in promoting wellbeing at work. So, what is each of these actors’ role in tackling the loneliness epidemic?

Employers: loneliness is your business

Confronting this public health issue requires a collective response, including from businesses. Government guidance states: “Supporting people to have meaningful social relationships is not just crucial to people’s physical and mental health. It also affects their engagement in the workplace and wider community cohesion”. Any responsible business should have loneliness on their agenda.

For most, work is more than simply a job. It can offer us a route to friendships and provide a sense of purpose and belonging. Certainly, many of us have never felt so connected to our colleagues than we have during the pandemic, even if it has been via Zoom. For others, the impact of COVID might have intensified their emotional detachment from work, leading them to look elsewhere.

Crucially, the pandemic has reminded us that our personal lives don’t simply stop when we log on or arrive at our workplaces. Feelings of loneliness can spill into our working lives, or they may be caused or fuelled by work. It is within senior leaders’ control, and indeed interest, to:

• adopt a strategic approach to positive wellbeing so it becomes part and parcel of an organisation’s values. This includes raising awareness of loneliness to challenge stigma and more broadly, recognising how mental health and wellbeing intersects with all aspects of working life
• meaningfully consult with trade unions and other representatives, including staff networks and wellbeing champions to understand the impacts of new ways of working on feelings of loneliness and how to overcome any barriers
• engage with all line managers to understand what support and training might be required to empower them to confidently help staff experiencing loneliness, as well as themselves

Written by Simone Cheng, Senior Policy Adviser, Acas

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Against a background of a cost of living crisis impacting on every employee’s pocket, it is not surprising that we are getting regular reports of trade unions proposing to take action to improve their members’ pay.

We are not used to these headlines. The UK has seen many years of relatively peaceful industrial relations.  Indeed the spread of a partnership approach in the workplace, where unions and managers find the ‘sweet spots’ which benefit both the employee and contribute to the success of the organisation has become a noticeable feature of our employment relations in both the public and private sector. It would be a tragedy if the improvements in employment relations in the past years were to go up in smoke as a consequence of the current crisis. There is still all to play for when it comes to industrial relations.

In almost every workshop run by the IPA over the last two years that has involved senior managers and trade union representatives, the interests and aims of the two sides have been remarkably similar: establishing a mutual understanding of each other’s positions and challenges, and a desire for authentic engagement to come to mutually agreed solutions.

In the face of ongoing volatility in the labour market, the need to recruit and retain staff and the importance of employee wellbeing, trade unions and employers need to work together as never before.  Employers need to accept that unions will be coming under increasing pressure from their members to do something to alleviate the impact of rising fuel and food prices – particularly for employees on lower pay. Unions will also have to calibrate the impact of pay claims on the profitability and future prospects of employers, and make recommendations to members accordingly. So it is vital that employers become more open and transparent in sharing information, and the dilemmas they face and bring trade unions into strategic and problem solving discussions at an early stage.

Employers need to ensure that the architecture for engaging with their unions, and more importantly, that personal relationships between leaders and managers and trade union representatives, are both fit for purpose, based on trust and mutual understanding. If the relationship has lapsed, or been put on the back burner, or unions have been taken for granted, now is the time to inject new life into both.  It’s never been more true that unions are for life – not just for Christmas…..

What is the reasoning behind a pay offer?

At the same time, is there a real dialogue with and understanding among the workforce about the strategic considerations behind employer’s proposals on pay?  What is the reasoning behind a pay offer? How does it fit into the strategic plan? Is the balance between shareholder return and employee return understood and felt to be fair, or can it be challenged as disproportionate. Does it feel more as if the employer has adopted a lucky dip approach, and come up with a negotiating position because it’s what they hope to get away with?  Are senior people receiving bonuses that are out of whack with what’s on offer to ordinary employees. Does the overall remuneration strategy feel fair?  Or in the public sector are the pay constraints imposed by government acknowledged – in which case a joint approach by unions and employers to the Treasury to point out the dangers to recruitment and retention of staff from inadequate pay offers, might be needed.

Unions and employees do not have a death wish; if they understand the real constraints and strategic intentions of employers – and if they have played a part in developing the strategy and feel a sense of ownership of it – they are more likely to calibrate pay demands according to that jointly accepted reality. Decisions made a million miles away in boardrooms that are not accountable to the workforce will not get a sympathetic hearing when food prices and fuel bills continue to increase.

For example, did employees across the rail sector understand their employers’ plans to protect and develop the sector post pandemic; where the investment is going to keep the industry viable and secure a future? Has that strategic conversation happened with the workforce or the unions concerned?  If I asked a Network Rail employee, would they be able to articulate the organisation’s future plans for a secure future – even if they then rejected them as a reason for pay restraint?  How about a BA employee?  Or a BT employee?

Trade Unions

The key to a productive working relationship between organisations and trade unions is the sharing of dilemmas. The dilemma for organisations is how to engage and retain staff when they have a finite amount of money to distribute. The dilemma for trade union representatives is how to act pragmatically when they are under severe pressure from members who pay their union dues and now expect to see something from it. 

It would be a tragedy of the improvements in employment relations in the past years go up in smoke. Union members en masse tend to take industrial action as a last resort.  And trade unions know they will lose public sympathy pretty quickly if disruption to essential services such as transport continues indefinitely. There is still all to play for when it comes to industrial relations.

Derek Luckhurst & Nita Clarke, IPA

June 2022

       

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My whole working life of over forty years has been in the people arena; initially as a Trade Union Convenor and then through the ranks of Personnel Departments to the heights of Director. During that time, I have worked for small and large organisations in both Public and Private sectors. As I now reflect on these years, there is one matter that amazes me. Repeatedly, organisations I have worked with, and for, unnecessarily loose so much knowledge and experience. Not only that, but they are also willing to pay handsomely for the privilege of letting that knowledge and experience walk through the door.

These organisations all have admirable knowledge transfer systems in place. Handover schedules, training plans and strategic people plans. What they do not have is a systematic mechanism for the capture of experience of the 5% of key employees. This has become a genuine issue for organisations.

2022 is the return to a new normal as we start to exit the pandemic and concentrate on the Great Resignation. It is the time when staff are reassessing their own meaning of life and what they want from it. We have seen employees can work effectively and efficiently from home and this type of future work/life balance will, for some, be enjoyable or even relaxing.

As the custodians of organisational design, development and resources, managers have been acutely aware of the challenges an ageing workforce brings. Yet limited numbers have effectively addressed the potential consequences. There is a collective view that the current tried and tested approach of replacing elders (Baby Boomers) with bright new young ones will do – closely followed by a crossing of fingers and a rapid sticking of head in the sand.

Great Resignation

From my viewpoint, those who are going through the greatest reassessment of their purpose are the Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. We may even see significant numbers of the more mature Generation X (1965 -1980) cohort decide it is time for a review of their lives. What does this mean for organisations and why is it a challenge?

These changing dynamics are a cultural and commercial challenge to organisations to ensure that knowledge and, more importantly, experience does not just disappear as in the past. Organisations that are serious about their own sustainability will have given thought towards succession planning and the transfer of practical knowledge packages. There will be training, handover protocols development plans in place. The challenge which exists and is amplified by the potential Great Resignation as well as the end of the pandemic, are the 5% of key personnel and/or roles within the organisation which are key to sustaining the culture, enduring the corporate intelligence, and capturing experience. The debate and discussion should be around how leaders identify the 5% and then what do we do about them.

This can be achieved by:

Resource Alignment (Strategic Workforce Planning) – an integrated and continuous process that identifies and addresses the critical gaps between the current workforce/sources and future needs in the context of the organisation’s strategic and business strategies.

Agile working (The Organisational Structure) – formal, and informal, organisational networks allowing the organisation to highlight potential issues and challenges. 

From my experience I have categorised three groupings for the 5%:

Outgoing – key employees, or role holders, who are leaving the organisation for any number of reasons. In general, they are exercising their right for retirement, looking for the next challenge or fulfilling a life goal.

Movers – members of teams who stay with the organisation but move on to new internal opportunities.

Incoming – those who initially entrance through their experience and skills yet are immediately assimilated into the ways of the organisation. New entrants have the potential to change the environment of any organisation and, if used correctly, this can be an enhancement.

To deal with these challenges, we have to accept that all organisations are unique and are shaped by the environment within which they exist. Therefore, any solutions are unique to individuals and their organisations. This is how the organisation should adopt appropriate interventions.

Neurological Leadership – a term coined in 2006 growing out of a need to understand more about how we could be better leaders, and be more effective at leading others and ourselves, by engaging with what our brain tells us about being human. We learn that the brain’s organising principle is to minimise threat and maximise reward and so we non-consciously behave in ways to avoid threat and bring us pleasure. The SCARF model which stands for status, certainty, autonomy, relationship, and fairness can be used to identify the areas most affected by threat or reward on the at risk 5%. 

Shadowing – most sustainable organisations will have a robust succession planning process but shadowing is an element of that process that provides individuals with opportunities to gain experience in readiness for the future needs of the organisation.

Mentoring – a complex set of factors including people skills, levels of commitment to the mentoring relationship and organisational influences can all impact on the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship.

Secondments – a temporary loan of an employee from one organisation, or one part of an organisation, to another, for a specific purpose and for a specific period. Under a secondment, an individual is doing work for the host organisation, under their instruction and for their purposes.

 

The purpose of this article has been to stimulate thought around the practice of knowledge and experience transfer. Whilst this is particularly relevant due to the pending great resignation and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic – which themselves are exposing the flaws in the currently accepted hypothesis on how to approach the long-known ageing workforce challenges.

There is a real and immediate need to address the knowledge and experience exodus which is upon any business that wants to ensure commercial and organisation sustainability.

Written by Peter McCarthy, Director, The Knowledge Bank

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It has been apparent for some time that record vacancies in UK companies are forcing employers to develop innovative approaches to employee engagement as a means of retaining and recruiting people. Although there is debate as to whether the concept of work-life balance is changing in a material way, from the IPA’s experience of talking to managers and employee representatives in many different types of organisation, two things are becoming clear: flexible working is the most common ‘hot topic’ and there is a growing sense that decisions about hybrid working should be based on clear business rationale taking in considerations about productivity and safe mental health.  

Employee Benefits 

A recent article in the Daily Telegraph notes that “ping pong tables, jazz bars, free food and on-site gyms have become synonymous with desirable offices of tech giants, designed to attract and retain talent” but this type of benefit is loaded towards a specific demographic and it is possible that some of these offers could potentially switch people off rather than engage them. An investigation of the degree to which these types of benefits, which some may consider ‘gimmicks’ actually contribute to engagement, retention and recruitment may be worthwhile.  

Certainly not all organisations are convinced, because according to the Daily Telegraph, some are “offering lavish benefits, better working hours and hiking pay in a bid to beat the Great Resignation as staff quit in record numbers”. The paper cites as an example graduate bankers demanding starting salaries of more than £60,000 (according to professional services recruiter Dartmouth) to compensate for an “infamously poor work-life balance amid the war for talent”. However, not all organisations can afford to do this. Two years of the pandemic have forced these organisations to place future proofing at the heart of their strategic decisions – for these companies, innovation and creativity will be the key factor in their success or failure. 

Four-day Working Week

This is why more than 3,000 workers at 60 UK companies will trial a four-day working week in the six months from June. This is thought to be the biggest pilot scheme worldwide and it might prove how desirable working fewer hours has become. Whether organisations will have the means to effectively measure productivity is another matter but, if the core business objective is to engage people, it will be fascinating to see whether any of the assumptions made around this subject are proved to be correct. Regardless, there is a strong argument that this type of innovative thinking based on rationality is a better way forward than a reliance on gimmicks.

The Daily Telegraph also notes the example of Citigroup who have announced plans to open a new hub in Malaga which will comprise a 30-strong team of junior analysts who will work eight hours a day but on half the salary of their peers in London and New York. They claim that this “revolutionary idea” will “create a competitive advantage” over rivals while being “more conducive to an improved work-life balance”. However, one ex-employee is quoted as saying, “it’s a nice PR spin that some people have taken at face value, but if people think about it hard enough they’ll see it doesn’t make any sense.” If innovation like this is seen by enough people as a “PR spin”, it is unlikely that it will have the desired effect.

Other examples of innovative ideas being explored include unlimited annual leave, an extra month of paid holiday, full-time remote working, signing-on bonuses and even the hiring of a chief happiness officer to make their organisation “the most vibrant, happy and uplifting place to work in the world”. The chief happiness officer oversees six-weekly micro-retreats, books from employees’ favourite authors sent over on publication, a four-day week pilot and “sponsorship for passion projects and hobbies”.

Job Vacancies

According to Ipsos, over half of 16 to 34-year-olds considered quitting their jobs or were actively looking for a new role in the last three months. This has created a record 1.3m job vacancies in Britain, according to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics, and this is the crux of the problem. Organisations are actively seeking ways to keep the staff they have, as well as attracting new ones, but it is difficult to see how gimmicks and “PR spin” will make a sustainable contribution to solving the problem. As Gaelle Blake, head of permanent appointments at Hays UK&I, states in the article, “if employers don’t get the basics right such as offering competitive salaries along with flexible and hybrid working – the majority of professionals will look elsewhere.”

There is another potential problem that might come to the surface as this trend continues. Almost half of 2,000 UK workers recently surveyed by LHH Recruitment said new employees received preferential treatment, from pay to better benefits. There is already a growing divide between workers who are unable to work flexibly due to the nature of their jobs and those who can benefit from hybrid working and the “wooing spree to make office life more attractive for new recruits” may widen this divide further leading to more workplace discontent, rather than better engagement.

Employee Engagement

All of this reminded me of a conversation I had in the late 1990’s with a hugely respected manager at Legal & General who had decided to run a team building exercise which involved orienteering. She loved outdoor pursuits and had not considered that others might not share that passion. I felt terrible in denting her enthusiasm when I pointed out that several people in her team would probably hate the idea and that it could actually cause more problems than it would solve. Fortunately, she took my feedback well and she went away and discussed the idea with her team. That discussion became the team building exercise in itself. This is the key lesson when it comes to engaging and retaining people – organisations have to listen to their employees, both to find out how their ideas are perceived – welcome innovation or irrelevant gimmick? – and be open to ideas generated by employees themselves that will best meet both the needs of the business and colleagues. If they do not, people will continue to vote with their feet.        

 

Derek Luckhurst

Training & Development Director

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In her article published on the IPA Website titled Employment relations – back with a bang (and how to avoid an explosion), Nita Clarke outlined a changing industrial relations landscape being shaped by the pandemic and Brexit. Her conclusion that “those organisations which take employees seriously and try and identify the sweet spot of mutual interest, stand a good chance of coming through strengthened and not weakened” should be the focal point of discussions in boardrooms and senior management meetings across the UK.

It was certainly not the case in the boardroom of P&O Ferries. The fallout from their online announcement that 800 staff had lost their jobs and the admission that the legal requirement to consult with their trade union was ignored continues, and it will be interesting to see whether public opinion translates into fewer people using their services in future.

Industrial Relations

There is no doubt that the current industrial relations climate is presenting organisations with a serious challenge in discussions with their trade unions, particularly against the background of difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. It is right to conclude that this is a great opportunity for trade unions to flex their industrial muscle at a time when trade union membership is beginning to rise again. Many trade union representatives, however, would argue that the situation is more complex than that.

Situations like this create a dilemma for trade unions. On the one hand, they will be under pressure from some of their members to push for higher wages and better terms and conditions, particularly with inflation and the cost of living rising. Other members, however, believe that protecting jobs is the number one priority for their trade union representatives. Whether those views are expressed to those representatives is open to question. Trade union representatives are more aware of the “silent majority” than many senior managers give them credit for. Just as it is difficult for organisations to make decisions to future proof organisations, it is equally difficult for trade unions to represent the different views and expectations of their membership.

Trade Unions

It was, therefore, a huge assumption that P&O Ferries made in assessing that the RMT would not enter into constructive dialogue. It may well have been the case but, quite often, a reaction from trade unions is caused by the point in time in which they are consulted. It is open to speculation as to whether their early involvement would have changed the outcome but it would have potentially mitigated the reputational damage caused by the way the announcement was made if nothing else.

Any discussions, consultations and negotiations in the current climate will be difficult. Both organisations and trade unions are grappling with the challenges created by a more confident workforce who will readily articulate their wishes about flexible working and how fairly they believe they are being treated. As Nita pointed out, the “Great Resignation” is indicating that people are increasingly leaving organisations that fail to engage them. Some feel that they have no choice due to poor health and their employer’s unwillingness to accommodate personal responsibilities. A necessary focus on mental health and employee burnout makes any discussion between organisations and their trade unions anything but a simplistic collective bargaining process. There is a great deal more at stake for all parties.

Proactive Engagement

The key question for most organisations and trade unions is whether they have the necessary skills and experience to address the complexities of the current industrial relations landscape. A Google search of the question “do managers know how to speak to trade unions effectively?” reveals that the first match is an article titled, “when can I refuse trade unions access to my staff?” so that is not an encouraging start. Although there are more progressive references, the trend in the articles is to play down the benefits of proactive engagement with trade unions and, in particular, the benefits associated with early involvement in discussions.

When trade unions are presented with a single option (or fait accompli as many describe it), there is little space for nuanced discussion and the sharing of mutual and separate dilemmas. This results in a one-dimensional narrative from both parties often leaving a workforce in a confused mass of information gaps. Early involvement of a trade union in discussions provides both parties with an opportunity to explore options, different perspectives, risks and potential knock-on effects without anyone being boxed in to a corner. Why, in that case, does it happen so infrequently?

Building the business case

The answer lies in a lack of confidence in building the business case, concerns about confidentiality and a lack of trust in the union engaging constructively. However, building the skills to navigate the first obstacle often results in managers realising that the other two do not apply. The reaction of one senior manager recently trained by the IPA revealed that the individual was “surprised at how the trade union representatives were open about their own dilemmas in engaging the different views of their members and how they made a number of innovative suggestions about how we could meet our objectives” when the initial reluctance to engage them early was “overcome by meticulous preparation”.

It may not always work as well as this particular example but that should not be a barrier to trying to develop better relations with trade unions until a specific problem arises, which is what many organisations do. The world of industrial relations will remain challenging for several years to come so it is exactly the right time to start building the managerial skills that can create a culture of joint problem solving rather than one of “us and them”. It is very clear that organisations need to do that now rather than risk a disaster on the P&O Ferries scale.  

Derek Luckhurst is Training and Development Director at IPA

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Employment relations – back with a bang (and how to avoid an explosion)

As we exit the pandemic – and the impact of Brexit bites – the UK labour market has been shaken and stirred. The balance of bargaining power is shifting. For now, at least, workers have the upper hand in a way not seen for many years.

Recruiting and retaining staff has rarely been more challenging. There are serious staff shortages in many sectors, increasing the bargaining power of those who remain. This includes traditionally non-unionised sectors such as hospitality and social care. Wages are growing at their fastest rate in years. Signing on bonuses for transport drivers are just one sign of employers now fishing in a shrunken pool.

The number of job vacancies is now at a record high of 1.1 million, an increase of 318,000 from the start of the pandemic. No wonder the CBI says most if its members are most worried about labour shortages.

There is a substantial mismatch between the skills required for many jobs and the skills available in the UK population – this has been true for years, but these chickens have now come home to roost. There is no overarching government plan to understand the scale of the problem, just a series of short term emergency measures.

Nor is this simply about pay. Employees are becoming more confident in their demands about how, when and where they want to work. Demands for remote and flexible working are no longer the exception. In addition, we see employees looking for meaning, purpose and fairness at work and increasingly willing to walk away from toxic cultures.

Employee Engagement

Although many organisations did their best to engage staff through the challenge of the pandemic, there is clearly a significant proportion of the workforce that feels let down, whether through ‘furlough’ that wasn’t, poor management of health and wellbeing, managers not taking individual circumstances into account, and so on. In the words of PG Wodehouse, we can see that, if not actually disgruntled, many are far from being gruntled…

The extent of the so-called Great Resignation – employees leaving in droves – is becoming clear. In the UK 791,000 people – equivalent to 2.6 per cent of the workforce – moved jobs between April and June this year; the fastest since 2008.

While early in the pandemic people felt insecure and keen to hang on to their jobs, they are now looking to explore their options. The volume of Google searches for ‘leave job’ are 50 per cent higher than they were in early 2020. It seems that many employees are taking a far more transactional approach; sentiment and loyalty may be in short supply.

At the same time those millions of employees who kept our healthcare, logistics and other essential sinews of our country going for eighteen hard months, have been stretched often to breaking point and are burnt out. Figures for understaffing in the NHS, for example, are alarming.

Meanwhile, inflation is now a growing worry for the first time in years, with energy and food prices spiralling upwards.

No wonder that across the trade union movement there’s a sense that the time has come for a serious flexing of the muscles. If not now, when bargaining conditions favour labour, then when?

The government’s slogan to move the UK to a high wage, high skilled economy plays strongly into the union movement’s hands. Indeed, it would not be surprising to the see the Prime Minister quoted on placards as union members take action to improve their pay and working conditions.

Trade Unions

After decades of decline, we have seen trade union membership beginning to rise again over the past five years. And we are now seeing increasing, sporadic industrial action; it might not take much for these sparks to ignite into wider action, particularly if inflation does spiral and borrowing becomes much more expensive through increases in interest rates.

Across the Atlantic, the USA has seen a wave of strikes and walkouts – this month being dubbed ‘Striketober’ with over 100,000 workers currently on or threatening industrial action – perhaps a harbinger of things to come here in the UK.

So how should employers respond, given that for some, market pressures, repaying COVID loans and collapsing customer demand – especially in Europe – represent a very real threat to their survival?

First – spend as much time on getting their internal house in order as on meeting external pressures. Good HR and positive employment practices are not a luxury: they are an essential tool to recruit and retain staff. Now more than ever, employees really are the only asset.

Listen to and engage with employees systematically and on an on-going basis – through surveys, cascades, town halls, staff councils and unions.

Identify and detoxify a culture that your employees are telling you has gone wrong.

Learn from the COVID experience: what went well, what could have been done better.

Have a proactive employment relations strategy. Be generous with pay if you can, but if substantial pay rises are not possible given current conditions, look at other ways to retain staff – better training and development opportunities, reduced hours, truly flexible working and other initiatives that will improve employee wellbeing.

Be honest about the finances, about challenges facing the business or the sector. Tell the story. If you can’t afford to meet a demand – explain why.

Unnecessarily resisting union recognition is counterproductive and will backfire. Far better to invite unions in to make their case to employees. In a recognition agreement employers can set out how they intend to engage with unions, preferably on partnership terms. That way when recognition comes you start off with mutual understanding and engagement, and on the front foot.

Partner with your employees in discussing their needs and the needs of the business; ensure there’s mutual understanding and real dialogue around the future.

This is a challenging moment for employment relations. But those organisations which take employees seriously, and try and identify the sweet spot of mutual interest, stand a good chance of coming through strengthened and not weakened.

It is all to play for.

If you want training, consultancy or research in Employee relations then please email us to see how we can help.

Leadership & integrity have never been more important

Recent events have again shone a light on the importance of leadership and organizational culture. Over the past few years, we have seen several CEOs step down after allegations of unethical behaviour and a toxic working culture. What can these and other examples teach us about the values of leadership and integrity?

The first problem is the myth of the ‘maverick’ and ‘visionary’ leader. This unhelpful idea perpetuates beliefs that ‘true leadership’ consists of risk-taking, a brash personality and a huge dollop of egomania and narcissism. In reality, while self-confidence and a willingness to take risks may be important traits for entrepreneurs in new start-ups, mature organisations need the kind of leaders that have both a clear vision and an ability to lead by example in their behaviour. Leaders are vital drivers of organizational culture and will ultimately determine whether unethical behaviour is encouraged, tolerated or challenged within any organisation.

Leaders need to do more than just signalling support for change, however. When  contractors at Google walked out of their offices in a mass protest over cases of sexual harrassment, called the Google Walkout for Real Change, CEO Sundar Picai publicly offered his support for Google staff over the issue. However, since the walkout two of the key organizers have alleged they are paying the price for speaking out, being sidelined from key projects and marginalized at work.

Diversity and Inclusion

In their Diversity and Inclusion Report 2021, Hays found that while 62% of respondents say that their employer actively talks about the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, less than half thinks that their employer combines this with noticeable action, and in 2018 Hays found that only 34% of employees considered their leaders to be role models who challenge traditional viewpoints and established ways of working. This suggests that not much progress has been made in recent years and the time is overdue for companies to be less forgiving of poor leadership and to demand a greater focus on ethical behaviour and corporate culture.

The simple fact is that it’s what workers (and customers) increasingly expect. Surveys suggest that new generations of workers are expecting higher ethical standards of their employers than those did in the past, and in a tight labour market they are increasingly able to a shop around to find an employer that better aligns with their values.

Integrity is one of the four pillars of employee engagement. It means living up to high standards of ethical and professional conduct and having a culture that promotes the same and challenges those who fail to do so. This should cover everything from diversity and inclusion, tackling sexual harassment and discrimination, to transparency, anti-corruption and general principles of treating others with fairness, honesty and respect regardless of who they are.

Companies with integrity in turn benefit from higher engagement, better reputations, lower staff turnover, more productivity and a whole host of other benefits. When competing for talent, these are the organisations more likely to succeed.

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The future of work and what we are learning from the pandemic

As has been said, it’s difficult to make predictions especially about the future. Yet the world of work has probably never been changing at a faster pace and the debates about jobs, skills, organisation models, working practices and the major influences of change are widespread.

There is almost a perfect storm forcing us all to rethink many paradigms of work and how we respond. From technology and digital disruption, to social and demographic change, economic uncertainty, and shifts in geopolitics and globalisation. The great crises of our times, the pandemic and our climate, are acting as major catalysts and accelerating change. As Darwin observed, it’s not the strongest or the most intelligent that survive, but those most adaptable to change.

Working Practices

Many of our working practices and cultures have endured almost from the industrial era. Our patterns of work, command and control working cultures, and disparities in distribution of wealth and opportunity. We have been increasingly working harder but not smarter, as evidenced by the realities of presenteeism and even leavism (using time off to catch up) and the rising levels of stress and issues of mental wellbeing. And still seemingly unable to really shift productivity to enable sustained pay improvement. The past visions of the future, of technology freeing us up with less working hours and better worklife balance, more autonomy, and of greater equity and equality have proved hard to deliver.

These are the truly human and societal aspects of work. They all impact organisations ability to attract and retain the people they need, to adapt and to work effectively, and in turn are key drivers of productivity.

We all know that the future is what we make it to be, and the best way to predict the future is to help shape it. And we should be shaping it from clear principles, being prepared to learn and rapidly adapt along the way.

ESG Measures

The future of work is human, and the pandemic, being a human crisis, has at last put people much more front and centre in our business agendas and thinking. There is a great reset going on, where people are rethinking what they find important about their jobs and how well they feel supported by their bosses and their employers, and even the purpose of their work. At the same time, expectations of how businesses and leaders act, and how they recognise their responsibilities to all stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, communities and the environment, as well as their financial shareholders or owners – is a big part of a wider societal debate about the future of work. This is demanding more transparency and to be able to understand and report on not just past financial metrics, but on the development of the so called ESG measures that point to these wider responsibilities and are critically important leading indicators of likely future success.

These all are principles for responsible business that we should be building for. Integral to these principles are also how we design jobs and organisations for the future. Jobs and roles that are good for people, enhance their wellbeing, develop their talents and helps them be the best they can be.

There has been much research over the years of the dimensions of ‘good work’ or job quality. The elements of work that make us feel positive about what we do, that will drive our effort, keep our engagement and therefore also our productivity. They include fair pay and reward, good connection and support from others, clarity of purpose, development and use of skills, having a voice and opportunity to shape what we do and how we work, and worklife balance in support of our wellbeing. Again, all aspects of our jobs that have been magnified over the last couple of years. Many initiatives at local and national levels have emerged around these principles – fair work conventions, good employment charters and good work standards. Now more than ever is the time to focus on these ideas.

Build Back Better

Indeed by doing these things, we know that in turn they drive positive financial outcomes in terms of brand and reputation, trust, and workforce retention and productivity. Doing well by doing good.

These shifts will require us all to innovate and lead in different ways. Leaders have to be more comfortable with uncertainty and paradox and able to lead for change based on clear principles and purpose. That requires more listening and giving people their voice, trusting others by properly empowering them to innovate and act, and being agile and adaptive. We have to understand the changing strategic context in which we are operating, that no one size fits all and that there is not a best practice manual somewhere for us to follow. Of course we can learn from others, but we need to look for best fit, to use evidence of what works and how we apply in our own context and organisations, and not just follow fads or fashions.

Future generations will look back on this time and ask what did we learn from it. We all have a responsibility to show that we did indeed build back better and shape a future of work that is good for all.

 

Peter Cheese

CEO, CIPD and author of the New World of Work

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Sometimes it can take a crisis to bring out the best in people – and in organisations. The pandemic turned much of the working world upside down – but it also produced inspiring examples of innovative working practices, implemented at speed, which ensured the survival of so many organisations across the economy. Interestingly, there is evidence that in many places, employee engagement improved as a result.

As we come out of the shadow of the pandemic, most organisations  – and their workforces –  are thinking about what the new normal could and should look like.  Many want to keep and build on some of the positives that emerged from their response to COVID19 and to learn for the future.

Work from home

Whether your organisation needed to roll-out working from home at speed in March 2020, or quickly implement safe working within workplaces, the lessons learned and relationships formed during your response to COVID-19 could  be invaluable in coming out of the pandemic and in meeting future challenges.

As a starter for ten, here are some questions to help you and your organisation reflect on what went well in engaging and listening to staff in responding to the challenges of the pandemic, and what on reflection you might have done differently.

As well as responding as a leadership team, you might find it rewarding to hold a focus group among staff and managers to get their reflections.

We’ve designed the questions around four key enablers of effective employee engagement – a strong story to tell, effective line managers, listening to employees, and maintaining trust.

The narrative

Telling the story internally and externally about the organisation’s response to the pandemic was vital for most organisations.

How did we develop the organisation-wide story of what we were planning to do to meet the challenges of the pandemic as an employer?

Who did we involve in developing the story internally and externally?

How did we communicate the story to staff?

How did we communicate the story to the outside world, to the public, to clients and to customers to help maintain their confidence in us?

What could we have done better with hindsight?

Our managers

The relationship between individual managers and their teams and reports proved to be a key factor in how successfully organisations navigated the pandemic.

How well did managers at every level respond to the demands of COVID safe working?

What did our most effective managers do on a daily basis to keep staff engaged?

What did we do to strengthen the personal relationships and pastoral care side of managers with their teams and reports.

How did the leadership team get feedback on how well managers at all levels were coping?

What more could we have done to support our managers in the new ways of working?

Listening to employees

Many organisations found that really listening to employee views on how to keep the organisation going and working differently was critically important in maintaining confidence internally.

What  forums and methods did we use to listen to employees – staff forums, trade unions, pulse surveys?

How were these views reported to the leadership team?

How did we engage employees in developing new ways of working?

How did we monitor staff wellbeing?

How did we keep in touch with furloughed staff?

How could we have listened to staff better on well being and new ways of working?

Maintaining a positive culture and building trust

Being willing and able to hear what managers and employees were thinking and feeling, and picking up on their ideas for more effective working, strengthened relationships and trust in many organisations.

How did we show that we really trusted our people to come through?

How did we ensure that our values remained front and centre across the organisation through the pandemic?

How did we ensure that our codes of conduct and behaviours were maintained?

How did we pick up on and trouble shoot in cases of concern.

What steps did we take to monitor staff wellbeing over the course of the pandemic.

As we went through the pandemic, what were the real pinch points which might have thrown us off course? How did we respond as an employer?

Finally………..

What are the key positive learnings we should take forward from the pandemic experience?

What unexpected strengths in the organisation did the experience reveal?

What unexpected weaknesses did we encounter?

Can we identify areas such as staff training and development, or listening to employees, which would strengthen our operation and our culture going forward.

 

If you would like to follow up with a more detailed analysis, we would be happy to provide you with a more substantive toolkit, or discuss any other support you might want.

 

 

 

If anyone is asked that question, it is tempting to assume that the most common answer would be no. There have always been exceptions and it is difficult to believe that Premier League footballers do not enjoy their jobs or the rewards that come with it. However, even amongst this footballing elite, we hear stories of mental health issues and problems around various addictions. For people labelled “traditional British working class” an admission that they enjoyed their jobs could still induce looks of amazement from their colleagues.

The world of work is very different now compared to what it was even as recently as ten years ago. According to some commentators, UK workers are often low paid and in uncertain employment doing jobs that do not meet the definitions of “good work”. Yet, according to recently published research from the Resolution Foundation, employee satisfaction is still relatively high in the UK at 55% which is slightly down from around 60% in the early 1990s.

It is interesting, however, that work has become more stressful for employees in recent decades. The report concludes that the proportion of workers who find their jobs are “always” or “often” stressful is 38% which is 8% more than in the early 1990’s. It is higher, at 41%, for skilled manual workers. British workers also report that the value of their work to society and their own career prospects has improved in the last 30 years. For example, 80% say their job helps others and 85% are proud to work for their employer. As such, it is a reasonable conclusion to come to that the huge transformation of workplaces in recent years has not made jobs worse overall for employees.

However, if the data is examined more closely, the new report also concludes that, for the top half of earners, job satisfaction has remained unchanged in recent decades. For the lowest earners, however, it is quoted that they have lost their “job satisfaction premium” and had enjoyed their jobs far more than the rest of the workforce three decades ago. The report attributes this to changes in the structure of the economy and equates fluctuation in job satisfaction with job security rising and falling. It concludes that slower wage growth since the last financial crisis may have prevented a stronger rise in satisfaction.

The large increase in self-employment over the last 10 years could be a factor in these results despite the gig economy and zero-hour contracts attracting negative headlines. Matthew Taylor who headed the Government’s review into modern working practices previously stated that “we exaggerate the growth of precarious employment. Most gig workers say they enjoy gig working and that it suits them.” Despite Taylor’s robust research and analysis, many disagreed with or were uncomfortable with that conclusion.

In many ways, that illustrates the fundamental problem with statistics and any conclusions drawn from their analysis. The world of work is far more complex than it has been in the past and linear narratives of good jobs and bad jobs no longer apply in the same way as before. Older workers for example appear to value job security more than younger people who are new to the workplace. Younger workers appear to pay more attention to an organisation’s values and ethics than previous generations. Although these are huge generalisations they do indicate the greater complexity that surrounds the measurement of employee engagement and job satisfaction.

These new findings are a stark contrast to the research published by Perkbox in 2019. They stated that 61% of UK staff were disengaged and that this was costing the UK economy £340 billion every year in lost training and recruitment costs, sick days, productivity, creativity and innovation. That indicated a huge leap from the £26 billion cost of disengagement identified by various sources in 2011. There are so many different factors that go into the equation, it is not surprising that such a change has been identified in only two years between different researchers.   

It is difficult to argue that either Brexit or the Covid pandemic can fully explain these sharp differences in such a short space of time. They must be factors in these results but the real explanation might be simpler than anyone thinks. The contrast in overall satisfaction between higher paid workers and their lower paid counterparts seems to indicate that, despite many other factors coming in to play, the idea of a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is as relevant now has it has been in past times.

Employee voice and involvement, flexible working, the quality of work, ethics and values all play a huge role in any employees’ judgement on how engaged and productive they feel. This report, however, may be valuable in ensuring that employers do not forget that other basic measurement of pay, terms and conditions. The effects of the pandemic on many organisations means that this will be a major challenge for organisations across the UK, but it is one that cannot be ignored if the costs of disengagement outweigh the savings that these organisations may have to make. 

Moreover, the so-called “great resignation” that is being talked about and the growing list of vacancies in logistics and other key sectors strongly suggests that this needs to go to the top of the agenda. If organisations do not address this, even in these most difficult times, some might be left without a functioning workforce.

Please contact us for more information.

Derek Luckhurst is Training and Development Director at the IPA    

I was training a group of representatives a couple of weeks ago and, as it often does, the return to office working was highlighted as the number one ‘Hot Topic’ in their organisation. The senior management team had recently declared that “it will allow employees to work from home one day a week”. Fortunately for this organisation, some of the representatives had the IPA’s tool, 15 Strategic Questions, at their disposal. The representatives shared these with the senior managers and suggested they use the questions to better understand how that decision was made. The discussion stalled at question 2 – “what is the core objective?”

This fundamental question had not been addressed when deciding on the one-day at home per week policy, and senior managers had come to this decision based on a hope that this “compromise” would cause the minimum of adverse reactions. That the decision had caused the opposite was a source of surprise. The discussion identified that the core objective of the organisation, in relation to where people worked, should be to maximise the productivity and well-being of each individual member of staff. It was quickly concluded that the allowance of working from home one day a week did not necessarily meet that core business objective.

It is understandable that senior managers in many organisations are struggling with these dilemmas. HR professionals are used to establishing policies for an entire workforce but the pandemic and lockdown have created circumstances where broad policies will not meet the needs of either the organisation or individual employees. The important question of location of work has to be addressed from individual perspectives not from a corporate one. Unlike with many of the other big issues organisations face, here there is no legal foundation to support a corporate policy.

Work from home policy

It is the view of IPA that collective and individual consultation with employees has never been so important. This does not mean that every employee can simply choose how they work in future based on individual preferences and circumstances. It does mean, however, that detailed discussions must be held with every individual that take these preferences into account with an equal consideration of business requirements. Managers and HR professionals will need to prepare carefully in order that they can address the following questions:

• What are the needs and expectations of the organisation in terms of the individual?
• What are the individual’s circumstances in terms of where they need to work and where they can work?
• How will the organisation measure individual productivity?
• How will the organisation effectively monitor mental health?

The recent press reports about the so-called ’Great Resignation’ show that people have strong views about where they want to work and employee expectations and entitlement will be critical factors in discussions. There is already anecdotal evidence that people are resigning or choosing not to accept jobs based upon an organisation’s strategy towards working from home. One employee representative in the south of England mentioned to me that two workers in their organisation had moved to Scotland on the assumption that their jobs could now be done anywhere. Others are waiting to see what their organisation will offer before they make decisions like this. That suggests that consultation and discussions are not yet taking place constructively. People should not have to “wait and see”, they should be involved now.

Employee Involvement

Organisations need to acknowledge that they will not be able to please everyone when it comes to this issue. There will be difficult conversations where the business needs require people to work in ways that would not choose. Some people have relished working from home while others cannot wait to get back to the office or site. Some individuals will inevitably be looking at things from their own perspective rather that of the organisation they work for, so the potential for conflict is increased. Meaningful consultation and discussion will limit the potential for conflict but it has to happen before any final decision has been made. If organisations present a single option for people to work from home one, two or three days a week, it is perfectly reasonable for their employees to ask how that offer has been arrived at and how thoroughly it has been thought through. Conflict will occur if organisations are unable to address such challenges. However difficult it may appear, it is essential that these individual conversations take place now. A broad-brush approach to the issue of where people are going to work will not help organisations or the workforce address future challenges.

The organisation I referred to at the start of this article used our 15 Strategic Questions to build a joint communication with the representatives that set out how people would be consulted and what issues would be addressed in those conversations. The core objective was clearly stated and people have been able to express their ideas based on that objective. It has already become clear that working from home one day a week will not be a panacea and several ways of meeting the needs of the business and its staff are being explored. Creating a balance between work and life has always been a challenge for organisations and employees but we now have a great opportunity to engage people rather than alienate them.   

If you would like to know more about our training and how the IPA can help your organisation, then please contact Derek Luckhurst.          

Trade union membership in the UK is on the rise. Data from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy records an increase to 6.6 million – up from 6.2 million four years ago- with increases in the public sector, outstripping losses in the private sector.  The pandemic has polarised experience of work, health care, access to education, housing and much more.  Perhaps the appreciation of vulnerability has been a wakeup call – bringing closer appreciation of the benefits of representation and collective organisation for those still in employment. This flush of interest and energy brings huge opportunity for social change – and many trade unions are preparing for the fast-emerging future – investing in emotionally intelligent, authentic and sector specific skills.  Many are drawing on the power of peers – colleagues who fully understand the niche conundrums and are trained to offer the psychological safety necessary for deep learning. 

Such peers can be particularly valuable in supporting the complex transition into leadership and managerial roles in the movement.  Helping avoid the square peg, round hole syndrome, as colleagues fine tune their perceptions of leadership and make sense of what it means to manage well in a trade union. We learn from those around us – we absorb and mirror what we see, hear, and feel.  We gain knowledge from what we read, watch, and are taught in formal learning settings, yet how we behave is primarily developed from the role models around us.  We notice what works, what brings results, what makes a difference in the situations to which we are exposed.   When work revolves around helping people in difficulty at work– collectively or individually – emotions run high, and we learn mostly keenly when emotions are triggered – for better or for worse. With a front seat view – shared with all involved in employment rights issues – of all that can go wrong in the world of people management – poor communication, low levels of trust, sharp practices to cut corners on policies and procedures – finding an appropriate and authentic way to be a trade union manager can be daunting. Any wonder that shortfalls in people management practice, keenly observed and stored in the attic of memory, risk becoming a subliminal and sub-optimal training ground and a default position when the pressure is on? 

But look beyond the nebulous, negative headline grabbing stories we are so often fed, and we find unions engaged in purposeful thought leadership. Listening at the margins, ears to the ground, horizon scanning, mapping possibilities, engaging hearts and minds to co-create workable solutions to complex issues. Agile practices, a re-evaluation of situational leadership and solution focused approaches are gaining traction and a sustainable re-invention is emerging. Below are a number of different approaches which trade union managers can use to draw on the experience of their peers to better gain the skills they need to succeed.

Finding the ‘sweet spot’ as a trade union manager: a good starting place is the ‘manager as coach’ approach, gaining popularity in many sectors. The method is collaborative, constructive and supportive – a good fit for the DNA of the union movement. Based on Whittleworth and Gilbert’s OSCAR model – Outcomes, Situation, Choices (and Consequences), Actions and Review – it combines accessible coaching practice with a clear focus on accountability – the co-creation process between manager and direct report – in the service of the members.  

‘Self as instrument’ and the ‘inner work’ – managing and leading within the trade union movement presents unique challenges.  Investment in one-to-one coaching creates a safe space in which to explore hopes and fears – issues and solutions – both personal and organisational.  The opportunity to step back and reflect on the bigger picture with a trained coach, familiar with this world, can widen perspectives and understanding of what is possible – loosening the knot of issues that overwhelm us and finding workable solutions.  

Learning from peers – mentors skilled in the art of sharing insights, rather than giving advice, can make a huge difference to colleagues in any transitional situation, including moving into managerial roles, completing an apprenticeship, returning from parental leave, after long term sick leave, new to the movement or preparing for retirement.  Ideally someone only slightly further ahead on the journey can be most helpful. (I’ve written more about internal mentoring and apprenticeship opportunities – in the IPA article on “From Branch to Root”.)

Reverse mentoring – where a mentor supports a colleague more senior to them – is also a great way to share learning.  For example, with social media skills– digital natives and adopters have much to learn from each other and can forge better understanding across silos and organisational layers.

Activist approach – well suited to activist, reflective and pragmatic learning styles, action learning is a tried and tested approach for building cross organisational peer learning. Groups of colleagues meet regularly, with one member nominated and trained as the ‘set facilitator’. Members of the group bring issues for shared exploration – offering gentle challenge and support, insights from lived experience and holding each other accountable for delivery of action points.

All of these approaches provide ways to engage future generations in a solid understanding of the importance of this vital work and how to do it well, hopefully providing us with a new generation of skilled and effective trade union managers who can lead the revival of trade unionism in the UK.

Please contact us for more information.

Katherine Bassey is a former Head of Staff Engagement and Innovation for UNISON, now freelance executive coach, coaching supervisor, and facilitator.

[email protected]

References

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/27/membership-of-uk-trade-unions-rises-for-fourth-year-in-a-row?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/trade-union-statistics-2020

https://www.ipa-involve.com/news/from-branch-to-root-internal-mentoring-a-win-win-for-the-trade-union-movement

What impact will the coronavirus pandemic have on the relationship between employers and employees? The threat of the virus, and Government measures to restrict its spread, have had a negative effect on most people’s everyday lives. But the longer-term impact on employee relations seems likely to be more positive.

In the short term, the shift towards working from home has massively reinforced the movement towards more flexible working patterns. Although initially encouraged by government pressure to “stay at home”, its continued widespread adoption has been largely driven by employees. Increased opportunity for employees to influence where and when they work is set to become the new reality for many. Facilitated by the development of the online economy, this represents a shift in working arrangements comparable to the industrial revolution that drove workers into factories. 

The unprecedented scale of financial support by the government in the form of furlough pay has underlined the key role of employees in keeping the economy moving. With unemployment currently the dog that didn’t bark, and emerging labour shortages across many sectors, employers now have every incentive to treat their employees right. 

The pandemic has brought forcefully to employers’ attention their responsibilities for looking after the health and safety of employees, not least in relation to mental health. Fewer employers will now feel it sensible to neglect their responsibilities for managing their people. The pandemic has also helped to drive a wider recognition by society generally of the importance of human resources.  

Looking more broadly, the pandemic has brought to the fore the issue of corporate responsibility. It has been evident for some years that employers can ill afford to take risks with their reputation. This is reflected for example in the recent challenges by investors to companies’ policies on executive pay.

The overwhelming public interest in overcoming the coronavirus and protecting the economy has meant that employers have had to reflect more generally on what is the right thing to do. It’s remarkable too to see the increased recognition that “shareholder value” is not on its own an adequate objective for public companies. 

Where do trade unions fit in to this story? Employers and employees have a shared interest in looking after both public health and the economy, and this will help them find mutually agreeable solutions to any issues that may arise. There is no sign that the disruption to employment across sectors such as retail, travel and hospitality has been a significant source of industrial action.

It is encouraging that trade unions have had some success in representing workers in low paid and insecure jobs. Although union membership across the private sector continues to decline, Uber recently agreed to recognise the GMB for its 70,000 private hire drivers. The agreement was prompted by the Supreme Court’s ruling that the drivers were “workers” and entitled to basic employment rights. However it also shows that unions can help groups of workers that have historically been hardest to organise, and will reinforce a positive public perception of unions. 

The pandemic might hopefully prompt Government to look again at the distinction between employment and self-employment. The numbers of self-employed have fallen in the pandemic, partly due to people changing their reported status from self-employed to employed. At the same time large numbers of employees have adopted working patterns more characteristic of self-employment, including in particular less frequent face-to-face contact with their managers. The government might want to reflect whether the current wide variations between the treatment of employed and self-employed people, particularly in relation to tax and national insurance, are justified. 

Spending one or two days a week in the office may turn out to be the new normal for many employees, but leaves many questions to be answered in order to maximise employee engagement. Employers will need to reflect how to manage a less visible workforce.  Motivating and engaging employees at arms’ length, and encouraging learning and team-working, can be a tough challenge. This needs to prompt some creative thinking about how to ensure a balance between office and home working that works for both sides. 

Old-style employee relations was largely about managing conflict. Today it’s more about motivation, well-being and diversity. The tripartite mantra of mutual trust, fairness and respect is still the only basis for getting it right, and how to do it has to focus on practical issues about communications. The concept of employee voice is the right starting point for individual employers to consider what works best for them, whether it’s informal consultation processes, training line managers or works councils. 

It’s been said that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. The pandemic has required all organisations to confront unfamiliar problems.  But it’s also forced a rethink about the key role of managing people in driving performance. For many employers, developing a more consensual relationship, or “partnership”, with their employees will be the logical response. 

 

Mike Emmott is a former civil servant, serving as private secretary to Barbara Castle and Michael Foot at the Ministry of Labour, and a former Employee Relations Advisor at CIPD where he worked to popularise the concept of the psychological contract.