Recession changes working life
The recession has dramatically altered the way we work as employers cut pay and hours to avoid making more staff redundant, according to research.
In a survey, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found almost two thirds of employers have made or are considering making significant changes to working patterns in an effort to cut costs.
Over half of employers (55 per cent) indicated they were going to freeze pay during the next pay round in response to the recession, while 30 per cent said they would freeze recruitment over the whole organisation.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: "The UK's flexible labour market has proved a huge asset during these testing times, and flexible working changes have enabled employers and staff to create leeway on working hours.
"While pay and recruitment freezes should disappear as the economy recovers, the spirit of flexibility and the willingness of many staff to engage positively with employers on these issues will hopefully be a more permanent benefit of the UK economy."
Flexible working has become more popular in the downturn as firms cut hours and overtime, with 45 per cent of employees increasing flexible working among staff, while 43 per cent have reduced paid overtime.
Worryingly, 26 per cent of firms plan to transfer work overseas in response to the UK's downturn, especially in the science, hi-tech and IT sector, the survey found.
The CBI speculated this may be partly in response to skills shortages in these sectors.
However, the government has said it is keen to reshape the UK's economy to rely more on the science and technology sectors rather than finance as it comes out of the recession.
In a separate report, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), said the "outlook for jobs will become bleaker still" after surveying employers' intentions for the next year.
According to the research, 40 per cent of organisations have contingency plans to make redundancies in the next year and CIPD forecasts that unemployment will peak at 3.2 million in the second quarter of 2010 - an increase of one million compared with the current official figure.
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