Winning over the workers

WELL, we’re into the final straight.

Just one week from now, the UK electorate will head for the ballot box, and decide which party should lead this country for the next five years.

Amid the past few weeks of electioneering, though, we have heard very little from the political parties about issues in the workplace.

Sure, health, education, and law and order are, quite rightfully, top of the political agenda, but somewhere amid all the rhetoric there should be room for debate on the one area where many of us spend most of our lives.

As the Work Foundation, a champion for better conditions in the workplace, argues in its “Agenda for Work” manifesto, that more attention should be paid to the issues that currently affect productivity in the UK, and that there needs to be a greater understanding of what constitutes “good work”.

It highlights the fact that many jobs still contain a lack of control over the pace of work and the key decisions that affect it.

On top of this, it says there is often limited task discretion and monotonous and repetitive work, inadequate skill levels to cope with periods of intense pressure and an imbalance between effort and reward.

The foundation has set out a vision of “good work”, including full employment, fair pay (including equal pay for work of equal value), the absence of discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, disability or age and secure and interesting jobs that employees find fulfilling.

It has also called for a style and ethos of management based on high levels of trust, and which recognises that managing people fairly and effectively is crucial to skilled work and high performance.

The foundation rightly argues that workers need choice, flexibility and control over working hours, autonomy and control over the pace of work and the working environment, and a voice in the critical decisions made by employers that affect their futures.

That is not a manifesto to enable the lunatics to take over the asylum, as some employers might fear, but a recipe for more ‘high performance workplaces”.

The Confederation of British Industry’s manifesto features a similar wish list from employers.

The CBI believes the next parliamentary session will be vital for the future of British business, and it argues that the UK's infrastructure and skills-base must be improved to combat competitive pressure from China and India.

Whoever wins next Thursday may well have to face up to some grave, potentially destructive competition from the Far East.

About The Author Paul Clutton is director and founder of the Cardiff-based recruitment company Professional Recruitment Wales. for further info, www.prwales.co.uk, submissions@prwales.com.