Home > Blog

Dean Shoesmith

New year, new job...maybe not
January 12, 2011
Posted by Dean Shoesmith

Seasons Greetings US Bloggers,

New Year, new job…maybe not

In the halcyon days of the UK recruitment advertising industry I can recall copywriting doyennes groaning when clients (like me!) clamoured to use the hackneyed strap line ‘New Year, new job’ for the next big bout of block advertising in one of the national newspapers. 

But is this going to be the case for 2011? 

UKunemployment figures produced by the Office for National Statistics on 15 December 2010 suggest otherwise. The statistics call into question the speed of the UK economic recovery as unemployment peaked at over 2.5 million -indicating the private sector economy remains insufficiently buoyant to absorb public sector job loss. The jobless rate is on an upward trajectory at 7.9% and the number of people employed in the public sector shrank by 33,000 in three months from August to October 2010. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) chief economist, John Philpott, has commented, “…positive momentum built up earlier in 2010 appears to have run out of steam even before the full impact of the coalition Government’s spending cuts and tax hikes (Value Added Tax – taxation at source to goods, products and services-  to 20%) take effect”. 

Recruitment industry experts, instead of persuading their clients to adopt more original advertising concepts for 2011, appear to be focussed on the stagnant state of the jobs market. There is concern that those eligible for work in the UK are increasingly forced to take part-time roles because they cannot obtain full-time employment. 

Graeme Leach, chief economist for the Institute of Directors, shares some of the concern, “The labour market looks very flat, and doesn’t fill us with confidence about the pace of economic recovery”. 

Let’s hope the UK Government’s initiative of 24 new Local Enterprise Partnerships will help kick-start the economy and, for my part, we see local investment cycles developed so that businesses are supported to grow whilst a number of public sector colleagues may move across sectors as we witness the biggest reduction in UK public spend in decades. 

We Brits hear that you have long-term unemployment and a flat jobs market Stateside…are the employment trends consistent both sides of the Atlantic? 

Dean

 

 

 

Comments (0) | Add a Comment

Fairer Fare?
December 15, 2010
Posted by Dean Shoesmith

Will Hutton, adviser to the United Kingdom government on public pay policy issued an interim report in December 2010 ‘Hutton review of fair pay in the public sector’ that looks to tackle the thorny issue of senior pay and pay ratios in the public sector.

I anticipated the publication of the report with trepidation and braced myself for the next wave of media frenzy over the so-called ‘town hall fats cats’.

However, after reading the report I was pleasantly relieved to see some of the conclusions (in my opinion) made eminent sense and Will Hutton seeks to lay certain ghosts to rest, such as,

‘There are widespread myths. In general pay at the top of the public sector …is lower than in comparably sized listed companies…yet many public organisations pose no less managerial challenge than their similarly sized private sector counterparts’

Will Hutton also makes the point about the exponential increase in chief executive pay over the last 20 years in the FTSE top 100 companies – something I highlighted in my recent blog post ‘Big Bucks’ on the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA) website, http://www.ppma.org.uk.

Much has been made of pay ratios in the press between the lowest paid employee and the chief executive role. Will Hutton’s report also raises this issue and the ratio of 20:1 is featured.

If you read my article ‘Top Pay Poppycock’ in Management Journal magazine, September 2010, I covered the fact that most public sector chief executives’ pay would represent a ratio nearer 10:1 than 20:1 – and the highest paid Local Government chief executive has a pay ratio disparity of 1:40 compared with the chief executives of Tesco and Sainsbury.

I’m not convinced a rigid pay ratio cap would be the answer – and in fairness Will Hutton whilst obviously contemplating this approach recognises that, ‘…it would need careful design to avoid harming recruitment and retention’

Why not use the ‘comments’ feature and let me have your views?

Comments (1) | Add a Comment