NEWS
CIPD calls for campaign to tackle leadership and people management skills deficit
E
fforts to close the UK’s productivity gap with its major international competitors are being fatally undermined by a leadership and people management skills deficit in the UK, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Responding to the government’s Skills for Sustainable Growth consultation, the CIPD has highlighted the “skills multiplier effect” that good management can have in unlocking the potential of wider investment in skills.
Conversely, the Institute warns, without a clear strategy to build leadership and people management skills, too much of government spending on skills will continue to be wasted as motivation and engagement suffers at the hands of managers who fail to give employees the opportunities to fully utilise their skills and realise their full potential.
Research shows that government investment in developing skills will only be fully effective if people are managed properly to ensure they have the opportunity to apply their skills, and are motivated to go the extra mile for their employer.
Stephanie Bird, CIPD director of public policy and HR capability, commented:
“There is much in the new government’s skills consultation that is to be welcomed. A clear intention to simplify the byzantine skills system, a focus on enhancing the role apprenticeships can play in supporting skills development and job creation, and increasing the value placed on vocational learning are all steps we can readily support.
“However, we are concerned that too much spending on skills – by government and employers alike – is being wasted because managers lack the skills to engage, motivate, coach and develop people in the workplace.
Effective managers also manage stress, conflict and absence effectively and provide support when employees are facing problems.
“Last year’s government- commissioned review of employee engagement highlighted the link between effective leadership and people management skills, enhanced employee engagement and improved business performance. Yet the UK invests less in management development than its main international competitors, and its managers are rated less positively by employees.
“Detailed polling by CIPD amongst employees found fewer than half of employees say their line manager usually or always provides feedback on their performance. Nearly half (44%) say their line manager rarely or never coaches them and a third report their line manager never or rarely discusses their training needs.”
In order to address this leadership and management skills deficit the CIPD has called for a pan-government people management skills strategy, to run in partnership with key employer and professional bodies. This would focus on a campaign to boost employee engagement by promoting best practice on leadership and people management, in order to ‘nudge’ employers to invest more effectively in people management skills.
Bird concluded: “This is clearly a shared problem which requires action by both employers and government. However, government can play a powerful role in ‘nudging’ investment in leadership and people management skills. Such investment is crucial if we are to unlock the wasted skills spending and individual potential that is holding Britain back in the productivity stakes.”
Government seeks to slash redundancy pay to make massive job cuts
T
he government is seeking to override the wishes of the majority
of its workforce by imposing cuts to civil service redundancy pay with a view to making massive job cuts, according to the Public and Commercial Services union.
The union says negotiations have been conducted against the backdrop of the most serious threat to civil and public servants’ livelihoods in living memory, with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk under the next spending review, the details of which will be unveiled in two weeks time.
The union last week criticised 4 pse
the Treasury for intervening in the talks over changes to the civil service compensation scheme, which governs redundancy payments, saying that its undisclosed limit on the total amount of money available risked dashing any hope of reaching an agreement.
The government has now suggested it has reached an “agreement” over cuts to redundancy pay with the other five unions.
With 270,000 members in the civil and public services the union, which successfully struck down in the High Court the previous government’s attempts
to undermine redundancy terms, represents twice as many staff as the other five civil service unions combined.
The High Court ruled that it was unlawful to reduce rights under the scheme that had accrued through length of service without the agreement of all the unions affected.
The coalition government has introduced legislation in parliament to drastically cap redundancy payments for a limited period and, in what the union says is a gross abuse of power, has suggested it will change the law to usurp the High Court’s ruling.
PCS’s ruling national executive committee today has agreed to demand further negotiations with the cabinet office minister Francis Maude, setting out why the latest offer put forward is unacceptable.
If the cabinet office refuses to meet or talks are unsuccessful, members will be balloted with a recommendation to reject the proposals, on the basis of the union’s policy not to sign away members’ accrued rights; the strength of the judicial review ruling; and the possibility of further legal action.
Sep/Oct 10
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