Senior management redundancies have hit a seven-year high in Britain, according to the 2008 National Management Survey, published by the Chartered Management Institute and CELRE. Most likely for the chop are East Anglian execs (also the most loyal to employers, sadly), while lucky Eire employees are safest in their jobs.
Confusingly, pay levels are up too — perhaps because, despite redundancies, some employers are struggling to fill vacant roles. Junior executive earnings did best this year (a sure sign of a world upside down) with average increases of 5.4 per cent, while directors took home five per cent more and managers just 4.8 per cent more.
But employers are finding that throwing money at good people is only part of the solution. Despite average salary rises, the CMI report has also found resignations on the rise — at 6.5 per cent, the figure’s the highest for a decade.
Employers cite the top reasons for employees leaving as:
- Competition from other organisations or headhunting — 75 per cent
- Failure to provide career opportunities or development programmes — 48 per cent
- Frustrations with the working environment — 10 per cent
- Bureaucratic leadership styles — 8 per cent
Redundancy queries from estate agents and banks are flooding into employment consultancy Croner’s helpline, confirms helpline adviser Joanne Pitts. “I’m assuming it’s down to the credit crunch. It seems most companies turn to this automatically, instead of looking at the alternatives.”
She suggests some short-term fixes for companies under financial pressure. A temporary reduction in days/hours — or short-term layoff — may be enough to stave off losses in small businesses. You can do this for six weeks without consequences, according to Pitts. Encourage people, too, to use up their holidays so they are on hand to help during lean periods.
