New research reveals mangers need to be lifting employee morale

The latest research carried out by the Chartered institute of Personal & Development (CIPD) has illustrated that out of 2000 employees a third of them say their standard of living has worsened over the last 6 months compared with only 10% of employees that say it has improved. As the rate of inflation rises, employees are anxious that this is eroding the real value of employee wage increases.

Pay Increases/Decreases

As a result of the public sector spending cuts 63% of public sector employees have reported that their pay has been frozen and 6% have even seen their salary decrease over the last 6 months. This compares to only 42% of private sector employees that have reported having their wage frozen and 7% who have seen it cut.

Job Security

20% of all sector employees believe it is likely they could lose their job, compared to almost 31% of public sector employees, up from 25 % in the last quarter. In the private and voluntary sectors redundancy expectations have remained largely static, at 17% and 22% respectively, compared to 17% and 23% last quarter.

Managers must deliver “consistently high quality leadership and management”...

Senior Public Policy Advisor at the CIPD, Ben Willmott, said “with employees feeling the pinch financially, concerned over their job security and with fewer opportunities to move up or move on, employers need to deliver consistently high quality leadership and management on the front line. How managers communicate, consult and coach and develop staff is critical."

"If organisations don't invest in developing high performing managers, they may find better managed competitors racing past on the road to recovery. Employers need to find cost effective ways of equipping their line managers with the people management skills to support employee engagement and wellbeing. They also need to consult and involve staff where major reorganisations or changes in terms and conditions are looming if they are to keep people on side and pulling together to deliver future success."

"Many leading organisations in both the public and private sectors are already prioritising improving people management capability and employee engagement as they recognise this is central to gaining competitive advantage. These employers are looking closely at how they develop and support managers and are also using low-cost and no-cost solutions such as providing toolkits, guidance and line manager webinars or interactive forums to help managers acquire the key skills they need to manage effectively in tough times."

Source Danbro