Plenary one - keynote speaker
Sir Brendan Barber, chair, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service A s you can imagine much of the work ACAS undertakes is driven by pay – from disputes over how much money people should receive through to enquiries about the intricacies of holiday pay and what if money is deducted from their pay packet?
In 2007 British productivity was 9% below the OECD average but by 2015, the gap had widened to 18%. Even more worryingly, UK productivity per hour is a full 35% below the German level, and 30% below that of the USA. What has caused this gap and what can be done about it is much debated. Some argue that upskilling the workforce holds the key whilst others feel that the answer lies in better infrastructure or greater access to finance. All these are no doubt important but to date little attention has been paid to what goes on inside the workplace and the contribution it can make to addressing the productivity problem. ACAS knows from all the work it does with organisations up and down the country that what happens in the workplace and how people are managed and organised can make a real difference to productivity. And it is not just ACAS that thinks this. Research commissioned by the London School of Economics has found that around half of the UK’s productivity gap with the US is down to ‘different ways of working’ – including how firms are organised as well as how they use technology. Using our knowledge of what does and doesn’t work as well as discussions with key stakeholders ACAS has developed what we called seven levers for boosting workplace productivity. The seven levers are: ● Jobs and work organised in a way that increases efficiency and makes the most of people’s skills. ● Skilled line managers and managers with the confidence and training to manage and lead effectively. ● Managing conflict effectively by having systems in place to reduce the likelihood of problems arising and to deal with problems quickly and effectively if they do arise. ● Clarity around rights and responsibilities, which means developing a working environment where everyone understands their rights and
In many ways I think it is fair to say that the CIPP and ACAS are in the same game – we are both committed to helping people understand and deal with the intricacies of workplace pay. It is now nearly ten years since the UK economy went into free- fall and we suffered one of the worst recessions in living memory. Economic activity has picked up and the labour market has been largely positive. Employment has risen to unprecedented levels with the latest figures showing over 75% of the working age population in employment whilst the number out of work has fallen to 4%, the lowest it has been since 1975. Encouraging though these figures are however, not everything has been going quite as well as the labour market. One of the biggest problems we currently face is the stubborn reluctance of pay to pick-up in the post-recession world. Traditionally as we come out of recessions pay begins to pick-up fairly quickly. However, this has not been the case this time around. Indeed, we are currently experiencing the longest pay squeeze since Victorian times and in 2016, average real weekly pay for UK workers was actually around £1,200 a year less than it was back in 2008. This situation is having a real impact on people’s lives and with inflation now on the increase it may well get worse. So what can be done? I feel that one important part of the answer has to be an increase in productivity. We all know that the UK has been struggling to increase its productivity especially since the recession.
A brief history Sir Brendan Barber was appointed as chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) commencing January 2014.
He was the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 2003 to 2012, having first joined the organisation in 1975. He is deputy chairman of the Banking Standards Board and a member of the Council of City University London, which he graduated from with a BSc in Social Sciences in 1974. He is also a member of the Board of the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. During his time at the TUC he sat on the ACAS Council from 1995 to 2004, the Board of Sport England from 1999 to 2003 and the Court of Directors of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2012. He is a visiting fellow at the Said Business School, Oxford University, and a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. In 2007, he received an Honorary Doctorate from City University. Sir Brendan was knighted in 2013 for services to employment relations.
4
THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PAYROLL PROFESSIONALS
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs