This time of year is always enjoyable. Not because of the grey weather, but for the endless round of debates on salaries. In 2008, the process has been made much more interesting as the Government has announced what appears to be a pay cut for the police service, a slightly different pay cut for nurses and healthcare sector workers and a ‘freeze’ for local Government employees.
At the same time, the Labour Party has been contemplating banning prison officers from taking strike action while they “think about” asking for more money. To cap it all (no pun intended!), the Government is to vote on huge wage hikes for its own ‘members of staff’.
How did the Government find itself in this mess? I suspect Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Co will argue it’s all about fiscal policy. Personally, I think they have just spent too much money in the wrong areas to be able to afford the things that really matter to us all.
In line with the RPI
If we agree with the national media, the statistics settlements in the private sector pay increases are running at between 3% and 4%. This roughly follows the line of the Retail Price Index in other words, what we have to pay out in the real world, not the one the Government wishes us to think we live in.
Is this not the same world that civil servants live in? Are these inflation controlling measures? Is there any justice in pay awards full stop? I’d suggest not. The Government’s inability to make decent pay awards is stymied by the result of its efforts to control inflation.
Senior managers and directors with too little in the pot to provide a good increase to hard working people like you and I are suffering from the results of their management practices. Okay, so there’s little or no money available. What else can management offer to say: ‘Well done’ and ‘Thank You’ to their members of staff?
Free training and skills breaks
Senior management can ill-afford to give us more time off. The Government has already increased that bill by a whopping extra eight days per annum for every worker!
How about time off for child birth or looking after the family, then? No, that’s already gone too. What about career breaks and sabbaticals? Sounds great, but who’s going to pay your National Insurance contributions – after all, it looks like you’ll need all the credits you can get when you retire!?
How about a bonus for increased productivity? No. Those likely to have them will already be in a bonus situation by now (and just how realistic are they in any case)?
What about added value benefits such as membership of the local gym, healthcare plans and subsidised meals? All seem like good, well-intentioned initiatives, but once the Government takes its cut and the real impact of retail prices is taken into effect, these ‘perks’ become rather expensive for the taxed employee (and the firms that pay escalated prices linked to the increased demand for goods and services).
I’ve seen many suggestions concerning free training and skills breaks, but that has been done to death over recent years and there is always the urban myth that all newly-trained or highly-skilled staff go off in search of new horizons (or a higher salary). Perhaps I’d best leave that old chestnut in the wings?
Talking to the staff
One of the security guarding firms I spoke to recently, struggling to maintain margins and retain staff, found that talking to staff had a strange effect on their employees’ morale – they actually like it! Security officers discovered how much the contract cost per hour, and how much of that they received. Staff understood the fact that wages could only move in line with the company’s ability to pay, and that this was intrinsically linked to the contract.
It might seem strange, but this had a natural effect in keeping salary negotiations and service levels realistic. I guess there’s a lesson in there somewhere. Maybe this will feature in the 2008 HR award being bestowed at the BSIA’s Annual Luncheon?
For those bereft of ideas on alternatives to hard cash pay rises, there’s always the Trade Unions to fall back on. UNITE (or what was the Transport and General Workers’ Union) and the GMB are busting to increase their foothold in the security profession. This need not be an omen. In these days with union recognition being almost obligatory on demand (except in areas where the Government finds it too hard to manage themselves), Trade Union membership may seem secure, but the unions are battling for market share.
Attracting and retaining membership
In the same way that employers have a marketing strategy, the unions have a strategy to attract and retain their membership. Obviously that means they have a benefits package for employees. It also means they can have a willingness to work with employers.
What can be better for management with bad news than to enlist the support of the unions to help deliver this news? Of course, the unions will also have a view on what they are being told by management and staff, and are likely to have some alternative suggestions or ideas. What’s so bad about that?
Of course, the Government has handed workers a new card in their armoury for pay negotiations. Last December, MEPs voted to approve regulations that will increase access to jobs in Europe (anyone who has tried to find work abroad will know the problems that experts in ex-Pat relocation face, let alone those who just up sticks and migrate).
In essence, the new system is supposed to mean that if we don’t like what is on offer here, we can all go to Poland (my preference will be Italy) and work there.
Moving: is it an option?
Not everyone takes the extreme view and wants to move. Having looked at the high levels of personal taxation elsewhere in Europe, and the availability of commodities in the UK, maybe you’ll feel that moving isn’t an option.
Accepting that matters aren’t so bad is perhaps the best course of action (for this year, at least). Maybe the Government hasn’t made a mistake, and controlling inflation is the right strategy so we all have to wind in our spending.
Perhaps senior management knows what’s available, and is striving to afford you all the pay and benefits you deserve. Maybe just maybe we have enough money for now.
