8 million UK workers are miserable. Are you one of them?

According to research reported by the Chartered Management Institute, almost eight million of us workers in the UK are unhappy in the roles we currently occupy.

The incisive, in-depth, profound, comprehensive (and 100% sarcasm free) research into worker satisfaction found that 28 per cent of workers are unhappy in their role, although only 25 per cent are currently looking for career development opportunities elsewhere. How many of the 25 per cent listen to the news, I wonder?

Also, according to the findings, UK workers think a good salary is the key to happiness at work, with 64 per cent of respondents stating that a good salary would make them altogther more cheerful. Herzberg, where are you now that your transatlantic cousins need you?

Who commissions these surveys? I though that the Ministry for Research into the Flipping Obvious was one of the quangos that was wound up just after the current coalition government was elected?

Let's face it, we're living at a 17-year high point in unemployment. According to the Office of National Statistics, the unemployment rate stands at 8.3%. Between July and September of this year, UK unemployment rose by 129,000 between July and September to 2.62 million.

For the UK's youth, the situation is even more bleak, with over 20% of those aged 16-24 out of employment.

To make matters worse, inflation is wobbling at around the 5% mark, and bank interest rates for those fortunate enough to have any savings are so low that the biscuit tin under the bed seems an attractive location for any few coppers remaining at the end of the month.

Bearing all the above in mind, is it actually surprising that UK workers are not currently constantly convulsed with laughter?

What is irritating is not so much the fact that the outcome of such reseach could be predicted in advance, but that there is a hint that if employees are unhappy, it is inevitably the fault of management who must thereofore also do whatever it can to turn its workforce into deliriously happy chappies!

Or am I just being Mr Grumpy?

Two casualties of the recession: Bankers and Strippers

No man is an island, we are all connected. Sometimes the connections are surprising. As a small example, the dramatic changes in The City of London’s banking community have had an impact on café’s, restaurants, taxi drivers and strippers. Strippers? Yes, esteemed blog followers. The unseen world of the Gentleman’s Club appears to be caught up in the fallout from the disasters of the finance business.

My suspicion is that not many of the shy and retiring readers of HR Case Studies will be familiar with the life of a stripper, so allow your intrepid editor (accompanied by the glamourous Annie*) to enlighten you.

From an HR point of view the first point to note is that the women who work in these clubs are self-employed and not employees. They pay the club a fee ranging from £40 to £100 each night to work so everyone arrives needing to work. At £20 a dance the first dances count for nothing in Annie’s mind. As a motivator to work it’s fairly direct. Pay-to-work also applies to Hairdressers and Day Traders. It’s strange what connects people.

The returns on this investment can be considerable. Even though there are fewer bankers with less cash Annie’s take home pay can range from nothing to £200 on a bad night to as much as £1000 on a "lucky" night. She works two or three nights a week on a flexitime arrangement that would be the envy of many firms.

Wondering what sort of person takes their clothes off for the pleasure of others (oh, and not forgetting the receipt of a not insubstantial sum of money)?

Oh they're all sorts. Some really nice girls and some that I don't like at all. OK, they're prettier than average, but apart from that you have those who left school at 16 and some with university degrees. Some are single mums and some are married. Some are paying for their studies and some are just doing a job. There isn't really a typical dancer.

And how easy is it to make a success in the twilight world?

Let's just say the good girls make good money, and the bad girls don’t last. It can be tough for some if they have the wrong attitude. It also depends on why a girl is working. Some of them are the main earners in the house if their partner is unemployed; a fair number are single mums, and then there are those like me who have other jobs which help to make life a bit more predictable. Motivation is different from girl to girl.

And has there been a noticeable effect caused by the recession?

As the bankers and traders have had a bad time, we've had a bad time too. Not only do we have fewer big money evenings, but sometimes we can have a lot of guys in the club, but not many of them actually spending. They drink, get a bit cheeky and maybe have a dance but then clear off. But there are too many girls now chasing too few guys with too little in the wallet.

Is this your only source of income, or do you have other strings to your bow?

I work part time, three days a week as a PA to a senior manager in a large commercial organisation. The work is fine, regular and routine. It can be frustrating. I can do so much more, but I usually hide the fact that I've got a brain! I’m more than happy to explore, for example, the parallels between Shakespeare's Tempest and John Fowles' The Magus!

If, dear reader of HR Case Studies, you're wondering if you'd recognise Annie if you bumped into her at either the CIPD conference, or a convention on Post-Modernism in Contemporary English Literature; you probably wouldn't:

I don't deny what I do. Ask and I'll tell. But I don't wear a t-shirt at the weekend saying 'Hey, I'm a stripper'. It's what I do, some of the time; it’s not what I am.

* Of course it’s not her real name.

Hard times for the UK's Graduates

It’s clearly tough being a graduate these days.

A study by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit has found that Graduate unemployment has grown by 44 per cent in the past 12 months and is likely to be even higher next year.

Of those students who graduated in 2008, 7.9 per cent were not in employment in January 2009. Not since 1995 (when it stood at 8.1 per cent) has graduate unemployment been so high.

The report paints a bleak picture for the immediate future too: “It’s likely that unemployment for 2009 graduates may be even higher than that reported here,” says the study.

The situation varies from sector to sector:

Graduates in the construction industry have been particularly hard hit, as unemployment more than doubled from 2.9 per cent in 2007 to 8.5 per cent for 2008 leavers.

Graduate hiring in the finance sector fell to 7.5 per cent in 2008, from 8.7 per cent in 2007.

IT roles also saw a year-on-year decrease as consultants, software professionals and computer programmers fell by 18 per cent.

But it’s not all bad news (phew!): Public sector graduate recruitment remained buoyant despite the recession, with a year-on-year increase in healthcare, teaching and social work roles, the largest increase being in social work roles, where graduate numbers had surprisingly risen by 55 per cent since 2007.

For a graduate who’s fortunate to be in a job, the average salary is reported to be £19,677, an increase of two per cent from 2007.

People Management: Graduate unemployment jumps by 44 per cent in a year

• How, if at all, are these figures likely to affect the intentions of school leavers to go to University?
• What might be the negative impact on businesses that choose to neglect recruiting graduates?
• Further research: read the HR Case Studies article entitled BT hangs up on graduate recruitment. What might have been the factors that persuaded BT to do a U-turn on its decision to pull out of graduate recruitment?

What sort of Corporate Prisoner are you?

A recent report by talent consultancy Chiumento has concluded that the recession is forcing a lot of people to stay put in their jobs, even if they don't like them. Rather dramatically, the report tags these people as “Corporate Prisoners.”

A Corporate Prisoner is someone who stays with an organisation without being fully engaged. Their personal aspirations and needs are no longer aligned with those of their employer. Rather than move on to a new role or new organisation, the Corporate Prisoner stays. Some out of choice – some for reasons beyond their control.

Can you spot yourself here?

Escapers
Have little or no desire to stay but can’t afford to leave until there’s another job to go to. Already plotting how to escape and just waiting for the opportunity.

Economic prisoners
Want to move on but can’t afford the price of doing so. Stand to lose far too much in monetary terms to even think about leaving

Lifers
Going nowhere – at least not any time soon. The antithesis of Escapers, they have little or no career ambition and have settled down in a role that is well within their capability while meeting their basic economic needs.

Prisoners of Conscience
Really believe in what the organisation does. It is why they joined and why they stay. Often drawn to not-for profit organisation and public sector. The problem is that their belief in the organisation can outweigh their capability

Prisoners of circumstance
Individuals with the desire to both stay and perform – but ability to do so is compromised by external factors. May have been unable to access training or development – or are constrained to working particular patterns in specific locations.

Visiting stars
Individuals who join to meet an immediate need – often economic – but with no intention of staying longer than necessary. Some may be workers looking for a safe haven to shelter from the economic storm.

Chiumento Green Paper: 'Productivity sapped by dispirited employees'

• What are the implications of this report for an organisation’s career management strategy
• Is it reasonable for organisations to categorise employees using such terminology (either formally or informally)?
• How could such information be of use to organisations selecting individuals for redundancy or redeployment?
• Has this report identified a new phenomenon, or have there always been such individuals in organisations?
• What sort of “prisoner” would organisations prefer: one who has no desire to leave, but doesn’t have the ability to perform, or one who wishes to leave but is an excellent performer?

Book your party now and beat the Christmas rush!

It's interesting to read that apparently most companies are planning to go ahead with a Christmas party this year despite financial pressures caused by the recession. 24 per cent of 1,100 HR professionals polled by the CIPD said they would be putting on an office party on a bigger scale than last year, while 34 per cent said they still planned an event, but it would be smaller than in 2008. Only 20 per cent of employers (presumably including Scrooge!) said they would be cancelling this year’s Christmas party altogether. The results are said to show that employers are anxious to reward staff who had experienced a difficult year. According to the CIPD's Reward Advisor, “Employers recognise that 2009 has been a tough year for their workers in terms of pay freezes and job cuts. They’re using the Christmas party, albeit on a reduced scale, to thank them for helping them through the past 12 months and believe that the future looks brighter.”

Firms continue to plan Christmas parties, says CIPD

• Do you believe that employees will regard a Christmas party an acceptable alternative to an annual pay award?
• In view of the opportunity for excessive behaviour at Christmas parties, many organisations have put a halt to such events. Is this being a bit miserable, or a wise precaution?
• What other non-financial mechanisms can companies use to reward staff?
• One for the HR professionals: are you in favour of Christmas parties?

Asda: Sales turnover is up, staff turnover is down!

(Hi! If you've found your way to this item while actually looking for inormation on Asda Sales Turnover rather than staff turnover, I'll help you out by revealing that Asda sales figures at the end of 2008 were approximately £16.8 billion)

Asda have announced that their staff retention rate is currently as high as it's ever been, with 67,000 of their 165,000 employees having completed at least 5 years' service - up 10% from last year. The supermarket giant states that their labour turnover rate is in the region of 20% per annum, and puts this down to a wide spectrum of employee-friendly policies including staff discount, money-off vouchers, plus other benefits. The ability to progress from "colleague" (shop floor employee) to manager is claimed as another factor in the increasing retention rate.

Personnel Today: Asda staff retention rates rocket

• How does the labour turnover rate in Asda (retail sector) compare with other sectors?
• How much of the improved retention levels may be due to the current economic situation, particularly the difficult job market?
• Is five years service a long time for an employee to remain with a company?
• When are employees more likely to leave a company?
• How significant a factor do you think the employee-friendly policies are in improving retention?
• What other measures might an organisation like Asda use to retain its staff?

Hard times for recruitment consultancies

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Michael Page, who are one of the largest recruitment consultancies in Britain, have announced that their profits over the first six months of 2009 have fallen by 49%, leading to the worst set of financial figures reported by the company since they were listed on the UK stock market eight years ago. Although the company still employ nearly 4000 staff, they have had to reduce their workforce by more than a third since the beginning of this year. Clearly they blame the downturn in the labour market for their performance, and there is no immediate hope at the end of the tunnel as the summer period is renowned for being a quiet time for recruitment.

• What practical steps can recruitment consultancies take to ensure that their business remains viable?
• Why might companies that are recruiting choose to manage the process themselves rather than engage a recruitment consultancy?
• What businesses other than recruitment consultancies are likely to be affected by a downturn in the job market?
• What businesses and organisations may be required to recruit additional staff as a result of an increase in joblessness?
• Despite reporting such a dramatic drop in profits, shares in Michael Page went up rather than down. Why might this be?

Would you exchange pay for holidays?

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As the entire management and staff of HR Case Studies are about to take a well-earned all expenses paid holiday to a secret exotic location, it seems appropriate to look at the recent initiative in which the telecommunications company BT offered employees an up front sum of 25% of annual salary in return for taking the whole year off. Clearly this has been done in an attempt to reduce the organisation's wage bill while trying to avoid redundancies after being hit by the economic downturn. Comments posted on the BBC website (including the views of BT employees) indicate that the initiative has had a mixed response.

• Look at the comments on the BBC website: Why is there such a wide spectrum of responses to this initiative?


• A "flexible response from a forward thinking employer" or "utter nonsense"; where would you position yourself in this debate?


• How well (or not!) does this seem to have been communicated within BT?


• Which types of employees might find such an initiative attractive?


• How would you respond if you were working for BT?


• What other initiatives have been taken by companies in recent months to reduce costs without having to resort to redundancies?

Disagreement Between Trade Unions at British Airways

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• Which Trade Unions are currently protesting against the cost-cutting plans of British Airways?
• How many posts may be lost if the plans go ahead?
• How much was the financial loss announced by the company in May?
• What has been the response of the pilots to the company's predicament?
• Why might the pilots and cabin crew have come to different conclusions over the plans of British Airways?
• What would you do if you were one of the cabin crew?

Another wave of job cuts in the steel industry

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How many jobs have Corus cut since January 2009?

What was the response of the Trade Union to the most recent announcement?

What reasons did the site director give for the redundancies?

What is meant by the phrase "hard redundancies" in the statement by the Trade Union General Secretary?