Enlightened employers are already prioritising security and flexibility at work in order to attract the best talent, says Anthony Painter of the Chartered Management Institute
With it’s plans to reform workers’ rights, Labour has managed to attract the ire of both the business lobby and the trade unions. Yet the more important divide is between the nine-to-five organisations stuck in the old battles between workers and bosses and modern employers who are prioritising extra security and flexibility at work. In fact, it is vocal business voices rather than Labour who may be out of step, and in many ways, Labour’s New Deal for Working People is formalising what many enlightened employers are already doing.
Research repeatedly shows that the number one thing that workers want from their professional lives isn’t just higher pay or better benefits but an employer that values and supports them. That’s what motivates people.
The best companies are already showing what this looks like. Take heritage businesses like Mars UK, named one of the UK’s most flexible employers for leading the charge on pregnancy loss leave, or Timpson, whose “upside-down management” approach means staff have complete authority to do whatever they think is right to offer a quality service to customers. UK retailer Wickes has decided to offer some staff a four-day work week, and even the CEO of tech giant Nvidia, one of the five biggest companies in the world, has said that he has “no trouble” with employees working remotely indefinitely.
These models are built on trust, not clock-watching and micromanagement.
Labour is building on these trailblazers. Indeed, policies such as giving all workers basic day-one rights on the job or the right to switch off after hours are likely to encourage employers to reflect on how they treat and manage their staff.
While the corporate lobby seems to have persuaded Starmer to U-turn on some of the ‘full fat’ reforms, a quiet revolution is happening under his feet. New research from my organisation — the Chartered Management Institute, the body for driving up management and leadership standards — finds widespread support for the proposals in Labour’s plan. In our polling of over 1,000 UK managers, 83 per cent said they believed improving workers’ rights can positively impact workplace productivity, with a similar figure saying they believed that workers’ rights should be a top priority in national policies. In his speech to the Usdaw Conference in Blackpool this week, Keir Starmer cited these exact figures as he reflected on how workers “respond when they feel respected.”
When we polled managers on specific Labour policies, we found over 70 per cent believed the proposals within the New Deal for Workers were important to implement, with the strongest support for enhanced family-friendly policies, the introduction of a right to disconnect after work hours, protections for carers, and action plans to eliminate gender, ethnicity, and disability inequalities.
In the current debate, we miss the bigger opportunity. Even without Labour’s plans, employers have a chance to think about how their managers and corporate cultures can provide the best support for people. This doesn’t have to be about lecturing business; it is about a future government and the business community partnering to explore raising standards, employee well-being, and productivity.
This is an agenda that any party could adopt. In fact, the May Government followed this path with the Taylor Review, with the former Prime Minister promising the “greatest extension of rights and protections for employees by any Conservative government in history.”
Labour’s frontbench team has transformed the Party’s relationship with business, winning back trust after years of neglect and strained relationships. For this new partnership based on mutual respect to work,, there has to be an open ear on the business side. This is not just because it’s the right thing to do but because companies’ ability to attract and keep the very best talent relies on it.
Anthony Painter is director of policy at the Chartered Management Institute