Flexible workers help save jobs

01 June 2009

British workers have allowed their employers to explore alternatives to job cuts by showing a willingness to accept other cost-saving measures, new research has found.

Categories: Working life  |  Talent management  |  Pay & reward

The flexibility of the British workforce has helped avoid job cuts, according to a new study.

Research by the Keep Britain Working Campaign has revealed that 54 per cent of employees in the UK have experienced a pay cut, a reduction in working hours or a loss of benefits since the recession began.

According to James Reed, founder of the group, the willingness of staff to consider such options has helped keep job losses down.

"The UK workforce has demonstrated unprecedented flexibility during this recession, allowing organisations to explore a whole range of cost-cutting responses other than relying solely on redundancies," he said.

However, the study also revealed that 54 per cent of employees were more pessimistic about their job prospects in May than they were in the preceding month.

Recently, a study conducted by KPMG and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development predicted that the private sector employment market should show signs of improvement soon.ADNFCR-1459-ID-19195723-ADNFCR

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