UK organisations still have a lot of work to do before the Information and
Consultation Directive becomes law this time next year, Will Hutton has warned.
Speaking exclusively to Personnel Today, the chief executive of The Work
Foundation, said he hoped UK employers would be ahead of the game, but fears
that the reality will be somewhat different.
"The legislation will create more demands on employers and another set
of arguments," he said. "UK companies don’t do enough talking with
their workforces and there needs to be an increase in dialogue."
Hutton expects employees and unions to demand earlier and more detailed
consultation.
"They will say ‘thank you for consulting with us – but why didn’t you
do it earlier and is that all you’ve got to tell us?’," he said.
He said the workforce was shrinking while the economy is in a period of
almost unprecedented growth.
"One of the main problems is that we need every woman to have 2.1
babies if the UK population is to remain stable. British women are simply not
delivering the babies we need."
He urged businesses to look to older workers as a potential solution to the
problem.
"The good thing about older people is they tend to be more stable, more
loyal and more committed workers," he said.
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