Productivity
in the UK is suffering because employers focus the majority of their resources
on developing high-earning skilled staff at the expense of low-income
employees.
This
is the conclusion of the CIPD’s HR Trends and Prospects 2003 report, which
finds that lower skilled workers receive less training, and feature less in the
recruitment and reward strategies of organisations.
They
are also less likely to return to work when they become parents, owing to
prohibitive childcare costs.
The
study, based on CIPD research published this and last year, finds that as a
result, many UK workers do not believe their employers or senior executives
have their interests at heart.
Only
one in three workers trust senior management “a lot” to look after their best
interests.
John
Philpott, the CIPD’s chief economist, warned employers they risk damaging their
productivity if they neglect their low-skilled workers.
He
said: “It is easy to see why organisations devote so much attention towards
recruiting and retaining the best staff, given the pressures of an increasingly
competitive marketplace. But they do so at the expense of improving performance
and productivity at all levels of their organisation."
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