Business leaders should do more to make work “good” and ensure staff are engaged and listened to, the author of an influential Government report has said.
Speaking ahead of a visit to the North East, where he will speak at a conference on the changing employment environment, Matthew Taylor said that companies should aim to ensure that “dead end jobs” don’t exist within their organisations, and that all work helps people develop in some way.
Mr Taylor, a former head of the Downing Street policy unit, is the author of the 2017 Good Work report, which made a number of recommendations to the Government on the future of work in the age of zero hours contracts and the gig economy.
Mr Taylor will speak at a conference at the Crowne Plaza in Newcastle on October 10 being organised by Newcastle law firm Square One Law.
He said: “The core of I want to argue is the importance of good work, that it should be our aim to make sure that all work is decent but also that it offers people opportunities to grow and develop.
“I don’t think things are necessarily getting worse, but there are certainly more people in work that could be described as being insecure and there are a number of reasons why we should focus more than we have done previously on the quality of work.”
Mr Taylor said it was important for employers to focus on managing staff well and providing ways for them to develop, partly because it was the right thing to do but also because it was the best way to raise productivity.
He said the rise of technology should provide new impetus for managers to focus more on staff engagement, and that employers should work to develop staff even when there wasn’t the possibility of promotion within their companies.
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Mr Taylor said there had been some action from the Government on the recommendations of his report, particularly in improving rights for agency workers.
But he said more needed to be done on clarifying the employment status of many people who are classed as self-employed by companies looking to avoid holiday and pension costs, as well as calls for companies to give staff on zero hours contracts more notice and compensation if work shifts are cancelled.
Official figures released in May showed that around 5% of workers in the North East are on zero hours or other flexible contracts, while the TUC estimates that around 11.3% of workers in the region are in insecure work.
Research by the RSA found that 73% of workers fear inflation will outstrip pay, 59% would struggle to pay an unexpected bill of £500 and 30% of workers don’t feel like they earn enough to maintain a decent standard of living.
Also speaking at the Square One event will be Emily Cox, group head of colleague relations at Lloyds Banking Group and regional chair of the CBI, while a number of business leaders from the region will take questions during a panel debate.
Jean-Pierre van Zyl, head of employment at Square One Law, said: “With rapid advances in technology and artificial intelligence, increased demands for agile working and concerns over skills shortages in the region, we decided to host a conference that will aim to address how the workplace is changing and the impact it is having on workforce diversity, recruitment, retention and development.
“As well as the keynote speakers, we are delighted that senior leaders from a diverse range of companies have agreed to be panellists and answer questions on this highly topical issue.”