‘Til death do us (employers) work

This is a great quote from Dilbert: In Japan, employees occasionally work themselves to death. It's called Karoshi. I don't want that to happen to anybody in my department. The trick is to take a break as soon as you hear a bright light and hear dead relatives beckon."

Just recently I have been wondering whether there is a secret government plan to adopt a Karoshi-type approach for UK employers ...... it would save a fortune on pensions!



This morning I was up and getting ready for work at about 5am. This isn’t especially unusual. I often finish work at about 10pm. My average working week is around 85 hours. I am regularly accused of being a workaholic by my long-suffering partner. And I’ve noticed that my team refer to me as a sort of clever performing animal ("she never seems to sleep you know!"). While it’s true that I enjoy the work I do, the intellectual challenge and the fantastic people I meet as a result of the work, I’m not doing these sorts of ridiculous hours because I want to but because, if I want my business to succeed (and I do), I have to; nobody else will. I could choose to cut down the hours to a mere 40 a week. If I did my business would fail and I would have to get a proper job. Believe me, when you’re at the stage of growing a business, you work amazingly hard.



As I got ready this morning, I considered a theory that has started to form in my mind in recent months. I have concluded that employers are being treated as cash cows.



My HR and employment law training consultancy is now in its 13th year. As a one-woman band for ten years the business developed and became hugely busy. For almost three years now, I have been trying to bring in new team members and to develop the business in a stable, planned way. But it’s been three years of almost continuous frustration. In the last 12 months, I have realised that I’ve never worked harder and I’ve never been poorer. Employees are the root of the problem. The combination of me wanting to be a good employer, punitive NICs (legally extorted by HMRC) and employees wanting to be paid a good wage, but still have life-work balance means that some poor sod has to do a disproportionate amount of work for a disproportionately small return to make sure that work’s coming in and being delivered. And guess who that is? It’s not the workers who are oppressed in my business, it’s the boss!



I have no axe to grind with my team, who are technically good, diligent, committed and personally delightful. My gripe is with the government (both the Coalition and the outgoing Labour one) and I am rebelling. If I’m going to work this hard, then I want to enjoy the results, rather than give it straight to the government and my staff, while wondering how I’m going to pay my bills.



Successive increases in employee rights (awarded magnanimously by profligate Governments but paid for by employers) have pushed me to the stage where I have decided to restructure, with a consequent loss of employed jobs. I have come to the conclusion that employees are a luxury and wherever possible I will have to outsource work rather than employ workers. I am not alone in changing the way I resource my company. There has been a large increase in the number of companies with no staff over the last three years.



The trend to outsource is there, but despite that small companies are still big employers. According to a 2008 report by the FSB (Small businesses in the UK: New perspectives on evidence and policy), there are some 29 million employed workers in the UK. Around six million are employed in the public sector, including not-for-profit organisations. The rest are in the private sector – around 23 million people. The report suggests that 59% of private sector employees work for small companies (defined as employing fewer than 250 staff).



Will more employers seek to ease their financial burdens? Probably. A good example of a likely final straw breaking an employer’s back is the Pensions Act 2008, due to come into effect in 2012. This Act will, for the first time place a legal duty on employers to enrol most employees into a pension scheme and contribute towards their retirement. Eventually, all employers will be required to make contributions of around 3% to employee pension schemes. That’s a massive additional burden to a small organisation.



Big companies might be able to carry employees through hard times and give generous benefits. But small companies can’t or they’ll go under with the loss of all jobs. That won’t help anyone. In the emergency budget the coalition government said it wants private sector employers to lead the way to recovery. If the Government wants to succeed in its aim, then both it must take a more commercial approach to work, stop bleeding employers dry and take a more balanced approach to employment rights.





If you find yourself in such a situation, Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, visit our website at www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk.



Russell HR Consulting offers HR services to businesses nationwide, including Buckinghamshire (covering Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Banbury, Northampton, Towcester and surrounding areas), Nottinghamshire (covering Chesterfield, Mansfield, Nottingham, Sheffield, Worksop and surrounding areas) and Hampshire (covering Aldershot, Basingstoke, Reading, Farnborough, Fareham, Portsmouth, Southampton and surrounding areas).