Government wrong on new employment burdens

18 November 2009

The announcement, today (Wednesday), of the Government's legislative programme confirms it plans to open the door to new costs for employers.

Reacting to the Queen's Speech, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said the Government seems determined to press ahead with misguided measures on equal pay and temporary workers. New burdens which would be wrong at anytime but should not be diverting retailers' resources and attention in these tough and uncertain times.

Implementation of the Agency Workers Directive – This is intended to give the UK's temporary agency workers the same treatment on basic working and employment conditions as permanent employees, after just 12 weeks in the job

British Retail Consortium Director General Stephen Robertson said: "These proposals will see flexible working opportunities disappear yet not be replaced by permanent jobs, while businesses will struggle to respond to peaks and troughs in demand and to cover for absent permanent staff.

"Retailers support protecting workers' rights but temporary staff are already covered by all key employment rights and protected by health and safety and discrimination legislation. The UK currently has an excellent reputation for its flexible labour market making it an attractive place for companies to invest and create jobs. These proposals will damage this status.

"Government should be concentrating on those workers who have been in temporary positions for a long time. Adding prohibitive costs will deter companies from using agency workers and twelve week contracts will become the norm – this is not in the interests of employers or workers."

The Equality Bill and gender - This Bill will not compel private sector companies to report on pay gaps between men and women but will give the Government power to introduce that requirement in the future.

British Retail Consortium Director General Stephen Robertson said: "Our members are well ahead of many businesses in terms of their focus on diversity and equal opportunities. For example, over 60 per cent of the retail workforce is female.

"But, heaping new number crunching obligations on to businesses will mean damaging extra costs but won't make any difference to the gender pay gap. In fact it will force companies to divert efforts away from measures that do address diversity.

"Compiling gender pay statistics won't expose unfair pay discrimination. Gaps between average male and female pay may just show men are in roles that attract higher pay, not that they are being paid more for doing the same job.

"The way to tackle discriminatory pay practices is to allow tribunals to order pay audits where unequal pay has been found.

"Getting more women into higher paying jobs will be achieved through better state education, careers advice, schemes designed to encourage women to return to work following periods of maternity leave, and working with employers to encourage in-house programmes to support women staff in progressing their careers."

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