SMEs: More redundancies inevitable |
|
|
| Economy | |
| Written by Roberta Murray | |
| Friday, 15 May 2009 | |
|
A forward looking survey on SME employment shows bosses plan on more redundancies despite 'green shoots'. More redundancies are inevitable in the UK according to the findings of a survey carried out by law firm Pinsent Masons. Nearly 40% of companies surveyed said they were considering redundancies over the next six months, even if they had made some already and were taking measures to prevent more job cuts.SMEs currently employ approximately 13.5 million people, with an estimated turnover of £1,440bn and account for approximately 99.9% of all business enterprises, providing 51.5% of turnover in the UK. The survey also indicated that more than three-quarters of companies have instigated alternatives to redundancy in the last 12 months in an attempt to save jobs. Recruitment freeze (56%), salary freeze (48%) and lay-off of temporary/agency staff (45%) were the most popular measures, with bonus reduction, over-time cuts and out-sourcing loss-making elements also high on the agenda. Employment partner Tom Flanagan said: "It is likely we may see a second wave of redundancies hit the UK, after the headline grabbing stories we've read about high street brand names, banks and large manufacturers in the past twelve months. These job losses are likely to be made up of a large number of smaller-scale exercises at SMEs. This is consistent with a recession pattern - redundancies continuing often after it is 'declared' that the recession is over. "This is largely because of the impact of cost cutting measures on the 'food chain'; steps which large businesses take, such as lengthening credit terms, have an effect on their customers and suppliers. This reverberates down the chain, often well beyond the recognised start of recovery and it could go some way to supporting reports that the UK might see unemployment peaking at 4 million in 2012."
Comments (0)
 Post a comment
|
|
digg 
del.ico.us 
Newsvine 
Reddit 
Furl 
technorati 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
