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Despite recent hopes of economic recovery employers are reluctant to increase pay according to research into 243 organisations by CBI, the UK’s top business lobby organisation and the recruitment firm Harvery Nash. The survey results reveal that the majority of UK employers polled will not increase pay above the rate of inflation next year.

The survey also highlights that flexible working has increased as employers have taken on freelancers and flexible workers with 36% of employers having reported to have made or have considered changes to working patterns in order to cope with the recession. These include methods such as cutting shifts and in particular, teleworking from home which has risen in popularity with an increase of 20% during the last 12 months.

John Crifland, CBI deputy director-general, said “the new spirit of cooperation between employers and workers will be a real fillip for UK competitiveness as we return to growth, delivering more flexible working and a welcome improvement in the work-life balance.”
According to Rob Lovell, chief executive of ThinkGrid, a Cloud IT services provider, freelancers see the benefits of flexible working which allows them to work from traditional office set up. “With the ability to securely access document and remotely collaborate on them in real-time, and with desktop and phone systems able to span the globe, there is no reason why a traditional five-day working week in the office should continue.”

Further research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) shows that UK workers  spend 21.8 million hours commuting to work which is the equivalent to £266 million worth of working time spent travelling each day.

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