Dec
26
The New Job Contracts Due When The Economy Returns To Growth Will Offer Different Packages To The Ones Before The Credit Crunch
December 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Pensions provisions have long since been a dilemma for firms who have seen over the last 10 years a huge fall in investment returns in their pension funds together with an ever rising life expectancy and therefore mushrooming pension liabilities for these reduced funds to cover.
We have seen companies try to tackle these issues by re defining benefits and asking their staff to accept the proposed changes. However a lot of the staff are displeased with the proposed changes and see any reduction in their pension availability (and other benefits) as unfair. Indeed in the UK at the moment there are huge issues with our postal workers, currently striking in order to protect the long time postal workers benefits. Royal Mail clearly saw problems looming a considerable amount of time ago. The employment contracts offered over the last five years allow employees with much less entitlement to benefits (including pensions) than workers who have been with the business for a longer period of time. So we have an odd situation within the organization at the moment, some workers out on strike to protect benefits they themselves are not actually entitled to.
We have just come through the worst period of job losses that the UK has witnessed for decades and following this depression we will see the beginnings of a recovery over the next few months. However the organisations looking for new employees over the coming months will not be simply replacing like for like in the job offer and benefits stakes. They will be looking to increase employee numbers, but keep a firm check on the benefits that they are obligated to for the long term. Pensions offers will be much less attractive, to stop the growth of the current problems and employment contracts may well be for short periods.
There could be some positive outcomes from the new style contracts too. As more and more organisations harness the power of Internet Business we will see some innovative organizations start to increase and offer a large amount of flexibility to the employee in terms of hours of work and place of work. This is particularly possible when looking at online organisations. These have usually fared well throughout the slump as they have usually a lower amount of overhead. Indeed a good number of them have actually sprung up within the downturn plugging gaps that the closure of more conventional businesses have left.
Opportunities to work whenever suits the individual are rising with these new business models and even the ability to Work From Home is on offer, not only offering excellent opportunities for people who have other commitments but also keeping the business expenditure down at the same time. This form of flexibility will also make sure that the businesses keep hold of as many of their female staff as possible. Those who opt to have children are often in a difficult situation when trying to return to work and these new, much more flexible contracts and Online Jobs will at least be a helpful thing for these employees even though some of the other conditions may be inferior to post downturn job offers.