Government must rethink Employment Rights Bill to ensure sustainable business growth: Beckie Hart

We must be cautious not to inadvertently impose policies that create barriers to business growth - particularly when it comes to supporting women in the workforce who face many challenges already, whether through continuing under representation at board level, a stubborn gender pay gap across the British economy or patchy access to quality childcare for parents returning to the workforce.

As businesses across the UK continue to face mounting pressures, from rising costs to increasing regulatory burdens, the government’s Employment Rights Bill has sparked concern, it certainly did at a roundtable we held in Leeds two weeks’ ago.

While the government contends that the Bill presents an opportunity to enhance workplace fairness, our members see multiple ways in which it risks becoming a significant obstacle to growth at a time when they are already grappling with economic challenges. A thriving economy in Yorkshire and the Humber requires business confidence, and that is the opposite of what the Bill, in its current form, will deliver.

There is a real risk that this legislation imposes a thicket of regulation across all businesses which prevents them from creating the high-quality, secure jobs which we all want to achieve.

Many reforms in the Bill are well intentioned – who doesn’t want fair workplace conditions, and better communication between bosses and employees – but as currently formulated they add complexity and cost for businesses already struggling to stay afloat in a challenging economic climate. And while some headline measures may be popular the details, and their consequences will not be. For example, will workers really like their employer becoming more reluctant to offer them voluntary overtime?

At the CBI we have consistently supported the government’s mission to drive sustainable growth, but our members are increasingly concerned that the Employment Rights Bill, as currently drafted, undermines this goal making it riskier for employers to invest and hire.

If the UK is to remain competitive, it is crucial that the government takes time to reassess. By doing so, it can build a compromise that engenders confidence in both businesses and workers. This will ensure that the reforms can be implemented in a way that benefits everyone without stifling innovation, growth and job creation

The CBI believes that while the government’s commitment to improving workers’ experience in the workplace is commendable – and one shared by good employers across the economy - we must be cautious not to inadvertently impose policies that create barriers to business growth.

Disappointingly, the UK has just been awarded its lowest ranking for workplace gender equality in a decade. Complex challenges like this are not helped by legislation that risks setting back all workers by putting the growth agenda on the backfoot.

The CBI believes that a more balanced approach to the Employment Rights Bill, fostering both fairness and business growth, will ensure that women, and all workers, are more likely to benefit from a thriving economy.

Beckie Hart is CBI regional director for Yorkshire and Humber