Unemployment and motivation

What a bleak picture for the job prospects of millions of people in the UK in 2012.  Two separate surveys - one from the CPID and another from totaljobs.com - both predict a dire 2012 for employment in the UK.  Unemployment is predicted to move towards 3.0 million as further public sector job cuts are not matched by employment growth in the private sector.

The CIPD (the professional organisation representing HR directors and managers) makes a link between rising unemployment and worsening employee motivation. Their logic is pretty simple. The doom and gloom surrounding prospects for the economy feeds directly into greater uncertainty amongst those in work. The pressure of lower demand rising costs forces employers to squeeze pay, resulting in employees experiencing a continued squeeze on their take-home pay, with the cost of living still set to outpace wages, despite expected falls in inflation.

Those out of work face a desperate challenge to find employment.  Those in work face uncertainty about their job prospects and pay.  A miserable situation in which to enter a new year.

Revision Presentation - Training [17 May 2012]
Revision Presentation - Unemployment & Business [6 Apr 2012]
The Downsides of Downsizing - Does Retrenchment Work? [4 Apr 2012]
Business legislation - the cost to businesses [5 Mar 2012]
Economics for Business: Is an economic recovery underway? [28 Feb 2012]
Happiness in the workplace still proving elusive [6 Feb 2012]
Leadership - Tough decisions to turn Starbucks around [29 Jan 2012]
Would you work harder - for nothing? The hidden costs of employment fear [29 Dec 2011]
The human story of long-term unemployment [15 Dec 2011]
Ho! Ho! Ho?  No No No! Motivation and the Xmas Party [4 Dec 2011]
Optimism and expansion in consumer leisure markets [2 Dec 2011]
Marketing in an age of austerity - Live Well for Less [20 Oct 2011]
The Simpsons and Financial Motivation [11 Oct 2011]
De-layering: do firms need middle managers? [5 Oct 2011]
Stakeholders gripped by the bad news coming from BAE Systems [28 Sep 2011]
Motivation in a time of austerity - financial benefits become more important [27 Jul 2011]
Recruitment challenges from the skills gap [25 May 2011]
CSR - Can better social responsibility boost the UK economy by £17bn? [12 May 2011]
Private v Public Sector - A Clash of Two Cultures? [20 Apr 2011]
The UK Economy - Unemployment [13 Mar 2011]
Partners in profit - the JLP way [10 Mar 2011]
8 minutes of Daniel Pink on What Motivates Workers [7 Mar 2011]
Britain is back in recession (well, consumers think we are) [23 Feb 2011]
Q&A - What is absenteeism and what can businesses do about it? [28 Dec 2010]
Starbucks - Two Examples of Financial and Non-Financial Methods of Motivation [19 Dec 2010]
Bruce Poon Tip exploits a huge Gap in the adventure market [12 Dec 2010]
Its curtains for UK consumer spending [12 Dec 2010]
A great example of off-the-job-training - Starbucks Coffee College [16 Oct 2010]
Maltesers and Motivation [8 Oct 2010]
Can performance-related pay motivate the SCD celebs? [18 Jul 2010]
Is this the worst job in the world? [15 Jul 2010]
Dark days for the UK nightclub market [21 Jun 2010]
A significant rise in unemployment ahead for the UK [16 Jun 2010]
Are fringe benefits being cut? [5 Jun 2010]
Linking corporate objectives to management performance - the Vodafone way [4 Jun 2010]
Managing People - Will Staff Turnover Increase as the UK Emerges from the Recession [2 Jun 2010]
Flexible Working More Popular than Bonuses as a Source of Staff Motivation [2 Jun 2010]
The Dark Side of the iPad and iPhone? [26 May 2010]
BUSS4 UK Recession - Data Burn [15 May 2010]
UK Recession - What Happened to Redundancies? [30 Mar 2010]
Motivation, Leadership & Culture: Ban the Boss (BBC) [24 Mar 2010]
Motivation and management at John Lewis [11 Mar 2010]
Data watch - what happened to consumer spending in the UK recession? [4 Mar 2010]
An interesting way to describe the Business Cycle [25 Feb 2010]
Strategy in the UK Recession - What 69 UK CEOs Did About It [22 Feb 2010]
Money as a motivator in social work? [20 Feb 2010]
A CEO’s take on the effect of the recession on UK restaurants [18 Feb 2010]
Government support for apprenticeships [6 Feb 2010]
Recession Tracker for UK Economic Data [1 Feb 2010]
Introducing business and the economic environment with Darling’s debt dilemma [27 Jan 2010]
Revision presentation - motivation in theory [17 Jan 2010]
Revision presentation - motivation in practice [17 Jan 2010]
Revision Quiz - Unemployment [13 Jan 2010]
Teaching Motivation - Classic Video(s) [17 Dec 2009]
Breakfast for $1 tests price elasticity of demand [12 Dec 2009]
Starter Video Clip for Motivation [17 Nov 2009]
The UK: A nation of accidental managers [10 Nov 2009]
Q&A - What is Leadership? [30 Oct 2009]
Leadership styles in action - Dead Poets Society [28 Oct 2009]
Q&A - How are businesses affected by unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What are the main causes of unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What has happened to unemployment in the UK? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - Explain what unemployment is and how it is measured [27 Oct 2009]
Motivation in action - the stairs theory [12 Oct 2009]
Forget motivation theory - lets try to demotivate people [5 Oct 2009]
The lights go out for the nightclub market [26 Sep 2009]
A textbook example of how rising unemployment affects demand [23 Sep 2009]
The Changing Face of Human Resources [11 Sep 2009]
Motivation in practice - how not to do it - lessons from Britain’s bosses [1 Sep 2009]
Picking from a growing pool of job hunters [19 Aug 2009]
Absenteeism - the effect of the fear factor? [20 Jul 2009]
Q&A - Outline the main costs and benefits of inflation [1 Jul 2009]
Work For Free?  Or Pie In The Sky? [16 Jun 2009]
A stunning example of how wage costs can differ for the same job [10 Jun 2009]
Q&A - Explain “delayering” [1 Jun 2009]
Q&A - What is a sales forecast? [31 May 2009]
Motivating employees - the end of the mobile phone sales shark? [17 May 2009]
Motivation in Action - Is this the Worlds Best Job? [7 May 2009]
Q&A - How do changes in commodity prices affect businesses? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - What are the main legal areas that a start-up business needs to consider? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - Explain “time-rate” pay [1 May 2009]
Q&A - What factors should a business consider when deciding what to pay employees? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - What is job enlargement? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - Explain Taylor’s theories of motivation at work [1 May 2009]
Q&A - How does a business benefit from having a well-motivated workforce? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - What is motivation? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - Why do businesses employ temporary workers? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - Explain the main issues with part-time employees [1 May 2009]
Q&A - What are full-time employees? [1 May 2009]
More flak for the banks from business customers - what have they done with bail-out cash? [18 Feb 2009]
Flexible employment at Mini - the upside and the downside [16 Feb 2009]
Video case study - Google’s Non-Financial Methods of Motivation [6 Feb 2009]
Linking customer service and motivation theory [2 Feb 2009]
Video case study - starting a business in a recession [24 Jan 2009]
AIG ends Manchester United sponsorship deal [23 Jan 2009]
Highest Productivity in the Industry - But Still Crippled by the Crunch [8 Jan 2009]
The Grim Outlook for UK Unemployment in 2009 [1 Jan 2009]
Valuing Apprentices [29 Dec 2008]
Bracing ourselves for a series of retail business failures? [21 Dec 2008]
Business cutbacks and job losses [26 Nov 2008]

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