Managers across the UK are heading into one of the biggest workplace shake-ups in years, many without the support needed to make them work in practice, new polling from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) suggests.
With key elements of the Employment Rights Act in place since April 6, overall awareness among managers is widespread, with more than three-quarters (77%) saying they are aware of at least one of the incoming reforms.
Yet behind that headline figure, the reality on the ground is far less prepared. Nearly half of managers (48%) say they have received no formal training or guidance from their organisation on the changes, leaving a significant proportion of the people responsible for delivering the reforms within workplaces to interpret them on their own.
Legal experts are warning about the gap, with leading UK law firm, Burges Salmon, pointing out that line managers have been ‘largely overlooked’ in preparations for the reforms, despite being central to reducing the legal risk they introduce.
While some managers feel somewhat able to navigate more familiar changes, such as Statutory Sick Pay reform, where two in five (40%) say they feel confident, with only 11% describing themselves as very confident. Confidence drops sharply when it comes to more complex or newer areas of the law.
Around two-thirds of managers say they are not confident in advising on increased collective redundancy penalties (65%) and complying with the new Fair Work Agency (65%), two of the areas that most directly raise the stakes for employers.
