Highlights – 8 April

Key elements of the new Employment Rights Act came into effect from Monday, including day-one access to statutory sick pay and paternity leave – explore the changes here. When The Times reported on the potential financial implications for employers, it used CMI data revealing that nearly half of managers (48%) have received no formal training or guidance from their organisation on the changes. 

The Managers’ Voice research in question found even more cause for concern. According to the survey, confidence is weakest in the areas with the highest risk, with 65% of respondents lacking confidence on redundancy penalties and 65% not confident in complying with the new Fair Work Agency – despite these aspects carrying significant legal and financial consequences. Managers also lacked confidence in highly sensitive workplace rights that will shape employees’ day-to-day experience, with 59% not confident on whistleblowing protections and 54% on bereavement leave.

LBC’s coverage of the issue featured commentary from Petra Wilton, CMI’s director of policy and external affairs, who reflected the concerns the managers raised in the poll.

“Managers are not being given the tools they need to fully understand how the rules of the workplace are changing, some of them quite dramatically,” she said. "This creates a real risk for both employers and employees and could lead to preventable workplace tensions.”

Other employment changes remain poorly understood too. When Employee Benefits published a guide detailing how fertility benefits are increasingly forming part of wider corporate wellbeing and family-support strategies, it flagged that take-up in the UK remains limited, citing CMI research which found that fewer than one in five employers currently offer dedicated fertility support. 

What “good” looks like

On to a perennial challenge for businesses: ensuring that new hires succeed. Ann Francke OBE CMgr CCMI, CMI’s chief executive, offered her advice in her column for The Times, warning that too many accidental managers treat induction as simply handing over a laptop and a PDF of company policies. 

“Proper onboarding takes serious time and proactive effort,” Ann wrote. “You have to explicitly walk new hires through what ‘good’ looks like on the job and how your culture actually operates.” 

On a related theme, the Financial Times featured commentary from Petra examining the need to rethink annual performance reviews. Petra argued that an annual model no longer suits fast-moving hybrid teams, where employees favour real-time, actionable feedback, noting “a shift toward shorter, more frequent check-ins, with development increasingly separated from pay discussions”.

But what if you’re the one starting a new leadership role? In this week’s newsletter, we feature an edited extract from What to Do If...? by Anne-Maartje Oud, who shares seven strategies to help you start off on the right foot. 

Another tip is to keep asking questions. Also in this week’s newsletter, Deborah Collier CMgr FCMI, our Chartered Manager of the Week, shares how her innate curiosity has led to “a wonderfully varied career”.

She’s not alone. Here’s what Chartered Managers have told us about the genuine transformation that getting CMI accreditation has sparked in their working lives. 

“A lifelong ladder”

Petra has also appeared in an FE News op-ed, arguing that the government's decision to defund core management and leadership apprenticeships is undermining its own ambition to create opportunities for young people. Petra’s piece features two key CMI statistics – that management apprenticeships added £120m to UK GDP in 2023/24, and that 71% of apprentices on these programmes are first-generation higher education students.

In this week’s newsletter, we feature a response to the changes from Louise Graham CMgr FCMI FIC, who launched a consultancy when she turned 50. Louise claims “unequivocally, that I would not be here without apprenticeships”, and points out that apprenticeships are a lifelong ladder we can’t afford to pull up. 

Keeping things clear

Now on to matters of transparency. FE News has reported on the government's commitment to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers, featuring another reaction from Petra. She welcomed the move as an important step toward workplace transparency, but stressed that reporting alone is not the end goal. She argued that success relies on skilled managers and leaders who are equipped to translate data and action plans into meaningful steps to address disparities. 

According to an article in Reputation Today, middle managers are a vital untapped link in ensuring information spreads easily across organisations. Yet the piece cites a CMI study showing that only 37% of middle managers feel their leadership team is transparent in its decisions.

Of course, a lack of transparency tends to be a one-way thing. According to The Times, which ran a piece on the rise of employers spying on staff as a toxic substitute for trust, many employers ask for greater transparency from their teams. The piece features CMI data which found that a third of managers use some form of ‘bossware’ to keep tabs on people’s productivity, yet warns that such monitoring measures ‘busyness’ rather than quality of output. 

Indeed, before you reach for surveillance to boost productivity, we recommend trying good old-fashioned communication, which is key to keeping workplaces inclusive and working well.

Best,

Matt Roberts CMgr FCMI

Director of membership and professional development, CMI

Image: CMI