During the recession, most businesses had to take severe measures to protect themselves. These included redundancies, as well as imposing pay cuts and wage and recruitment freezes. According to the CBI, over a third of employers deployed flexible working to economise on staff deployment. Other measures included reducing the amount of paid overtime, cutting shifts and a reduction in the use of agency workers.
As a result, according to the CBI, business has managed to survive the recession whilst keeping more employees in work than originally feared. This is credited largely to the communication procedures of employers and the adaptability and goodwill of staff, who all accepted the need for stringent measures.
However, the economic climate is still harsh, even though there are signs of improvement. Many businesses still need to operate pay freezes, or are planning only very modest pay rises, targeted on specific staff. Recruitment has re-started, but still only on a small scale, and usually restricted to re-filling key posts. Crucially, many employers, having tried flexible working, with its non-traditional shift patterns and shorter hours, now find this a more economical way of working and intend to continue with it.
This has brought additional pressure on in-house payroll services, when reduced staff numbers have had to deal with ever-more complicated work records and remuneration packages. Increasingly, businesses are concluding that it is now more efficient and cost-effective to use a professional payroll company such as ourselves at Dataplan Payroll. Specialist payroll outsourcing services like ours can administer even the most complex payments quickly and accurately, releasing staff resources for core activities.
