Report calls for investment in line management training

More than two-fifths (45 percent) of workers believe their line manager don’t help morale at work and one in three (32 percent) feel uncomfortable approaching management about work problems, according to a poll published today. The TUC report, Improving Line Management claims that while the majority of UK workers feel supported by their bosses, more than a third (35 percent) don’t think that their line manager treats them and their colleagues fairly. The TUC says the findings expose the patchiness of management training in the UK, as despite being crucial to workers’ well-being and productivity, less than half of UK managers got any training in the last year, according to most recent government statistics.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Having a good manager is crucial to how we get on at work. But businesses are not investing enough in training managers.”

The poll also reveals that many UK workers feel in the dark about their workplace rights. Nearly half of respondents (44 percent) say their line-manager doesn’t make sure they know their rights at work.

Said O’Grady: “It’s shocking that so many workers feel afraid to raise issues with their boss and are not being told about their rights at work.

“If we want better and more productive workplaces, we need to step up investment in training – including for managers.

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“Anyone who isn’t getting the support they deserve at work should join a union today.”

The TUC is calling on employers to provide better training and support for line managers that fully enables them to perform their role and implement fair performance management procedures with involvement from unions.

It is also calling on the government to:

• Help increase awareness of workplace rights by giving all workers, regardless of employment status, the same basic floor of rights from day one, and legally requiring employers to clearly display these rights on posters in the workplace
• Give unions access to workplaces
• Provide all workers with access to a lifelong learning account giving them a personalised budget for training
• Better enforce workers’ rights by increasing the resources of labour market inspectorates, establishing a system of joint and several liability through supply chains, and promoting collective bargaining as the primary vehicle for raising workplace standards and ensuring compliance with labour standards