Redundancies are becoming an increasing concern for workers in the UK, with new research revealing that three in ten workers are concerned about their job security.
According to the study by Ipos Mori on behalf of homelessness charity St Mungo’s, 29 per cent of British workers are concerned about being made redundant in the next 12 months, which means no improvement has been seen since last year’s poll.
Commenting on the news, Vanessa Robinson, head of HR practice development at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “I think what we are seeing generally across the [board] people are taking a number of measures broadly around recruitment freezes, around pay freezes and a number of redundancies.”
She added that while many firms are making redundancies, they were likely to look at alternatives such as reduced hours working, flexible working and part-time shifts first.
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Meanwhile, recent research by the Confederation of British Industry and Harvey Nash revealed that half all employers are planning to freeze pay altogether and only four per cent plan to make an inflation-beating rise.
In a follow-up to early news detailing an ongoing investigation into gender discrimination and harassment among employees at the Tower of London, two Beefeaters have been fired, it has been widely reported.
The case centred on the first Yeoman Warder at the Tower Moira Cameron, who alleged that she had been the victim of a bullying campaign orchestrated by her male colleagues.
Mark Sanders-Crook and Bob Brown have now lost their positions at the Tower after being found guilty of harassing their female colleague.
It is believed that during the campaign, Ms Cameron’s uniform was defaced and abusive notes were left in her locker, while it was also reported that her Wikipedia entry was altered.
However, Mr Sanders-Crook’s mother Maureen claimed that the only thing her son had done was to not talk to Ms Cameron outside working hours.
Ms Cameron, from Argyll, in Scotland, became the first female Beefeater in the summer of 2007, after serving in the armed forces for 22 years.
