The public sector faces a very difficult year with continued pressure to cut staff levels, reduce pay and freeze recruitment, new figures suggest.
The ‘Dealing with the Deficit’ report, published by the management consultancy Hay Group, is based on a survey of 175 public sector organisations and highlights growing concern about the impact of cuts on staff morale and motivation.
Some 62% of the organisations said they plan to reduce the pay bill and make further redundancies, 41% said they would freeze staff recruitment and 39% said they will make further savings through office and facilities closures.
Overall 74% of public sector leaders said they believe that the already stretched public sector employees will face an additional workload and some 53% expressed concerns that they may lose their best staff because of increased pressure on jobs.
Peter Smith, a director at Hay Group, said: ‘The public sector has had to bear the brunt of the Government's austerity programme. As our research demonstrates, the sector is still firmly in cost-cutting mode.
‘Public sector leaders are understandably concerned about asking more from workforces who have already felt the impact of cost-cutting measures, and rightly recognise the threat to employee engagement.’
