Work in progress

Published on 24/07/2012 00:00

So, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) research into employee attitudes suggests that more than half those surveyed were “not bothered” about work (your report, 23 July).

Apart from begging the question of what the CIPD has done to improve the working climate since its inception, given that it has traded on the idea that good human resource practices have a magic effect on employee motivation, the conclusions of the research are hardly surprising when we also read – in separate stories in the same issue of the paper – that in many companies “trust relationships have been replaced by trading relationships” and fast profit has replaced sustainability.

And when we are also told that the “super-rich are hiding £13 trillion from the taxman”, it does not take a major survey to conclude that many employees are “not bothered” about their work. We may have come some way in terms of improving conditions at work since the Victorian era’s child workforce but sadly, some things have not changed fast enough.

(Dr) Mary Brown

Dalvenie Road

Banchory