Pay and Rewards 2020: depression, hope and anger

My hopes for ‘more of’ and ‘less of’ in the decade ahead

Since the financial crash, the average annual increase in UK productivity is 0.3% (output per hour). This represents a sharp contrast to the pre-crisis decade, when productivity averaged 2% - 3% per year.

But Duncan Brown, Head of HR Consultancy, finds some room for optimism in his hopes for the year and decade ahead: employees aged over 25 will receive a 6.2% pay rise from April, more employers are seeing the benefit of collective bonus plans, and some are turning to evidence as the basis for their pay and reward policies.

However, that doesn't mean that everything is rosy. Duncan sets out three areas where change is urgent: tackling soaring executive pay, addressing the gender pay gap and providing lower paid workers real opportunities for progression, as highlighted in IES’ Progression in Employment project.

This opinion paper is an extension of Duncan's abridged blog, published in January.