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Think small first says CBI

The CBI has called on the Government to ‘think small first’ and tackle regulation that prevents private and family-owned businesses from creating jobs and growing their businesses.

In a new report, Think Small First, the CBI has highlighted the potential for SMEs to pick up the employment slack from the public sector.

Research shows that they create two-thirds of all new jobs and are well represented in regions where the public sector predominates.

However, 60% of private and family-owned firms have cited employment regulation as a barrier to job creation.

The CBI has called on the Government to recognise the disproportionate impact some regulation has on smaller firms, given their limited human resources capacity, and the informal nature of employment relations.

John Cridland, CBI director-general, said: “Smaller firms are job-creation dynamos. The Government must think small first by tackling regulation which distracts them from growing the business and creating jobs.

“Much employment law fails to recognise that private and family-run firms don’t have dedicated human resource teams and tend to manage staff in an informal way.

“The size and nature of these firms makes them strong advocates of flexible and family-friendly working, and the Government should build on this success.”

The CBI’s proposals include: speeding up the tribunals system; providing clear guidance in the absence of a default retirement age; introducing the right to an annual review of flexible working and to agree a return date with an employee going on maternity leave.

He added: “An annual review on flexible working would ensure that competing requests could be managed fairly, while agreeing a return date with employees going on maternity leave in advance would help firms plan for the future.

“If the Government gets the law right for small firms, it gets it right for all firms. Thinking small first would better harness the potential of SMEs, rather than simply exempting some of the smallest from aspects of the law that undermine growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .