LibDem gets tough on employee wellbeing

Directors who fail to protect employees’ wellbeing should be struck off, Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes told his party conference earlier this month.

He presented a Quality of life policy paper in which he seeks solutions to the twin problems of unemployment on the one hand and overwork of those in employment on the other.

Hughes notes that there are already powers to disqualify company directors for financial impropriety, and he argues that similar mechanisms should be used to safeguard employee wellbeing. His proposal is that the UK’s biggest companies be required to issue data on employee satisfaction.

Hughes said: “In the UK we have one of the most unequal distributions of work in the developed world. Almost four out of every 10 men and nearly one out of every eight women work more than 45 hours a week — more than twice as many as our western European neighbours... At the same time we also have one of the highest rates of people who work less than 20 hours a week.”