Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has urged businesses to focus on recruiting British workers. But he doesn't see the bigger picture
A few years ago when I went to a printing company to buy stationery the person who was dealing with my order would become infuriated if his phone rang when I was with him – not because it disrupted interaction with his customer, but because it was invariably a new business order. It meant more work. Compare that attitude with my Pakistani newsagent, who asks me: "How are you – busy?" I nod and he says: "That's good."
It would be absurd for me to conclude that people from abroad have a better work ethic than home-grown workers. But is it any less implausible for Gordon Brown to have talked about "British jobs for British workers" or more recently for work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to have told us to hire people from the UK rather than those from abroad?
For once, the groups that claim to speak for British businesses called
it right and pointed out what is obvious to most business leaders but an inconvenient truth for politicians – namely that people from overseas are prepared to do the jobs that local people tend to run away from.
This is nothing new. After the second world war, we shipped over thousands of people from the West Indies to take up jobs in public transport and in the NHS (ironically, it was a minister by the name of Enoch Powell who was responsible for the latter). In the 1970s, Ugandan Asians came to the UK and were the ones who were willing to work longer hours.
Perhaps oddly for a restaurant like mine dedicated to celebrating British food, indigenous workers are in a minority front of house and this is how the awkward truth unravels. When we opened, there had been a lot of publicity and expectation – so much so that by day three we were turning customers away and by the end of the first week the reservations software went into meltdown.
Chaos and pandemonium ensued and everyone was working much harder than they had expected. It gives me absolutely no pleasure to say this, but the British workers moaned and dragged their feet. One was overheard saying to a customer how tired he was and it wasn't long before almost all of them left.
Yes, they were by and large replaced by eastern Europeans who relished the prospect of working hard and being rewarded for doing so. They are largely still with us five years on and have climbed the ranks of the company.
Many of you may sadly have had similar experiences within your own businesses. I say "sadly" because I would love to give local people jobs and opportunities. But if they're work-shy, if they aren't punctual, and if they're unwilling to put in the same effort as the rest of the team, why would I take them on? It's tantamount to discrimination and it's discriminatory towards the performance of my company.
Duncan Smith has done good work by tightening up the benefits system, but I'm afraid here he illustrates how politicians have next to no idea of the conditions under which a lot of UK businesses operate. I'm sure many would like to dispel the "work-shy Britain" tag and engage with organisations such as Business in the Community to take a lead on the issue.
But let's not end this debate with the usual refrain that politicians don't understand business. Let's get them into our companies to see what we have to face. When engaged with properly, businesses invariably step up. London mayor Boris Johnson picked Tim Campbell to encourage businesses to create apprenticeships and set a target of 20,000. Three months ahead of deadline, Campbell had signed up 28,000 apprentices already. He's been so successful because he's fluent in the language of business.
Let's not be told by politicians that "we're all in this together", when what they really mean is that they no longer feel capable of running the country. A bit more modesty would go a long way. If they said instead: "We can't do this on our own and it's in all of our interests to get the economy back on track. How can you help us?" I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in becoming involved. This negative energy could be transformed to help get Britain working and workable again. Perhaps it could all be done before the next election. Yes, minister?
