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BETTER BUSINESS

important thing to any business, and said ‘could we have flexibility’ and
this should be embraced more than then we do it, but not as standard”.
ever… it is certainly not a time to And as for the hike in employers
have disengaged employees”. National Insurance, “that,” says
Despite his comments, Cross Biltcliffe, “comes straight out of prof-
thinks that elements of the itability”. He cites the example of an
Employment Rights Bill do make organisation near where he lives that
sense and says that he is fully behind told him the move will add £400,000
many of the items such as the clamp- to the wage bill through a combina-
ing down of ‘fire and rehire.’ As he tion of the minimum wage increase
says: “I understand there are some and the rise in National Insurance –
poor employers out there whose “that’s a huge sum of money for any-
employees should be protected, but I body and they don’t make anything
feel the government is using a sledge- like that as a profit so they’re going to
hammer to crack a nut and they are have to radically re-engineer what
not considering the consequences to they do”.
good businesses.” By this he means shed employees
and deploy automation. In essence,
Webmart Biltcliffe reckons that this change
Simon Biltcliffe, founder and exec- alone “will be quite significant and I
utive chairman, says that he under- don’t think necessarily the govern-
stands what the government is trying ment has thought through all of the
to achieve – that is, to get “compa- ramifications”.
nies to effectively pay for an increas- In terms of print firms looking to
ing proportion of the welfare bill” cope with the bill, Biltcliffe says that
and he can see the effect of recent the only solution is to look to automa-
changes in that when the national tion and AI in workflow manage-
minimum wage rises so more are ment: “You’ve really got to look at
whether you’ve got low value-added
taken off benefits. activity or anything that is not empa-
But beyond the matter of pure pay, thetic – as in not client touching and
Biltcliffe sees the government also that is repeatable. There will be tools
working to bring people on disability out there that are AI enabled to allow
benefits back into the workforce. As you to automate that.”
Micropress to the content of the Bill, Biltcliffe His thinking is that doing this “will
thinks that we’re only seeing an early release quality people that you’ve got
Rob Cross, joint managing director, is concerned with how the employ- draft and thinks that it will be
ment and business landscape is changing. In particular, he feels that the amended “because you can’t give to do higher value-added activity and
allow a business to grow”.
direction of travel of the government is “making it more onerous and costly people all the rights from day one – Regardless, he fears that the Bill will
for employers”. He thinks that the government is “misguided if they think that’s farcical to be brutally honest; see firms shrink their workforces: “I
these proposed changes in employment law and some of their other policies nobody will want to take a punt on think in two years’, three years’ time,
are actually going to encourage growth. I fear it may have the opposite [an individual], and that’s key as not we will see what has actually hap-
effect… and… employers will be more cautious when employing people”. pened... whether the optimistic view
everybody is preordained to be suc-
His concerns and views are not unique to him and points to what others cessful”. of releasing people from drudgery
are telling him: “Every business I have spoken to is horrified about the NI Biltcliffe is firmly behind the con- and giving them creativity has hap-
hikes coming in.” cept of giving workers a chance, but pened, or [many] probably older peo-
Fortunately, Cross describes Suffolk-based Micropress as “a strong, prof- comments that “if you’ve got legisla- ple have moved out of the workforce
itable business” and while it will have a negative effect on operating margin tion which precludes that then all it or out of the industry into more mun-
dane roles in supermarkets, driving
Cross says that the company will be able to navigate the changes. However, means is that people are disenfran- and logistics that are very difficult to
he reckons – and fears – that “it will prove too costly for many print busi- chised, or less obvious choices will automate.”
nesses and not everyone will survive. It is bad enough for our industry, but I get less opportunity which is quite It’s clear that the Employment
dread to think what affect it will have on sectors where labour costs are a contrary to the intended conse- Rights Bill, if passed as outlined, is
much bigger proportion of sales”. He worries about the effects on prices that quences”. going to have quite an impact on
are likely to go up and so add further pressure on inflation. On the subject of zero-hours con- employers in the print sector. The
His advice to others in print is to focus on efficiency. On this Cross says tracts he notes that Webmart rarely question will be how they react and
that “we are fortunate enough that as a manufacturing sector we can invest utilises them “unless it works for the whether it’ll affect recruitment poli-
in technology to gain efficiency”. He adds that “people are the single most individual... occasionally people have cies and pay settlements.

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