One Housing Group spin masters cant hide staff anger
Pay offer is real terms pay cut
Recently this website reported that One Housing Group have angered their staff with a pay offer that amounts to a real terms pay cut. OHG then added insult to injury by sending out cheap chocolates by way of consolation when tempers were already running thin. A wave of negative responses on workplace followed. This came as no surprise to Unite who had earlier tested the water with our consultation on the derisory pay offer, throw in cuts to the much needed youth service in the last year as well as a disastrous reorganisation and it is clear to see why frustration has built up amongst staff.
Many of the responses from our members expressed an intense anger and contempt for senior management. Therefore, the recent findings of the Pulse survey which are a further reflection of that anger fit in perfectly with recent events.
Half staff do not trust leadership
Yet even the spin masters of OHG cannot hide the extent of that anger and the extent of management failure. It is a damning condemnation of the way they have handled the pandemic. When OHG senior management refer to themselves as "industry disruptors" we now know what they mean!
OHG's recent survey found the following:
- More than 40% of staff believe the organisation has no clear plan for the future;
- Around 30% of staff say the organisation has no clear values;
- Almost 30% believe that they are not adequately supported by their line manager;
- More than 40% of staff don’t agree that OHG is innovating to improve customer service;
- Two-thirds of staff cannot see any improvements arising from the customer service project “One Future”;
And most damning of all …
- Half of all staff said that they don’t trust the OHG leadership. Indeed, the level of trust in leadership is declining, having dropped a full 5% on the previous survey.
Belated £250 payment
In order to retrieve their position OHG have now belatedly offered a payment of £250 for all those who worked on the frontline during the pandemic. Although this is nowhere enough to compensate workers for their sacrifice it shows what Unite has consistently claimed - OHG can afford to pay this bonus and more!
It also shows how Unite can have a positive effect. Although OHG will try to spin this as a way of responding positively to the poor Pulse survey results, it is unlikely that they would have agreed to this payment had it not been for our constant pressure.
Embarrassed
When Unite submitted a claim for a Corona Bonus earlier in the year we were told that workers would find it "embarrassing" to receive such an award. Adding insult to injury, staff were offered a pay rise (which is in fact a pay cut) of 0.5%. Unite pointed out how out of touch management was following our consultations. OHG have now carried out their own consultation which confirmed what Unite had already told them.
Get involved in Unite!
As welcome as the £250 bonus is, it merely serves to underline how duplicitous OHG are. Will they now admit how wrong they were to defend the insulting claim that underpaid frontline staff would be "embarrassed" to receive a bonus for putting their lives at risk during the pandemic? An apology would be very welcome, but a decent pay rise would go further to rebuild the breakdown in trust. That task will mostly likely fall to the workers and the extent to which they can organise collectively to fight for decent pay so for those who aren't already a member of Unite join here.
And for those who are already members of Unite and would like to play a more active role please contact us by emailing: info@housingworkers.org.uk
Nick Auvache branch organiser
June 17th 2021