What is the problem and why is solving it to the huge benefit of British society?

If our workers are badly paid they are too skint to buy British goods and services. If our workers are forced sign up to irregular hour contracts that are abusive then they cannot make plans to start a family or to retire. If our workers have bleak career prospects or working conditions the brightest will choose to ply their trade overseas and the most desperate will opt out of making a positive contribution to society. In short, indecent jobs undermine our economic prosperity, heap a financial burden on the welfare state, and shred the social fabric which binds our great communities together. Responsible business recognise this problem and believe decent jobs go hand-in-hand with: a sustainable and inclusive recovery that balances consumer-led growth and export-development; competitive advantage based on quality as well as cost; worker productivity and customer service; job creation and an efficient tax-and-spend state. More than this, a new vanguard of responsible business is willing to stand up for decent jobs by ‘walking the talk’ and lobbying government to develop public policy that creates a level playing field to ensure others feel confident or are compelled to do the same.

Following the 2008 global financial crisis and resulting austerity, much has been made by political parties across the spectrum about a plan for growth or mending the fractured economy. In 2014 official figures by of the Office of National Statistics confirmed that the British economy had finally returned to pre-recession levels, ending the longest downturn in post-war history. Yet despite a fall in unemployment, the figures also confirmed that pay growth is falling, lagging well behind inflation, which in real terms means GDP per capita is 6% lower than its pre-crisis peak. This has led to serious concerns about the resilience of this spurt, not only in terms of productivity brittleness, but also the emergence of a twin-tracked recovery whereby pre-crisis decent jobs are being replaced with post-crisis indecent jobs at the very same time the cost of living is rising. For instance, the Institute of Fiscal Studies calculates that after inflation the real hourly pay of workers under the age of 30 has collapsed by 11% since the financial crisis of 2008, with household incomes down by 15%. Here, large numbers live in shared housing or shared rooms, often forced to become self-employed due to a lack of graduate jobs or career ladders as opposed to the pursuit of an entrepreneurial opportunity or new lifestyle choice.

What are government and business being asked to do? And why now?

Business Campaign for Decent Jobs aims to reverse government and public opinion that British business - SMEs and large companies alike - believe investment in higher standards of employment is bad for our economy. Critically, this nonpartisan campaign is positioned as a major voice of the business community, as opposed to civil society.

This sharp, simple and short campaign will ask government to move beyond voluntary action to do three things:

1. Mandate a living wage. The idea is that this is the minimum pay rate needed to let workers lead a decent life. The living wage is now voluntary set at £8.80 an hour in London and £7.65 an hour in the rest of the country. By comparison, the national minimum wage is significantly lower at £6.50 an hour. More than one in five of Britain’s 25 million workers are paid less than the living wage, according to KPMG. This traps the ‘working poor’ in an unbreakable cycle of poverty.

2. End the abuse of irregular hour contracts. Flexibility in working hours can be of mutual benefit to the employee (lifestyle choice or family needs) and employer (match the required workforce to fluctuations in market demand). However some unscrupulous employers are not providing written terms and conditions for Britain’s 1 million zero hours contract staff and a significant proportion of these workers report having had pre-arranged work cancelled with no notice or at the start of a shift, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

3. Leverage public procurement and pension funds to reward decent employers. The British government’s annual procurement budget alone is worth £230 billion. Criteria for awarding all contracts or pension investments should be refreshed to incentivise higher job standards, ranging from youth apprenticeships through to a career ladder for older or female workers returning to the workplace in underserved markets. Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 is a basis to address concerns about EU procurement barriers. This will also act as a spur to innovation in R&D, productivity or customer service.

From Autumn 2014 onwards in the run up to the General Election 2015 the campaign is building a groundswell of visible support through: industry petition; public poll; and targeting House of Commons Select Committees/ All-Party Parliament Groups, Local Enterprise Partnerships/ combined authorities and mainstream and social media. This is being informed and supported by a persuasive evidence base that cuts through the paradox of decent jobs being an enemy to growth, drawn from local stories of success, an economic analysis, and inspirational comparisons from overseas. (For instance, cross-country evidence suggests that gradual wage increases does not push up unemployment. In the USA the Business Campaign for a Fair Living Wage, a coalition of 200,000 companies, has shown there is no negative affect to the economy, with 80% of Americans polled supporting the campaign including 62% of Republications, resulting in new regional legislation in Seattle, Massachusetts, and District of Columbia).

Whilst there will be a honeycomb effect on policy advocacy surrounding the General Election 2015, launching the campaign on the eve of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta 1215 could not be more timely. The campaign combines major public/industry concerns about British values related to decency and fairness, standards of livings, jobs and growth - and turns it into a positive news story/ emotional hook with a practical solution. Doing so allows government and business to be on the right side of history.

Why is a voluntary approach not sufficient?

Well intentioned opt-in initiatives such as the Living Wage Foundation or Investors in People have played an important role in raising awareness and inspiring action amongst responsible business that goes beyond the mandatory minimum. However, the business case for corporate responsibility will never be strong enough to support an isolated company in its competition against the unscrupulous. The progressive vanguard reaches a point where it can advance no further without rendering itself uncompetitive. That is, unless advocacy and public policy intervention change the rules and shift the bar for the allowable lowest common denominator. With the base reset, so is the bar of aspiration. New rules enable new behaviours, with players competing on a fairer, more decent and sustainable footing. Far-sighted businesses understand they need to reboot the game, throw off cultural inhibitions and stick their head above the parapet to advocate progressive legislative change. The next phase of corporate responsibility is underway, and it is lobbying for good.

Who is behind the campaign?

The Business Campaign for Decent Jobs is facilitated by Infrangilis, an advocacy organisation that works for a sustainable and just world, which has advised and written extensively on the topic, including the most recent publication ‘Lobbying for Good’. A rainbow alliance of partners is also helping to bring together unusual bedfellows, passionate about disruptive market solutions, David versus Goliath struggles for the common good. A project advisory group is drawn from this alliance.

Contact us: Philip Monaghan, philipmonaghan@infrangilis.org, 0161 238 9086, www.infrangilis.org/issues. Follow on twitter at @Infrangilis_ltd #BizCampaign4DecentJobs.

How can business support the campaign?

It is free to join the campaign. Companies can join forces with like-minded peers in a number of ways by:

- Signing the petition and inviting ten contacts in your networks to do the same

- Attending meetings with government officials and the policy community to make the case for change

- Joining the project advisory group to steer the direction of the campaign

- Providing resource support to mobilise the campaign

- Helping to spread the word to new audiences through mainstream and social media such as Twitter.

If your company has other ideas about how you can join forces through the campaign, please let us know.