Employers should join ranks with their workforce to tackle the recession rather than making cutbacks, the Institute of Employment Rights has said, which could see productivity in the workplace being boosted.

Carolyn Jones, director of the institute, said one option for employers of HR staff was to sit down around a table with the entire company and include them in the firm’s plans to meet the challenges caused by the recession.

"They shouldn’t impose from above a quick fix for an immediate problem, so [for example] they get a bill in they can’t pay and somebody is out the door, losing their job," she added.

Ms Jones stated that one option could be for employers to agree a package of proposals for dealing with the recession with the workforce.

She concluded that if workers are not treated with respect by their superiors, the "discontent will be a ticking time bomb".

In the second quarter of this year, 246,000 people were made redundant in the UK, an increase of 107,000 on the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

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