Glass half full | Reeve's hikes knock business confidence - but employers should see an opportunity, not just a challenge

Doom, gloom, and despair.

These are the prevailing winds in the boardrooms of businesses up and down our country, according to a CIPD survey, widely reported earlier this week by mainstream media outlets, HR-adjacent social media influencers on LinkedIn, and granted, by HR Grapevine too.

The study of 2,000 UK employers painted a somewhat bleak picture. Ahead of Chancellor Reeve’s impending increases in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage, employer confidence has slumped, described by CIPD chief exec Peter Cheese as “the most significant downward changes… in the last ten years.” Ouch.

It was impossible to come away from reading those reports not having internalised some of that pessimism. It’s been another long, dark winter and with many HR professionals finding their own wellbeing is on the slide, you’d be forgiven for taking a glass half-empty view of the weeks and months to come.