The CIPD has called for 'a national awareness campaign on the importance of good people management skills among line managers'.

The proposal is a central theme of the new CIPD report, 'PLATFORM 2010 - A RECOVERY THAT WORKS'. In the report the CIPD highlights the importance of 'the widespread development of productive workplaces' to enable the country to emerge from recession.

Echoing last year's MacLeod Report on Employee Engagement, the CIPD states, 'In the UK there is a significant ‘people management skills deficit', which is particularly acute at line management level. This deficit means the UK has too few workplaces where skills are used to their full potential. It is also a cause of broader performance failure within organisations, such as the poor management of workplace conflict, stress and absence.'

Commenting on the report, Youmanage MD, Phil Brown said, "We believe the CIPD is absolutely right to emphasise the importance of effective line management as a driver of economic performance. In too many organisations, poorly trained and poorly equipped line managers are failing to realise the potential of their teams. If the UK economy is to emerge stronger from this recession it can't afford this wastage. Line managers play a critical role in high performing businesses and need to be properly equipped to do the job required of them." 

To download the full CIPD report go to http://www.cipd.co.uk/publicpolicy/_platform20100110.