| By :
Martin Hofschroer
Managers of small and medium-sized (SMEs) businesses feel they are better placed than larger organisations to cope with the government's Comprehensive Spending Review. The Economic Outlook Report by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) revealed that the government's cost-cutting announcement set for October 20th is causing "huge anxiety" in the business world. Despite this concern, just 47 per cent of SME managers believed the upcoming budget cuts would be a threat to their business in comparison to 60 per cent of managers who were employed by larger companies. Job security was also higher among SME bosses as only eight per cent confessed to feeling worried about their position which was dwarfed by the 42 per cent of managers working at companies with more than 250 employees. The CMI has urged the government to provide performance improvement consulting support to managers by giving them greater control over how to spend funding. Ruth Spellman, chief executive of CMI, said: "Ultimately, the key to recovery is ensuring managers feel confident and optimistic about the future. Of course, managers and leaders must take some responsibility for developing the skills needed for success, but they are crying out for more support." An increasing number of businesses may have to employ performance improvement consulting services as there is great concern about how cost-cutting will affect employee morale and workplace disputes. The CMI report also discovered that fewer SMEs had measures such as pay and recruitment freezes in place than larger companies ahead of the spending review. Public sector employers have announced that they are preparing introduce measures such as cutting staff numbers and reduction of pay and benefits ahead of the budget cuts. Law firm Eversheds discovered that 81 per cent of public sector businesses thought they would make staff redundant over the next year and 45 per cent will consider freezing recruitment over the coming 12 months. Lord Alan Sugar has asked the government to divert money away from training facilities to employers in order to fund apprenticeships during the current economic climate. The peer said in a parliamentary debate on apprenticeships that school leavers who go on to further education institutions such as college and training facilities come out of them "unemployable and unskilled". He said: "From my experience of taking on young people from college or other so-called training facilities, when they enter my company they know nothing." People who are employed under a contract of apprenticeship have to be paid £2.50 an hour due to recent changes to the minimum wage.
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