Most businesses would say that there is too much legislation relating to employment. I’m sure that unions would say it’s necessary to protect employees’ rights. But does the legislation do more harm than good? For a start small businesses in particular are likely to go down the outsourcing route rather than taking on employees, and who can blame them? However, there’s another point. If you require legislation to keep you in a job, surely it can’t be a happy situation. Wouldn’t you be better off moving somewhere else? Just a day or two ago a headmistress was explaining how she had moved on one in six of her staff and saying that the conversations with them had been helpful to them to see that teaching wasn’t the right career choice for them.

Many years ago I had a guy working for me who just wasn’t cutting the mustard. We were puzzled by this but conversations with him and having him psychometrically tested revealed that he was the proverbial wrong shaped peg for the hole.  We got him moved to a more appropriate role. He was happier, we were happier and the company benefited from him being in a role where he was able to make a full contribution.

In his book, ‘From Good to Great’, Professor Jim Collins reports on very extensive research into how some companies outperformed their competitors over many years. One of the key factors was, as Collins puts it, having the right people on the bus and sitting in the right seats. This is possible only if there is flexibility to move people around or off that particular bus. Once we have a job that is reasonably secure and well paid, I suggest that most of us are reluctant to leave even if we don’t enjoy it. But this is helpful to no one. Allowing businesses to remove easily someone from the bus allows that person the opportunity to find the right employment for them … or gives them a necessary wake up call that they need to work harder in their next employment if that was the reason they’ve been ejected from the bus.

Is it right to deny someone the opportunity to move to a job that is better suited to them – that they will enjoy more? And why is it in anyone’s interest to protect lazy employees? Of course, there is another side to this. If employers communicate fully with their staff and involve them in all that’s going on, employees are more likely to feel committed to a business and what it is trying to achieve. An open and honest conversation in both directions will make it easier to ensure that people are on the right buses and buses have the right people on them.