Hearts & Minds: Speaker, Beware!

Britain’s CEOs, brace yourselves. Up and down the land today the heads of businesses will be asked for their views. It’s Budget Day, and the appetite of the media for reaction from company bosses, from employers, will be insatiable.

National, regional, local press, it doesn’t matter which - once the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves sits down, they will be phoning, emailing, asking for comment. The temptation to speak may be high, it’s free publicity and this, on an occasion when people really do pay close attention and absorb the news. So, what’s to lose?

Look at it another way. What’s to gain? By all means, go ahead, but please, examine the pros and cons. It may be personally satisfying, being seen to pronounce on such a major speech, but is it especially helpful. Instead, could it be damaging?  

Politics is intensely divisive. This Budget is billed as ‘good for workers’. It’s a Labour government, after all. You, as an employer, might feel hard done by, but your employees may not. Ask yourself, do they really want to see you on TV, in print, attacking something that benefits them. Of course, business may be unhappy – but do you want to be the mealy-mouthed Scrooge character? Why not let others, your trade association possibly, occupy that pedestal.

Last night’s TV news contained an item on how the Budget will contain an increase in the National Living Wage. The head of a bar, restaurant chain in London was filmed in one of their branches, saying that inevitably, the rise would lead to closures and reduced opening hours. He said this, as behind him, staff were working flat out.

If they heard him, they didn’t show it. But they would watch the interview. There was their CEO spelling doom and gloom. It was not clear if he meant his firm’s branches, its opening hours, or those of other companies. If it was the former, he did a good job of telling them to dust off their CVs and start looking for work. If it was the latter, he still managed, standing next to his brand, to inject a dose of negativity. They were talking about a rise in the National Living Wage, which is as its names suggests, and there he was, bemoaning a loss of profits. Of course, that determines whether they remain employed or not, but that’s not how it came across. Think carefully, before agreeing to that request.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.