Employers are poorly equipped to weather the current economic downturn as they are failing to utilise workers' talents and give them little say over how they work, a study claims.
A report by the Work Foundation published today surveyed 2011 workers and found 40 per cent of employees have more skills than their jobs require.
Forty per cent of those questioned also said they had little or no flexibility regarding the hours they work and 20 per cent of graduates claim they are in "low knowledge content" jobs.
Ian Brinkley, associate director at The Work Foundation, said in a statement: "So far in this recession employers have been reluctant to lose the skills, talents and experience of their workforces.
"Yet at the same time they seem to be failing to make the most of them. Many people could be doing more, but are denied the chance to do so."
Mr Brinkley said that to keep job losses to a minimum, organisations should give their employees more responsibility, move away from rules and procedure-based workplace cultures, and give individuals more flexibility over working hours.
"More autonomy for people and less intensive management should be the order of the day," he added.
"Trapping so many workers in roles in which their skills and abilities are poorly matched with their jobs is a waste both of economic potential and human possibility."
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