Dr Krishna Sarda, CEO, Ethnic Minority Foundation

If the economic pundits are to be believed and the UK is staring a major recession in the face then it will be those with the least that suffer the most, according to Dr Krishna Sarda, CEO of the Ethnic Minority Foundation.

While we traditionally associate the word ‘poverty’ with the developing world there is still a strong undercurrent of poverty here in the UK. Often found within ethnic minority communities, if the UK were to suffer a recession during 2008/09 these communities would be hit hard. As such, the Ethnic Minority Foundation expects to handle far more enquiries from people seeking advice this year.

Sarda believes style of leadership has a major role to play during difficult times. Leaders at every level need to “be decisive and clear about their course of action, tough times require strong leaders” he says. But leaders also need the ability to work with others. “As well as inspiring people with the force of their conviction real leaders need to mobilise people by building relationships and partnerships.”

The review into skills by Lord Leitch was an excellent contribution to the skills debate and Sarda certainly believes there has been an under-investment in skills in the UK. However, he also recognises that it wasn’t just the UK who got caught out “the sheer scale of globalisation in the 1990’s and the subsequent migration of skills were predicted by no-one” he says.

With globalisation lauded by big business and government all over the world, Sarda is keen to bring the debate back to the deprived sections of society. “While the poorest are hardest hit in a recession so the lowest skilled are hardest hit as a result of globalisation” he says.

Tensions are rising in many western economies as local people compete with a new generation of economic migrants for relatively low paid work. “In some areas, like East London, there is simply more cheap labour than there are jobs” says Sarda.

Engagement is the key to resolving this tension according to Sarda; “institutions like the Sector Skills Council and the Employment Commission are vital in developing solutions to overcome this problem”. Investment at the tertiary education level and a more robust vocational training syllabus also have a part to play.

When asked about the long term opportunity presented by engaging with the next generation of employees Sarda is pragmatic. “Young people see the public sector as slow, as bureaucratic and as not interested in innovative thinking. The 1960’s and 1970’s were seen as the decades where ‘serving society’ was king, today ‘personal fulfilment’ dominates.”

So the public sector career may be dying out, but with a greater fragmentation of the 21st century career path comes other opportunities that can boost the appeal of the public sector. “A lot of people from the private sector are moving into the public sector mid-way through their career in order to ‘give something back’. These individuals are highly skilled and as such we are seeing more social enterprises springing up where the line between the private sector and public sector is blurred.”

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