The proletarianisation of Britain’s middle class and how to reverse it | Letters
I fear the plight of the middle class is even worse than Larry Elliott portrays (Welcome to a world of rich and poor with little in between, Journal, 3 May). In addition to being "hollowed out" and suffering stagnant incomes, much of the middle class - public and private sector - has been subjected for two decades to increasing workplace monitoring and micromanagement, bureaucratic control, corporate compliance obligations, target-chasing, constant appraisals and monitoring, the loss of automatic pay increments based on length of service, hot-desking in battery-farm open-plan offices, "presenteeism" and attacks on "unaffordable" occupational pensions.
Much of the middle class used to enjoy relative autonomy, creativity and professional discretion, based on expertise and trust, in performing their jobs; not any more. Now they are treated as automatons, with any sign of individuality or personality viewed with suspicion by management.
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