The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is calling for the Government to tackle the recession by offering tax relief to businesses that provide training opportunities for staff.

The CMI claims employers want support to develop their existing staff. Its findings show 74% of organisations want more financial support from Government to help develop employee skills, 57% say flexible working regulations must be applied across the whole workforce and more than half (51%) have called for a reduction in business tax.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the CMI, said: "We are calling for tax breaks for businesses investing in their staff and developing out proposals with key partners. Employers should be encouraged to develop staff because a depleted organisation with fewer skills to call on is less likely to survive the recession.

"It is not a strategy of baling out business or massaging unemployment figures, but creating a strategy for survival that reduces redundancy rates over the long term."

Less than one in five employers (15%) think the Government can do little to affect the downturn - but many respondents suggest it should push through measures motivating staff to perform.