I’m reading that we’ve probably hit bottom as far as the economy is concerned, and although the climb back may be slow, the recession will end eventually. What do you think will be the big people management challenges for organizations as the job market unfreezes?
As our reader suggests, job markets are very tight across the country. Organizations are delaying hiring, and employees are working longer hours to compensate. There are survey findings emerging that tell a cautionary tale about what may be on the horizon when the upturn in the economy takes told. Here are some gleanings from a survey conducted in the United States. You can decide for yourselves how applicable they are to Canada.
- Since the current recession began in late 2007, seven million jobs have vanished.
- Half of American workers say that they have taken on more work because of a layoff, while 37% say they are handling the work of two people.
- A CareerBuilder.com survey also found that 34% of workers are spending more time at the office and 22% are working more weekends.
- While eight in ten employers feel that their workers are “just happy to have a job,” only 53% of employees actually feel this way. (Monster.com and the Human Capital Institute)
- 17% of workers are actively thinking of changing jobs in the next 12 months (SnagaJob.com survey), and 25% of “high potentials” plan to leave. (Corporate Leadership Council)
- One in five workers are “highly disengaged.” (Corporate Leadership Council).
- The effort levels among senior leaders are less than half what they were before the recession began. (Corporate Leadership Council)
- The downturn has exposed a severe skills gap in managing and re-engaging the disengaged – 63% are now rated as ineffective. (Corporate Leadership Council)
- The drop in employee engagement since the recession began has reduced worker productivity by 3-5%. (Corporate Leadership Council)
- Disengaged employees are 24% less likely to quit than engaged employees are. (Corporate Leadership Council)
(Keeping The People Report, Volume 17, September 2009)
These trends suggest some needed actions for organizations to take.
1. Communicate openly and honestly with employees
With employees groaning under the weight of doing more than one job, employers need to be candid about the near term hardships and also give recognition for the sacrifices that their people are making. At a workshop on employee retention and engagement that I led last month, a participant pointed out that if employees are sacrificing in these ways, then so are their families; their families could use some recognition, too.
Communicating doesn’t mean just giving information; it also means listening. There’s a big disconnect between how management believes employees are feeling about their employment and how employees actually feel.
2. Express appreciation for the results that employees are producing under trying conditions
In recent years, employees have become accustomed to high job mobility. (I’ve referred to this in earlier columns as the seller’s job market.) The recession has handed them a temporary buyer’s job market; there are fewer opportunities to change employers, and employees are feeling stuck. It’s this feeling that’s responsible for much of the lower engagement levels.
What employees do when the inevitable seller’s job market returns (fewer job seekers than jobs) will be a direct result of how they feel they’re being treated right now. Employers who believe that their people are feeling lucky to be employed are in for a rude shock.
3. Manage problem performers out
That’s the message in the final bullet point above. It may seem to contradict what I’ve been saying: if people are doing the work of two, why make things worse by shrinking the ranks even further? Underachievers aren’t going anywhere on their own; it’s the talent that will leave when the going gets good. It’s the talent that the headhunters are calling, because talent is a product that they can move quickly. For employees who are making superior contributions, working alongside people who aren’t is disengaging in the extreme. When your talent gets the message that you’re serious about dealing with poor performers, their engagement will skyrocket.
Employees noticed at the beginning of the downturn that employers reached for the layoff solution pretty quickly. This doesn’t bode well for employers looking to retain talent. There’s a conversation on a LinkedIn chat group in answer to the question, “Will employee retention be a problem after the recession ends?” “Yes,” say 88% of respondents. That’s seven yeses out of a possible eight.
4. Train managers in retention skills
If 63% of managers are rated as inadequate at retaining talent, then they need training. Nobody is born with this skill set, and it’s not taught at school. However, it can be learned.
Again from the United States, their Bureau of Labor Statistics (the equivalent of Statistics Canada) reports that today’s students can expect to have 14 different jobs by the time they reach the age of 38. Now that’s mobility! To keep them around for tomorrow, treat them right today.
To submit a question for a future column, or to comment on a previous one, please contact editor@charityvillage.com. No identifying information will appear in this column. For paid professional advice about an urgent or complex situation, contact Tim directly.
Tim Rutledge, Ph.D., is a veteran human resources consultant and publisher of Mattanie Press. You can contact him at tim_rutledge@sympatico.ca or visit www.gettingengaged.ca.
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