When companies treat workers like yesterday’s garbage those workers eventually get pretty foul — foul toward their employers that is.
Right now, is seems almost every company is using the recession as an excuse for cutting pay, scaling back benefits, furloughing workers, and making workers work double duty because they’ve slashed so many jobs.
It’s unclear whether all these firms really had to take out the employee machete, but one thing is clear — the tenuous loyalty among American workers will be further bloodied when the recession is over.
A recent workplace study put out by staffing firm Adecco Group found that many workers are getting ready to put their job-seeking sneakers on and bolt out the door the first chance they get.
* More than half (54%) of employed Americans report that they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around.
* And among workers 18-29, 71% say they are likely to look for new jobs once the upturn begins.
“Flight is a very human response when you feel mistreated,” says David Kaplan, a management professor with Saint Louis University. “Some people feel that the recession is providing cover for draconian measures employers have been wanting to do all along.”
While he doesn’t expect to see a 50 percent turnover rate in jobs in the future, this type of job churning is a product of almost any downturn. “You see people upset at the cut backs and they say to themselves ‘this place is not for me anymore,’” he explains.
Employers, he adds, have to be careful about lagging behind other employers when things start to improve, or they risk losing a whole lot of workers. “They’re going to have to give employees raises back, improve benefits and start having that holiday party again,” he stresses.
While it’s difficult to get the energy and guts up to look for another job, or career, I think the workplace carnage we’ve seen in the last year will be a great motivator. Reinstating the holiday soirées with their sandwich trays and stale veges with ranch dressing may not be enough to hold many of you down.
So, will you bolt when the recession is finally over?
June 26th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I am a small business employer and I would like to share other side of coin. When making millions I shared HUGE with employees–now things are tough but to keep them ALL I am hanging on and will take a paycut myself–since it’s clear they balk at any pay cuts on their end–but I don’t really SEE a lot of loyalty from the age group you point out here. So employers in my opinion should do what they have to keep their businesses alive!
June 26th, 2009 at 11:14 am
You make a good point Rhonda. I business of any size needs to make sure the business can sustain itself.
But you sound like a good, ethical employer. I think workers get angry if they feel that the pain isn’t being spread around, or cuts are being made under the guise of a bad economy that may not be necessary.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Rhonda, just make sure you are open and honest with your employees before the situation gets to the point where you need to make cuts. Let them know that the company is going through a tough period, but that you all can work together to keep down costs and get yourselves through it. Don’t ever let the employees think that things are great until right before drastic changes need to be made.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Rhonda,
Everyone needs to understand the basic rule of employment - an employee’s value is directly proportional to how easily that employee can be replaced. Most small businesses have one or two employees that are essential, and the rest of the workers are interchangeable. It’s important for employees to understand that they sell their labor for the best deal that they can find. It’s important for employers to understand that competent, satisfied employees will add to the bottom line.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Hi, you also mentioning about the recession. Can I add something about recession and politics?
Generally an administration gets credit or blame for the state of economy during its time.[25] This has caused disagreements about when a recession actually started.
In an economic cycle, a downturn can be considered a consequence of an expansion reaching an unsustainable state, and is corrected by a brief decline. Thus it is not easy to isolate the causes of specific phases of the cycle.
The 1981 recession is thought to have been caused by the tight-money policy adopted by Paul Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, before Ronald Reagan took office. Reagan supported that policy. Economist Walter Heller, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the 1960s, said that “I call it a Reagan-Volcker-Carter recession.
The resulting taming of inflation did, however, set the stage for a robust growth period during Reagan’s administration.
It is generally assumed[weasel words] that government activity has some influence over the presence or degree of a recession.
Economists usually teach that to some degree recession is unavoidable, and its causes are not well understood. Consequently, modern government administrations attempt to take steps, also not agreed upon, to soften a recession.
They are often unsuccessful, at least at preventing a recession, and it is difficult to establish whether they actually made it less severe or longer lasting.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I think it’s painful for employees when cuts have to be made, even when they understand the necessity. It becomes intolerable, however, when the employees get a whiff of something that reaches beyond the necessary and into the opportunistic. Intolerable and unmistakable. That’s when people wait for the chance to leave.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:13 am
Bad behavior is certainly present on both sides of the employment marriage. Employees quit abruptly without any concern for the on-going needs of the company, and employers pile on job tasks and sometimes layoff without concern for the employee.
Responding to your point, I feel employers could make huge strides at retaining their current employment base … if they want to, of course. And some of what can be done for employees to feel appreciated and wanted doesn’t require raises, bonuses, and the like. Money is nice, don’t get me wrong. But, it’s not always about the coin. =]
Regards,
@teenarose
July 5th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Having survived two furloughs and five rounds of layoffs with another round pending this week, I can attest to a moral way below sea-level, not even sonar can pick it up!
Economy aside, corporate America has taught us to never get comfortable in any company. The era of 25 years plus and that golden pen at the end are long gone.
They can replace older workers with two ambitious college grads and that is the way many companies are going.
Having read articles and spoken to friends who are considering “dumming down their resumes,” in hopes of competing with their younger counterparts, there needs to be an intervention at the bleeding of a skilled, middle-aged workforce.
It’s discrimination in disguise, or is it?
Lastly, in the spirit of erasing experience, some are considering plastic surgery to erase time. (With what money?)