During these past two years of hard economic times, lots of employers have been behaving badly and they know it.
They’ve been working lots of you to the bone, treating you pretty crummy and in many cases ethics have gone out the window.
According to a report released this week, many executives knew exactly what they were doing to workers and now they’re worried a bunch of you are going to abandon ship once the economy turns around. And why shouldn’t you?
Deloitte’s fourth annual Ethics & Workplace Survey paints a sad picture of corporate America.
The poll, which included input from Fortune 1000 executives and employees, found that 65 percent of the executives “who are concerned employees will be job hunting in the coming months believe trust will be a factor in a potential increase in voluntary turnover.”
“Voluntary turnover” is corporate lingo for pissed off workers hitting the road.
And why is trust a factor?
Many of the executives polled actually admitted they’re to blame.
* 48 percent think you guys are splitting because of the “lack of transparency in leadership
communications.”* 39 percent think you are high-tailing it out of the corporate parking lot because of the “perception of unfair and unethical treatment of employees over the last 18 to 24 months.”
Employees apparently agree. Here are the top reasons workers say they plan on leaving their present employer:
* 48 percent of employees say “loss of trust”
* 46 percent say “lack of transparency in communications”
* 40 percent say “being treated unfairly or unethically by employers”
I don’t know about you all, but I expected workers to bitch about how harshly they’ve been treated during this recession. But reading that a good number of executives at corporations knew they were acting unethically makes it somehow even worse.
“With lack of trust and transparency factoring into the employment decision of roughly half of the respondents who plan to job hunt in the coming months, business leaders must be mindful of the importance of both on talent management and retention strategies, as well as the bottom line impact,” said Sharon Allen, chairman of the board at Deloitte LLP.
Sounds like it’s time management start behaving themselves and start treating workers with respect.
Is it too late for you? Will you leave your company when the job market comes back?
July 28th, 2010 at 8:38 am
The company I serve went through a number of rounds of layoffs and work reductions during the past 12 months. In the days leading up to the first (and largest) layoff, we all heard the same thing from management: “We’re doing fine. Our core business historially picks up during recessions.” Then, over a three week period of time the mood turned dark. There was no warning of rough seas ahead, just a sudden barrage of angry email about (perceived) high or unnecessary expenses, then a request for a voluntary reduction of hours, followed by forced layoffs the next week. I’m guessing a primary factor was because the banks were no longer willing to extend operating credit (the company relies heavily on credit because its billable jobs are huge and often paid only after project completion, perhaps a year after inception and after all material and labor costs were incurred).
To me, that’s a textbook example of unethical communications by management. Either they were incompetant and didn’t know what the cash flow situation was like, or they tried to keep a happy face while they worked through the financial issues. After a year of telling us how strong we were, even in the down economy, they didn’t just pull out an axe–they had us lay down on the lawn while they pulled out the riding mower.
This patter continued for another six months. Things were supposedly improving and then–WHAM!–another round of reductions or layoffs. I’m in a position that is well insulated from the reductions, but it is still wrong (in my opinion). It has caused many of us to start looking elsewhere. There are opportunities out there now, but I don’t want to return to a 90 minute commute (each way) just to find a better job. As my mother always said, I made my own bed, so now I must lay in it.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:09 am
It’s amazing to me how some employers operate. Why don’t they give their workers some credit for a change? If they’re honest information from a management that is honest and has integrity maybe employees will put in that extra mile even during tough economic times.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Yes, knowing in advance that things were getting tight, we could have come together to think through necessary changes. The way it happened, it made many of us wonder whether the company would make it through–and some of those doubts linger to the present!
July 28th, 2010 at 11:39 am
I am working on a plan to exit my company. I have noticed a tremendous lack of basic respect for those of us working our butts off to keep our revenues stable and facilitate growth. Lack of respect: talking down to employees; decisions made that make us feel like minions, not managers; no input on major decisions that impact our ability to do our jobs. There are so many people from all levels in our industry looking for work right now. We are easily replaced and usually at lower salaries. This creates insecurity and breeds mistrust among those of us that need to work together to make our company successful.