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Source: ONE News -
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A new survey from recruitment firm Hudson suggests workers are becoming increasingly resentful of the way their bosses have responded to the recession.
Hudson's Talent Tightrope: Managing the Workplace through the Downturn survey shows that bosses think employee sentiment is twice as good as it is in reality.
"In every aspect of current workplace sentiment, whether job satisfaction, motivation, morale, perceived stress levels or job security employers are clearly unaware of their employees' frame of mind," says Marc Burrage, executive general manager for Hudson New Zealand.
Since the recession set in early last year, employers have slashed costs through redundancies and restructuring in order to stay viable through what remains to be an uncertain period of downturn.
"Employers have to focus on what's financially responsible first and foremost, so it's about survival first up for them. But, it's absolutely critical that they continue to understand and look at the value of human capital throughout this," says Burrage.
Burrage says employees are aware of the commercial realities of the recession, but they are becoming disgruntled. Over one third of employees say they are increasingly concerned about the impact of the downturn on their personal circumstances.
"While employers are reporting increased productivity now, employees are in fact responding that they are definitely working harder and longer hours, but motivated by fear for their jobs and this is only driving morale down further," Burrage says.
Employees are sitting tight at the moment following a sharp turnaround in the employment market from the same time last year when employers were struggling to find staff to fill roles.
But Burrage says it is important that employees are not taken for granted, saying that they will remember where they have been treated well and may consider jumping ship once the economy kick starts.
"The reality is the market will turn and there is a real danger here - this is potentially a ticking time bomb for employers if they don't start to address some of the critical aspects in terms of employee engagement," he says.
Burrage says there are a number of things employers can do to encourage employee loyalty.
First and foremost communication - being transparent and consistent with employees - will go a long way to building trust.
Beyond that, employees can help by continuing to invest in learning and development so that employees feel they have a career path beyond the period of uncertainty.
Burrage also says that as soon as it is fiscally possible for employers, wages freezes needs to be addressed.
To see Corin Dann's interview with Marc Burrage, click on the WATCH tab.
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentUmmm said on 2009-08-26 @ 13:06 NZDT: Report abusive post
A job with temporary measures is better than no job at all - but let's get this recession over with already!
mouthguard said on 2009-08-26 @ 10:03 NZDT: Report abusive post
As an employer I am also rather sick of the recession! I can assure you that at the moment I would much rather be a salaried employee somewhere, with a cheque coming in every week. Businesses are hurting; these sacrifices are a necessary fact of life at the moment. No-one is doing this for fun.