The global financial crisis has had a severe and divisive impact on the sentiment of the workforce in Australia and New Zealand, according to extensive research released in August by Hudson – a provider of specialist recruitment, talent management and managed services.
The research findings are part of the Hudson 20:20 Series report ‘Talent Tightrope: Managing the Workplace through the Downturn’.
It reveals that employers consistently think their employees’ sentiment is twice as good as it is in reality.
“In every aspect of current workplace sentiment, whether it be job satisfaction, motivation, morale, perceived stress levels or job security, employers are clearly unaware of their employees’ frame of mind,” said CEO Hudson Australia/New Zealand, Mark Steyn. “For example, nearly half of the 2,394 employees surveyed indicated that worker morale has plummeted.
“In contrast, only 26 per cent of the
247 employers interviewed acknowledged that workplace morale has dropped.
“The initial response of Australian companies to the global crisis has understandably focused on rapid crisis management, including slashing workforce related costs through restructures and redundancies.
“While most employees are not blind to commercial realities and the need for their employers to cut costs and implement rapid change, discontent is brewing.
“In fact, over a third of all employees report increasing concern about the impact of the downturn on their personal circumstances.”
The report found that while insecurity abounds, with almost a third of employees genuinely concerned about losing their jobs, it doesn’t necessarily mean they want to stay with their current employer.
This simmering resentment is highlighted by the third of employees that agreed with the statement ‘management thinks it doesn’t have to reward and recognise our work anymore because we should feel lucky to have a job right now’.
“If employees are disgruntled or unhappy with their current roles, the moment a better opportunity presents itself they will leave,” Mark Steyn said.
“It is this danger of a mass exodus that employers must be aware of and take urgent steps to avoid.
“Employees’ priorities and expectations have changed. It is crucial that organisations understand the impact that this has on recruitment practices.
“People are the heart of a business.
A motivated and engaged workforce is key and it is vital that a talent management strategy focuses on the specific drivers needed to create and maintain this motivation and engagement in each and every individual employee.”
For a summary of the key findings of the report visit www.hudson.com
