|
"Our employee morale problems will
all be solved once the economy turns and we drive
better financial performance."
I recently returned from a two-week
road trip, visiting line managers in several different
functions, and I must have heard this line or a very
similar variant at least five times. Yet when I spoke
to the employees who work for these managers, I heard
very different stories. They were using language like
"I’m just waiting for the economy to get
a little better" and "Once the economy and
job market improves, I’m out of here."
It seems we’re all waiting for
a recovery, but we all have different ideas about
what will happen once it’s here for real.
When talking to line managers, I said
that talent is mobile and good people are infinitely
employable, even in down times. One manager retorted
that most of his staff were so "spooked"
that they wouldn’t dare leave. The recession,
burst of the market bubble and subsequent malaise
had seemed to create a perverse "loyalty effect"--a
false sense of loyalty based not on fondness for one’s
employer but on fear of unemployment.
We’re starting to see signs of
recovery. The job boards are listing more higher-paying
jobs targeting knowledge workers. Gen-Xers who have
long been on the sidelines after being laid off from
professional-services and finance jobs are finding
new homes. Talented employees across industries--from
brand management to operations--are starting to move
again.
There is real contempt for business
leaders and their companies.
There’s no doubt that a full return
to the days of the intense "talent wars,"
with knowledge workers taking on a new job every six
months, is not in our near future. But the seeds of
recovery have been planted, and the balance of power
between employee and employer will shift toward the
former.
What’s next is hard to know with
certainty. But as I meet knowledge workers, I hear
of heartache and disillusionment. The layoffs and
downsizing have taken their toll, and it seems that
more often than not, employees are looking for a fresh
start. There is real contempt for and, in the best
cases, apathy toward their business leaders and their
companies. Companies have been focused on containing
costs, even though extensive research by the big management-consulting
firms has shown that investing in people--not managing
costs--is what really boosts profits. The grass may
not necessarily be greener elsewhere, but the impulse
is to see if it is.
About one out of every six employed
knowledge workers is actively looking for a new job.
Rest assured that most of these are the top 10 percent
of your talent.
Before the day is out, think about your
company’s work teams and business units. Make
sure managers know who their best employees are, what
their strategy is for retaining them and who’s
waiting in the dugout in case a star were to leave.
Tomorrow, make sure each manager is ready to pop the
question to his or her top employees: "What will
it take for you to stay here?"
Matthew Levin is vice president of Global Human Capital
Solutions at Hudson Highland Group. E-mail editors@workforce.com
to comment.
|
