A BOLD summary by Ana Jardim Evans
The Economist argues that this is hurting productivity in the short-term, and competitiveness in the long-run. In addition, companies are at risk of losing their top talent as soon as the economy recovers- i.e., when they most need them.
While these are extreme situations, the statistics indicate that there is an undercurrent of “work-related unhappiness”. The Centre for Work-Life Policy reported that employee loyalty to companies decreased from 95% to 39% from June 2007 to December 2008, and while trust decreased from 79% to 22%. In France Telecom, 67% of employees are “stressed out”. DDI reported that over 50% of employees in the US feel that they jobs are “stagnant," and half of those are planning to leave their companies as soon as the job market recovers.
The underlying causes are reckoned to be the stress brought by the high number of employee layoffs and the increased scrutiny that performance measurements and targets have brought (as illustrated by some Japanese companies monitoring how often their employees smile at customers).
Another less obvious reason is the incongruent messages that companies give their employees: offering flex-time while demanding 18 hour work days, offering perks that make the office feel like home while being quick to laying people off.
The Economist suggests that companies start walking their talk and pay more attention to the human side of business, and learn from other companies’ mistakes. Bob Sutton of Stanford University advocates that managers need to be honest and crystal clear about what is really going on-and that includes the bad news.
If not through the above, then the shortage of working people that is expected in the long-term (a reduction by 20-40% in the developed world) will anyway give employees the upper hand in this negotiation, as they will easily be able to pack up their talent and go work in happier places.
And those happier places may not even be in corporations. According to the Palo Alto News of October 16, volunteerism increased by 15-20% in the Santa Clara County. Granted, this is related to an increase by 12% in unemployment in this area.
But even so, volunteers are using their donated time to build their skill-set and enhance their resumes, as well as doing things that they had always wanted to but never had the time for before. In this article, several are quoted describing their experiences as the most “rewarding and gratifying” or the most challenging of their lives. Volunteering seems therefore to bring the happiness that many are not finding in corporations.
And for non-profit organizations who are looking to hire talent, volunteering brings the added benefit of getting to know candidates well before hiring. As an example, the VA Palo Alto Health System ended up hiring 5.6% of their volunteers in 2008.
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