A few weeks ago, I received a press release titled, Recession Causing Perception Disconnect Between Employers and their Workforce According to New Study from Monster.com and Human Capital Institute.
There is a dramatic difference in how employers and workers are experiencing the recession — and the study shows that employers are vastly overrating the morale of their employees. If you can believe it, 84 percent of those companies surveyed indicated a belief that their workforce is content to simply to have a job.
I’m not good at math, but those 84% of employers can suck it. Hard.
Corporate arrogance isn’t unique to this recession, but I do applaud Monster and HCI for bringing awareness to the gap in perception between the workforce and its employers. As the economy improves and the chances of a publicly funded healthcare option becomes realistic, workers will move from hapless chumps to empowered consumers of work.
If I were a business owner, I would start asking, “What happens to the 84% of companies who take their workforce for granted?”
The answer? They can go fuck themselves.
Smart companies will start changing strategies right now and start investing in employees, focusing on improving the hiring process, and sharing profitability (and risk) equitably in the workforce.
The free market can work for employees and job seekers. Who needs unions when you have social media, viral marketing, and word of mouth employment branding campaigns? The days of six workers for every job will come to an end and companies will be forced to hire and treat their employees differently — or die.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Laurie—How do you really feel about this?
I am of two minds on this. No question some employers treat their people like shit. This is not news.
I think a more interesting and long term question is how employers are going to handle a radically different future workforce. One that wants, even demands to be able to work from home, one that considers every job to be temporary and one that understands how to escalate not only a real issue but one that is simply one they don’t agree with. I have been “in management” for a long time so my views may be skewed.
But I am wondering if you offered up a clever new term in the title…EMLOYERS. Em-loyers. Don’t tell me that was just a typo?
You are still awfully smart,
GL
I’m not good at math, but those 84% of employers can suck it. Hard.
Finally some math I can understand.
My experience is that employers value their employees until times get tough. Then they make fewer people do more work and try to make them feel good about it with empty pats on the back and hollow incentives. They try to convince folks that being stressed out all the time is the way to be.
I expect that social media will level the playing field for smaller businesses that are self-employment driven (already happening). All those folks that were laid off will become the consultants that the companies now outsource to. Will they get the upper hand? Time will tell.
“The free market can work for employees and job seekers. Who needs unions when you have social media, viral marketing, and word of mouth employment branding campaigns?”
What’s needed is a consumer reports/consumerist.com/tripadvisor.com type website (perhaps there is one and I am not aware) where candidates can share and rank their recruiting and organizational experiences
OH CRAP. HATE HATE HATE TYPOS. NEED TO HIRE AN EDITOR. I WILL NOT BE A SHITTY EMPLOYER. OR EMLOYER.
I read this post 89 times to make sure that it sounded like my voice, I didn’t get hung-up on Strunk & White nonsense, and that it made the point and was *fun*. Then I kicked myself in the butt with a typo. LOL, oh well. Here at Punk Rock HR, we embrace our flaws and drink heavily to mask our shame.
Not everyone can go work for the 16%. Mediocre employers will always be around. The worst of the 84% should worry but even many of them find ways to survive . Often they prey upon people desperate for a job.
I wonder what percentage of new college grads get their first job with a crappy employer?
Great points Laurie! As an employee recognition consultant, I am continually surprised to see how much influence Sr Leadership has on their employee rewards programs….and how detached they are from understanding the preferences of their employees.
People always say…”if we’re meeting with the CEO we have to show her a business case” – How about: Great people make great companies great. 16% of companies realize this….sounds about right.
- Dave
I completely agree with your last sentence Laurie. The time will come to an end and employers will once again find themselves in the position to need to find the best people. Not just people who need a job. I worked with a software company leading up to the dot com bust . I took the best and brightest out to dinners and past all the hot cars that our people were able to buy with their stock option money to help woo them. Employees were treated great – even beyond financial rewards – until the time came where they couldn’t be treated at all. I worked for an exceptional company at that time but I’ve seen the other side of the coin too and it sucks to be a part of it, especially in HR and even more so when you aren’t able to affect change.
I read this quote once -
You cannot feed the hungry on statistics.
Is it the employees at the 16% or 84% companies who are The Hungry?
On another note: If yu reely nead an editer, i no somewon what might culd hep you.
“Who needs unions when you have social media, viral marketing, and word of mouth employment branding campaigns?”
I’m fascinated by this concept. I’ve often wondered if, between human rights legislation and the massive increase in information sharing, if unions are starting to become less relevant. Like you said, people don’t need someone to fight for them when they can fight for themselves because someone’s given them (free of charge) a GIANT FLASHLIGHT to shine on companies that treat their employees badly. Nothing motivates changes in behaviour like public shame.
That, and I suspect that the general perception of unions is changing (partly thanks to the above) – I may be mistaken about this, but I sure don’t remember the CAW getting much sympathy when all the auto makers were trying to come up with restructuring plans…
PS – not to step on @Glen’s toes, @Glen said it first and I respect the shotgun system – but if that doesn’t work out and you still need an editor, give me a shout.
Laurie – I love your posting and am behind you and your manifesto that Employers “forced to hire and treat their employees differently — or die.” I was saying this back in 2001/2002 during the last employment recession….alas I didn’t see it come to fruition. I’m hoping you are right and this time around shows real results toward being kinder, gentler employers….
I think you are right about alternatives to current medical coverage system will increase pressures for employers to be less douche-baggy (it’s a word… at least it is today). At the moment we talk about employment as a free-market economy, but the idea of at will employment is not sufficient to make it a free market.
As long as people feel compelled, or restricted into taking crappy work, from crappy people, we are far away from an employment free market.
For akaBruno, there are a few sites that have the ability for employees and candidates to rate their experiences with a company, Glassdoor and Vault are two that come to mind.
I agree with GL in that the nature of work, and the associated demands and expectations of a much larger percentage of the workforce will change in the next few years. More options, less loyalty, more ‘personal brand’ considerations, etc. What companies do, or fail to do, to address these shifts is going to be very interesting to watch. Companies that continue to play the ‘you’re lucky to be here card’ are going to be really challenged to get and keep the kind of talent they claim to be after.
Screw the typo, we all knew what you meant!
I really like the way your average employer takes the victim role “I’m the one taking the risk in investment” when you ask to be treated fairly— as they roll out of the parking lot in thier Merc. You’re right– Fuck Them!! The age of the Boomers Scorched Earth is over– Power to the people!
If we are truly in for a jobless recovery, it is going to be a long ride. I personally am not looking for employment numbers to truly improve until 2012-2015.
It’s the cold calculus of it all. If you can make your employees do more for less, why not? Who is going to quit their job in THIS environment?
Nonetheless, a co-worker of mine just found a better job. So they have got to understand the stakes.
Companies are making a mistake cherry-picking right now. Because when the job openings do start to pour in, they are going to lose their new hires. Much better to hire an average person who has something to gain by working for you and will stick around a while, who you can groom and tailor to your organization.
On the other hand, when in 3-5 years when their cherry picked new hires jump ship, then they’ll hire me!
Same thing happened in the last recession, I think. Lots of layoffs, slow job growth in the recovery, and people held on to their jobs for fear of losing something in the switch. After a while, we had a ‘talent war.’
I think some people just get used to bad employers and after a while they can’t imagine themselves working elsewhere. They give up, or accept what they have because it’s ‘as good as it gets’. Sad, but I’ve seen it for years – regardless of what the economy looks like.
I like EmLoyers better.
Laurie, I believe you’ve mentioned before that some folks won’t go back to their original careers of choice after the recession. As much as the notion of “bad” employers is at play, aren’t there forces beyond that, too? (e.g. you have to take what you can get and that could be a job you simply don’t want — at an otherwise great employer.)
Who needs unions when you have social media, viral marketing, and word of mouth employment branding campaigns?
The answer, I have a hutch, is our forgotten or hidden workforce represented by SEIU for one. There’s a huge portion of our workforce that we neglect to consider in these discussions. Note: they’re not on Twitter. A great book on the inside view of this group is Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed.”
The knowledge workers or the creative class articulated by Richard Florida and which Libby references as the new “consumers of work” clearly don’t need unions. And many will jump ship to better jobs at the first opportunity this pending economic recovery offers them.
It is the knowledge workers who are best able to traverse and navigate our the growing chasm between Capital and Labor (which really isn’t breaking news as Marx was into this stuff over a hundred years ago…).
But we just may at a point in time for a second labor movement with unions carrying the torch for working people at large…
Just a few thoughts…
-Jonathan
have an HUNCH… I hate typos too!
Employers deal in reality. They also specialize in being short-sighted. You can’t really blame for defaulting business planning to the present economic reality. You can kick them in the ass for failing to invest and capitalize on the talent attainment opportunity that fell in their lap during this recession.
Most will be kicking themselves in the ass in mid-2011!
Who fills out these surveys? Are they CEO’s or HR people?
i love Punk Rock HR, but man there is a lot of butt kissing that goes on around here. you do speak the truth, laurie, most of the time. but rarely do the comments go beyond “golly geee, laurie, you’re the best.” gag me, please. (i don’t know laurie (or any of you) well enough – actually i don’t know you at all – to be saying these things. it will, therefore, most likely result in a general shunning by the HR social media community. that’s cool, though, it’s really starting to interfer with my job.) anyway, 84% of companies said they thought employees are just happy to have a job. 58% of employees said that was true. that leaves a variance of 26%. Take away the fact that at least 10% of the respondents didn’t answer the survey honestly as they are still paranoid of big brother employer watching them, and another 5% were high when they took the survey and clicked the wrong answer, that leaves us with — carry the 1 —- an 11% variance. I hardly find that statistically significant. and whether employees think it or not, they ARE lucky to have a job. we keep saying the flood gates are going to open and people are going to start leaving. i call bullshit. everyone’s going to look back on this thing and be happy that we got through it…together. that’s going to build comaraderie and loyalty. they will also want, more than anything, stability – at that point they will have had it with uncertainty. They’ll stay for the same reasons they were with the company before the recession. because despite all of its flaws and an inability to keep everybody happy all of the time, companies do their best to keep their people paid, benefited, protected from discrimination, and generally provide a service to the community. anyway, it was nice knowing you guys…
@GL One that wants, even demands to be able to work from home, one that considers every job to be temporary and one that understands how to escalate not only a real issue but one that is simply one they don’t agree with. God, the workforce of the future is lazy and it sucks. What a bunch of whiners.
@BZ I hope social media is the great leveler and a force for social justice. I’m banking on it — truly, with my own money and time.
@akaBruno MAKE ONE.
@SalesComp Totally right. Not everyone is above average.
I wonder what percentage of new college grads get their first job with a crappy employer? All of them, most likely.
@David Great people make great companies great. Where are those great people and great companies? We don’t talk enough about them in the media.
@Glen You cannot feed your family on furlough fridays and reduced compensation packages, either. When will the peasants revolt?
@Ian Exactly. I’m a bleeding heart liberal, but unions prove their irrelevancy every day. Look at Detroit.
@Lou Crap, that’s depressing but I’m glad you are with me.
@George As long as people feel compelled, or restricted into taking crappy work, from crappy people, we are far away from an employment free market. Thank you. Let’s remove the compelling reason. Or fix it and make it TRULY compelling.
@Steve Companies that continue to play the ‘you’re lucky to be here card’ are going to be really challenged to get and keep the kind of talent they claim to be after. My fear is that they’ll get away with it.
@MattyMat It’s so interesting that you talk about risk. Is it riskier to be an employee or employer? I’d love to hear people answer that one.
@DavidT I wonder if there’s a great myth we haven’t deconstructed — that a better job/employer exists and a better employee is waiting to be hired. People and jobs both suck. That’s often the reality.
@Steve People get defeated easily. My entire family is living proof of this fact.
@RevCareer That’s the big rift, right? Some jobs are transactional and some jobs are more aspirational. They’re all just jobs, though. They are an expense on the P&L and labor will always be at conflict with the profit-centric nature of capitalism.
@Jonathan I cannot say enough about Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed” and I’m so glad you mentioned it. Should be on the HR list of things to read.
@Michael We’re just waiting for the boomers to die and/or retire. Most likely die. They won’t go quietly. Then companies might think differently.
@Dan Good question.
@Charlie I’m laughing so hard. I wish people kissed my butts. I delete the offensive comments and the ones that call me a whore and an idiot. It’s my blog. I’ve been doing this for years. — Now I don’t think the floodgates are going to open, but I don’t agree that companies do their best to keep their people paid, benefited, protected from discrimination, and generally provide a service to the community, either. They’d outsource your ass in a heartbeat if they could. They’d replace you with a chimp. What’s cheaper than a chimp? A monkey? A goat? It’s all about shareholder value — and you provide no value when you cost the company money.
I hear the “they should be happy we haven’t had layoffs and happy that they have a job” often. People aren’t happy when raises and bonuses are taken away but cost of living is still increasing. I respond that once the economy gets better, they better have their interviewing skills honed because those disenchanted people who they think are happy are just hanging on for now, and will look elsewhere when the time is right. Employers need to get over themselves.
Heh, isn’t that the truth?
To provide a slightly different perspective on this issue of employers taking people for granted, I’m currently looking for an internship in HR so I can graduate from my post-graduate program.
We were informed by our professors and the program coordinators that once upon a time (last year), that companies were paying quite well for interns. $15, 20, 25 an hour. Now? It’s all about unpaid internships. I just find the whole thing to be absolute bullshit. These aren’t small, struggling companies that we’re talking about; I don’t want to name any names, but think industry leaders and major corporations. Like it’s going to hurt them any to pay an intern minimum wage. This recession has just become an excuse for them to screw us.
Of course, being entry level and with no relevant experience, we’re going to have to take it. It sure does suck though.
LMAO – One of your best posts ever!
During the economic downturn, we see the psychological contract being broken all over the place. Organisations are still allowing employees to do that bit more without giving that bit back. But don’t worry, mistreatment of this kind will come back round to bite them on their arse. These broken psychological contracts, quite understandably, have been said to lead to reduced performance, organisational commitment and raised intentions to quit.
It is true that at the moment people are just happy to have kept their jobs. However once the recession has passed and people are once again able to move freely between job’s, organisations that have mistreated their employees will be about to experience some ridiculously high turnover rates!
The only objection I have is lumping all employers in the same boat. We have to be realistic. The recession has affected them badly and it is of no surprise that they have had to take action to survive. While some have mistreated their employees, others have approached the problem in a mature and open fashion. For example, some organisations have left the decision of how to deal with this problem to the employees. Whether that decision is that everyone cuts their hours, redundancies are made or that all staff members are required to take unpaid leave.
As long as employers are fair and justified in the action they take to survive the recession, I believe employees (whilst not necessarily thrilled) will accept and understand these changes.
Go Sister! Someone talking the truth out there! I was layed off in April after 5 years of solid and productive performance. I do HR for a living…ugh 21 years worth of it. I was layed off on a Fri at 4 p.m. Hello – you don’t do that to human beings. I’ve put up with 20 somethings phone screening me (out), useless interview questions, and numerous requisitions closing (we decided not to fill the position) #%@#$ huh? The absolute rudeness out there is astounding. I try every day to keep my head high and above the slinging of bs – what else can you do.
..and another thing….most of the employed and unemployed folks I know are seriously reinventing themselves. They are going back to school, teaching themselves new things, and adapting creatively to to better their present situation. So when the economy improves, we will have a smarter, more agile workforce. That means the worker who is “lucky to have a job” will be looking at a much better job when the economy improves.
So employers should not undervalue or underestimate their best talent. They will be the first to leave you when things get better.
The impact of the lousy employer is also long lasting. The problem is that the first job newbie learns “the way its done,” and then repeats what was learned, throughout a career. Very few people ever learn to say, “This is wrong, I will NOT do it THAT way.” For example, at one company facing a slowdown there were discussions on saving paperclips, cutting out free coffee, and similar nickel and dime solutions. The kicker was the boss who had a cube built, discovered the sun hit the CRT, and then spent $18K to rearrange the cube. BTW the admin was grossing less than the cost of the rebuild. Some slights you never forget.
Great post! I”m working for a well respected [don't know why] global corporation very much into offshoring. Morale is low on our account … feedback to acct mgmt is that they’re doing a crappy job! Their solution: let’s have a bowling night! No raises, no bonus, benefits cut every year. I did eat about $100 worth of chicken wings on bowling night … guess I’m ahead of the game.
Don’t be standing near the exit sign when the economy turns around…
Too true, too true. It’s easy to be deluded by this misconception during a recession, but numerous survey results and other research show a majority of employees are planning to look for a new job when the upturn comes. For company leaders, that’s the same as sitting back and watching your top talent walk out your door to join your competitors. To maintain and even competitive advantage, be sure you are acknowledging the value your employees bring every day.
Stephanie Lloyd wrote a great post on this (specifically on treating new hires/interns poorly): http://www.radiantveracity.com/2009/08/why-taking-advantage-of-your-new-hires-is-a-really-really-bad-idea/
More research findings cited here: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/08/keep-your-greatest-competitive.html
Where was this blog when I posted “It’s an Employers’ Market. Ugh!” Wednesday, August 5, 2009 on my blog. This is much more bold and stated with much more passion!
I applaud this post with all my heart.
Well done.
I am spitting nails. Our boss decided to have another kid and will be on maternity leave from july to Septetmber. Because she got herself pregnant no one is allowed to take a summer vacation!
WE do not do her job and we are only taling about a couple of weeks.
Company’s want employees to give and give and treat their workers like shit. This is wrong especially when working in the helping profession on top of it!
Employees are company’s best customers. I don’t get why they don’t get that.
I say fuck to all the asshole employers I interviewed with in the past year-who do you people think you are-god?
Yeah, companies like prosource supply in greenville,SC who use employees and treat them like shit should be run out of business.