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Nearly half of New Zealand and Australian businesses are either cutting or freezing staff levels - triple the percentage of organisations considering this just eight months ago.
Research by the Hay Group finds the number of businesses expecting their results to get worse has tripled since March. In that survey only 7 per cent expected their business results to be significantly worse than targeted levels. In the latest survey that number has jumped to 27 per cent.
Hay said that on a positive note 64 per cent of those surveyed indicated results were expected to be close to targeted levels in 2008.
In the global survey, among the 2600 organisations across six continents that responded, Africa and the Middle East have been the least impacted by the downturn, with only 9 per cent of African companies and 12 per cent of Middle Eastern companies reporting business results significantly below target.
Australasian results were more in line with the overall global trend.
Globally, retail is one of the hardest-hit sectors, with 63 per cent of retailers expecting poor business results due to reduced consumer spending and a tightened credit market. Australasian companies still struggled with a tight talent pool, said Ian MacRae, head of reward for Hay Group Pacific.
"While there is a requirement of maintaining or reducing costs, there is also a strong focus on retaining talent. It is this talent which will see organisations through this downturn and beyond."
