Beverly Main: Workers aren't the only ones feeling the strain

Our employees are feeling the strain of the recession, as evidenced in a recent survey of Australian and New Zealand workplaces by international recruitment agency Hudson.

But someone needs to spare a thought for the employers and managers who carry the burden of keeping staff happy during these tough times.

The survey showed more than a third of respondents regard themselves as extremely or quite anxious about the current economic downturn.

The same proportion would consider a pay freeze, 29 per cent would consider losing or reducing a bonus, but only 12 per cent would consider a pay cut.

While nearly half of the employers surveyed in the Hudson report thought their employees had become more loyal during the downturn, in reality only 20 per cent of employees actually felt greater loyalty towards their employer.

One in six employees surveyed have actually become more disillusioned and less loyal.

Each time survey results are published, a flurry of solutions aimed at keeping staff happy (and therefore hopefully engaged) appears across a wide range of publications and in discussions nationally. All sorts of creative suggestions are put forward and trialled, with varying success.

Sure it's difficult finding and keeping the right talent during economic good times but it is hard attracting the right people when times are tough too.

We know we must make a real effort to keep our best people so when recovery comes our organisations will be poised to maximise their competitive advantage (ie, their great people).

And we know that shortly we'll be back to those pre-recession times of labour and talent shortages with all the associated stress.

So we must spare a thought for the employers and managers who are charged with keeping people happy and motivated through these extremes.

The many survey reports and subsequent articles and discussions have all yielded insights to help employers keep their staff feeling loved during tough times.

And while suggestions such as supplying little titbits in lieu of giving pay increases and bonuses when others are being laid off or wage increases are impossible all have their place, surely the fact most people still have a job to go to each day should be reward enough?

Much coverage has been given to the needs of struggling employees and how to make them feel happy and secure - but how much thought has been given to their bosses and what they must inevitably be going through? In small businesses it is usually the business owner, not the staff, who lies awake worrying about paying the wages and bills, as well as dealing with all the other responsibilities of owning a business.

They rarely have time to think about whether they might be about to lose years of investment into their business, their family home and life savings, and possibly facing a bleak retirement if the stress doesn't kill them first.

For larger organisations it might be the CEO and senior management team who worry about the reduced return to shareholders, the viability of the organisation, staying competitive and wondering if the organisation will ever regain the success of the past.

However it's often the middle managers and human resources staff who get to do the very hard work of looking after the staff when restructures, redundancies, reduced profits and other troubles are in the air.

Who worries about them and do they get special treatment for working in uncertain times?

Often the middle managers and human resources staff know well ahead of the rest that some tough decisions need to be made and very often they get to be the messenger too.

Do they get extra help during these times? The focus is invariably on keeping the shareholders happy and the employees looked after, but the people in the middle who are dodging the bullets and eking out the rations are feeling the strain and risk burnout themselves.

The very nature of the practice of human resources means HR practitioners are expected to be well equipped for this work and have the stomach for delivering the bad news, day in and day out.

But many have never worked in this environment and for those more seasoned practitioners, few want to go there again.

Maybe organisations need to move their focus from mollycoddling those employees who are planning to jump ship at the first opportunity and direct their efforts to supporting the middle managers and HR staff who will be there through thick and thin to do the hard stuff.

When we fly in planes we're told in the rare event of an emergency that we should put our own oxygen masks on first before helping others. This makes excellent sense as without enough oxygen we can't help those around us.

The same concept applies to employers, middle managers and HR teams who are working in these uncertain times - time to put you first for once!

Beverley Main is CEO of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand www.hrinz.org.nz