By: Chris Blauth
Last week, I discussed unnerving actions companies have been forced to make in response to quickly declining revenues.
Even more unsettling, a recent AchieveGlobal study found 59.6 percent of leaders predict a hiring freeze and 43.6 percent expect to downsize or conduct layoffs throughout this year.
These depressing trends have an equally depressing impact on employee morale. More than half of the leaders who responded to our survey reported that stress is a problem or severe problem for their employees, and slightly less than half the respondents admitted that stress is a problem or severe problem for them!
So – how is a leader supposed to handle that?
Very carefully. Still, even with all of this bad news, leaders are finding ways to boost morale and productivity:
- A majority say they “motivate employees through ongoing, positive communication.”
- About half say they “offer special recognition for employees who perform well.”
- 40 percent say they “hold fun events at or away from work.”
- 38 percent say they “offer non-monetary incentives or rewards such as time off.”
- 24 percent say they “offer monetary incentives.”
- 5.6 percent say “my employees don’t need more motivation and their morale is good.”
- And, thank heavens, only 5.2 percent say they “do nothing.”
