No knee-jerk reactions, please

The theme of two surveys is how companies and employees are looking at survival in a slowdown

Two interesting surveys were published this week on the changing equations at the workplace. At first glance, the findings may look contradictory, but they are not. While the one done by TeamLease talks about how companies are cutting salaries and asking employees to do multi-tasking, the other done by Kelly Services says employees will rather contribute to something more important and meaningful than take home a fat pay package. The underlying theme of both the surveys is the same: How companies and employees are looking at survival in a slowing economy.

It is obvious that people will have to be busier than ever doing their jobs, in addition to those of one or two other colleagues, who have left the company but have not been replaced. Many employees are facing this as the economic slowdown has prompted a near-automatic reflex on serving bitter pills: Hunker down, reduce head count and cut every cost you can. Predictably, Indian companies have gone in for multi-tasking, extended working hours, reduction of variable pay and lower entry-level salaries. The reality is that even if you have over 500 e-mails in your inbox, attend sales meetings every hour and take part in global conference calls at 2 a.m., may be you are still not doing enough. So what if your perquisites have been snipped, or the CEO has started asking whether you are structuring your day productively enough?

 

In such a situation, the old catch phrase, work-life balance, has taken a backseat. Over the last few months, more and more people are spending more and more time at work and less and less time on “life”. Recruitments are nearly frozen as the accent is on productivity increase, as a result of which freshers with recruitment slips are being asked to wait longer before reporting for work or training. That is the unforgiving mantra of business in a slowing economy.

The problem, however, is that many companies are taking this to the extreme and creating a fear psychosis in office that results in many employees suffering from survivor guilt — the feeling that you might be the next one on the firing list. Their perverse logic is that employees have hardly any choices or preferences any more at a time when power has clearly shifted from employees to employers. But that is a knee-jerk reaction. As the Kelly Services survey shows, employees are still looking for meaningful jobs in the long run. Multi-tasking is fine in the short term, but it is also true that too much of it is the fastest way to encourage mediocrity where employees will go through the pile mechanically. This is particularly true for companies which have a long-term perspective on their business. For, what happens when things turn around? If you are making your key employees feel small, they will give it back to you when the job market looks up.

This is the time when great companies go in for multi-skilling of employees through training and resort to unvarnished communication with their employees on where they stand and how everyone can play a role in discovering future opportunities. Everyone understands the difficult situation, but a slowdown does not mean employees can’t be given challenging jobs. And this is not any management fad either. Research has proved a clear numerical relationship between good human capital management and enhanced financial performance. The choice is yours: Do you want a bunch of people who will get through the pile alright but will do mediocre work, or do you want to offer challenging jobs to people who are capable of delivering extraordinary results? The answer should be obvious.