Survey: Employee engagement biggest post-layoff challenge

NEW ORLEANS – According to a new survey of human resources executives, 54 percent consider keeping the surviving employees engaged and focused the biggest challenge that companies face after job-cut announcements.

The next biggest challenge, selected by 23 percent of respondents, was easing anxiety over the possibility of additional layoffs. Only 15 percent said the primary challenge was ensuring that quality and quantity of output remained consistent despite having few employees.

The survey results were released Monday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. at the Society for Human Resource Management annual conference in New Orleans.

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“Companies that focus on output will create a workforce that is motivated by fear of job loss instead of by loyalty and pride. That may work for the remainder of the downturn, but as soon as the recovery begins, the company will undoubtedly experience heavy turnover,” according to John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, who presented the findings. “Companies recognizing that employee engagement is the key to continued quality output will not only survive the downturn, but will be poised to thrive when the expansion begins.”

Since last June, employers have announced 1,652,082 job cuts, according to monthly tracking by the Challenger firm. About half of those — 822,282 — have occurred during the first five months of 2009. At the current rate, 2009 is on pace to surpass the record 2001 job-cut total of 1,956,876.

“You cannot simply tell employees to ‘do more with less,'” Challenger added. “There must be a back-and-forth dialogue to address employees’ concerns and fears. Employees deserve up-front communication when it comes to the state of the company and their jobs.”

According to the survey, 58 percent said they had department supervisors meet directly with surviving employees to discuss any changes occurring as a result of the downturn and/or layoffs. However, only 12 percent provided post-layoff counseling and about one in 10 did nothing at all to address post-layoff issues faced by survivors.

Challenger recommended being proactive. “Employers should have a plan for dealing with survivors before they make any job-cut announcements. How will workloads be adjusted? How will laid off workers be informed? How will survivors’ concerns be addressed?”