On more than one occasion, we’ve discussed the impact of staff cutbacks on the service capacity of a company, the corresponding satisfaction of its customers (or lack thereof), and impact on remaining workers (survivor’s guilt, increased workload, fear, etc.)
An interesting story in this morning’s New York Times looks at labor market churn from another perspective: Workers who have been cut back, but still show up for work on their days off.
Implications: Whether you’re a customer being served by these workers, a company who employs them, or the competitor of a company that is making full-time use of furloughed personnel… this practice is likely to impact you. Note the number of times “emotion”—or a word that describes a particular emotion—was used in this story. Strong feelings surround this issue, whether it’s the fear of an employee who feels compelled to continue working full time—without full pay—as a means of “earning” their full job back… or the resentment of a worker who senses a “wink and a nod” expectation that they continue working five days for four days of pay.
If you are an employer with “furloughed” personnel, what steps are you taking to make sure workers actually receive the time-off they are entitled to? (Do you expect the same output from your company even after a reduction in human resources? Are your expectations realistic?) What are you doing to keep furloughed personnel informed and optimistic… and their expectations realistic? Candid conversations about future prospects, even if they are bleak, can reinforce the respect and loyalty of the workforce.
If you compete with a company that you’ve heard is abusing the terms of workforce reductions, is now a good time to harvest their key talent? An economic recovery is inevitable if not imminent, and it will certainly arrive sooner and with greater strength for the company with happy and productive employees. But be careful… that immutable truth works both ways.
Mike Anderson
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