Recession-Driven Sense of Shared Destiny - Are We Missing An Opportunity?

Difficult times drive changes in our personal priorities.  Who among us hasn't experienced that over the past few months?

The findings of a recent Towers Perrin study of employees (469 employees from mid to large sized U.S. companies conducted December 3-11, 2008) indicate that difficult times are causing not only a shift in priorities, but also a subtle shift in attitude toward employers, when compared to a similar study completed just 4 month earlier in August 2008.

Employee priority changes, when polled about the top five factors most important to their work experience, include:

• "A secure position they can count on for the long term", not surprisingly, topped the list with 59% ranking it among their top five, up from 46% in August.

• "Adequate benefit protection for themselves and their families", again not difficult to understand, rose to the #2 slot with 56% putting it in their top five, up from 37% in August.

But from here I find it gets interesting.  Breaking into the top five list for the first time was "working for a successful organization with a strong future".  So employees recognize the important role that their employer plays in their future.  What's more, they understand and appreciate their own responsibility to help that employer succeed - 76% agree that they are personally motivated to help their employer succeed, up from 69% just 4 months earlier.

So, if we take a leap and generalize from these findings, more than three-quarters of employees are indicating a sense of shared destiny - shared responsibility - for their organization's success. 

Born out of self-interest or not - it's there.  What an opportunity for getting people engaged and focused on doing the right things!  The question is - are we taking advantage of it?  Are we ...

• Talking regularly and honestly about what is going on in the organization, in response to this interest (communication)?

• Providing the clearest possible information and direction on how they can contribute to the organization's future prosperity (performance management)?

• Putting the plans in place to share the rewards of everyone's efforts to drive the organization toward future success (incentives)?

• Taking advantage of the chance to cement this sense of partnership into our employment brand - for the tough times and, eventually, the good times that will come our way?

If not, why not?

Comments

[Wally Bock]

Great post, Ann. As I've said before, a recession is the economy telling you to do what you should have been doing all along.

[Ann Bares]

Wally: I certainly can't argue with the logic of that! Thanks for the thought!

[John]

Hi,

I agree. still as the rest of us simple people of Ireland endure our over paid politicians spare a minute for this wonderful blog that we received, it’s simple but perhaps can help in these terrible economic times created by a few greedy individuals !

Enjoy, reflect, react !

http://jobs2ireland.com/jobs2ireland-blog/signs-that-job-market-is-slowing-down/comment-page-1/#comment-18

John

[Amy Trueblood]

I thought this was a great post-the recession is merely an opportunity to rethink benefits and incentives. Please read my blog on how the recession is an opportunity for organizations to improve: http://www.awardsnetwork.com/blog/2009/02/economic-recession-provides-op.html.