C- / Could do better: End of Year Report 2009
2009: the year of global recession on the back of 2008’s financial crisis. Businesses battened down the hatches, shedding roles, cutting back on communication, training and development; slashing and burning as they frantically recast their strategies to stay afloat on an increasingly stormy sea. That’s how the media saw it, but scratch away at the veneer of lurid headlines and a slightly less cataclysmic picture emerges for the world of work. True, some of the numbers sound hugely depressing:
- there were more than 50,000 banking casualties during the year
- more than a third of all staff were unhappy at work
- big name businesses from Nortel Networks to First Quench, Setanta to Bauer all collapsed
But this was recession and not depression, and though the economy remains fragile, the signs at the end of the year were far more positive. What has emerged most clearly is that even with a global recovery, we will not return to a ‘boom years’ recruitment market in 2010 or any time soon.
The legacy of the downturn is a leaner working world. Organisations have found that they can succeed and keep a lid on their costs. Those looking to thrive in the upturn will be looking to take on new talent, but will be doing so conservatively. The marketplace for talent has changed and the legacy of the downturn is that real talent will rarely have a better opportunity to thrive, while those people who’ve just ‘been along for the ride’ may find it ever harder to secure a fulfilling career in the post-recession climate.
In this report, we’ll reflect on work’s own ‘annus horribilis’ and look at the prospects for recovery as we leave the noughties and enter a new decade. First, we look at trends across the marketplace.
Recession and the employer/employee relationship
With the wider business environment demanding a great deal of employers’ attention, the employee/employer relationship suffered in 2009. Understandably, employers paid less attention to retention strategies, meaning employee engagement dropped and more than a third of employees (38%) felt undervalued by their employer. A worrying one in ten employees felt easily replaceable. Falling remuneration packages didn’t help the situation – pay decreased steadily throughout the year and started to increase only towards the end of 2009. Unsurprisingly, banking and financial services was home to some of the nation’s most disillusioned employees.
This degradation of constructive relationships undoubtedly had a knock-on impact on trust levels through the course of the year. One in six employees reported they didn’t trust their boss in 2009. 30% of workers felt senior management treated them with a lack of respect. Many workers felt their company was hiding things from them. The public sector is particularly
distrusting of its senior managers. This could present real problems for the sector once the UK general election is out of the way, since it was generally agreed by the end of the year that the public sector will have to change radically if the government – whatever its hue – is to cut back on the public debt and deliver service levels that are acceptable to the public.
2009 was also a year where striving to achieve short term targets – or just to remain in business – caused significant damage to some previously strong employer brands. From public bodies to the banks – via the outrage over MPs expenses – employer brands took a bashing in 2009. Organisations will have to work hard over the coming months to re-establish trust with all their stakeholders if they are to heal those wounds. The best have already taken this to heart, putting careful work into employee engagement in an attempt to build this trust up again.
Professional workforce trends
Despite the economic downturn, most UK professionals stuck to their guns when it came to their career plans. Only one in five put promotion plans on hold. This points towards a reluctance by UK professionals to lower their aims when it comes to personal success. Many were able to continue seeing opportunities in the job market and capitalise on them.
Rather more negatively, stress became a major factor for UK professionals in 2009. 91% reported that they were stressed at work, pointing towards one of the most difficult business years in recent memory. By the end of the year, 42% of employees felt under pressure either every day or once or twice a week – up from 38 % in spring 2009. Men were most likely to be under stress, with 45% reporting the case either every day or once or twice a week compared to 40 % of women.
The fact that stress was a feature is perhaps unsurprising – employers’ reaction to it is. Many businesses turned a blind eye to it, prioritising more immediate business issues. The result was a dip in morale and a nation of workers afraid to discuss stress with their employers. This is likely to be a key issue as the economy recovers next year. 40% of employees have told us that they would be prepared to move jobs in 2010. If employers continue to turn a blind eye to stressed-out, unhappy workers, those who can secure another role will: the best talent will walk.
Recruitment
Employers were faced with an overload of candidates in 2009, which made finding the best people a ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ task. Around one in five candidates said they were applying for jobs without doing any research into the role, which meant the job market was flooded by candidates of all abilities. By November the availability of candidates had expanded for the 20th consecutive month. Permanent and temporary staff availability rose throughout the year although the rate of growth started to ease off from June reflecting a moderation in the growth of unemployment (source: Ibid).
Despite a wealth of candidates on the market, what emerged in the first three quarters of the year was a trend for the best calibre professionals being reluctant to leave ‘safe’ roles. If prospective employers really wanted them, they had to be prepared to invest more heavily in persuading them away. In total, around one in seven employers spent more to attract top talent. By the end of the year the picture had changed again. The reported ‘green shoots of recovery’ had persuaded many talented professionals to move back into the job market. Indeed, 27% of all professionals said they were looking for a new job at the end of the year as a direct result of the heralded economic recovery.
Key statistics
- October seeing the first increase in demand for permanent staff since May 2008.
- 25% of employees are currently looking for new jobs.
- 40% said they would ideally like to change jobs within the next year.
- 47% of professionals would retrain if the opportunity came.