Tips for employers

2020 has been full of challenges and experiences that would suffice for a whole generation: lockdown, a sudden collapse of certain sectors coupled with rapid growth in others, and forced retraining. There has also been a revolutionary change in the manner of performing work: first a shift to home office (whenever possible), followed by a timid return to the offices. It was in this situation on the labour an average of 6.2.; they proved to be The above difference can also be market that we conducted our “Employee greater pessimists when providing an explained otherwise: perhaps the general Mood Barometer” survey on a group answer on how the employees in their opinion that “employers think their of almost 1,000 people selected from organisation assessed their position employees are always dissatisfied with among the clients and candidates of on the labour market in terms of remu- their wages, no matter how much they Gi Group, Grafton Recruitment, Wyser, nerations. In my opinion, their assess- are paid” is proving to be true? Let me and TACK TMI. We asked them about ment also followed from a better know- leave it here as food for thought. their sentiments connected with employ- ledge of their organisation’s financial ment. The conclusions are, unfortu- standing as well as the economic situa- The next question was concerned with nately, not very optimistic: employees tion of the industry or even the country employment stability and, as it turns have a middling opinion of all the fields as a whole. The question concerning out, employees had a better opinion under analysis, while employers fail to potential pay raises in the coming quarter about it. The mood barometer equalled read the moods in their teams correctly. serves as a case in point here. As many as 7.1 in their case, compared to 7 in 80% of employers who rated employment the group of employers. Does it mean We asked the respondents about stability in their organisations at 5 or lower that the employee market continues, as the degree to which they were satis- answered definitively there would be no labour market experts have been claiming fied with their salaries and employ- raises. This reaction was most probably all along? This suggestion is supported ment stability as well as about the level connected with the COVD-19 pandemic by information received from our clients: of their job satisfaction and trust in their and their macroeconomic knowledge. most organisations refrained from layoffs superiors. We were interested whether and many have actually expanded the perspectives of employees and Where else have we noticed a discrep- their teams. employers were similar. The result of any ancy between employers and employees given category is always an average concerning salaries? When asked about It is a good sign that employees have of all the replies provided according to the level of raise that employees would a sense of security concerning their a 10-degree scale. have to be granted to rate their situa- jobs despite the current economic tion as 6 or higher, the biggest group slowdown caused by the COVID-19 As it turns out, employees have a middling of employers (42%) replied it would pandemic. Interestingly, when asked opinion on all of the analysed aspects have to amount to around 20%. What about the factors that make employees (between 6 and 7) and their superiors fail did employees have to say to that? at their organisations consider their jobs to read the team moods correctly. The difference in this case was huge: stable, employers listed safety and regua pay raise of 20% and 25% was indicated larity of salary payments as the main Interestingly, as regards salaries, the senti- by two groups of 25% respondents (with priority. Safety of the organisation ranked ment barometer displayed a higher an almost equal distribution) as a condi- second, followed by the attractiveness reading in the case of employees (6.6). tion necessary for them to rate their posi- of the product or service offered by Employers were less optimistic, with tion as 6 or higher. the organisation. Meanwhile, employees

listed the security of the organisation as the primary factor contributing to their sense of employment stability, followed by the safety and regularity of salary payments. These results may indicate that, in light of the pandemic, employees pay greater attention to the condition of the organisation. Contrary to numerous opinions, they are not focused exclusively on their salaries. It is clear that employees are ready to negotiate or modify the terms of their employment so that they can keep their jobs and weather the difficult times together with their organisation. This attitude should be appreciated and, after the organisation gets back on its feet, rewarded in some manner, e.g. if they had to give up a part of their salary or switch to a different employment mode.

The lowest results in the whole survey were reported in the section devoted to job satisfaction. In this case, the mood barometer of employees reached 6 and of employers only 5.9. It seems that employers are getting increasingly hard pressed to maintain a high level of commitment of their teams, especially when promotions and pay raises have been put on hold. Meanwhile, job satisfaction is a necessary condition of incentivising employees and, as a result, of success. In our survey, we also asked employees about their relationship with and confidence in the employer and about their assessment of the actions and attitude of their employer in crisis situations. At the same time, employers got to assess the degree to which the people within their organisation trust them and perceive their actions during a crisis.

The mood barometer concerning confidence in the employer equalled 6.6 among employees and employers alike. This consistent rating in a 10-degree scale is a rather low result. It seems that employers have a lot of work to do in terms of building their position within the organisation and gaining their employees’ trust, especially if we take specific grades into consideration: as many as 71.38% employers and only 65.44% employees rated the confidence of persons within the organisation in their employer at 6 or higher. What is more, employers assigned higher grades to the relationship with superiors in all categories: for example, a good relationship with the superior was selected by 22.55% employees and as many as 36.95% employers as a primary factor contributing to the employees’ job satisfaction!

A critical opinion of employers, their competences and attitudes was confirmed by yet another ratio, namely the assessment of the employer by employees in crisis situations (on average 6.7 among employees and 6.5% among employers).

To conclude, we are perfectly aware that the first edition of the “Employee Mood Barometer” was created in very special conditions and at a unique time that certainly influenced the answers of employers and employees alike. This is why we are planning to repeat it. The next, completely new edition of the Barometer will be released as soon as in January 2021 and I kindly invite you to leaf through it once it is published. 

Methodology: “Employee Mood Barometer.” CAVI survey 12.07-23.08.2020. Employees: candidates from the bases of Gi Group, Grafton Recruitment, and Wyser, n=591. Employers: clients of Gi Group, Grafton Recruitment, Wyser, ProProgressio, and LeanPassion, n=370.

Author:

Business Director, Grafton Recruitment