Employees Key to Bouncing Back from Recession Todd Conkright, MA, CPT
F
ew companies have come through the past 2-3 years unscathed by the recession. Leaders should consider the impact the recession has had on those who have survived in your organization. How are your employees doing at riding the wave of the economic crisis? Are they disheartened,
barely hanging on?
Are they committed to
your organization and doing everything they can to maximize revenue? Are they coming to you with innovative solutions to bring new customers? Are they maintaining your reputation or just waiting for an opportunity to jump ship? Have you been so focused on surviving the recession to pay much attention to the needs of your employees? Most companies cut training and development when times get hard. At the same time incentives and motivational processes take a hit, leading to a discouraging scenario for employees. If layoffs or deferred hiring also are used to cut expenses during a downturn, the surviving employees are asked to do more with less. The cumulative effect is a disengaged workforce that puts in minimal effort, feeling that the organization doesn’t do anything to earn their commitment.
Not all of this is fair, of omy begins to recover. course, since employers Managers and business have to do something to owners must become astute ride out the storm. It’s imat managing performance, portant for business growing talent, and leverleaders to aging understrengths to The reality is that stand the maximize there’s never been a value of human capilearning tal. better time to focus on during talent development challengBecause within your ing ecopeople are nomic the cornerorganization. times. stone to any The old business – adage, “You have to spend the foundation upon which money to make money” the organization either comes into play here. Acstands strong or falters, the cording to a 2009 study by wisest thing for companies The American Society for to do is become experts in Training and Development managing human perform(ASTD) and i4cp ance. A strong human capi(Organizational Learning tal strategy includes an asin Tough Economic sessment of desired verses Times), 38% of companies actual performance, analysis plan to place more empha- of strengths & competencies sis on learning during the and selection practices to economic crisis. The reensure the right people are maining 60% are either in the right job, and a commaintaining pre-recession mitment to developing peolevels or cutting back, ple that doesn’t waver desome drastically. spite market and economic fluctuations. The reality is that there’s never been a better time to The good news is that hufocus on talent developman performance management within your organiza- ment doesn’t have to be extion. It is your employees pensive! And the return on that will pull your cominvestment pays off quickly. pany through and help you The key is having a plan and regain traction as the econ- sticking with it. Once proc-
esses are in place they can be maintained through feast or famine. Keep in mind the toll that the economic crisis has on your employees and consider budgetconscious solutions that will keep them engaged. Your employees want to succeed, but need to know they can trust management to support them. As businesses make difficult decisions about how to pull through the current economic downturn, they must think beyond the knee -jerk reaction to slash costs to the bone. In ASTD’s Economic Survival Guide, the message is “Survival of the learning function in a down economy is all about leveraging existing best practices, eliminating redundancies, and creating programs or situations where employees can learn from each other.” You will benefit from Cornerstone’s organization development expertise to initiate your human performance analysis, which will ensure you’re focusing on the most valuable efforts that lead to sustainable performance and position your company for success as the economy bounces back.
Contact us today to discover how we can make your employees the cornerstone of your organization and break down the invisible barriers to success! Cornerstone Global Training & Performance Solutions 15122 Camden Avenue . Omaha, NE 68116 402.650.4921 www.cornerstoneglobaltps.com