Employees are actually clearer about their job responsibilities and have more confidence in their long-term career opportunities now than a year ago, but there is a drop in their understanding of company goals and long-term direction, according to a new survey series by Towers Perrin.
Towers Perrin’s Workplace Watch takes a quarterly look at employee opinions across a set of large global organizations. Based on opinions of more than 650,000 employees, Towers Perrin finds that only 55 percent of workers agree they can balance work and personal responsibilities, down from 62 percent from the previous quarter. “[T]he data also confirm a drop in employees’ understanding of their company’s goals and long-term direction, as well as in their positive perceptions of leadership’s overall effectiveness – both of which could signal the beginning of a downturn in engagement levels as this year progresses,” Towers Perrin says.
The survey results suggest that “the latest rounds of restructuring have been done thoughtfully and in a manner that doesn’t automatically demand doing more with less” Towers Perrin says, pointing out that about 74 percent of employees agree their company’s structure facilitates efficient operations, up from 66 percent in the last quarter of 2008 and 58 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Towers Perrin reports that 91 percent understand how their work helps the company achieve its immediate objectives, 68 percent feel their company offers long-term career opportunities for them, and 77 percent agree their company is highly regarded by customers, up from 73 percent in the prior year “suggesting employees recognize the efforts their companies are making to connect with the marketplace in this tough economy.”
“These results show that many employees ‘get it’ in terms of what the company has to do in the short term to weather the economic downturn,” says Towers Perrin spokesperson Dan McCauley. “They understand that the recession has required sacrifices, and they’re willing to do what’s needed to help their employer succeed – in part because they want to ensure their own continued employment.” However, he warns, “Complacency about current engagement levels opens a company to significant risk that it will fall behind competitors, both in performance and talent retention, as the economy starts to rebound and it shifts to more of a growth mode.”
