Eric D. Brown, D.Sc.

If they could choose, would they stay?

In these troubled times, it’s hard for organizations to focus on employee moral and happiness. I’ve heard many ‘leaders’ say things like “they should be happy they have a job” when confronted with low moral and employee unhappiness.

My response to those ‘leaders’ is this:

Think about what will happen when the economy rebounds and the job market returns…will you be so casually responding to your employees’ low morale?  Most stare blankly at me and have no response.

I then hit them with “Do you think your employees will stay in your organization as soon as the rebound happens?”  To their credit, most have been honest and answered “no”.

Organizations *must* focus on their people during this downturn if they have any hope of surviving and thriving when the economy picks back up.

If you’re a manager, ask yourself this question to keep your focus on your people: If they could choose, would they stay?

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

6 responses to “If they could choose, would they stay?”

  1. Stacey Derbinshire Avatar
    Stacey Derbinshire

    Great post. I will read your posts frequently. Added you to the RSS reader.

  2. Calculate Your Salary» Job to Career – 8 Success Factors

    […] If they could choose, would they stay? […]

  3. Billigflug Avatar
    Billigflug

    Hey
    In this times humans work like machines- They must be funtional.
    It´s very cheerless, but this is the actualy truth. There´s nobody who ask you the question if you realy want this job- you must do it for your family/ because of high taxes and huge prices you didn´t have any choice.
    There´s nobody which support your family.
    In this time theres no room for wishes.But this system couldn´t work forever, because of missing satisfaction.I hope there will be an improvement, and everybody could take a choice and get his “pefect job”.Standing up in the morning with a smile on your face- Utopia?

  4. Eric D. Brown Avatar
    Eric D. Brown

    Billigflug – I disagree.

    Of course, there is no utopia, but you can build an organization that gives people the ability to enjoy their work. Treating people like machines is what has built business into a soul-less beast.

  5. Eric D. Brown

    New blog post: If they could chose, would they stay? http://tinyurl.com/5lhruj