Managing Recession Stress
The cracks haven’t yet appeared in New Zealand, but the impact of “staff recession stress” can be significant for employers. Human Resources Institute of New Zealand member, organisational psychologist Eugene Ng provides some advice for employers on managing stress levels in the current environment. I’m seeing a change in the work ethic of New Zealand employees as they face job insecurity and recessionary pressures. People are working much harder and actively looking at how they can add value to their organisation, partly to prove their worth and justify their employment. This is certainly a correction in mindset that needed to happen in New Zealand particularly amongst the ‘Gen Y’ workers who’ve not experienced the pressures of high unemployment and recession. Things have changed. There’s been a threefold increase in the number of people applying for jobs since last year and increased redundancies. The number of redundant workers coming to us for counselling has more than quadrupled. While a change in our work ethic is positive, ongoing pressure on employees to do more for less in an environment of insecurity is unsustainable. As yet, there is no strong evidence of negative impacts on business, but I am hearing stories from employees of people working much longer and harder in many cases doing the work of two and morale is dropping. It goes without saying that pay rises are out of the question. Unless employers address the situation, it will only be another six months before the cracks start to appear and businesses suffer. Some of the key measurable areas of high staff stress and insecurity include: Reduced productivity Increased errors Deteriorating workplace behaviour such as emotional breakdowns and open protests Poor health and fatigue with staff avoiding taking sick leave Deteriorating workplace culture. Customer relations also suffer as high stress levels […]