Employee Satisfaction During Times of Uncertainty - Research Paper Example

Current Economic Conditions and Conquering Work-Related Fears: Employee Satisfaction During Times of Uncertainty Introduction We are living in bad global economic situations whereby we have witnessed collapsing of various business organizations and others declared bankrupt. Cost of production in modern days has gone so high and business organizations are losing or gaining little profits to meet demands of all their stakeholders. This has prompted business organizations to retrench some of their employees and reduce remuneration for the remaining members in order to lower their cost of production. Organizations from countries that are heavily hit by current global economic crisis have opted to outsource business process from developing countries where cost of labor is significantly low (Rorty, 2010). Current global economic crisis has greatly affected employee satisfaction in many organizations hence declining their performance and ability to cater for their personal expenses. Organizations are currently reducing remunerations to their employees without considering its effects to their personal lives and motivation to work hard. Many organizations have also withdrawn employee benefits such as bonuses, promotions and commissions creating work related fears among employees (Rorty, 2010). This fear among employees, especially during times of economic uncertainty, is not healthy to business performance, and need immediate attention to ensure that business organizations survive the crisis without losing their workers. Fundamentals of the Challenge to Overcome Fears Kenneth E. Strong Jr. and John A. DiCicco PhD. (2010, p.45) identified three building blocks to overcome fears, namely, “Authority, Responsibility, and Accountability”. They actually make a good leader out of a person not just to think and do what is right for one’s self but also for others. Applying these to one’s self, no one else is in authority over a person’s character other than the employee himself and his personal choices. Fear and anxieties are personal choices. A person can decide to see opportunities behind the threats against job security, or respond to economic crisis with a mind set that blinds itself to solutions and focuses on what there is to fear about. He simply has to take full control of himself. This is followed by the need to take full responsibility with understanding the situation clearly and making good decisions in order to positively respond to realities taking place. Strong and DiCicco (2010, p. 49) stated: “You and you alone have the responsibility for making the decision. So make your decision with confidence, and above all, trust yourself.” Accountability should follow. It means owning whatever decisions have been made after carefully evaluating the various circumstances along with many advices. Whether a person succeeds or fails, there will be a need to proceed to the next step which is to progress or move onwards to progress. The actual practices mindful of those building blocks might appear simple. In reality, there are implications in each of them. When the term authority is heard, the usual thinking concerns somebody else above one’s self. It will take faith in one’s own potentials to believe that the real character in authority is no one else except the final decision maker, one’s self. If there is doubt about some things, any person should seek and find good counsellors who can contribute some advices to consider. The Holy Bible (NIV), respected as reliable source of wisdom for many generations by over 2 billion people worldwide today, teaches in Proverbs 15:22 that plans succeed with many advisers and fail due to lack of counsel. When it comes to overcoming fears, the ultimate authority is still the person who has taken the initiative to get advices. Responsibility implies having to take steps in order to arrive at accurate decisions concerning ways and means to overcome whatever threats are forthcoming. There should always be a contingency plan. And planning should never be founded on sheer imagination but on facts. It means researching for the truth to become the basis for plans and decisions. Finally, accountability or the willingness to own decisions and consequences presupposes a matured and independent stand for whatever actions are taken. It obliges a person to take all the necessary precautionary decisions to avoid pitfalls in life itself. A good example would be in terms of preparing for the times of crisis. Every experienced individual should know that life cannot always be filled with whatever is desirable. There are good years, months, weeks, and days just as there are disappointing times. To be ready for the difficult experiences, a person who knows he has to be accountable for his own actions and decisions would take steps to avoid having to encounter hardships or to be prepared when they come even when least expected. The Relationship of Motivation, Job Security, and Work Performance There is a need to first define and distinguish the terminology known as motivation. It is one factor which drives a person to do something or accomplish a work. According to Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory (Martin, John and Fellenz, Martin 2010, p.163), not everything that satisfies are called motivating factors in an organization. Hygiene factors like “salary, working conditions, job security, level and quality of supervision, company policies and administrative procedures, interpersonal relationships at work” are those that can result in dissatisfaction if they are absent. But Herberg’s Theory said (p.163) that their presence “will not motivate individuals as such, but their absence will serve to create dissatisfaction with the job and organization.” What the organization considers as motivating factors are “those that could motivate the individual to improve their work performance”, namely, “recognition, sense of achievement, responsibility, nature of the work itself, growth, advancement” according to the same theory (p.163). Job satisfaction is therefore more related to the hygiene factors or the context of employment, while work performance is more related to motivation. The fear of losing a job concerns the hygiene factors and not the motivating factors. When a person loses his salary, for example, it creates dissatisfaction and not demotivation. Or if a benefit is removed due to the effects of economic crisis, the employee will become dissatisfied about a job. Or contentment will be reduced. According to a study conducted by Abramis in 1994 (Council of Europe, p.84), who attempted to find out the relationship between job insecurity and performance using US employees for the sample sources of stress and strains, here is what he discovered. Job insecurity was proven “to have negative correlations with all the performance measures, and positive correlations with job dissatisfaction, anxiety and depression,” (p.85). But he continued with saying that “one cannot with any confidence assert that job insecurity causes poor performance” (p.85). It is also possible for job insecurity to compel poor performers to improve or lose their employment. Negative correlation means that job insecurity does not necessarily lead to good or bad performance. Positive correlation means that there is job dissatisfaction whenever there is job insecurity. Economic Crisis Generates Fears About Work in a Business Many people who are employed may be said to normally react with fear of unemployment in times of economic crisis. A documented finding by Andrew Knapp and Vincent Wright revealed (2001, p. 260) that in 1982, 35% of the people of France were affected by that fear. It worsened to 54% ten years later or in 1992. In the current scenario, Reuters conducted a poll about what Americans think about the economic direction of the country. As of August 2011, the results of that poll survey showed (Press TV 2011) that “73% of Americans think the United States is “off on the wrong track ”so as to say there is “widespread unhappiness with the economy and frustration at both political parties”. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US Department of Labor (2011a), in June 2011, 143,444 workers were removed from their jobs, and the national unemployment rate remained high at 9.2%. By the following month, 261,346 workers were separated from work “for at least 31 days” (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011b). 45% came from the manufacturing industries. Those in the West were most affected. California, Washington, Oklahoma, and Illinois registered the most number of separations. The trend showed that each year since 2007, over a hundred thousand to over 200,000 were laid off monthly. This can be seen in Table 1 of Appendix which came from the report of US Bureau of Labor. In 2011, the industries with highest loss of employment was (1) the child day care services, whereas in 2010, (2) those working in Elementary and Secondary Schools had 24,919 laid off employees according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011a). The industries wherein employment increased as of August 5, 2011 in the USA were “Health Care. Retail Trade, Manufacturing, and Mining” (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011c). Fears are actually felt not only by people who have to be workers or employees. A Boston College research (Wood, Graeme 2011) surveyed those who are rich—“people with fortunes in excess of $25 million”—to freely disclose what they experience during the economic crisis years. Their revelation highlighted “anxieties, their sense of isolation, worries about work and love, and most of all their fears for their children”. Researchers were able to compile 500 pages of responses that led to discoveries about what the rich have in their minds. In spite of wealth, they also have fears. Similarly, employees fear about what might happen in case the time to be separated comes? He has multiple financial obligations aside from basic needs. Where will the funds come from? Will there be sufficient sources in case of a separation from work that is supposed to provide for all the needs daily, weekly, and monthly. Especially for those with dependents, the question will naturally be how to maintain the same facilitations to remain happy together. A greater awareness of the reasons why America is experiencing economic crisis will help people realize what not to do or how to avoid the pitfall, if there is a way to avoid it. Jerry Robinson (2009, p. 171) gave a hint that needs further investigation even up to this present day. He said, “The greatest fears of our founding fathers have come true. America has become a nation enslaved by private banking interests—and they do not even realize it.” When US government released the stimulus funds, the people who needed cash the most was the greater majority of Americans. But in actual situation, banks were the recipients of large amounts of cash and purposely withheld most of the amounts to protect their business interest, calling most other businesses risky. The New York Federal Bank clarified (Mosse, Patricia C. 2011, p. 1) that the banks were not able to distribute liquidity “to the rest of the financial system because of balance sheet constraints at the largest financial institutions and counterparty credit risk concerns.” Federal Reserve Banks are owned by private banks. The Federal Reserve System was created to sustain a Central Bank independent yet within government. It can make decisions without the need for any ratification by Congress or the President. That US Central Bank is owned by private member banks, according to the Federal Reserve Act (US Congress 1935). Knowing these facts will help people realize that pouring more stimulus funds does not necessarily mean that the banks will supply more money to the public, not even a large portion of what is reported by the government as stimulus funds. There has been lack of transparency about where the cash is flowing, although banks imply that they withheld most of the cash to build up their balance sheets. Thus, it is not right to anticipate a forthcoming cash-rich economy until there is certainty that banks have sent most of it to entities that will utilize the money for employment and productivity generation. It is best to be conservative about a financial or employment forecast and not be guided by “misleading” newspaper reports. The intention of government is to make people spend more so that there will be better business for enterprises. Unfortunately, what the government does not say is whether or not the funds have reached the greater majority of people enough to justify increases in investments and expenditures. The reality is that the money is with the banks and kept mostly unproductive in the sense that not much additional employment was generated. This phenomenon happened also in UK during Quantitative Easing 1 and Quantitative Easing 2. Big banks and big companies were the primary beneficiaries, while SMEs were classified as high risk borrowers, so that more requirements were imposed on SMEs. Very limited numbers of SMEs got the funds they needed. According to Barclays (2009), what they got was like loose change and only 16% of SMEs benefited within 2 years by QE1 and QE2. In the USA, where there are over 21 million non-employer firms, less than 50,000 employers with 500 employees or more, and less than 150,000 with 100 employees or more, while those businesses that employ between 1 to 99 employees account for less than 6,000,000 according to the US Census Bureau (2011), there has not even been an accounting of how many Small Businesses benefitted out of the stimulus package. From the viewpoint of Bud Conrad (2010), the USA broad money supply had “stopped growing” in the economy. He said (Conrad, B. 2010, p.24): “There are fewer borrowers, as households and business don’t want to take on new debt and lending standards have become more restrictive as wary banks remain risk averse. In this environment of credit contraction, the price of assets that rely on credit (housing and autos, for example) are declining. As the economy’s sluggish performance persists, profits collapse, jobs disappear, and wages remain stagnant……it should be obvious that government officials and their close buddies the bankers all benefit when the government creates money for themselves, and that the taxpayers and outsiders are left with the bill.” These are all consistent with earlier disclosures about banks withholding the cash for their interest which is to have a stronger balance sheet, although it is not consistent with the intention of the Stimulus Package which is to promote higher growth through greater productivity, investments, and expenditures. In other words, accurate knowledge can reduce the chances of wrong decisions that can lead to realization of what employees are fearful about. It should guide Americans to control expenses and avoid overconfidence about economic conditions, for the purpose of being ready for the negative impact of economic crisis. How can a company minimize fears of workers without being dragged down by economic crisis? Keeping employees aware of the current economic circumstances will definitely generate understanding among members of organizations. A company can explore ideas about how individuals can cope up with fears due to economic crisis, and even teach people the way to be prepared for the worse case scenario. In case of a retrenchment ahead, its Human Resource Department can inform employees about the need for flexibility at a time when there might be compulsory separation. Job openings elsewhere can be communicated for those interested to jump while they are employed. Assuring employees about future prospects with the company when the economic crisis is resolved and business will require more personnel can give a good feeling of being wanted by the company if not for the economic crisis. Darlene D. Collins prepared a dissertation for the study of fear in relation to entrepreneurial performance and business success. He found out (Collins, D. 2007, p. 104) and reported that “fear is a significant factor limiting business success”. Of the different types of fear, he said (p. 106) “the most common fear from the five clusters of measurements for perceived fear was fear of not having enough.” Businesses should manage fears to have better chances of business success. The first logical step therefore would be for the management to derive the best performance from employees by overcoming their fears in two ways, namely, (1) by communicating to people that the company has actually been doing well in spite of the economic crisis, or if that is not the fact, (2) by showing sincere concern for the work continuity of employees through initiatives that will facilitate their eventual transfer to an equally good alternative work where there is better stability and certainty of longer tenure. It boils down to having good communications and understanding with the employees. Thereafter, the right advice, according to Frank Furedi (2006, p.xix) is “not to trust the language of the heart”. This means having to learn how to be more objective and logical while simultaneous learning to distance one’s self from being too involved with something or someone, e.g. love for a specific position at work that can be lost due to economic crisis. He described fear (p. 5) as part of a promoted subject “by a culture that communicates hesitancy and anxiety towards uncertainty and continually anticipates the worse possible outcome. This culture of fear encourages society to approach human experience as a potential risk to our safety.” However, it does not have to be that way. While it is true that fear lurks somewhere deep within, the right attitude should be to maintain control over all the controllable factors enough to be on top of the problem rather than letting problems bury the individual. Every individual is free to think of good thoughts for a happy life. Oftentimes, there will be a need to seek then find whatever right moves and values should be made to prevail, following a discipline of the mind to use freedom to adapt to various situations in order to do well, feel satisfied, and to grow. Values That Can Overcome Fears An educated person should know what discipline means by the time formal schooling is finished. When it comes to fear of unemployment due to economic crisis, the value needed would be a person’s willingness to adapt to changes and to even be prepared for such changes. After being convinced about certain facts that will allow for decision making, the value of having good habits should lead a person to take initiatives towards reinforcing sound decisions that can provide better solutions to whatever it is that is causing fear. Courage is necessary. According to Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel (1998, p.161), “The highest use of courage is to protect others, to be assertive for human values…Courage is the ability to step forward through fear. Courage is the will to overcome fear…” In contrast, a bad habit would be when an employee perpetually grumbles about anxieties and worries without doing anything about what seems to be foreseeable in the near future. Another virtue is self-confidence. The popular Napoleon Hill (1928, p.26) ranked self-confidence 3rd in the list of qualities needed in order to achieve success, and wrote in his book entitled The Law of Success, “Self-confidence will help you master the six basic fears with which every person is cursed—fear of Poverty, the fear of Ill Health, the fear of Old Age, the fear of Criticism, the fear of Loss of Love…and the fear of Death.” Unemployment can lead to any or all of these. Uncertain times will surely be a challenge to the individual values gained and strengthened over the years, which is why religion teaches such values regularly. And those who have listened and absorbed lessons from the past about how one should live a life will remember to use those values at the right time. If there was failure to learn relevant teachings, believers can always seek advices. Employment Satisfaction Contentment may be freely chosen. Watts, W.T. PhD (2009) wrote substantially about his 30 years of experience “in counselling and psychotherapy” to describe contentment. There are four pillars to remember in order to achieve contentment, according to Watts (2009, p.101): “humility, gratitude, acceptance, and patience”. Each one provides contentment. Together, these habits reinforce each other. Humility is important for the purpose of realizing how this world and anybody’s life is always not perfect and needs ongoing improvements, ongoing knowledge and understanding, time to study and reflect even after formal education and while already serving a company. With humility, a person can readily accept that some events are not controllable while other events can be controlled. No person is without a problem. If at a certain time there seems to be nothing distressful, humility enables a person to foresee both good and bad days ahead. Not even the most powerful character in the world with so much resource under his control can do all those that should be done or can know exactly what will happen. There are times when people simply have to accept circumstances as they pass by. This virtue allows every person to be free to be content with life itself ad the blessings made available at any given moment. Gratitude comes out of contentment. Watts, W.T. (2009, p. 102) advised that people should “be grateful for courage and be sufficiently courageous to be grateful.” Whatever it is a person has not achieved or realized will need more patience with being contented at the same time that gratitude is practiced. The virtue of patience is critical to discovering solutions in mind and to implement actions leading to achieving whatever has not yet been gained for the desired goals in life. Planning takes time. Reflecting takes time. Both of these require patience. In terms of employee satisfaction, much depends on the values and virtues within the individual, along with skills in managing one’s self. Anyone who knows he is the authority over his own life and who should be responsible for his own thoughts, words, and deeds when decisions have to be made, should also be accountable for his own life and decisions. Employee satisfaction in times of uncertainty wherein companies and the management have no control over many factors will be eventually achieved by those with the right way of thinking founded on the right values and virtues. References Barclays (2009). Bank Lending Small Change for SMEs. Smallbusiness.co.uk, April 13, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/channels/business-banking/bank-loans/guides-and-tips/1247713/bank-lending-small-change-for-smes.thtml Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011a). Mass Layoffs Summary. Economic News Release, July 22,2011. US Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.nr0.htm . Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011b). Mass Layoffs Summary. Economic News Release, August 10, 2011. US Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mslo.nr0.htm . Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011c). Employment Situation Summary. Economic News Release, August 5, 2011. US Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm . Collins, Darlene (2007). Entrepreneurial Success: The Effect of Fear on Human Performance. ProQuest Information and Learning Company, USA. Conrad, Bud (2010). Profiting from the World’s Economic Crisis: Finding Investment Opportunities. John Wiley and Sons Council of Europe (2005). Reconciling Labour Flexibility With Social Cohesion: Facing the Challenge, Volume 71. Council of Europe. Collins, Darlene D. (2007). Entrepreneurial Success: the Effect of Fear on Human Performance. ProQuest Daft, Richard L. and Lengel, Robert H. (1998). Fusion Leadership: Unlocking the Subtle Forces That Change People and Organizations. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Furedi, Frank (2006). Culture of Fear Revisited: Risk-taking and the Morality of Low Expectancy. Continuum International Publishing Group Hill, Napoleon (1928). The Law of Success in 16 Lessons. Ralston University Press, Meriden, Conn. Knapp, Andrew and Wright, Vincent (2001), The Government and Politics of France. Routledge Martin, John and Fellenz, Martin (2010). Organizational Behaviour and Management. Cengage Learning EMEA. Mosser, Patricia C., (2011). Federal Reserve Policy Responses to the Financial Crisis: Overview. Economic Policy Review, pp.1-2. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, May 2011. Retrieved http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/epr/11v17n1/1105moss.pdf Press TV (2011). Most Americans Fear New Economic Crisis. US Desk: People Know Best. August 11, 2011. Retrieved online from http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/193442.html . Robinson, Jerry (2009). Bankruptcy of Our Nation: 12 Key Strategies for Protecting Your Finances in These Uncertain Times. New Leaf Publishing Group, USA. March 2009 Rorty, M. C.(2010). Notes on Current Economic Problems. Princeton NJ United. Princeton University. Strong, Kenneth E. Jr. and DiCicco, John A. PhD.(2010). Leadership is a Choice: Conquer Your Fears and Make the Decision to Lead. Tate Publishing, USA. US Census Bureau (2011). Statistics About Business Size Including Small Business from the US Census Bureau. Retrieved online @ http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html US Congress (1935). Federal Reserve Act Section 5. Stock Issues; Increase and Decrease of Capital. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: About the Fed. Retrieved online from http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section5.htm Watts, W.T. PhD (2009). Contentment and the Wizard: A Personal Journey to Positive Change. Trafford Publishing. Wood, Graeme (2011). Secret Fears of the Super-Rich. Atlantic Magazine: The Money Chase. The Atlantic Money Group, April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/04/secret-fears-of-the-super-rich/8419/ . Appendix Table 1. Statistics of Mass Layoffs (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics online. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.t01.htm ) Read More