The Changing Employer-Employee Relationship

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Unfortunately, some employers are resorting to fear-based tactics in an effort to reinforce employee engagement. In the short run employees may respond to such heavy-handed approaches, but such a practice is not likely to be sustainable.

So what are employers to do? The first recommendation is that employers work diligently to create a "no surprises" environment. In managing this way, they build employee perceptions of the company's trustworthiness. Doing what is planned when it is planned creates trust.

A second recommendation is to work to find out and then to protect what really matters to employees. There will be elements of work that truly are cherished—and they may be surprising. In one instance, a headquarters cut a fairly inexpensive perk—afternoon cookies in the break room. The impact on morale was so strongly negative that one executive commented the "cookies were the costliest savings we ever achieved."

The third recommendation is to be certain you fully understand how the cuts and other changes being made around the workplace affect each employee's ability to do his job well. If tools, full-time employees, and other resources are being more carefully managed (as they should be), make sure first that employees' capabilities to perform are not threatened. Make adjustments as needed, such as ensuring that there is enough time available to complete work, so that the employee doesn't lose confidence that he or she can deliver to the company's expectations.

These three steps will generate a sense that a company is trying to be sensible, trustworthy, and transparent in managing through the recession. Some employers are managing today as if employees have no options—that they should simply be thankful they have a job. This may be true today, but as things improve, the way you manage through these rough times will send a signal to employees about whether or not you remain an employer of choice when things improve. Chief executives must remember that they will get the culture they deserve, and much of what they do in this downturn will define "what they deserve" going forward.

Stephen A. Miles is managing partner-Americas for Heidrick & Struggles' Leadership Consulting practice. Nathan Bennett is the Wahlen professor of management at the Georgia Institute of Technology.