A survey designed to explore how organisations are coping with the economic downturn has thrown up some interesting results.
Analysing data collected from the 160 organisations who took part, JRA's managing director, John Robertson, found predictions varied on the business outlook for the next six months.
"The jury is still
out for sure, with 24 per cent of respondents expecting trading to get better, countered by 18 per cent who think it will get worse," says Robertson.
Staff numbers look likely to continue their fall, with 36 per cent of organisations anticipating further cuts over the next six months compared to the 18 per cent planning to take on more staff. "However, it looks like firms will endeavour to achieve this by natural attrition," says Robertson.
"The majority - 65 per cent - reported it was unlikely they would introduce redundancy or retrenchment programmes, compared to the 22 per cent who felt they would."
With more people looking for work and those in jobs seeing fewer vacancies listed, Robertson says it is no surprise that many workers are opting to stay put. This is reflected in the 56 per cent of organisations who have reported a decrease in labour turnover during the past 12 months, against only 9 per cent reporting an increase.
These labour market realities have an upside for some organisations, according to Robertson, with nearly 60 per cent of organisations surveyed finding it easier to attract the key talent they need. But the flip side is the impact a depressed economy is having on the workplace climate. "It's probably no surprise that our survey found almost half of the organisations that took part are finding it hard to maintain a positive work environment and have reported lower levels of staff morale than 12 months ago."
Countering these trends, more than 60 per cent of organisations have reported they are attaching a higher priority to their employee engagement strategies, and 50 per cent of respondents indicated their organisations are putting greater emphasis on maintaining a sense of belonging and developing the capabilities of their existing staff. More than 70 per cent of organisations also reported a higher emphasis on performance.
JRA is currently running the JRA Best Workplaces Survey in association with the New Zealand Herald. The survey launched on June 1 and will run until August 31.
Take part in the Best Workplaces survey 2009 The JRA Best Workplaces '09 survey is run in association with The New Zealand Herald