Sustaining Employee Morale During Turbulent Times

Abstract

As the global financial crisis takes a tighter grip on the economy, employers are bracing themselves for the tougher times. In the wake of the current turbulence, managers are faced with many challenges like decline in the demand for products, liquidity crunch and falling profitability. This is forcing them to consider cost cutting in various spheres, including reduction in employee headcount, which was unforeseen until recently. Moreover, words like layoff, pink slips and salary cuts have become common in day-to-day life. All this, put together would definitely have a negative impact on the employees’ morale, which would further have an adverse effect on the overall functioning of the organisation and its profitability. Getting people to do their best work, even in trying circumstances, is one of managers’ most enduring and slippery challenges.

So, why is employee morale so important?

A study conducted by Sirota, Mischkind, and Meltzer indicated that the stock prices and profitability of companies with high morale outperformed similar companies in the same industries during 2004. Hence, it is very important to sustain employee morale.

Objectives of the paper: 1. To identify the various antecedents that affect employee morale in the current turbulent times. 2. To conduct an empirical study in order to identify the gap between employee expectations and the current organizational practices for sustaining employee morale in the current turbulent time. 3. To recommend strategies to boost employee morale, based on the analysis of the empirical data.

Keywords: downturn, employee morale, morale, strategy, human resource