Benefits August 26, 2009

Layoffs Hurt Corporate Productivity

August 26, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Forty percent of workers at organizations that have suffered layoffs say their company's workplace productivity has been hurt as a result.
Reported by

A news release from the Workplace Institute at Kronos Incorporated said 38% of workers polled reported their employer had laid off people in the last 12 months.

Of the number ascribing productivity declines to those layoffs:

  • 66% said morale has suffered and people are less motivated;
  • 64% said there is too much work and not enough people to do it;
  • 37% said the wrong people or departments were laid off, leaving inefficient systems and workflows; and
  • 36% said they are concerned that as the economy picks up, they won’t have the right resources to meet demand.

However, despite feeling overworked, 53% of respondents said they felt the right number of people were laid off at their organization. Thirty-two percent said they felt too many were laid off, and 7% said the layoffs should have cut more deeply.

The phone survey was conducted within the U.S. by Harris Interactive between August 13 and August 16, 2009, among a nationwide sample of 2,005 U.S. adults aged 18 and over among whom 956 were employed full-time or part-time.

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