When good times come, workers may go

Feeling mistreated at work? Well, you're not alone, according to new research conducted by the executive search firm TopGrading Solutions. During September 2009, the firm asked supply chain professionals the following question: How has your company treated you during the recession, and what are your plans once the recession is over? Only 22 percent of the 225 respondents said they were treated well and planned to stay in their current jobs. Nineteen percent said their companies mistreated them and that they plan on leaving their employers after the recession. Another 25 percent described their treatment as "fair" but weren't sure how long they would remain in their current positions. The remaining 34 percent of respondents said that they had already lost their jobs. According to the search firm's researchers, the unhappiest respondents worked for mid-size and large companies.

Those results lead TopGrading Solutions Managing Director Jason Breault to believe that once the economy improves, many companies will be faced with a mass exodus of supply chain professionals. "For the past year, companies have been treating their employees as if they should be thankful they have a job," said Breault. "As companies have cut their staffs by ten to twenty percent, many candidates feel they have been pushed to their limits; they're being asked to put in more hours and take cuts in pay and benefits without any recognition for their efforts." He added that in the last few months there has been movement in that direction, with some employed supply chain professionals changing jobs.

[Source: "Topgrading Solutions Predicting Mass Exodus of Mistreated Employees," www.topgradingsolutions.com, Oct. 5, 2009.]