The annoyed employed Disgruntled workers are sticking with their jobs and burying their gripes during the recession. But don't look for that to last, industry experts say.

By: Joanne Cleaver, Special to the Tribune
From: Chicago Tribune – December 29, 2002

Florida media executive Dave Bloom and his recession-weary colleagues couldn't believe their eyes when they read a memo from top management: "Be grateful for the position you have here, considering the layoffs in this industry."

"We were angry," Bloom recalled. Talk around the office was that "when we get out of the recession, we are bolting for the door."

Shortly thereafter, Bloom did move on to another job. Then, last spring, he exited the corporate world altogether to launch his own media consulting firm in the hopes of controlling his own fate.

A backlash is quietly building among the annoyed employed, workplace consultants agree. Employees may be stuck for now in jobs at which they're underpaid, overworked and creatively thwarted--but just wait. As soon as the recession lifts, it will be payback time, and many bosses will be shocked as their best performers take off for more promising positions.

Many employees are superficially grateful for having a stable job but are secretly seething. In the past, mass layoffs were the result of shifting economic fortunes in various industries. This time, greedy management seems more at blame--what with spectacularly misbehaving executives, eroding benefits and gutted retirement accounts.

Corporations might have been viewed as wealthy and greedy in the past, but at least they were perceived as responsible, said Dan Swinney, executive director of the Center for Labor & Community Research, a Chicago non-profit that works with local companies. "In this recession, we have major corporate leaders who are criminals. Meanwhile, we have thousands of rank-and-file employees who have lost their retirement savings and their jobs," he said.

As the recession grinds on, distrust is eroding morale and productivity, Swinney added. Many workers are quietly planning their exits. "People's attitudes are, 'I'd better take care of myself, otherwise I'll really get [cheated],"' he said.

Just-released projections for next year's pay for executives and employees tell the tale. The majority of big companies are holding 2003 aggregate pay increases to a thin 3.5 percent, according to a December survey by consulting firm Deloitte & Touche. At the same time, 20 percent of companies surveyed expect to eliminate bonuses for this year, and another 25 percent are handing out bonuses that are 50 percent or less than what employees used to get.

Meanwhile, 48 percent of the Fortune 1000 executives surveyed by search firm Christian & Timbers said that they think they'll get salary raises next year; 46 percent of them expect bonuses this year-end.

"Employees feel, 'I'll stick with them if they will stick with me,' and when that is violated, that's when you have backlash," commented Len Vairo, managing director for the technology practice in the Boston office of Christian and Timbers.

Workers who are sick of getting more of the same--while bosses get more and more--may end up with the last laugh once hiring picks up.

Today's tight labor market obscures a long-term labor shortage. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicate the American economy will be short at least 10 million workers by the end of this decade, said Sharon Jordan-Evans, a Cambria, Calif.-based workplace consultant. That's partly because 43 percent of the civilian labor force, and fully half of government workers, will be eligible for retirement by 2010.

"These employers who have had many layoffs, who have treated people badly, will be shocked when their parking lots are empty," Jordan-Evans said.

Like Bloom, many people will try self-employment to gain more control over their own careers, predicted Roger Herman, a business strategist and CEO of The Herman Group of Greensboro, N.C. Of those who decide to stay in the corporate world, the most qualified--the same employees who are least tolerant of clueless management--will be the first to escape to companies that respect workers, he added.

In other words, companies risk losing their best and brightest first, said David Glueck, a Chicago-based director in the performance management and compensation practice at Deloitte & Touche. "If companies don't retain [their top performers] in the upturn, they will lose their future leaders."

Smart executives divide their top employees into two categories: those who are extremely productive and get the job done, and rising strategic stars who can lead a company's recovery and guide its growth as the recession fades. The good news, Glueck said, is that although top performers welcome generous raises as an incentive to stay, they also crave non-economic incentives: high-profile projects, workplace and time flexibility and mentoring by top executives.

Employers are either actively defusing the ticking time bomb of backlash or are trying mightily to ignore it, said Eden Prairie, Minn., workplace consultant Arlene Vernon, who hasn't seen much middle ground among her corporate clients.

"Some companies are in such denial," Vernon said. "They need to look at productivity [to see if employees are disengaging from their employer]. Are people selling and productive, and if not, is it because employees are depressed? Look at employee assistance programs--is use up for psychological problems? Is there an increase in aggregate treatment for depression and substance abuse?"

The contrast between companies that handle distressing circumstances in a way that builds employee trust and those that don't will only continue to increase, Vernon says. "Twenty years ago, everyone was so shocked (to be laid off) that they lived with it and moved on," she said. "Now we don't expect lifelong employment, but we expect respect. And that's not happening."