I was recently talking with the HR Director of a leading Australian Insurance firm - you know, one of those which is currently either owned, part owned, about to be bought out or merged, and it was little wonder that she told me staff chats around the kitchen area have deferred to an hourly stock watch on their company’s performance and what it meant to their job.

A slip in staff morale and confidence in these tough economic times is starting to bite and will no doubt impact on an organisation’s productivity in the year ahead.

Managers and Executives have a corporate responsibility to strategically manage their staff through these times, ensuring that they are honoured and respected for the job they do. But this must be more than words. Leaders must embrace the culture of recognition from the top down.

Staff will sense a genuine effort by management to buy into a reward and recognition program and respond accordingly. They can also smell a false attempt a mile away!

I encourage organisations to formalise recognition awards, maintain staff training programs and create new and dynamic ways of communicating this so that staff morale remains high through these uncertain times and productivity does not waiver.

More can be read on this subject through an article I found online:

Incentive Magazine Newsletter – October 22. 2008
Recognition for the real world - By Jeanie Casison

Monday’s SMH article describes a typical scenario when business sectors are under extreme pressure – job losses lead to over-work and instability for those that are left – and worse still they wonder if they are next!

Rod Masson, the acting national secretary of the Financial Sector Union says “[Job losses are] starting. It is a concern,” Mr Masson said. “If [banks] take a short-term knee-jerk reaction, we will be left with lower morale and reduced productivity as we come through this major financial crisis.

The article goes on to say that there has been higher than normal attendance lately at the “beyondblue” in-house seminars held at Macquarie Bank!

It seems to me that too many years of living off the fat has made this sector’s HR practices a little lost for creative ideas on how to keep good staff motivated and rewarded.

My phone number is 1300 559 904, you need to know how to incentivise beyondcash!

Survivor syndrome kicks in as staff squeezed - SMH Jonathan Dart - October 20, 2008

Working in a call centre is hard work. I should know after cold calling tens of thousands of NSW residents in an attempt to sell them a AU$50.00 Teddy Bear for Care Flight. Sure, helping a good cause or charity gives you warm fuzzy feeling but at the end of the day a Telemarketers job can be a thankless and repetitive one. Like any other industry the staff need to be recognised, rewarded and supported by their managers to keep them going.

I was fortunate enough to work for a business that had an incentive program already in place when I started my short lived (8month) telemarketing career. As a naturally competitive person, I rose to the top of a team of 40 telemarketers in a few weeks and set all kinds of new records taking the hard to achieve target of 3 teddy bears per hour to over 7.

Best of all for me was winning one of the incentive rewards on offer each month - I usually went for the weekend for two at a luxury hotel.

How to reduce a telemarketing companys turnover and absenteeism, Dave Powell - October 7, 2008

I believe the biggest challenge facing businesses today is balancing budgets while exploiting the ‘ Now ‘ opportunities.

This economic downturn has seen business confidence swing like a one armed man on a trapeze! It has also presented us with great opportunities!