"Good morning, I Despise You . . ."

That's a message from your employees, if your employees are like most in America.

Here are the facts . . . read 'em and weep . . .

"It doesn't matter how many batches of cookies are shared in the break room, how many team-building exercises are completed or how many times the office has shared a fleeting burst of pride from a job well done.

"It just isn't the same.

"The harsh economic climate has frayed relationships between middle-class workers and their employers. An already-strained sense of loyalty has been further damaged by stagnant wages, rapid-fire mass layoffs and persistent fears of job loss."


"Few people still in the workforce realistically expect 30-year careers at one employer, a luxury that manufacturing workers . . . enjoyed a generation ago. But most expect better than what they have.

"For now, many middle-class workers think they have too much work, too little job security and too little pay. And those who have been laid off, and are fighting to stay in the middle class, believe employers may have stacked the deck against them."

The fallout from the strained employee-employer relationship can be seen in several key ways.

- Workers are networking aggressively, not for fun but because they fear they could lose their jobs.

- Workers are taking fewer professional risks in the workplace, and that lack of innovation may hurt both workers' career prospects and companies' bottom line.

- Workers are increasingly ready to jump ship to new jobs. Positions are scarce now, but when the economy heals, companies may risk an exodus of talent. In one 2011 study, more than one in three workers hoped to be employed by a different company in the next 12 months, and fewer than half felt a strong sense of loyalty to their employer.

"I don't think that there is such a thing as loyalty anymore," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger Gray and Christmas Inc., a global outplacement firm. Loyalty has been replaced by what Challenger calls "commitment."

"Loyalty is a thing of the past, in terms of company and employee relationships, because companies can't promise a long-term job and people think of themselves as free agents," Challenger said.

Thirty-six percent of employees hope to work for a different employer in the next 12 months, according to MetLife's ninth annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, which was released this year.

The study notes that employee loyalty hit a three-year low. Just 47 percent felt a strong sense of loyalty to their employer and only 33 percent felt that their employer was loyal to them. That was down from 59 percent and 41 percent, respectively, in 2008.

The study surveyed more than 1,400 workers and 1,500 "benefits decision-makers" at companies during the fourth quarter of 2010.

Meanwhile, employers' perception of workers' loyalty was virtually unchanged from two years ago. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, roughly half of the employers surveyed said that workers were loyal to them.

While middle-class workers may be eyeing the exits, it appears that few have the confidence to quit, according to regional figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."

(Thanks to Jahna Berry at The Arizona Republic)

What to do?

Credibly Connect - a paradigm and experience of multi-level communication combined with sincere empathy and understanding by supervision. Contact: jimkarger@crediblyconnect.com

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