A Work-Life Regression?
Featured Guest Blogger March 9th, 2009
Richard Federico is the author of Battling to Be the Best: Why Companies Compete for Best-Place-to-Work Lists (WorldatWork Press). He’s lived and worked through several recessions. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.
Is this deep recession the beginning of a work-life regression? Will the recession’s impact on the culture for work-life friendliness we’ve spent so long building face a severe setback? Worse–will the “lean and mean” era return to replace respect and caring?
Work-life advocates may reply that all the same work-life issues still exist in a time of extraordinarily high stress: that helping employees deal with the financial, emotional and physical stress will hold off the rise in health-care costs and lost productivity; that EAPs and other stress-relief programs become even more important; that working mothers will carry the extra burden of being the sole family bread winners and need even greater flexibility during an era of job loss; and that any cutbacks now will be viewed by employees as cut-throat tactics later–when they can again talk with their feet.
Unfortunately, reality sets in. No matter what causes a recession or when it occurs, there’s often one constant–few companies would be eligible for a “Best Companies to Work For in a Recession” list. The economic pressures affect all aspects of people management. It’s likely we’ll see two major work-life setbacks:
- The Return of Line-of-Sight Management. Your job’s only safe if your boss literally sees you working. Kill the telecommuting, work long hours, take less time off. Do anything to impress the late-working boss and remove you from the layoff short list. We’ll see more autocratic managers who rule with iron fists–the kind of rule that comes with job insecurity and increased productivity demands. They always seem to return when times are tough. At a time when workers can’t talk with their feet, it becomes “protect-your-job correct” to obey the rules. Work-life balance takes a back seat to job security.
- Reduction of Work-Life Staff and Services with a Hatchet Rather than a Scalpel. During recessions, those that hold C-Suite positions become short-term planners rather than long-term thinkers when it comes to cutbacks. Across-the-board hatchet cutting becomes the rule. And there are no bailouts.
Look for part 2 of this blog, “How Will “Best” Companies Respond to the Recession?” next Monday, March 16th.
