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Global workforce beset by uncertainty, skeptical about the prospect of upward mobility

Like any traumatic event, the global recession has had a definite and perhaps lasting effect on all who have survived it. Like the Great Depression, which impressed on many of its survivors the value of frugality, hard work, and a stoic-like worldview, this recession has left its stamp on the psyche of jobholders everywhere. A report released by Towers Watson, titled the “Global Workforce Study” revealed that, in January 2010, the global workforce was “recession-battered…with lower expectations, increased anxiety and new priorities.” Here are some of the “key” results of the study:

  • Above all else, employees currently cherish job security. Or, as the study puts it, employees’ “desire for security trumps everything.”
  • Employees have grown skeptical of their ability to adequately prepare for their future.
  • Upward mobility “is at a decade-long low point.” Employees, in light of the recession have made ostensibly necessary sacrifices, “sacrificing career growth for a secure job.”
  • There seems to be a systemic mistrust of persons in positions of power. As the study puts it, “Confidence in leaders and managers are disturbingly low.”

Diana Middleton of The Wall Street Journal observed in a March article “Workers Perceive Little Opportunity” that, with regard to Towers Watson’s findings, employees “are entrenched in their positions and have given up looking for higher pay or better positions, even within their own firm.” Dan Kin, who Middleton interviewed, commented that “he’s seen more people feeling beleaguered and listless about their careers in the past year.” Perhaps feeding employees’ skepticism about the prospect of career advancement is the idea that, as Max Caldwell of Towers Watson points out, “even as the recovery continues, it may be harder for employees to get ahead…because companies are focusing on managing labor costs and leveraging flexible staffing models, such as utilizing contractors.”

What I am most interested in, however, is not Tower Watson’s massive data set. Rather, what interests me the most is what you have observed. Do you agree with the conclusions of the Tower Watson study? Are they still valid in June 2010? What are your observations?

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