?Pessimism? may well be the word that reflected corporate India?s mood in the last three quarters. What with job losses, pay cuts, retrenchments ? and over all uncertainty ? taking a toll on the morale and productivity of the employees. An exclusive survey done by The Financial Express in ten cities across the country to ascertain the mood across different sectors had interesting revelations. The fact that 30% of the 480 respondents tried changing their jobs but could not succeed only heightened the ?Thank God I have a job? feeling. While 48% admitted that they felt demotivated with no increments this year, 69% believed that companies were not justified in making such a decision. The tone naturally is of despondency.
The survey was conducted in the backdrop of how reduced profits and measured growth prospects have led companies across sectors to cut back on annual increments and appraisals, and the demotivation factor emerged as a key challenge for human resource departments. An interesting paradox surfaced in our survey ? 51% respondents considered their organisations to be stepping stones rather than mere pay masters. Another 58% expressed optimism about future job opportunities. The job index, which fell from 1,000 in July 2008 to 718 in June 2009, experts opine, also promises to look up in the near future.
There is also a feeling among the employees that the downturn was used as a pretext for the cuts and rollbacks. The message for the corporate world seems to be loud and clear?is someone listening?