by Jose Astorga

Created on: November 07, 2009

Last week unemployment hit ten percent or close to 16 million according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sixteen million is not only an astronomical number; it is a number that weighs on the minds of those currently employed and in the face of continuing announcements of impending layoffs. As a result, leaders must find ways to stimulate remaining employees by somehow investing in them.

Leaders should not simply invest in employee morale during a recession; they must invest in both the employee and the enterprise. It's a confounding problem with conflicting objectives when money and margins are tight. But it can and should be done.

The problem is that many on executive leadership teams do not view the business landscape objectively. Leaders typically survey the corporate field with myopic binoculars and this disability severely limits the effectiveness of their efforts. Before an executive invests one penny or one minute in maintaining employee morale he must step back and open his eyes. It all begins with attitude.

Executives must first understand their leadership style and how it filters through the organization. All the fancy tips and tricks from all the motivational gurus in the field don't mean squat if employees do not feel a vested interest in whatever motivational direction or methodology is presented.

To begin with, there are many that feel all the fancy hand holding sessions and fancy team building games are merely facades that hide the painful reality of a miserly work environment. Executive awareness of this view is crucial to any investment in employee morale in a crumbling economy. Most employees see right through the miasma of management grandiloquence. A fact lost on many.

Leaders must also recognize that demoralized employees will often sabotage an employer at every opportunity. Employees that are demoralized and fearful for their jobs will kill productivity and their attitudes tend to be contagious. An investment in employee morale will have its biggest benefit in resulting loyalty and increases in productivity.

Employees that feel a sense of pride and ownership in a corporation will be the most productive. They will exhibit an understanding of current economic conditions and will take pride in knowing that they remain because their contributions and opinions are needed and count.

An investment in employee morale does not necessarily have to cost money. Sometimes an investment of time, communication and understanding is just as effective as money. An employee that believes in her leadership and understands the present will commit herself to the present and the future. A partnership is formed.

Everywhere you turn sales are down, profits are down and margins are damaged. So why not invest in the only constant: the human beings that trudge through the mud, day in and day out, so that management can continue to meet their objectives.

Investing in employee morale will be the only thing that keeps an organization together and thriving if and when the economy does rebound. Otherwise, leaders must expect the turnover of their most valuable assets: good employees.

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